Feeling pretty good about my new companion, I mentally selected a new icon that was towards the bottom of my vision. It was the outline of a skeleton, so was obviously a representation of Ripley. A screen similar to my own character status pulled up before me. Stella flew down from Ripley’s shoulder to land on my own. She wanted to check the status of our newest team member. The information before us was pretty succinct though I was confident she would be making a big difference in our future battles. Even matching my level at eight, she was a tank, having more health and stamina than my own, and not even mentioning her overpowering Strength. If only, I could have her use my battle axe, I thought.

Minion Status

Name: Ripley

Level: 8 (Max 12)

Race: Skeletal Minion

Class: Warrior

Strength: 34

Dexterity: 27

Constitution: 34

Intelligence: 5

Wisdom 5

Charisma: 1

Luck 17

Health: 500. Mana: N/A. Stamina: 540

Resistances: Poison 100%, Piercing 50%, Slashing 50%, Crushing -25%, Magic 25%

“Now that’s a proper tank,” I said with a low whistle. “Her resistances alone really push her effective health far beyond that. Well, as long as we don’t fight something that crushers her that is.” Ripley’s resistances were unexpected, but as I thought about it, were pretty standard for an undead creature. How can a skeleton be poisoned after all? The defense against slashing and piercing, while also being weak to crushing attacks wasn’t surprising though the percentages could vary from game to game back on Earth.

“Tank?” Stella asked as she turned my way.

I pondered how to best answer her question, “A tank is an essential part of any party. The tank is the shield for the group. He, well she, in this case, stands in front of everyone else and does her best at drawing aggro from a monster. As a necromancer, my party role would be considered a damage dealer. A damage dealer, well, it’s pretty obvious what they do. Next, comes a support class. That could be something like a bard who inspires his comrades, or something like a shaman who debuffs and slows a monster. The support class supports the party so that everyone is more effective. Last, comes the healer. My regen spell currently fills that role as it allows the party to recover from any damage taken.”

My eyes looked once more to the towering Ripley. “She,” I continued with a wide grin. “Is going to do fine in her role. At each level, she’ll be gaining a steady amount of health which synergizes well with her resistances. Think about our fight with the goblins, their primary weapon was their claws, A.K.A. slashing damage. So, at her current level, Ripley’s effective health would be seven-hundred and fifty and that doesn’t yet include any defenses we will give to her as we get gear to buff her armor rating up higher.”

Stella glided closer to Ripley, tilting her head up towards her burning eyes, “Be sure you protect Xaz, okay? He’s important to me, yeah?” Incredibly enough, we were both shocked when Ripley nodded her head, though uttered not a single word. Stella turned to me with wide eyes, “Will she follow my commands too?”

“It would make sense that she would, you are in the party, so to speak.” Realizations wound through my mind at the implication. In tense situations, Stella could help play a vital role indirectly by giving Ripley commands mid-combat. That would take some strain off of me. I told Stella as much. I stepped a pace forward, coming closer to our skeletal guardian, “I want you to follow any command Stella gives to you. Your primary role is to protect me from harm. You will follow close to me, either behind me by… two paces, or side by side if there is room. Anything that aggressively attacks me, you are to engage in combat.”

My mind tried to think of other basic commands I needed to give her. Worries of nefarious Hunter’s giving her commands warred in my mind, so I added another, “You are only to follow commands or directions from Stella and myself.” I turned to Stella, motioning to see if she had any other ideas or suggestions to give to Ripley.

“If you see an attack or spell, anything that would harm Xaz, you are to protect him, even at the cost of your own life,” Stella added. At first, the idea of Ripley sacrificing herself felt wrong, but I could resummon her per the spell’s own description though we would need some extra bones or a body to do it. “You do not need to protect me; I have my own System protection.” I made a mental note to store some bones soon after hearing Stella’s command about Ripley self-sacrificing herself.

Ah, crap, I thought to myself. If Ripley died, I could resummon her, but only if a body was already nearby. I would need to see about storing her spell’s necessary ‘spell components.’ Perhaps, one of the gnoll bodies from above would do until I could find a supply of bones, right? Until then, I’d need to acquire a gnoll body without Stella seeing. She would give me grief like never before one of those slimy beasts sat in my Bag of Holding. Best to do it when she wasn’t looking.

“I think we’re good, but if either of us thinks of anything else that could help Ripley do her job better,” I said nodding to my new protector. “Feel free to bring it up. Now, let’s see what gear we can give her. I’d rather not have her bashing things with those fists alone, though, she does have some impressive strength so could probably do some serious damage with just those.”

Stella returned to my side as I pulled up my inventory screen. Anything uncommon or lower, even non-magical at this point, would work. “Okay, I’ve got a long sword, though I don’t remember when we picked that up… my old bracers of toughness… Oh, those plate shoulders, they have strength and a little constitution on them, and the riding boots. Not much, but every bit helps right now.”

I selected each piece of old gear, dropping them in turn on Ripley’s icon. One by one, she was soon wearing leather bracers, plate shoulders, a brown cloak and leather boots. The long sword immediately went into her hand and by her deft movements when I mentally ordered her to test the blade, looked like she knew how to use it.

Ripley – Equipment

Hide Bracers of Toughness +1

Plate Pauldrons of the Adventurer

Brown Cloak with Hood

Supple Leather Riding Boots

Long Sword

The long sword damage was pretty weak compared to my epic battle axe, only putting out some paltry damage numbers, but I hoped her strength would make up for it. At thirty-seven, she was doing the same amount of extra damage. Getting her a better weapon, not to mention more armor, would be an important next step. Still, overall, after just summoning her, it was a good starting point. “There’s a town nearby, so help remind me to look for some upgrades for her too.” Thinking of us coming face to face with some villagers, and with hour intimating a literal walking skeleton would have had on me in either of my lives, I thought it best Ripley try to hide her nature at least somewhat. Mentally commanding her to pull her hood over her head made a small difference. Seeing her from the back or the side would hinder anyone's ability to easily identify her as being undead. We’d need to cross that bridge when we got there, I mused to myself.

“Will do. Now, are you quite done staring so lovingly at our new partner, or can we get out of this muck?” Stella feigned lifting a hind leg and flicking off gunk, even though we both knew nothing clung to her. Still, it was a good idea to keep moving. We had earned some sweet rewards here, totally worth it, but Duke was growing farther away by the hour.

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“You’re right, we’re as good as can be currently, let’s get moving,” I replied apologetically. “First, let’s get that door open over there.”

Eyeing up the chains over our heads, I followed a nearby line that reached out to over where we first found the boss against the back wall. Moving closer, we did our best to avoid the gunk around the room, a difficult feat given how many of the piles the boss had blown through, but we made it over in short order. I was about to give the chain now situated over my head when I noticed two things. First, my tracking skill highlighted what could only be the boss’s footprints, given there was a set of four of them, moving to the back wall. This was odd in my mind as there was nothing back there but a rough wall. Second, and far more panic-inducing, was when two of the nearby mounds of dirt collapsed without warning. Gunk, sludge, and a foul aroma like rotting flesh spread out from the mound as if a balloon just burst.

Without warning, pile after pile in the entire room broke apart as if they could no longer hold themselves together. With the realization of what was happening, I looked up at the rocky ceiling and let out a great sigh. Instead of a wide room with a hundred evenly spaced man-sized, anthills the area now resembled a valley devastated by a flash flood. In a matter of seconds, I was ankle-deep in the earth, dirt, soil, and some organic substance that could only be from a once incubating gnoll-brood. The smell was… incredibly undesirable to say the least.

Stella shot higher in the air, even though not a single drop had come even close to touching her feet, “What in the…?”

I sighed one more before raising a boot in disgust, “The boss died, so there is nothing keeping those gnoll mounds… well, alive. Damn it all.” I didn’t even bother looking at Stella, she was no doubt making a fuss even though the only way the foul stuff could touch her was if she intentionally did so. Putting the smell and sludge out of my mind, as best as I could, I turned to Stella, “Hey, can you help me here? I just saw some footprints from my tracking skill, but they covered now that… that happened. Any way you can show me where they would have gone?”

I could guess where the footprints had been leading, but I’d rather get Stella’s help if that was something she could do. There was no way I wanted to stay in this god-forsaken room one iota longer than was necessary.

“Yeah, I’ve highlighted it in your view, at least from what you originally spotted,” Stella responded as she eyed up the gunk covering Ripley’s ankles, revulsion evident in her expression.

Sure enough, the footprints appeared in my vision underneath where they would have been if the sludge wasn’t there. With Ripley just behind me, we made our way to the back wall. “There’s nothing here, just this… empty wall? What the hell was the boss doing? It’s clear she faced this wall directly before turning around.”

“Why would she come back here, turn around, and then go back to the chain back there,” Stella said next to me. “Here, look. It looks like she went right up to the wall, then turned around?”

Something was almost nagging in the back of my mind, but I couldn’t put my finger on what it could be. “Xaz…” Stella began to say something but paused the moment I noticed it. A small boulder the size of a pillow began glowing a faint blue. It had been nearly imperceptible, but getting so close, it was obvious now.

“Gotcha!” I hadn’t thought about it earlier, but not finding any loot on the boss was odd. Not only that, but her body had disappeared when I cast my new spell to summon Ripley. So, when would a boss not have loot? Well, if the loot is hidden, they wouldn’t. Even as I grasped the heavy rock, pulling it out like some heavy Jenga piece, I knew what was behind it. Sure enough, with a splash that muted the thud of the rock landing on the ground next to me, a small wooden box was revealed.

It was old and weathered, looking not unlike a cigar box. As I opened the lid, a system message appeared to the side of my vision as a grin tugged at the corners of my mouth.

Congratulations! You have discovered a hidden treasure. Your attention to detail and trusting your instincts have been rewarded. Keep it up and you may find some true wonders in this wide, dangerous world.

Experience awarded.

Experience awarded to Tracking.

You received: gold coins x 23, silver coins x 98, small ruby gem (diamond cut) x 1, and plain gold earring x 1.

“Perfect timing,” I said as I dumped the contents into my inventory. “This is going to come in handy with the shops we’re about to visit.

“Glad you spotted those footprints before the hells collapsed around us,” Stella said as I made one more inspection of the wall. Nothing else was within.

“Alright, let’s get out of here.” With a tug on a nearby chain, a soft bang on the opposite side of the room heralded our way out.

It took far shorter than before to make our way back to the surface as there was no need to move so covertly about. Though, when we reached the large room of deceased gnolls, I asked Stella to do one final sweep for loot with me. When she was not looking, I surreptitiously added a gnoll body to my bag of holding. I was hoping it wouldn’t have to actually toss the brute inside, there would be no way to do that with any amount of subtly, so when all I had to do was place a hand on the decedent and willed it within, a soft smile spread my lips. Ripley, two-point-oh, was ready to be summoned should the need arise.

I had taken my eyes off Stella when I worked, so when I glanced up and saw her squinting eyes looking in my direction, I pretended not to notice. She hadn’t said anything, so maybe I was lucky enough that she didn’t see anything, but if she wasn’t going to comment, neither was I. Finally outside, and blissfully taking deep breaths of fresh air, we found the sun shining above our heads. My battle axe moved from hand to hand, energy flooding into my renewed spirit. Being underground with horrifying monsters had put a heavy weight on my shoulders, a weight I hadn’t realized at the time. Now though, it felt good, like I was ready to take on anything. Seeing the powerful Ripley at my side and Stella sitting on her shoulder, I felt at ease.

Returning the axe to my right hand, I suddenly remembered the skill book I had acquired from completing the gnoll quest. It had automatically been added to my inventory when the completion of the quest, and with everything else that had happened, I had forgotten about it. Hurriedly summoned it to my waiting hand, I inspected it to determine its properties.

The tome was the size of your typical hardcover from any bookstore but was surprisingly light considering how thick the leather cover was. The well-cared leather had ‘Roaring Sweep’ in raised characters with around fifty pages of pressed paper. The pages within, unlike the cover, contained characters unlike any language I had ever seen. It appeared to be a mix of maybe hieroglyphics and Chinese, but I was no linguist to know for certain. The pages reminded me of the expensive kind you would find in a fancy journal. The penmanship was flawless and unlike anything, I would be capable of doing. My handwriting was often described as ‘chicken scratch’ at best.

Skill Book (Axe): Roaring Sweep. Quality: Rare. Type: Skill Book. Properties: This magical book grants the knowledge for the axe skill, Roaring Sweep. Having been penned by a master scribe with the knowledge from a Master of Axes, there is a 95% chance the skill held within will be transferred successfully.

Upon use, Roaring Sweep causes the user to ferociously swipe their axe in a horizontal arc. If the blow connects, the target(s) become stunned for 2 seconds. Cooldown: 2 minutes. Plus 0.5 seconds of stun every 5 skill levels and minus 1 second cooldown per skill level.

Do you wish to use this skill book? Yes/No.

“Near guaranteed chance to learn it,” I said before tilting my head in acceptance of whether it worked or not. “Let’s hope my luck stat makes up for that small difference.” Without another word, I selected ‘yes’ while holding the book open to the first page. The instant I did so, the characters and symbols on the page called out to me as the words had suddenly become magnets and my eyes transformed into penetrating steel. I still wasn’t able to read what was contained on the ivory sheets, but as each turned faster and faster of their own accord, understanding of what was intended by the master fighter was being written onto my very mind. The pages were moving so fast now that I could no longer make out individual pages. The pattern forming in my head was growing clearer with each passing moment.

In less than a minute, the magic completed and slammed the book with booming finality. I had to close my eyes the intense knowledge of the book’s magic had just etched in my mind. Even with my eyes firmly shut, a system message appeared in the darkness. Skill Book integration is successful! You have learned the skill, Roaring Sweep!

After seconds that seemed to last minutes, the pressure relented, and I could once more open my eyes. When I did so, the book grew transparent and, like smoke on the wind, evaporated as if it had never been. The understanding of the skill, the command word, everything penned within remained. Calling my battle axe to my grasp, I readied my stance as if an enemy was standing just feet in front of me. Innate understanding that only a single arcane phrase held back the skill’s power comforted me, like a confident viper ever ready to spring with deadly efficiency.

Shouting a single mystical syllable released the tightly coiled potential of the skill, “Faas!” With surprising alacrity, my manasteel battle axe slashed ferociously across at chest level with such a vibrant azure glow that it burned an afterimage into my vision. The power of the attack left me staggered and gulping down deep breaths as if I had just run a marathon. If this is what it felt like to make the attack, I could scarcely imagine what it would feel like to be the recipient of the devastating move.

Even as an energetic smile spread across my face, understanding that the skill couldn’t be immediately reused hung in my mind like a key waiting to be turned in a lock. With certainty, I would be aware the moment that lock could be turned, releasing that awesome power into my weapon. “This… is going to come in handy.”

With Stella on my shoulder and my new skeletal guardian by my side, I was ready for what would come next. My strides were confident as the pebbles crunched under our footfalls. The road, our path, was clear. Vibrant rays of sunshine fell across my body, my spirit soaking in the warmth. Full of energy, we would take on the world and, in a way, we already were. My steps were sure, my bearing steadfast, and my will resolute. Let those who prey on the weak, fear our unyielding advance.