Bones says "Yes, master, I want to be free!"

"Alright, if that is what you want then I will work on it. It will take some time, but I will study and look for a way."

Bones says "Thank you, master."

"For now, just focus on killing the undead. I want to see what effect the energy has on you."

Bones says "Okay."

Bones turns and starts hammering down the undead, giving me a chance to rest. I stick close to him so that he is within the bubble and can move normally. As he fights I use my mana to scan him, something I haven't done before.

According to the scan, other than a magical link to me he is just a skeleton. As far as I can tell he doesn't even have any energy of his own, but he doesn't drain mana from me. In fact, I can't tell what sort of energy is being used to sustain Bones.

It isn't mana or divine power, and it can't be sacred power since I don't have it anymore. So instead, I turn to studying the connection between the two of us. When I look at it closely it has the same feeling as when I am looking at my soul.

So I track the connection back to my soul, it goes fairly deep into my soul. Before, when my soul was damaged, it was all on the surface and I never looked deeper. The connection to Bones goes deep into my soul and I don't actually know how to look at it.

What Seronia taught me only allows me to look at my own soul, not do anything with it. However, that is getting ahead of myself, if I were to cut Bones off right now he would just turn into a pile of bones. His situation is actually similar to mine, I am dependent on energy from Krenocia.

So, the first thing I have to do is figure out how to make Bones have his own energy. I am not sure if he needs to have a core or something else, I haven't really studied the undead. However, since there are undead right in front of me I would be a fool not to take a look.

So, using my mana I start scanning the undead, both the normal and the ancient. The first thing I learn is that they don't have cores, their energy is spread out in their bodies. In the skeletons it is spread throughout their bones, in the zombies it is mostly in the head.

The only difference between the normal undead and the ancients is the amount of energy. So for Bones, he will need to build up energy and store it in his bones. Using the hammer should be perfect for him, as long as the energy stays with him.

To make sure, I count the amount of energy I have and watch it to see if it increases. If it doesn't, that should mean that Bones is keeping the energy he steals with the hammer. The pure energy shouldn't be an issue, but I am worried about what the Origin Energy might do to him.

After all, I haven't done any experiments with undead or bones, so I don't know how it will act. If it treats him like a material then it will just make more bone. However, if it reacts to the fact that he is undead I have no idea what might happen.

For all I know it might see him as dead and try to bring him back to life. So far, Bones hasn't killed an ancient undead, but as soon as he does he will encounter the Origin Energy. Before it actually happens I am trying to think if there is something I can do.

Of course, while I am calling these undead normal, they actually aren't normal. They are being animated by the maker's power, not the normal power of undeath. So, anything I learn from them may or may not apply to Bones, leaving me at square one.

What I really need to do is find some actual undead to study, but I doubt there are any on the island. Even if there were before, the maker's power will have taken them over by now. I might be able to find some on the mainland, maybe Krenocia can help me find some.

If I can find and study some normal undead my chances of helping Bones should increase. So, after dealing with the maker's undead here, that will be my next goal. It should go along pretty well with the plan to rescue the elves on the mainland.

My train of thought gets derailed because Bones finally comes up against an ancient undead. I immediately switch back to scanning Bones, I want to watch what happens. When he defeats the ancient undead the Origin Energy goes from the hammer into Bones.

As I watch, the energy goes to Bones' head where the pure energy has been collecting. Then, the Origin Energy absorbs all of the pure energy and then merges into his skull. From there it quickly spreads to all the bones that make up his body.

His bones start glowing as they absorb the energy and then after a minute the glow fades. From the outside, nothing looks to have changed, but the scan shows it differently. In the mana view, each and every bone in his body now has a very small energy signature.

It is lower than even a freshly raised skeleton would have, but it is a good start. Which means Bones has taken the first step towards being able to survive on his own. If this can continue then all I will need to worry about is how to remove the link without damaging my soul.

For now, I just let Bones continue to kill the undead and gather energy. The more he gathers on his own the less chance I will have to give him what I have collected. Not that I am not willing to, I would just prefer not to if there is an alternative.

Although, I will still plan on finding and studying some normal undead. They might teach me something that will help Bones become a greater undead. After all, I doubt he wants his freedom to be becoming a brainless skeleton.

I am also thinking that I might be able to steal the energy of normal undead to give to Bones. That should make getting him enough energy to retain his mind easier. Or at least that is what I am hoping right now, I won't know for sure until I can study them.

Who knows, I might even be able to figure out how he can become as strong as the maker. Right now this is all just speculation and a way for me to avoid being bored. After all, watching Bones kill undead is just as boring as doing it myself.

Hours pass as Bones keeps killing undead and the murlocs keep dying. The scale has tipped slightly in the murlocs favor since Bones has taken over. Everything is going fine, but then something changes, a swarm of sharks shows up.