Chapter 108 Limp

Jay was deciding where to put his skill point as he watched adventurers training in the association courtyard.

“GRAAAA!”

*DUNGGggg~*

Two tanks charged and bashed against each other with their new shields, the sturdy iron walls making a deep ringing sound after the impact. It seemed like they were getting some sort of enjoyment out of it which Jay didn’t seem to understand.

“Fuck yeah!” one shouted jubilantly.

*flet flet flet*

Another adventurer unleashed an ultra-rapid volley of tiny bolts from a wrist-mounted crossbow, hitting three of the magic wooden birds as they flapped about.

“I wonder how much damage those do… seems like a waste of bolts. Perhaps if they aimed it at a creature’s eyes it would be good.” thought Jay as he watched before going back to his own business.

“Hmm… I suppose it will take even more time for the skeletons to hit level four since you need more experience per level. I guess It would be better to get them started now. Besides, I’m already at a much higher level than them…”

“..And I do have another undead companion now.” Jay smiled to himself as he touched the amulet on his chest.

“It also seems like most of the adventurers have a party size of at most 5 too, so I probably have a good amount of skeletons for now.” he thought, watching the adventurers going in and out of the association; he still didn’t realise that the unspoken limit of 5 was because of him.

Going solo into dungeons and being high level changed the mindset of the other adventurers. Clearly he was doing something right, right?

With a nod, he wasted no more time, putting another skill point into undead mastery..

[Undead Mastery Level 3] (Passive)

[Your undead can reach a max level of (4). Level up is permanent]

[Current levels: 3]

“Now all I have to do is wait,” Jay smiled gleefully. “I wonder if they will need more food.”

Next, Jay was going to decide if he should head home or travel back to the mist keep dungeon, however as he looked up there was a young girl standing in front of him.

“Naria?” he smiled.

She didn’t say anything but smiled back slightly, staring into his eyes, full of wonderment.

Jay wasn’t experienced with kids so he couldn’t think of what to say, especially since she wasn’t saying anything either.

“You look healthy.” he patted her head. “I hope you’re taking good care of Margaret and the other adventurers.” he smiled, and soon received a toothy grin back.

Jay was glad she was smiling now at least. When she first saw Jay, he seemed like a monster, and to Jay, she seemed helpless as she shivered in the back of that cupboard; her only defence was clinging more lightly to her water bottle.

“Alright. I have monsters to slay and people to save, so I need you to stay here and protect the association.” he smiled warmly at her as he crouched down.

Naria made a serious face and nodded as she held her tiny fist up, accepting her role as the protector of the guild.

“Good girl.” Jay smiled, almost chuckling at her antics. He gave her one more head pat before leaving.

He felt uncomfortable around children as he didn’t know what to say, so he made himself scarce.

As a lone butcher, he was all business. Usually he only talked to others about what he practically did, which would probably not be very relevant to a young child.

“Now, home or dungeon.” Jay considered his next steps for a moment.

He would still be levelling if he went home, but he wanted to explore more of the dungeon and reach the next pyramid – perhaps even clear it.

Unfortunately, his new creature’s necrotic bolts would be useless against the statues, but this only spurred another idea of Jay’s.

He would not let the bone helminth be idle – it would be a waste after all.

After some thought, Jay decided to head to the Wolf’s Quarry dungeon.

While it was a level 5 dungeon, it would of course be much harder to navigate and have a higher max level of monsters in it – however, Jay had only just played around on the tip of the iceberg of this dungeon and had only faced monsters around level 5.

There were still many more secrets to unlock in wolf’s quarry, but Jay decided he would clear the Mist keep dungeon first. He thought it was even a little pathetic that he had only cleared one dungeon completely at this point – the level one stink-rat marsh.

Compared to the stink-rat marsh and the mist keep, the quarry was more complex; it was like a bitter, dark, ravenous hole filled with winding branching passages and complete with sneak-attacks.

It was like the dungeon itself wanted its tresspassers to suffer in its bowels, their screams leaving behind only soft echoes on the wind.

Jay now had one advantage – a creature which could travel underground.

It could easily pop out of the ground, attack a silt-wolf and hide in the earth again, shielded from any retaliation. The helminth would have free reign of the dungeon – the only limiting factor to its success would be that its necrotic bolts take time to recharge.

But why would Jay care about that? The parasitic worm was not doing much at the moment anyway, as it lazily wrapped around Jay’s neck.

Each silt-wolf had 40 health, while the worm carried 5 bolts, each doing 5 damage a piece. 25 damage total.

After a wolf is brought down to 15 health, it would need three more bolts to finish it, though each new bolt needed 300 seconds to generate.

In total, 15 minutes to regenerate the required three bolts, along with the time it takes to attack a wolf.

“Hmm… I think it would be about twenty to thirty minutes for the worm to kill one. Not bad for a level 1 creature” he smiled, “Not bad at all.”

It was overpowered for level one, but it was a special companion skill for a necromancer; naturally, it would be deadly.

“Then it can gather the blue bones for me too. It’s always good having more.” he shrugged.

Jay proceeded to the wolf’s quarry dungeon with a light jog, he wanted the hunting to get started as soon as possible.

Finally he made it to the fake mining site. Getting inside the dungeon, he floated down once more. Into the darkness, he soon found the mining campsite with the single lamp, though he didn’t bother to pick it up.

“Now… natural form.” he said to his helminth.

The ethereal creature glowed and detached from Jay’s neck, seemingly squirming through the air. It became visible again, next his amulet floated and began breaking apart, growing and unwrapping, popping and snapping. The bones slowly emerged from it one by one, somehow in perfect condition even after the transformation.

The bones floated and lined up with the floating ghostly helminth before clicking and sucking into place; sure enough, its skeletal body wriggled and began to move.

After its completion it stopped floating and plopped on the ground, coiling into a circle and lifting its head up to its master, trying to guess Jay’s motives.

Jay crouched down to talk to it, staring into its solid green eyes.

“I want silf-wolf bones.” he said quietly.

The creature snapped its jaws and dived into the earth, swimming through the dirt covertly as it approached its first target.

“Just as enthusiastic as the skeletons” smiled Jay, happy with its performance.

He willed to leave the dungeon, and just before he exited he heard the wailing howl of a wolf; a whimper of pain.

“It must be pretty fast underground.” He chuckled as he found himself on the surface again.

“I wonder if I should name it… But what would I even call it? … What to call an undead parasitic worm?”

“Snakey? Wormey? Squiggly-boi? Sir Noodle? Limp dick?” He suddenly had a cheeky grin on his face.

“Anya would definitely kill me if she found out that I called it Limp dick. Perhaps most people would.” he chuckled, “That’s probably a bigger offence than what being a necromancer is.”

A part of him wanted to call it ‘Mr. Wiggle’ but he decided he should actually give it a decent name this time.

The parasitic worm was one of a kind after all, and while it would be hilarious to Jay, it seemed like the worm was much more intuitive than his skeletons, much more lifelike, almost like it had a personality.

It also was a great little helper and was physically close to Jay; nursing itself around his neck to protect its master. Jay valued its sense of love mixed in with its undying loyalty.

Yes, he valued it and a strange part of him wanted to pet it even though its head was a smooth, slender bone of a warped soap rat skull.

He shook his head, getting rid of his smile. “I’ll give it more thought. It deserves a good name.”

Next Jay headed back to the mist keep dungeon.

He decided to start practising the mana sense ability as he walked.

At first he had to stand still to activate it, but after a while he was able to slowly take a step forward. After a while he got more used to the feeling and soon walked forward slowly while keeping it activated.

Soon enough, he was walking nearly at normal pace again – though he did feel himself getting mentally drained as his mana was being depleted. It was like a large weight on his concentration.

Unfortunately, Jay still had not gotten a notification from the system that he has learnt the mana sense skill, so it seemed like it would require much more practice from him.

“Oh well…” he stopped trying and started a light jog to the mist keep dungeon.

“I wonder what the third pyramid has in store for me.”