It wasn't lost on Francis that tracking the skeletons wasn't much different from what he used to do. It was all basic reconnaissance. “Too bad we don't have a drone.” he said as the skeleton and the pig it was dragging disappeared into a large stone building. Francis figured that was probably the slaughterhouse.

There wasn't any reason to go inside. Francis had no desire to see how the sausage was made. Besides, there was no knowing how these skeletons would react to him entering their space. There might be some badge of authority he needed to display to stop them from becoming hostile.

Then, there was another consideration. “I don't think they see me as a person,” Jack said. “I didn't get a breakfast tray this morning. Though, they did bring me a bowl of fresh water.”

Francis' brow furrowed. Were the skeletons racist?

In a way it wasn't that surprising, once he thought about it. The original builders were xenophobic. They hadn't considered the possibility of non-human guests when they programmed the servants. They probably had classified Jack as a pet or something. Which was both hilarious and terrible.

What had Willow said about inherent bias when making undead? And why did Francis suddenly understand that concept?

Congratulations! You have learned the skill Educated.

A grin spread across Francis' face. “Hot damn…” he whispered. “Jack, System gave me a level in ‘education’. I mean, ‘Educated’.”

“Interesting, I didn't know it could do that without spending points.” The dust hound frowned and silently dug through the interface. “Oh, I see it in the readme. Yeah, System can grant skill levels through a milestone system or create new ones. But it maxes out at two.”

“Still, that's pretty cool. I always wanted to be educated.” Francis brought himself back to the task at hand. It was mid morning and the weather was mild, but there was no reason to hang out in the sun getting skin cancer. “Let's get off the high road and post up in one of these buildings.”

“Why not?” Jack selected a two story structure with a patio out back overlooking the city. They found a spot in the shade and posted up. Francis was still getting used to the idea that guns weren't a thing here.

Francis had the feeling he was being watched, but Hades wasn't anywhere to be seen. He looked around, but didn't spot anything besides a hawk flying high overhead.

“Hey, Jack. When's the last time you saw a bird here?” Francis asked, remembering his vision. Usually they circled around to avoid the city.

“That one up above would be the first.” The dust hound replied without moving his head. “It's been hanging out for at least an hour.”

“Good to know.” Francis considered his options. Blasting the thing would be fun, but pointless. He didn't have anything going on right now worth hiding, so he decided to leave it. Better the bird he knew about than the bug he didn't.

Still, it gave the Marine an idea. “I wonder how it works,” he said, “I'd give someone's left nut for some good ISR capability.”

“Same.” Jack chuckled.

A blue box appeared with relevant information. Francis still had trouble understanding it, but it was a little easier than before. He didn't know if he should chalk that up to increasing familiarity or his new skill.

Summon Animal Spirit: 10 MP per minute.

Summon a spirit to take the form of a small animal under your control. It cannot interact with or move through objects, creatures, or terrain. The summoned spirit can follow simple instructions but cannot speak and is not intelligent.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

You can see, hear, feel, and smell through the senses of the summoned creature instead of your own as long as you are both on the same plane of existence.

A summoned spirit has 10 HP and a Deflect of 2. All summoned spirits can fly, walk, and swim. Summoned spirits can move up to 100 meters per minute.

All checks the summoned spirit tries to make use the stats and skills of the caster.

The summoned spirit can be identified as magical by certain abilities. Creatures will notice the summoned spirit is unnatural if it behaves oddly or does not belong in the area.

Francis was looking forward to trying out his new toy. But not when he was being observed by an unknown person.

Jack pointed at the building. “Our guy is on the move again. Same skeleton, or at least it looks like the same one.”

The Marine sent Willow another update and they began to walk along the high road. That was what Francis had started calling the wide black road that spiraled up the mountain. He thought it was interesting how it continued outward at a uniform rate, even once the land flattened out at the base of the mountain. It terminated in a ring road that ran alongside the city’s double walls.

There were smaller streets someone could cut through. The same way there were stairs a person could take if they needed a more direct path up the mountain. But the skeleton they were following didn't go down any of them.

It probably made them easier to program, he realized. The skeletons would walk down the black spiral, turn right when they hit the ring road, then right again when they rejoined the spiral. Except this time, they would be walking on the other side of the road.

As skeletons woke up looking for things to do, they would join the endless march of bone along the black road. The basic undead drones might not even have specialized jobs, he realized. They would simply walk until someone told them what to do. Or maybe they had a counter that told them to return to base once they reached a certain amount of uninterrupted loops.

Francis told Jack his theory as they watched the skeleton walk along the spiraling road. The surge of undead was dying down, making it easier to track their target. Actually, now that he thought about it, the way the buildings were laid out didn't obstruct his view all that much. That was probably by design. They tended to be wide and long instead of tall.

“Well,” Jack cocked his head to the side as the skeleton made a right turn at the outer ring road, “Looks like he's going for another loop… wait a second.” He looked up at the sky.

“What?” Francis asked.

“The bird is gone.” The dust hound sniffed the air. “And I think we have company incoming.”

“Fuck.” Francis swore as he looked around and noticed a strange shimmer coming through the air towards him. He grabbed Jack by the back of his robes and cast Teleport.

They materialized inside of a house overlooking the road. Francis waited, listening intently, but not looking out the window yet. He didn't want to give their position away. Jack recovered his balance after the unexpected teleportation and cocked an ear.

“Willow! Chuck! We're near the bottom of the mountain road, Jack thinks we have enemies inbound. Be on the lookout for bad guys, and come help if you can.” Francis sent a mental message.

“Oh, don't you worry,” Chuck said through the link. “Horseface and I are on our way to you. Willow, Shiv, and Julia are with us.”

“Thanks, partner.” Francis smiled as he heard the sound of swearing from below. He took a quick look. Humanoid figures in leather armor with green hoods covering their faces shouted and swore as their invisibility spells wore off. He counted two dozen of them before he got a headache and had to stop.

“We got a little under thirty assholes playing Robinhood down below us. I say hit them hard before whatever spell they were using recharges,” the Marine said.

“Sounds fun. I'll take the right side, you take the left. We sweep towards the middle. On my mark?”

Francis nodded in agreement and they took up positions. He could only target seven of them at the same time unless he used an area of effect spell. That meant it was time to put the ‘fire’ in ‘firefight’.

Jack counted them off. “Three, two, one, go...”

Both of them launched their spells at once, surprising the attackers down below. Francis hit ten of them who were clustered together with his Inferno and followed up immediately with Life Drain. Jack’s magic sent a wave of cracking purple energy that leaped from target to target.

Ten seconds later they were all dead. “God damn! I love that spell.” Francis’ face flushed red as the wave of stolen life energy washed over him. It was like Christmas and the Fourth of July all bundled into one. He could get used to this.

An arrow flicked past his ear and Francis ducked into cover. “How many more of these assholes are there?”

Jack sniffed the air. “Conservative estimate? About fifty.” He clapped his hands together and a rapidly expanding sphere of purple energy exploded out from him, making the air smell like ozone. It didn't hurt, but several startled shouts echoed out around the house. “Make that fifty-six.”

Francis did some math. He didn't have enough juice to torch that many. The Marine relayed the information to Chuck and Willow. He was cursing himself for not taking the time to train with Jack.

The dust hound didn't seem concerned. He cracked his neck from side to side and smiled, casting an unfamiliar spell on both of them. “What do you say we go out and introduce ourselves?”

Francis laughed. “Sounds like fun. Follow my lead.”

He didn't know who these assholes were, or how they got into the city. But they had him outnumbered and surrounded. “Those poor bastards.” Francis said as he adjusted his grip on Relativity and charged out the door.