Desolate World

"What do you mean, Boss?" Ace asked.

Mars then looked at Ace. He then said, "Actually, I have a good thing that can boost your son's power further. It's only, I don't know if he is ready to hold more power than he has now."

Ace wanted to say that he is ready. However, he paused for a moment and thought carefully about what Mars had said. He had to agree with Mars's statement that his son was too young. He was just 6 years old, after all. 

At his age, he had already had 5 pets. And all of them couldn't be called weak at all. Jumpy and the snake —hadn't had a name yet— were elite monsters. As for the others they were spellcaster-type monsters that besides were rare, they also had powerful AoE attacks.

For some reason, he had never considered this aspect. Even his wife, who used to be fussy, and his mother in law who was stern had never mentioned it.

Ace then looked at his too young child. Then he understood everything. Because his son was a sensible boy. In fact, just a few months ago, he was quite naughty. He fought with his friends at his age, and even pranked them. 

Then he remembered the moment Geo met Jumpy. From then on, it seemed as if he gradually became more mature as time went. And then he met the unfortunate children of refugees who were also forced by their situations to mature earlier like Mia, the daughter of Adrian. He had played with them these weeks, but Ace had never heard that Geo fought or bullied one of them. 

And just at the moment, he watched how Geo confronted Mars to save the snake. He didn't show any fear in arguing for what he thought was right. In Ace's eyes, Geo was much better than any teenagers when they were 15 years old. In fact, He thought in some aspects, he was better than Ace himself. He felt proud of his son.

"Boss, I think my son is a sensible but brave boy. You can say that I am a doting parent, but you can ask the other refugees in our village, he has never bullied other children, and just now, he showed his different opinion in front of us.

It's up to you to give him the gift or not, but I believe that Geo was not a normal 6 years old. He is even better than most 15 years old teenagers," Ace said.

"Didn't you hear what you have said? You are a doting parent. Hahaha… Okay, I get it. Geo, do you know it?" Mars then showed Geo a black crystal.

"Is that a skill crystal?" Geo asked with an excited voice.

Ace was also surprised by the gift that Mars had prepared. Although its color was quite creepy, it was definitely a skill crystal.

"So you know about it, it's pretty rare, you know? From sweeping this forest for a few weeks, I could only get 3 of such crystals," Mars said.

"Three? You are so lucky, Boss. I just got one after hunting monsters these few weeks," Ace said.

"Oh… You had already gotten one? You can trade it with mine if you can't learn it," Mars said.

"Fortunately, I can learn it. Maybe next time," Ace said.

"That's too bad. Come to me, if you get another one. I have a skill crystal that you seem to be able to learn it," Mars said.

"Sure!" Ace agreed. Although he had already had two, it was never too many to have more extra skills.

"Uncle… my crystal, can I look at it?" Geo seemed to be impatient to get it.

"Okay, I give you this because it seems only you that can learn it at the village," Mars said.

He then handed over the crystal to Geo. The little guy received it with beaming eyes. But after checking it, his face fell.

"What's wrong? Can't you learn it?" Ace asked.

"I can, it's just… it's not a swordsman's skill," Geo said with a sad expression.

Ace couldn't help but smile bitterly. He had never thought his son would be hell-bent on becoming a swordsman. He could only sigh.

Ace then took the skill crystal and looked at the skill's information. 

[Bone Resurrection]

Rareness: Very very rare

Description: A signature skill of a lich and necromancer. With the power of death, transform the intact skeleton of humanoids to be skeleton-type creatures. The skeleton creatures will inherit their past skills, but their HPs will be ⅓ of their original HPs. The skeleton creatures' levels will be restricted to the caster's level + 3.

Mana consumption: Ordinary creature: 10 x the creature's level. Elite creature: 50 x the creature's level. Lord creature: 100 x the creature's level. (Non-lich, Non-vampire)

Cooldown: 10 hours (Non-lich, Non-vampire)

Learnable: No

Ace was surprised. He had never thought that this skill crystal would teach a foundation skill of Necromancers. It was just like his cards throw mastery skill. 

By the way, his cards throw mastery skill had already been level 3. It only added 2 meters of effective range for the skill per level up. For him, it didn't help him that much. As he was still in the danger zone whenever he was attacking an enemy. Moreover, ranged type enemies like fire crowns in the past were difficult opponents for him, as they seemed to have 25 to 30 meters effective range, he was helpless to get them, as the mist was a perfect cover for them.

In short, bone resurrection was the bread and butter of necromancer. Although he was sure that the skill was a knockoff version of the real skill, it was still amazing to get it.

"Boss, are you sure you want to give it to Geo? It's too precious," Ace said.

"Don't you want it? Then give it back to me!" Mars asked nonchalantly.

"Who said that? Geo, learn it! You will have many more pets by learning it," Ace said decisively.

Mars then looked at Ace with a despising look.

But, Geo shook his head, "Skeletons are not cute. And I want sword skill."

"Do you want to learn swordsmanship?" Mars then asked.

"Yes!" Geo answered without hesitation.

"Then, it's simple. You just need to learn the basics from the swordsman instructor. But you need to be at least 9 or 10 years old to study it. Because, your physique is still too small. Be patient, kiddo!" Mars then said.

'Learning a skill by training from an instructor? That was new information,' Ace thought. Then he remembered his trait, 'learner'. With this trait he could learn skill from skill crystals. But he had never thought to practice weapon mastery from an instructor. He just realized that his sign was too narrow.

"Now, learn this skill. You can save many lives by becoming stronger. Don't you want to protect all of your friends in the village?" Mars added.

Geo then nodded. He then learned it. He officially became someone who had double jobs.

Mars then took a lot of bones and equipment from his inventory.

Ace and Geo were surprised by the spectacle in front of them. Mars explained that they were the remnants of the undead that attacked the snake. He wanted Geo to raise them as undead.

***