My Necromancer Class

Waking up next to a lamp in a dark cave, it startled as he found himself surrounded by three skeletons, though he realized they were his own minions as he woke up.

How long was I out for… he wondered, looking at his arm. The wound was still tender, but his left arm was functionally fine.

Checking his HP, it had recovered to 57. Jay wasn't sure what his health regeneration was at, but based on the dryness of his pants, he was out for a few hours.

Grabbing a stone, he threw it into the darkness, splashing into the lake as it triggered the entire lake to light up once more.

Jay sat there for a moment, captivated by the shallow lake once more, as he slowly woke up.

Hmm. It was late when I left Losla. I've got to do a dungeon with Mark and Kel tomorrow… Jay looked at his skeletons, still guarding him.

I probably shouldn't risk using the skeletons… oh.. I guess they would see my class if we were at a party.

Shaking his head, Jay decided. ... I'm just going to 'forget'. They'll be leaving with the military troops in a day or two anyway, so maybe I won't even see them again, and they'll forget me. I should probably say goodbye, but… oh well.

Jay felt a little sad as he detached himself emotionally, but he reasoned they had only met a few times briefly and they probably wouldn't even remember him anyway.

With a sigh, Jay grabbed his dagger and stood up while getting his skeletons into formation again - two in the front, another carrying a lamp at Jay's side.

Walking through the winding crevasse, more of the bluish crystals periodically dotted the walls and ground. Dimly glowing back when the lamp went past, they were creating a faint glowing trail behind him.

Suddenly, the two skeletons at the front pounced into the darkness ahead. Jay stopped raising his buckler and then crept forward.

He heard a whelp from the darkness.

Another silt-wolf, he thought.

Just as the skeleton's fighting came into view, a glow came from Jay's right side. Feeling the ambient mana being sucked into the glowing light, goosebumps went up Jay's back as he sensed danger.

Stepping behind the skeleton at his side, Jay snatched the lamp and raised his buckler in the light's direction.

Peering over his buckler, Jay looked at the glowing light as three folds of flesh opened up to reveal the bright light, an undulating orb gathering mana. Suddenly, the ball of light began to wildly contract, the light getting brighter - then suddenly it exploded. A pulse wave released, a golden sphere of light expanded, washing over the minions and going through their bodies before hitting Jay.

[-10]

[Debuff resisted][Debuff Resisted]

The pulse had no physical effect on anything as it passed right through his buckler, but mentally Jay felt like they punched his brain. His hearing was ringing. The mental shock was so great that he passed out for half a second and woke up while hitting the ground.

The skeleton by his side had already rushed over to stab at whatever the light was.

Jay's vision was blurry as he looked up, trying to make sense of his situation while his brain felt scrambled - two minions were fighting a silt wolf, while another was frantically stabbing at something in the dark - whatever emitted the mental attack.

Not willing to take any risks, Jay activated his bone ring to give him more defense as he retreated to the cave entrance. If a silt wolf wanted to grab him now, it would have to make it through the floating bones, exploding unstable teeth and a freshly re-summoned level two minion.

It took little time for the silt wolf to die; the new ossein swords proving again to be far deadlier, their wide blades causing so much damage that they almost disabled parts of the wolf's body during the fight because of the massive holes and gashes.

[200 Exp]

Without a sound, it died, falling to the ground as the glow from the unknown creature was starting again.

The two feeble creatures rushed over to stab at it - whatever it was. Stabbing and slashing noises sounded while Jay waited patiently, looking at the intensity of the glow as he stood near the entrance, ready to take cover behind layers of stone in case another mana pulse was about to go off.

The light grew bright once more, yet this time something different happened. The pulse was physical. An orb of red expanded, a thicker wave traveled a shorter distance compared to the golden one. The cave walls seemed to tremble, sending the minions flying into them.

This pulse didn't travel through objects, so it didn't injure Jay, who was hiding, but he had other concerns as he looked up.

He could only hold his breath while looking up into the darkness above, as if looking up would stop a rock from killing him as he held his buckler above his head.

The minions had dropped their weapons from the force of the physical pulse, some of which were now lodged into the walls nearby.

The minions fell off the wall and stood up, returning to the formation Jay had them in previously. Three swords were missing. Jay sent out his creatures, each with one sword to finish the monster, yet they didn't bother to move. Apparently the creature was dead or escaped - though Jay couldn't tell in the darkness.

Did it suicide? he wondered, I didn't get any exp… he thought, raising a curious brow.

With a resigned expression, Jay had his minions search for their swords. Only two were recovered. Apparently, the monster escaped with a sword embedded in it.

Furrowing his brows, Jay upgraded another skeleton with better bones using the new silt-wolf's corpse.

"Come here," he said, a white-bone minion approaching.

Jay grabbed the ossein swords from it and un-summoned, adding its bones back into the ring as he cast summon on the silt wolf before retreating to cover.

The new feeble creature that awaited him was a little different - its bones were still cobalt-blue, but it had specks of red in them.

Hmm… probably was eating different colored rocks? Jay considered, guessing as he named it "You're Red. Literally red, but that's also your name now." he chuckled to himself before turning to the other one "And you're…" Jay thought about naming it something stupid like 'brown', almost laughing before he could finish his sentence, but realizing it could be confusing later on, he decided to be logical.

"Blue." he smiled, "Red and Blue."

Looking at the one skeleton he had left that wasn't upgraded "For you, we'll have to wait till we can see the next bone's colors." he shrugged, picking up three more metal plates from the wolf's corpse.

Jay went over to inspect the area the mana pulse came from. As he neared, there was a ring of dust and soil that had been blown out, while no blood appeared to stain the ground.

Must be another silt wolf type, thought Jay as he deconstructed the information. Hopefully we can kill it next time. He squinted with revenge, looking around the cave.

Sitting on the ground, Jay pulled out some cobalt-blue bones and formed three more ossein swords, one as a replacement for the missing one, and two more for emergencies.

He had plenty of bones to make daggers, but few blue bones left; He could make swords from the normal bones, too, but they wouldn't be as strong. Still needing at least one more silt wolf to fully upgrade his party, he still wanted many more for future weapons, as well as the possibility of an emergency re-summoning.

I guess since I'm planning to ditch Mark and Kel, I can stay longer. Thought Jay as he looked towards a cave entrance on the other side, seeing some crystals glowing. Whatever went past here caused them to glow, Jay reasoned, beginning his hunt.

***

"Hold the ladder steady," Devin said, pulling the Snake raven sign off its hooks.

"I'm holding it" Tamara looked up at her dad awkwardly, as she firmly gripped the ladder.

Hearing a carriage coming, she saw Bertram coming.

"He's back, dad, the rich guy."

"Good. His patronage will keep us going for months. Here, grab the sign."

Grabbing the sign off her dad, Tamara took it inside just as Bertram pulled up.

"Hello, you're not closing, are you?"

"No, no, just cleaning the sign."

"Wonderful. Same deal as last night, please." Bertram smiled, thinking of the juicy steaks he indulged on in the previous few nights.

Devin nodded, "See you inside. Same price." as he picked up the ladder, going through a gate on the side of the inn, taking the ladder with him. I'm gonna need some more food, he thought as he brushed his mustache with his fingers.

Hmm, I'll need to tell Tamara that the official excuse for taking the sign down is for cleaning. We don't need to risk offending the soldiers.

Devin was closing the inn while the soldier troops visited for collection in the next few days, knowing that they would likely cause trouble with Tamara. It was well-known what soldiers did to people they considered peasants, and no one with enough authority to punish soldiers would care about some innkeeper's daughter in a distant, worthless village.

"They can stay in their tents. They're soldiers, after all." Devin reasoned as he went inside, waiting for Bertram at the counter.

***

"So, you think it was the boy?" Viladore asked.

"Yes. The bandit's corpse was killed similarly to the forest beasts." Sullivan replied, taking a sip from a silver goblet.

"I see… I'll have him show me one of his skeletons the next time I train him."

"Thanks, Viladore. I'll come to watch next time. I've never battled a necromancer in all my travels."

"Count it as a blessing that you have never crossed one. That boy's leveling up fast, and with no help either. Even Anya can't keep up," Viladore sighed. "Seems like the mystery of the forest is ending. Your men will be happy with reduced patrols." He looked out the window over Losla, taking a sip from his own goblet.

"Indeed." Sullivan agreed, taking another sip while gazing at the glowing torches of patrols working their way through the village. "I don't want the military soldiers to find out about the incidents. Tell the men to keep quiet. Make sure they know these are my orders, and I'll be watching. If you have any other concerns, report to Michael." Sullivan said.

His voice still sounded as smooth as silk, yet with the power of an army behind it.

"I will." Viladore replied this time directly into Sullivan's mind, "Any news of the ingredients I needed?"

"The association hasn't replied. We can only wait." Sullivan shook his head. "Just keep training the students, blow nothing up, and I won't pry into your research or experiments."

"Mm, I see. I will, thanks." Viladore had a pessimistic expression as he finished the rest of the wine in his goblet, setting it down on the large wooden desk in Sullivan's office. "Hopefully they reply soon." he added as he left the room.