How come? Why did I get it now? Jay wondered, looking at his necromantic construction research.
Unfortunately, analyzing it gave him no description, and no additional information.
Maybe the sleeping spot and the bone crucible were too small to count as construction - or perhaps they didn’t count as construction since they’re not part of a building? Construction research huh...
I suppose the bridge didn’t give me any because all I did was dump bones down… huh.
Looking around, it was night time, so Jay got on with his project.
Using living blueprints, he stashed the large bone square into his gauntlet, then stepped over to his bone pile and put his throne in his inventory - then he brought out the square again.
The large square panel fell onto the pile of bones, but to Jay’s annoyance, it tilted to the side and slid off.
“Ah, I need foundations…”
(Dark. Report.) he ordered.
In a moment, Dark appeared again, and in another short moment, it already had new orders and began digging.
This time, it was a rectangular shaped hole. About 14 feet long, three inches wide, and three inches deep - a beam shape.
To keep the square floor plate stable and flat, Jay only needed support beams long enough to reach each corner of it, about 3 feet high off the ground - but he decided to make them long enough to reach the roof he was planning.
It would be structurally stronger if each beam went up past the floor and connected to the walls above it, helping to hold them in place. At least, that was the logic behind it.
Jay stashed the large bone square away, and began to fill up the beam-mold with bones while Dark dug out the other end.
They were an efficient team, and while a construction worker would be useful, he still wanted an assassin, so he quickly returned Dark to the fog once it was finished, letting it blend with the shadows nearby.
Now, I want more of that research… Jay thought.
He copied his process before - melting bones into the long beam-mold, then creating a cloud of mana over it which seeped into the bone structure and made it mix together thoroughly.
This time, Jay decided to grab another bone and swirled it through the liquid bone, mixing it all together for good measure. He slowly dispersed the necrotic mana and the ghostly glow left the beam as it solidified.
[Necromantic Construction Research - 2%]
“Nice,” Jay nodded, “So my theory is correct.”
He checked his mana, too.
[MP: 98/148]
Just making the beam was a large hit to Jay’s mana, and he felt slightly empty, though it was nothing like the feeling of being light-headed when he was extremely low mana.
Jay made two more of these beams, but he only gained one more percent to his necromantic research.
[Necromantic Construction Research - 3%]
[MP: 58/148]
[MP: 18/148]
“Ah, so making the same thing over and over again means I will be less likely learn anything. Makes sense.” He shrugged, storing the beams away as living blueprints.
He only needed one more, but each beam took 40 mana, so he would need to wait for regeneration, or pull his skeletons back. Thankfully, the wait wouldn’t be too long as he now had mana regeneration from choosing the path of mana.
For now, his mana regeneration passive was level 15, which gave him 1.5 mana per minute. It wasn’t much, but it wasn’t negligible, and with enough investment into his mana stat, it would only grow, along with his library of necromantic constructions, blueprints and research.
*Tap*
A skeleton dropped another amber sphere into the crucible, then disappeared before Jay even turned his head.
“Hey, wait a second!” Jay called, and the skeleton appeared from the shadowy fog, stepping into the warm light of the luminous orb. It was Handy, the champion.
Jay pointed to the beam-mold, “dump your mana into this.” He ordered.
The skeleton marched over, plunged its two-handed sword into the ground and held its hands over the mold.
As the cloud filled the hole, Jay released bones into it. The necrotic mana made them hover for a moment before they melted into the hole.
Handy used all its mana, and after completing its task it bowed to Jay, grabbed its bastard sword and left.
“Good job, Handy.” Jay whispered as it left, and used some of his own mana to finish the beam-making process.
[Necromantic Construction Research - 4%]
[1 Exp] [1 Exp] [1 Exp]
Ah, something attacked Blue’s skeletons. Seems like some bone-eaters came back? Jay thought, identifying the one-exp notifications as the bone-eating eels near the swamp bridge.
(Blue, if your sub-skeletons at the bridge need help, feel free to send them some backup.)
Thankfully, there were only three eels slain, so it seemed that there were not many eels left - at least not near the bridge, so Jay went back to work.
As to whether Blue would send backup, well, that was up to the it.
Okay, I have four beams and one large floor panel. That should be enough.
Jay took them all out and checked their measurements again, noting that each beam was 13 feet long, and the square panel was 10 by 10.
“Hmm, I’ll be living in a cube for a while. But that’s okay, it’s much better than sleeping outside all the time.” He nodded.
[20 Exp] [20 Exp] [20 Exp]
“Seems like the skeletons found a fight,” he smiled, then thought about how he would assemble these parts together.
*BRRrr~ GRRrrooooo~ *
A deep rumbling suddenly rolled across the skies above.
Jay looked up into the sky, seeing only foggy darkness.
“Shit…”
He couldn’t see anything, but a cold breeze suddenly shifted the air, touching his cheeks.
A storm was coming, and at the worst possible time.
“I haven’t even got walls or a fucking roof yet, come on?!” he yelled into the fog, which gave no answer other than more rolls of thunder.
[20 Exp] [20 Exp] [20 Exp] [20 Exp]
Can’t see the clouds. Too hard to predict how much time I have before it starts raining… He glanced back towards the swamp water.
Asra will be fine under the noon-leather blanket. I need to think about myself… I’m not going to let myself freeze in this shit-hole swamp.
He immediately sent for backup - if he was about to craft a shelter he would need mana.
(All skeletons except for Red, Sweeper, Lamp, and Blue’s sub-skeletons are to finish what you’re doing and report immediately.)
Every skeleton was summoned except for those guarding the bridge, those with Hegatha and Asra, and Lamp who lingered nearby, hiding in the fog.
[20 Exp] [20 Exp]
More of the fire lights died as the skeletons finished up a battle. The skeletons were giving it their all so they could return to their master’s side.
Jay walked over to his bone pile, and added more bones until he had a platform raised up to his waist.
This should keep my feet dry... Hopefully.
*t… t… t-t t…*
Jay suddenly frowned, hearing faint taps of rain in the fog around him. The storm was beginning and he still didn't have a roof over his head.
Handy and Blue were the first to return, and Jay began to put his plan to stay dry into action.
“Im not getting fucking frozen again… never again.” he whispered to himself, nodding slowly with an unblinking stare; his flesh and bones still remembered the shivering chill from the bottom of the Loslan mountain path, on that fateful day.
