Saintess Summons Skeletons

After thinking for a second, Valeure added one more detail, “I will also have someone searching for clues around the Ranking Spire, since she was confirmed by Sen to have been there.”

Orvod had been mostly just listening for a while but he had something to say this time, “They will need a space mage before anything else. Sovuln is not that easy to navigate even now.”

“And this is where Richie comes in, you said you were going to help anyway?” Valeure said, staring intensely at Richard the lich who was still fiddling with the envelopes Sofia had given him.

“I see where you’re going with this, it is not what I had in mind, but sure.” Richard said, sounding exasperated at Valeure’s way of doing things without asking for anyone’s opinion.

The skeleton froze and his mana disappeared. The lich was no more than a pile of loose bones that fell to the floor.

What just happened? Sofia and Alith were surprised by the sudden turn of events.

Valeure seemed unfazed, “He will be back soon,” she assured them.

And the bones indeed started reassembling soon after, “Alright, Nicet is on his way,” the skeleton declared after his skull found its place back on his spine.

Some kind of skeleton swapping on the fly? It would be great if Pareth could do that…

Valeure spoke up again, “Nicetficis is a decent space mage and a very good investigator, he will be essential to your expedition, you can find more people if you want, of course. But I think your team should be plenty as is. As long as you follow Orvod’s guidance, that is. Hmm, I can also give you the option to do this with me instead, that would be much safer and faster. But you would have to wait until I have enough free time, which could take a good few months, maybe a year.”

A year? That’s a bit longer than I’m comfortable with…

Alith seemed to read Sofia’s mind as she answered for her, “We appreciate the offer but I don’t believe Sofia will be able to wait that much. And you already called for that Nicet person, didn’t you?”

“Understandable, then go with Nicet,” Valeure answered with a shrug, ”I will also have someone look into the dragon mask in the meantime. If nothing comes out of all this by the next time we meet…”

“I will personally help as soon as we have secured our objectives. As she said, this could take a while, but none of us can move much more than that for the time being. However, you have helped me find a lost friend, and I shall make sure the favor is properly returned, I swear it on my ninth skull! Also… I can summon something to help you out on the way if you want. But that would essentially prevent you from getting any experience, so the choice is yours.”

“Will we need that?”

“I haven’t been to Sovuln much since the Tide, I must admit, I have been rather busy with tentacled monsters and annoying vegetation. Orvod, your opinion?”

“If the mountain is around where Miss Sofia believes it was, then you will not need any help. Nicet would likely be able to reach that far by himself with proper caution.”

Sofia looked at Alith wondering what her opinion was, the only answer she got was a shrug.

“Considering Sir Orvod’s opinion, we will do without your summon, but thank you for the offer.”

“This is nothing, and besides, I have an interest in keeping you ladies alive. Right now isn’t the time, but me and a few friends will want to hear the full story of your adventures through Zangdar. Perhaps even with Miss Sofia’s sister around to listen too.”

“That could be very amusing indeed,” Valeure added.

“Hmm, now that I think about it, Sir Richard, could I buy the list of all necromancer skills from you? I also need a very heavy humanoid skeleton, I do not know if these are things you can provide or want to sell, but if so I am interested.”

“An interesting request. Sadly, I cannot help with the necromancy skills. Of course I could give you a big list of all known system skills, or most of them anyway, but it most likely wouldn’t be useful to you, or anyone else for that matter.”

“Why is that? I could really use that knowledge to plan my future synergies.”

“The actual skills you get after level 200 are partially random when it comes to generic classes such as the basic necromancer. You are likely to get a class evolution after your next trial anyway, making all efforts to plan around these skills useless.”

“So I have to keep being in the dark…”

“So do most people at these levels, it is simply how things work. The system could still provide you with the generic skills, but you are now strong enough that they will start to be tailored for you and your own mana pathways before you even unlock them. They will generally be stronger even at level one compared to your old skills if you didn’t already alter and enhance them.”

Yeah I wonder how that will work with my class… Maybe that’s why my last passive took so long to get completed after I picked the words? I still haven’t tried it either.

“Thank you for the information, then what about my other request?”

“A heavy humanoid skeleton, well, I have plenty. Let us agree on a trade, give me anything, and I will pick a skeleton of equal value fitting your criteria, how is that?”

“I am a bit unfamiliar with how one should determine the value of a skeleton, but I am willing to go for it anyway.”

“You have a deal then, I will take any magical or historical item.”

“Who knew the day would come where I would see my lounge become a necromancy marketplace…”

Sofia looked through the pile of stuff in her ring, which was made by the person she was currently trading with. It was hard to think of anything precious enough to be of interest to him that she could afford to trade away.

But among all the trash she accumulated in her storage, she found something perfect.

Magical, historical, and perhaps sentimental. I can’t think of anything better, in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he specifically hopes for this to show up, because he should know it was there.

In Sofia’s hands the carved midenicite tablets representing the different planes of existence appeared neatly stacked on one another.

“You did find these after all, good trade choice, by all metrics, but… Did you forget one?”

“No. The last one… How do I say this? It was ‘retrieved’ by the subject matter.”

“Oh? Oh. Ooooh. I see. And you’re alive to tell the tale? Surprising. Very surprising. We will have a lot more to discuss I see. But back to the subject, I will be taking these as a part of our deal. Do you want a skeleton with any particular ability besides being heavy?”

“Not at all, It’s better if it’s not too tall so it can work indoors, or at least in some of them, and you know the other criterias already.”

“I will be back shortly, then.”

There goes the tablet set, not like they were of any use to us anyway.

Once again, the skeleton became a messy pile of bones rolling on the ground, though the tablets had disappeared from Sofia’s hands.

“Did you have those tablets last time?” Valeure asked.

“She did,” Alith answered nonchalantly.

“Really?! You should have traded them with me, come on…”

After the reaction you had when I mentioned the Deep last time? Not a chance. Richard seems a lot more casual about it. Actually, Valeure is acting a lot more casually this time around too, is she not? Or maybe I’m misremembering because of how stressed I was back then… This is still a bit tense but not as much. And Alith is with me this time.

There was a moment of silence in the room, and surprisingly, it was Orvod who broke it, “What kind of skeleton do you think he will bring, Valeure?”

“Ah, knowing him it could be anything, but since he will try to fit all the criteria and keep a somewhat equal worth to the traded artifacts… Maybe the bones of a Juvenile Hammerhead?”

“That does sound plausible. I was more inclined to think of something akin to a variant Ogre, but I must have underestimated the worth of these tablets then.”

“These relics may look limited in terms of utility, but if we are speaking about historical value, they are worth a lot.”

“If you say so.”

Their little chat was interrupted by the sound of bones clanking, Richard’s body was reconstructing. As his skull found its place on his spine, he raised his arms, and a large amount of thick bones appeared before him. The sudden increase in weight destabilized the flying room, making it tilt for a second before whatever held it in place in the sky counterbalanced the forces.

“All is good, I have exactly just the thing for you, a Boneplate Mauler!”

Valeure and Orvod both had an ‘oh, that makes sense, yeah’ expression on their faces, though they said nothing.

It does look very heavy. Will it be enough to outweigh the Alpha Stone Ogre though? What does this thing even look like when it’s not a pile of bones? It does not look very human shaped…