"Flain, hello, did you forget to speak?" Itai said.
"No. So, how's necromancy going?" Flain asked. "First, I had to take care of Itai, and then there will be room for rewards."
"The last skeleton I summoned took 35 attempts! And it occurred to me—can't I start summoning stronger skeletons? I also noticed that I can't have more than 5 summoned skeletons; it just isn't possible." Itai said.
'Hmh, so even with me the skeleton limit is 6. That's not bad compared to last time when you only had 3,' Flain thought.
"No, only after you've attempted summoning these skeletons at least 20 times," Flain said.
"20 attempts? And what, you're a necromancer? As far as I know, you literally know nothing about necromancy," Flain said.
"Hmh, shouldn't everyone know that? When you really master something, you can move on to harder challenges in that area. My miraculous instinct tells me that you should try it after 20 attempts," Flain said.
"Your miraculous instinct? I don't really agree with you on that, but whatever. I'll upgrade to stronger corpses once I hit 20 attempts," Itai muttered.
'Forcing someone to do something is so easy,' Flain thought.
"Alright, now I'm going to do release air particles," Flain said.
Then Flain opened the shop and clicked on [Box with EN skill].
[Do you really want to buy Box with EN skill?]
[Yes | No]
Flain clicked Yes.
[-7000 EXP]
Suddenly, a solid box with a marking at the top appeared in Flain's hand. The box was about the size of a basketball.
[Tip: To open the box, press the button on it.]
Flain read the tip—one he hadn't seen in a long time. When Itai noticed that a box had appeared in Flain's hand out of nowhere, it caught his attention.
"What just appeared in your hands out of nowhere?" Itai asked, pausing his summoning of one of the skeletons, curious.
"Because I gathered many souls, I received a domain. In it, there's a random skill," Flain said.
"Skill? You mean a spell?" Itai asked.
"I'm not exactly sure, but it doesn't consume mana; it's something like a spell, only melee," Flain said.
"Ah, so a technique. That'll come in handy," Itai said.
Flain pressed the button on the box, and it began to tremble. Finally, it opened, and a strong white glow emanated from it.
[You opened the Box with EN skill]
[You've been given the skill: Swift slash]
Flain opened his stats and clicked on [Swift slash lvl:1].
[Name: Swift Slash
Level: 1
Stage: 1
Type: Melee Technique
Consumption: 150 EN
Description: This melee attack focuses on speed and accuracy. Swift Slash allows for quick slashing strikes that increases the user's attack power and speed, but its power decreases when the enemy does. When user stop attacking the effect disappears. However, it has a drawback - after using the technique, the user is disoriented for 3 seconds, which reduces their ability to counterattack.
Next level: Fight, train with this skill or 50 EXP]
Flain read it. It had its drawbacks, but it didn't seem all that bad; Flain could use it twice per battle, since he had 300 EN. But there was no need to jump to conclusions.
"It's good?" Itai asked.
"It's alright. Otherwise, didn't you think of anything while I was away?" Flain asked.
"No, as you said, I left two summoned skeletons to guard me, but there was no need," Flain replied.
"Don't risk it—in your case it's not worth it. Anyway, now I'm going to release air particles again," Flain said, now planning to use his remaining EXP for a level-up.
[Level 11 -> Level 12]
[Strength increased by 1, agility increased by 1, vitality increased by 1]
[You have gained 1 bonus point]
It was only one level, but better than nothing. Flain then allocated his bonus point into vitality, as he would need plenty of HP.
[Vitality increased by 1]
"I'm heading out to hunt; you continue with necromancy," Flain said.
"Again? You were here quite a long while ago," Itai protested.
"And what? I had better work to do than to get stronger?" Flain asked.
"Well..." Itai mumbled.
Then Flain said nothing further and set off to hunt again.
----
Meanwhile, a black commander rushed over to Zehren and smeared his entire face with toxic saliva.
"My Svetloid, I'm reporting on catching the culprit. We searched the entire valley and didn't find anything interesting, so there are four possibilities. Either we searched poorly and missed him—which is unlikely—or he might be invisible or possess some other special ability. He could be hiding in the caves. The last possibility is that something in the valley killed and ate him; that's also very unlikely because it's in the valley," the commander said.
"JUST CATCH HIM, I DON'T CARE HOW. INITIATE SEARCH EVEN IN THE CAVES!!" Zehren roared in anger.
"My Svetloid, but going deeper into the cave is very dangerous, and that's been forbidden by those from above," the commander replied.
Zehren began shaking with anger, then gradually calmed down. "I'm not so stupid as to quarrel with them," Zehren muttered.
"Alright, let's assume he's in the cave, so he must emerge from time to time. Since he already emerged and killed my commander and soldiers, my orders are that there should be guards at every entrance to the cave and that if anyone sees anything unusual, they should report it," Zehren commanded.
-----
Now Flain was traversing the highest levels of the cave because he assumed that skeletons would be spawning there—and he was right. Flain slaughtered as many skeletons as he could, gaining 5300 EXP. He didn't use Swift Slash because he killed the skeletons with a single blow, so there was no need to use it.
When no more spawned, he headed lower. Along the way, he noticed that he had enough EXP for the next level, so he leveled up.
[Level 12 -> Level 13]
[Strength increased by 1, agility increased by 1, vitality increased by 1]
[You have gained 1 bonus point]
Flain allocated the bonus point into agility since it was still too low compared to his other stats.
[Agility increased by 1]
Flain then descended into a lower level...