Alright. At least the fusion was a success - now let's see what is this "weakness" I'm afflicted with.

Status

Status

Attributes

Name: Bones [Weakend]

Race: Undead Revenant lvl 29

Class: Bonemancer Adept Lvl 38

Soul Weaver lvl 15

Profession: Mana Engraver lvl 13

Hp - 820 [8.2 hp/s]

Mp - 1020 [51.2+10.24 mp/s]

Sta - ∞

STR: 43

AGI: 15

END: 15

VIT: 82

INT: 102

WIS: 43

Free points:

Weakened [status] - The soul of the user is in a weakened state and susceptible to physical, emotional and mental conditions which may render a prospective user unduly vulnerable to persuasion and mind-influencing effects. The duration and the effectiveness of a weakened status may vary depending on the strength of the user’s soul.

I see. It's not that bad but - I'm going to have to pay closer attention to any mind-affecting spells for the time being.

As for Skully…

The Soul Core he now firmly held in his hands looked almost exactly the same as before if not for the tiniest speck of light radiating from within the core. Without pausing a moment to catch his breath, Bones shaped a hole in the back of the elite lizardman's skull and pushed the new core inside. Like it had a mind of its own, the core unleashed what seemed like thousands of tendrils of mana and attached them to bones of the skeleton, piece by piece. The skeleton twitched as if jolted by the current. After a minute and after all the bones were properly aligned, the jolting came to a stop.

Bones waited a bit longer before doing anything, then established a Soul Link with the golem and used Identify. In an instant, another screen appeared displaying a new status screen.

Status

Attributes

Name: Skully

Race: Elite Lizardman lvl 44

Soul Core: [Growth-type]

[Soulbound]

Core capacity: [10 000/10 000]

Hp - /

Mp - /

Sta - ∞

STR: 88

AGI: 132

END: 44

VIT: 88

INT: 1

WIS: 1

Free points:

Innate abilities:

Reinforced Strength [+1 STR per lvl]; [basic]

Reinforced Agility [+1 AGI per lvl]; [basic]

Increased Health Regeneration; [advanced]

Spearmanship; [advanced]

Shield Mastery; [basic]

User =”Insert skill here”;

“Oh! A bona fide status screen for Skully!”

His race is an Elite Lizardman and the level is - forty-four? Bones didn’t expect such a drastic increase in levels. Skully’s previous body would cap at level thirty-eight and the same should've applied to his new body, but Soul Spark made Skully level forty-four from the get-go.

I do worry that means that Skully’s new level will remain at fixed value - without being able to level up anymore. I don’t see the experience bar on the status screen either! If so, then in the future I will have to resort to finding new bodies for Skully whenever an opportunity arises. Never mind that for now, I’m more interested in the other information displayed.

Soul Core: [Growth-type] - a new property added to Soul Core as a result from merging a Golem Core and a Soul Spark. Growth unlocks a limited access to system functions and the ability to develop.

Soul Core: Skully: ;

I see. The status screen is enabled by Growth, so is the ability to level skills. Hard to say how much stronger the new body is compared to the old one since I don't have the data but - feels quite stronger!

From the established Soul Link, Bones could sense more clearly the state of the new body - and what he sensed was that the body isn't quite as the attributes data presented. The displayed stats were probably the stats of the Elite Lizardman when he was still alive. Nevertheless, they weren't far off. The new body was also blessed with more skills which Bones focused on next.

"Skully my boy, why don't you go through a few practice swings." Bones commanded after taking out the spear Skully previously used, and tossed it back to him.

Skully skillfully caught and spun the spear, then started brandishing his weapon. Each of his swings produced a sharp and pleasant swoosh sound.

While Skully practiced, Bones observed, then focused on the link between them.

Reinforced strength and agility. The strength could be felt from just hearing the sound of those sharp swings of the spear. No doubt the result of advanced tier Spearmanship.

Albeit, the movements are a bit rigid and attack speed slightly slower than before. Skully would need some time to adjust to the new body.

I'll try giving him a shield later. Maybe now he would make use of the Elite Lizardman shield I picked up back then. The increased health regeneration would come in han-

Bones paused as he just realized that both the health and mana attributes were not displayed correctly. Instead, there was a new stat he had never seen before - core capacity.

"Wouldn't that make a skill increasing health regeneration completely obsolete?"

He frowned for a moment, then moved onto the last skill and his frown deepened.

"Now what is this? Inse -" At a mere thought, a system message appeared.

A User may bestow a skill of his choice to share with Soul Core: Skully

User =”Insert skill here”;

"Oh my."

"Skully stop stop, come here."

I can share a skill with Skully? That's… I've never read anything about sharing skills with minions before! I should think about this more carefully. What skill would benefit him the most?

An attack skill? No. A defensive skill like Bone Aura might be better.

While Skully motionlessly stood before Bones, a loud crash was heard in the distance, followed by screaming.

Bones exhaled in annoyance, walked past Skully and out the grove. He looked down the slope and saw an overturned wagon next to a dirt road, just by the stream - and a couple of figures moving about. Skully approached and stopped behind him.

Bones turned around and placed a hand on top of Skully's head, then shared a skill with him.

"Come, let's see what this is about."

The two slid down the slope and silently sneaked down the road until they approached the sight of the wreckage. At first glance Bones noticed the wagon was large and well made - the kind people used to transport goods. A woman's body lay on a snowy ground next to the wagon , covered in blood. Not far from her lay a second body - that of a boy.

[scream]

Bones looked ahead. The scream came from behind the wagon, some distance away. He sensed three people engaging the fourth in a fight. For an instant he thought about interfering then decided not to. The compulsion to do something - like save a life - dwindled and he waited for the ordeal to be over, which happened shortly after. The three figures finished off the fourth one, checked him for pockets, then turned in the direction of the wagon.

Looking at the state of things, they're most likely robbers - and they're coming this way.

The robbers relaxed, letting their guard down while chatting and heading toward the loot in the wreckage. A mistake on their part Bones planned to fully take advantage of. He thought to approach from the left, surprising and quickly disposing of the two, while Skully would go right and take care of the third robber.

When the first of the robbers came into view from the right, however, Skully suddenly dashed forth. A faint hue of mana enveloped his spear and before the robber could react, Skully was already upon him following with a ferocious and sharp thrust of a spear that took both robber and Bones by surprise. The thrust made a hole in the robber's body and knocked him a few meters back from the impact.

Seeing the state of their mate startled the other two robbers and they drew their weapons in preparation to retaliate. Before making a single step, however, Bones sneaked from behind and pierced one of them through the chest. Using the bunt end of a summoned lance he knocked the other one a step back, then smashed the side of his face with a swipe - flinging him down and into the stream below.

After sensing both the robbers he and Skully pierced have died and the third one is knocked down, Bones turned back to Skully and once again established a Soul Link. Core capacity has dropped by sixty and was slowly recovering - and in the last skill slot was Mana Manipulation.

Sharing manipulation was a gamble, but a correct choice in the end. The golem's core was made out of the mana core and Skully's power source was and still is mana. Bones was right in thinking core capacity is mana and now Skully gained a manipulation ability.

"That was overdoing it", Bones said referring to Skully's empowered thrust, "but you sure can pack a punch! Skully, do you think you could loot the body while I go check on the other two?" Bones gave it a try and thought to ask, but Skully remained rooted in place.

"Well okay then. Just stay where you are."

Bones approached the unconscious robber half dipped into the stream and checked pockets for anything of value but paused when he saw a familiar tattoo on the man's neck.

It was a tattoo of a hood with a coin instead of a head - and the tattoo was familiar because the one that told him about it was Solin, a few months ago.

"Thief's Guild!" Bones exclaimed. The members of the guild usually operated in cities for obvious reasons, and not robbing and murdering coaches for the goods. Another thing that didn't escape Bones' notice was that the patches of facial skin where the man was hit were wrinkled and hanging loose.

He reached out and touched the spot where the skin was loose and it started peeling off. Bones rubbed the peeled off part and after feeling the texture, identified that the substance wasn't skin. It felt like a cream of sorts, looking very skin-like. Bones peeled the rest of it off and saw the face of an older man and not a youngster he killed.

This is - a mask? A disguise?

A bit lost for words, Bones walked over to the other two robbers and searched the pockets before checking to see if they too had the same tattoo and a disguise. There wasn't anything special found on the other two.

The unconscious robber regained consciousness and weekly coughed, drawing attention. The man was alive but the force of Bones' blows cracked the man's skull and critically injured him. After a moment of thinking, Bones stood up and dismissed Skully, then approached the man and kneeled beside him.

"Hang on!" He yelled and pretended to shuffle through his jacket in search of something. After finding what he was looking for, he took out a healing potion and had the robber drink it. Bones waited a minute and after seeing the robber's complexion getting better, said he would help him get to the healer at the nearest town but the robber raised a hand, stopping him.

The man breathed hard, struggling for air and after taking a mouthful, raised his head.

"N-no, not town. East… t-ten kilometers ea-". He muttered weekly before passing out again. Bones took the harness off the horse pulling the wagon and saddled up - then headed east with an unconscious man riding on his back. After riding and searching in the general area for an hour, Bones found the shabby looking entrance to a bandit camp at the foot of a hill.

His approach hasn't gone unnoticed and a group of five was sent out to meet him. Bones reigned in the horse, put his hands up and waited while the group encircled him.

Four had weapons drawn and threateningly pointed in his direction while the fifth one observed and asked him what business he had coming here. Bones explained he had no business here but the circumstances had brought him here. The fifth bandit raised an eyebrow and looked at the figure behind Bones. Bones slightly adjusted his stance and the bandits saw one of theirs, haggard and wounded. They quickly took him off the horse and led him inside. The fifth one turned to Bones and gestured to follow him inside the camp.

"Come. The leader will want to hear about what happened."

Bones nodded and successfully infiltrated the bandit camp.

A crudely built wooden fence surrounded the camp and two watchtowers were erected on the sides of the entrance. The inside of the camp didn't leave much to imagination.

The bandits lived in tents with fire pits in front of each and men warming themselves around it. Apart from the "living quarters", the camp had a blacksmith and a woodworking station, and the biggest tent was a mess hall. The only proper structure made of wood was a two-story residence of the bandit leader.

"We're here. Follow me inside." The bandit instructed and waited until Bones dismounted - then with a guarded escort led him inside the building to meet the leader.