"Aghhh!" Enya's frustrated cry echoed through the small study.

"I was so close!" she exclaimed.

Pell, on his fourth novel, barely glanced up. It wasn't worth it anymore.

Enya had been awake for about four hours, and she hadn't stopped trying to cast her spell since she first woke. In that time, she had gone through seven more mana potions, each one more painful to use than the last, for both her and for Pell. While Pell's supply was abundant, the internal agony of wasting so many potions without seeing a single sign of progress gnawed at him. But Pell knew better. Spend money, make money. Or in this case, Spend potions, and fucking survive. The perfect saying for his situation, artisinally crafted by Pell himself. But even though he tried to convince and delude himself into that logic, no one would exactly be happy watching someone else waste your own fortunes for little to no gain. The more she practiced, the more his pockets wailed in agony.

From the start, Enya had been repeating variations of the same phrases like "Ah, so close!" or "I almost had it!"—to where they had basically become catchphrases. Pell had no idea if she was actually making progress or if she was simply deluding herself. The more she insisted she “almost got it,” the less he believed that this entire ordeal would be over soon.

Finally, Enya sat down, taking a break. She let out a large exhale, her eyes flickering before the yellow hue in them disappeared. Pell had noticed this glowing effect during their encounter with the zombie. Initially, it had freaked him out—he thought she might be possessed or transforming into some vengeful wraith. To his relief, Enya had explained that the glowing eyes were just a part of her skill when he had asked about it.

Pell was deep in his rereading when he was interrupted by Enya's voice.

"Hey, Pell," Enya said, walking over to him, her eyes fixed at the wall above him. It was clear she was reading her status screen.

"What?" Pell responded, lowering his book and glancing up at her. "I honestly don't have any tips on how you can learn the spell faster. If we weren't stuck in this dungeon, maybe a professor could tutor you or something, but—"

He was cut off mid-sentence.

"No, not that," Enya said, her voice tinged with uncertainty. "Um... when I got the Visionary class, I, uh, got this new thingy... Oh, here, it's called a skill point. I meant to ask you about it before, but I forgot. Do you know what this is? It says I have one." Her gaze remaining fixed on the air above him.

Pell raised his book to cover his face, shielding his expression. "Skill points are... things you get when you level up in a class, or sometimes from class quests. They can be allocated into a skill to increase its level. When skills level up, they gain additional effects or benefits. Sometimes, using a skill repeatedly or growing proficient in it can also increase its level. For magicians, learning more about the skill itself—like circuits and whatnot—can also help it level up. Skill points can also be used to learn new class skills when they’re offered."

"Oh..." Enya murmured, absorbing the information. Pell lowered his book slightly but then quickly raised it back up as he added, "I would recommend just saving it for now until you get some type of combat-oriented skill."

Enya frowned slightly, still curious. “But aren’t my skills based on spell circuits? How does using a skill point make any of my spells stronger if the spell is based on spell circuits and patterns?”

Pell, his face still hidden behind the book, answered, “Skill points only increase class-specific skills. In other words, skills that you unlock directly from your class, not from a spell circuit. For example, your focus skill is a class skill—you can use a skill point on that. But the summon skeleton spell you’re learning from a spell circuit? That won’t be eligible.”

“Oh, okay,” Enya replied, nodding slowly as she processed his words. “Then… what kind of spells will a necromancer get? Will I learn a summon skeleton spell from it?”

Pell shrugged, his book shifting slightly with the motion. “Maybe, but probably not. I doubt the system will offer you one outright. The system kind of… adapts to your choices in a way. There’s a type of logic to the randomness. If you want specifics, though, don’t ask me. That’s more of a question for the magic research association.”

"Ah...okay," Enya said softly. She turned around and walked back to her pillow and gently sat down.

Enya already knew what Absolute Focus did. But the Visions Past skill was something she hadn’t used yet. The description mentioned that it could reveal glimpses of the past or future, but only periodically. Enya rechecked the skill, just to be sure.

Skill: Visions Past [Passive]

Periodically receive brief glimpses of what has happened or what will happen.

[Mana cost: 0 MP]

The skill was passive, unlike an active one like Absolute Focus. Being a skill, it didn’t cost any mana, but was that true for all skills? Or did she just happen to have two that didn’t cost anything? Pell had mentioned that some of his skills required mana, so it seemed like mere coincidence that both of her skills were free to use.

“I wonder how this activates…” Enya muttered to herself. What exactly did "periodically" mean? She stared at the screen, hoping something would happen. Could this "passive" skill be manually activated, like an active one?

Her mind began to race with possibilities. Enya’s eyes focused intently on the skill’s description, trying to think of any possible hidden mechanics. As she pondered the potential activation requirements and what “periodically” might entail, her thoughts quickened, unknowingly activating her Absolute Focus skill. The stimulation of her thoughts heightened her senses, and a faint yellowish glow enveloped her eyes. Then—a sudden wave of nausea washed over the room.

"What are you…" Pell began, lowering his book as a rushing sensation overwhelmed him. His mind went blank for a split second, his entire body freezing as if time itself had halted. Though only a fraction of a second passed, it felt like an eternity.

Enya stood motionless, her body stiffening as a vivid, dream-like vision flooded her mind. The scene was hazy and unclear, as if she were peering through a small hole in the wall, only able to focus on one small portion of a larger picture. The sides of her vision and peripherals were blurred and indistinct.

She saw something… strange. There were two furry creatures. They had four legs and five-fingered paws with large, sharp nails. Each creature was small, about the size of her hand, with adorably bushy, long tails that were as large as their bodies. Their fur was mostly brown, but their undersides were clean and white. Their faces resembled that of Mr. Rat that had terrorized the dungeon. The two creatures squeaked in argument—a fierce one at that.

In their hands was a creamy-brown-colored… ball? It was wide and rounded, with an outlined crease down the center. Though it was small to her, it was quite sizable to them, as it was larger than their own hands as they struggled to rip it from each other's grasp. As they tugged and pulled, Enya noticed something peculiar—a small portion of the ball’s side was broken, revealing something within. The object was a type of shell, encasing something smaller inside, nearly identical to its outer shell.

One of the creatures, the slightly larger one, managed to snatch the object free from the other’s grip. Before the other creature could react, the larger one quickly shoved the entire shell into its mouth. The shell bulged against its cheeks, creating a comically large outline that distorted its face. It stood large, both small hand-paws on what Enya thought were its hips.

Then, just as suddenly as it began, the vision ended.

Enya blinked a few times, trying to regain her bearings. Her body had frozen during the vision, and she was left disoriented by what she had just witnessed. She had… no idea what she had just seen.

"Why… squirrels?"

Enya glanced over to a bewildered Pell, who was staring back at her with the same confusion. "What?" she asked, just as confused.

"That was… was that your… scrying ability? Considering I’m in your party, I must have received the same vision. It seems to work like a team-oriented skill, which, while extremely rare for a fortune skill—why did it show two squirrels fighting over a walnut?" Pell mused aloud, more to himself than to Enya, as he tried to make sense of the bizarre vision.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

He had seen exactly what Enya had—two brown squirrels bickering and fighting over a walnut, each clinging tightly to the prize. There didn’t seem to be anything significant about the vision. It was just… two squirrels. They appeared to be in a forest, standing in front of a tree with a few scattered leaves on the ground. Beyond that, there was no other information to glean. Perhaps these squirrels lived in the forest above the dungeon? But even so, why had the vision shown squirrels? Pell was at a loss, unable to come up with an explanation.

"What's a squirrel?"

Pell took a few moments before answering, "Squirrels are those furry creatures you saw. They generally live in trees and eat nuts, seeds, and sometimes insects, I think. That thing in their hands was a walnut, a type of nut that grows on walnut trees." Normally, Pell would have given a short, and probably rude response, but the utter confusion that had danced before his eyes left him dumbstruck.

"But, why did you just show me a vision of squirrels?" Pell asked, his tone tinged with confusion.

"Uh, I don't know. I just… I don’t know. I was looking at the description for my skill, and then I suddenly saw all of that," she replied, just as perplexed as he was.

"Was… that an important vision? Are those two things something I have to fight? I don't want to kill them!" Enya quickly added, her voice tinged with concern.

"No, you won’t," Pell groaned, feeling a headache coming on from the wild outbursts and fantasies Enya was having. Why would a kid even think about fighting a squirrel? Pell was pretty sure that if it came down to a fight, the squirrel would probably win nine times out of ten against her.

"Those are just woodland critters. That vision showed a tree in a forest. They might be in the forest above the dungeon, so there's no reason to kill a forest critter like that." Pell explained.

"Now, the reason you were shown squirrels… No clue. Did you even have anything specified in your mind? Or does that skill just show you random junk whenever it wants? It’ll be annoying if we’re in a middle of a fight and suddenly we see a vision of a damn rock," he complained.

"If you thought about something specific, then it might give you a vision on that next time. Like maybe if you thought about the passageway, you may get to see a vision of what's down there before we go down."

"Oh-okay," she said, relieved she didn't have to fight the cute squirrels.

Enya returned to her sitting position on her pillow. Once again, she opened up her status screen to stare at the skill. She thought about the passage, the pitch black abyss that was locked away behind the shelf—the deadly zombie that had attacked them, and… nothing. Nothing happened, even as her absolute focus skill flashed into existence.

Enya maintained her state of focus for a couple of minutes, before feeling slightly fatigued. Canceling the skill, she let out a small huff. She wasn't going to get it to activate again that easily.

image [https://i.imgur.com/ZiLMGqb.png]

An entire day passed, and after nearly a dozen more failed attempts, Enya finally shouted out something different from the usual frustration-laced curses and screams.

Notification: You have successfully learned the spell: Summon Skeleton.

Add the spell “Summon Skeleton” to spell list?

[Accept/Decline]

Barely skimming over the notification message, she instantly hit accept. A small ding! rang out inside her mind.

Enya was practically jumping with joy as she heard the notification sound ring throughout her head. Her fists were curled up together, close to her chest as she screamed with glee internally. She had gone through eleven of the disgusting, foul-tasting mana potions before she finally got the circuit correct. She had suffered the awful, bitter taste—all just to get this one spell—and her efforts had finally paid off.

Spell: Summon Skeleton [E+]

Target a full skeletal corpse or partial bone and reanimate it as an undead skeleton under your command. The basic stats of the skeleton will scale additionally based on your stats and skill proficiency. This skill can be activated without an applicable target at the cost of additional mana to make up the difference.

[Summon Limit: 2]

[Mana cost: 20MP]

The skill was almost exactly as the book had described it. She could summon an undead skeleton with a skeletal corpse—full or partial, or without one, in exchange for an increase in mana cost.

"Congratulations brat. You got your first skill," Pell said. He had put his book down when he saw the happy Enya scream with joy. "Well, I guess, first spell," he corrected himself. "What's it do exactly?"

Enya explained the skill, word for word, as described by the status window. "And it says I may only have up to two active undead skeletons. The base mana cost is 20 mana," she added.

"How much mana do you normally have?" Pell asked.

"The screen always says I have a maximum of 20."

"Sounds perfect then. If partial works, then..." Pell said, his words trailing off as he snapped the small outer pinkie bone off of his finger. "This should work just fine, right?" Pell said, holding the small bone in his palm.

image [https://i.imgur.com/ZiLMGqb.png]

A few minutes passed by. Pell had setup a small area in the center of the room for the ritual summoning. He honestly thought he was part of a cult, about to summon a demon. And the weird part was, was that the demon would be forming from his pinkie bone.

After some preparations, Enya topped her mana off, with another disgusting gulp of the mana potion, making it her twelfth of the day—she finally began casting the spell.

The circuit formed and her mana poured in, recreating the cascade of patterns. As the mana filled up to completion, the entire spell suddenly shook before inevitably shattering.

Dumbstruck by what had just happened, Enya began to recall some information from the book.

Apparently, although she had a bone, that bone was technically now Pell’s bone—having been filled with his mana and fused directly to his skeleton. This meant that it conflicted directly with one of the stipulations of the spell.

> Please note, that you can only use the bone from an actual corpse that is not currently being reanimated. You also cannot use the bones from already existing skeleton monsters or summons.

"That's... not good. Not unless we can find something for it," Pell muttered. "Your skill says that it would cost 20 mana as long as you have some type of target, whether it's a full skeleton or not. So that means unless we find something, you won't be able to summon a skeleton since it will cost more than 20 mana."

Pell thought about it for a second. If she needed a skeletal corpse, then obviously the skeleton monsters that actively roamed the halls would be a good choice. But with that extra caveat, almost specifically designed to spite them, they couldn't use those. In an entire dungeon filled with undead monstrosities, the very first necromancy spell that the brat had learned couldn't be used on any of the walking skeletons? What kind of bullshit was that? Was this fate testing him, trying its best to make life as difficult as possible for him?

"Okay... what if... the skeleton monster is no longer... alive? Or... dead? Undead? Whatever—if we kill a skeleton walking outside, would it still count as a monster? It would just be a pile of bones then, right? Maybe your skill... would work then?" Pell questioned, his words randomly speeding up and slowing down as he tried to piece together a solution.

"Uh..."

Enya had no idea. After all, she barely knew anything about the system, monsters, or skills themselves. She had just gotten her innate class, first spell, and learned her first words all within barely a month. She had no answer to any theory that Pell came up with. She was also pretty sure that he knew she couldn't answer him either. It was more of a comment made to himself, trying to see how plausible it sounded out loud.

"Alright. No point in just standing here and thinking about it. How about we just go grab a skeleton outside, and kill it—I'll smash its skull, and then you try to see if you can reanimate or summon its corpse as a minion," Pell suggested. "The skeletons won't be immediately hostile to me, so I can simply just grab one and drag it back here. The instant either one of us attacks one, it will turn hostile and try to retaliate. So I'll have to try and kill it in one hit. We could also go back to my shop, and grab a spare bone, but it might be faster to just look for a skeleton to kidnap."

"D-does that mean we have to kill Mr. Bones?" Enya asked with apprehension. She liked Mr. Bones. He was the first skeleton she had seen when she woke up. He even protected her as they tried to sneak past the demon rat that was eating another skeleton. Well, 'protected' was probably not the right term. 'Safely guided' probably worked better to describe what he had done.

"Err... I guess we can leave him alive if you want. There are dozens of skeletons everywhere. We can use whichever. The main problem is the vastness of the dungeon on this side. It may be hard to find one quickly," Pell said, complying with her unwillingness to harm Mr. Bones. He quite liked him also, even if he was the strangest monster he’d ever seen in his life.

"Yay!" Enya exclaimed, "Let's kill the skellies!" Enya clutched both fists together with a slight crouch, eager to finally summon and use her first spell—successfully this time.

“We’re not committing mass genocide on skeletons, brat. I am one of them, you know. We just need a single one.”

The plan was straightforward but risky. They would find a skeleton, and Pell would try to disarm it without aggravating it. Then, he would bind it up with a rope and drag it back to the study. It was too dangerous to kill it out in the open; if they made too much noise or another skeleton saw them attacking, the surrounding skeletons would likely become hostile. The last thing they wanted was for every skeleton and zombie on the floor to instantly become an enemy. They also had to be careful not to alert the demon rat to their presence.

Enya didn't need to come with him—staying in the study would have been safer—but she had begged him incessantly, tired of being cooped up for the past several days. In the end, Pell agreed, but only if she promised to run back to the study at the first sign of trouble. He was fed up with her constant begging and pleas, and the main reason he had relented was because of her ability. She had suggested keeping her skill Absolute Focus active while they walked, which would give them a better chance of detecting monsters or the demon rat. As much as Pell wanted to disagree, it was a smart idea.

And besides, if they did encounter the demon rat, their only option was to run. Pell would technically be okay if he lost a few limbs here and there—he was just a skeleton, after all—but Enya was alive, with flesh, internal organs, and, most importantly, muscle. Even though she was just a young child, she could run, and probably faster than Pell. He didn't know exactly how skeletons could move—probably mana or something, but he was certain that they—him—were slower than the living, child or not.