Chapter: 642

“Heavy, you’re up.”

The heavy skeleton trudged over in its thick armour. Jay had it drop it weapon before he got to work.

Heavy was chosen over Red, as Jay didn’t want to mess up the skill while using a higher level skeleton.

There was no telling what giving a mind to the undead would do, and if a skeleton were to go crazy and attack him, he would want it to be the slower one, the one he could quickly unsummon before it could hope to harm him or even have Red kill if it were necesarry.

There an some uncertainty, as if the skeleton had a mind, there was a chance it could have a will of its own and even reject its masters will.

Nevertheless, Jay proceeded, and removed its helmet before hovering his hands around Heavy’s skull and using the [Mind] skill.

Suddenly his necrotic mana left his hands and wrapped around its skull.

To Jay’s surprise, the mana was glowing much more brighter than usual, even causing it to glow in the daytime, while it appeared thicker and more like a turbulent floating liquid, spinning around the skull wildly as if were caught in a storm.

The spell drained something from Jay – something which wasn’t energy or mana. His arms got heavier and heavier, but he fought against it and kept his arms up as he guided the mana to continue swirling around Heavy’s head. It seemed that his energy was also being drained by the spell somehow, making the process more like a test of endurance. Perhaps even a test of sacrifice – hopefully it would pay off.

While he wanted to lower his hands, he sensed that if he did, the spell would fail and the resulting mind would be fractured.

Jay pressed on as the pain grew, and thankfully, the rapidly swirling mana began to slow down; it went from being like a miniature hurricane spinning around its head, to then becoming a rushing river, and soon enough it was like a gentle swirling pond – until finally it stopped.

Instead of pain and tiredness, a strange warmth crept into Jay’s heart and seemed to reinvigorate his tired limbs. Perhaps it was joy, or maybe gladness. Whatever it was, it was the opposite of the pain and struggle he initially felt, and even made up for it.

None of the skeletons skull could be seen during the whole process, and the mana was still wrapped around it – slowly though, it disappeared and ‘drained’ into the center of the skull, revealing the skull once more.

Finally Jay lowered his hands as the spell completed. The skeleton stood there, still gazing at him, almost fixated on him as if he was a single star in the night sky.

[A new mind is formed.]

Jay looked back into its eyes; they were still little bead-like dark-green orbs, hovering in its eye sockets fueled somehow by necrotic mana – though as he gazed into them, they seemed brighter somehow, interested in and wondering about the world around them.

The inside of the skull itself was no longer bone-white on the inside. It seemed more like an infinite darkness now as it was covered by a thick coat of the fluid-like mana, which had since turned black.

As Jay looked closer though, his eyes adjusted to the darkness within its skull. He could see tiny little beads of green lights travelling throughout the dark inner coating; thousands of these little green lights moved backwards and forwards like a swarm of tiny beetles running frantically around it skull. Some moved as fast as lightening while others travelled as slowly as snails.

Jay himself seemed as curious as the skeleton before him. There was something unsettling about its eyes, which seemed more menacing as they were surrounded by darkness now. Its eyes were calculating and gave off a sense of a cold intelligence.

Without even reading the notification, it was easy to tell that a new mind was born. Or formed.

Jay preferred formed.

Suddenly the skeleton’s head moved back from Jay, and Jay stepped back too.

Its eyes began moving rapidly all over the place, as if it was having a seizure or was in a deep sleep state.

Jay waited patiently to see what would happen – but just to be safe he had Red stand by his side.

After a moment, its eye stopped shifting around and then began to look around slowly. First it looked at its own skeletal hands which it clenched a few times – then at its armour which it caressed almost lovingly.