Chapter Eleven

A rumbling weight on Harmony's chest woke her. "Hyacinth, you're too big for this. And are you purring?"

"Grrr-oak" he grumbled, and Harmony felt the chastisement through their link.

She focused on the shadow toad. Purring was inaccurate because Hyacinth wasn't vibrating. Inside, he worked on his version of [Mana Rotation], and what miffed the maid was that the Toad was doing it better. Smoother flows and tighter spirals allowed information and mana to spin in condensed eddies of power easily accessible for the Toad's skills. The purring she felt was his movement against her movement through [Familiar Bond]. Hyacinth had mastered his flow enough to show Harmony how to do it better.

"Show off."

The Toad hopped off with smug satisfaction, allowing Harmony to sit up.

A quick application of her morning ritual, this time careful not to overdo it like last time, and she felt almost like new. After the dungeon quake, an effort was made not to get too drunk. Tyler, she had to drag back to the lodge. Even now, she could hear his drunken snores.

She donned the pants and shirt she had worn to visit The Dig Boys. Tyler could complain that she wasn't in uniform after he pulled his ass out of bed. By then, she hoped to have acquired the last skill. Digging up the small red gem, she went to the meditation spot on the grounds.

Do you wish to learn the skill [High Kick]?

She expected this to go similarly to how she learned [Small Armor]. Still, she was more than a little nervous after the mana skill experience. The time in the dungeon club had made it clear how much a lack of combat skills hurt her, worse, limited her. Now was her opportunity to get the most from this little red gem. With that push of commitment, the crystal started to turn, and Harmony took control.

Be it gathering the swirling of fine dust, perfectly matching hair color, or how she masked her feelings, the maid always prided herself in control. So she slowed the flow of information into her using her experience from the last two skill stones. As the first fleck of energy and knowledge of the skill touched her soul, it got pulled into the rotating maelstrom that was now her soul. She pulled it like a thread off a sweater, unraveling it back into a pile of yarn.

[High Kick] was an evolved skill. How to stand, move and apply force, a style of fighting that uses one's legs to create space or quickly close in on opponents before bringing your body's power through your legs into them. Synergies with [Style and Grace], [Poise and Bearing], and [Small Armor] refined movements. [Small Armor] defensively picking the right moment, while [High Kick] was about striking hard. Bits of anatomical information that were part of [Manipulate Dead] also found their way as she digested the skill. The easiest ways to break bones and the most damaging points to hit.

The Necromancer learned it all as the thread of energy spiraled into her system. It touched the spot where the skill would form. It was like taking that yarn she'd unraveled and designing a new, sturdier shirt where synergies supported the connections. But the activation was a penultimate attack, a lightning-quick kick supported by the weight of the power behind the strike. Aimed to break, kill, and destroy more than most kicks would. Allowing one to shoot up and snap that kick out against foes that could loom above their prey and show those opponents that it isn't the size that matters but the force of the strike you can bring.

Through her bond with Hyacinth, she felt a strong approval from the vicious cat-eating beast. More than that, the feeling had the image of a thunderous roaring croak. The crystallization of that skill into her soul made her feel more powerful and confident than any other skill she'd adapted to.

Harmony giggled at the imagery.

"So you've learned the skill?"

She opened her eyes to Tyler in front of her, a little too close and a little too eager. The active violence of her skill urged her to lash out. Unruly mood changes at the absorption of a new skill were something she handled and tamped down on that feeling.

"Yes, my lord. I've learned the final skill. Thank you for the generous gifts." Even as she spoke, she could feel passive aggression in her voice. have to work harder on that.

"Great!" Tyler said excitedly, oblivious to his maid's tone. "Come try it out on one of the dummies. I'd hoped we'd have the delivery of the armor by now, but I have to see this."

Three dummies on posts waiting in a corner, one four-legged, about the size of a wolf, another a man, and the final one a hulking form that stood twice the height of Tyler. Representations of generic monsters one might face in a dungeon. They looked pristine, but Harmony knew that was only because self-repairing magic worked into them. They'd probably survived for hundreds of years, taking thousands of beatings from the low-level lords and ladies who trained here. They were a far cry from the straw and wooden dummies the local gyms kept in bulk to practice their skills on.

Harmony stood before the giant one. At twice the height of Tyler, she felt like the monstrosity's wooden height was closer to three times that of her diminutive form. From the insights she gained from her skill, this was the type of opponent the activation was targeted to defeat. That didn't make it any less imposing, even while it sat as a motionless dummy in front of her.

[High Kick]. A quick bend at the knees and the skill-assisted push launched her up in the air toward the dummy. Her right leg kicked back and swung, cartwheeling from her hip, sending Harmony's body into a spin. After all that practice dealing with the feeling of [Mana Rotation], the sudden shift in her movement was nothing as she watched her kick land at the neck of the dummy. The wood splintered and cracked at the blow.

Flicking her foot forward, she pushed off backward, completing a tumble back to create distance before she landed on her feet. She felt disappointed at the results.

It was an attack that barely crossed the energy threshold needed to activate it, and the maid hadn't used any synergies to try to add to the force. She couldn't even see the blow now that she was back on the ground but remembered the small dent and splintering. There was a surrealness of using the skill for the first time. Going from someone who only knew the basics of fighting to someone who could now kick ass in such an acrobatic manner was a moment that defied reflection.

Tyler started clapping.

Harmony was sure he was mocking her, and she had to cool off the urge for violence. The skill pulsed in frustration that it hadn't split the thing in two or sent it clattering to the training ground floor. She was a necromancer, a spell caster. Running in and kicking stuff to death, let alone being disappointed at not doing it more and harder, wasn't how she worked. There shouldn't be frustration.

Was this one of the flaws Len had mentioned about Carter's schema? Was the skill so unfit for her in a way that she'd ruined her future progression? Was this the result of the skill being more advanced, or how she focused on carefully absorbing it all and not just the simple attack?

When Tyler's large hand rested on her shoulder, she flinched, not out of fear but to keep herself from lashing out and kicking the tank. Doubts gnawed at her, but she felt satisfied that she was still in control.

"Those things are incredibly tough to damage. It's amazing a weaponless skill was able to do so much. And that spin. I can't wait to see you in your full armor kicking off with that skill!"

The innocent eagerness of that statement made her feel that the lord wasn't lying. It wasn't like she was trying her best or putting everything into the strike. Hurting yourself with a combat skill activation was rare, but it was her foot and not a sword that she stabbed into the hunk of wood. She'd been slightly worried about her feet in her soft shoes, but they felt fine.

The new skill in her blazed with a hunger to unleash [High Kick] again, this time with full force. There was some logic in seeing exactly what she could do with it. But just because she hasn't hurt herself now with the weakest activation didn't mean she couldn't damage herself at her strongest. The skill didn't feel rational in its desire for violence, and hurting herself before getting what she needed for the scroll would put the dungeon dive at risk. And at the very least, she could see how well she adapted to the underlying skill it evolved from before leaning into her new activation. All reasonable excuses in the face of the edge of fear around the new part of herself. "Hopefully, I won't need to use it much."

"But it looks so awesome!" Tyler replied.

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Urge to kick resisted again. "If I need to use the skill on our run, something would have gone wrong. With this dungeon, I'm better off using my necromancer skills at close range if it comes to that against the undead. Maybe if we do a run at a different dungeon."

She read the disappointment plastered onto his face.

"Okay, can you tell me what [Mana Rotation]'s active skill is? Then I can submit the info to the record books."

Because it didn't feel the same as her other skills in the way it was always present, she'd forgotten it had an active ability. She activated [Mana Rotation], and internally everything rushed quicker, making her body warm. Externally her senses expanded to feel how mana was flowing in the world. Knotted flows in the golems moved slowly. The large one she had struck had some internal damage, but it was getting corrected as the tool repaired itself.

Tyler had a ball in his chest that thumped irregularly, sending ripples in his body. Harmony grasped at the words for this new view of everything. She remembered he'd mentioned he had a [mana heart] Skill. "It's a kind of mana sight."

"Damn. I was hoping it would be a manipulation skill.

Harmony hadn't even played around with it. Still, she didn't feel the tugging or pushing sensations people had when they were lucky enough to get [mana drain] or [mana manipulation]. The rushing inside her waited at high speed. "I think it also makes my next skill usage stronger or easier."

She activated [Dust] on the dirt of the ground. No synergies. No tricks. A thick cloud of dirt pulled off the ground and shot to the far side of the training area, hovering for five seconds until she could no longer hold it.

Even Tyler's eyes widened at the sight. "Empowerment. That's almost as good. Not epic, but certainly rare and sought after. Though. I'm unsure why something with rotation in the name would have that skill attribute."

"I don't know," Harmony said while having some ideas she mentally packed away to think about later. He had enough information for the records, and there was no need to encourage him to have her be an object of study for him. Let alone expose some flaws in her thinking due to her lack of education. As well as meeting Len had gone, even drunk, he'd said things that she didn't have the context for.

"How much more powerful would you say the skill-boosting was?"

[Mana Rotation] and its churning had already altered enough of her skills that she didn't know what the new base of them was. Thibodeux's promotion of quick and repeatable base skill usage was helpful for this kind of analysis. She appreciated some of his ideas. He broke it up into low, middle, and high-activated states. Or as he liked to call it, playing with little, medium, and big fireballs. For her, it was more than just how much whiskey you poured into the fire. It's also not like the manor paid her to do anything more than clean and help make them more beautiful.

"Maybe with some more practice time, I could figure it out for you, my lord." Hunger reared its head inside her. Causing Harmony to mentally inquire with Hyacinth through their bond about how long it had taken her to absorb that skill stone. The image of the Toad using its tongue to snap up a spiny borrower and two unusually large squirrels between naps came through. A vision so clear that she knew her new skills had altered the bond between them some.

"Perhaps we could find a bit of a break for a meal first? I fear I haven't eaten since this morning." The maid added.

Harmony watched him pause as the idea of food clearly had slipped his mind. He'd missed meals before, often entering a fixation about some new toy or thought. She'd had to bring his food down to him a few times. It usually ended up being one of the easier ways to peruse his books while he was eating or obsessing. "Oh, of course. Do you want to go out again?"

"The pantry here will do." As appealing as it was to not be alone with Tyler. She knew he'd take her to some place where she'd stick out like a sore thumb even if she had anything to wear. She was re-using the dusty pants and shirt she'd worn to the gym because her dress was still stained and smelling of booze, death, and bodies from the over-exuberance at the Dungeon Club. This left her with only her maid outfit as something clean, which wasn't even appropriate for the job it was made for, never mind most public places.

Food did wonders as she shoved a bite of bread with butter and cheese into her mouth. It even helped with the violent urges from her new skill. Kicking Lord Tyler might satisfy her, but she knew the feeling was unfair towards him, after all, he did to help her with the dungeon dive. If all that happened out of their favor for a favor exchange was getting the levels and crafting materials needed for the create undead pet scroll, she knew she'd have the better end of the deal.

The skill stones seemed better than any low-cost ones she might have been able to acquire in the future. That didn't even include the armor that should be coming. She knew it would behoove her to feel grateful for it.

The maid was more than a little curious about what it would be and how well it would fit her skills, new and old. She'd read examples of necromancers using bone armor they could manipulate defensively. Admittedly, it was in a romance novel, and the skill was the villains, but it seemed like an interesting idea.

Both [Small Armor] and [High Kick] craved something that wouldn't restrict her movements much, sturdy leather with metal or bone plates sewn in. Of course, [Beautician] wanted something tasteful. Considering that skills had no issue with her work uniform, she knew it didn't care about practicality.

"You said the armor I'll be taking into the dungeon will arrive today?"

"It's a little late. It was supposed to arrive this morning, but the craftsmen I have working on it left a letter saying they were doing the finishing touches. I'm expecting it any moment."

It was a little surprising when he didn't pull out some old or unique armor from his collection, but then she guessed he would rather not give any more prized possessions up. "It should work with my new skills?"

"It will be perfect. While I picked skills that haven't been recorded before. The armor influenced my choices. Kicking skills like freedom of movement. [Small Armor] should work better than I planned since I figured it was some kind of advanced light armor skill. You impressed the team last night, but you should really impress them when we meet up in the morning for the run."

Impressed was a strong word the Necromancer wouldn't use. It was clear that they'd prefer a healer. Max might have laughed off their little match and then the pink hair, which she assured him was temporary, but it was clear that he felt she was an avenue to annoying Tyler. With Len, all she did was nod and smile as he referenced scholars and theories she was unfamiliar with in a desperate bid to hide her ignorance. Rose was thoroughly checked out, one foot already out the door, and as long as Tyler's new member didn't mess that up, the young lord could have brought in a bard for all she cared.

"How best would you like to prepare for the dungeon run tomorrow with the rest of our time?"

She'd spent too much time absorbing or managing her new skills and only a little time training. Tyler was the experienced one, having spent every other weekend or so clearing the dungeon with a team. Even if he recommended the tedious practice of Thibodeux's methods, she knew there was only a little time left. Her goal was anything that might help her get to level twelve and the scroll components. Rumor was in six days, prince Adric's body would be returned, and she wasn't sure what that meant for his coatl pet.

"There isn't much to do unless the armor arrives soon. We could check on its status. There's the weekly auction close to dusk. With extra visitors lingering after the funeral to see who the royals send to get the body, they will surely have something fascinating to buy."

The maid reminded herself she was still on the clock with Lord Tyler. If he wanted her to assist him while he checked in on crafters or made purchases, her job was to help him. If this scheme of hers didn't work out. Becoming one of Lady Coodly's personal maids was where her professional progression seemed fated. Standing, waiting, holding, and fetching tasks that are slightly better than cleaning the cobwebs out of the rafters and tight spaces of the attic while dealing with Scale Spiders. Except she couldn't finish those tasks and hide in a corner with a book.

"Whatever you feel is best, my lord."

"The auction is fun. It's always good to relax before you enter the dungeon. Just because it isn't difficult doesn't mean it won't get tense or lack danger."

A loud thudding at the lodge's entrance cut through the conversation, and Tyler looked relieved. "That must be the armor!"

Two workmen carried in a person-sized crate. As briskly as they brought the container in, they set it down and left. Harmony wondered how much armor Tyler had purchased, seeing the size.

Eagerly Tyler pulled off the top of the box. Resting in a bed of sandalwood-scented shavings was a mannequin, so life like that, Harmony gave a muffled yelp that went unnoticed by Tyler. Short, articulated, and detailed enough that someone with a construct or golem skill could raise it to the semblance of life. And it was here in a box simply to display the armor. Armor that the sight of caused Harmony to freeze as she processed that this was her armor.

"It's perfect," Tyler announced.

Harmony's skills approved excitedly as there wasn't enough of it to impede her movement for [High Kick] or [Small Armor], and where the armor plates only covered some vital spots and would be easy to use to block attacks, including flexibly soled steel boots for kicks. [Beautician] and [Style and Grace] admired the craftsmanship and daring excitement of the outfit. Her necromancer class showed no feeling that this would impede her skills. The amount of skin exposed might even help. Silver skulls decorated the black and white "armor" with many individual pieces strapped to the construct. Extravagant, yet a near match in many ways to her maid uniform. The skirt seemed even higher cut than the one she'd been issued. That must be due to losing the expectations of growing into it. The whole outfit screamed maid with a hint of death and violence mixed in.

She quickly activated [Mana Rotation] and then boosted a synergized combination of [Poise and Bearing] and [Renew Spirit]. Numb inside, she could only hope the proper amount of temporary vigor and feigned pleasure showed on her face as she looked toward her benefactor. "It's so much more than I expected."