“[Create undead] is a much more complicated spell then the one I taught you. If you were to learn the details, we’d have to sit here for a month, but since we’re in a tower, we can cheat the process.”

“Put your hands on the skeleton, and I’ll guide the mana through you. The tower will recognize that.” Morticous swung his hands upwards and the bones levitated until they stood in front of Alexander. It was clear to Alexander that Morticous had not created an undead, but rather made all of the bones float in their perspective spots. There was nothing tying them together, nor did they have the glow in their eye sockets that the other undead featured.

“It’s going to hurt quite a bit, so I’d recommend you wrap your fingers around a bone. All you need to do is hold on.”

Alexander clenched the forearms, feeling the cold bone press up against his palms. Even though the bones were floating, he couldn’t move them at all. It was as if not stone, not air, surrounded them. He trusted Morticous when he said that it would hurt.

It did not seem Morticous had a problem with putting him through pain, and truthfully that bothered him. During the chess match each loss had pissed him off, and in an effort for revenge, for Morticous to experience the same thing, he’d desperately tried his best to win.

And it struck him, maybe that was the point behind the pain.

Morticous didn’t have time to play nice. He put a part of himself into a child which was going in with a big disability. He needed to employ methods, he preferably wouldn’t, against a disciple.

It was made clear to Alexander that Morticous didn’t hurt him for the heck of it when he bonded his soul to a demon. Then, Morticous had been furious, yet he hadn’t touched Alexander. Even when the demon taunted him.

Morticous placed his hands on Alexander’s back. They were cold, almost to the point of burning the skin. There was a shocking amount of mana compressed in those bony fingers. Alexander heard Morticous start chanting behind him.

The ice pushed into him and into his stomach. He started shouting almost as quickly as he’d felt it. When Morticous said it would hurt, it had been an understatement. Hurt was only a fraction of the experience Alexander was having. His grip on the bone grew tighter, so tight it would have broken if Morticous had not cast a spell earlier to prevent that.

The mana traveled down to his stomach as Alexander’s shrill shriek echoed throughout the crypt. First it pushed its way into his guts, and then it traveled to this hands through the very same mana channels he had used to cast [Mana Bolt].

Apart from the pain that Alexander felt, there was something more morbid in Morticous’s mana. It had a hollow feeling to it only hidden by how much of it there was. Alexander felt like a worm crawled through him as the mana traveled further into his body. Whilst his own mana felt cold, it still felt like it belonged. This on the other hand felt alien, and definitely not human.

The mana reached his hands, then it slowly seeped into the skeleton. Although instead of flowing out as a gas, it seemed like many different runes left his palms. They had different sizes, and some where black instead of blue.

After thirty minutes that felt like hours to Alexander, flames shot out of the skeleton's head. Many different mana threads, which slowly had been forming, connected the bones together. Morticous let go off him.

“We are finished.”

The spell [Create Undead] has been learnt.

Alexander passed out.

He woke up after some time, strangely feeling well rested. It was as if his exhaustion had been seeped out of him. He jerked his head around, remembering that in a few hours he’d have to enter floor 1 and that he should have spent this time practicing. He found Morticous sitting in front of Icarus, talking.

“You’re awake, good. Naps are good for sanity. I took them all the time when I was your age.” Morticous stood up, walked over to Alexander and sat down on the sarcophagus beside him. “Floor 1 is going to open in a few minutes. You’re going to enter the moment they open it, but there’s a few things you have to know.”

***

Entering floor 1…

Welcome to the goblin mines! These mines have been around for a century, supplying the goblin nation above with a steady rate of different metals. Beware though, for the goblins are the nicest creatures in this mines. To progress to floor 2, you must kill the guardians, designated as red X’s on your map.

Due to being claimed by the mad necromancer Morticous, you have received the boon, Talent for Dark Magic.

Affinity for Dark Magic unlocked

Affinity for Dark Magic increased by 20%

Alexander and his one skeleton stood in a tiny, small tunnel. The floor was jagged, buckling and bending each inch of the way. It was not something Alexander was eager to ride on. The walls were made out of a light, green stone, and many different pathways and holes could be seen through the tunnel.

The skeleton wouldn’t have been allowed to enter the tower if it had not been made out of Alexander’s bones. Morticous had taken an extract of his blood and marrow, put it in a cauldron and shifted it into liquid bone, through which he created the skeleton. He said that the process made the skeleton much weaker than it would otherwise have been, but that it was better than having nothing.

Alexander’s plans were to get some sort of weapon for his skeleton as quickly as possible. Currently, he only had bones to work with, but that should be enough to take one or two goblins out, as long as he played it right.

As Morticous had told him, there was a minimap on the top right of his sight. It was 3d, giving him a rendition of where he was and of the tunnel he saw. On the map he saw a red cross, slightly to his right, and a bit below him, and he realized that he was standing beside a guardian.

One meter ahead of him, to his right, there was an opening. He was certain that if he passed through it, he’d spot a guardian, and he was too curious not to look. He rolled forward, and past the opening, trying to get as good a glimpse as he could of the guardian.

It was a large room he’d seen, and within there were perhaps thirty goblins, and one goblin maybe ten times their size drinking out of a barrel. It was a goblin giant. He looked back at his skeleton and swallowed.

To pass this floor he needed to kill that thing, or something of equal strength. Other people would have their teammates to depend on, but he was alone but for his skeletons. It meant he grew stronger, getting all the experience for himself, but also that he would have less skills and spells to use.

What he needed to do to kill that guardian was clear, grow stronger, and that meant killing as many goblins as he could. That also meant not getting touched by a single goblin. He needed to keep his cool. If he made a single mistake, it would mean death.

He took a deep breath and looked at the skeleton. He had full control of it, and there was a sense of safety there. He could rely on it, and because of the extra mana regeneration the demon produced, he’d never have to slow down and let his mana regenerate. He produced more than enough to sustain it.

He decided that he needed to find a goblin, preferably alone, and rolled down the tunnel, his wheelchair bouncing. The power which had purchased Alexander had told him about three respawns, but Morticous hadn’t said anything of the like.

He doubted Morticous would let a part of his soul die, but he wasn’t sure if sacrificing him and getting rid of the demon was a worthwhile trade for Morticious. He didn’t want to give him that option. He was going to survive, and as soon as he got rolling, he’d thrive.

A white dot appeared on his map. It was a little bit further forward in the tunnel he was in. He wondered if that meant an enemy stood there, but he couldn’t see anything. He looked exactly where the map showed a white dot but he couldn’t spot anything.

He sent his skeleton forward to investigate if it was some sort of trap, but nothing happened. Any corner could meant danger so turning around and going another path was probably not a good idea. He’d have to check out this white dot and see what it meant.

His stomach churned as he approached. He was ready for any sort of attack. If a goblin were to jump down from the ceiling ocean’s eleven style, he’d be ready to send his skeleton in as a guard. That didn’t seem to be needed though.

To his right there was a merchant. He hadn’t seen her before, but now that he stood in front of her stall it seemed that the green walls had morphed into a modern store. She stood there, staring at him with a smile on her face. She was a human being, or she looked like one at least. In front of her was a glass counter, filled with many different items, and each one had a tag on it.

“What’s this?” Alexander asked the lady. He knew it was a store, but for one to appear out of nowhere was strange.

“It’s a tower integrated store. There’s a bunch around the floor if you want to sell items, or purchase some. We sell minor health potions for two. Medium for four. Major for eight. There are other items for sale as well.”

“Two what? Silver or copper?”

“No, no no, you’ve got it wrong. We don’t sell items for coin, we sell them for goblin kills. However, we buy them for coins. Those you can spend in between the floors at floor 0.”

Alexander’s attention turned back to the glass counter. He saw a sword lying there with the tag 100 and a tiny figure of a skull on it. He glanced between the items until he saw the biggest number. 500.

“What’s that?” He said pointing at the wand with 500 written on it.

“That’s the legendary wand Xylus. To buy it you have to kill 500 goblins without purchasing anything else.”

It sounded deceptively easy, but considering that he was only here for five days, and that he couldn’t grind 24/7 he needed to kill one goblin for every ten minutes. That included finding them, avoiding the other creatures in the mines and competing with other units for them.

Alexander made a note of it in his thought.

“Do you know how many goblins there are in the caves?”

“I’m not sure, but one is running towards you right now. Have a nice day!“