This fight with the Behemoth was a self-created fight to the death, and yet because of that brief moment between life and death I had increased rapidly in strength.My own choice and not the challenge of the system had pushed me onward. It was undeniable my skill levels had rapidly increased in such a short time.

  I understood that I could now summon a third skeleton general, as well as an extra skeleton mage. Whether I could manipulate Bone Armor freely with Bone Manipulation wasn’t something I could test just yet, my MP was too low.

  I looked at the weapon I’d picked up from the Behemoth. It was a lance made of pure bone and it glowed a deep purple.

  The stats on the lance were quite high, and despite the size of the weapon it wasn’t difficult to hold even with my pitiful strength. The Strike True aspect seemed like an on-hit proc-effect, but there was no duration listed on how long the buff lasted.

  I couldn’t help but look at this large tusk and then back at the Behemoth. The fact that thing was merely an adolescent was terrifying. It was already as large as a pickup truck. An adult must be the size of a small building.

  Its bulky body had managed to use Bone Manipulation so masterfully, it made me excited to explore what it could do. While I couldn’t test Bone Manipulation now, I did have enough MP to summon another undead creature to my squad. I looked at the corpse of the Behemoth and willed my third skeleton general to come forth.

  It was a waste to not harvest the Behemoth, but neither Jessica and I were skilled at that. I had no plans of bringing anyone back here from our base either, I was thoroughly exhausted for the day. The majestic corpse disappeared instantly as a swirl of bones formed in the air.

  After a few seconds, my new skeleton general stood there, towering even over Spikey #1. The crown on his head was full and there was a color to his eyes. It was clear at a glance that he was now the strongest undead soldier I had in my arsenal.

  “Come here,” I said. It looked at me and then walked with rattling bones before kneeling in front of me. “This is for you.” I held out the Ivory Lance and then placed it in my new warrior’s hands. He was now the head of my cavalry. It looked like he could even wield a shield on top of the spear. “I’ll have to find a good shield for you.”

  I wasn’t sure if I should call him Spikey #3 or something else. In reality I could simply think about his existence and issue commands, so a name wasn’t exactly necessary, but it was fitting.

  After that, I wanted to have a look around. “Why was the Behemoth sleeping over here?” I asked aloud. It was such a random place for what I would consider a mini-boss to be. I didn’t expect any response, but somehow I heard Jessica whisper close to my ear. Her hearing was better than mine on account of being a tracker, so maybe only I was deaf?

  Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  “Treasure?” she asked. We both looked at where the Behemoth once slumbered and I nodded happily. The vines were damaged, but a faint outline of the monster’s body was present among them. We walked over eagerly and looked around.

  There was no treasure, but there was an unusual herb of some kind in one thick cluster of stems and leaves. “Do you recognize it?” Jessica asked.

  “I don’t.” I had gotten better at reading her lips. The herb was a beautiful but menacing-looking lotus. The petals were a deeper red than even the demonic hue. I hadn’t taken the time to actually learn the knowledge I carried with me. I would need to go through my alchemy and herbalism tabs at some point after the next demon wave.

  I carefully removed the plant from the earth and stored it away. There was nothing else to do here.

  “Shall we go?” Jessica had come to the same opinion.

  I held Jessica’s hand and ordered by undead into my shadow. It was just us two now, but an entire army lurked under my feet.

  We walked back in silence, mostly because the ringing of my ears hadn’t stopped yet. Hopefully, Thomas could heal me properly, as the HP potions didn’t seem to target anything specific, even my Life-Steal didn’t focus on such a non-vital function.

  I used the leisure time to browse through my status windows, eventually noticing something peculiar. The status that indicated I had a grimoire now had a percent next to it, as if I had gained some further understanding and progress. It was at five percent now.

  Learning Corpse Feast was only five percent of the total. Simple math suggested there could be up to 20 skills to learn, but I doubted each skill was of equal value. The percent a skill would take up probably rose as I got closer to 100, as the better, harder skills were still locked away.

  I decided to open the grimoire and satisfy my curiosity. Sure enough, the 13th page was no longer blank, but it wasn’t a skill there. Just some thoughts by Crowrot, in a philosophical tone: some conjectures and pondering thoughts.

  Still, the biggest benefit today was no doubt Spirit Link. The second best was the death of my old mentality. Saving skill points? Holding skills for so long? I had lost my direction somewhere along the way here and was glad to be fixing it now before more people died.

  Everyday that I was passive instead of pushing myself further ahead of the curve, the chance that someone I loved would die increased. I had been experiencing nightmares since our last encounter, and often times it was Jessica’s body with Bethany on the floor. In reality… it could have just as easily been her instead.

  I looked at her peaceful smiling face and shook off that fear. She wasn’t some weakling that needed a knight in shining armor to protect her. Still… There was nothing wrong with being a little stronger… stronger than the system expected of anyone at this time.

  Besides the overall improvements to my skills, I had gained a bit more understanding of Corpse Feast. Each incantation was not the same, in the sense that they worked differently. Unending Hunger worked more like a buff that only needed to be cast so often.

  Once Unending Hunger and Taste of Flesh were up, I could use Feast as many times as I wanted, as long as my MP allowed it and the buff persisted on my undead. It made using the skill definitely less clunky, which was a good thing. Each cast requiring 3 incantations would have been too much, it was still a MP consuming ability with just using Feast.

  The ringing in my ears was almost completely gone by the time we had returned to the abode. Instead, it had been replaced by a droning pain that only increased with every sound. Fortunately, no one had even realized our absence. The dried blood on both of our ears gave us away as soon as we entered inside, though.

  “What happened to you two?” It was Maria who ran over like a worried puppy. I couldn’t help but cover my ears with both hands immediately as the yelling scrambled my brain. “S-sorry…” she yell-whispered and then backed away slightly embarrassed.

  “We’re okay.” I assured everyone. “Is Thomas in?” I asked while walking towards the couch. My wounds were still fresh, and while I was recovering… I was damn tired. Thomas arrived just a moment later, and thankfully his healing managed to assist in the pain problem. The sensitivity of my hearing was still there, though.

  “What happened?” They asked hungrily. It was almost as if they were so bored they needed any excitement or drama.

  “I was testing the grimoire and we ended up fighting a monster. The end.” I said. “I’m tiiiirrrrred so if you really want to know, convince Jessica to tell you.” And that was the honest-to-God truth.

  I would be asleep within moments of my head hitting the pillow. I stood up and leaned closer to Jessica and whispered in her ear, “I love you. Goodnight.” And then kissed her on the forehead. She mouthed it back as I separated from her.

  I could hear them muttering as I climbed the stairs, Jessica made sure to start off extra loud, “It was so incredible…” Still, my body was filled with a warmth I’d not felt in a long time.