Dance With Death

'I'll give it one more try, i'm pretty close to leveling up after all, maybe the class becomes better then. If not, then i guess i'll delete this character.'

Kaito ate his meal in silence, thinking. He felt annoyed at not being able to solve this problem, but he didn't want to give up, not yet.

He tidied up the kitchen and returned to his bedroom, the orange sunlight getting through the curtains blinded him before he laid down in bed.

Kaito took a deep breath before putting the helmet back on, "back we go".

Kaito spawned back in, standing in the middle of the town square. He looked around, wanting to find a spot where there weren't a lot of people.

He got an idea and entered "The Huntsman" once again. As Baldrum spotted Kaito, his face lit up, he was about to stand up from his chair when Kaito spoke-

"No need to stand up friend, i came to ask for assistance in a matter, you see, i need a quiet place to think, and to do some practice" Kaito looked at Baldrum in anticipation, he didn't know what his reply would be.

Baldrum slowly sat back down, he looked as if deep in thought but quickly looked at Kaito with a smile once more. "This shop has a small backyard, you can use that space if yer' wish! it's a secluded from the rest of the town"

Kaito smiled back at Baldrum, 'Perfect!' the thought. "thank you, hopefully i won't need it for long".

Kaito moved back behind the desk and through the storage room and opened the back door. He was greeted by a small patch of grass. Walls of nearby buildings made this backyard feel very hidden.

Next to the back door there stood a tanning rack and a few knives laid on the ground next to it. In the corner resting against the wall was a huge longbow, finely crafted. But it had seen better days, now the bow was covered in cobwebs, 'hardly used for a long time' Kaito though.

He closed the door behind him and started right away. "Raise undead" he muttered as the bones danced around him and a purple mist left his hand. The skeleton was formed in front of him.

"Now, there must be something more to this spell, there must be something else this skeleton can do" Kaito talked to himself, pacing around the backyard.

He was racking his brain for ideas, he stopped, 'maybe the skeleton can use magic?' He looked toward to skeleton, "use fireball!"

A momentary silence filled the backyard before a cracking could be heard. It was the sound of the skeleton putting his head to the side, like a dog, looking puzzled at Kaito.

Kaito let out a sigh "ok fine, i didn't really believe it myself, let's try something else" He went and picked up the longbow and a few arrows laying on the ground.

"Here, use this and shoot an arrow!" The skeleton looked at the bow and then back up at Kaito, not even attempting to grab the weapon.

Irritation spread throughout Kaito as he put the bow back, he tried all kinds of things, giving the skeleton the knives he saw laying next to the tanning rack. Nothing worked, he sat down on the grass in defeat, he put his face in his hands.

'This skeleton is useless, if only it could something, even a dance would work' Kaito imagined the skeleton dancing waltz around him in circles.

He imagined the assemble of bones dance gracefully, he was humming on the song of "The Blue Danube" a piece perfect for Waltz, his mother used to love this song.

A smile with a hint of sadness was shown on Kaito's face, he missed his mother dearly. all of a sudden he heard bones cracking and rattling around him.

'It seems like I've begun to hallucinate' He looked up from his hands only to be met by the skeleton dancing around him.

Kaito was shocked to see his summon elegantly dancing Waltz to the rhythm of the song he had been humming. He could barely believe his eyes, how had this happened? What had he done different this time?

That's when Kaito felt it, very faint at first, he felt a bond with the skeleton. He focused on it, and the bond become clearer and clearer. He felt a slight headache but kept pushing further.

〈Congratulations! New passive ability unlocked: The Link!〉

Kaito looked at the message in front of him 'what's the link?'. The same message then expanded, showing more information.

〈passive ability: The Link〉﹀

You are connected to your summons, Your mind and feelings are the driving force of their actions.

Kaito looked at the text and pondered, he was lost in thought before he noticed the skeleton beside him, it was rubbing it's chin with it's bony fingers as if thinking about something, 'was it mimicking him?'.

Kaito looked at the skeleton in a complete daze, but quite quickly a big smile was formed on his face. This was exciting, this might have been what he was looking for.

"Time to try it out i guess" Kaito walked over to the wall and grabbed a knife from the ground, he then walked back to the skeleton and handed it over. He wanted the skeleton to grab the knife, and so it did.

Kaito's mind was racing, he needed to calm down, but he couldn't. He thought of the skeleton striking the air in front of it with the knife, and the skeleton moved swiftly and a whistle could be heard as the knife sliced the air.

Kaito wanted the skeleton to roll to one side and quickly charge to the other side of the backyard, and so it did. It followed Kaito's mind perfectly.

He imagined his summon doing a back flip in the air and the skeleton jumped up and... crashed into the ground. "well, i guess there are limitations to what a skeleton can do".

Kaito was beyond excited, he released the summon which quickly became a pile of bones that started crumbing into purple mist, he then walked back into the shop and met Baldrum.

"So? how's the practicin' goin' for ya laddie'?" Baldrum looked at Kaito curiously.

"I figured it out! and i'm on my way to kill more rabbits, this time much faster than previously" Kaito answered, quickly moving through the shop to the door, but before he could open the door he heard Baldrums voice-

"oh! if yer' going out to hunt, why not bring back some wolf meat ay'? It could be dangerous to hunt alone though, so you might need to find yerself' some friends to hunt with you, there be wolfs a bit deeper inside of the forest at the south gate".

〈New Quest : Hunt down (Wolf(s) and acquire 20 pieces of wolf meat (0/20) deliver them to Baldrum〉

〈do you wish to accept? Y/N〉

Kaito opened the door and looked back at Baldrum and replied "sure thing!" before closing the door behind him.

〈Quest Accepted!〉

He quickly made his way to the field by the south gate and sat down to regain the last bit of mana he needed to summon his skeleton.

〈Congratulations! New passive ability unlocked: Meditation!〉

Kaito was stunned, he looked at the message that had appeared in front of him, another passive ability?

〈passive ability: Meditation〉﹀

You have sat down to regain energy multiple times, this has further allowed your body to draw more energy from your surroundings when meditating. (Increase in mana regeneration)

Kaito smiled, 'Sure, i won't say no to that!' He could feel an influx of mana as he closed his eyes. It didn't take too long this time before he heard the familiar sound of the notification-

〈Mana full! 25/25〉

He stood up and looked out to the field, a fire had been lit in his heart and his eyes were filled with excitement. He started walking toward the nearest rabbit.