Where to start? [False Death] was an undead skill. That meant, presumably, that it wasn't hard to get for any undead monster. It would allow her to blend in, pretending to be an inanimate skeleton. Potentially a useful skill, as she did see the utility in it, but if it was commonly available then it might be well-known. It may only be as useful as it was obscure. If she didn't pick it here and it came back in a later skill selection, she may consider it then. If her minions could learn it, which was likely, then she'd encourage some to take it. For now, this one was the least appealing to her.
Next was [Osteobolt], a seemingly offensive spell. It was certainly rarer than the other two if the text was to be believed, though she didn't know if this meant that it was inherently better than the others or not. It also didn't explain how effective the spell was, if it required anima to cast or how many times that she could cast it in succession - things that, she felt, were important when deciding on her as-of-yet only skill. However, only she could take this at level two if she was reading the skill's description correctly. Other skeletons would simply not be offered this skill.
Finally, [Dense Bones] seemed like a straightforward and simple passive skill. There were no downsides in theory - at least none that applied to her. It was a guaranteed boost to her defensive ability and even some additional damage, though gave her no additional options to use in combat. It would simply make her better at what she could already do. Useful... but was it the most useful skill being offered to her? It certainly wasn't an immediate write-off. She'd have picked this over [False Death] if it was the only other option for the defensive boost alone.
It felt like hours of deliberation, but in the end she chose [Osteobolt]. She felt that all of these skills had uses, but [Osteobolt] would provide her with a ranged ability. It was the least common skill as well, one that was available to her due to her Highborn race. She was the only skeleton in the dungeon that wasn't a human and that was what made her final decision. If magic was hard to come by as a low level [Skeleton], not even an option for one that was human, then [Osteobolt] would theoretically give her a decisive edge in battle against a melee-locked combatant. At the very least, she would be able to do something that her other skeletons could not. And that made her first skill choice somewhat obvious. If [Dense Bones] was offered again, it was a strong contender. Stealth could be left to her minions. She would become an unstoppable force, not a snivelling coward.
You have selected [Osteobolt]!
Information slotted into her mind with ease, settling down as if it had always been there. With how empty her skull had felt since she had awoken, perhaps it had. Shifting to her feet, she opened her hidden door and left her chamber. A quick look at her status told her that she had regenerated two anima. Without a frame of reference, she had no idea how long it had been. The paragon nodded to her as she entered the crypt. It seemed that he had indeed been able to send out an expedition to map out the rest of the accessible building, though a door appeared to be locked and inaccessible to her hand scouts, labelled "Belltower." It was a rather small building outside of that singular room which led out into an open space referred to as "Graveyard" by the map. She spared a brief glance to her skeleton spawner and opened its status. It had reached capacity as she rested. What was better in theory, she wondered? Upgrading this spawner or attempting to create a second one when she gained the ability? Come to think of it, she hadn't inspected the pattern of a skeleton yet.
Skeleton - Knowledge Rank 1 An undead monster. Skeletons are not as durable as other undead creatures but they make up for this in their ability to take complex orders and versatile roles. Variants: Human, Highborn Resources: Bone Evolutions: Unknown
Type: Minion - This creature is equally capable of defence, combat, support and utility roles. Minions may, at a lower level than other monsters, obtain classes similar to how a sapient race would. Minions are an important monster-type to utilise in any effective dungeon.
You cannot create a creature spawner at your current Knowledge Rank. You can spawn this creature for a base [4 Anima]. Capacity: 5/5 + 1 {Paragon} Base Anima Yield: Unknown (Dungeon monsters will not yield anima for their master.)
This was, at least, more enlightening than any other pattern that she had access to, with perhaps the exception of the Skeletal Hand. Though, that had a higher knowledge rank than this did. However, like the others, she still needed so much more. How did her creatures work? What made them move? Skeletons were obvious. Anima seemed to sustain their body. But what about other creatures, though? Were they kept alive by this force, too? The thing that had wandered into her dungeon wasn't skeletal, for one, and it had also been living outside presumably. Was it from another dungeon? If not, how could it survive without one? Could her minions survive outside of her dungeon indefinitely? And why were the minions she had spawned 'Human' skeletons when she herself was a 'Highborn'? Could she change the variant that her spawner created? Not with only one usable variant, of course, since highborn was red and seemingly locked... but if she were to gain another? So many questions, yet almost no answers. Oh well. It wasn't like she'd find any here. She did make a note to closer examine one of her skeletons and attempt to increase the pattern's knowledge rank, as well as experiment with what happens to her minions while they are outside of her domain. That would have to wait until she had time, however.
For now, though, she would prepare to breach into the upper level of the church. That meant waiting for her anima to refill or finding something else to slaughter to progress faster. She had already exhausted any non-spawned life inside of the crypt that hadn't ran away. That meant that she would have to search the graveyard. One hand would do. If it was destroyed, she wouldn't have lost much. If not, it was likely to stay hidden thanks to its small frame. Two would be far more noticeable. She gave the order, dispatching a single hand to reconnoitre the graveyard. As she waited, the skeleton turned to her paragon. Inspiration had hit.
Return the knife to me for a moment. I may need to make use of it.
Immediately, the paragon offered up the primitive blade, watching her curiously as she turned to the chaka's corpse and began to remove its armor. It was too small for her minions to wear, let alone herself, and she contemplated absorbing it. For now, she would leave it to the side. Perhaps she could examine it first and absorb it afterwards. The creature wore no clothes underneath save for a ragged loincloth that she swiftly absorbed - it was male, she noted. Examining its body closer, she found that its torso appeared to be made up of several hard ridges of keratin that seemed to protect the flesh between its ribs. A curiosity. This creature was far more complex than she had assumed. Its throat was discolored, having turned a nasty shade of purple since its demise. She frowned, inspecting it closer. She hadn't held it that hard, had she?
A long, thin fingerbone traced its way down the corpse's bruised neck, noting the darker color. Drawing the knife slowly across the purplish skin, she watched blue liquid - blood - trail down onto the stone surface. She.. remembered blood. You needed blood to survive - at least, most creatures did. If you lost too much blood, your body would stop working. But the blood was still inside its body when it had died. It had definitely asphyxiated, then, as she had thought... or she didn't understand bodies as well as she thought she did. Slicing further into the flesh, The Master rasped softly as a hint of bone appeared. She found herself curious as to what this creature's bones looked like... especially compared to her spawned skeletons. What if, instead of absorbing the corpse entirely, she were to attempt to absorb only part of it? Was that possible?
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Her hands worked in tandem, cutting away chunks of flesh and absorbing it with a wave of her free hand. Her paragon watched intently as she steadily, but slowly, cut apart the corpse. She moved to its torso, carving between the ridges until her blade met bone again. Eventually, enough was disposed of that she could see into the cavity that she had created: a plethora of fleshy masses lay within, though they were far beyond her current knowledge, and she painstakingly cut them free before absorbing them. They would rot if she attempted to store them without the proper tools and she suspected that she'd have no lack of corpses to examine with time. She didn't seem to gain anything for absorbing the Chaka's flesh, assumedly due to ignoring the only 'resource' that she knew was obtainable. But the bones were to be kept as intact as she could. She wanted to study those.
Eventually, the spine and attached ribs were the only objects left of her abdomen. Her paragon hadn't moved since she began, watching with an intentness that mimicked that of her own actions. She moved onto the limbs and tail, finding them much easier to strip of flesh and muscle. Once the head was left, she absorbed the creature's eyes, following the optic nerves to the brain, and hollowed out the skull from the inside before cutting away the remaining mass around it. With the body bereft of anything but bones and a small amount of flesh that stubbornly clung to them, a series of boxes appeared in her vision. She dismissed the one notifying her of her successful scouting mission and moved onto the others.
Chaka variant added to [Skeleton] pattern.
Would you like to raise this {Chaka} [Skeleton]?
[2 Anima (Corpse preparation discount)]
Warning - you have reached maximum capacity of [Skeleton] and must build or upgrade a spawner to raise the capacity.
The Master was always grinning, of course, but this might have made her do it of her own volition. Finally, she had accomplished something of note. She had learned something useful. Many things, in fact. Upgrading a spawner would allow her to possess more monsters and preparing fresh corpses would allow her to spawn them cheaper than creating them from nothing... though spawners did so for free already with time. She supposed that it would allow her to reach full capacity faster if nothing else. And creating a second spawner would have a similar effect. Turning to the paragon, she handed the weapon back without a word. She quickly checked her status for Anima, finding it to be full. she could upgrade a spawner or expand into the church above. But she had to be fast. If there were more chaka, then they would likely search for their lost tracker soon. So far, each 'room' had possessed a spawner. Five skeletons and a single, armed paragon, if their strength compared to hers, was likely enough to face off against a similarly large group of chaka. Perhaps even a larger force would fall to them if the tracker was any metric to work with. Upgrading might give her more skeletons to fight the chaka with but another expansion might bring a new monster - something that synergised with her small army even better than numbers. And that was what brought her to her decision.
As she expanded into the church above, The Master and her retinue climbed the steps in single file with her at the head. This was refreshingly different to the crypt that she had spent the entirety of her current life inside. Light filtered through the stained glass windows, each window depicting a different scene, though for now she ignored them in favor of exploring her new expansion. It was larger than the crypt below, furnished with forest-green carpet that ran down the middle of the room to stop at the stairway and a light, white stone flooring underneath. Wooden pews lined the sides of the carpet and following past the stairs led to an altar that was flanked by a ten foot stone statue of a woman. The woman had a calm, inviting smile, her eyes closed and her hands outstretched. The statue exuded a welcoming aura, her paragon standing before it as if lost in thought. She turned her gaze to the rest of the room, searching for the spawner that she was certain she'd find. Combing every inch of the room, she let out a frustrated hiss - where was the spawner? As soon as the question entered her mind, she felt her attention pulled towards the ceiling. And, sure enough, there it was. The spawner was attached to one of the chandeliers that hung above her.
Spawner - Ghost - Inert
Claim? [5 Anima]
Well, that was simple enough. Information rushed to her as she read the words. Ghosts might be just what she needed. Their intangibility would be the perfect counter to physical weapons. If the chaka possessed no magic wielders, her victory was all but assured once she claimed this spawner. She'd just have to wait for her anima to refill. Sending one of her hands to scour the graveyard for something living to kill, she strode up to one of her skeletons and began to inspect it closer. She may as well attempt to increase her knowledge rank while she waited.
There didn't seem to be many changes to the skeleton from its base form - less than the hands, actually. Other than the swirling, faint darkness that kept its joints attached while it moved, it was remarkably similar to the image of a skeleton that existed in her mind. The only difference of note was that the eye sockets held a faint, white glow much like the light of her core. Perhaps this was a sign of their connection to her, or of the magic that had created them. Although, as she examined the other skeletons, something caught her attention. Something she'd seen once already. Despite her knowing that they possessed no intelligence, they seemed to act remarkably like living beings when left to their own devices. It was almost as if they were acting out what they may have done in life, if they had ever had one...
[Skeleton] knowledge rank has increased!
Skeleton - Knowledge Rank 1
An undead monster that holds onto the vestiges of its former life, clinging to memories and repeating their past actions mindlessly. Dungeon-created skeletons will be given a 'template' of memories and 'remember' more of their life as their master specializes them.
Skeletons are not as durable as other undead creatures but they make up for this in their ability to take complex orders and versatile roles.
Variants: Human, Highborn Resources: Bone Evolutions: Unknown
Type: Minion - This creature is equally capable of defence, combat, support and utility roles. Minions may, at a lower level than other monsters, obtain classes similar to how a sapient race would. Minions are an important monster-type to utilise in any effective dungeon.
You cannot create a creature spawner at your current Knowledge Rank. You can spawn this creature for a base [4 Anima]. Preparing a corpse will reduce the cost, Some variants may increase or reduce this cost. Capacity: 5/5 + 1 {Paragon} Base Anima Yield: Unknown (Dungeon monsters will not yield anima for their master.)
Well, it seemed that her findings had been added to the pattern. That was good to know... and it made her wonder if the chaka's skeleton would be a better candidate for "spawning" than she had initially assumed. It might be more useful than a 'simulacra' skeleton that is spawned with a basic personality, now that I think about it. She turned to her paragon who was still staring at the statue in silent awe, her other minions having sat in the pews, their heads lowered as if in prayer. While they didn't seem to be consciously thinking like the paragon could, they were clearly acting in unison. The skeleton that she had been examining joined them after her will left its body. She eked closer to the silent paragon, standing beside him.
Why are you so captivated by this statue?
The paragon turned to her, the faint light in his eyes flickering as his body shuddered. But he did not respond - he couldn't. Even his master's 'speech' was facilitated by their shared link through her core, yet that wasn't two-way. She could give orders but never receive them. Shaking her head as she realised this, she turned towards the entrance of the church.
Never mind. Make sure that we are prepared to ambush anything that enters my dungeon. I cannot afford to have my minions stand idly while enemies skulk nearby.
He tapped his right foot against the ground, raising his fist in a motion that clearly meant something to him - but not her. She would, perhaps, name him eventually... if only to avoid confusion when she spawned another paragon. With her skeletons preparing themselves, she made her way to the other door that had barred her hands entry and examined it. It quickly became clear that this door was, indeed, locked. A problem to solve later. If it came down to it, she would simply break the door down.
Skeletal Hand, Lv. 1, has been slain!
Her eyes would have narrowed if they were capable of doing so. Something was nearby. Ordering her skeletons into an ambush position, she prepared for her first true fight.