Jay entered the dungeon again, “Oh.. I’m back here?”
He found himself teleported back at the very start of the dungeon.
“I assumed I would be brought back to where I left the dungeon, next to the pyramid... Oh well, I guess I have some walking to do.”
Jay squinted around at the cursed land.
“Hmm, I wonder if the soldier statues have respawned since I left and came back into the dungeon?”
As Jay approached the gates to the ruined city once more, he found that the destroyed bodies of the statues were still toppled and strewn about; each of them still piles of rubble.
“..I guess the dungeon only resets when everyone including summoned creatures leave. Good to know.”
This was a good thing. If you were in a party with others and had to leave for a moment before returning, the statues wouldn’t suddenly respawn when you came back, catching your team by surprise and slaying them all mercilessly.
[30 Exp]
Another statue was slain by his skeletons as he walked.
Jay walked past the rubble gateway into the city, heading towards the first pyramid - which he now knew as Sedulus’s home; of course, he would be walking around the side of it, as it was on the other side of this pyramid where a small mountain of empty soul stones were waiting for him to come and collect them.
Even though no statues respawned, Jay remained vigilant as he walked. He had the deathwalker shield raised, but to his surprise he didn’t encounter anything as he got to the two pillars in front of the black pyramid again.
“Huh, I guess there’s either no patrols, or my skeletons are quite thorough…” he thought, since he didn’t see any signs of the powerful stone statues.
As Jay walked around the side of the pyramid, he still didn’t encounter a single statue - despite not having personally travelled this path before.
Nevertheless, he did come across a few broken statues, and it was obvious who, or what, had slain them.
[30 Exp]
His skeletons were still putting in the work.
Jay didn't care very much about not finding any statues to fight, as his mind was on other things. While he walked, a smile was beginning to form on his face - a smile of anticipation.
His soul stones were waiting for him.
“I wonder how many they gathered... And all while I was sleeping? Heh, If anyone finds out about my undead companions doing all the hard work, they would kill me out of jealousy.”
Jay had gained 2740 exp all while he slept, which was ridiculous numbers compared to normal adventurers who would have to do 4 or 5 dungeon runs to even get the same amount.
It would take a year of hard work for someone to reach level 20, be Jay was almost half way to level 20 in under a month.
Normally, your experience points would be divided equally in your party, but since Jay was alone, he was reaping all of the benefits.
Not to mention, the skeletons worked tirelessly through the night, showing no signs of fatigue, pain or exhaustion.
Jay finally made it to the back side of the pyramid, and turning the corner, glimmers of light entered his eyes.
“Ohh yes!” a wide grin appeared on his face as he ran to a mound of the empty soul stones.
Jay almost wanted to jump in and swim around in them, but it would probably be a painful experience, so he decided to restrain himself.
“There’s so many..” his eyes gleamed as he looked over the small pile of the dark-green crystals.
With a smile on his face, he put them straight into his inventory.
[Soul stone (Empty)] x 76
“Wow,” Jay whistled “seventy-six of these… that surely brings my quest progress up a bunch.”
Jay checked his quest.
<[Hidden Quest - Soul Liberation]>
[Gather soul stones and bring them to Sedulus]
[Progress]
- Soul stone: 102/500
- Large Soul stone: 0/2
- Greater Soul stone: 0/3
[Rewards]
- 3 Skills: Mind, Mark, Host.
- Weapon: Sedulus’s war spear.
“I’m guessing the larger soul stones will be in the other pyramids; probably also filled with all kinds of fake treasure traps.”
With a shrug, Jay recalled his skeletons.
After a moment, the skeletons came sprinting out of the ruins, vaulting over debris and jumping past rocks like it was nothing.
If Jay didn’t know any better, he would assume that they were hunting him with a passionate vengeance.
Of course, these were his minions, and they answered to his call.
Jay noticed one of the skeletons was slightly damaged, a rib had cracked and was jammed into the rest of the rib cage.
“Come here.” he said to the skeleton before eating some bondtussle root.
[Mana Regen Buff 1% - Lasts 1 Hour]
“It will be better to stay ahead of my mana consumption.” he chewed the root down before he started fixing the minion.
Reaching his hand into the ribcage, he tugged and pulled the jammed bone a few times.
“Damn, it’s wedged pretty tightly..”
He took out his hammer and jammed it into the cage. At this point, the skeleton was on the ground lying on it’s back.
Rauther than a delicate surgeon, Jay was more like a mechanic, jamming his tool into the skeletons body like he was trying to pry open a locked chest with a crowbar.
Jay began pushing his hammer and levering it against the jammed rib, grunting as he pushed harder.
“Argh! Come on you prick…” Swearing at the inanimate objects surely helped.
*Snap*
“Finally.” The bone popped out and he could repair it.
He channelled his [Shell Restoration] skill while the bone floated back into its rightful place, reattaching with some of Jay’s solidified green gas.
Jay didn’t stop there; he continued to channel the skill until his mana stopped dropping - this would mean that the skeleton was at full health and had stopped absorbing the necrotic gas.
He repeated this on all his skeletons until they were back to full health.
Looking over his skeletons, Jay noticed many little dark-green flecks and spots on their bones - the result of his restoration spell.
The bones had been patched up with the green mist like wall plaster, and Jay was surprised at how many tiny bits of damage were on the bones - all of which were now filled in.
Generally, the skin and muscles would insulate the bones from the slightest scratches or dents, but since the skeletons had neither, every little bump would cause a scratch or some of the bone to chip off.
It was mostly superficial damage, but over time it would build up. Nevertheless, it was repaired anyway.
“Hmm, there’s also something different…” Jay squinted as he noticed something.
As Jay looked across his skeletons, he noticed that two of them were now the same height as Blue.
“Lamp and Red, you both levelled up?” Jay smiled, raising a brow, “Well, of course they did, they had just helped to slay 76 statues..” he thought.
“Perhaps I should put my extra skill point into [Undead Mastery] so they can reach level 4.” he considered, scratching his chin as his eyes drifted across his skeletons.
Looking at Sweeper, “You’re probably not far off from being level three either.” he thought before looking back at the others.
“Hmm… why do you two look weaker..?” Jay looked at Lamp and Red, comparing them to Blue before he realised something.
Their bones looked weaker, thinner somehow, they were like the budget version of Blue.
“Oh right, you need some bones if you’re going to get bigger huh?”
Jay shifted his ring into the orbital form to feed them some bones, but to his disappointment, it was mostly a floating ring of gas; hardly any bones were left.
Half of a jaw bone and what looked like a knee cap floated by.
“Damn… I’ve neglected stocking up on bones for far too long…”
After reasoning for a moment, Jay made a decision.
“We’re going to leave... It will be better anyway because this dungeon will reset, and you four can hunt some freshly respawned statues.” he looked on the bright side, thinking about getting another 2,000 exp.
“Now, should we get some silt wolf bones or some soap rat bones…” Jay rolled his tongue in his cheek, thinking for a moment.
“Oh yeah, your level 3 skill allows you to convert bones right?”
Jay analysed Blue once more, confirming his thought.
<[Perennial Creature Level 3 - Blue]> (Silt Wolf Bones)
[Type - Undead]
Base Damage - 4
HP - 45/45
MP - 7/7
<[Skills]>
[Corondum Bite]
[Corondum Claws]
[Bone Eater]
[Scrimshaw Level 1] (Passive)
[Undeath] (Passive)
[Shade Vision] (Passive)
<[Description]>
[An abomination, its existence spits in the face of life and death. Flee if possible. Execute with extreme prejudice, burn the bones.]
“There it is.. That bone eater skill,” he analysed it.
[Bone Eater]
- Consumes the bones of its adversaries, rebuilding itself.
“If I remember correctly, the bones it eats get converted into the same bones as its body. Since you’re all made from mostly silt-wolf bones, eating the weaker soap rat bones will be fine, as you will convert them somehow.” Jay wasn’t sure of the mechanism, but was glad for it.
Analysing Red and Lamp, Jay found that their HP was still 30/30, while Blue’s was 45/45.
“Interesting… so health correlates to bone mass I’m guessing. Well, we better get you guys a snack.”
Jay still had his ring in the orbital form, so he made his skeletons stand in it as he un-summoned them. Immediately their bones became floating parts of the ring and they dropped their hammers.
Jay added their bone hammers back into his inventory.
“Quite a quick trip this time. Oh well, time to leave.” he shrugged. All he did this whole time in the dungeon was mostly walking.
A black pillar with a door erected before him, sprouting from the street - the dungeon exit.
“There’s gunna be a slaughter in the marsh today, boys. Meat is back on the menu.” he half-smiled menacingly.
Double checking that he picked up all the crystals and bones, he left.
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