I breathe in as I take the sight of the desert not far past the exterior edge of Arsinoe's room. I can see vast pyramid-like palaces in the distance and I study them as Arsinoe smiles at me. I can hear faint music in the distance, and as I study the distant pyramids I can see subtly carved openings in the pyramids that look curiously like rooms with windows. I also spot jars filled with an opaque fluid and organs scattered throughout the room. Presumably the organs in question belong to Arsinoe.
"I forgot that you were new to… basically everything right? Everything outside of your lair?" Arsinoe asks, before letting out a soft giggle.
"When translated to the common tongue my homeland's name is 'Land of the Festive Dead'. We're a big undead place and we really like to party." Arsinoe explains, while smiling at me. She seems… more alive here. There's an energy and a vibrancy to her that was missing before. I let go of her and she clings close to me.
In my mind's eye I can definitely see the potential me and my necromancer build have in a place like this. "The land of the festive dead" is a place I could definitely be a nightmare in. I have a power set that is positively nightmarish for a place wherein there are many undead, especially with my innately buffed charisma.
"We'll sneak out so we don't meet my dad. He's protective, you know? Real traditional. Though I don't suppose that'd mean much to you due to your life until now." She tells me, before walking to the external edge of the room. I follow after her, having long acclimated to not being in pain having decided to shut off my ability to feel pain early on in my first day of class. My ring remains on my finger, and it's something some people have occasionally commented on though most people choose to focus on other parts of me.
We climb onto the railing that cuts off the room from the outside world and look out at the grounds of what is clearly some sort of palace. Though I can hear faint music in the distance I can hear voices that are much closer, and the sounds of warriors sparring and training.
We leap off the railings at the edge of the room and land on the sandy floor outside of the home she lives in. I follow after her as she begins to laugh and when we're some distance away I turn and look back in the direction we came from only to be unsurprised to see that it's a palace. Everything about her screams rich girl so it's not surprising to learn that she is at least wealthy if not outright nobility. She turns and smiles cutely at me.
"Are you surprised to see that we exited a palace?" She asks. I shake my head and laugh.
"Not in the slightest. You have the demeanor of a classy lady." I tell her before turning and looking at her. She flashes me an almost smug grin but she has the attitude to make it attractive. We begin to move again and in a minute we make it to a back entrance leading in and out of the palace grounds. The smell of the air is tinted by the scent of sweat and curious oils.
"This is the sort of entrance that servants use. My parents hate that I know stuff like this." She tells me as we walk by guards. They straighten up as we walk by them and I note that they are living people, human and humanoid warriors that are just regular folks. As they behold me I feel the faint effects of "A Brotherhood of Steel", the mini-perk I gained by being the captain of the guard of Frostmire.
I have a leadership perk that gives me unique, baby perks whenever I attain leadership positions. The only leadership position I really attained was being named the leader of the guard of Frostmire after I helped them in the wake of the attack by essence monsters. "A Brotherhood of Steel" boosts my charisma towards guards and other security professionals. It's a small thing but it's not bad by any means.
We eventually walk through a small building and when we exit it we are standing on the edge of a busy street. I look out at the scene and scan it, even flexing my other eyes. Folks notice the two of us and I hear faint whispering in a language I don't know. I nod subtly, and make a mental note to study the language of Ankoros in the future. Arsinoe begins to speak as we slip away from the building.
"So this place has a long and storied history with the undead." Arsinoe explains as we begin to walk down the street.
"The government of this kingdom is actually run by an undead ruler. The term in our language is 'Pharaoh'. As a result of this, undeath is actually pretty normal here though it's curiously stratified. Many of our more elite people, and higher class professionals are undead though plenty of people essentially sign their bodies away to be used as simple undead when they die in exchange for a government stipend." Arsinoe tells me, and as she says that I do begin to spot other undead beings. I note that many professionals, from vendors hawking wares to doctors who are performing medicine outdoors, are undead.
"Death is essentially the beginning of one's real life here. Our living population is enormous but many of them work either in specialized jobs, lower end work, or are receiving special training for important positions when their lives end." Arsinoe remarks, causing me to ask a question.
"How does the transition from life to undeath happen here? Is this place so suffused with necromantic energy that people naturally turn undead when they die?" I ask, causing my friend to look at me with renewed interest as we begin to approach a town square.
"Are you interested in magic Lalo? I didn't know you were curious about such things." She tells me with a smile. As far as she knows my powers aren't magical in nature but rather a quirk of biology, of living biology. I don't need to correct this misconception, so I haven't.
I wield honesty like a weapon. The reason for this is twofold: firstly I have big enough secrets to keep track of that I don't need to further add to what I need to remember by lying and thus having to keep track of who knows what. The second reason is that I've found that people are disarmed by honesty, especially over-honesty, unnecessary honesty. This makes people think I'm less smart, or maybe less wise, then I actually am, coupled with making them think I'm more naive than I let on, and that makes them grow confident in the idea that they understand me. This is handy for me and I don't needlessly discard social advantages I have.
"As far as your question goes, the answer is no. The highest position a living person can attain is that of a necromancer. It is an incredibly coveted position and every year a few necromancers take apprentices. We're not the only country in the world with such policies but we protect both the living and the undead and some necromancers don't really like that. Living beings that enter the workforce in this country inform us as to what they would like to happen to them when they die, with plenty choosing to move on but essentially selling the rights to their bodies after death. Our royal family, of which I'm just one of several members, have been undead for some time now, though our head deity; a rare god of undeath and light, gave us the ability to create offspring even as undead. I was born a mummy, though my father isn't the pharaoh or even the pharaoh's brother, but the son of the pharaoh's brother." Arsinoe admits, telling me something very interesting. This could be a nice place to move to after I finish my education.
The music grows louder as we draw nearer to the town square. I spot bands playing, noting that most of the band members of most bands are living people, and a lot of living folks are in the town square. As we get further away from the place I note that the buildings have become much more modern. My senses catch the faint buzzing of electricity as I spot contemporary buildings and stores that are powered by electricity. We walk into one and I get to watch Arsinoe wield her influence.
The visit to the store is quick with Arsinoe taking charge. I don't contest this, for multiple reasons but one of the bigger ones is that I tend towards passivity when I have no reason to do otherwise and as I watch Arsinoe it becomes clear that she has a curious personality trait. Arsinoe is someone who is naturally attuned to power and she enjoys wielding it.
The thing about her relationship with power is that she wields it to aid people she cares about or is interested in, and I suspect she likes the idea of making other people's lives easier though she is a touch arrogant. A queen-bee type but with an innate inclination towards being good, which is nice. And in full fairness to Arsinoe she pays for the phone rather than trying to get it for free or even at a discounted rate. She's quite egalitarian in her own way, she's… more than anything else she's cognizant of her power and ready to wield it but she doesn't abuse it.
In less than an hour I have a phone and it's connected to my social media accounts. As we leave the store Arsinoe demands we take a picture together and I make it my phone background. I don't mind this and we pose before she "teaches" me how to take a picture with it. When we head back to the palace we slip back in through the servant entrance and I get to help Arsinoe back into her room with telekinesis but as she enters it I hear her make a surprised sound. I turn my eyes on myself and use telekinesis to fling myself back up into the room and spot an enormous, shirtless Adonis of a man standing between Arsinoe and her sarcophagus. He has eerily identical features to Arsinoe and has a powerful, muscular form.
"Father… Hi! I was just getting back to school." Arsinoe says sheepishly. The man, her father, sighs and studies her for a moment before turning and looking at me.
His eyes are colorless white orbs, like two saucers of milk, and as he beholds me I feel the weight of his gaze. He has an enormous presence and I can tell that he significantly outclasses me in terms of personal power. That's annoying but in fairness to that I was nowhere near the top of the line in terms of power in my last jump. I was decently powerful on Veiled Earth, but I didn't prioritize power gathering and mostly focused on having the power and skills needed to keep myself and my friends safe.
Two guards rush out from behind him and they study me as well. These guards are undead, though they are somewhere between well-armed and well-armored zombies and true undead like I can raise in terms of appearance.
"Princess Arsinoe… Who is this?" He asks. The movement of his lips don't match his words and I feel knowledge of a new spell imprint itself on my soul. He's a magic user. Guided by instinct I move forward and bow respectfully.
"Prince Kleoshebet, I am Lalo Alvarez. I am a student at Monster Unification University." I remark, surprising Arsinoe. Kleoshebet is the name of Arsinoe's father, something she mentioned while we were in the store and it's remarkably close to the name of a Troyverse character; Kleosheba the ascendant of desire. Long term it may be worth trying to come for Kleosheba's whole deal and becoming a manifold ascendant of desire myself but if this random prince can outclass me in power then I am a long way away from attaining that goal.
Arsinoe's last name is on her social media profiles, and I can sense my perks guiding me right now. Arsinoe's reaction to all of this to blanche in surprise, and her father appraises me with a thoughtful look. I feel my perks, particularly "An Apple A Day" affecting my instincts and I trust them. After a moment Kleoshebet commands me to rise. I do as he says and he sighs.
"Take your true form, child." He tells me, and I can hear the curiosity and power in his voice. It's similar to a subtle but real demonstration of Arsinoe's power that she tried on Andrew but his is much stronger. It crashes against my will and I successfully resist what is essentially a powerful command spell which causes him to look at me with renewed interest even as I decide to willingly shed my disguise and take on my true beholder form. Arsinoe, who didn't know that I had a second form, is surprised as my human features melt and I slowly rise off the floor; a human-sized undead orb.
To my surprise Arsinoe looks even more interested in me now than she did when I was in my human form. I can almost see hearts in her eyes as she watches me.
"Hmm… A monster with multiple forms that isn't a shapeshifter or a lycanthrope but an abomination. A rarity even at MUU." Kleoshebet declares, and I can hear a note of knowledge born not from impartial, distant study, but true research. The kind only experience gives you.
"You studied there." I note, my words escaping my lips out of instinct and this causes him to smile and nod.
"Yes. I am an alumnus of your school. From a long time ago." He remarks, his voice filling with familiarity as his gaze grows distant. I can see his conscious mind filling with memories.
"Who is in charge of your dorm, abomination?" He asks, his gaze still shroudy with memories.
"Professor Cranium. I am to be one of her research subjects in a week." I tell the man. He nods at me and lets out a haughty laugh.
"Ah, the egghead. I'm surprised she attained immortality somehow. It's rare for a human to work at MUU, and rarer still for them to become immortal without becoming undead. Though I suppose she could have become undead and just not told me. That… sounds like something she'd do." He reveals, causing me to have to catch myself from expressing shock. Professor Cranium is a human. Was a human? Weird.
Kleoshebet interrogates me for a short while longer, before smiling and letting Arsinoe and I go. He does demand she join the family for dinner tomorrow, a promise she agrees to though not without visible annoyance. Family drama isn't surprising in a royal family with figures as imperious as these two. Arsinoe and I manage to escape the palace otherwise unscathed though as soon as we return to MUU Arsinoe begins to badger me with questions.
"How can you shapeshift like that?" She asks as soon as we open the door of her sarcophagus and enter her dorm room. I'm back in my human form at this point, though now I am fully human with no extra eyes.
"I always could. I don't know if it's a species thing or not, or if it's just an ability I have." I reply, causing her to ask me to show her every form I can adopt. I do as she asks, opting to just run with what's happened here as I mix and match features of my human form with my beholder form using "Mixer". She then asks me about my beams again, clearly having caught on that there's more to them then I've admitted. When I tell her I don't fully understand them she makes me promise to tell her whatever Professor Cranium uncovers in her research. It is at this point that she kisses me.
Her lips are soft, warm, intensely alive in a way that would absolutely fool someone else into thinking she is a living woman. I kiss her back, matching her hungry intensity.
When we breathlessly pull away from each other she eyes me with a sort of hedonism that makes me wonder if those dumb stories about mummies becoming hedonists in their sarcophagi that people made up in my native reality have some basis in truth, though I do recall a drawback that is built into this jump that makes everything a bit more "Adult". Beyond that I feel knowledge of her native language filling my head as we touch. A quirk of the "Troyverse Physiology" perk I attained back on Veiled Earth, though it never mattered back there.
I'm lost in thought when Arsinoe begins to undress me and pulls me back towards the sarcophagus. As soon as she closes the lid of the thing I snap back to the present and decide to embrace the moment, hungerily kissing her neck.
The next few hours are lost in a haze of pleasure. There's something about an undead person's stamina and the curious hedonism that infuses her that makes it hard for me, someone who wasn't enormously sexual in my native reality, to really focus when things get hot and heavy. It turns out that Arsinoe, like me, doesn't actually need to eat and so we lose track of time in the dark sarcophagus. Partway during this process I begin to sleep, though thanks to my powers I am able to hide this thanks to the darkness of the sarcophagus and I get a full night's rest in the space before we leave.
When Sunday rolls around a knock on Arsinoe's door distracts us, and when it happens again she exits the thing, closes it behind her, all while still naked, and opens the door. I overhear an annoyed Arsinoe talk to one of her minions, one I'm not familiar with, and I hear the minion gasp as she takes in the sight of the naked mummy. The minion asks her questions about homework and when she's done with the monster she closes the door and lets out a curious, irritated sound. She opens the lid of the sarcophagus and points for me to get out.
"Sorry, cutie. Class is calling for me. But we should do this again. I want to know more about you, and you are the best kisser I've ever met." She tells me, flashing me a sated look. I am not sated, but I sympathize with the notion that class is calling. I get dressed and bid her farewell before slipping out of her room.
Now armed with a cellphone I head to the library and get back to what I've been doing for a few days now: charging my grimoire with the texts in this setting. I explore the library for the full day, never once leaving it though I don't just absorb texts. I also write and send texts, the cellphone kind, texting Arsinoe, Ava, and Andrew. I stay in the library even as I sleep and some people notice what I'm doing but no one questions me. In a world like this where magic and technology coexist I am unsurprised that people are nonplussed watching a book like my grimoire grow more handy. By the time Sunday ends I've absorbed entire floors of texts from the library into my grimoire.
This marks the beginning of a short stint of jumper time that lasts from Sunday until Friday. During this time I continue to get near-perfect grades and I learn that students who finish a semester with all As get to be tutors of the material from that point on, so long as they agree to take occasional exams that show their qualifications to tutor and establish, and maintain, a record of actually helping students.
I spend my week splitting my social time, which I give myself some of every day, between workouts with Andrew who is excited for tryouts for various sports next week, Ava who is trying to learn to blend science and magic to be able to create flesh golems herself someday, and Arsinoe who is… Well, she's Arsinoe. During my time with Arsinoe I spend some of it befriending the lesser "Bees" who flit around her and are caught in her orbit, one of whom is a zombie but an awakened one with full intelligence and also a first year and another of whom is a witch.
Before I really realize it, it's Friday and I find myself heading to Professor Cranium's lab. It's tucked away at the end of the hallway my room is located in, and when I open the door at the end of the hall I am immediately blasted by a wave of energy that I study as it courses through me and I realize it's meant to lessen my powers. It doesn't work, as I do the equivalent of… passing a saving throw to shrug off the effects, but I make a mental note that such things exist here which can be annoying. I study the room curiously when I refocus on the present. Just ahead of me is a curiously large scientific laboratory inhabited by a single person.
A woman wearing thick goggles sits behind a curious gadget that looks like a laser cannon ripped out of a sci-fi movie. Smoking is wafting off of it and the woman waves at me. She is dressed in the sort of apron that someone working with clay might wear.
"Hello! Uh…" She says before looking down at a legal pad in front of her. She squints as she looks at it.
"You're Lalo! How exciting. Good job resisting my cannon." She tells me cheerily. She beckons for me to come in, and I do as she instructs. My coming to this school tuition free is contingent on me being a research subject for her studies. She is giving off mad scientist vibes.
"I'm Rachel Cranium. You can call me Professor Cranium. What can I call you?" She asks.
"Lalo, I guess. Was your gadget… supposed to work?" I ask her, and she lets out the sort of laughter I associate with the villains on Saturday morning cartoons.
"Yes! Yes it was. The fact that it didn't actually annoys me. But you're here, and you're responding to all of this quite well." She tells me, and I can hear a bit of the mask she's using crack just a little bit. There's a weird maniac-ness to her energy and I can tell she's off in a clinical way.
"Science, my dear Lalo, stops for no one," She tells me. "And in this special… Well, not class, but something else, science will study you. And I, like a good scientist, will roll with the punches delivered by your biology. Well you and the others who come. But you're the first to arrive here. And that's good. I love punctuality." She exclaims and at the thought of what makes her happy I can feel her energy calming down. She takes off her googles and smiles at me, allowing me to see that one of her eyes is dark red like the eyes of vampires in some fantasy art, and the other eye is a dark brown.
I walk into the room and telekinetically shut the door behind me with one of my hair-eye-stalks. Professor Cranium visibly brightens at this and takes notes on the action.
"Ah yes your first display of your abominable physiology. Telekinesis! Seemingly projected from your eyeball. Incredible stuff." She remarks, scribbling notes down notes in a curious notebook.
For a brief bit Professor Cranium's full attention is focused on me. She studies me methodically, asking for demonstrations of my beams. I oblige her before a few other students arrive. The others, with one exception; a centaur with the head and chest of a dragon, are living shapes and I immediately realize that I actually saw a few of them when I first checked in.
Professor Cranium is scatterbrained to an almost laughable extent and she is excitable, so the first research session comes and goes faster than I thought it would and before I know it she releases us. As we get ready to leave she promises that in time we'll do more research sessions. I actually have to remind her to tell us to check our emails for notices about future sessions, and as we leave she, clearly jokingly, offers to make me her research assistant but I don't mind the thought of it.
Once the research session is over jumper time begins in full. I develop a schedule that consists of me splitting time every week across my main friendships, with a healthy chunk of my time being given to my classes and studies. With my intellect none of my classes are difficult for me and while I get accosted every once in a while by bounty hunters before a full month at MUU passes I receive an email authorizing me to deal with the bounty hunters as I see fit because the university has determined that no official body is behind the bounty. From this point the bounty hunters I encounter get killed, though I immediately resurrect them afterwards and store them in my grimoire. In some cases this happens so quickly it's over and done before a bounty hunter has had time to identify themselves, but their bloodlust gives them away every time.
My friends pursue their passions and interests separately from me in much the same way as I pursue my passions and interests separately. I release the bounty hunters I have slain and resurrected from my grimoire and use them to start a business in Aegisville, the name of the city MUU is located in. They serve as muscle and as an employment agency for… Well for goons and blockheads; security work and the like. Their office is located in the slums of the city. They make decent money and I can save it all since none of them eat, sleep, or have other basic needs.
Andrew joins the local football, American, team. Ava begins to go to magic classes and is the first person to get tutoring by me as she has no natural inclination towards the magical arts, and Arsinoe continues to be a queen bee. She's studying politics, which feels right. Ava is a magic major. Andrew is a business major. Arsinoe's undead minion is studying engineering and the witch is studying alchemy which in this world is a crossdisciplinary field fusing what is essentially mundane chemistry with magical esoterica.
My first semester passes by relatively uneventfully, though I return to Ankoros from time to time and Arsinoe begins to drag me there to meet and hang out with her family, especially during long breaks. I meet a "Royal Necromancer" during one of these trips and I am surprised to find that the figure in question has an aesthetic almost identical to that of a garden variety goth kid back from Earth despite living in a fun, sun-filled paradise. He's quite nice though, he just dresses like one of the guys in makeup on an early 2000s emo music album.
My second semester begins with Arsinoe and I officially beginning to date though neither of us say anything about being exclusive. My grades were all in the high 90s for the entirety of my first semester and so I become a tutor after acing tests in every course I was in. My new schedule is not any more difficult, though I do devote less time to the business I quietly run off-campus to make up for my responsibilities as a tutor. I also don't move dorms, at least not for this semester, and in early March Professor Cranium officially asks me to become her research assistant.
I accept her offer as it does pay though only a small amount. I mostly do background work; organizing her notes, helping her stay on track during research sessions, and preparing templates to help her share her research with other professors and university officials.
It is late one night in April, towards the end of the semester, and I have just finished dismissing the other research subjects, as Rachel still insists she do research on me. The eldritch biologist looks particularly tired and yawns as she watches Emilio; the centaur-dragon close the door behind him.
"Science!" She says sleepily. I let out a quiet laugh and shake my head.