Its has been a long time since Thalmor had personally seen to a test at the traning grounds of this old fortress that still stand close to the border and frontier. Thalmor has called this place home ever since he was a little imp himself, before he gained his class and later on evolved twice to become the mighty demon he is today. Sure he is still by all accounts considred a low ranked demon by some. But his strength, pride and sense of duty has shown how well earned his title as Warden Lord proved it would not be long before he reach the middle ranks.
But that was not important right now. No, what was important was his duty to properly test out Skell's physical prowess and combat ability. And teach her how to actually use her skills properly. While he and Ironwing had notice that the lesser skeleton have been starting to get the hang of it, with the guardsmen having reported to him that they have seen Skell having been working on that too in her cell while he and Ironwing had been busy this week. It meant that it would not take long for them to finish that part of the test and training that Thalmor was going to do to Skell.
Unfortunatly due to Skell belonging to the undead, there had to be some uncommon adjustments made to the tests and training to happen. It was nothing new nor something special for the undead alone. Many times then not, Thalmor has to work with the commander and workers to adjust the traning grounds when testing out a newly evolved monster. Or someone who has gained their class or varient type. Most of the time the adjustments was pretty easy to do.
Make sure theres a small team with plenty of buckets of water, or even better a water mage or two, to put out any fires should whomever they are testing become a fire elemental varient. Fix up a few training courses or sparring matches if gained a class or evolved. Set up various targets to test out any range or close combat skills ect ect.
With Skell though? Things had to be done a bit differently. If not for her undead nature that made some of the training courses useless or because she gained both a varient type and class at the same time. With the latter being a craft based class at that, gaining the Cook class. And the former a fire varient.
It was not the most useful class found around in a war. But that was what those with no common sense on the battlefield thought anyways. The commander however was well aware how a good meal can help boost soldiers morale and keep them from getting desperate. And a army don't march on empty stomachs as everyone knows.
Unless you are either a undead like Skell, or some golem based creature.
The commander though, a Werewolf of almost 7 feet tall, littered with scars from countless battles over her many years as a soldier of the Demon Lord's army and having a sepcial made prosthetic arm after loosing it to a Hero some years back, had been both disappointed and truely confused to learn that the possible new cook was a undead. And a lesser skeleton at that.
Much like Thalmor and Ironwing, the werewolf was well aware that undead don't or rather can't cook. Especially those of so low rank they were barely worth anything. It had taken both of them days to convince the skeptical commander of Skell's potential. They had to explain how much of a abnormality she was to her fellow skeleton kin. With Ironwing having to explain the signs of the skeleton actually being one of the rare few undead to have more of their older selfs intact than being just a drone to hurl at their enemies in droves.
So much so that she was self-aware and even able to talk. Which was very rare to find among the undead unless of very high rank as Ironwing had pointed out.
This bit and what they had already told the werewolf, had finally convinced her to give Skell a shot, though she remained skeptical. The training grounds were now a mix of the usual spikes and swinging logs, with proper running course and a small obstacle course, as well as a small area set to for Skell to properly learn how her most basic skills as a skeleton worked.
Irongwing was also with him, as Thalmor needed the gargoyle's knowledge of undead to make sure things went right. Especially in the skill department. Low ranked skeletons don't have a lot of attack skills to begin with. And Skell had to earn at least two new ones before they started on her spell tests.
That area was also more of Ironwings fort. But that won't happen unless for a good while yet. Skell first had to be thoroughly tested physcially first. Beside, this gave Ironwing a chance to carefully watch how the skeleton would react to many different things and learn just how much of her old self was still there. As well as learn just how much mana the skeleton has at her disposal.
That last thing was rather very important matters when it came to magic. Thalmor himself only had a handful of spells thanks to his last demon evolution offered gave him some. But even he knew that mana was a delicate thing to handle even before he gained the spells thanks to having to be mindful of his skill usage. But with spells though? Too much and it could overwhelm a creature and blow them apart at the worse, or if they were not careful, it could leave them drained and unable to fight for hours if not days on end.
A small shudder runs down his spine when he remember the first time he had experienced the latter part. Getting your mana drained to 0 was just some of the worse things the Warden Lord had experience so far. Aside from the punishments he received back when he was a imp. But that was a long time ago, and he had learn his lessons well.
"You alright there Thalmor?" Ironwing asks the Warden Lord, having notice the sudden shudder that had come upon his demonic companion. The gargoyle was holding a book in one hand, with a floating inkwell by his side and a quill in the other. Ready to take notes on the skeleton's performance. And what else the gargoyle deems necessary.
"Yes, just excited to finally get started. It took way too long to get everything set up." The demon answers back with a wave of his hand, a little diverted from his thoughts. The training ground is alive with the sound of clanking steel and the smell of freshly carved dirt as the workers put the final touches to the obstacle.
The chuckle that comes from Ironwing held only mirth at how Thalmor had answered. "Well it did take a good few days for Lady Lorelai to agree to this after all. The commander is not a easy woman to please nor to convince." He says before he dips his quill into the ink and starts to write something down in his book.
Before Thalmor could say anything back, he and Ironwing heard the a door from the armoy open and out of it walked Skell, dressed up in basic traning gear that all new soldiers wore on their frist day on the traning gounds. The grin that formed on Thalmor face would have made a lesser man faint if seening it. The demon's eyes shining at the lesser skeleton who somehow was able to look horrified at what she was seeing, despite lacking any features or a proper face to do so.
"Welcome to the traning grounds!" Thalmor said all too happy and eager, the demon was pretty sure a 'eep' came out of the skeleton at those words.
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"Welcome to the traning grounds!" Is the word that makes the dread that have been slowly building inside Carrie finally come to a head. She looks around the space, which to her opinion looked like hell.
She sees what she can only call open spike traps in the ground with swinging logs ready to make it even worse for her. A running course that also have its own obstacles for her to go through. Along with obstacle course that seems to be more strength and enudrance based from what she can see.
And then there was what looked like a small fighting area or maybe a sparring area? She wasn't too sure, but is certainly looked like a place where you either trained against straw made dummies or fight someone to simply train.
In someways, it did not look bad. Even inviting if you ignored the fact that some of the obstacles definitely could been seen as death traps to some. But then she looks were the voice of the Warden Lord had come from, and Carrie's nonexistent heart dropped once again.
And then she felt slightly confused as she also notice the warden was with someone. A....gargoyle perhaps? 'But aren't they made of stone and not metal? And only one pair of wings?' Carrie thinks as she notice the metal gleam coming from the thing that stand beside the warden. It is also covered in robes as well as have a book and feather pen in its hands, with a floating inkwell right beside. Making it looking like a scholar of some sort.
And the warden? Usually Carrie saw the demon dressed in simple but well made armor when on duty. Now he wore something that resembled something more used for training than battle. A pair of thick leather pants and a chest piece that looked like it could withstand a sword slash. And in his hand was a whip that crackled with energy. Along with what Carrie managed to recognize as a large two-handed sword of some type on his back.
It took all of Carrie's willpower to not let out anymore then the small 'eep' that managed to sneak out. And hoped the warden or his companion did not notice it.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
It all frankly made Carrie wish, not for the first time, that this was all a dream again. But this was her new reality and there was nothing she could do about it.
At least the week has not been a total drag and filled only with dread. She had no idea why it had taken so long for this part of her test to start, knowing she was supposed to have it a few days ago. But she had nonetheless been greatful for the extra time.
And she had used that to learn as much as she can from the blue boxes. As well as try and test out some of her other skills as well. And her spells? She'd elected to not use them in her cell, mainly because it was just a bad idea ingeneral to even try when she knew there were guards around and trying to use a spell involving fire was just asking for disaster to happen. Even if she had a bucket of water nearby to use.
And through all this she had learn a few things. One was that most of her race skills involved passives. Both good and bad. Out of the 10 skills she has in her race, only three are attack based. Well three was a bit of a stretch, as the last one was something she gained due to her fire varient and was a last suicidal chance to do damage before she died.
[Suicidal Flaming Skull], as the skill was so lovely named, basically allowed Carrie one last desperate attack by setting her skull on fire and throw at her enemies. And when hitting something or someone, a large area will be filled with magical fire that would cause something called the Burn Status and cause quite the fire damage around the area. But as the name suggested, it was something you used when you were out of options.
And Carrie wasn't too keen on trying it out. As no doubt it would also mean her death too if she had to throw her own skull to make it work.
But the other two? They were at least useful if a little underwhelming and basic as basic can go. [Bite] and [Claw] may not be the most impressive skills but they were skills nonetheless. And she had been able to use them, even if it was against the rock walls of her cell.
And even with her lack of strength, she had felt a difference in the force behind each strike of [Claw]. As well as notice her boney fingers becoming sharper when the skill was used. [Bite] came with a brief sense of pain as her teeths become sharper and jaws tougher? Carrie frankly did not know what changes happened when she activated the skill, the bucket of water not allowing her to see much change. Not to mention the poor flickering torch she had for light. But she knows that the changes of her jaw and teeth means a easier time for her to damage whomever are her enemies.
She also found out when testing these two, that she did not have the best success rate of using them. She was unsure if it was due to something being wrong with her or there was something she was just missing. But she is only able to use either skill 1 out of 10 times successfully so far. Or so she has guessed. Carrie was sure it was not due to the mana cost of using either skill, both costing no more than 3 mana points per use. As her mana pool drops each time she use either, wether it was a successful use or not.
But she had not given up hope, as she had seen the potential in both skills. If she could just manage to use them more often, she might be able to hold her own against some of the lesser creatures of this world. And she had to start from somewhere anyways.
Her class skills was also of no use either, mainly because she needed to be in a kitchen to use them given her class is Cook. Aside from [Ingredient Knowledge] and a skill called [Pan Strike]. Yeah she has a attack skill in her class, though this seems to be one of the few extra skills she has gained due to her previous life back on Earth.
Carrie has the sneaking suspicion that skill came from the numerous times she'd accidentally hit someone when badly startled. Or the few times she had to use the pans to survive against robbery or those with less then friendly intentions. Some of her part-time jobs did not have the best security around. Especially when it came to the night shifts.
Either way, she needed to have a pan in her hand to use it. Or at the very least something pan like.
There are a few other skills that are also based on her life from Earth as well. But before Carrie can think further, the voice of the Warden Lord rang out once again. Carrying a tone of annoyance to it this time.
"Oi! Do you have a brain or not Skell!? Get over here so we can start!" It took a small moment, even when the voice startled her badly, to realize that the warden had meant her when he had said the name 'Skell'. Either way, Carrie was quick to comply and arrived infront of the demon and his odd companion.
After a moment that stretch into awkwardness, the annoyed look on the warden's face changed into confusion. "Well?" He started, seemingly expecting for Carrie to do something. She however just stayed still and silent, mainly because she had no idea what to actually do or what he wants.
It wasn't until the metal creature beside the warden that Carrie got a clearifcation, and it made her nonexistent blood run cold.
"Little Skell." It began, having a much deepr voice then the warden, with a gravelly and earthen like tone to it. "Both me and Warden Lord Thalmor here are aware that you can talk. So if you would?" It ended with a questioning look on its face.
Carrie's reaction to that reveal was to fumble a bit, letting out various sounds before she managed to speak. "Ah, eh, uh Carrie Blackburn at your service?" was what she managed to say, the questioning end and unsureness to her voice not making the skeleton feeling any better.
Warden Lord Thalmor raised an eyebrow, looking slightly amused by her stumbling. "Well, it seems we have a proper greeting from our little Skell here," he said with a chuckle, the whip in his hand crackling slightly with the motion. The metal gargoyle just stared at her, unreadable at first before it smilled at her.
"At ease." The being said, before he started to point at itself and the Warden Lord beside it. "My name is Ironwing, a magic user and scholar of the arcane arts. And this as you must already be aware of is Warden Lord Thalmor. You current caretaker for lack of better words."
"Ah yes sir. Uh, I'm sorry to ask this all of a sudden but are you are gargoyle sir?" May both answered and asked. Earning a small chuckle from the pair before her.
"Indeed I am. Though I'm whats called a Steel Gargoyle, a rare evolution of your standard gargoyle."
Ironwing's smile grew slightly wider, showing a glint of metal. "But let us not dilly dally for too long. Do you know why you are here Miss Blackburn?" Ironwing asked her again and Carrie was quick to answer this time. Sounding more sure as well, which made the demon nod in approval.
"To test my physical and combat abilities."
"And to train." The Warden Lord Thalmor said, earning a confused sound from the skeleton before her. Which once again made the demon chuckle. "Lesser Skeletons aren't know for having a lot of combat or attack skills. So part of this test require you to at least gain two new skills related to that."
"Speaking of which, Miss Blackburn. Do you know how to use and activate your status menu?" Ironwing spoke again, looking at her with a mix of curiosity and patience. At her nod, Ironwing then asked if she also knew how to access her skills as well. At another nod, he then asked her to list any attack or combat skill she currently had.
"Um." Carrie started, taking a moment to quickly glance at her skills before she spoke again. "I have [Bite], [Claw], [Suicidal Flaming Skull] and [Pan Strike]." Which earned her a confused look from Thalmor at some of the skills names. But Ironwing just nodded as she told what he wanted to know.
"Quite a bit more then what is normal for your kin. Usually you lot only have [Bite] and [Claw] to use, maybe even [Bone Spike] or [Bone Throw] if lucky." Ironwing said as he write down something in the book at his hand before he raised his head to speak at her again.
"I take it the [Suicidal Flaming Skull] skill is something you have from your fire affinty yes?" At Carrie's nod, Ironwing asked if she could discrbe it to him. So, Carrie did her best to explain how it worked, trying to keep the fear and reluctance in her voice as little as possible.
The looks that landed on both the demon and gargoyle, a dawning understanding and seemingly their own reluctance, made her feel a bit better when Warden Lord Thalmor spoke up.
"Alright then, not having you using that one then. Demons and gargoyles may not take much fire damage ingeneral. But the commander would have my head if the training grounds becomes a mess and we need you to stay alive. Well as alive as a undead can be anyways." the warden quickly corrected himself at the last bit.
Ironwing nods at that. "I agree. While such skills are rare to have, theres a reason why it has the word 'suicidal' to it and are seen as last resorts."
"The [Pan Strike] is from your Cook class then?" Thalmor asked, looking more curious than before. Carrie nodded, starting to feeling more awkward then the dread and fear before. "I need a pan though to use it." Carrie quickly put in, making Thalmor nod.
"That can be arranged quickly. Though I did not know craft classes can have combat or attack skills of their own." The demon said, then looking at Ironwing for answers. Which Carrie did too, as she was just as curious about it as well.
"Oh they have, its just really rare since not many craft related classes needs to go and fight for their lives to get what they need nowadays. And [Pan Strike] is more of a defensive skill for when things go sideways in the kitchen. Or when to make sure that no one tries to sneak in a bite." Ironwing said, with a glint of amusement in his eyes.
"And the once that do have such skills from the get go are usually based on woodcutters, miners and the like. They need to have a few such skills should they end up facing monster or other creatures that wants a fight when out in the mines, woods and such." The gargoyle add as he once again write things down in his book.
"Alright then, Skell." Thalmor says, and Carrie is quick to realize that the Warden Lord is going to continue to call her that even if he knew what her name really is. Though if the skeleton was honest, 'Skell' was not such a bad of a nickname.
"Now that we know of what you already have, its time to start. I hope you are ready cause things are about to get interesting and fun." Thalmor said, the whip in his hands getting more energy.
'Aaand theres the dread and fear again' Carrie can't help but think as she looks behind her and sees whats in store for her once again. A sigh escapes from, which earns a quick laugh from the demon. Meanwhile, Ironwing had a small smile on his face at it all.
"Alright then, Skell." Thalmor says, and Carrie is quick to realize that the Warden Lord is going to continue to call her that even if he knew what her name really is. Though if the skeleton was honest, 'Skell' was not such a bad of a nickname.
"Now that we know of what you already have, its time to start. I hope you are ready cause things are about to get interesting and fun." Thalmor said, the whip in his hands getting more energy. And a wide grin quickly appeared on the warden's face.
'Aaand theres the dread and fear again.' Carrie can't help but think as she looks behind her and sees whats in store for her once again. A sigh escapes from her, which earns a quick laugh from the demon. Meanwhile, Ironwing had a small smile on his face seeing Carrie's reaction.