Many would say that gargoyles aren't the scholar nor the mage type. Hell, most gargoyles are more like special guard dogs for various important buildings and other areas where their stone made bodies, powerful attacks and aerial maneuvers could be best used to both defend and keep unwanted individuals away. They're not exactly the first creature you'd expect to find in a library, let alone one with a penchant for reading. But then again, not every creature followed the norm.

Ironwing was such a gargoyle. He'd been different from the moment he was created. Oh he's done his fair share of doing the expected duties that most of his kin do. Guard this place, take the form of a decorative statue to lure any trespasser to a false sense of securtiy and then jump on them and either scare the life out of them or kill them outright. And many things more. But unlike his fellow kin, he had always had a mind for the more scholar and magical path.

Well back before his evolution into a Steel Gargoyle, Ironwing had spent what little free time he had to read and study the ways of the arcane arts. Spending countless years of improving his knowledge as much as he spent to improve his various skills as well. Gaining spells that he used or teach some of his kin to better themself in their duties. And many took notice of this fact. Especially Mistress Aria, a powerful sorceress who had been his mentor and benefactor for years after she saw what great potential he had. And understood how different he was among his kin.

He'd been part of her gargoyle guards back then, watching over her castle as she conducts various magical creations for the Demon Lord. Wether it was a potion, a magical items, a new high grade golem used for either war or to guard a special vault, his mistress did it all and then some. It was here he gained both his Combat Mage class and his Scholar class. Then later evolved into the steel gargoyle he is now.

It was only a short few decades after this though, that he had to be transferred to one of the many forts and fortresses that keep the frontline and borders safe. And gained a new role and duty due to his knowledge of many skills, spells, classes and evolutions. He was to help out the Warden Lord Thalmor to look after those who goes through the processes. The demon incharge reside in the Fortress of Cragspyre, a place of strategic importance and very rich in battle history.

But when he had first arrived, Lady Lorelai was not the commander of the fortress back then. No, back when he first started, a High Minotaur by the name of Grax had that role. Commander Grax had been a fierce warrior with a heart of gold, who took good care of those under him and made them into the best they could be. Ironwing would watch many flourish in the Commanders care and along with Thalmor got to meet Lady Lorelai as a new recruit before she eventually became the one who gained his position years later.

It was not hard to respect Grax nor feel a great sense of pride being part of his force that kept what few of their enemies dared to cross the border wish they haddn't. Even Ironwing and Thalmor would find themself on the battlefield on the rare occasion when Grax needed re-enforcements or when the situation called for their specialized skills.

It was great being under Grax command. Ironwing was even the one who had been helping the Commander in making sure to get his next evolution started. Spending weeks if not months planning and doing what he could to help the commander achieve new strength for both himself and his troops.

And then that thrice damned, blast ridden Hero had come knocking on their door. Its been decades since Grax's death by that Hero who took the old commander's head along with most of the equipment with him, but Ironwing knew that day was something everyone cursed even now. None was willing to forget what happened that day, and many morned the fact that both a great man and leader had been lost to such a cruel and honorless death.

Lady Lorelai has been doing her best in his place, trying her best to live up to her precessor and the wishes he had for the future of the fortress and its people. She was a good commander, but she didn't have the same... presence. Grax had a way of making everyone feel like they could do anything, like the gods themselves had blessed them.

But that did not make her a bad commander though. She may not be much like the way Grax was, but she had learned a great deal from watching Grax over the years, not to mention the training she received from him personally after gaining her own class. She took the loss of Grax far harder then Ironwing or Thalmor ever did, mainly due to how demons and gargoyles don't morn the same way others does. But she knows that both of them miss the old minotaur very much just like she did, through the ways of seeing both him and Thalmor still keeping old keepsakes given as well meaning gifts by their old leader around their person. If not in their offices.

Ironwings thoughts about the past are interrupted as a skeletal hand raised up, indicating thats its owner has a question or a need for help once again.

"Yes Miss Blackburn? What can I help you with?" Ironwing asks his latest 'student', a lesser skeleton that have far too much personality and self awareness than any of her kin should have. Showing clear signs of having some of her previous life memories still intact. And made even stranger and more abnormal by the fact that meer hours into her creation she was already in the process of gaining both a class and varient.

She was a oddity, Carrie Blackburn as her name was, but in a world of magic and monsters, oddities often became assets if trained and given the right opportunities. Her eyes, glowing with an eerie blue light, flicked up to meet Ironwing's gaze, the parchment in her bony grasp fluttering nervously.

"I'm having some issues with the texts again, Mr Ironwing sir." She asked politely as possible, sounding guilty and embarrassed for once again having to ask him how to explain what she was currently trying to read.

Ironwing just gave a small chuckle before he once again explained what she was reading and how to properly write things down once again.

It had been discovred early on when it had finally been his turn to teach Carrie after Thalmor had finished the month long tests and training that everyone goes through after their process was over, that the lesser skeleton could neither read nor write the common tongue of these lands. Which was not really that much of a surprise. She was clearly once human when she died, her skeletal structure being enough proof of that.

Humans are not a race found in the Demonic Country naturally, unless one counts the slaves found in the high elite or those sent to the gladiator rings. Ironwing was never sure how their local Necromancer have the means to gain human, dwarven, elven, demi-human and many of the other nation races recently dead. Given they were still currently in a war with them all. But he knew better then to stick his nose in places it shouldn't.

Nonetheless and regardless of that fact, it meant Ironwing had to first teach Carrie how to both read and write before they could do any sorts of magic training. As much as Ironwing had wanted to start the magic training as soon as the skeleton had walked into the room that would be used for such, it was not meant to be. Being able to at least read and write the basic was a must in the Demonic Country. By law even, as the 4th Demon Lord had made it so everyone has a chance to not only better themself but also able to aid by the other laws much better with the ability to read and write.

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This has also led to Ironwing having more than just a couple months to teach her, just so he had the time to properly teach the basics. Both magical and non magical alike. Not that he minded at all, as thanks to this he had been given the opportunity to test out just how much Carrie could remember and find out what other basic knowledge she lacked.

The results had been very mixed, enough so that he was growing concerned. Which by all right he should not be. Its a very know fact among scholars that when undead do manage to retain some of their memories from their time alive, if was often not very intact or just very specific ones.

Carrie had both, and much more then that. The first concerning fact was that she lacked a great deal of common knowledge or sense even for a undead who'd retain their memories. Even if there was only a few things one could specifically remember or recall, there was always some basic knowledge about the world one lives in.

For Carrie though, there was little of such knowledge. Oh don't get him wrong, the lesser skeleton was able to see the difference between right, wrong and many other basic things. Have no issues with problem solving when he handed her various puzzles to try out, seems to enjoy them after a bit. She also do well in math, which had been a unexpected surprise given the gargoyle was well aware just how little education common people of the human nations gets.

Which is to say nothing at all. And Carrie was very much someone of common stock with the way she acts. Sure she knows how to be polite to those of higher strength or status then her, and she seems to undestand when it is better to keep her mouth shut and listen. But her humor and many other personality traits was more the type you find in a labor doing a honest day work than high society.

All of this meant the gargoyle found himself with more work then he'd thought. But he was not bothered by that, as a scholar teaching was just part of the job. Beside, Carrie is wellbehaved and seems eager to learn what she can. Which was always a plus to him.

And then there was the more specific parts of her knowledge. It became clear to Ironwing quickly that it is a high possibility that Carrie had the Cook class when she was still alive. And had been given it again when she became undead. The World's Voice seems to deem as a must that she stays a cook for some reason that is unknow as of yet. This conclusion not only came from what he saw in the magical mirror and the two meals she had made and gotten the pleasure to eat, but also due to the knowledge and skills she has.

[Ingredient Knowledge], [Ingredient Identify], [Cooking], [Meal Planner], [Pan Strike], [Ingredient Summon], [Touch of the Chef], [Basic Cutting Technique] and [Experienced Butcher] was all skills found within the Cook class and its evolutions. Well most of them.

[Meal Planner] and [Ingredient Summon] are two skills that Ironwing has no knowledge of, and had to ask Carrie what exactly those two skills do.

From what she was able to tell him, [Ingredient Summon] is a skill that at the cost of mana, she was able to add any missing ingredient to whatever she was making. The cost varied though due to the skill factors ones mana pool, knowledge of ingredients and what the missing ingredient costs to summon was. Not bad in all for a skill he'd not heard of, but what had shocked Ironwing the most was that the skill was Mystic ranked.

There are 8 ranks that acted as grades for how good quality, rareity or how strong something or someone is. They were as followed: Trash, Common, Uncommon, Rare, Ultra Rare, Mystic, Legendary and God.

Each rank had its own perks and other benefits. With vastly different outcomes depending on if it is a class, item, skill, spell, a resource or something else thats within these ranks. A good example was scrap metal or scrap wood always has the Trash rank and thuse had little usage as side from being used by the poor to make makeshift housing or for them to sell to blacksmiths for what little coins their willing to pay for it.

Though Ironwing has heard that more often then not, some of the poor becomes a Scrap Smith or something of the like instead, so that they can get more use of the scraps they've salvaged.

Meanwhile a Common ranked lump of iron ore or wood has far more value than any Trash ranked item could ever have. They could be used to craft weapons and armor that could last a year or two if made by someone with enough skill. Or be used to create simple furniture that wouldn't fall apart after a week of use.

So the fact that Carrie already had a Mystic ranked skill was a unexpected find to say the least. Ironwing would have to make sure to thoroughly test that skill out once he had made some arrangements.

As for [Meal Planner]? While it was not as a high ranked skill, Uncommon was what he was told, it was nonetheless a useful skill to have. It worked very much the same way a Architect's [Material List] did. By allowing its user to have a instincual knowhow on how much one had of raw materials and whatnots. Along with one being able to update the list whenever one liked to keep better score and make sure nothing was at miss.

[Meal Planner] also allowed Carrie to plan meals ahead of time, under pressure or what little one had to work with. With the latter part seeming to be what it is best at. As it could passively calculate what was on it to help its user to make sure everyone got a good meal with what was on hand, what meals could be made and that it lasted for as long as it could without the consumer suffer a lack of proper nutrition.

Ironwing had no doubt this skill would see a lot of work should Carrie be assigned to one of the many work kitchens found in the frontlines. Rationing was not a uncommon thing happen out there, specially when the supply lines got intrrupted or when the enemy managed to burn down the crops. And knowing that she could make something edible and nutritious with next to nothing was a boon to have in any kitchen.

There are many other things as well that Carrie can specifically remember as well aside from what she did back when she was alive. Her death was one of them, which gave Ironwing a explaintion as to why she had gained the Fire Element as a varient type.

A very unique aspect of the undead is that how one died have very strong effects on what type of undead one can become. If you die of old age or peacefully, you'd come out as a simple and weaker types of Zombies and Skeletons.

Dying by fire though? It was arguably one of the worse ways to die. As well as created some of the most violent and aggressive types of undead to exist. Fire type undead tend to be chaotic and destructive by default due how painful their deaths are, as the pain and fear they felt when being burned to death one way or the other lasted even into the unlife.

Ashen or Flamming Skulls, Fire or Flame Skeletons, Smoke Rattlers, Ember or Smolder Zombies, Scorched Crackers and Hellfire Banshee was just some of the many types of undead that one could become if fire was the cause of your dead.

And yet, Carre was just a Lesser Skeleton with fire as her varient type, unlocking the ability to use fire based skills and spells but nothing else. Aside from a small redo of her looks that is, as both her skull and all limp now had red and black colours on them that made it look like theres was small red vines creeping around the blacken hands, legs and skull. Quite the look really.

What this meant though, Ironwing had a few suspisions and theories. But until he got his hands on more information and had a talk with their locla Necromancer, those suspisions and theories had to be put at the back of his mind for now.

'For now though.' Ironwing thinks as he once again corrects Carrie on something she had spelled wrong or tell her how the word is read. 'I better focus on making sure she can properly read and write. Then we can finally begin with the fun stuff.' The gargoyle thinks as a small smile slowly shows itself.

Oh how much fun they were going to have in the months to come.