The mage hunter, currently designated as number three, continued tracing the signs of the necromancer along the desert.
“He must be smart. He didn't leave any tracks in the sand at all, despite all the tempting red fruit around.” he thought, copying Jay and not leaving any tracks of his own.
Number three was standing over a small pile of skeleton corpses - four in total, each with broken weapons by their side. Their bodies had mostly fallen apart, having lost most of whatever dark energy was holding them together.
After relaying a report back to base, both he and the other mage hunters on the other end of the communication crystal were sure of it: he had found the trail to the necromancer.
Strangely, there were only rope-like tracks and a few odd skeleton foot-prints which were barely visible, sometimes showing up in the dirt between the rocks.
Somehow, the young human necromancer didn't leave any tracks himself, which is what made the mage hunter worry - what if this was all just another diversion?
Not leaving a single track didn't make any sense. No one was this good, especially not a level nine adventurer.
Lieutenant Marsh had since sent another squad towards number three, an additional six men to the two others which were already heading towards him, and number three was glad to have reinforcements coming; it meant that responsibility for the necromancer wouldn't solely be on himself.
Usually with responsibility came rewards, however, Three knew better than that. He wasn't an idiot.
If there were any rewards, a superior would claim those - and if not his superior, then the superior of his superior.
Any merit owed to him would never reach him, and so he knew that there was no point in putting in too much effort.
Just the bare minimum would do: the lowest amount of effort to stop himself from being punished. It was a sad reality to live in, and he hated it; it was often small things like this which stopped entire nations from prospering.
Knowing reinforcements were coming, he kept moving, following the strange tracks on the side of the mountain.
As he walked, he unconsciously sped up, as the skeletons he found were getting more frequent.
~Hollow Forest~
Jay found a small tranquil stream running through the forest.
“Ah, so refreshing” he released a satisfied smile.
Sitting by quiet stream, he wiped some water on his face, rejuvenating his skin after the strange, dry, desert micro-environment.
Surrounding him were thick ancient trees that covered the forest floor with interweaving roots, the roots themselves covered in thick moss.
Small colourful mushroom's jutted out from decaying leaves and logs, and Jay was already sick of seeing mushrooms, so he casually kicked them over at his own leisure.
Unfortunately he couldn't identify them, and after talking to hunters during his time as a butcher, he learnt that usually these bright coloured ones could kill a man with as much as a pea-sized bit of its flesh.
Still, he was feeling quite relaxed in the forest, as he knew there were no other beasts around. It was a quiet moment of safety, and perhaps, clarity.
Since the blood-vine bear had a large hunting area, he knew he was safe, as everything had already been slain by the blood beast.
Basically, the forest here was his to do as he pleased in. There were no dangers and no threats.
Of course, he still headed south, but he made his skeleton carry him on his throne with a more slow and relaxed pace, giving him a more comfortable ride on his throne.
His throne still used the same chair, though instead of cutting down trees for support-carrying poles, he simply crafted more bone spears.
Lying back on his throne, Jay felt free, in a sense. His eyes were lazily half-opened as he lied back on his throne, starting at the sun peeking through rare cracks in the forest canopy above.
After escaping the beast, he really just wanted to forget about everything for a moment, and he needed some time to decompress after all the events at Losla, but he still had notifications to read.
Jay nestled his head back lazily into his chair as he began to open them.
[Your skeleton had died] [Your skel...]
“Yeah, yeah. Tell me something I didn't know.” he said, but he was even more annoyed with the next notification.
[3,240 Exp]
“...” Jay furrowed his brows, “Only three thousand exp for a level twenty-seven beast? What the fuck?”
His calm mood was turned sour, feeling quite annoyed as he sat in his throne.
“Surely there must have been more exp... where did the rest go? It doesn't even compare to some other monsters I've killed - and without any help from...”
Just as Jay was about to say it, he realized what happened.
“I did get help... those damn mushrooms.” he frowned bitterly.
After a few moments, he seemed to come to his senses, “I guess without them, it wouldn't have died anyway...” he shook his head.
“So this is what sharing exp is like.” he frowned, “it's no wonder everyone else is so slow at levelling.”
Since Jay and the mushroom biomass were not in a party, the exp was not shared evenly - the majority of it went to the mushroom field, which did the majority of the damage.
“Maybe I'll come back and kill those damn mushrooms someday... I'll add it to my conquest list.” he nodded, “I guess first I will need to start a list anyway.”
“Maybe I can make some shovels and dig up the whole desert. With the skeletons it shouldn't be a problem.” he smirked.
With his anger quelled, Jay checked a final notification.
<[Skill Discovered]>
[Mass Summoning]
Immediately his mood brightened up, “Oh?” he grinned, opening the skill.
<[Mass Summoning]>
- Can summon multiple skeletons at once.
- Can create a mana well within a pile of bones; skeletons will continue to resurrect until the mana runs dry or the bones run out.
- Requires free skeleton slots. Does not sub-resurrect.
“Amazing...” Jays eyes sparkled with delight, “a mana well. Awesome.”
As he continued to read though, he paused, and couldn't take his eyes of a specific part of the skill.
“What does it mean by sub-resurrect?...”
“Sub.... resurrect.... so... my summons can summon too... I'm guessing? ...But how?”
Jay looked at his skeletons carrying him, thinking about it some more.
“I don't see why not? I mean, they have mana. Necrotic mana.”
“And I copied the scrimshaw skill from them... hmm...”
He read the skill over a few more times - right now, the skill wouldn't be useful since his skeletons were already alive, but it held exciting implications for his future.
“We need to get you guys levelled up...”
As Jay said that, Lamp and Sweeper gazed up at him, their heads both turning back to look at him at an unnatural angle.
“...” Jay simply looked back.
“What?”
The skeletons went back to looking ahead, carrying their master over roots and between the ancient dark trees.
“...weird.” he thought silently.
As Jay was carried, he chewed on some jerky he had saved, but he made sure to savour every bite - this would be the last he had for a while, at least until he could find some meat and construct a smoker. His other rations were odds and ends he had stashed away - some dried fruit and forest nuts. They wouldn't last for long.
“I'll need to send the skeletons hunting soon...”
“But we will still need to travel out of the blood-vine bear's territory, otherwise there probably won't be much food at all.” he shrugged,
“...but if I leave its territory, then there might be other beasts. Stronger beasts.”
Jay frowned, in a predicament - albeit a self-imposed one: he wanted to keep travelling south, but right now he was in the safe territory of the blood-vine bear.
There could be more dangers, filled with stronger enemies ahead.
At the same time, there was no food in the blood-vine bear's territory, as it had used its blood scent skill to pick its land clean of any flesh or blood.
“Well, I'll just make a decision when I get to the edge of the vine-bears territory. I can just send the skeletons out of the territory to hunt anyway, and if they die I'll know it's not safe.” he nodded.
It was a simple solution, though based in inexperience. Apart from the time he travelled to slay leech queen Rosa, he had never done much survival in the wild.
Back then, he had packed enough food to travel and never did any hunting himself.
Thankfully, his skeletons were proficient and murderous machines. All along the way he had left a trail of death, the local wildlife decimated by the merciless undead.
Typically, survival in the elements was hard, and could be just as dangerous as the monsters he fought, however, Jay had his skeletons to do every single thing for him - hunting, gathering, and with minds, he believed he could even teach them to butcher.
So Jay both underestimated how hard it would be to survive in the wild, and seemingly, would never come to realize this fact thanks to his tireless helpers.
With his mind made up, he sunk back into his chair again, trying to relax, if only for a moment.
“Ah, this damn itch...” he grimaced as he went to scratch it more.
