Enya scanned the new notifications with a focused gaze. The Rattle Rat—level 11, the toughest monster she had faced yet—had rewarded her with 272 EXP, the most she'd earned from a single fight. She had skipped ahead again, jumping from level 3 straight to level 7. To top it off, she also gained a skill point. Whether it was from the level-up or the monster itself, she wasn’t sure. What mattered now was that she had two skill points to spend—and finally, some skills worth using them on.
A new screen appeared.
New Class Quests are now available.
1. Use soul-energy to create or enhance an item.
2. Craft a Skeletal Goliath.
3. Construct your own summon spell circuit.
There were three different quests that had become available to her now. She knew what the word quest was, so considering these were class quests most likely meant she would be awarded something relevant to her class. Enya mentally tapped on each quest, examining their requirements.
Quest: Use soul-energy to create or enhance an item.
Usage of soul-energy is the basis for all necrosmiths. Using your soul energy, create or enhance an existing item. Effect combinations or item recipes can be found inside of The Grim Pullet.
Quest: Craft a Skeletal Goliath.
A Skeletal Goliath is the perfect blank-test subject for testing many experiments, from body modification to enchantments that would normally not be possible with a spell circuit. Gather the required materials for a Skeletal Goliath, and imbue it with undeath. The recipe can be found within The Grim Pullet.
Quest: Construct your own summon spell circuit.
Crafting and experimentation are the necroblood of all smiths. Construct your own signature summon spell circuit by combining and experimenting with different spell patterns.
Enya mulled over the options in her mind. These all felt like beginner quests—designed to ease her into the core principles of being a necrosmith. Each seemed to focus on a different path that defined the class. The first one revolved around item creation and enchanting, the second on crafting constructs, and the third delved into spell theory and experimentation.
The first quest seemed the simplest, depending on how tricky the item recipes from The Grim Pullet turned out to be. But it also hinted that her soul energy could enhance existing items. Weapons like swords came to mind, but what if she could enhance the bones of her skeletons? They weren’t exactly “items” in the traditional sense, but she had learned after engraving the create light spell circuit onto Dummy D.’s skull—that it was possible.
The Skeletal Goliath quest felt more daunting. She’d have to dig out the recipe from her book, and just based on the name, it sounded like it would be a challenge to complete. But really, a goliath sounded amazing.
The third quest was more straightforward. She’d need to design her own summon spell circuit—a custom formula to summon undead. It sounded doable by combining patterns from existing spells, but it would be both mana, and time-intensive—two resources she was already running short on.
Enya frowned, then dismissed the screen with a swipe. She’d figure it out later after browsing the recipes in The Grim Pullet.
Off to the side, Walnut and Dummy D. were busy yanking their weapons out of the rat’s skull, wiping the blood and brain matter off using the creature’s scorched fur. They did their best to shake off the mess, but the blades would stay filthy until they could find water to clean them properly.
With a flick of her wrist, Enya summoned her bonecarver’s quill and approached the demon rat’s corpse. The head was a wreck, with puncture wounds on either side, and a third where Walnut’s sword had gone straight through. She barely glanced at the mess as she held the quill forward, its tip hovering over a patch of singed fur. Without a second thought, she plunged the quill into the rat’s skin. Its sharp tip pierced through with ease, and blackened blood began to slowly pool around the entry point.
The quill gave a small shudder, a barely noticeable tremor. A faint, ghostly white mist seeped from the rat’s body, swirling lazily toward the quill. The sight reminded Enya of her efforts to recycle mana after shattering a spell circuit—but now it was her recycling the energy from the dead.
After about ten seconds, the glow of the quill dimmed, and the mist dissipated. Enya withdrew the quill from the wound and inspected it. No blood clung to the tip, no visible changes marred its surface. It remained as pristine as when she had first summoned it.
She opened her palm and let it drop to the floor, but before it could hit the ground, it disappeared as Enya willed it to return.
If mana was the command for her to see her mana, then perhaps…
“Soul-energy.”
Soul-Energy: 66/100
Enya rubbed her chin thoughtfully. Was 66 points of soul-energy a lot? Should it have been 100? Did the fact that the demon rat wasn’t human affect how much she gained? She let the questions drift away. She could worry about that later, and maybe Custodian could provide some answers.
“Alright, guys, let’s head back!” she called out, a sense of pride swelling in her chest. She’d made it out, gotten what she came for, and—best of all—hadn’t come close to dying this time.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
image [https://i.imgur.com/ZiLMGqb.png]
Back in the study, Enya skip-walked toward the bookshelf and headed down the stairs. Once she reached the bottom, she could hear the clacking of her minions following suit.
“Hey! One of you grab that chair up there and bring it down!” she shouted into the stairway. A simple rattle that echoed down let her know that her command was acknowledged.
She moved to the workbench, clearing books and papers to make space. With a flick of her wrist, she summoned The Grim Pullet, and it landed with a soft plop down in front of her.
With a mental thought, Enya willed the book to show her recipes. After Custodian’s little tip about willing her thoughts into the book, this meant that she could probably do other things with her mind. The reason the book’s pages were blank initially, was because she didn’t search for anything. The blank pages weren’t a mystery anymore; they were just waiting for her to ask the right questions. And right now, she wanted to know what it would take to craft an item using soul-energy—or how to create a Skeletal Goliath.
Gripping the book, she flipped open the first blank page. The familiar tug of connection she felt when summoning the book returned, like the bond she had with her skeletons. Using that same feeling, she pushed her thoughts into the book, not to materialize her words, but instead focusing on what she wanted to see.
Lines of text, symbols, and patterns began to fill the empty pages before her.
Gravemoss Poultice (Bronze Tier)
Description: A herbal salve infused with soul-energy, used to numb pain or provide a minor regenerative effect to the undead.
Materials Required:
* Gravemoss (Moss infused with one point of soul-energy per 60 cubic centimeters)
* Bone Powder (15%)
* Any type of non-magical herb or plant (20%)
Enya stared at the page, her mouth slightly open. It wasn’t that the recipe itself was incredible—it was the fact that this mystical, fully detailed recipe had just appeared from nowhere. A salve that could stop pain and maybe even heal her minions, all neatly laid out before her.
A fleeting thought crossed her mind: Could this heal Pell? But she dismissed it just as quickly. The ingredients and description made it sound like it could only fix minor injuries—maybe a cracked bone, at best. There was no way it could revive him.
The item itself seemed quite easy to craft. She actually had access to all three of the materials, though one of them was far away to grab. There was plenty of moss growing down in the workshop and in the zombie experiment room. Obtaining bone powder was ridiculously simple if it was nothing more than crushed bone. Technically, she already had a small pile ready to be crushed, formed from broken ribs.
The sound of bones clicking on stone caught her attention. Dummy D. was shuffling backward, chair in hand, with Walnut helping on the other side.
“Thanks, guys,” she said, stepping aside to let them place the chair by the workbench. With a quick hop, she sat down, and her thoughts drifted back to the recipe.
The final ingredient, a plant or herb, was also in the dungeon. She recalled passing some kind of large root or some type of overgrown vegetation when she was running through the halls. It would take a good dozen or so minutes to get there, but it could work as an ingredient.
She flipped the page, making a mental note that she would have to try out the item if she found no other easier alternative.
Warding Nail (Bronze Tier)
Description: An enchanted nail that, when hammered into a surface, creates a minor zone that wards off the undead. The warding zones can overlap, creating a larger, stronger repelling effect.
Materials:
* A spike or nail made of any material.
* Bone Powder (30%)
* 5 Soul Energy.
This recipe seemed even simpler. All she needed was a sharp object, like the tool she’d used to engrave Dummy D.’s skull. Bone powder was already part of the previous recipe, and she had plenty of soul-energy—66 points, more than enough to craft the item on the spot.
But she hesitated. The Warding Nail didn’t seem all that useful to her. Why would she, a necrosmith, want to repel undead? Wouldn’t that just make her minions avoid her—or worse, stop them from protecting her when she needed them most? It seemed like a dumb recipe to include.
A thought popped into her mind, as she slumped her shoulders. She had forgotten a crucial detail about her situation. She was still stuck in an undead dungeon. If she made a few of those Warding Nails, she could hammer them into the walls, breeze through the dungeon floors, and maybe even avoid running into any monsters. Now this also meant that Walnut and Dummy D. would have to avoid her somewhat. But how powerful, was the warding nail? Would it physically push them away? Or did it… make them scared? Could skeletons even be scared?
Enya shook her head and recomposed herself. She just needed to create something, anything, to fulfill her quest. If it was truly a bad item to make, then she could just toss it away. The most important thing was that she now had a way to easily complete her mission while she waited for Custodian to respond.
With a quick mental tug, she directed her thoughts into The Grim Pullet once more. She needed to find out what exactly a Skeletal Goliath was, and how expensive it would be to create. The pages shifted, text and symbols rearranging themselves, merging into new lines until a fresh entry revealed itself, along with a detailed diagram.
Skeletal Goliath (Gold Tier)
Description: A towering, reinforced skeletal minion designed for experimentation and enhancements. With its strengthened constitution, it boasts immense power and durability, making it ideal for mass enchantments, body modifications, or used as a formidable combatant.
Materials:
* 500 kilograms of bone or bone powder (minimum.)
* Metal chains (1 meter per 100 kilograms of bone.)
* Spirit Thread (1 meter per 100 kilograms of bone.)
* 18 liters of blood.
* 50 Soul Energy.
Enya sank back into her chair, her arms dangling by her sides as her mouth hung open in disbelief. The requirements were absurd. Five hundred kilograms of bone? There probably weren’t enough skeletons for her to even gather that much! And the blood—where was she supposed to find eighteen liters in one place? Not to mention the 50 soul energy points it demanded. This Goliath was more than just a minion—it was downright greedy!
And that wasn’t even accounting for the Spirit Thread. She could only guess that it was yet another item with its own recipe, hidden somewhere else in The Grim Pullet.
With a quick mental strum, Enya sent her thoughts into The Grim Pullet once more. She sat up, flipping the page, and there it was—a recipe for Spirit Thread. Of course, it naturally required items she didn’t even have access to yet.
Great, she thought. Skeletal Goliath? Out. Of. The. Question.
She sighed, leaning forward with her elbows resting heavily on the table. The third quest wasn’t an option either. It wanted her to create her own summoning spell circuit, similar to how Sable had combined two different spells. She simply didn’t have the time or mana to create and experiment with such a complex topic. Learning a spell was one thing, but making your own was an entirely new monster to tackle—or raise.
"Guess it's moss and a nail, then," she muttered, resigned to the simpler tasks. Custodian hadn’t responded yet, which meant she likely had enough time for another venture to collect those roots scattered around the dungeon. She might as well make both items, even though her quest only required her to craft one thing. No harm in being a little overachieving, right?
Before her eyes dimmed out to their regular color, another thought came to her mind. She snapped her gaze back to Dummy D. She didn’t want to leave the study, in case Custodian replied. It would be bad if she was caught out in the hallway, trying to write back to him. But most importantly—she was lazy. She didn’t want to go out and fetch some dumb plants right now. But guess who couldn't become lazy?
“Hey! I’ve got a mission for you!” she announced, her finger pointing dramatically at the skeletal minion. “You’re going to go out and bring me some plant roots!”
Dummy D.’s bones clacked as he tilted his head, clearly confused.