Being a Summoner on our Evolved Earth

Skeletal Soldier's Changes (5)

Much to Lucia's relief, she was able to recall her skeletal soldier from the arena so that it wouldn't have to fight the knight. Sure enough, once her soldier disappeared from the arena, the knight returned to the gate it came from. The corpses of undead re-animated and entered their respective gates as well. Only once it was emptied out, did the lattice gate open as if inviting the next challenger. Lucia turned and went back the way she came, going all the way back to that first cross road.

'It's quite possible that's the mini boss room or boss room. To think it was that close to my starting point... Let's investigate the other path first, I need time to strengthen my knight. I don't know if this labyrinth has a trait like leveling up the mini-boss and boss rooms with the level of the competitors, so it's best to be safe. My interfering with the arena battle must be what raised the difficulty, because no skeletal soldier, even with my buffs can survive a knight's assault without at least one heal over time spell.' Wrapped up in her thoughts, Lucia quickly arrived at the intersection. She noticed where she arrived and decided to summon her soldier again.

"[Summon Skeletal Soldier]" A golden magic circle appeared while slowly expanding vertically in front of Lucia. It took the thirty seconds like in the game to reach its peak height and only then did the skeletal soldier rise from the ground. After the skeletal soldier's arrival the magic circle dispersed while the soldier knelt in obeisance to Lucia. 

"Please stand, you don't need to do that every time." Lucia smiled wryly at her creature, she was flattered the first time, but thinking of summoning him in combat... It would be troublesome for him to do it every time. Much to Lucia's dismay though; her skeletal soldier only stood up and stared blankly, still possessing no spiritual wisdom capable of holding memory. With a small sigh she had her soldier walk in front of her as they headed down the only path they had yet to explore. 

Similar to the other path, a room soon appeared with a skeletal soldier and a skeleton. With Lucia's encouragement her soldier charged in to fight while she observed. When she recalled her soldier earlier, the buff magic she applied to it should have been removed. Currently only her [Aura of Beast's Might] was increasing her soldier's physique. The difference was noticeable as her soldier wasn't able to leave deep cracks on the skeleton's bones like last time. Only when hitting a weak point like the skull, it managed to take out the skeleton. Meanwhile, the hits on her soldier were adding up, since it was now only a bit stronger than a normal skeletal soldier. It took more than twice as long for her skeletal soldier to take down the skeleton and then it started the long duel with the enemy skeletal soldier. 

"[Minor Healing Spring]" Lucia cast the weakest healing over time spell she could just to test the limits of her soldier. The damage was healed up slowly. 

"Hit its waist." She hinted and her soldier listened immediately. Her soldier deflected the sword of its opponent with the buckler, then made a horizontal slash at the unprotected spine between its breast plate and pelvic bone. It wasn't enough to smash through with ease like before, but it was still enough to take out the opponent. The other skeletal soldier crashed to the ground with a loud sound of metal hitting stone and its soul flame died out. Lucia walked over to collect the crystal core from the soldier, and crystal sliver from the skeleton with practiced ease.

'It seems the difficulty on this side is easier than the other, another sign that this was the path to go for leveling up and the other is for speed runners.' Lucia thought to herself as she examined the extent of the damage to her skeletal soldier. During the inspection, besides the numerous cracks on the bones and slight dents in the armor, she noticed that the yellowed bones from before had turned more of a whitish yellow. "[Healing Spring]" Lucia healed the skeletal soldier while contemplating what caused the changes, and what these changes mean for her skeletal soldier. In the game, all creatures that were summoned  could be evolved once they hit the right level. 

'Could it be that now I have to worry about quality as well? Then why does its quality go up from eating death mana?' Lucia pondered for a while, 'Perhaps it's like filling up a half empty glass, the more mana it holds before evolution, the stronger its evolution will be? Then is there a limit to this glass? Guess I'll have to find out.' Lucia concluded her thoughts and found her skeletal soldier right in front of her, staring at her, she jumped back from surprise.

"Don't scare me like that." Lucia grumbled and pointed down the next hallway. The skeletal soldier marched on without a care. 'I'm really not used to looking at skeletons...' Lucia took a deep breath and followed behind it. In the next room was a skeletal soldier and a skeletal mage.  

"[Bone Prison]" A raspy voice called out and bones sprang up around her soldier in the shape of a cage. Since Lucia's soldier was the first to enter, the mage locked it up with a bone type sealing spell. Then the opposing soldier and mage both gave their attention to Lucia. The soldier charged at her while the mage charged up a spell.

"Well then... Guess I'll practice using this staff." Lucia pondered the situation, then shrugged. She held her staff out in front of her while holding onto the back end of it, kind of like holding a two handed sword. As the soldier was about to enter her range, she made a swinging motion towards the skeleton's unprotected waist. The charging skeleton was flung into the wall, and shattered into pieces. Lucia, her skeletal soldier, and the skeletal mage stared stunned. Lucia snapped out of her amazement first and noticed the mage was similarly stunned.

'So even the undead can be surprised. '  Lucia thought to herself as she started to walk toward the skeletal mage with her staff in her left hand like a walking stick. The mage returned to its senses and resumed its spell casting. 

"[Bone Knife]" Just as Lucia reached within five feet of the mage, it loosed a sharp bone, the size of a kitchen knife. Lucia stopped and moved her staff to try to block it. The bone knife was diverted by her staff, but still ended up cutting her left arm. Lucia hissed in pain, she had rarely gotten injured in real life due to her introverted life style. She was in shock that a tier 2 creature could harm her who was at tier 6. Lucia hurriedly stabbed out with her staff to interrupt the mage. She successfully stabbed the center of its rib cage which slammed it into the wall behind it. Bones cracking could be heard and the mage's spell was interrupted. Lucia walked up and used her staff to smash down with an over head swing full of frustration. The skull of the mage was shattered from the raw force, and it's core even got flung out and rolled along the stone floor. The bone prison spell dispersed upon the mage's death, freeing Lucia's skeletal soldier who seemed to be staring at her a bit differently than before.