Dark climbed up the side of the bone pile while the bag continued to whisper.
“Key formed. User access available. Please remove advisor key.”
“Key?” Jay said, raising a brow, “Be gentle, Dark.”
Dark’s skeletal claws slowly curled around the bag opening, gently pulling it open.
Jay stepped around the side, peering in. The black cube was… different. It had shrunk and deformed—or reconstructed, into a sphere shape, a palm-size orb. Though there was a slightly raised part of it poking out with squared edges.
The key? Jay thought.
(Dark, slowly pull that square part out.) Jay ordered from behind his death-walker’s sentry shield—standing behind it as a safety precaution. There was no telling what Viladore’s black cube—well, black sphere—was capable of. He couldn’t be sure if there was a booby-trap or a self-destruct.
Dark’s slender white fingers grasped the tiny bit poking out and gently pulled—yet the orb didn’t let go.
Hmm… it either won’t let go, or it doesn’t think Dark’s bones are living?
Someone living would have to pull it out, and Jay didn’t want anyone else having whatever this key was. Jealousy drove Jay; If it was a prize, it was his, and his alone. After all, he did have to slaughter an entire tribe of cannibals for it.
He slowly stepped forwards, holding his shield up, and reached around Dark—the skeleton would take the force of the blast.
Gritting his teeth, he hoped his arm wouldn’t be de-materialized. He gently touched the key, then gripped it lightly. Slowly, he pulled, and this time, the key budged, smoothly sliding out from the black orb.
When it was half-way out, Jay ripped it and jumped back then held his shield up, crouching behind it. Yet there was no blast.
Ah. I was just being paranoid. Good for me. He thought.
He slowly uncurled his fingers and looked at his prize. The key was like a polished black gemstone, smooth and perfectly square at either end of its long prism shape. Its edges were finely cut, almost sharp, and there was something enjoyable about running his fingers over them.
The black orb sounded again, “Key distributed. New master recognized. Input name?”
Jay peeked over his shield at the harmless black orb sitting on the bag, then glanced at the key in his palm and paused for a moment.
“Ah, Jay.”
“Ah Jay — Name accepted. Hello, Ah Jay.”
“Wait, it’s just Jay.”
“Name accepted. What are your orders, Just Jay?”
He shook his head, “My name is Jay. Now, what orders can I give you, what can you even do?”
“Jay—Name accepted. Accessing routine list—error. Memory fracture. No routines available… Initiating memory recovery—error. No mana source—cannot recycle more of self. Shutdown imminent.”
“Mana. You need mana?” Jay asked, raising a brow.
“Require mana source. Shutdown imminent.”
Will necrotic mana even work? Jay wondered.
(Dark, hold it and release your mana.)
Dark picked it up in both hands, its bone fingers wrapping around the black sphere like it was in a cage, and a faint glow of green mana circled around the orb. The green gas seeped into it and the shiny black outside layer of the sphere turned clear.
For a moment Jay could see its insides—glowing runic symbols mixed with elaborate tapestries of meshes, talismans and mana-craft diagrams. It looked more like a tornado filled with magic debris, but there was a satisfying structured order about it, which caused a string of excitement to dance in Jay’s heard. He couldn’t look away. He would not.
“Mana sensed. Drawing into mana reserve. Cycling… Initiating memory recovery.”
Seems like it’s fine for now, but I ought to take some precautions. Jay thought, and took a deep breath in.
“Ah, black orb, what should I call you?”
“Current name—prototype 117. Input new name?”
“Yes. Your name is…” Jay said, and glanced around the swamp, wondering what it should be called. Something like ‘John’ would have been too plain for his liking—but the swamp gave some inspiration.
“Leech.”
“Acknowledged. Current name—Leech.”
“Leech, do you have any way of communicating over long distances, such as a communication crystal?”
“Running self-diagnosis… Negative, but this can be incorporated.”
“No need. Do you have any weapons or way to attack, traps or a self-destruct mechanism?”
“Negative, but these can be incorporated.”
“Hmm, no need for now. Just work on fixing your memory.”
“Acknowledged. Current memory repaired—0.001%”
“How much… uh what was it, mana reserve, do you have?”
“Mana reserve: two mana left.”
Jay checked Dark’s mana pool.
[0/7]
Hmm, so five mana only gave it 0.001%. That means it will need… five thousand just to reach one percent? Damn… it’s gonna take so long. Perhaps I can automate the process, but will it even be worth it?
Jay asked, “Leech, what do you remember so far?”
“Runic translation.”
“Care to elaborate?”
“Runic translation: The ability to read runic language, runes, and to guess the outcome of rune craft.”
“And rune craft is?”
“Runes are symbols that resonate with mana. Rune craft is a series of runes arrayed in a pattern, and are linked together by a mana scribe to produce a magic mechanism—most of which are traps or locks.”
“I see… well, let me know if you see any traps… ah, also, don’t speak around anyone except me. Remain silent, I don’t want others to think you are anything but a trinket.”
“Acknowledged.”
It seems it has some things to teach me. It must have learned a lot from Viladore. This is exactly what I need—the mana cost will be worth it.
Next, Jay set up a way to feed the black orb with a semi-constant stream of mana, but not from himself.
(Blue, if any of the skeletons are full mana, have them hold the orb and coat it with necrotic energy.)
Blue glanced up at Jay from the waist-high water and nodded.
(Ah, also, bring me the breaking shards from the crucible.)
[15 Exp]
Hmm, good. More exp. I wonder what they’re killing? Jay thought. He was sure that the fire-lights dropping the amber spheres only gave 20 exp.
Blue crouched, stuck its arm into the water and began collecting the amber spheres from the submerged crucible while Jay finally left the cover of his shield and picked up his bag, which he tossed down the side of the bone platform. It landed just above the water so Blue could stash the sphere’s inside.
Dark still held onto the black orb, and Jay didn’t let it put it down—Jay wouldn’t carry it himself, so for the time being, its caretakers were the undead. Not that it cared.
Jay did a quick check of the ‘key’ that Leech had made before stashing it away.
< [Master Key] >
[Linked - Leech]
[The holder of this key is the master of Leech.]
So, I’m its master? Good. Another one for my ranks of minions, but at least this one can speak.
Jay stashed it in his inventory, then watched as Blue collected the last of the amber sphere’s into his bag.
(Blue, recall Lamp, Handy and… actually, that’s all for now.) Jay commanded, then turned to his assasin skeleton.
(Dark, leave the orb there and go to watch over Hegatha. Sweeper, guard Asra. Red, come back once Sweeper is guarding Asra.)
For Jay, it wasn’t too hard to keep track of. Red and Sweeper were guarding Asra and Hegatha. He simply switch out Red with Dark, while Handy was hunting the fire lights. As for Lamp, it was watching nearby.
Jay needed at least four of his tallest skeletons to carry him above their heads, so he needed Red back. Since Hegatha was tame, it was almost a waste of manpower… well, skeletal-power.
Apart from Blue, Red, Lamp, Sweeper and Handy, all the others were level three and below, and too short for the task.
“Now… to get to Asra.” He glanced down at the water below.
