Cain ate some snacks while hovering over the party and managing the data sent by the underground magic circle when they encountered the next group of skeletons. Is it only skeletons? I thought there would be some zombies or something too. He complained while tossing the wrappers from the desserts into the Mana Trash dimension.

Jacob readied himself to take on two of the four skeleton’s attacks until he noticed a fifth one stealthily crawl out behind them. “Careful! There’s a magician this time!” He yelled behind them as Veronica fired an arrow with a red glow and Jared leaped outside the barrier to the deal with the right flank.

“I got it!” Veronica yelled back, firing a second arrow that joined with the first after it destroyed its target. Jared pounced onto the two skeletons slamming into Jacob’s shield as Veronica’s arrows flew past his right.

The skeleton mage prepared a spell, seemingly chanting with no words, as his doom sped towards his skull. The first arrow bounced off a prepared mana shield, followed by the second slipping through its defenses, driving a hole through its collarbone and first rib.

The mage’s jaw clacked several times, seemingly mocking Veronica for her failed attempt at its life. Its fourth clack became a crunch as an arrow pierced through its skull from above, tunnelling into its jaw. The arrow gave the inside of the mage’s skull a red hum; Cain recognized it as the first one Veronica shot.

Before it hit the ground, Veronica used a decent amount of mana to propel it forward, slipping under the mage’s tattered robes and up to its skull, flipping around to pierce through its jaw. Due to the multiple changes in direction, it could not gain enough mana to crush it completely and thus laid impaled within its skull.

The red glow grew brighter, singing the shaft of the arrow and sending smoke out the mage’s nostrils. Cain’s laugh was cut short by the exploding skull. Oh… I guess there was a delayed fireball on the arrow? He thought while watching Veronica and Victoria glance at each other proudly.

“Hm? What did I miss?” Jared asked, landing on Victoria’s left; the bones of the two skeletons in the front collapsing into another lifeless pile. “Not much. Although I can only last a few minutes before the barrier collapses.” Victoria responded, the delayed fireball having drained more of her mana than she thought it would.

“That’s fine.” Jacob replied, continuing their journey into depths of the cursed grounds. Interesting… Now that I know what a skeleton mage looks like I can nab one for experiments. Cain thought while peering through the mana signatures hidden in the ground. He used SRI to teleport a suspected mage onto his platform.

“Behave and I won’t dust you.” Cain stated the moment the skeleton arrived, gazing at the party’s advance. When he detected no movement of mana, he looked up at the creature he teleported. “Oh… you’re not a mage. Weird… Anyways, sit.” He patted the magic circle he floated on while pressuring the new arrival with his mana.

The skeleton reluctantly followed Cain’s orders, sitting on the platform and enjoying the view. It laid its chipped sword across its lap, dust and soil falling off his battered armor with every move. Cain inspected the skeleton warrior next to him, attempting to figure out where his error came from.

Since it’s a melee type, I guess his strength should be around an A-ranked adventurer? Then why are his mana levels similar to a C-ranked skeleton mage… Are my guesses on their power wrong? Cain stared at the skeleton as the party fought off another group.

—Group Chat: Cain, Dresil, Bob, and Rex— (154ms)

Cain: Bob, what’s going on here?

Bob: Let me first explain how skeleton summoning works.

Bob: When a skeleton is revived by a necromancer, whether the skeleton or necromancer is a human, lich, dragon, or any being, their wills fight each other for dominance. If the necromancer triumphs, they can order the undead as they please. If the undead wins, they’ll usually attack their summoner so they can return to eternal rest.

Bob: When a necromancer summons skeletons, trace amounts of their soul are used to reanimate their bones. This is primarily due to the absence of one’s soul if it moved on to the afterlife. Otherwise, the entirety of their soul is embedded in their bones.

Bob: After the battle of wills is concluded in the necromancer’s favor, the skeleton will use the necromancer’s mana as their own and their will becomes the necromancer’s. Their souls essentially act as mini CPUs to reduce the mental burden on the necromancer.

Bob: Their so called “resent for the living” is due to their partial souls that have been forced to wake from their rest.

Bob: The “trace of their souls” is reconstructed from the mana within their body that has yet to degrade or close objects they had in their lifetime. It is merely a mimic of the entire thing, but depending on the power of the soul, it could still retain some memories.

Bob: For beings on the level of gods, the traces of their souls link to their original souls, becoming an extension of their senses basically. Think of it as clones that share one mind.

Bob: Mages require more mana due to the spells they cast thus lower ranked mages will have the same amount as higher ranked melee skeletons. Most techniques of the warrior’s lifetime cannot be used due to the lack of memory or muscle so they’re usually summoned with less mana and just strengthen their bones or mana threads while attacking.

Cain: I see…

Rex: Dang it… I forgot to ask for shorter messages.

Rex: Wait… how are the bones even able to move? And aren’t necromancers op then since they can just summon an army of skeletons?

Cain: They move with the mana threads that connect each bone. They’re basically artificial muscles and tendons but only allow basic movement.

Bob: Necromancers are not overpowered. This is primarily because summoning 15 skeletons means you’re in constant battle with the remnants of their souls all at once. Just because the initial battle is over, does not mean the war is won.

Bob: There’s also the mana drain and the control for each skeleton to consider.

Bob: Let’s say a necromancer with 40,000 mana summons 20 skeletons and implants 2,000 mana into each one. That’s a fifth of the mana citizens usually have, and they don’t have to use it to move unlike skeletons do.

Bob: If that same necromancer summoned 2 skeletons and gave them 20,000 mana each, he essentially has two party members slightly below D-rank. However, since the necromancer used all of his mana, he’d have to rely on his own body to fight in battle.

Bob: Keep in mind, he must constantly fight for control over the remnants of their souls so he wouldn’t be able to focus on the battle completely. This will lead to an experienced C-rank being able to bypass the rustic, simple movements of the skeleton and target the necromancer.

Cain: If the necromancer dies, are the skeletons unsummoned or do they remain until they lose their mana.

Bob: It depends. One with a strong will could take control of the necromancer’s mana and use it to sustain their life while strengthening their souls. This is one way a lich is born, but it is very rare. Otherwise they just unsummon as the necromancer’s mana dissipates.

Cain: I see… Well, guess I don’t need that mage anymore. Any chance I’ll be able to see souls?

Bob: It’s not likely. Most gods don’t even see their definite form unless they’re in the celestial realm where it manifests the souls’ form for them.

Cain: Welp.

Rex: Wait… how does that explain them getting weaker in the sunlight though?

Bob: For skeletons, the sun will weaken the necromancer's mana and thus the threads connecting their limbs. This is because most necromancy is derived from shadow or demonic magic.

Rex: It’s starting to make sense now…

Dresil: Should we just call Bob “Uncle Google?”

Rex: Yes.

Cain: Eh, up to him.

Bob: Nope.

Dresil: Dang it…

--------------------------

“Now what do I do with you…” Cain mumbled as the party continued their fight. Meh, I’ll just mess around with it. He thought while creating a saxophone out of mana, disguising its creation with a portal and handed it to the warrior on his left.

“Can you play ‘Spooky Scary Skeletons’?” Cain requested then returned his gaze to the party, occasionally gnawing on some hard candy. The skeleton warrior dumbfoundedly stared at Cain, trying to process just how it was supposed to play a wind instrument with no lungs.

The two sat in awkward silence until the party finished their fight, only then did Cain realize his mistake. “Oh… Well, goodbye I guess.” He said while converting the skeletons bones into water then mana; the saxophone fell into a portal that appeared and disappeared after depositing it into the Mana Trash storage.

The flickering light of Victoria’s cleansing barrier drew Cain’s attention; the party looked up at him with a gaze of resignation. He created a portal next to them while expanding the range of the platform and Poison Immunity Prototype to four meters behind himself; his leg still dangling off the edge of the platform.

The party walked onto the platform, collapsing onto their knees or butts shortly after. “That was an exhausting 10 minutes…” Victoria heaved a sigh as she flopped on her back.

“Yeah… All that jumping… tired me out… faster than I thought it would.” Jared added in between pants, his wrist resting on an upwards knee, the other laying flatly on the platform.

“So, What do you guys want to do now? We can call it a day and come back tomorrow or I can push through with you guys in tow.” Cain asked once Jacob and Veronica sat on the platform.

“I kinda want to see what’s causing all of these undead.” Victoria spoke to the clouds, her words joining with Jared’s as he laid on his back. “Yeah… That’d would be kinda fun… I guess… Although we wouldn’t get anything…”

“We don’t always need to get something though. This experience alone is pretty valuable.” Veronica reminded Jared of this trip's true worth. “I’m down for whatever you guys want to do. I just want to go back soon so I can take a bath.” Veronica’s statement caused a series of sniffs and repulsive winces to go around.

“Yep, definitely need a bath soon.” Jacob’s vocal agreement was followed by the party’s tired nods. “I think we should continue all the way, then, if you can, portal us back to the inn?” Jacob directed the last part of his statement towards Cain.

“Sounds good. I was thinking about portalling us back to the capital anyways. Well, let’s continue onwards then.” Cain dragged the tired party through the air, heading straight towards the center of the zone until a peculiar sight caught his attention.