The next day passed fast and without any deadly encounters. I had planned to move deeper into the forest, but my slowly recovering health is weighing heavily on my mind. And as much as I’m ashamed to admit, this shabby arrangement that I took for a ‘camp’ is somewhat comfortable, at least when compared with using some random tree. Sorry, Mom and Dad, I’m not living up to your teachings.

Fortunately, after a day of resting and some light exercising, my health went up to 50. Even though is not maxed up, I can live with it, or so I hope. Then, after another night of good sleep, I finally resumed my journey towards the heart of these woodlands. My new company is surprisingly keeping up with my speed. I guess not tiring does wonders for a march in the woods. Still, I expected a slower speed considering its weight while living; the bones seemed pretty heavy.

Another discrepancy that I noticed is the sharp decrease in the purple energy – I swear the skeleton’s movements look more brittle than yesterday. It’s still moving, so I’m not stopping. Though, I might have to think of a solution, or else I’ll lose my best weapon. Maybe I could try to re-summon it somehow.

By noon, we managed to cover a good section of the woods, so we get to stop and take some needed rest. Carrying the extra 50 kg of smoked meat turned out to be unexpectedly easy. Yet, not my achievement since I just packed it all into my boar skeleton – Its ribcage made for a perfect container. I figured: why not use it for transportation? Either way, the undead wasn’t complaining. It might become a problem during a fight, though.

It’s time for lunch! Which now means eating lots of meat and whatever water I can get from the nearby plants. On that, I should probably find a better solution for my hydration. Maybe travel by the river, or at least collect more water from it. Another note for my list of unexpected things, which seems to be growing infinitely. Of these ‘casual’ problems, my stomachache has been the most irritating one. Back in the village, I was used to eating beast’s meat, but only so often. It’s obvious that I shouldn’t be eating so much suddenly, but it’s not like I have an option.

Before I can ponder more about my woes and dietary challenges, I hear a familiar angry cry. Great… another boar. The beast didn’t stay hidden for long. The noise and movement over a nearby bush soon give place to the attacker. The beast came directly at me, tough head ready to crush me down. In instinct, I stare intently at the boar, which brings up its information in my sight.

Lesser Boar L6

“Attack!” It’s the only order I manage to issue through my panicky reactions.

The boar continued its path toward me, unbothered by anything else. I won’t have enough time to escape! Still, I force my body to dodge aside with all my energy into the move. I brace for the impact, instinctively reaching for the knife strapped on my belt, and… The beast is pushed out of its course by all the sturdiness of the cranial bones of my undead.

I see a bone falling from the skeleton, but it continues crushing with the beast. Fear of being alone again spreads through my body making me grip the knife tighter and prompting me to enter the fight. I hesitate, but reason also advocates for me to attack. The difference in levels will surely count in favor of the boar, and once my skeleton is destroyed, I’ll be left to fend for myself. So, I dash forward, knife ready – thankfully I remembered to sharpen it last night.

I take a few seconds to reach the scuff, which is just enough for me to locate a small but open wound in the boar. I know I can’t break its hide with only this knife, so the opening is my chance. I launch the first attack, which doesn’t hit the mark and leaves me stumbling awkwardly to the side of the boar and skeleton. Damn, its attention is on me now. The beast turns, ignoring the ‘bony-but’ attacks, and runs my way.

“Get some momentum then crush the beast!” I scream a command while standing up and praying for my undead to understand. I’m taking a cue from the first boar’s attack. Accumulating momentum and focusing it in one attack.

Fortunately, my skeleton seemed to understand, taking a second to start its sprint toward the boar. Again, I brace myself for the incoming attack while trying to dodge. The boar gets to me, but at the same time, a crushing attack comes from my undead taking it off its course. I fall because of the impact and it hurts, but I think nothing broke this time. Still holding the knife, I no longer hesitate. Without any fancy moves, I just run to the boar, which is struggling to get free from the bony foe, squat, and start to stab it madly in an area where it’s wounded.

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The beast squeals and try to get away. I struggle too, trying to ignore the pain from the previous injury on my back. My undead continues to attack and press the beast down. It’s not pretty, but we manage to pin it down. Then, I feel the familiar pleasant relief that should come from additional health and mana– My mana was already maxed out before the fight, which means I should have leveled up and increased my capacity.

My undead stood in an odd anticipation, staring at me. I felt our connection deepen together with a tug from its side as if it was asking for something. I frown and stare back. It’s missing two bones, one from its skull and another from the back. I look around and spot the bony pieces. Following one of my ‘creative’ ideas, I gather the bones and place them on the skeleton, and… nothing happens. I’m missing something here.

In a frustrated and intuitive attempt, I push something that feels like my mana into the bone pieces. The undead accepts the ‘offering’, and the energy floods into it. The purple magic finds its way into the cracks and ‘mends’ the broken pieces, but it doesn’t stop at that. My mana is drained as the purple energy reinforces the decaying joints, and further strengthens the bones. Then, I feel my undead changing, which prompts me to investigate its stats.

Lesser Skeleton L3

My skeleton… evolved. A dozen questions and theories appear in my mind. I tried to calm down and organize my thoughts. First theory, the previous decay could probably be fixed with mana, but I need to confirm if it’s dependent on the skeleton leveling up. Second theory, like me, my skeleton levels up when killing enemies. Third theory, my undead needs to absorb a certain quantity of mana to level.

Unfortunately, I hadn’t been paying attention to my mana while I fed it to the skeleton, so I can’t say how much mana ‘fixing’ it and leveling take. Though, I can check the cost of everything.

CLASS

NECROMANCER

LEVEL

3

HEALTH

50 (70)

MANA

8 (30)

SKILLS

BRINK OF DEATH

YOU CAN BRING YOURSELF FROM THE BRINK OF DEATH (X).

COST: HALF OF YOUR TOTAL HEALTH (PERMANENT)

RAISE SKELETON

SUMMON AN UNDEAD FROM THE BONES OF A DEAD BEING (I).

Cost: 10 mana and 5 health.

Neat! So, I leveled up too, which doesn’t answer the question of whether my undead it’s leveling on its own or following my level. The extra health and mana capacity is very welcomed, though. No new skills, so ‘mending’ and ‘leveling’ the skeleton should be sub-functions of either my class or the skill.

Now, what really surprised me was the small decrease in health. I was expecting to be at 40-something, even without breaking anything. Before the fight, I was at 55, which means that I only lost 10 points. Of course, that is reliant on my health gain being the same 5 points as last time. I’m pretty sure the ‘feeling’ was at the same intensity as last time, so it should be 5 or a close value. I wonder if my killing gains are the same for every beast or if it goes up with their levels. I should really try to keep better track of the numbers.

Some nearby movement interrupted my thoughts – this is getting annoyingly common. However, this time, it wasn’t a beast. I heard human voices approaching.