Jay had left the cannibal village in the darkness of the night, leaving nothing but corpses and death in his wake.
Their stick huts had caught alight after some flame torches had been dropped during the one-sided slaughter; Jay was nothing but a dark silhouette, slipping into the darkness as the fire began to rage.
Somewhere out there was the leaf-skin territory, but Jay couldn’t be sure if they were cannibals.
He entered the dark jungle forest following the path, he was guided by Red with each step to stop him tripping; the two of them followed the stick-path which had been laid atop the roots.
As for the other skeletons, well they were already scouting the nearby forest, searching for any fleeing cannibals, hiding in the night.
Jay wasn’t sure how long it would be before the sun would rise, as he didn’t know how long he had slept before his necrotic helminth woke him up, but he felt well rested enough to keep going on his journey.
Right now, he was walking directly away from where the knight's territory was; simply because he was looking for his possession - the black cube.
While the black cube wasn’t that important to him, it did hold some sentimental value, but the main point was that it was his. Jay wouldn’t let someone steal from him without consequence - though these leaf-skin probably didn’t know it was theft, so perhaps he would not kill all of them.
While they were just dungeon-humans which would respawn, but he wasn’t a heartless monster, and if he wanted exp he would just reset the dungeon and have his skeletons slay the cannibal village again.
In fact, that was exactly what he had planned - though he would spare the little girl who lured him there. Even though she was a cannibal, it wouldn’t sit right with him, dungeon-human or not.
As for exp, he opened the notifications waiting for him.
[4960 exp]
“Easiest exp grind ever.” he thought.
While the cannibals would have killed most unknowing adventurers, now that he knew they were cannibals their threat level decreased. Their pathetically malnourished and weak bodies had to rely on poison to kill after all. Once you know their trick, they were not much of a threat.
Jay kept silent while walking through the dark forest, but inwardly he was cheering. Four thousand exp was enough to bring him a quarter of the way to the next level.
As for the skeletons, once they reached level four, they could no longer level up until Jay increased his skeletal mastery skill. Their max level was four because of Jay’s ability, but the excess exp would not be wasted - well, not exp, but whatever hidden force made them stronger. All Jay knew about it was that the skeletons shared it.
Since the only skeleton in this dungeon which was below level four was Handy, all the undead exp went to it.
Unlike Jay’s exp, it seemed that the skeletal exp wasn’t shared through dungeons and the real-world, so Handy received all of it - and Jay could tell it had levelled up since he felt it constantly glancing back at him.
He was glad as it was a good system to have; in the future if he were to have level fifty skeletons, and added a new level one skeleton, then all the exp would go to levelling the new one and quickly bring it up to fifty as well.
Until Jay increased their level cap, he was glad their undead-exp was’t being wasted since it went to Handy, though he was still curious about how it worked. After all, Jay received one-hundred percent of the exp from anything the skeletons killed - yet they still levelled up.
It was clear to him they were absorbing something else from everything they killed.
“Their max level is limited by me... but they still need to level up themselves - yet they don’t leech my exp. There must be something I’m missing? Why Can’t I just summon them all as level four?” he pondered
As for what he was missing, what he didn’t know - well he could only guess.
Right now, he was walking through a pitch-black forest in a cannibal-filled dungeon, while outside the mage hunters were still searching for him, and he was heading towards a vampire academy with a vampire who didn’t realise she was his prisoner - so it really wasn’t the time nor place to worry about such things.
It was just good that it worked, and for now that was enough.
Of course, he would conduct experiments in a more controlled environment, making full use of his soul sense skill. It was the only thing that let him ‘grasp the intangible’ and was his best guess, and only idea, to figuring it out.
He cast these thoughts aside as the skeletons returned from their scouting, search and destroy mission. It seemed that no cannibals had escaped.
As Jay walked in the darkness, Red and Blue were at either side guiding him.
Sweeper was walking behind as the rear guard, while guarding the front were Lamp and Handy.
Lamp, covered in its coat of human leather, was much quieter than other skeletons. There were no more clinking noises of bones at all, and neither was there any disgusting squelching sounds that one would expect from a human bodysuit.
It was completely silent, and it only added to the fear effect that such a creature induced.
Despite being a gruesome abomination, a strange and small part of Jay was even proud of it - though he was still much more disgusted by it than he was proud.
“Hmm, it must have a special skill to meld flesh together?” he thought.
“Wait... I analysed it, picked its class, and then didn’t analyse it again afterwards. So it must have new abilities? ...They all must have new ones?” Jay shook his head at himself.
Jay instantly went to analyse it, barely seeing the animal fur on its back in the darkness - but suddenly it was gone.
Without making a sound, Lamp had suddenly sprinted off into the woods, moving with such speed that anyone would have thought it was simply their eyes playing tricks on them. Nothing but a fleeting shadow of the imagination.
“It must have found something... someone.”
“Incapacitate - do not kill.” Jay thought-commanded Lamp.
Jay kept walking but did so more slowly, reducing the noises of himself and the skeletons to a minimum. Since Lamp had left, it was apparent that they were in the leaf-skin territory, or at least close to it - they had been walking for a little under an hour.
Jay sensed that Lamp was not too far away from his position, and had made it only about fifty meters (160ft) before it stopped.
Yet the forest was still silent.
No screams from any human as one would expect; no sounds of a struggle or cries for help.
No exp notification either.
Jay wanted to see what was going on, so he sent Handy sneaking over as he sat down.
Using the [Host] skill on Handy, the dark forest opened up with shades of grey before his eyes. It was as if it was daytime in a colourless world.
As Handy moved closer to Lamp to investigate, Jay found out what had happened.
Lying between some roots which formed a natural pod shape was another villager, covered from head to toe in wrappings of leaves and foliage.
Jay wasn’t sure how Lamp had sensed the person, and believed it must have discovered a skill while hunting - one that it didn’t have previously. Of course, it could have come with the role choice.
It was clear the person was sleeping but they were now wide awake - though they weren’t screaming.
Lamp didn’t let them wake up before it silenced him.
It didn’t knock them out, as any head injury no matter how severe, could cause a brain bleed which would always lead to death - even brain swelling from a concussion could kill. Too risky.
Instead it had done something quite unconventional, and it caused Jay to grimace a little.
Thinking quickly with its young mind, Lamp shoved its own leather-covered hand down his throat, stopping him from screaming as he woke up.
Perhaps Lamp’s leather hand even choked him awake.
The villager struggled but it was no use as the skeleton overpowered him - yet it would only be a matter of time before he broke free.
All they would have to do would be to make a single loud noise and help would come running - at least that’s what Jay thought anyway.
The struggling camouflage-covered villager wriggled their body and bit down their jaws onto Lamp’s hand, yet to little effect.
He probably thought he was biting a leather bag filled with rocks.
Thankfully, Lamp didn’t flinch - it couldn’t, and its leathery human hide didn’t break apart from the bite.
For now, they were both locked there - skeleton and human intertwined until he could call for help.
“I need to get there now.” Jay thought, ending the host skill and returning to his body; having Handy restrain their legs.
He had Red and Blue guide him there as fast as he could. It was too hard to see anything to move too fast - though he soon arrived, and heard the faint sounds of a body shifting; the crunch of leaves from their own camouflage.
Jay crouched down with a whisper.
“Stop moving or I’ll kill you.”
The villager breathed hard, a soft grunt of defiance.
The hostage probably had no clue that he was being restrained by the undead. It was too dark.
Jay had all five of the skeletons restrain the man, and then another held a sword to their throat. Lamp was still stuffing its hand down his throat, stopping him from even breathing through his mouth.
Next, Jay had the skeletons lift the man, bringing his ear closer to his mouth and he whispered just a little more loudly.
“This is your last chance. Stop fucking moving or I’ll kill you.”
Jay had left the cannibal village in the darkness of the night, leaving nothing but corpses and death in his wake.
Their stick huts had caught alight after some flame torches had been dropped during the one-sided slaughter; Jay was nothing but a dark silhouette, slipping into the darkness as the fire began to rage.
Somewhere out there was the leaf-skin territory, but Jay couldn’t be sure if they were cannibals.
He entered the dark jungle forest following the path, he was guided by Red with each step to stop him tripping; the two of them followed the stick-path which had been laid atop the roots.
As for the other skeletons, well they were already scouting the nearby forest, searching for any fleeing cannibals, hiding in the night.
Jay wasn’t sure how long it would be before the sun would rise, as he didn’t know how long he had slept before his necrotic helminth woke him up, but he felt well rested enough to keep going on his journey.
Right now, he was walking directly away from where the knight's territory was; simply because he was looking for his possession - the black cube.
While the black cube wasn’t that important to him, it did hold some sentimental value, but the main point was that it was his. Jay wouldn’t let someone steal from him without consequence - though these leaf-skin probably didn’t know it was theft, so perhaps he would not kill all of them.
While they were just dungeon-humans which would respawn, but he wasn’t a heartless monster, and if he wanted exp he would just reset the dungeon and have his skeletons slay the cannibal village again.
In fact, that was exactly what he had planned - though he would spare the little girl who lured him there. Even though she was a cannibal, it wouldn’t sit right with him, dungeon-human or not.
As for exp, he opened the notifications waiting for him.
[4960 exp]
“Easiest exp grind ever.” he thought.
While the cannibals would have killed most unknowing adventurers, now that he knew they were cannibals their threat level decreased. Their pathetically malnourished and weak bodies had to rely on poison to kill after all. Once you know their trick, they were not much of a threat.
Jay kept silent while walking through the dark forest, but inwardly he was cheering. Four thousand exp was enough to bring him a quarter of the way to the next level.
As for the skeletons, once they reached level four, they could no longer level up until Jay increased his skeletal mastery skill. Their max level was four because of Jay’s ability, but the excess exp would not be wasted - well, not exp, but whatever hidden force made them stronger. All Jay knew about it was that the skeletons shared it.
Since the only skeleton in this dungeon which was below level four was Handy, all the undead exp went to it.
Unlike Jay’s exp, it seemed that the skeletal exp wasn’t shared through dungeons and the real-world, so Handy received all of it - and Jay could tell it had levelled up since he felt it constantly glancing back at him.
He was glad as it was a good system to have; in the future if he were to have level fifty skeletons, and added a new level one skeleton, then all the exp would go to levelling the new one and quickly bring it up to fifty as well.
Until Jay increased their level cap, he was glad their undead-exp was’t being wasted since it went to Handy, though he was still curious about how it worked. After all, Jay received one-hundred percent of the exp from anything the skeletons killed - yet they still levelled up.
It was clear to him they were absorbing something else from everything they killed.
“Their max level is limited by me... but they still need to level up themselves - yet they don’t leech my exp. There must be something I’m missing? Why Can’t I just summon them all as level four?” he pondered
As for what he was missing, what he didn’t know - well he could only guess.
Right now, he was walking through a pitch-black forest in a cannibal-filled dungeon, while outside the mage hunters were still searching for him, and he was heading towards a vampire academy with a vampire who didn’t realise she was his prisoner - so it really wasn’t the time nor place to worry about such things.
It was just good that it worked, and for now that was enough.
Of course, he would conduct experiments in a more controlled environment, making full use of his soul sense skill. It was the only thing that let him ‘grasp the intangible’ and was his best guess, and only idea, to figuring it out.
He cast these thoughts aside as the skeletons returned from their scouting, search and destroy mission. It seemed that no cannibals had escaped.
As Jay walked in the darkness, Red and Blue were at either side guiding him.
Sweeper was walking behind as the rear guard, while guarding the front were Lamp and Handy.
Lamp, covered in its coat of human leather, was much quieter than other skeletons. There were no more clinking noises of bones at all, and neither was there any disgusting squelching sounds that one would expect from a human bodysuit.
It was completely silent, and it only added to the fear effect that such a creature induced.
Despite being a gruesome abomination, a strange and small part of Jay was even proud of it - though he was still much more disgusted by it than he was proud.
“Hmm, it must have a special skill to meld flesh together?” he thought.
“Wait... I analysed it, picked its class, and then didn’t analyse it again afterwards. So it must have new abilities? ...They all must have new ones?” Jay shook his head at himself.
Jay instantly went to analyse it, barely seeing the animal fur on its back in the darkness - but suddenly it was gone.
Without making a sound, Lamp had suddenly sprinted off into the woods, moving with such speed that anyone would have thought it was simply their eyes playing tricks on them. Nothing but a fleeting shadow of the imagination.
“It must have found something... someone.”
“Incapacitate - do not kill.” Jay thought-commanded Lamp.
Jay kept walking but did so more slowly, reducing the noises of himself and the skeletons to a minimum. Since Lamp had left, it was apparent that they were in the leaf-skin territory, or at least close to it - they had been walking for a little under an hour.
Jay sensed that Lamp was not too far away from his position, and had made it only about fifty meters (160ft) before it stopped.
Yet the forest was still silent.
No screams from any human as one would expect; no sounds of a struggle or cries for help.
No exp notification either.
Jay wanted to see what was going on, so he sent Handy sneaking over as he sat down.
Using the [Host] skill on Handy, the dark forest opened up with shades of grey before his eyes. It was as if it was daytime in a colourless world.
As Handy moved closer to Lamp to investigate, Jay found out what had happened.
Lying between some roots which formed a natural pod shape was another villager, covered from head to toe in wrappings of leaves and foliage.
Jay wasn’t sure how Lamp had sensed the person, and believed it must have discovered a skill while hunting - one that it didn’t have previously. Of course, it could have come with the role choice.
It was clear the person was sleeping but they were now wide awake - though they weren’t screaming.
Lamp didn’t let them wake up before it silenced him.
It didn’t knock them out, as any head injury no matter how severe, could cause a brain bleed which would always lead to death - even brain swelling from a concussion could kill. Too risky.
Instead it had done something quite unconventional, and it caused Jay to grimace a little.
Thinking quickly with its young mind, Lamp shoved its own leather-covered hand down his throat, stopping him from screaming as he woke up.
Perhaps Lamp’s leather hand even choked him awake.
The villager struggled but it was no use as the skeleton overpowered him - yet it would only be a matter of time before he broke free.
All they would have to do would be to make a single loud noise and help would come running - at least that’s what Jay thought anyway.
The struggling camouflage-covered villager wriggled their body and bit down their jaws onto Lamp’s hand, yet to little effect.
He probably thought he was biting a leather bag filled with rocks.
Thankfully, Lamp didn’t flinch - it couldn’t, and its leathery human hide didn’t break apart from the bite.
For now, they were both locked there - skeleton and human intertwined until he could call for help.
“I need to get there now.” Jay thought, ending the host skill and returning to his body; having Handy restrain their legs.
He had Red and Blue guide him there as fast as he could. It was too hard to see anything to move too fast - though he soon arrived, and heard the faint sounds of a body shifting; the crunch of leaves from their own camouflage.
Jay crouched down with a whisper.
“Stop moving or I’ll kill you.”
The villager breathed hard, a soft grunt of defiance.
The hostage probably had no clue that he was being restrained by the undead. It was too dark.
Jay had all five of the skeletons restrain the man, and then another held a sword to their throat. Lamp was still stuffing its hand down his throat, stopping him from even breathing through his mouth.
Next, Jay had the skeletons lift the man, bringing his ear closer to his mouth and he whispered just a little more loudly.
“This is your last chance. Stop fucking moving or I’ll kill you.”
