Chapter Seventeen

The necromancer and her toad stepped out to be greeted by the same booth the team had registered with before entering the dungeon. Outside Old Bones’s domain, she could feel her class shifting uncomfortably as the barrier to selecting a new skill and unlocking the stats dropped. Now was neither the time nor place to do that. She could hold it in uncomfortably.

It was the booth and her. No teammates were around. She approached the booth and tapped the counter to get the attendant’s attention.

“Oh, hello,” They said, looking a little surprised. “Your team reported you deceased. As well as some unusual news. They’ve been directed to the guild for debriefing. If you wish to maintain a positive guild status, I recommend you head to the main guild house.”

“Well, mark me down as not deceased. I’m not a guild member, so I think I’ll pass on heading to the guild.”

Going to be debriefed seemed like another situation, another lecture. Harmony had her fill of overly powerful people talking down to her. They reported her dead? That seemed excessive. She did feel a tad guilty at the glare she gave the poor attendant. She knew what it was like to be in such a subservient position.

“Carry on then.” She told the attendant.

Harmony double-timed it back to the lodge as the discomfort slowly increased internally. “Tyler, I’m back!” she yelled.

With no response, she took advantage of the lodge’s plumbing before heading into her small room. She moved her armor off her body and into her new internal storage space. As cursed as the armor was, the new ease of the removal was gratifying, and she quickly threw her robe over her body before sitting on the bed.

Choose your class’s fourth skill: Raise dead - Cold Touch - Rot.

Raise dead had always been an option since she first got the class. The base spell that always gave the necromancer class a bad name when you had to bring back someone’s son or brother essentially as a puppet. Trash she could live without.

Rot was equally unappealing. Not to say that it was without practical uses like aging cheese and wine quicker or composting the manure from the stables. Smelly jobs that she’d rather not be assigned to.

[Cold Touch], well, everyone liked a nice cold drink during the hot days of spring or summer. She hoped it didn’t bring the lingering taste of death with it. Selecting that skill, she let it bloom inside her. She could feel it grow inside her soul, leaking some and pushing the mana to churn quicker. Every aspect of her class quickly showed a connection to the skill, as cold the final unmoving resting state of all matter settled into her.

She let the thin threads from her profession bloom as well. [Poise and Bearing], [Style and Grace], and even [Beautician] taking strength from serene moments of stillness. All her newly acquired skills had some link, the potential energy hidden behind a moment, the cessation of a powerful strike stilled to nothing, the extra dimension of temperature in the rotating sea inside her like she’d taken a dip in a cold river. Then it was done.

Unlock stats?

Harmony couldn’t even tell why it was a question. No wasn’t given as an option, and there was no advancing until you did. Three aspects to be strengthened, and then after every level, you may focus on one to move it forward. They call it a path because you choose the steps you take. She acquiesced and braced herself for the changes.

The locked door inside Harmony opened, and she could sense the changes. All the connected bits burned and brightened, growing stronger, working together, and providing support. She could find new spaces where paths could be made. [Cold Touch] and [Dust] to do what? She didn’t know but felt like she could make it happen. At the moment when choices came fast, everything slowed down but only for her. That was how it was now. As her heartbeat pulsed, she had to wait for another beat to come.

Hyacinth groaned and rolled on the floor beside her. Their bond was inflamed by the unlocking of the necromancer’s stats. That distraction pulled her out of the time-stretched state. What had seemed a low sound and slow movements turned into her familiar squealing and twitching on the floor. Eventually, her toad’s distress subsided. Moving to the bed, she decided to lie down.

“Grrupt,” Hyacinth complained as he hopped up to lay cuddled next to her.

She enjoyed the close feeling of the shadow toad. Grabbing the moment while she could. “Okay. let’s see what’s changed.” She summoned her status

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Harmony White

Class: Necromancer (12)-F

Profession: Maid (16)-D

Skills:

Familiar Bond(12)*

Manipulate Dead (12)*

Renew Spirit (11)

Cold Touch (1)

Analyze (13)

Poise and Bearing (12)

Dust (16)*

Beautician (13)

Style and Grace (11)

Small Armor (4)

Mana Rotation (10)

High Kick (2)

Stats:

Synergy

Connections

Chronostasis

Synergy was the most obvious of the bunch to her. A direct improvement to her belief in Carter’s schema and its principles felt like tact agreement with her training path. As vague as connections were, her bond with Hyacinth felt stronger than ever.

As it should be. The toad projected into Harmony’s mind.

“You can talk!”

“Croak.” The sound came with amusement but nothing else.

Her familiar was going to have entirely too much fun with this. Chronostasis had to be that sense of time slowing down, an offshoot of perception or reflexes of some kind.

Skill-wise, [Poise and Bearing] ’s growth wasn’t surprising as she’d leaned heavily on the skill for all of the out-of-place social interactions of the last few days. [Mana Rotation] being so high was shocking. She’d barely used the skill. Was that a reflection of how well it was integrated?

“Bates will be so surprised for the next roll call.”

She could not imagine the head butler’s outward appearance budging an inch at such rapid progression. Internally he’ll have to be reacting somewhat.

Most importantly, she had all requirements and ingredients needed for the create and bond undead pet scroll. That princely pet waited for her.

Resisting the urge to run out now, she knew it would be best to wait for Tyler to return before making excuses to go out. So with nothing required to do, she daydreamed of pet battles, Earning enough to buy out her employment contract. Taking an academy class or two and starting her own book collection. All thoughts are more pleasant than replaying the horrors of the dungeon. Ones that lulled her to sleep.

Lord Tyler burst into her room, “Harmony!”

The yell jolted her into an upright position. The back of her hand wiped some drool off the corner of her mouth.

Her profession wanted to take charge, jump up to curtsy and ask how she may serve him. Her brain slid the rest of the way from her dreaming to waking state and thankfully halted that response.

“Harmony! We thought you’d diiiiiiiieeeddd….”

The world slowed as Tyler rushed in close. Panic flickered briefly until the maid realized the stat of chronostasis was kicking in. Extra time to choose a response, which was freezing as the man wrapped his arms around her. Two heartbeats, a quick embrace, but one that felt like forever to her as she stopped herself from stiffening and jerking away. Great, a stat that helped make awkward situations even more painfully long.

“I managed to make it out but needed to rest after.” She managed after her perception of time realigned itself.

“The guild master kept us there even after news of you surviving. Even accused me of petty politics for threatening to bring Gran in before saying he’d welcome a visit from the infamous hidden blade. He even had the audacity to ask me to bring you into the guild house so he could chat with you. The levels on that man.”

“Maybe you should rest after that dive yourself?”

“Oh, no, I took a stamina potion at the guild. I’ve got ten more minutes of this. Gave it to us all to help us recover. I think it was really to keep us talking. After questioning our words, it took them ten minutes to bring in a truth stone. I had to, um, tell them you were my maid. Len and Rose totally understand. And we’re all glad you managed to survive.”

It had to be more than a normal stamina potion, Harmony guessed. She let him babble about the unfair treatment he’d received at the hands of the guild and led him out of her room. There she fixed two plates of food. Nodding and making sounds of agreement as the lord talked without stopping. Rose reached fifteen, so there will be a party she’s invited to. Len wants to bow out from adventuring for a while. His memory of nearly being cut in half wasn’t as forgotten as one might hope. Family politics aside, Sir Maxwell will even look elsewhere. Tyler promised that he’d find a new, better team for them.

He at least ate the food she gave him as she ate hers. Chewing only stopped some of his rantings. Then the drop happened. Lord Tyler’s wide eyes slid half closed, and the maid maneuvered him to his room and bed. Tucking him in, he murmured, “You’re so pretty. I wanted to see you kick high.” Those were his last words as he slipped into sleep.

Confirmation of the reason why he selected that skill for her stung. The skill agreed with an ironic urge to kick his sleeping body.

Letting him lie, Harmony returned to her room and dug down to the bottom of the bag she’d backed for this trip. She grasped the cylindrical Create and Bond undead Pet scroll tube and pulled it out. Every item was at hand. The fallen packs of floor guardians had left a plethora of necrotic cores and ghost laces. With the champion’s tooth and the excellent quality restoration potion she still had from the dive, now all she needed was a little blood and the determination to go through with the plan.

Tyler released a choked snore that sounded like an unpleasant version of one of Hyacinth’s croaks. Nothing would be if that wasn’t enough motivation to get going.

A short non-specific note about going out for a bit. A little hug for the recovering Hyacinth, who also wanted to be away from the snoring. A nondescript cloak over a night robe and packed ingredients in tow. Harmony exited the dungeon lodge, ready to take her gamble.