“Okay, well, that’s enough, anyway.” I straightened up and backed away from the corpses. Lydia did the same, and Bob moved forward, at my silent urging.
“Woo boy, okay…” I muttered to myself. Beginning to cast at Bob, I funneled a third of my mana straight into him, using my bonus ability ‘Bonemeld’ to heal over cracks and breaks in his form wherever possible.
After a few minutes, he looked better; not right, as he still had a lot of his mass missing, but not quite as freakily broken as before. I poured mana into the bodies arranged all around him, watching the flesh slough away into noxious puddles as the bones lifted into the air. As each corpse collapsed, the bones gathered around Bob, building up a stock of material to rebuild him.
I closed my eyes, seeing a mental picture of Bob hanging before me, and I slowly separated out his form.
I started with the legs, making them thicker and stronger, and reshaping some of the bones to create smaller overlapping plates designed to absorb damage, but break off before his actual structure was broken. I carried this theme up to his chest, giving him a heavier, thicker ribcage, overlapping the bones to strengthen his shoulders, then melding bones together to form a sort of cuirass. With his shoulders so heavily reinforced, the lower pair of arms was scrapped to provide extra bone for armoring. I kept the flexible spear-like legs attached to his back as well; they were just too cool to change.
In the end, when I opened my eyes and looked at him again, he was an imposing sight.
He stood almost eight feet tall, and the combination of the naga skull and back spears mixed with the bone armor to make a hell of an impression.
I grinned at him as he shifted about, examining his new form, and with a thought, I pulled up the new notification I’d received.
You have created a new armored form for your minion. Do you wish to save this form for easier reconstruction later? Yes/No
I chose ‘yes,’ of course, and was asked to name it. Easy one, that.
You have selected ‘Knight’ as the name for this form. Reconstruction will require 1.23 metric tons of bone to complete from scratch. This form has received the following bonuses:
+1.5 to intimidation
+3 to damage against Darkness-aligned foes (due to consecrated bones used in construction)
Congratulations! You have raised your spell ‘Raise Weak Skeleton’ to level 12. Once this spell reaches level 20, you may choose its second evolution. As a ‘Reanimator’ you may be able to unlock certain abilities inherent in the bones you use…
I grinned at Bob, admiring my companion as he banged one huge bone fist off his chest armor to test it before straightening up and becoming immobile again, returning to watching over me.
I turned from the corpses and saw Lydia gaping at me in wide-eyed shock.
“What?” I asked, confused at her expression.
“You…you just made him!” she whispered; her voice filled with awe.
“Uh, yeah? What did you think I meant when I said I needed to fix him?” I asked her, thinking quickly.
Since I’d adopted everyone, I couldn’t remember if I’d made any changes to Bob, and it took a few seconds of her mouth opening and closing before I got it.
I hadn’t changed his appearance since the fight with the SporeMother, and people obviously hadn’t realized the things I could do with him. I shrugged and gestured to him as I turned to look out over the ship.
“He’s my minion, yes. I created him from bones I found in the Tower. After all he’s seen and done since coming to life, he’s starting to become ‘more’ now, though. He’s… well, if not fully sentient yet, he’s on his way, so please, do me a favor and let people know that he’s to be treated with respect, okay? Also, where did you think he came from?” I asked curiously, glancing over at her.
“Well, I…I thought he were a Bone Minion!” she said, still awed.
“Uh, yeah? He’s made of bone?” I said, confused.
“No! A Bone Minion. They’re magic, like the Golems. I seen ‘em before; they do some jobs in the cities, but they don’t last long. I thought you’d got a load of scrolls and were using ’em!”
“No, but it’s cool that you can do that…” I said, only to be met with a furious shaking of her head in response.
“No, Bone Minions ain’t cheap. They sell slaves because we’re cheap! Bone Minions only last a few months, and then you need to buy another. I been made to do their jobs before ‘til they can get another! Are ya… are ya gonna make more?” Her voice quavered as she asked me, practically terrified of the answer.
“No,” I said. “I choose to only have Bob, I wanted him to grow, rather than just get more copies of him. Why?”
“I…Well…yer could make a load o’ gold, an’…”
“I don’t give a shit about gold at the minute,” I said, holding her gaze, “and as far as I’m concerned, the real wealth here is you and the others. We can always get money. We can’t get people so easy, so don’t ever think your place here isn’t safe.”
“Oh, I… uh, I didn’t mean that…honestly…” She said, looking anywhere but at me, and I nodded, certain that it was exactly what she’d been worried about.
“Thanks for your help, Lydia.” I said, and she straightened, saluting me with a fist to her chest.
“Anytime, lord. An’, well…” she said, looking suddenly hesitant.
“Just say it. You don’t have to be worried; god knows you always said what you meant before.” I grinned at her. I’d seen a difference in the way she acted around me since the fight, like she’d decided maybe I wasn’t a waste of skin after all.
“Well… ah, fuck it,” she
