Focusing on Kite’s status was phenomenally easy. In fact, with a life time of memories handling undead it was almost second nature to me to pull up and peruse a minion’s stat sheet. Especially if they followed a more traditional system like Kite. Cain and Sigil were great but there’s a familiarity that comes with practice. I hadn’t had time to build that instinct or memory yet for their new processes.

  I quickly pulled up the list of Kite’s available species evolutions and began scrolling through them. He didn’t have many variant species due to his lack of experience before capping out his first, but enough of the core options were interesting enough.

  Of the list of options, only [Hollow Skeleton] was familiar to me, since Andras primarily relied on ghosts for flying undead rather than skeletons from winged beasts. No time like the present. I chose to go through the descriptions while we were sitting here.

  I hadn’t even seen the rest of the options yet, and [Ashen Hatchling] was already off to a strong start. Even with the threat of being returned all the way to level one, the promise of quasi-immortality was a hefty bargaining chip. I wondered if [Ashen Hatchling] replaced his spirit hawk species when he revived? That would be an incredibly potent upgrade if true, but I wasn’t willing to write off the rest of the options based purely on that chance.

  In a word, disappointing. The ability to channel spells through Kite would have been wonderful, but I’m not sure it would be worth dedicating an entire species upgrade to it this early. I might have been able to figure out how to do such things manually which would turn this entire Tier into a wasted slot. Needless to say, it didn’t compete with [Ashen Hatchling].

  This option felt as close to the standard issue skeleton undead as I could get with a bird shaped minion, and thus it didn’t interest me at all. If I needed massive quantities of undead birds I might choose a hollow skeleton then, but this would’ve felt like downgrading Kite.

  Interesting but unnecessary. A powerful magic caster was enticing as a stand alone, but any spells an abyssal attuned undead would learn I could definitely cast by myself. It would have been interesting later as a general power-boost for Kite, but it didn’t have enough merit by itself yet.

  Wind Wailer was an easy second place choice, it would expand the list of elemental energies available to my growing team, and create a potent mid-ranger fighter. The only issue I was having, was that the description felt niche for lack of a better word. It told me very clearly what the class could do, but it seemed limited. Sound blasts could only do so much.

  A quick glance showed [Winged Wraith] to be similar enough to [Feather Specter] that I could write them both off. Winged Wraith had slightly more void magic and death context, but in the end they were both ethereal spirits with magical properties I didn’t have much need for.

  The choice itself was simple enough, none of the other options could even compete with Ashen Hatchling. Expectedly, the evolution provided a large bump to vitality and a continued decrease to Kite’s already negative charisma. Living mortals fear the undead almost subconsciously, and the system reflected that by lowering their charisma stat at every possible turn.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  I closed off my connection to Kite’s system as soon as I finished reading over his new status, and turned my attention to the little bird himself.

  Kite’s mostly spectral body was starting to shimmer and ripple like the surface of a pond recently disturbed. The bones held within his spirit form were crackling and slowly turning a deep gray, as if burnished in a fire. The incorporeal spirit-stuff of his body took on a more physical reality, becoming both feather and flesh of crumbling ash. Small flakes of spent carbon cascaded off of Kite at any given moment, but he never seemed to decrease in mass, the innate magic of his form replenished faster than he could crumble away.

  The changes all came to a stop just as suddenly as they began and I paused for a beat just to make sure Kite wasn’t going to change anymore. Once I was sure it was done, I beckoned the little bird mentally and Kite came hopping over. His body had actually gotten slightly smaller, but his presence had increased dramatically. If it weren’t for the emaciated build to his new flesh, he’d almost look alive. The little ash gray Kestrel perched on my lap and let out a soft rumbling sound almost like a cat purring but dry and higher in pitch.

  Kite’s evolution concluded just in time for me to look up and see Cinder undergoing his own change. His skin and bristly fur were rippling in a similar manner to Kite and thankfully he didn’t appear to be getting any bigger. If Cinder continued to grow with each evolution, he’d very quickly be too large to effectively house. Instead, his tusks and the line of fur along the ridge of his back both took on a shining metallic hue. The subtle smoldering of his previous evolutions was still there, and now the orange glow of his internal embers were reflected across the metallic surfaces causing Cinder to glow ever so faintly.

  That’s as good a sign as any that we could finally move on, though at this point we only had a few hours before we’d have to make camp anyway. I just wanted to get away from the site of the battle if nothing else, discarded remains can attract predators we don’t want to deal with.

  “Leigh? You ready to go?” I clambered to my feet and shouted across the small clearing. She was in the process of looking over Cinder and admiring his new evolution, but waved us over anyway. “Yeah! We’re all set I think. Just need to pack Cinder’s backpack up again.” The boar snorted something audibly in response and Leigh just rolled her eyes. “No, I’m not going to do that.” I finally understood how strange it looks from the outside to see a mage communicating mentally with their minions.

  Our newly formed group set out at a slow but steady pace. The small clearing was quickly left behind and we spent the next two hours trudging through the forest until the sun eventually started setting above the forest canopy. It signaled us to make camp for the night, right as we came to a natural break in the tree line. Cinder was walking in the back as our rearguard and Leigh had taken the role of vanguard alongside Cain.

  Since I could direct Cain mentally, it was simple to steer us in the proper direction toward Alberack and while I didn’t have a map, I had made this trip with Dad more than once. I recalled the trading road being near this stretch of land, and when I finally started questioning our position we burst through the underbrush right onto the edge of the road itself.

  “Lets back track away from the road and make camp for the night. We should be able to hit Alberack in the next day or two, but I don’t like camping in the open.” I explained my habits to Leigh, and my mind jumped back to the sights and smells of the burning merchant caravan on my first trip with Dad.

  She didn’t press the subject any farther so we moved away from the road and began making camp for the night. Cinder could start a fire as easily as anyone else, so we left the meal prep to him while Leigh and I focused on putting up tents. Cinder of course was too big for a tent, Cain and Kite didn’t sleep, and my tent was just big enough for Sigil and myself. Leigh brought a very basic tent as well, and fumbled with it for several minutes while trying to set it up. I took this opportunity to press her about her future plans.

  “So.” I broke the silence and let it hang for several moments while I formulated my thoughts. “I know you want to come with me, and I’m not going to argue about it again at this point. I just want to know what your long term plan is, if you even have one…”

  She finished setting up her tent and looked at me with hurt in her eyes. I didn’t know what was bothering her right now, but I was tired of trying to dance around her feelings all the time. She was an adult, she unlocked her system before I did, if Leigh had an issue she could talk to me about it.

  “I plan to take a combat class on my next rank up, and fill some of my open skill slots with combat focused skills. You’ve got multiple mage classes that provide both power and utility, but you need someone to protect you…”

  I was stunned into silence by her explanation. Protect me? When she was nearly eaten alive by wolves? I choked down a laugh at the outrageous suggestion and I couldn’t tell which half of my soul that originated from.

  “And what about your contract with Cinder? Don’t you have to make items to sacrifice them for him?” Leigh’s eyes darted to the pig currently sitting in our fire pit.

  “Cinder agreed to take a few months offering ahead of time to give me a buffer, and offered to renegotiate my contract on my next class up. Honestly, if I got an anvil, Cinder could carry it around and heat the metal for me himself…”

  Maybe she has considered this a bit more than I’m giving her credit for.

  I put my hands up in resignation. “Okay, I can see this is important to you and you’ve put a great deal of thought into it. I didn’t mean to offend.”

  We retreated back into a companionable silence and ate our camp dinner in the quiet. Chirping crickets and the distant rustling of nocturnal predators overtook the forest, I retreated to the warmth of my tent. Sigil was already waiting for me inside, but before I went, I called out to Leigh one last time.

  “Leigh? I’m going to do my Tier 4 class upgrade tonight, do you and Cinder mind taking the first two watches? If I’m not back soon you can ask Sigil to swap with you.”

  She nodded with a hesitant smile, and I took a comfortable position in my bedroll.

  Patreon can be found here

  I also have a discord server. Updates there are not as frequent and it doesn't come with any cost or content.