Alaster did not find that encouraging. From their current size, to the size of their paws, Alaster could easily see them as massive creatures. He only hoped that they didn’t travel in groups.
The furs of the adolescent creatures were ruined by the blades of the Skeletons. They held no use for him. However, the meat and bones did. He began to gather what he could.
While Alaster did that, his Black Guard and Night Children kept watch of the area. There was no clearing around them, the tall trees only thinned slightly as they went up the hill to the Hole, but they were still within the depths of the forest. Any number of threats could sneak right up to them through the foliage.
When Alaster had stopped meditating, the Skeletons had continued to follow their orders for exactly one minute. Afterward, they all clattered to the ground, as lifeless as they were meant to be. As Alaster worked through the bodies of the monsters, his mind raced to figure out ways he could use that to his advantage. However, he simply required more testing. And testing required time and resources. Neither of which Alaster had.
It did not take long for Alaster to finish. It wasn’t pretty or efficient, but he knew what he was doing and being able to directly control the bones helped immensely. He stored everything in his Ring and had the Black Guards shuffle the bones of the Skeletons closer to the Hole, where he began the tedious and time-consuming task of repairing the bones.
Using the [Bone Crafting] and [Mana Manipulation] Abilities, it was not a difficult process. And, after he repaired ten bones, he received another Ability.
[Necrotic Heal
Level 1: 0%
Repair any damage sustained to the Dead
Mana Cost: 10/sec]
It was a costly ability and required him to touch each bone individually. He tried to touch multiple bones at once, but the Ability only worked on one of them at a time. After a few more rounds of experimentation, Alaster had a basic understanding of the Ability. And with that understanding, came the confidence to that it wouldn’t have any harmful side effects.
Alaster chose to ignore the pile of Skeleton bones and turned to face his Black Guards. They had both sustained quite a severe amount of damage. Their strengthened bone armor was cracked and appeared on the brink of shattering. However, the damage was only on the armor itself. The bones beneath were nearly untouched. While the System counted the armor as a part of the Undead, it did not seem to calculate the damage the same.
The armor and the Undead were one and the same, but damage to the armor seemed to only translate to the Undead itself as a fraction of what was received. The Undead’s status did not show an amount of health lost equal to the damage shown.
Alaster laid his hand on one of the Black Guard’s arms, activating the [Necrotic Heal]. A thin mist consisting of his mana spread from his hand and rolled over the Black Guard, leaving behind unblemished armor as it slowly rolled up the arm and into the torso. The process was extremely slow, much slower than the individual bones, but Alaster was simply glad he didn’t have to touch every individual part of armor to fix it.
The Ability seemed to count the Undead as one part, instead of numerous bones, and the armor as part of the Undead. Alaster actually ran out of mana before the Black Guard was fully repaired. If he had to guess, it was roughly sixty-five to seventy percent repaired. After his Mana Pool recovered from his [Meditation], he resumed the repair. Meditating again once he was finished so he could start on the second Black Guard with a full Mana Pool.
However, before he did, Alaster pulled up the Ability. He had spent so long using it that it must have leveled up at least once. He should have been notified if it did, but while he was meditating, it would have been easy for him to miss it.
[Meditation
Level 9<16: 73%<54%
Clearing the Mind to see what is concealed
Mana Regeneration increased to 15/min<22/min during use
Can sense fluctuations in mana around you
Evolution Available]
Alaster grinned to himself. He could have twenty-two skeletons while he mediated. He didn’t even have enough mana to raise more than ten. The young man found that both quite funny, and beyond irritating. Funny, because as a Level 10 Novice, he could raise twenty-six Undead, if you counted his max. None of whom were powerful, but could quite possibly overwhelm a single Combat Adept, if they all attacked together.
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While all Novices were Combat Classes, Adepts could branch out into a very diverse area. They could stay as a Combat Class, like Knight or Ranger. Or they could become a Craft Class, like Black Smith or Carpenter. Or they could become a Production Class, like Farmer or Miner.
However, it was also very frustrating because it made him feel like he wasn’t working to his fullest potential at that moment. Like he was missing something. Regardless, he had something more pressing. He had an Ability Evolution to decide on.
[Meditation Level 10 Evolutions:
1. Can have 50% mana, past max, for an hour after mediating.
2. Raises a shield of mana, equaling 50% mana pool of damage, while mediating.
3. Able to move slowly while meditating.]
Alaster was very impressed with his options. For each one, he could imagine several uses for. If he chose the first option, he could [Meditate] just before he got into a fight to have more mana available. Or before he started a large creation or construction. If he chose the second, he would be safer to [Meditate] in places that might not be safe, as he would have a Mana Shield.
Mana Shield was actually a fairly simply spell that practically every Mage Type Class had access to. It was basically just a film of mana that coated the user’s body to act as a buffer. It reduced damage taken, up to a point. The more skilled the Mage was with the Spell, the more damage it could prevent. Compared to the amount of users of Mana Shield, only a few had what many called, True Mana Shield, which protected the user from all damage.
For the current Alaster, it would protect him from one hundred fifty-five points of damage, at least while he meditated. He had yet to actually learn the Spell himself. It required a good amount of experience and control over your own mana to properly learn. Which Alaster did not currently have. The standard was to get [Mana Manipulation] to level twenty, before you attempted to learn [Mana Shield], as if you tried before then, and failed horribly, you could kill yourself with your own mana.
Alaster was very tempted to chose that option, after all, anything that could protect and possibly extend his own life, was invaluable as you only had one life. At least, unless there was an Expert Holy Mage who could get to you very quickly. However, Alaster was leaning more towards the third option.
He could raise a good amount of Undead, and as he leveled up, that number would rise until it was quite a large number. And if he meditated while he raised the skeletons, that number would grow exponentially. But while numbers were very important in any battle, adequate use of those numbers were vastly more important.
As it was currently, Alaster could only issue basic orders to Excess Undead while he meditated. If he chose the third option, he could then move while he meditated, slowly yes, but he was certain that with practice that would grow. He imagined himself eventually running and jumping over obstacles while his [Meditation] was active. He wouldn’t be able to cast any magic while he meditated, but he would be able to issue more detailed orders to his Undead.
After all, to be able to move, one had to be able to mentally process the ordeal. Currently, meditating took most of his mental capacity, only allowing him to slightly move and think basic thoughts. If he chose the third option, the capacity would increase, or more likely, the capacity used by [Meditation] would decrease, allowing him more.
Alaster made his choice, and as he did so, he was able to feel a slight change. So slight, that he was almost certain he had imagined it. Alaster turned to the second Black Guard, and began to heal it. While he wanted to try out his new Evolution, he knew that so long as his protectors were damaged, he was vulnerable. And he was already more vulnerable than he liked. He would get the Black Guards back into perfect health before he continued his experiments.
As the final crack in the Black Guard’s armor sealed itself, Alaster checked his [Necrotic Heal]
[Necrotic Heal
Level 1<3: 0%<15%
Repair any damage sustained to the Dead
Mana Cost: 10/sec]
Nothing had really changed except its level, but he was still glad that it was progressing.
As the Black Guard took its place behind and of to the side of Alaster, checking the area for any potential threats, Alaster finished repairing the pile of Skeleton Bones. He stretched his back and prepared himself. Alaster calmed his mind, activating [Meditation]. He watched as his nearly empty Mana Pool filled. At empty, he could completely fill his Mana in just fourteen minutes.
Once it was full, Alaster raised the Excess Undead, watching as his Mana Regeneration decreased with each Undead that stood. Normally, it wasn’t possible to cast more than one spell at a time, and [Meditation] and [Raise Undead] Both counted as a spell. He should not be able to raise any Undead while he meditated, as he did not have any abilities that increased the amount of spells he could cast at a single time.
That was just another reason Bonuses were so vital to a person. They could somewhat bend the rules, and they were always active.
As the final Undead stood, draining his Mana Pool and lowering his Regeneration down to twelve, Alaster was still able to stand up and move. He was still able to watch his surroundings. His movements were slow, like he was trying to sneak up on a deer. He felt that if he moved any faster than that, then the [Meditation] would break. However, he also felt that if he kept at it and practiced, that he could gradually begin to speed up.
Alaster could not help but think, ‘If I am a simple Novice, able to regenerate twenty-two mana a minute and still move, just how much mana are Expert Mages holding and casually throwing around?’