She explored the caves and tunnels system some more and came to the conclusion that it was divided into at least three different zones. The first one started from the mine, and included the zones where the giant roaches, caterpillars, and earthworms appeared, the second area started where the first one ended, and went on to the room where she found the Queen. Lastly, she found a lone tunnel, where no ants could be found prowling around and which Elena supposed presumably led to a third area.

She didn't go on checking this last tunnel though, she decided it was time to go back to her own lair, to rest and eat something. At least six hours passed from her last meal, and counting two hours were necessary to go back, she would be pretty hungry by then. So, she took off towards her mine, guided by Ro and her other minions.

As soon as she reached the exit, she went off to check on the butchered boar, to find that it had long since started to rot. This she had expected, as at least nine hours had passed since the animal had died, but it was still unfortunate, she would have to go hunting for something else, and if she wasn't able to catch anything she would have to rely on her gathering skills. Not literal Skills, just... ah, who cares?

She hastily put the pieces of carcass together, and then tried out the incantation the precedent level up of the Raise Lesser Undead had imprinted in her mind.

"Get rid of your mortal flesh and raise once again from the eternal sleep, prepare yourself to serve your new master: Raise Lesser Undead!"

[ Boar has become a Skeleton. Because of the type of Undead, they will receive a malus in Strenght, Intelligent, Wisdom and Perception. As this is the first Skeleton you raised this month, it will receive a random appropriate Skill and will grow in size ]

[ Boar Skeleton obtained a Common Skill: Bipedal Affinity ]

As soon as she finished chanting, the flesh melted, revealing yellow bones that then rattled and moved, coming together to form the complete skeleton of the boar that once tried to kill her. Then, the bones started to enlarge and some changed their very shape, creating a two-meter tall skeleton that stood on two legs, its back hunched forward.

If an expert adventurer saw the thing, they would think that someone had raised the bones of a small minotaur without horns, as that was what it resemble now more than a boar. But Elena had never heard of, even less seen a Minotaur before, so she paid it no mind and decided it was just due to the skill it had gained and the growth bonus.

Unfortunately, even though its shape resembled that of a human, it still had hoofs instead of human hands, so Elena couldn't give it some kind of weapon to swing around, increasing the damage it would do to her foes, but it would probably be able to tackle them.

So, after that was done, she set off to the forest, followed by only her new creation and leaving the others to guard the cave.

After an hours or so of wandering in the forest, she managed to reach the stream where she last had a bath and flung face first in the flowing waters. She was thirsty, and rightly so. After drinking up as much as her stomach could handle, she tried to put some water in her storage ring. Surprisingly it worked, and when she checked it says she had '4 liters of water', but she didn't understand what that meant. She was able to count up to quite big numbers, as everyone was required to learn basic math to understand how their skills and basic stats went, but she didn't know what a liter was. In her village, they used buckets and canteens as the units to measure the quantity of a liquid.

For now, though, that would remain a mystery, she just didn't have time to figure it out as she was quickly becoming more and more ravenous. She waited for the numbers to reach the fifties and the departed to search for something to eat.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

During her time wandering through the woods, Elena managed to gather several plants, berries, and some roots, as well as catching a bird by throwing rocks at it. It had taken some time, trying, again and again, to struck the few birds that landed on the branches in her line of sight, the few that weren't scared by her or by the skeleton's presence, but in the end, she managed to get one.

It was almost evening by the time she once again arrived at the mine, and as soon as she was 'home', she went over to the kitchen and cooked up the bird, spicing it with some of the herbs and roots she had gathered. Then, finally, she ate.

Before going to sleep, she gave instructions to her minions and took out from the spatial ring the books and the furniture she had found in the dungeon, minus the door. There weren't hinges where it could be put, and it would be inconvenient to just lay it on the entrance.

Then she went off to sleep, waking up to scream every so often and babbling incoherent phrases in her own nightmares.

She woke up late in the morning, her back screaming in mild distress because of the bedding and her eyes red. Today she decided they would go once again in the underground tunnels, exploring what was further in after the ant's nest. This time, however, she wisely thought it would be a good idea to go scavenging for some food to eat during her exploration before they dived in.

So, the rest of the morning was dedicated to hunting and gathering food. She came back with enough berries and roots to last her a couple days, together with some small critters which she would have to cook before departing.

Before getting to the cooking though, she decided it would be a good idea to resurrect some insects she had stored from the day before. After some thinking, she settled on raising six Stone Centipedes, as they seemed to be the strongest individuals she could get her hands on for now. Obviously, as she couldn't seem to be able to make skeletons out of the insects, they all became zombies, though to her delight they were still able to push her to the fourth level of the skill.

An hour and a half later, having done all of her cooking chores she stood in front of the entrance of what she had come to call a 'Dungeon', though she wasn't sure it was one. She shrugged, another thing she would figure out as time passed, and checked once again the list of things in her ring.

Corpses:

152 Giant Ants

21 Acid Roaches

10 Stone Centipedes

4 Giant Earthworms

Provisioning:

64 liters of water

1 cooked rabbits

3 cooked birds

Herbs (i)

Berries (i)

Tools:

6 Cooking Knifes (i)

4 Pickaxes (i)

She had made some discoverings regarding her ring. First, she could divide things up in categories, which made organizing her things so much easier. Then, some of the things she put in the ring were automatically grouped together, and by focusing on the (i) icon, it would show her more detailed information, like the condition of the object etcetera. But enough of that. She stepped forward, deeper into the Dungeon.