After going over the matter of his mana core, the two moved on to the matter of how they would take care of the mana crystal mine and obsidian pool.
“Remember the hundreds of millipede eggs that will soon hatch?” Nedra asked.
“Yeah, what of them?”
“Well, since they do not have to live off your mana, when they hatch, they can take over the protection of the mine and pool. You can go wherever you want to without needing to worry about their safety.” She explained dutifully.
“Oh, I see what you mean.” A flash of understanding struck Leon and he nodded his head in agreement. “But…”
“But?” Nedra urged him to continue.
“Won’t you come with me when I leave?” Leon asked. Nedra was his first companion since coming to this world, and the thought of leaving her behind had never crossed his mind.
“Of course, I will come with you. I just need to get some of them to grow up, give them orders, and then we can leave.” Nedra replied.
“But, don’t you think what happened before might happen again? What if some of them rebel?” Leon was still doubtful.
“Ah, about that. You don’t need to worry. When I branded the eggs, I tied them not just to myself, but also to you. Because of that, they will be bound to you as your servants and never seek to betray you.” She reassured.
“Alright, then. If you say so.” Leon acquiesced and let the topic fall to the back of his mind.
.
.
“Ah, we need to let up on the centipedes so they can reproduce and give us some more monsters to kill.” Leon spoke to himself. He reached through his mind for the thread that tied him to Nedra and Kaladin, before passing that information to them.
“Make sure to leave strong ones alive. You can wipe out all the weaker variants.” He repeated.
“Yes!” Both of them replied mentally before Leon returned his mind to his body. He sighed wistfully when he thought of all the the new things that he could do. Summon undead creatures, cast magic spells, communicate telepathically? All these things were just a pipe dream back on Earth, but now, he could do them as easily as breathing!
.
.
A week passed by quickly, and in that week, the millipede eggs that had been laid by the former millipede queen hatched. They were different from the Ghost Millipedes in more ways than one. The most notable difference would be their carapace color. They were covered in ghostly white carapace from head to toe, with pitch black eyes, and two white antennae that were tipped off with black on its ends.
The second difference would be that they were no longer of the same race. These white millipedes were called Undead Millipedes, while their former kin were called Ghost Millipedes.
The last point to note was that their bodies were slightly smaller, but packed more punch. Their mana and health points were a bit higher upon birth too.
It was after the Undead Millipedes hatched that Leon finally decided to move on with the next phase of his plan.
“Take the little ones and raid the centipede nest. Injure the centipedes to the point of death, then let the little ones kill them to gain the experience and level up.” Leon ordered the shadowy, black mass of summoned Undead Millipedes.
A chorus of replied came before the black millipedes surrounded the white ones before they scurried forward, leaving Leon’s line of sight.
“This is the start of growing your very own army.” Nedra said from beside Leon. She did not plan to go out with the army this time.
“My army has already been growing since I summoned the first millipede. It has only grown larger since then.” Leon replied her as he watched, before turning around and walking back into the cathedral.
This time, there was no sword to sharpen, and he was tired of reminiscing on he past. He had a different purpose in mind today. That purpose was to summon the final skeleton that sat in the corner of the cathedral!
With firm strides, Leon walked over to the corner of the cathedral, beside the grand doors that had always remained closed. The skeleton was in a sitting position, laying against the wall with its head dangling to the side. Like Leon and Kaladin, it was also made of pitch black bones.
Knock knock!
Leon rapped his knuckled against its hardy skull.
“Yup, Obsidian alright.” He nodded. Although weak, he could tell that it was made out of the same Obsidian that made his and Kaladin’s bones. The only difference was that this skeleton was clad it pitch black armor. A sword was loosely held in its grasp, and a medium sized shield with no insignias or carvings was thrown listlessly to the side.
“Alright, let’s get this done.” Leon stood up to his full height and stepped back, stretching out his hand.
“Come forth.” He activated his <Spirit Summoning> skill, and the mana in the air was thrown into turmoil as he attempted to draw a soul back from beyond the nether.
Bzzt!
[Partial Soul Reconstruction is complete. You have only managed to extract the abilities of the soul. The original soul can no longer be reached. As a result of Partial Soul Reconstruction, a new soul will be created and bestowed the abilities of the original soul.]
The black skeleton turned into dust, and was whipped up into a black swirl, obscuring Leon’s vision. He was already familiar with this from Kaladin’s summoning, so he was not startled.
Some time passed before the black dust settled, leaving a pitch black, obsidian skeleton in place. A red glow flashed within the eyes of the summon as it was filled with a new life.