While I had decided to enhance a simple chicken skeleton I still invested a few resources to create a bone enhancement potion. I could brew it myself, which would save some money. I could even get some credit for it in my alchemy class. Did I need to enhance all bones? Maybe it would be enough to strengthen the part I wanted to reinforce.

The next day I was in the lab in the evening, creating the potion. Cassie was here as well working on her own project. I could hear the occasional laughter from her. But so far nothing had exploded.

“So, what are you going to enhance?” I heard a voice right behind me. I almost dropped the flask in my hand. I turned around, Cassie had left her station and was peeking at my work. I had not noticed her coming over.

“You surprised me, I almost dropped that flask!” Then I noticed the bubbling cauldron which produced a lot of fumes. I pointed at her station. “Uhm, is it fine to leave your experiment like that?”

“It’s fine, the mixture is supposed to do that! And the vents will take care of the fumes.” She said.

I shrugged. “You are the expert. So, I was thinking of improving the beak and just adding some death mana to it. Keep it simple, do my homework and then experiment on something bigger when I have the time.”

“You are not going to add water mana?” She asked.

“Maybe I will do a bit of experimenting…” I admitted.

I heard a crunching sound. I looked towards the bones I had brought. Nyx had her head inside the sack.

“Nyx! Stop it, I need them for my homework!” I shouted.

She did leave the sack but there was still a bone sticking from her mouth. She looked at me while she chewed.

“If you don’t behave you can’t come to the lab with me.” I told her. She looked at the sack, then at me. It looked like she decided to behave, for now. Nyx stretched and walked over to my station, then jumped on it and examined my work.

Suddenly I heard sizzling.

“Oh crap!” Cassie shouted and ran towards her station. She started dumping things into her potion while furiously stirring. “No problem, I got this!” She said.

My own project was far less volatile. Basic enhancements for undead were not that difficult to create. They just took some time. Cassie found them boring but she did have a talent for alchemy and loved experimenting. And exploding things.

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Nyx ‘helped’ by sleeping on the ingredients I needed and shoving things around with her paw. She did not throw anything off the table, which was good. After a while I had my potion and could start my actual homework, enhancing a skeleton.

I stayed in the same lab. The bones were already cleaned. For my first skeleton I applied the potion to the beak. Hm. Was that enough? I decided to go for the entire head. Chickens were small so I did not need much.

I had my necromancy textbook with me and rechecked the instructions. When I cast the spell to animate the skeleton I pushed some additional mana into it while mentally focusing on the part where I wanted it to go. Targeting only the beak was hard. The mana flooded the entire head. I tried pushing in more towards the beak.

The head exploded. Small shards of bone flew everywhere. I was a bit scratched but not really hurt. I guess I could use this to practice the water heal…

“You go girl! I always thought necromancy was boring but you are making it fun. Is it not more exciting if things explode?” Cassie cheered.

“I could do without bone splinters in my face and hair…” I said.

“Pfft! That is just the sign of fun experimentation!” Cassie insisted. She gave me a thumbs up and focused on her potion again.

Nyx was already chewing on the remains of the failed experiment. At least I did not have to worry about disposing of the remains.

For my next try I used less mana. I was unable to focus it truly into the beak but I did get more mana into the head. The result was an undead chicken skeleton with a darker head that emitted some black smoke.

“Hm.” I studied my creation.

Cassie walked over to inspect it as well. “Looks… sinister. Can you do that to the Iron Beaks? What does it do?”

“It’s sort of a small necrotic aura, I think. Anything inside the smoke will wilt… slowly.” I explained.

“How slowly? Can I put my finger in there?” She asked.

“It should be fine.” I answered.

Cassie poked the skeleton. Then she frowned. “It’s itching slightly, that’s it.”

“So it is mostly a visual change.” I concluded. “It might be enough for my homework but it is disappointing…”

“You still have more skeletons. Uh, can I borrow one? I have a potion to test! Well, once it’s finished. I have a good feeling about this!” She smiled.

“Sure.” I said. Cassie was already rushing back to her cauldron.

I tried a few more things. Once I succeeded in enhancing only the beak… It exploded. I tried enhancing the feet as well. My best try resulted in some tiny ice claws. I even managed to combine the ice claws with the smoking head. It had to do, for now.

Nyx was happily eating all the failed experiments. Even some successful ones. Of course my final creation was spared. So was my first, the smoking head chicken. I kept it for Cassie’s potion.

She completed her experiment without any explosions and poured her creation into small bottles. Then she walked towards me with one.

“Can I try it?” She asked.

I cleared the area around the test chicken. I made sure my homework was further away, and safe. Even Nyx took a few steps back.

“Go ahead.” I said.

Cassie threw the bottle next to the undead chicken. There was a small explosion and a cloud of red mist formed. The bones inside the cloud began to smoke.

“What is that?” I asked.

“Incendiary cloud!” Cassie said. “It briefly creates a small cloud that burns anything within. It’s cool, right?”

I looked back at the chicken. The bones caught fire and the undead collapsed.

“It looks pretty strong…” I said.

“You could stop it with a water shield. But it is great against most living things! The biggest downside is the small size. And it’s stationary. You could just run out before you catch fire.” Cassie explained.

The cloud did not last long. A pile of charred bones remained. Nyx sniffed them, then walked away. It looked like we had to clean this up ourselves.