~Somewhere near Hollow Forest, between a long slender desert and cliffs of a sprawling tall mountain range~
[Your skeleton has been slain]
“Huh?”
Jay looked back towards the tip of the mountain range, as Sweeper just died somewhere near there.
He was about two to three hours away from there, so he was safe for now, however the skeletons death only meant one thing: he was being followed - hunted.
“Dammit... I bet its that grey beast,” Jay pursed his lips, “I guess it noticed me after all.”
At the time when Jay first noticed the beast chasing the deer, he had hid behind a rock, and he didn't even see the beast look his way, but it seemed that this was simply a ruse to give Jay a false sense of security and let his guard down.
Fortunately, Jay was a paranoid person.
Jay summoned Sweeper again. Instead of crafting a new weapons, he made Red give it the bone spear he recently crafted, while Red reclaimed its sword.
Originally, Sweeper only had one arm and no weapon when he left it on lookout duty, and Jay didn't expect it to live for long, but now it was armed - both with a weapon and with literal arms. Jay believed it wouldn't be long before he received an experience point notification of the pursing beast dying.
After all, most things outside of the dungeons near human settlements were low level.
The spear itself would be useful against a charging beast too, as it had the [Anti-charge] ability.
With a weapon, Jay sent the skeleton away, and Sweeper quickly sprinted off towards the direction of its death, as if wanting to get revenge on its killer.
The rest of the skeletons were either guarding Jay or using the chopped-off lizard heads to pluck away the dangerous fruits.
Jay sat down and watched the fruit-picking process, unalarmed and unconcerned with the beast on his tail. It was a little over two hours away, so there was plenty of time to deal with it. For now, he relaxed and rested from the journey, and despite the undead using bloody lizard heads to pick hazardous fruit, there was something calming about watching the fruit-picking process.
Two hours later and Jay got another notification.
“Huh?” he raised an eyebrow, stretching a little as he stood up from his chair.
[Your skeleton has been slain]
Sweeper perish again.
“Hmm... ok.” he shrugged, summoning Sweeper again.
There were still three spears left, so Jay sent Sweeper away with another one.
“Surely it will be close to death by now?” he thought as he watched Sweeper sprint off across the rocks once more.
Jay wasn't sure how powerful the beast stalking him was, but most of the wild creatures out here were below level five - even the weakest natural animals like the glade deer didn't even have levels, meaning they had no class or powerful skills, while the highest level enemies he came across so far were the level two perreton wolves.
His guess was that it was around level eight since it could kill a skeleton.
There was a chance it could have bled out before even reaching him, in which case Jay would just have to wait for an exp notification, hopefully sometime soon.
For now though, he would just have to wait.
The fruit-picking skeletons had made it nearly half-way across the desert, slowing down as there were many more of the fruits to pick in the centre, among the larger mushrooms.
Jay leisurely looked at Heavy and Red by his side; all three of them had nothing to do.
“Well, I might as well try that new skill out. Hopefully it's as good as mark and host.” he nodded with a solemn smile, remembering Sedulus for a moment.
Jay checked the skill once more before proceeding.
<[Mind - Level 1]>
- Craft a rudimentary sentience. Form a basic mind.
- 25 Mana
“Alright, let's see what a mind looks like.”
First, Jay tested the skill by walking away from the skeletons and trying to activate it without any skeletons around. He believed there was a chance of being able to make a disembodied mind which he would have to implant into the skeletons, and he didn't want to miss that opportunity - perhaps it would have opened up new avenues of research.
Unfortunately, nothing happened.
With no success this time, he called a skeleton over.
“Heavy, you're up.”
The heavy skeleton trudged over in its thick armour. Jay had it drop it weapon before he got to work.
Heavy was chosen over Red, as Jay didn't want to mess up the skill while using a higher level skeleton.
There was no telling what giving a mind to the undead would do, and if a skeleton were to go crazy and attack him, he would want it to be the slower one, the one he could quickly unsummon before it could hope to harm him or even have Red kill if it were necesarry.
There an some uncertainty, as if the skeleton had a mind, there was a chance it could have a will of its own and even reject its masters will.
Nevertheless, Jay proceeded, and removed its helmet before hovering his hands around Heavy's skull and using the [Mind] skill.
Suddenly his necrotic mana left his hands and wrapped around its skull.
To Jay's surprise, the mana was glowing much more brighter than usual, even causing it to glow in the daytime, while it appeared thicker and more like a turbulent floating liquid, spinning around the skull wildly as if were caught in a storm.
The spell drained something from Jay - something which wasn't energy or mana. His arms got heavier and heavier, but he fought against it and kept his arms up as he guided the mana to continue swirling around Heavy's head. It seemed that his energy was also being drained by the spell somehow, making the process more like a test of endurance. Perhaps even a test of sacrifice - hopefully it would pay off.
While he wanted to lower his hands, he sensed that if he did, the spell would fail and the resulting mind would be fractured.
Jay pressed on as the pain grew, and thankfully, the rapidly swirling mana began to slow down; it went from being like a miniature hurricane spinning around its head, to then becoming a rushing river, and soon enough it was like a gentle swirling pond - until finally it stopped.
Instead of pain and tiredness, a strange warmth crept into Jay's heart and seemed to reinvigorate his tired limbs. Perhaps it was joy, or maybe gladness. Whatever it was, it was the opposite of the pain and struggle he initially felt, and even made up for it.
None of the skeletons skull could be seen during the whole process, and the mana was still wrapped around it - slowly though, it disappeared and 'drained' into the center of the skull, revealing the skull once more.
Finally Jay lowered his hands as the spell completed. The skeleton stood there, still gazing at him, almost fixated on him as if he was a single star in the night sky.
[A new mind is formed.]
Jay looked back into its eyes; they were still little bead-like dark-green orbs, hovering in its eye sockets fueled somehow by necrotic mana - though as he gazed into them, they seemed brighter somehow, interested in and wondering about the world around them.
The inside of the skull itself was no longer bone-white on the inside. It seemed more like an infinite darkness now as it was covered by a thick coat of the fluid-like mana, which had since turned black.
As Jay looked closer though, his eyes adjusted to the darkness within its skull. He could see tiny little beads of green lights travelling throughout the dark inner coating; thousands of these little green lights moved backwards and forwards like a swarm of tiny beetles running frantically around it skull. Some moved as fast as lightening while others travelled as slowly as snails.
Jay himself seemed as curious as the skeleton before him. There was something unsettling about its eyes, which seemed more menacing as they were surrounded by darkness now. Its eyes were calculating and gave off a sense of a cold intelligence.
Without even reading the notification, it was easy to tell that a new mind was born. Or formed.
Jay preferred formed.
Suddenly the skeleton's head moved back from Jay, and Jay stepped back too.
Its eyes began moving rapidly all over the place, as if it was having a seizure or was in a deep sleep state.
Jay waited patiently to see what would happen - but just to be safe he had Red stand by his side.
After a moment, its eye stopped shifting around and then began to look around slowly. First it looked at its own skeletal hands which it clenched a few times - then at its armour which it caressed almost lovingly.
It then glanced at the helmet by Jay's side, and Jay held it out for it to grab.
It took the helmet, slowly rotating it in its hands before putting it on.
Jay couldn't help but smile as he watched it learn. Before his was a skeleton he created that was thinking by itself, figuring out its armour by itself, moving without orders.
While to others it may have not been noteworthy, it made his heart rise with excitement.
Sure, the other skeletons could equip armour, but they were responding to Jay's will and orders.
Jay had a theory back in the mist keep dungeon - that the skeletons copied or mimicked Jay's thoughts in regards to fighting: that their combat style and tactics were simply reproduced variations of Jay's own ideas buried somewhere in his mind, whether conscious or subconscious.
Therefore, their combat skills, knowledge, and everything else would only be as good as Jay's would be.
This skeleton, however, had its own mind. It could learn. It could get smarter. It could outsmart. It could develop its own fighting style and hone it, gain proficiency with its weapons or in this case its heavy armour.
For now though, it was like a killing machine with the mind of a child. Even though its threat potential just jumped by leaps and bounds it knew nothing. For now at least.
Though through endless battles and enough time, it would only improve.
Finally thinking about his own protection rauther than his accomplishment, Jay cut his celebration short.
“Hmm...” Jay squinted suspiciously as he stood up and moved a little further away, as the next thing the skeleton noticed was its weapon - the bone dagger Jay left for it lying on the ground nearby.
“Well, let's see what you can do...” Jay smiled, preparing to fight it incase it tried anything.
