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A few hours passed in the misty swamp.

[585 Exp]

The skeletons made good progress over the course of a few hours, and Jay had recouped much of his mana pool. The storm cleared and the fog had risen again, returning the land to a thick gloom.

It was hard to tell if the waters had began to recede, but now that Jay was on the floating island it didn’t matter.

Red fervently stood guard outside Jay’s new house. It sent its skeletal guardians back to guarding the bone bridge, but thankfully there were no signs of the bone-eating creatures anymore, not after the massacre and the storm.

As for Jay, his head was finally safe from any rain drops, wind or bone-eating eels. Leaned down over his desk, he was happily studying intricate patterns in a hexagonal honeycombed prism, which had tiny artery-like tubes passing through it.

[Skull-shield Projector Research - 33%]

It was delicate so he took his time. The hexagon was a piece of bone he had pulled from a skullshield projector, and studying how it worked was the first step to helping him make his own, or at least his own version.

Currently, his scrimshaw skill was not high level enough, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t gain research in this intricate craft.

After spending a few hours he found patterns in its structure; the arteries in the center were slightly thicker than the ones in the outer shell, but as these arteries went upwards, they branched off and fed into the smaller ones, getting smaller as they went until they all became as tiny as hairs.

[Skull-shield Projector Research - 34%… 35%… 38%]

Jay gained more and more insight as he studied it, and tried to visualize how mana would flow through it, picturing it like a river.

“It’s like the main channel feeds all the smaller ones, shrinking and branching into nothing.”

[Skull-shield Projector Research - 40%… 41%]

Finally, inspiration struck.

“It’s like a reverse-river? Normally rivers form after a bunch of smaller streams combine into one, but this is backwards… The energy flows up the thicker arteries, branches off and turns into tiny hair-like filaments? So maybe the shield is like the clouds?” Jay said, glancing outside at the fog and water.

“If the water is forced up the rivers, up the streams, then where would it go? The rain. The clouds. It’s like it forces the clouds into existence, making them thicker until they can block out the light.” Jay said, slowly nodding. “Well… except with mana instead of water.”

< [Critical Research!] >

[Skull-shield Projector Research - 65%]

“Critical research?” Jay said, and raised a brow, “Did I just critically-hit research?” he let out a chuckle, and wondered if there were ways to increase his critical research chance.

Probably by wearing glasses and walking around holding books. He thought, lightly smiling. I think that’s good progress for now. How long was I studying?

Jay lay his head back for a moment and massaged his temples, relaxing his mind after a good two hour study—though he felt like it was thirty minutes at most. But when he checked his mana and found that it was almost full, it confirmed it.

He stashed away the skull-shield’s hexagonal core and left his desk. Stretching his legs felt satisfying after a long study, and he went outside and stood with Red for a moment.

(Blue, send Archers back.) he ordered, and then talked to Red.

“So, how are things going out here?”

Red turned its skull towards him, stared for a moment with its hollow eyes, then turned away and kept scanning around the swamp, looking for threats. It was as diligent as ever. Yet Jay kept chatting to it.

“Ah, good. I’ve been making good progress inside too.” Jay said with a nod, and watched the swamp waters with Red for a while, saying whatever came to mind while the skeleton listened. Maybe.

Some of the grasses lining the island’s edge uncoiled and lashed out, catching stray bugs escaping from their flooded nests after the deluge. Others evaded the carnivorous reeds, only to turn and feast on them in return, a vicious circle of life—a small circle, but a circle nonetheless.

Finally, some ripples appeared in the water. Followed by a torrent and then a splash, a white skull rose from the depths, its ghostly eyes the only light that escaped the darkness. Archers returned.

As for its purpose of returning, it would find out soon enough.

Jay began to take out some bones from his ring—not helvetian skeletons, but parts of all the other specimens he’d slain along the way: Silt wolf bones, a soap rat skull, perreton wolf wings. For good measure, he threw in some of the black marsh bones along with the remains of a large crab-shell centipede that had washed ashore.

“Stand here.” Jay said to Archers, pointing at his mismatched pile of bones.

The skeleton didn’t hesitate, but perhaps it should have.

Jay chose this nimble skeleton, which was still level one, for one specific reason. It required less mana to summon.

Since Jay had upgraded [Summon Feeble Creature] to [Summon Lesser Undead], he didn’t need to worry about using smaller skeletons anymore either.

“It’ll be over before you know it.” Jay said, winking.

He watched its hollow glowing eyes for a moment, and it almost seemed like he would enjoy what he was about to do. A sly smile formed, and he slowly raised his gauntlet.

*Snap*

Jay snapped his fingers. Archers’ body fell apart. The dark green joints turned to ash and left another skeleton behind.

Jay plucked some of the helvetian skeleton bones away, ensuring that when he re-summoned, it would used the other bones from many different creatures. Needless to say, the skull-shield projector was not the only thing he would research today. The only difference was that this required mana.

A string of necrotic gas left his gauntlet’s fingertips and mingled with all sorts of bones, selecting suitable ones for necromancy purposes. Twisting and popping cartilage, melting bones and joining, jamming and fixing them to each other.

The rat skull took its rightful place, crowning the multi-colored body, which had a few different colored claws at its finger tips—most of them blue.

[Chimera Research 32%]

However, its glorious form was short-lived.

*Snap*

The bones fell back to the cold mud, only to be twisted, abused and used again.

[Chimera Research 33%]

[Chimera Research 34%]

Jay un-summoned and re-summoned without concern.

Each time, Archers came back different. A mashed mess of different body parts. The only pieces that didn’t mingle with the monstrosity was the crab-shell centipede.

I guess shells don’t count as bones. Jay thought, but continued his merciless summoning.

…[Chimera Research 37%]

A steady stream of floating ashes began to drift out of the bone pile, from the mana that filled gaps in the bones, flying off into the swamp.

The bone mass was slowly being used up. Each twist, mold, pop and jam causing more of it to grind away, lost to the harsh summoning process.

Yet this was a simple fix, as Jay simply added more of the various bones, aiming to keep an equal ratio between all types of corpses.

…[Chimera Research 39%]

With his research going smoothly, Jay began to notice changes, patterns—or perhaps, it was something that was there all along, he just didn’t have the knowledge to grasp it, or the trained eye to see it.

The stronger blue bones seemed to nearly always form the claws, lower spine, neck and shoulder joints, while the weaker bones formed things like the ribs. He wouldn’t have noticed if they weren’t blue in the first place.

One of the two lower leg bones, the tibia, was blue most of the time, while the lower arm, also composed of two bones, used at least one blue bone too—preferring the stronger radius over the ulna bone.

Hmm, the shin and the lower arm bones. Interesting. Jay thought, his eyes narrowing inquisitively.

It was obvious that his own necrotic mana was revealing something to him. These were the parts of the skeleton that needed the stronger bones, the most reinforcement.

The majority of the claws being blue was also a pretty clear sign too. And with this realization, his understanding took a giant leap forward.

< [Critical Research!] >

[Chimera Research 59%]

“Twice in one day.” Jay said.

Yet this also caused him to wonder about how research worked. He had gained it previously without even looking at the skeletons when he used mass summoning. Without even thinking about it, he had gained research.

Jay gazed down at his gauntlet, fingers flexing slowly, the sharp claws a testament to the mountain of corpses he stood atop. He nursed a small ball of glowing necrotic gas in his palm, mesmerized by the eerie green glow that flickered like ghostly flames.

A single question lingered in his mind, taunting him with its insistent curiosity.

How did the magic know where to place the harder bones? Can mana learn? Does it think?

It seemed so scandolous to even consider, but as he studied how the skeletons could learn without minds, how they communicated silently, how he could sense their presence, he couldn’t shake the thought.

Jay took a deep breath in, trying to calm his swirling thoughts, stopping himself from jumping to conclusions.

“The mana knew where to place each bone, how to make them stronger… when it made them, it learned and passed it onto me. I gain experience when they kill things. When I formed the skeletons minds, maybe all I was doing was connecting my mana with reality, bringing it a step closer to understanding the world. A another step into the world.” Jay whispered to the green orb in his hand, making it shift around his fingertips, stretching it and making it dance across his gauntlet.

This dark-green energy was the force that guided his necrotic powers, like a mysterious entity that possessed a keen understanding of the skeletal anatomy.

As he held the mana, he felt a connection with it that went beyond control, a symbiotic relationship that made him wonder if he was merely a vessel for its power.

The thought of being a puppet sent a chill down his spine, like an undead hand lightly tracing its cold fingers over his neck, pulling and swaying him, manipulating his thoughts.

But he couldn’t help but wonder if this was really just a deeper part of himself, pushing him forward. After all, his eyes had seen numerous skeletons slid under his butcher’s blades.

I control it. It’s a part of me. But is it me? He wondered.

Ash from the bones floated around him for a brief moment, a reminder of his own fleeting mortality, pulling him from his existential panic.

Jay dispersed the mana and lowered his gauntlet with a final thought.

Whatever this is, it will outlive me.