Bones followed the forest path until he reached an intersection. He had two paths available. He tried to visualize the map of the area and remember the paths he took to get here.

I remember the goblin patrol from the entrance of the stage. I went forward through the forest until I reached a forest path then took a turn right and followed the forest path until I saw the remnants of the battle. I backtracked and went northwest until the goblin village and then west again until the intersection!

Bones concluded that the left path would lead him south, back to the start of the stage so he turned right and continued north. He would find out if he was right soon and sure enough, not even ten minutes later, he saw a goblin patrol coming his way. He stopped, got off the path and hid behind a tree. He waited until the patrol passed him by and then secretly followed from behind.

He followed the patrol until the intersection and once he saw the patrol turn left toward the demolished goblin village, he sprung into action.

His approach didn't go unnoticed and the last goblin in patrol turned around in time to see Bones cast Bone Spikes. The skill did wonders on small and ground targets. The only downside was a rather small radius of attack, but nothing a few consecutive Bone Spikes didn't fix.

None of the six goblins in patrol died due to spikes, but all were crippled and pinned in place. They were normal goblins, equipped with spears, swords and one with a bow that tried to fire an arrow at Bones. He was the first to die and also the goblin that noticed Bones approaching.

Without being able to display their nimbleness, the goblins were sitting targets and again the reach of Bones' spells and Skully's weapon attacks played an important role in taking care of the goblins without suffering injuries.

Bones brought up his status screen and saw that he had a long way until the next level up in both class and a race. He just leveled up his class so it wasn't a surprise but he hoped he progressed more with his race.

I guess race experience will pick up speed when I invest more time in engraving and shaping.

Bones looted the goblins of their weapons and returned to the place from which he started following the patrol. He continued north along the path for some time but changed his mind and got off the path. He forgot that he was supposed to gather intel on the dungeon first and foremost!

He moved northeast through the forest and encountered another goblin village he didn't engage this time. He observed the goblins from a distance and noted there seemed to be more of them and two hobgoblins resided in the village. Further east, Bones engaged a pack of wolves with two alphas he had a hard time fighting against. The wolves were more cautious than goblins and, from what Bones could gather, more intelligent. That cautiousness forced him to taunt the wolves and leave himself open to attacks. Eventually, he baited the wolves into making mistakes and killing them but not without the cost.

"See Skully, that's why you evade attacks rather than take the hits!" Bones said while trying to adjust his broken off arm and looking for his leg. Skully didn't fare much better. Still, the leather equipment offered more protection than Bones' robe. Bones didn't bother fixing himself up but focused on repairing the golem. His bone armor will fix itself over time. One of the perks he enjoyed is the synergy between the permanent Mend Bone and Bone Armor skill.

I think I might be close to the center of the stage. South, southwest and west are areas I've encountered goblins and occasional wolves. The area of the massacred wolf chieftain might be southeast then. If I'm right, I should encounter both soon and on a larger scale…

Roughly two hours later, Bones was watching from a hidden spot on a hillside forest a small regiment of goblins engaging multiple packs of wolves in formation. A small regiment of goblins was led by multiple hobgoblin worg riders and a strange goblin figure at the back. The strange goblin donned a mage-like robe and had a staff in his hands. Bones was too far to Identify the goblin but he was sure it was a goblin mage. The first one he ever saw or heard of.

On the other side were wolves with direwolf alphas leading them. At the front was a direwolf chieftain.

Seemed like the setting that happened back then. The goblins outnumber the wolves and I wouldn't be surprised if the same thing happens again.

Now then…what should I do? I don't see how I could get involved in a large-scale battle like this one. How would a party of adventurers engage? Direct confrontation or waiting to see approach?

I think I'll sit this one out and see what happens.

Bones waited and soon the confrontation escalated into a full blown battle. Both hobgoblin worg riders and the direwolf chieftain with his wind blades dominated the fight. What drew Bones’ attention was the goblin mage. It kept waving its staff and casting spell after spell of different affinity and with different purpose.

It seems to be a support rather than damage dealing class.

A blizzard descended on the battlefield, slowing down the wolves. Then electricity zig-zagged between his foes, stunning them briefly. Finally a totem pole was raised from the ground, overpowering the goblins in the area.

"A shaman!" Bones recognised the goblin mage to be a shaman. The tempo of the battle changed and goblins started having an advantage after the shaman's involvement. Bones could see now how the direwolf chieftain could lose and WOULD lose.

At the start of the battle the wolves had the upper hand with their mobility but the situation changed after the goblins were buffed. A temporary boost to strength and their frenzied state let them overpower their enemies and soon, the direwolf chieftain was alone, taking on a full brunt of the attack from the rest of the goblin regiment.

It didn't take long for the chieftain's vitality to be depleted, but not before biting the head of the hobgoblin and killing dozens of goblins in the last stand.

Vitality? Oh…

Status.

Status

Attributes

Name: Bones

Race: Undead Skeleton lvl 24

Class: Bonemancer Adept Lvl 31

Soul Weaver lvl 13

Profession: Mana Engraver lvl 11

Hp - 530 (5.3 hp/s)

Mp - 950 (42.5+8.5 mp/s)

Sta - ∞

STR: 28

AGI: 5

END: 5

VIT: 53

INT: 96

WIS: 33

Free points: 2

I can't believe I forgot to distribute the point from the class level up and had a point leftover from Mana Engraving reaching level 10!

Seeing how the battle was finishing, Bones hurriedly placed the two free attribute points into VIT and closed the screen.

After the battle, the shaman gathered the survivors and began chanting a spell. Bones watched with interest as the green light enveloped the goblins and their wounds began to heal.

As expected of the shaman. The healing spell has a long casting time though. Around twenty seconds I think? Is the reason because it’s an area heal spell?

The shaman finished and slammed the butt of his staff into the ground, turned around and left. The goblins, now rejuvenated, followed from behind. Bones waited some time after the goblins left and descended the rough hillside. The battle was a mess full of mangled corpses, missing limbs and other body parts. What Bones came down to was to loot the bodies of course. He wasn't sure if this was normal for the dungeon. The in-fighting part between the monsters.

He searched the bodies and to his surprise, sensed no mana stone from any of the corpses. The goblins had their weapons and shabby clothing he could loot, but Bones expected more from the wolves apart from Wolf's Teeth and Wolf's Pelt. Especially from alphas and the chieftain.

Could it be because I didn't kill them myself? That's the only plausible conclusion I could come up with. I seriously doubt the hobgoblin, direwolf alpha and direwolf chieftain wouldn't drop more loot.

It made sense and Bones just learned he wouldn't be able to reap the benefits without getting his hands dirty.

"All these monsters outlevel me by a few levels. I won't be able to fight on par against them for quite some time…"

The goblins and wolves corpses were levels higher than their counterpart Bones killed before. The dungeon run turned into a scouting mission as Bones decided not to take any risks like he did with the goblin village. He headed northeast and kept off the forest path goblins patrolled.

The number of goblins in patrol increased and he noticed every patrol from here on out had a hobgoblin worg rider leading it. On a few occasions, the patrolling worg rider sensed him in the vicinity and gave chase but gave up after some time. Bones didn't give up and continued sneaking through the forest but knew he had no business being so deep.

It should be close to two days since I entered the dungeon and I did say I would return to the smithy in a day or two. I'll stay for a few more hours then leave.

Furthest east, Bones encountered an obstacle he couldn't bypass or go around. The hills so dense with foliage and trees and so steep he couldn't climb blocked his path. He continued walking north along the hill and concluded it to be the edge of the stage.

After two hours, the night fell and Bones heard the howling. He followed the sound until he reached a large den. No doubt a wolf's den.

Bones approached but stopped dozens of meters away from the entrance to the den. He spread his senses and sensed a figure deep inside a den. Strangely, the figure noticed and started moving toward the entrance. Bones retracted his senses, suppressed his aura, turned and ran toward the nearest tree he could climb.

He watched the entrance of the den and saw a pair of yellow eyes shining in the darkness. With slow steps, the wolf the size of an alpha appeared looking around. It sniffed the air in each direction and just as Bones identified the wolf, it noticed him and howled. Bones somersaulted off the tree, landed and disappeared running.

He didn't sense the wolf following him but didn't stop running. He slowed down after a few minutes and continued walking south toward the entrance to the stage. He had seen enough and it was time to leave, he concluded looking at the screen in front of him.

Queen's Cub, lvl 40 elite

He had found the boss! To be more precise, the location of the boss. The size of the whole stage seemed to be smaller than the previous stage, but it was obviously more dangerous and he expected the Queen to be a wolf a few levels higher than her cubs.

Again, over ten levels higher than me. I would have to be at least a silver rank to hope to reach the queen. As for actually clearing the stage…

"No point thinking about it. You're awfully quiet Skully. I admit, you're a good listener…"

Bones continued talking to Skully and within a few hours, reached the entrance to the stage. He was content with how much he progressed in the dungeon and without a moment of hesitation, he left the dungeon.

By morning, Bones was back at the smithy but not before stopping by an alchemy shop and replenishing his stock of mana potions. The smithy was rather busy with people Bones hadn't seen before, going in and out. It was odd to see humans here and going by the apron they had on them, Bones guessed they were apprentices.

He entered the smithy and was approached by the dwarf he had seen before.

"Mr. Bones! You were expected to stop by anytime now. It's been a few busy days and Hem has left a message for you!"

The dwarf handed Bones a note, slightly bowed and left. Bones looked at the note in his hands and saw it read "Wen ye get 'ere, come to da shop!".

Why the note? Could've just said so…Bones referred to the dwarf that handed him the note.

Bones left the smithy and started walking in the direction of the shop. The shop was closed to the Construction Guild so it took Bones around forty minutes to reach since he refused to ride a public transport. He opened the door and entered. There was a crowd of people in the shop and he saw Hem waving at him from around the back. He pushed through the crowd and into the back room where Hem awaited.

"Hem! Good to see you, what's going on?" Bones asked, referring to the crowded shop.

"Heya Boney! Wut ye mean? Its been like dis fer the last few days! Ye didnt kno'?"

Bones shook his head and said he didn't know it was usually this crowded. Hemdus explained the reason was the war on the border. While there were many shops selling armor and weapons in the capital, they were often out of price range for a lot of people so they came here where the prices were within their range.

"So business is…"

"Booming ye!" Hem finished the sentence.

Hem handed Bones a ring with his share of the profit from the sales and said he left the note because he spent more time here for the last two days. With higher demand for the equipment, Hem hired more apprentices and let them occupy his smithy.

"So, killed da spiderlady?" Hem asked and Bones nodded. "Out wit ye loot den!"

Bones sighed and nodded again. He approached the table and started taking out the loot from the dungeon run. Hem saw him start taking out fur pelts and his interest grew.

"Ye tried da next stage? Noice Boney!"

After taking out everything, Bones delivered his notes on the third stage and the possibility and likeliness of finding the wolf boss. Hem nodded and said he will pass the info to Darsumi.

"Look Boney, yer gon hav to find yerself something to do until evening kay? Come meet us at da smithy later!"

Bones took the hint, nodded and said he'll come by later then. He turned and was about to leave the shop but not before asking if his bone miniatures had been sold. Hem cheerfully replied," all sold!"

"That's great! For how much g…silver have you sold them for?" Bones asked and saw Hem squirming, not replying. "Copper?"

"Ah ye, forty five copper per toy!"

*sigh* They're not toys…I'd rather you gave them away then!

Bones turned and left the shop without giving a response.