Chapter Seventeen

  The neancer aoad stepped out to be greeted by the same booth the team had registered with before entering the dungeon. Outside Old Bones’s domain, she could feel her css shifting unfortably as the barrier to seleg a new skill and unlog the stats dropped. Now was her the time nor pce to do that. She could hold it in unfortably.

  It was the booth and her. No teammates were around. She approached the booth and tapped the ter to get the attendant’s attention.

  “Oh, hello,” They said, looking a little surprised. “Your team reported you deceased. As well as some unusual news. They’ve been directed to the guild for debriefing. If you wish to maintain a positive guild status, I reend you head to the main guild house.”

  “Well, mark me down as not deceased. I’m not a guild member, so I think I’ll pass on heading to the guild.”

  Going to be debriefed seemed like another situation, another lecture. Harmony had her fill of overly powerful people talking down to her. They reported her dead? That seemed excessive. She did feel a tad guilty at the gre she gave the poor attendant. She knew what it was like to be in such a subservient position.

  “Carry on then.” She told the attendant.

  Harmony double-timed it back to the lodge as the disfort slowly increased internally. “Tyler, I’m back!” she yelled.

  With no response, she took advantage of the lodge’s plumbing before heading into her small room. She moved her armor off her body and into her new internal ste space. As cursed as the armor was, the new ease of the removal was gratifying, and she quickly threw her robe over her body before sitting on the bed.

  Choose your css’s fourth skill: Raise dead - Cold Touch - Rot.

  Raise dead had always been an option since she first got the css. The base spell that always gave the neancer css a bad name when you had t baeone’s son or brother essentially as a puppet. Trash she could live without.

  Rot was equally unappealing. Not to say that it was without practical uses like aging cheese and wine quicker or posting the manure from the stables. Smelly jobs that she’d rather not be assigo.

  [Cold Touch], well, everyone liked a nice cold drink during the hot days of spring or summer. She hoped it didn’t bring the lingering taste of death with it. Seleg that skill, she let it bloom inside her. She could feel it grow inside her soul, leaking some and pushing the mana to quicker. Every aspect of her css quickly showed a e to the skill, as cold the final unmoviing state of all matter settled into her.

  She let the thin threads from her profession bloom as well. [Poise and Bearing], [Style and Grace], and evei] taking strength from serene moments of stillness. All her newly acquired skills had some link, the potential energy hidden behind a moment, the cessation of a powerful strike stilled to nothing, the extra dimension of temperature iating sea inside her like she’d taken a dip in a cold river. Then it was done.

  Unlock stats?

  Harmony couldn’t even tell why it was a question. No wasn’t given as an option, and there was no advang until you did. Three aspects to be strengthened, and then after every level, you may focus oo move it forward. They call it a path because you choose the steps you take. She acquiesced and braced herself for the ges.

  The locked door inside Harmony opened, and she could sehe ges. All the ected bits burned and brightened, growing stronger, w together, and providing support. She could find new spaces where paths could be made. [Cold Touch] and [Dust] to do what? She didn’t know but felt like she could make it happen. At the moment when choices came fast, everything slowed down but only for her. That was how it was now. As her heartbeat pulsed, she had to wait for another beat to e.

  Hyath groaned and rolled on the floor beside her. Their bond was infmed by the unlog of the neancer’s stats. That distra pulled her out of the time-stretched state. What had seemed a low sound and slow movements turned into her familiar squealing and twitg on the floor. Eventually, her toad’s distress subsided. Moving to the bed, she decided to lie down.

  “Grrupt,” Hyath pined as he hopped up to y cuddled o her.

  She ehe close feeling of the shadow toad. Grabbing the moment while she could. “Okay. let’s see what’s ged.” She summoned her status

  Harmony White

  Css: Neancer (12)-F

  Profession: Maid (16)-D

  Skills:

  Familiar Bond(12)*

  Manipute Dead (12)*

  Renew Spirit (11)

  Cold Touch (1)

  Analyze (13)

  Poise and Bearing (12)

  Dust (16)*

  Beauti (13)

  Style and Grace (11)

  Small Armor (4)

  Mana Rotation (10)

  High Kick (2)

  Stats:

  Synergy

  es

  ostasis

  Synergy was the most obvious of the bunch to her. A direct improvement to her belief in Carter’s schema and its principles felt like tact agreement with her training path. As vague as es were, her bond with Hyath felt strohan ever.

  As it should be. The toad projected into Harmony’s mind.

  “You talk!”

  “Croak.” The sound came with amusement but nothing else.

  Her familiar was going to have eoo much fun with this. ostasis had to be that sense of time slowing down, an offshoot of perception or reflexes of some kind.

  Skill-wise, [Poise and Bearing] ’s growth wasn’t surprising as she’d leaned heavily on the skill for all of the out-of-pce social iions of the st few days. [Mana Rotation] being so high was shog. She’d barely used the skill. Was that a refle of how well it was ied?

  “Bates will be so surprised for the roll call.”

  She could not imagihe head butler’s outward appearance budging an inch at such rapid progression. Internally he’ll have to be reag somewhat.

  Most importantly, she had all requirements and ingredients needed for the create and bond undead pet scroll. That princely pet waited for her.

  Resisting the urge to run out now, she k would be best to wait for Tyler to return before making excuses to go out. So with nothing required to do, she daydreamed of pet battles, Earning enough to buy out her employment tract. Taking an academy css or two and starting her own book colle. All thoughts are more pleasant than repying the horrors of the dungeon. Ohat lulled her to sleep.

  Lord Tyler burst into her room, “Harmony!”

  The yell jolted her into an upright position. The back of her hand wiped some drool off the er of her mouth.

  Her profession wao take charge, jump up to curtsy and ask how she may serve him. Her brain slid the rest of the way from her dreaming to waking state and thankfully halted that response.

  “Harmony! We thought you’d diiiiiiiieeeddd….”

  The world slowed as Tyler rushed in close. Panic flickered briefly until the maid realized the stat of ostasis was kig ira time to choose a response, which was freezing as the man ed his arms arouwo heartbeats, a quick embrace, but ohat felt like forever to her as she stopped herself from stiffening and jerking away. Great, a stat that helped make awkward situations even more painfully long.

  “I mao make it out but o rest after.” She managed after her perception of time realigself.

  “The guild master kept us there even after news of you surviving. Even accused me of petty politics for threatening t Gran in before saying he’d wele a visit from the infamous hidden bde. He even had the audacity to ask me t you into the guild house so he could chat with you. The levels on that man.”

  “Maybe you should rest after that dive yourself?”

  “Oh, no, I took a stamina potion at the guild. I’ve got ten more minutes of this. Gave it to us all to help us recover. I think it was really to keep us talking. After questioning our words, it took them ten mi in a truth stone. I had to, um, tell them you were my maid. Len and Rose totally uand. And we’re all gd you mao survive.”

  It had to be more than a normal stamina potion, Harmony guessed. She let him babble about the unfair treatment he’d received at the hands of the guild and led him out of her room. There she fixed two ptes of food. Nodding and making sounds of agreement as the lord talked without stopping. Rose reached fifteen, so there will be a party she’s io. Len wants to bow out from adventuring for a while. His memory of nearly being cut in half wasn’t as fotten as one might hope. Family politics aside, Sir Maxwell will even look elsewhere. Tyler promised that he’d find a new, better team for them.

  He at least ate the food she gave him as she ate hers. Chewing only stopped some of his rantings. Then the drop happened. Lord Tyler’s wide eyes slid half closed, and the maid maneuvered him to his room aug him in, he murmured, “You’re so pretty. I wao see you kick high.” Those were his st words as he slipped into sleep.

  firmation of the reason why he selected that skill for her stung. The skill agreed with an ironic urge to kick his sleeping body.

  Letting him lie, Harmouro her room and dug down to the bottom of the bag she’d backed for this trip. She grasped the drical Create and Bond undead Pet scroll tube and pulled it out. Every item was at hand. The fallen packs of fluardians had left a plethora of ic cores and ghost ces. With the champion’s tooth and the excellent quality restoration potioill had from the dive, now all she needed was a little blood and the determination to gh with the pn.

  Tyler released a choked shat sounded like an unpleasant version of one of Hyath’s croaks. Nothing would be if that wasn’t enough motivation to get going.

  A short non-specifiote about going out for a bit. A little hug for the rec Hyath, who also wao be away from the sn. A nondescript cloak over a night robe and packed ingredients in tow. Harmoed the dungeon lodge, ready to take her gamble.

  Author Note: If you wish to skip ahead and see how the gamble works out you get 10 more chapters at my patreon https:///KitFalbo