Bones dashed straight at the One Eye Garrison and had Skully charge from the side, planning to finish the fight with the pincer maneuver. The bandit leader pushed himself back with a strong gust of wind but failed to balance himself when he touched the ground and fell down. Bones and Skully continued pursuit and quickly closed the distance between them, but were stopped by a sudden gush of air rotating around the bandit leader. The air intensified and a whirlwind manifested, shielding the leader. The air current was so sharp it stopped the spikes from penetrating through and instead caused the trajectory of the spikes to change direction, missing the leader entirely. Bones had Skully circle the small tornado and look for opportunities while keeping the distance.

This is unexpected. To think he had this much mana left… but I doubt he can keep this up for long - especially with all the injuries he sustained.

Bones was right. Garrison used everything he had in an effort to repel the incoming attacks hoping to stall long enough to recover from the poison. However, he miscalculated Bones' tenacity, poison effectiveness and his own mana pool. When the whirlwind weakened and the first of the spikes passed through, Skully was the one to push forward and end the man's life with the thrust of his spear. The current of air waned until it completely disappeared, revealing the body of One Eye Garrison, kneeling with his head clumped down and the spear sticking out his back.

Bones exhaled and glanced around at the destruction caused by the fight. The earth has been ravaged and trees uprooted. The fight was fitting of a second tier and Bones felt relieved the contracts were over. He approached the corpse and like he did with the first bandit leader, he removed the head from the body. Before storing it, he couldn't help but stare at the bizarre looking skin mask.

What in the world drove the man to make this? Intimidation? Fear factor? I fail to see what else would be the point unless he wanted everyone to see what a sick bastard he was.

After a moment, Bones shook his head and peeled the attached mask off. Beneath, he saw the horribly disfigured facial features with barely any skin left. The usually covered eye was now visible and bloodshot red, with black pupils and neon green iris. After a few seconds the bright iris dimmed into the bleak green. Bones put the mask back on the head and stored it, then turned in direction he left his orc golem. Poisonous fog still permitted parts of the area but most of it was cleared by the leaders previous wind ability.

I wanted to bring the fight to the end so I gambled with my golem and the remaining bombs. It worked, but I hate the thought of doing that again.

Bones walked over to where the damaged orc golem laid flat in the ground and crouched next to it. From first glance, he could immediately tell the orc ribcage was blasted open by the explosion, both arms and legs were damaged and the rest of the body suffered cuts and nicks.

[distant howl]

Bones stood up and spread his arms, then using Bone Manipulation, he located any bones leftover from the explosion and gathered them in front of him. Most of them were splintered and incomplete, and all he could do was exhale for the umpteenth time that day.

This will require time to fix. The castle should be empty now, might as well go and stay there. I'll have Skully sweep the perimeter for any survivors while I deal with other matters…There are quite a few of them I need to focus on!

Bone Shaping has reached level 20

Upgrade available

.

.

Level up!

Congratulations! Bonemancer Adept has reached level 40

I'll see my options once I settle in the castle. I should probably start with repairing the golem and…

[Weakened] status removed

Bones cackled, then stored everything, bow included, and left for the castle in a hurry. He felt excited at the prospect of gaining another golem capable of growth. Before infusing the golem with Soul Spark, apart from repairing the skeleton, he would have to think carefully about what he wanted from the golem. He learned by now that he couldn't make golem do what the body isn't capable of doing and for the nucleus to be most effective, it was best to program the nucleus according to the type of skeleton he acquired.

After entering the castle, Skully immediately went on patrol while Bones headed upstairs to the top floor, where the bandit leader previously resided. If he was going to stay, he might as well have stayed in the best and most luxurious room in the castle - and the room didn't disappoint. The lavishly decorated room fell just short of royal chambers, but Bones senses detected a hidden passageway behind a bookshelf. He didn't bother looking for the mechanism to open the door, but blasted through and continued down the passageway into a dark room reeking of the stench of death. Even before entering, Bones sensed what the room was being used for…

The torture room!

The thick smell of blood prevailed and traces of dried blood could be seen everywhere. Bones gave a room a glance over but didn't want to stay. He returned to the main room and summoned every broken bone he collected previously and laid them on the ornate carpet covering the wooden floor. If it was the day before, Bones wouldn't have the capability to repair this much damage done. But now? His effort in training shaping born results. The shaping has reached max level in the basic tier and is ready to advance!

The upgrade available was a straightforward one from Bone Shaping to Bone Solidification. The new skill granted the user an ability to change bones to soft, making them easier to shape, and an ability to harden them to their maximum density. Bones first tried the ability on smaller bone pieces and realized that perhaps, this new ability would allow him to finally affect his own bones as well. He still felt the vibrations throughout his body when he tried to shape the bones but fingers felt slightly different. He focused on the phalange of one of the fingers and it started changing shape. Slight incisions and cavities formed on the finger with a sharpened tip, slightly resembling a form of a key.

This is as far as I go I guess. Still, the result is satisfying! With more time and level in skill, I should be able to use my finger instead of the Skeleton Key to unlock locks!

Bones stopped forming the key and instead focused on changing his finger to a different shape - The shape of a spearpoint blade. Satisfied with results Bones tried to revert his finger to initial shape and ended up with a deformed looking finger.

Uh oh! This… I messed up!

No matter how he shaped the finger, he never managed to bring it back to the original shape. After depleting his mana and after an hour of trying, he gave up and reluctantly accepted his finger will never look the same again. After hours of practice, the bones necessary to start fixing the golem were finished and prepared for use.

Bones didn't waste time and immediately started working on the orc next, further reinforcing bones with his new hardening ability. The damage was quite severe and he didn't finish until late into the night. Before using Soul Spark, he turned to Scully and did the same. He repaired and reinforced the damaged bones, then took a break and mentally prepared himself before taking the next step.

The skeleton was of a level forty-eight warrior orc. Its bones were naturally sturdy, providing higher defense than the Lizardman' skeleton. Increased strength and powerful attacks at reduced overall speed was evident everytime the orc was fighting/swung the greataxe. Once he fuses the spark with the golem core, he will be able to see more accurate data through the golem's status screen, just like with Skully.

The orc was meant for a few but big hits, just how I wanted - To have a minion relying on strength that can deal a lot of damage at once. With the two of them upfront, I can safely stay behind while in combat.

Eventually, I'd like a ranged, perhaps a magic wielding golem, to replace me as a ranged damage dealer. Hm…that's something to think more about at a later date.

Bones took out two mana potions which he downed in a few gulps, then turned his attention to the new skill added to his repertoire of skills.

Congratulations!

You have learned a new skill: Bone Storm

"I'm not even surprised anymore. At least now the skill is official."

The system decided to make Bones' combination of using Boneyard's spikes and Bone Manipulation into an official skill. The new skill didn't require bones. It created bones out of mana in a spiral around the user the size of a Boneyard skill. The mana is consumed once to cast the skill, with no apparent channel cost.

Hm… This might actually be worse than before. While it's great that there's no channeling cost, the skill costs a whopping two hundred mana. What I fear the most is losing the ability to manipulate bone spikes as I wish. It should be possible though, as it was with a Boneyard skill.

*snorts*

"It would be a real joke if the learned skill really ended up being worse. No point troubling the mind on pointless conjectures. I won't know until I try it out."

"Skully my boy, go stand guard outside the door." He said. The first step was to create the nucleus and infuse it with the spare mana core, something Bones still hasn't done for his new golem. The nucleus itself was created by the skill Create Bone Golem, and his job was to imagine a set of behavioral instructions fit his new golem. Bones was confident he was ready to start.

The orcs are hardened, brutish and savage warriors. They take pride in the strength of their bodies and combat prowess. That's how Bones have been programming the orc's nucleus in previous fights. This time, he went a little deeper, in more detail, in hope that once he infuses the spark, the orc will be as close to the real thing as possible.

It didn't take long to create the nucleus and infuse it with the mana core, creating a new golem core. Bones pressed his hand on the orc skull, then shaped a hole the size of a fist and pushed his hand inside. He held the golem core in the grasp of his hand and from deep within himself, a spark of his soul traveled through his body and down his hand where it merged with the core.

He felt strength leave him, just like it did with Skully, and the pain ensued. He thought he mentally prepared himself for this part, but the pain still shook him to the core of his soul. Glaring light radiated from the core for a brief moment, then dimmed until it faded away - The same way it did the first time he merged spark with the core. Bones pulled the hand out of the skull and closed the hole. Drained of his strength, he slumped down into a sitting position next to the golem and his senses started to dull, as if he was falling to sleep.

I might have rushed using Soul Spark. I should've waited a few more days until my soul stabilized. I thought I would be ready immediately after the Weakness status disappeared. The pain this time is more severe. I'm losing consc…

Bones entered eternal rest and came to his senses two days later, feeling groggy, as if waking up from a drunken stupor. When his head cleared, he looked at the golem with satisfaction on his face.

"Arise."

The golem stood up and Bones, all jittery, circled around him, marveling at his old, but new creation. He took two steps back, uncorked another mana potion and gulped it down.

"You need a name, big guy. I see a lot of corpses in the future, left behind in the wake of powerful swings of your greataxe. Hm…I know! - I shall name you Murdok!"

Murdok was a big orc, at least according to Bones. He had never seen one before so a two meters high, big boned construct compared to little ol' him, seemed much bigger than it really was! Skully' fighting style changed with a new ability to grow and it changed for the better so it was to be expected the same will happen with Murdok.

I can see the status screen now. Let's see if I can share one of my skills with Murdok as well.

Bones established Soul Link with the golem and as if summoning his own status screen, the screen displaying the more detailed information about Murdok appeared.