Saintess Summons Skeletons

Available Active Skills :

• [Dispel ]: Dispels
• [ mist] : in a thick mist.
• [Scroll of ] : random effect to the target ranging from [Cold] to [Instant Death].
• [ skeletons] : group depending on your maximum mana.

I knew I’d get [Scroll of infinite prayers], too bad it cut off before the infinite. And skeletons are incredible news considering the quest restriction and Pareth’s buff. Maybe I can finally get a third hero!

Now, knowing I have the advanced reward to use, whatever skill I make now will be better than it would have been normally… Or so it should. Not too sure what this is being based on. I don’t know much about the Orator, just that it’s supposedly a Lord of the Deep, and that he can speak through anything’s mouth, even birds and dead corpses…

Still, considering the system’s description of the reward, I should expect the skill I make to end up strong no matter what.

I can go simple with the skill I’ve been avoiding until now and make [Dispel mist] with the knowledge that thanks to the reward, it absolutely won’t end up as something terrible like literally being able to clear up mist and fog. But that’s still a gamble.

Or I could go with Dispel skeletons. Could see that going in a few directions, like an area attack that removes people’s skeleton? That would be insanely strong but I don’t see the system making a skill like that, and it would probably have weird restrictions or be very expensive. I can’t imagine it being easier to use than [Hollow heart] was. That could also be a negative effect cleanse for my skeletons, which is also pretty good I guess. Or a summoned skeleton that specializes in dispels? That would be nice.

Either of these would also let me keep [Scroll of ] for later if I ever get a keyword like [ gold] or something.

And the last possibility is to let [Dispel ] on the side yet again… And take either [Scroll of skeletons] or [Scroll of mist skeletons], maybe even [Scroll of skeletons mist]. These all sound great.

“At times like these I wish I had someone to help me choose…”

After a long reflection, and maybe inspired by the hot spring’s steam, she made her decision.

‘You have acquired the Active skill : ‘ mist’

‘You have acquired the Active skill : ‘ skeletons’

‘You have acquired the Active skill : ‘Scroll of ’

‘[Orator’s touch] has been activated, all system interfaces will be unavailable until completion of the skill’

Good thing that I didn’t do that during a fight… Scroll of mist skeletons it is. Please be good!

“Interesting choices,” Sofia’s own mouth said without her consent.

Here comes the Orator again.

She wasn’t as surprised as the first time. Answering on the spot “Can you not do that, please?”

“I may take out one of the corpses in your ring and talk through it, would that please you?” her own voice asked.

“...”

“I had never worked with this thing before, fascinating.”

“Will this happen often?” Sofia asked, pointing at her own mouth.

“Many questions, have you not? Find the answers yourself, human. My creation is ready.”

He’s gone?

Sofia had very mixed feelings about the entity speaking through her, the scariest part was how natural it felt. There was really no sign, no way she could tell that it was going to happen or how. Her mouth just spoke words she hadn’t thought and it didn’t even feel like someone else controlled it. Almost like she was the intruder in her own body.

If not for the system prompts shedding light on what was going on, she might have thought she was going completely crazy.

And the new line in her status didn’t make things feel any saner.

Special Active Skills (1)

[???] ♢

The description was also very helpful.

[???] :

Thanks a lot. Only one way to find out what it does then. Do I try it out here? Considering the words I used, it should be safe, right? And no one can see me. If it looks bad I’ll cancel the activation…

She activated the skill expecting the worst, only to find it barely cost any mana. About 200 mana disappeared from her reserves and a book appeared floating in front of her.

It was a closed, title-less book, of a reasonably small size, made of an assortment of assembled polished bones. The center of the book cover was adorned with a dark purple gem, beating like a heart, spreading mana through the bones. A thick white mist escape from the book's edges, such that no hint of a page could be seen.

Sofia identified the book.

[Hero - Lv. 130]

Oh.

Do we have another living item situation? This isn’t exactly what I expected for my third hero…

“Can you talk? Do you understand me?” she asked, talking to the inert book.

Of course it wouldn’t answer, it’s a book. Wait, what happens if I use the skill again?

The book disappeared on the spot, but it was still showing in her list of heroes. Then she used it again and the book came back. Convenient.

She tried to open it, but it wouldn’t, no matter how hard or what she tried. I remember that Alith couldn’t look up her status until the baptism. Is this what’s happening? I can name it right, since it’s a hero? But then what’s a good name for a book? Should it be a name or a title?

“Then I guess… The Book of Skeletons?”

[Congratulations, you have baptized your third hero!]

Let me guess, error time?

[ERROR]

“Saw that one coming.”

[The baptized hero does not possess a soul, giving hero’s blessing draw privilege to the summoner.]

No soul? Pareth’s message was different… Can it even be considered a hero if it has no soul? Also is it considered an object, a living being or an undead? Does the book need to go through the filters?

[Please draw three cards.]

That was the usual message for drawing blessings, but nothing appeared.

[ERROR]

[User in Scribe Only Mode, Blessings Sub-System out of reach]

[Please wait]

And should have seen this one coming, but I did not. What is it going to be then, no blessing?

Sofia fell asleep waiting for the Scribe to resolve the issue. She woke up several hours later, completely red from soaking in the hot water for so long. The system messages were quite the surprise again, she stared, mouth agape at the choices given to her.

[Acceptable replacements have been gathered, proceeding with baptism]

[Please select a blessing for the hero : Book of Skeletons]

‘Blessing of Sun

What a polite Scribe. Of course, I can help. Your other skeleton is already using my authority anyway. But you better not cut or dye your hair!

Summoned skeletons cannot lose health under direct sunlight.’

‘Blessing of Knowledge

May this help against Scripture, should you take it.

Summoned skeletons know one additional passive and active skill relevant to the situation’.

‘Blessing of Death

Summoned skeletons instantly kill the targets they hit that have under 20% Health remaining.’

This…

Not a year ago I still had some light doubts about the existence of Gods… WHAT IS GOING ON?! HOW STRONG IS A SCRIBE EXACTLY?! WHY ARE THEY ALL WATCHING ME?! IS THIS REAL???

These effects are all hilariously overpowered. Also, these will not apply to Pareth, only to the book, meaning it has the ability to summon skeletons and they will be the ones receiving the boost.

She thought about it as she left the hot spring and rolled around on the Inn’s strange floor bed. Ultimately she picked the Sun’s blessing.

The deciding factor against the Knowledge blessing was the randomness of the actual skill, she didn’t like that she couldn’t plan around what skill exactly the skeletons would have. Besides, ‘relevant’ didn’t mean it would flat out solve any problem she had, so she ruled against it.

Meanwhile the Death blessing was just not that good the more she thought about it. If she could get a monster down to 20% of his maximum health, it probably wouldn’t be too hard to finish them off. Not only that but from what she had seen, fights often ended in one or two deadly blows rather than a slow whittling down of the enemy’s health, no matter how much one had. Perhaps that would change at higher levels and she would regret her choice then, but she could worry about that if she reached that point.

In opposition to those, the Sun blessing was immediately useful as long as she fought outside on a sunny day, it had a clear, predictable, and absolute effect. Not only that, but [Blessing of the Deep] covered for its weaknesses. It made sense that you could still kill someone who ‘cannot lose health’ with things like [Instant death], except her summons were all immune to that.

Now all she needed was a way to cheat the ‘direct sunlight’ clause. Considering how her skills and Pareth’s could now be sun themed thanks to the specialization, that felt like a real possibility.

Now off to sleep, and tomorrow this book better show me its summoning skills!

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