My mother appreciated Rob’s help with the garden. To say he has a knack for gardening would not exactly be correct.

He is excellent at digging holes and spotting which plants are in weaker health than the others, he’s good at spotting pests and dealing with them too. But any nurturing of the plants after planting them is nonexistent. It’s like he’s tone death to creating life.

The next morning, I had to help cover up some holes that he dug while the family was sleeping, I gave him a 4-foot shovel, and he was ecstatic. I think he was, he doesn’t have a face, so it’s hard to tell.

I went to Jerry’s house before classes started. We had an agreement, so we can get some levels together. I invited Charlie and Val, but Charlie said he was very busy finishing up a deal or something and Val said that she had to show up for an important lecture or something along those lines.

Jerry’s house has a gray stone wall that surrounds the property, and his family has a crest, which is weird because I never heard of his family before. The crest is what looks like a fully grown [Bearded Dragon].

I already texted Jerry before arriving, and he was there waiting for me, after some polite greeting he led me inside to the fracture his family owns. His house is huge, and his courtyard is filled with training dummies and practice swords.

“Oh yeah, my family is big on swordsmanship, all of my siblings are trained since they are little kids.”

“Do you have that many siblings that facilitate all this equipment?” I ask him, surprised.

“Kinda, a lot of that is just spares, but I do have a lot of brothers and sisters.” He explains as we pass the courtyard.

Inside a room deep inside this house is a fossilized snail shell on a pedestal. Jerry tells me that we have to touch it to enter the fracture. After double-checking that I am supplied, I place my hand on the shell.

~

SMACK, SMACK, SMACK

The fracture is filled with snails, the smallest of which is 2-feet long. I see why Jerry was being weird when he was talking about the fracture. Their defense is very high, but their health is relatively low. It's a pain in the ass to clear out the monsters. They are all pretty low-level as well. Averaging around level 5.

I wanted Rob to gain experience, so he’s been smacking the snails with a shovel. They’d retreat into their shell and Rob wouldn’t be able to do any damage.

SMACK, SMACK, SMACK

It’s a bit comical and sad at the same time. I look around the surroundings and the fracture is a beautiful place. It's a large grassland right next to a hilly crag area.

“Jerry, what's over there, all the snails here are too low-leveled.”

“Over there? Uh, that's where the Rock Snails hang out, it's way more dangerous over there.”

Perfect.

“Hey, Jerry, I’m going to check it out.”

“It’s dangerous, what happens if you get hurt?”

“I’ll be fine, if you want to come and watch, be my guest.”

“It’s alright, I need to make sure Lizzie gets her levels, I’m trying to grind out her skills.”

I look over and Lizzie the Bearded Dragon is breathing fire on a snail, It’s being cooked in its shell. The smell wafts over and it’s not pleasant,

Pat, Pat, Pat

Rob gave up and buried the snail in a hole he dug. The snail just burrows out. Rob seems frustrated and smacks the snail on the head. The snail took minimal damage from the unguarded attack.

The snail turns on Rob and tries to eat him alive (undead?). Rob starts freaking out and starts hitting it in the eyestalks. I toss Flash Gordon and kill it before it can decline Rob's health. I show a trick to Rob that will help with his level gathering. I want him to do it, so he monopolizes the experience gained.

I show him that gravity is the biggest enemy to a snail (besides salt and half a cup of beer.) I pick up a snail as it immediately goes into its shell. It’s about the size of a medicine ball. I climb a big rock and drop the snail on a different rock below.

I get a paltry sum of experience as Rob looks at me with enlightenment, or he would if he had eyes.

“Now you try.”

Rob tries his hardest to move one up a rock, he fails a few times, but after a while, he manages to kill a snail using this method. He does this a few more times.

I calculate that this method will take days, for Rob to level up to level 10. I come up with a better way to let him get experience. I lead towards some higher-level snails in the crag.

[Rock Snail lv15]

The rock snail looks like a 4-foot-tall boulder on the back of a slug. The snail has multiple stalks that can fling rock hard slime, the rock shrapnel can pack a significant punch. Good thing is that they are so slow that it’s quite easy just to keep moving behind them. These snails are highly aggressive and territorial, unlike their normal counterparts.

I grab Rob from the head and hurl his entire body headfirst into the snail, I miss the shell, but I wasn't aiming for it. Rob splatters through the unprotected slimy flesh of the Rock Snail, killing it in one blow. Rob breaks on impact but slowly reassembles himself.

[Rob lv2 > 4]

Good, now to power level my little buddy until he reaches his level cap. I have plans to make this process easier.

Too bad, most of the creatures in here don’t have any decent drops. You can grind down the corpses and synthesize medicine from the pulp, but that's too much work. Jerry and his family probably won't like me doing that, since I’m a guest here after all.

~

Instead of throwing Rob like a ball, I started throwing him like a javelin. He would stand straight with his shovel pointed like a spearhead and I would throw him. I manage to level once as well, but I’m still contemplating what stats I should prioritize.

I decided to round my stats a bit.

Might: 30

Agility: 18 > 20

Vigor: 24 + 10

Mind: 20 > 30

Spirit: 36 > 40

Luck: 1

Unused: 10

I decided to keep some stats for emergencies, an extra bit of health or mana might save my life.

I feel a head rush, I just effectively increase my mana points by 50%. When the feeling passes, I check on Rob’s Stats.

Name: Rob

Nickname: Little Buddy

Species: Short Skeleton F (Uncommon Undead)

Level 10 (MAX)

Select Evolution Target

~

Health Points 25/25

Mana Points: 40/40

Armor Points: 0

~

Might: 18

Agility: 24

Vigor: 5

Mind: 8

Spirit: 8

Rob’s stats seem to lean heavily towards Agility and Might, this might represent how he was getting his levels. More testing may be needed, but the important thing is the new [Select Evolution Target]. That entire section of the [Status] appeared when I got [Scientific Insight+].

[Evolutions Available: Tall Skeleton, Chatter Bones, Shovel Skeleton, Glass Skeleton.]

[Tall Skeleton F:

A skeleton with unnaturally long limbs]

[Chatter Bones E:

A skeleton with unnaturally loud bones that can eventually use their sound like an attack]

[Shovel Skeleton E:

A skeleton so adept with using a shovel as a means of attack and utility, they become one with their shovel]

[Glass Skeleton F:

A skeleton who has forgone bones for the more fragile glass.]

Anything with a Rank F will be ignored, I don't even know if they would be able to evolve again. Chatter bone could be useful, but sound attacks are notorious for damaging friends and foes alike. Flash Gordon might not be affected and I could build up a resistance, but eventually, when I get other tamed creatures it will be a hassle,

I decide on [Shovel Skeleton] and look at Rob, nothing changes. I recheck his status.

[Evolution Requirements Not Met]

>Move 10 tons of soil using nothing but a shovel (0/10)

>Kill 10 lv 10 or higher creatures alone (0/10)

>Aquire a shovel (completed)

That doesn't seem too hard, 10 tons of topsoil is less mass than you think. And since Rob can reassemble from fatal damage, I just have to make sure he doesn’t get stuck somewhere or something.

“Rob, as your master, I command you to start digging holes.”

A light flashes in his empty eye sockets as he feverishly starts digging a hole… this might take longer than I thought. I climb a big rock and barely manage to spot Jerry attacking some snails with a sword while his tamed beast is setting fires everywhere. It looks like he’s having fun. To pass time, I lightly cut myself with my tanto, trying to build up resistance.

~

Resistance: Slashing 0 > 5

A few things I noticed about gaining resistance with my Adaptable trait is that the more intense the damage I recover from, the more ‘value’ it has. Heavy damage will be the quickest way to gain these stats, unfortunately, I don't have the mana to continuously heal myself forever.

Jerry had to go, it was really hard to convince him to leave me behind, especially since I was covered in blood. I showed him that I had no Injuries, and only then did he relent. I’m sitting against a huge mound of dirt dug up by none other than Rob. My little buddy is slashing and hacking at some [Earth Snails], he seems to have a good matchup against them.

At first, his footwork was a little sloppy, but the slow-moving targets are great for finding out how to move efficiently without getting into danger. His strikes were awkward and bouncy but with continuous practice striking hard shells and soft flesh, it looks like the little guy is getting a hang of the shovel.

The shovel is pretty banged up, and I had to fix the handle with some spare bandages after it snapped after Rob failed to block a fatal blow. I will probably need to get a new one for my mom.

After Rob calmly defeats the final snail, a notification pops up in front of me.

[Commencing Evolution]

Rob starts to glow a dark gray as the light around him changes color. That light consolidated onto his bony body forming into dark cloth. The head of his shovel flies off the handle, as a bone shoots out of Rob's sternum and envelops the shovelhead like a slime. The Mass of bone shoots back into Rob’s body, knocking him over.

Rob slowly stands up.