The Gravecaller Who Levels While Sleeping

Chapter 7: A Company of Bones

The second goblin never saw Adrian's arrow.

It died while trying to crawl from a thorn bush, and the first Boneguard finished it with a clumsy chop before Adrian reached the body. Adrian recovered the core, placed a hand on the corpse, and waited through the full minute. Another Death Echo joined his list.

When the second Boneguard crawled from its black summoning circle, the forest felt different.

It was not because two little skeletons were an army. They were not. Their ribs were thin, their bone cleavers were chipped, and the first one had a fracture running across its skull. But they stood on either side of Adrian without fear. They did not care that other hunters laughed at him. They did not need wages, encouragement, or a promise of a fair experience split.

They were his.

Adrian moved through Briarwood with a new rhythm. He used the skeletons to draw attention while he fired from cover. When a goblin charged, the Boneguards met it first. When a goblin tried to flee, Adrian's Agility carried him after it. Every victory gave him another Ether Core and, after a minute of careful stillness, another bound form.

By midday, he had five Boneguards.

By early afternoon, he had eight.

His hands were dirty, his arms ached from drawing the cheap bow, and his quiver was noticeably lighter. But the forest no longer felt dangerous. It felt full of resources.

Then he heard fighting ahead.

The sounds were too loud for a single academy group. Goblins barked in alarm. Ice cracked across wood. A man's voice called instructions with calm authority.

Adrian signaled for his Boneguards to stay hidden, then climbed a low branch and moved through the trees until he could see the clearing.

Mara Ashford stood in its center.

She held a narrow silver wand in one hand, though she barely seemed to need it. Frost covered the grass in a broad circle around her. Twelve goblins had gathered at the edge of the clearing, gripping stone axes and chipped blades. None dared cross the ice.

The man in the gray suit stood beside Mara. Adrian recognized him as the one waiting near the faculty steps after her Ascension. He was older, perhaps in his forties, with close-cut hair and the relaxed posture of someone who had survived far more dangerous places than Briarwood.

"You are letting them dictate the distance," he told Mara. "That is better than panicking, but it is still passive. What happens if there are twenty?"

Mara's mouth tightened. "I would create a barrier."

"And if they flank you?"

She raised the wand. A shard of ice formed above her palm, then wavered.

The man smiled, not unkindly. "Your control is good. Your confidence will come later. Step back. I will clear the field, then we will find one for you to fight alone."

He drew a broad, polished saber from inside his coat. The blade caught the gray light.

"Storm Arc," he said.

He crossed the clearing in a blur.

Blue white energy flashed from his sword in a sweeping line. Three goblins fell before they understood he had moved. He pivoted, cut again, and sent a second arc through the remaining pack. The fight lasted less than ten seconds.

Adrian watched in silence.

The man was at least level twenty, maybe much higher. Bringing someone like that into a beginner Rift was absurd, but rich families did not live by the same rules as everyone else. Mara had private protection. Lucas had private enforcers. Adrian had a training bow, a broken apartment door, and the Continuum.

The suited man cleaned his blade. "Come on, Miss Ashford. The bodies are not going anywhere."

Mara glanced toward the dead goblins, then followed him out of the clearing.

Adrian waited until they were out of sight.

Then he dropped from the tree.

Twelve goblin corpses lay across the frost covered ground. To Mara's guardian, they had been a routine lesson. To Adrian, they were a windfall.

"Guard the perimeter," he ordered his Boneguards.

They spread into a rough circle. Adrian knelt beside the nearest body and placed his hand on its cold chest.

One minute passed.

Then another.

The work was tedious. His knees went numb. The frost soaked through his jeans. But every time the Continuum confirmed a new Echo, excitement warmed him again. One by one, he recorded the dead goblins. His Boneguards pried Ether Cores from the bodies and placed them in a neat pile beside him.

Twelve minutes later, he stood and called them all.

Black circles opened across the clearing. Skeleton after skeleton emerged, cleavers in hand. Their empty sockets glowed like distant coals. The original two stood nearest Adrian. Twelve fresh Boneguards formed a loose row behind them.

Fourteen in total.

It was still not a force that would impress a guild. One decent fire spell could scatter half of them. But the sight of fourteen bound dead waiting for his command changed the air around Adrian.

For the first time, he looked like what his class title promised.

He checked the pile of Ether Cores. Each was worth forty dollars. Twelve new cores meant nearly five hundred dollars before market fees. His family had not seen that kind of spare money in months.

Adrian pocketed the cores and listened.

Mara and her guardian had gone deeper into the forest. The academy group was somewhere near the entrance. Lucas Voss was likely following instructors and trying to look important.

Adrian looked at his small army.

"We are done hiding," he said.

The Boneguards waited.

"Now we hunt."

Before leaving the clearing, Adrian gathered the shattered pieces of his original two Boneguards and dismissed them. The moment they vanished into their black circles, the pieces were gone as well. The recorded Echoes remained safe in his status window. It was a small miracle, but a practical one. He would never need to mourn a soldier in the same way a normal summoner mourned a lost companion.

That did not mean he could use them carelessly. Each destroyed Boneguard took a few seconds to summon again, and a few seconds could decide a fight. More important, a group of level-one goblin skeletons would not solve every problem. Nolan Pike's fire had proven that later. A stronger monster, an area spell, or a hunter with enough experience could tear through them.

Adrian filed the thought away instead of letting it dull his excitement. His army would need quality as well as quantity. Briarwood's Rift Lord was level two. If he could record its Echo, it might become the foundation of something stronger.

For now, fourteen silent skeletons fell into formation behind him. Their footfalls made no sound on the frost covered ground. Adrian led them between the trees, a poor boy carrying a cheap bow and enough stolen future to change his life.