Chapter 5 – Bone Shaper

Belmont

Bel woke and sat up in a panic, a moment later he shouted as a million tiny pricks lanced into his brain, making him close his eyes in pain, he swung his arms around but found nothing near him. He could hear nothing but a small dribble of water nearby.

He opened his eyes slowly and was immediately forced to close them due to the bright light. It took him a solid 15 minutes to get used to the light. When he could finally see again, he opened his mouth in shock. He was still in the safe zone cave but now four braziers were hanging from the ceiling giving off a warm light that filled the room.

Any signs of struggle were gone. The cave looked spotless, the octopus's corpse as well as the rats were gone and a fresh pond of water lay there instead. Bel immediately crawled and shuffled over, dunking his head in the cold refreshing water. It was heavenly. He drank several gulps before surfacing and letting the cool water run down his face. It wasn’t cold in here and neither was it warm but the sensation was still pleasant.

He noticed his reflection in the pool then. A stranger looked back at him. Streaks of paint still clung to his face and a hollowed haunted look met his eyes. He wondered how long he had been down here; he had completely lost track of time.

He quickly scrubbed his face and hands, removing his t-shirt to clean his torso as well. He tried to get as little dirt and paint in the pond as possible, it wasn’t a big pool of water and he didn’t want to contaminate it, who knew how long he would be stuck down here? When he was done, he finally took a better look around.

Josiah stood a little to the side holding his bone spear. The entrance they came through was on the other side of the cave and to his left much closer was a second exit, he could quite clearly see through it both with his dark vision and normal vision since both this room and the next was completely lit.

Nothing else stood out so he focused on the blinking notifications. He reread the ones he noticed before passing out but he had gotten a few new ones.

You have unlocked a Safe Zone – This area will not spawn enemies nor may monsters enter this area. The purge has been pushed back one week. You have unlocked 1 out of 2 Safe Zones.

You have 3 Weeks 3 Days and 23 Hours left.

He’d been unconscious for almost a day since he checked the timer last. He must have been stuck down here several days now, mostly unconscious though. No wonder his thirst and hunger were gnawing at him. If he hadn’t found this pond, he would have been dead soon.

You have been awarded two new skills.

You have learned the Skill -Bone Shaping level 1

You have learned the Skill - Life transference level 1

You have been awarded a Bedroll.

You have been awarded Rations x3.

As Bel read the last notification his eyes grew big and he threw his right arm out. A coarse bedroll landed on his hand and on top of the bedroll lay three small clumps of wax paper bound in coarse string. He dropped the items and picked up a ration. Opening it he saw a piece of cheese, two sausages, a small bread roll, and some grapes. He started scarfing down the food, it was bland and tasteless but he didn’t care, he was so hungry he ate it all in under a minute. He ignored the fact that he had no idea what meat was in the sausage.

After he was done, he thought about eating one of the other rations but common sense stopped him, he had to conserve what food he could. Bel didn’t feel full but he wasn’t starving at least, he had a bit of a stomach ache. Who knew eating a whole dish in sixty seconds could be upsetting on a very empty stomach?

He focused on his stats again, it probably helped that his willpower was so high, otherwise, he probably would have eaten everything and puked.

Looking at his status he saw that he had received the free attribute points from his Apocalyptic Being trait. He was unsure if he felt much of a change though. He sensed deeper inside of him and the pool of black mist was still there, full this time, he felt like he was almost brimming over.

This was the first time that he felt safe enough to sit down and think about his situation. He had been taken from Earth to this world, it was exactly like the books he enjoyed reading. It was scary how close to the books his existence was right now. Being of a curious mind, he knew that he could fuck up his build and life if he didn’t choose the right attributes or trained the right skills.

He had been awarded skills so far, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t learn skills somehow, or if there was an upper limit to skills known. Bel suspected that his traits would probably help him with that if it was so.

He first put one point into intelligence bringing it up to an even ten. As he did so a wave of energy went through his head leaving him more clearheaded and focused than before. His theory what that the even number symbolized a larger gain or change within him.

In most games, intelligence also affected how much mana you had or the damage you did with spells. Here the damage seemed to be more realistic since he didn’t have a health pool or mana pool. Looking within again he didn’t sense a change in the amount of mana he had, not like the first time. The introspection came easily to him, and he didn’t know if it was something natural or if he was just talented.

He wanted to experiment with his attributes more so he put one point into constitution and while he felt a shift in his body and his hunger dropped a smidge, he didn’t feel the euphoric change that the intelligence boost gave him. Putting the last point into constitution bringing it up to ten did though. The same wave of energy spread throughout his body, strengthening it and taking away his hunger. Not that he felt full in any way, he just wasn’t that hungry anymore.

Next, he moved over to his new skills. Bone Shaping seemed straightforward enough; he didn’t know how useful it would be though, he needed to experiment some with it.

Life Transference sounded ominous, he had an idea what it would do but it didn’t seem like the system, or whatever it was called, gave out knowledge with the skills more than vague notions. He also didn’t have anyone or thing to try the skill on, except for himself, but he had no idea where he would transfer anything.

Done with his introspection he checked over his status.

Name: Bel - Bringer of the Apocalypse

Class: Necro-lord (Path of the Summoning Warrior – Death Specialization)

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Tempering: Tin (Untempered)

Level: 2

Unassigned points: 0

Wealth: 3 Copper Coins

Attributes:

Strength: 6

Dexterity: 7

Constitution: 10

Intelligence: 10

Willpower: 16

Skills:

Deathless Gaze level 2

Bone Spear level 2

Summon Lesser Skeleton level 4

Bone Shaping level 1

Life transference level 1

Summoning Pool 1/3

Traits:

Apocalyptic Being - +1 to all attributes/level

System Breaker – You ignore the rules of the Gods

Avatar of Death and Destruction - +3 Free attributes/level

The only noticeable thing sticking out to him, was that his Summoning skill was level four, not three. The notifications didn’t say how many times a skill leveled. That seemed odd to him, but he couldn’t put his finger on why.

Bel got to his feet and dusted off his hands. He made a sleeping area and put the rations on top of the bedroll. He wasn’t tired so it was time to train and try out some skills and experiment with some ideas he had.

He started by looking Josiah over, the skeleton was in good condition still, he couldn’t sense any damage to him or see anything, but he was no orthopedist.

There were no bodies or bones around so he tried using his summoning skill but nothing happened. He thought about the problem for a moment, then he pictured a plague rat and used the skill again.

This time almost half his mana left his core as he thought of it and traveled to his right arm before a dark mist appeared and a second later a skeleton rat stood there. The fatigue he felt this time was less than the last time he used the skill but he still felt it. He wondered if it was the skill leveling up or if he was just getting used to using his mana.

He had mana still so he tried one more thing. He pictured a skeleton tiger and tried the skill again. This time the mana moved but something was wrong, it started to gather in his hand but it couldn’t leave his body and it returned to his core. The sensation was extremely painful and he gripped his arm and kneeled holding it close to his chest.

A few minutes later the sensation dropped back and Bel panted from the effort.

“That was not pleasant, we’re not going to do that again.” He said to Josiah.

Josiah wisely didn’t respond.

“If I can summon a rat but not anything else I can picture I’m guessing it's about using the skill on something concrete one time or perhaps encountering it at least once.” He didn’t look forward to trying this again but he did.

This time he pictured a human skeleton and used the skill. Luckily this time it went as it should. An almost identical skeleton to Josiah manifested from the dark mist after a few seconds.

“I’m glad that worked. Not a big fan of the cast time though, makes the skill useless in a pinch.” Bel sat down as the fatigue of almost emptying his mana pool again came over him.

“That feeling is the worst. I feel so weak only being able to cast these skills, spells, whatever so few times. But for all I know I'm a freak that can do this much. Gods I need a mentor or a lexicon or something.” Getting to his feet again he moved around to get the blood flowing. He tried doing a few sit-ups and pushups and he noticed that he was stronger than before, his strength had increased as well as his constitution.

His mana hadn’t refilled any though.

“Every time I’ve slept or been unconscious my mana refills, that seems lackluster. I’m probably missing something, aren't I Josiah?” Bel felt that Josiah was nodding even if he wasn’t.

“That’s what I thought. Let’s try this then.”

Belmont sat down again and crossed his legs, straightened his back, and then he took a deep breath, followed by another. He tried to clear his head and relax, just focusing on the air, in and out, in and out.

Slowly he sensed a shift within and around himself. He hadn’t noticed before but there was mana all around him, like small particles floating through the air smaller than atoms almost. As his sense gripped these particles he breathed in and some of the particles flowed into his pathways and entered his core. It was minuscule at first but soon the sensation increased and he could get more and more mana with each breath.

A notification appeared, startling him.

You have learned the Skill – Meditation (Active)

He read it quickly with a smile on his face. Then he went back to it. Several minutes later he felt the pool within his body fill up. He realized that he had no clock or way of telling time down here, except for one thing. The Purge.

Bel checked the countdown and he realized that he had been meditating for about two hours before getting the skill and then another fifteen minutes to fill up his mana. This skill didn’t seem to have a level, which he could see. It seemed that it was something he could use and it would perhaps be more efficient the more he trained with it. Meditation took practice.

The active part also made him think that there was a passive skill. Something to help refill mana without having to sit down and think happy thoughts in the middle of combat.

“This is going great; don’t you think Josiah?” Bel was smiling as he felt that he had made some great progress in a short time. He was unsure how much was left of the dungeon but if he had secured one of the two safe zones then perhaps there wasn’t that much left.

He continued to train after getting some water to drink. First, he de-summoned the rat with a thought and it fell into a heap like a puppet getting all its strings cut, the bones tumbling everywhere before turning into dust. He didn’t get any mana back but he was unsure if that was normal or if it was just because his mana was full.

He then summoned another human skeleton and got rewarded with a level-up in that skill.

Having more than half his mana now he summoned two Bone Spears in either hand before giving them to his new minions.

“Better to be safe than sorry if this next part doesn’t work out as I hope it will, don’t you agree Josiah?” Bel patted the skeleton on the shoulder before sending him to the exit to stand guard. Nothing could get to him here but you never know, he didn’t trust the dungeon or system one bit.

After that he moved over to one of the newer skeletons and looking it over, he had it extend its left arm. He then used his new skill Bone Shaping. He pictured the arm changing into a blade of bone and the skill responded willingly. He felt the mana travel and he also felt that this was more of a channeling skill. If he wanted to, he could end the cast at any time.

Realizing his mistake, he quickly ran out of mana and the familiar fatigue made him stumble. He forgot to meditate after casting the other skills. Looking the skeleton over, he saw that its hand had somewhat melted and become some sort of horrific amalgamation of a blade.

“That was stupid. I need to be better than that or it's going to cost me my life.” With a thought, he brought Josiah back and sent the third unmodified skeleton to stand guard.

“I need someone to talk to, it's boring being here alone. Don’t you agree Josiah?” The skeleton silently took up position next to the area Bel had set up for training and experimentation.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

He sat down and meditated again, this time it took about an hour to fill himself up. That was probably because he had a hard time relaxing now. He felt agitated and the fatigue was distracting. It went away somewhat as the mana returned to him. It seemed mana was somehow connected to both his mental and physical capacities.

When he was full, he stood up and approached the skeleton again. Extending his hand and will, he started the cast again.

This time the results were more satisfying. The forearm melted down and reshaped into a one-edged blade, costing him only a third of his pool. He had the skeleton drop the Bone Spear and he reshaped the other forearm as well. He then moved on to the torso, shaping the torso into a solid piece of bone. Bel felt unsure if this would help the skeleton in any way because it made the skeleton heavier as it seemed bone shaping also grew more bone.

He figured that if something couldn’t get inside the ribcage it couldn’t destroy the skeleton as quickly. When his mana ran low, he mediated and continued when he was topped off.

This went on for several hours and he had to redo much work when he realized that some changes made the skeleton unable to move or use its limbs properly. The work was exhausting but fascinating and rewarding as well.

When he reached his limit, he dropped down and drank some water, and ate half a ration before laying down on the bedroll. His work had paid off as he received a notification then.

Bone Shaping has leveled up.

He thought it would be one level or so but it turned out to be four levels instead. His Bone Shaping was level five now, the same as his summoning Skill. Bel also thought about when he got the notification, it only came after he was done and resting, but also when he felt finished for the time being. He wondered if he could level while in combat or other stressful situations as that could potentially be lifesaving.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sweet darkness of sleep.