The first class is revealed, it's Super Healer Priest!

Tables are somewhat inconsistent in their behavior...

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After searching for their first goals on the towns map, Manni was the first to leave. He didn't walk very fast though, instead, he strolled through the streets, trying to memorize shops they might need later.

The large streets he used were all lined with houses that, at least in the ground floor, contained some kind of shop, service provider or association. Every door, made from plates of coral and sometimes metal instead of wood, was fitted with the same pink crystals as the map, freeing the space on the colorfull signs that hung above many shops up for images of the shops products or emblem.

Manni dodged a carriage that was pulled by a hovering, whale-like fish with large stony, brown scales. He surmised the fish to be quite rare, as he had not seen any other carriage that looked as noble or had a similar beast.

A while later, he left the larger paved roads, trotting down a side road cobbled with coral debris. After the first crossing, he arrived at his destination.

Palebarks - Skeletons on DemandNecromancer, Associate of the Undead University, Member of SNoBs

Below the crystal on the door, a small clay plate was attached to a hook. "Back in a bit." Manni sighed after reading the plate and turned around.

Only to run into a tree person with charred bark as far as was visible below the black hooded cloak painted with blue, totemic markings.

"I don't teach how to fight undead, priest." Verry Palebark, as was visible above his head at such short range, sounded annoyed and tried to brush past Manni.

"Wait, wait. I'm here to forge my own destiny." At these words, Palebark stopped with his key in hand.

"Oh? One of the new souls, eh? And you want to learn necromancy?" He turned around; his green eyes, common for the race though slightly surprising in his charred face, focused Manni.

"Actually, I wanted to ask a few questions. Undead raised by necromancy are temporary, correct? If possible, I would like to learn something more permanent."

"Intriguing. Yes, yes. you can only keep around undead for a while, but they are cheap and easily mass produced, why would you need something more permanent?"

"I plan to provide the frontline for our team. In the case of no available corpses, normal undead would fail to do that job as I can raise none."

"So you want to relay your job and hide in the backline? Well, your motives may be questionable, but I can help you."

"Ah, I do plan to stand my ground, but oh well. Could you tell me more? Also, if I recall correctly, you won't just teach me for free."

"Hou? Come in, come in. And yes, since you won't join our ranks based on your wording, as agreed, I will provide you with a simple task to get at least some value out of teaching you."

Palebark finally finished unlocking the door and waved at Manni to follow him inside.

The shop was very clean, rows of baskets full of dry bones lined the shelves around the room. Only a very faint putrid smell was noticable.

"The skill I can teach you is called Undead Construction. It may be best described as a mix of golemancy and necromancy. You build an undead, keeping it active by sacrificing a part of your maximum power capacity as long as it is reanimated. There are, however, a few key differences that set it apart from creating a bone or flesh golem. Mainly, undead, while capable of their own basic movement if built correctly, always require direct control. Golems on the other hand can be programmed to stand guard while you sleep, with the downside that direct control is next to impossible. Instead, they use predetermined routines that you can run such as attack that or carry this."

Palebark coughed and took a swig out of a bottle from below the counter he was now situated behind. A strong alcoholic odor overshadowed the already faint smell of death.

"Now, if you still consider Undead Construction what you need, I may have a deal for you, depending on your answer to this question: What do you plan to use for your undead?"

Manni had already started grinning while Palebark explained Undead Construction. "That should be exactly what I need. As to your question, well, I have a very specific plan, so if possible, I will specialize on bones, parts of exoskeletons and horns, claws etc. No flesh or complete corpses."

"Good, good. As a member of the Society of Noble Bones and having always been fascinated by the skeletons you mammals possess, I applaude your intentions."

He coughed again.

"Here's your deal: I will teach you Undead Construction right now. That is, if you listen to my advice."

"Seems reasonable."

"Good. I will teach you Undead Construction with the Graveyard subskill. If you want to start with another subskill, I can list them for you, but the deal will be gone. Graveyard enables you to store away the bones you currently don't use, for example here in the city. You can also set it up to call out a specific constellation of bones you created before. This skill will keep you a respectable member of the society since necromancers running around the city with their undead is generally not very well recieved."

He coughed again, though noticably quieter this time.

"The second part of my advice is that you learn desynthesis magic, starting with the flesh-eating cloud. Desynthesis acts like acid against what the spell specifies, it's generally used against barriers, as a counterspell or, in your case, as a slow but clean way of acquiring bones."

"The members of SNoBs all use it to create their undead, although they will probably not use it to kill, as that takes too long and it ruins any other uses the flesh would have had, such as food. They do however clean the bones they want to use with it, making us so much more respectable than those necromancers using smelling, moaning corpses that litter everything with parts of their rotting limbs."

Manni bowed to the necromancer.

"I am most gratefull for your advice and gladly vow to follow it. If you want, I will leave right now to first acquire desynthesis magic to show my willingness."

Palebark chuckled. "No need, no need. If you turn out untrustworthy, I will show you just what desynthesis magic can do without killing." Then he started searching around in a drawer behind him.

Mannis already pale skin turned a shade closer to white before he reassured himself that he planned to follow such advantageous advice anyways. Palebark turned around again and placed a small mammal skull, a pair of crab scissors and a bunch of crab legs on the table. All of them were clean of any flesh or organs. Then he raised his hand in front of Mannis face and closed his eyes.

Warning: Verry Palebark is trying to teach you Undead Construction - GraveyardAccepting this skill as provided will take you on the path to a custom class.

You will be locked out of acquiring a normal class and will have to fill the 4 other skill slots currently available to you to acquire your class.Undead Construction - Magic Base SkillUndead Construction allows the creation of permanent undead minions that require a fixed portion of your maximum power capacity while active.

Upkeep cost depends on quality and size of the used body parts.

Selected starting subskill:

-> Graveyard: Gain access to a personal space you can store a certain amount of body parts with.

I accept and select Mana to power this skill.

I accept and select Energy to power this skill.

I do not accept.

Manni accepted and selected Mana to power the skill before curiously looking at the bones and limbs on the counter.

"This will be your first experience with Undead Construction. Place your hand towards the parts here and activate your magic."

Manni did as he was told and noticed a very faint drain to his mana as a dark-blue colored, almost transparent sphere encased the space in front of his hands containing the parts.

"Good, now that it is active, take two bones and connect the balls." Manni eyed Palebark for a second, but then grabbed two of the crab legs. As he touched them, blue balls appeared at the ends that had been attached to the crabs body. Touching the balls together, the legs connected, leaving a small gap with a single blue ball. Elated, Manni took the skull and another leg, this time trying to stick the leg ontop of the skull instead of onto the blue ball at its backside.

Once again, the parts combined, however, the gap was larger and the blue ball penetrated only slightly into the skull.

"You see that. Without the keystone for creating extra joints, it is best to connect bones only at the parts where they have been connected before, as in, ball to ball."

"Keystone?" That word wasn't in any feature description made available by the developers.

"Skills get stronger as you use them. As they reach a new level of proficiency, you can choose how to improve them, for example, a basic, power-infused slash may give you the option to improve the damage or lower the power consumption. Every few levels, there may be more choices, such as adding a rending effect to the slash that leaves the wounds bleeding. Those are known as keystones."

"I see, alright. What happens if I cut or carve bones?"

"I can't recommend cutting bones without being able to create new joints, as for carving, most bones don't take well to important parts of their structure being shaved off, so that's also not advisable unless you have special bones. Oh, I think there is also a keystone that allows shaping bones somewhat while preserving their stability."

"One last advice." Palebark pointed at the crab legs. "You can separate limbs like those into their parts without much worry."

Manni pulled at one of the legs, ripping off the upper segment. While the lower part had a blue ball at its new end, the single segment now had blue balls at both ends. He reattached them and noted the small gap that wasn't there before.

"As your proficiency rises, you will be able to attach them closer at will. Now try creating a simple undead and put it into your graveyard. Imagine the inside of your current workspace, the sphere around the limbs where you have control, to vanish through a portal or door."

Manni started ripping off the rest of the upper leg segments. Then, he held the skull upright, attaching all the legs to the large blue ball at its back. He finalized the boney calamari by adding two long arms made from the upper leg segments and crab scissors. Then, he imagined a black hole at the side of the workspace and his creation vanished.

You have placed a set of limbs in your Graveyard.You currently have (0/2) saved sets. Do you wish to save this set?

If you select no, you won't be able to directly pull out this set of limbs.

(State a name for the set to save it)

No.

"Skullamari." Manni decided to save the construct.

"Skullamari." He imagined a black hole again, and the boney squid dropped out of a black portal above the counter.

"Good, good. Now try reviving it, same procedure as before, but now you need to fill the construct with power."

Manni reactivated his workspace around the skullamari and imagined a blue flow from his hands to the skull. He noticed a short, harsh drain, then his workspace vanished and the skullamari wobbled onto its legs. When it finally stood upright, Manni commanded it to walk along the counter. He was surprised by the speed it showed but figured that it was just unbalanced and thus required so long to get up. He focused the skull after it stopped.

"Skullamari"A small undead construct created by Manni Marco.

Durability: 10/10

Upkeep cost: 5 mana capacity

After he sucked it back into his graveyard, he felt a short, liberating feeling.

"So what do you want me to do for payment?"

"Get that desynthesis magic and go to the beach. I was requested to make a lawn mowing construct, so get me three complete scissor crab corpses, just suck them into your graveyard as a whole. They are plant eaters that use the long blades on their arms to cut kelp and run to the relative safety of the beach with it."

"Alright. Ah, depending on what happens later, I might need to relearn Undead Construction. Can I bring you three more crabs?"

"Hou, you're getting me interested. If you bring me one corpse of the Coraltles that have a colony on a nearby island and show me what you want to do, I'll do so. The Coraltles often travel across the same beach to feed on the shrubbery. The normal ones are around 1 meter long and high, looking like a mountain of coral with four limbs and a head that can retract into it."

Manni noted down his shopping list mentally. Then he bid goodbye to Palebark.

After an uneventfull trip back to the plaza and map, he made his way to the desynthesis expert located in some kind of mages association.

The building was one of the largest in its vicinity, having both width and height to accomodate many laboratories and offices. Passing the town guards flanking the entrance, he focused the crystal at the door to not walk into the wrong building.

Magic Research Society - Acacia BranchMages of all respectable schools at your service

Manni marched to the map of the building to his right, then up the stairs situated across the entrance. On the first floor, he knocked at one of the doors.

"Come in."

Behind the door, a tree woman with birch-colored bark and almost white leaves styled into a high ponytail was signing a few documents. Manni noted her name, "Birta Whitebark", and her missing left forearm, only a stump remained below her elbow.

Noticing his glance as she looked up, she made a short effort to hide the arm in her cloak.

"That happens when you touch a barrier without worries, thinking it's just a barrier. What can I do for you, young man?"

"I am forging my own destiny, I already learned Undead Construction from Palebarks under the condition that I learn desynthesis, what can i do to repay you for teaching me?"

While her face had gone from interest over faint disgust to sadness, she sighed and gave Manni a small smile. "I guess Palebark is one of the people here that were hit heavier than myself. His reputation is also very good for a necromancer. With him as your teacher, I'll of course help you."

She scribbled down a quick note, folded it and gave it to Manni. "Take that to Sindras Synthesis Lab on the first basement floor and carry the item you recieve back here. That gives me time to finish these documents and I will teach you about desynthesis when you return."

After thanking Birta, Manni made his way into the basement.

Knocking onto a large metal door after he arrived, Manni noticed a few dents in the door that jutted out into the corridor. After getting permission, Manni opened the door and stared into the large room for a while.

Apart from a compartment in one corner and stairs leading down in another, the room was empty. A large formation of unknown letters and geometric forms formed a total of 6 intricate circles, one inbetween the others, etched into the floor and filled with a pale blue, gem-like metal.

Manni had time to notice a small window in the floor in the middle of the formation and dents and scorchmarks all over the walls before the door of the compartment opened, as thick as the door he just openend, it moved silently and seemingly effortlessly as well.

"What can I do for you, stranger? You don't look like you can afford the use of the largest synthesis circle in Acacias large vicinity." This time, it wasn't a tree person that had appeared. "Sindra Ara" was a large horned female, her muscular arms showing because of her sleeveless robe. While her curves weren't very defined, the small scars and burnmarks all over her visible skin, including her face, gave her a weathered, experienced look.

Noticing Manni staring at her, she coughed, her cow-like tail swishing behind her. "Hey, wake up. What, never seen a cowkin without oversized udders?"

Shaking his head, Manni walked up to her and handed her the note. "Sorry, I didn't think a mage would be quite as muscular. I am forging my own destiny and was sent to get this from you in exchange for learning desynthesis."

"Hah, a baby soul. As a synthesist with such a large circle, I can't allow myself to just ask for my customers to come and pull their wares into the circle once I'm ready. Let's see here... Alright, I'll be right back."

She walked back into the compartment and returned with a small vase. "Tell her with so much control over how she cuts up things she better act a little less impulsively. Desynthesizing and getting something repairable out of it is hella difficult."

"Will do. Thanks. On another note, could you tell me what synthesis is about? I can roughly guess, but I'd like to hear it from you. Also, what would it take for me to learn it from you?"

"Heh. No need to feel bad about a little staring. Synthesis fuses things. Simply put, you specify one target in the middle, and depending on your mastery and specialization, you can add properties or parts of the sacrifices in the outer circles to it. As for learning it... If you were anything but a new soul I'd reject you. Decide now and once you are back from Birtas I'll have a fitting task for you."

"Is it possible, with a reasonable amount of training, to coat bones with metal or give them metal properties?"

"A necromancer, eh? Sounds interesting,... yes, that will work, only question is whether you can still reanimate what you get. If you want to try that, I'd most likely go for property gathering instead of material fusion."

"Thanks, I'd like for you to teach me. I'll be back soon to get the work from you." Manni gave her a quick bow and returned to the desynthesis experts office.

Handing the vase to Birta, Manni voiced the warning for her that Sindra Ara had given him.

"Yes, yes, I know, thanks for getting that, it's super important to one of my "dear" customers, so I had to have it fixed, but there's no need for me handle it more than necessary. I take it you want the flesh-eating cloud?"

After Mannis confirmation, she raised her hand at him.

Birta Whitebark is trying to teach you Desynthesis - Flesh-eating CloudThis will occupy one of your 4 currently free skill slots.Desynthesis - Magic Base SchoolDesynthesis is a magic school focused on breaking down all manner of things. Despite this, its attack strength is quite weak.

Mayor usage is found in breaking down barriers, arriving projectiles or weapons and specific parts, for example only stone, leaving behind pure metal.

Control is strongest close to you, aggregating the spells until nothing can hit or hinder you. Not even the ground if you are adventurous.

Selected starting subskill:

-> Flesh-eating Cloud: Summon a cloud moveable by will that eats away all flesh, living or dead.

I accept and select Mana to power this skill.

I accept and select Energy to power this skill.

I do not accept.

Manni again selected Mana as power source, said goodbye and returned to Sindra Ara.

She had a somewhat mischievous grin as he approached her.

"Well, well. You didn't chicken out. Tell you what, I didn't find a really good job, so you're going to clean up the tunnel to my security chamber below the circle. I finished an extra large, self-heating cauldron yesterday for the guardhouse. The first try went wrong and one of the fiery horns they gave me to draw properties from actually flew straight into the tunnel, leaving it completely sooty. Clean it well, I'll even throw in the personal circle you'll want to start with."

Manni sighed, walked over to the cleaning tools already leaning next to the stairs to the tunnel. As he noticed the large patch of soot directly above the tunnel entrance, he summoned Skullamari. Taking one of the old rags, he made Skullamari cut it in half with its scissors before wrapping the rags around the scissors. After he drenched Skullamari in the bucket of hot water, he took up a mop and got to work on the walls while ordering Skullamari to run around in the tunnel with its arms on the ground.

An hour, one of his five starter breads and 10% of his magical water skin and another thirty minutes later, his white starter shirt was dark grey and Skullamari had dark smudges all over his skull. However, the tunnel up to the door that sepparated it from the security chamber and even the wall above the tunnel entrance were now clean of soot.

Showing the results to Sindra Ara, she gave him a nod and a pat on the shoulder that almost made him kneel before walking back into the compartment to get a large scroll made from fine papyrus. She gave the scroll to him and raised her hand at him without explanations.

Sindra Ara is trying to teach you Synthesis - Property GatheringThis will occupy one of your 3 currently free skill slots.Synthesis - Magic Base SkillSynthesis allows fusing two or more things. Depending on your specialisation, properties or parts will be transferred from the sacrifices to the target. There is a chance to fail and cause unwanted side effects if the fused things are too strong for the User or if too many transfers are combined. Sacrifices are usually destroyed completely.

Selected starting subskill:

-> Property Gathering: Instead of physical parts, transfer qualities and properties to combine in your target.Warning: You are currently holding a personal synthesis circle. Accepting this skill now will bind the circle to your skill, providing the following additional properties:

-> Summon your personal synthesis circle whenever you want

-> Your personal synthesis circle will evolve to accomodate the path you choose

-> -10% proficiency gains to provide the circle with energy to evolve

I accept and select Mana to power this skill.

I accept and select Energy to power this skill.

I do not accept.

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Manni again selected mana to power the skill. The scroll in his hand had disappeared, but with a thought, it returned to his hand. After finding a clean spot on the floor, he unrolled it and saw that currently only two circles with rather simple looking runes and markings where painted on it.

"Try fusing this with your shirt, can't have you walk out here like that." Sindra Ara handed him a small white stone. "Think about its color, that's one of the easiest properties to transfer."

Doing as he was told, Manni placed his shirt in the larger circle and the stone in the other one. Although the shirt was still wet from at least washing out the soot, the papyrus didn't seem to be affected by that.

As he activated Synthesis while thinking about the white of the stone, he again felt the now familiar strain of his mana vanishing while the stone dispersed into particles that got absorbed into his shirt, leaving it still wet, but now pristine white, as the stone had been.

"Well, there you go. Feel free to drop by if you are unsure what properties to transfer to get a result you want. I promise to only let you clean a little patch of wall for every answer."

"Thanks. Maybe I'll drop by if I feel the craving for more soot and grime." Manni dematerialized his synthesis circle again and left the basement floor.

Only to almost run into Sarah as he made a turn on the stairs up.

"Um, sorry, I'm- Oh hey Manni, what are you doing here?" Sarah panicked before noticing that she had actually met one of her friends.

"I had a small change of plans after an opportunity, now I'll go out to hunt and fulfill one of the jobs I have to take."

"Uh, nice. I had to make some soup earlier to get the cooking skill, now I'm running the errand for my telekinesis teacher. Do you want a bowl? I saved some for all four of you."

Manni accepted the soup with delight as Sarah had soon been established as the cook in any game the group had played that featured a cooking skill.

After he thanked Sarah, he returned to the plaza they had arrived at and left the town towards the port before he turned left. He had verified the coraltle island Palebark spoke of on the map.

Arriving on the beach, Manni took out one of his more interesting starter items.

Newbie Weapon TokenGranted to new souls, this token can change a single time, becoming a weapon of your choice.

The weapon will be made from the most basic material available for that weapon type.Weight: 0Aura: 2

At first, Manni tried requesting a weapon fit for a desynthesis mage, but got no reaction, so he had to settle for a standard magic weapon with focus on range. He reasoned that a range bonus should help in keeping his Flesh-eating Cloud effective despite not being directly around him, as was apparently best for desynthesis. The token started to glow and elongated into a staff uniformly made from a smooth, stonelike coral that was lightweight enough to be comfortable even for physically weak people. It ended in a simple sphere made from the same material.

Newbie Staff of RangeA long newbie staff made from smoothed bubblestone coral.  Channeling magic through it allows for greater control at range.Range-optimized: Spells behave as if cast 2 meters closer to you while in the direction of your staff.

Newbie Weapon: Cannot deal damage apart from special effects, indestructible, cannot be stolen.Weight: 1Durability: unlimitedAura: 2

Grabbing the staff, Manni waved it around experimentally. The light weight seemed unable to give it much force, but unlimited durability still made for other options. He looked around the beach, normal sand mixed with different coral colors where pieces of them had washed ashore. Around a hundred meters away, he spotted his first prey, a dark-grey crab with the body size of a large pizza. It was munching on kelp, its two arms with long, scythe-like blades resting on the ground, while two small arms close to its mouth, complete with more crab-like, chubby claws, steadily shoveled kelp into its mouth. As he approached, the crab raised its bladed arms in a threatening gesture while hugging the rest of its meal to its body with its other arms.

Manni walked a bit closer but kept his distance as he didn't know how fast the crab was. Then, he raised his staff and cast Flesh-eating Cloud for the first time. A white cloud of particles without any special features coalesced at the tip of his staff before flowing towards the crab that was already stalking backwards. As the cloud reached the crab, its form already noticably lighter than when it had started, Manni noticed an increase in the strain it put on his mana.

And the crab scurried away with a high-pitched but quiet shriek.

As Manni tried following it, his concentration broke and the cloud dispersed. "Different games, different ways to cast and maintain magic..." He mumbled under his breath before looking for another crab.

After finding one, he was about to release the cloud again, but then stopped and tip-toed closer as well as possible, the staff with its bottom end pointed forward in both hands. As the crab stopped eating and started turning around, he sprinted towards its escape path on a course that would make him collide with the fleeing crab.

A bit away from the crab, he speared the sand below it with his staff and pole-vaulted over it. The running start gave him enough momentum to flip the crab on its back despite keeping his distance from the bladed arms.

With his staff directly on the belly of the crab, he cast Flesh-eating cloud again and waited until the strain went back to normal, signaling the complete deconstruction of all that was flesh in its radius.

After summoning a workspace around the crab and sucking it into his Graveyard as a whole, he sat down and took out the inventory-magically still hot soup to eat it while enjoying the sun on the predator-free beach.

After the soup and a bit of relaxing, Manni tried flipping another crab and failed spectacularly, almost spearing himself on its blades. The next crab flip failed as well, albeit not as dangerously. Finally, he was able to flip and vaporize a second and then a third crab. He didn't stop there, however, and acquired a fourth and fifth crab. Each time, he took a while to rest and let his mana recover.

Resting was a skill listed nowhere that was implemented to cater towards solo players according to the developer commentary he had seen. Relaxing and sitting down allowed to fill up mana and health a bit more quickly.

Standing up again, Manni strolled around the beach until he found a coraltle. One meter long, with a spiky mountain of coral for a shell and a head, small tail and four feet clad in small scales, it was slowly making its way from the shrubbery across the beach towards the sea.

As it noticed Manni, it receded into its shell.

So Manni skipped next to it and, with some huffing and puffing and using his long staff as a lever, flipped the turtle on its back as well before reducing it to its bones. This time, the skeleton didn't stay as one since it wasn't connected normally and Manni had to take the bones into his Graveyard one by one.

Until he encountered a problem.

The shell of the coraltle encountered resistance as it was halfway gone and popped out again.

Experimentally, Manni removed one of the crab corpses and managed to cram the shell in despite some minor resistance at the end. Checking the Graveyard window, he noticed a faint red outline running around its edges alongside the new entries for coraltle bones.

He waved the window away again and tied the crab corpse to his staff with some of its earlier meal, the kelp.

Marching towards Palebarks shop despite the strange gazes his scissor crab-flag garnered him in the city, Manni arrived back at the necromancers door. Without knocking, he entered and almost ran over a well-dressed tree person.

"How rude, where are your manners?"

The red-barked, red-leaved, red-clad male, "Reddel Redwood", scrutinized his simple shirt, pants and leather sandals.

"Ah, sorry, sorry, my bad, I was just happy to fulfill my deal with Mr. Palebark here." Manni maneuvered his staff and scissor crab through the shop.

Palebark returned from a door behind the counter and noticed the situation. "Ah, Sir Redwood, that lads crab is a part of the lawn mower you requested."

"Hou? Well, in sight of our connection in the fight against unruly appendages of evil greenery, I will forget your rudeness just now. Remember though, not all nobility is as understanding as I am. You better learn some manners."

"Yes, Sir Redwood." Manni bowed to hide his grin.

After Sir Redwood left, Palebark looked over the crab on his counter.

"Well, looks like it worked out. Come into my workshop so we can get the other crabs and the coraltle. I'm wondering though, are two crabs and a small bone squid really enough to fill your Graveyard?"

"Ah, no, I got two crabs for my own use." "Oh, so you're going to show me what you have planned?" "Yes." They walked into the back where a large room with more shelves full of bones and shells was situated. While Manni pulled out his crabs and coraltle bones, Palebark started coughing and returned to the front for a gulp from his bottle.

Casting his own workspace around Mannis complete haul, Palebark easily verified all of the bones. "Well done, actually, I didn't think you would return today already, Sir Redwood was just here to request another two blades to be attached to his mowing monstrosity. So if you want, I will buy just the blades of one of your crabs."

"You can have them if you let me pick a few of the coraltle bones if I need them." "Deal. I just wanted those to restock my stocks, plus, they don't actually belong to me yet."

"Well then, here I go."

Manni separated his crabs completely, then started building a framework of crab leg segments. With the frame done, he attached the two carapace backs to the front and back of the frame.

"Ohoh. That might just work." Palebark gazed at his workspace.

With the holes left after attaching the carapace plates filled with crab leg segments as well as possible, Manni created a second, smaller form that connected the two bone blades he had left after giving the rest to Palebark back to back, forming a rough axe- or two-pronged spear-head.

Walking into his own workspace, Manni lifted his first creation and slipped into the crab harness.

Only to find it to be quite a bit heavier than he imagined.

So he took the leg bones of the coraltle and attached bones that ran down the outsides of his legs,held by small bone rings around his knees and ankles, ending in a few of the coraltles large, round nails for stabilisation.

While he was at that, he also added the other leg bones to the outsides of his arms in the same fashion. finally, he took his newbie staff and attached the bladed head to its end. However, because there was no joint to add the head to, the result was not satisfying him and he added a few of the coraltles ribs to snake around the staff and finally attach to the bone on his arm.

As a finishing touch, he added the skull of the coraltle to his left arm bones, creating a small buckler.

Before he could succumb to the weight now placed on him, he breathed in deep, expanding his workspace all around him, and quickly animated his construct.

Notice: You have created a new skillIf you choose to acquire it now, this skill will replace your skill Undead Construction.

Note: Access to your Graveyard will be lost, but its contents will be kept for when you reacquire the Graveyard subskill.New skill - Evolution of Undead Construction - Magic SkillBy wearing your Undead Construct as armor and wielding it as a weapon, you are able to combine your hopefully more precise strikes with the advantages of undead minions.

With the right constructions, your new, not quite living armor can provide you with all manner of advantages, from increasing your strength by following your movements to granting you flight with wings made of limbs and bone.

-> It's either me or her: Wearing armor made of thicker materials than light leather or pelt disables this skill.

-> Foundations required: If attaching a construct to a piece of equipment, this equipment must be on you for the construct to work.

(To accept now, please name the skill)

Don't acquire this skill but remember it.

I don't want this skill.

"Unliving Armory." Manni waved away the confirmation window to check his new Undead Construction.

Unnamed Unliving ArmorThe first of its kind, an Undead Construct meant to be worn, not controlled from afar. Created by Manni Marco.

Running along the limbs of its wearer, it supports and strengthens them.Supportive Structure: +10 Weight Limit

Limb Support: + 20 strengthWeight: 20Sharpness: 2Sturdiness: 2-5Durability: 50/50Upkeep cost: 45 mana capacity

"Most impressive. Do you require the Undead Construction skill again?" Palebark spoke as he saw Manni turn towards him.

"Yes please. I had to give up Undead Construction to get what I wanted and I most certainly don't want to run around the city clad in crab and bones."

Palebark granted Manni Undead Construction - Graveyard once more, leaving him with a single free skill slot to fill until his class would be done.

After saving the unliving armor as his second limb set after Skullamari, he named it "Crabknight Crabk. 1" and then just layed down for a while to recover his empty mana.

For his last skill, Manni went back to the starting plaza to get directions and headed off into another part of town. It was afternoon now, as they had appeared closely after morning. The visible star was currently the redder one, meaning there would be a moon once evening came.

Hurrying along, Manni arrived at his destination, a medium-sized house with a large, horned skull instead of a sign above the door.

Galba Tor - Dracobeard BeasthuntersExtermination of large landstriders and diving winged beasts

He walked through the open door and looked around, noting the skulls, weapons and shields decorating the walls. As he turned towards the counter, he was met with a pair of intense, golden eyes with slit pupils.

"Welcome to Galba Tor, what can I do for you, - pipsqueak." The dwarf the eyes belonged to was almost as wide as high.

Because of his bulging muscles that were adorned by a stripe of green scales running from the backs of his hands along the outsides of his arms. His dark green hair matched the scales surrounding his face, albeit a few shades darker. As he coughed, a faint glimmer could be seen behind sharp teeth.

"From your description, I assume that your group is well versed in using lances and polearms?"

"Correct. Hunting beasts like we do is best done with a long piercing weapon to keep distance to their teeth and claws. We don't take any apprentice though, so leave before you disturb paying customers with your attire." The dwarf was already striding around the counter.

"Hoo, wait a second. I am forging my own destiny and wanted to know what I need to do to learn using polearms from you." The dwarf stopped and turned away before glancing at him with.

"Tch, damn new blood. If I could I would still decline, but I don't dare, so all that's left is making you leave fast. Since you are interested in polearms, you should already have one, so show me and I'll teach you a fitting subskill for it. And if you just came here without one I swear to the old gods and my patron I'll make your payment hell."

Manni walked into the middle of the room, took up his staff and concentrated to expand his workspace far enough for summoning his crab armor. "Well what are y-" The dwarf stared at Mannis unliving armor that had just appeared.

"Hmm, actually somewhat capable for a pipsqueak. I guess since those blades are straight enough, you can still use that as a lance but also as a halbert,... eh, tell you what, I will teach you either Jousting and Heavy Pierce or Polearms and Heavy Swing, your weapon fits both albeit Jousting is stretching it a little."

"Since I plan to substitute or add a horn later, I'd like to learn Jousting." Manni smiled at "Turmo Galba", now visible above the head of his soon-to-be teacher.

And got hit in the gut, making him break down and cough for a while. Although it didn't do much damage, the punch felt like it should have pierced straight through. "Don't get friendly just because you impressed me a little bit, new blood."

Then Turmo raised his hand at him. "Jousting it is, now get lost."

Turmo Galba is trying to teach you Jousting - Heavy PierceThis will occupy your last free skill slot.Jousting - Physical Base SkillJousting is the art of using a long pointy weapon and making it find its target.

No damsels to win here!

Selected starting subskill:

-> Heavy Pierce: focus power into a thrust to burst away resistance and penetrate enemy armor deeper.

I accept and select Mana to power this skill.

I accept and select Energy to power this skill.

I do not accept.

Manni selected Energy as a power source for this skill and then got another message box.

Custom Class created!Forging your own destiny, you have acquired or created 5 skills. A new class has been created from your skill set.Note: You have just filled your last free skill slot. While learning or creating a new skill is possible for anyone, having a free skill slot makes this process infinitely easier.Note: For using a custom class, you will recieve one new free skill slot every 5 levels.Note: If you are offered a secret class, you may instead choose to advance your custom class in rarity, adding free skill slots and opportunities to set strength-weakness pairs and/or strengths.Your custom class will have the following benefits:Limb Synthesizer: +10% Synthesis success rate when fusing onto limbs

Creator Bonus: Unliving Armor you wear yourself +2 sturdiness and if applicable +1 sharpness

Doubly Experienced: +10% durability for all your Undead Constructs

Limb Desynthesizer: Storing limbs in your Graveyard doesn't require anything

You may set 1 pair of strengths and weaknesses

(Please name your class to accept)

I decline. (Usable once, resets your skills completely)

"Healer Priest of Buffing Ponies." Dong. The Sound of the Bit denying his non-blond hair made Manni cringe.

"Super Healer Priest?" Beep. Manni breathed out in relieve at not having to go through another round of being denied.

"Add cost reduction for non-fleshy constructs and cost increase for fleshy constructs."

Class modified:-> Undead Constructs without fleshy parts are 10% cheaper to maintain

-> Undead Constructs with fleshy parts are 10% more expensive to maintain

Yup.

Nope, let me try again.

"Alright." Manni unsummoned his crab armor, noting that it merely required a thought now. After storing away his staff, he turned towards the door without another word.

And thanked the dwarf hunter - from sufficiently far outside the building - before he left to find his friends.

On his way, he took a look at his current stats.

Basics

First NameLast NameDefault NameManniMarcoClassLevelExperienceSuper Healer Priest125%

Status

HealthSatietyHealth/s110/110Sated0,45ManaEnergy50/5050/50Mana/sEnergy/s0,2755

Attributes

StrengthEnduranceConstitution12119CapacityGraspAgility10118Weight LimitAura Limit2321