So far, I've spent 4 of my 10 mana points on the two channelings. That's why I'm really glad the quiver method works. Since the effects of a low-level channeling last three minutes, I assume I can keep firing fire arrows as long as I have arrows in the quiver or the timer hasn't run out.

I draw, aim, and shoot.

This time, it doesn't die. Its HP bar drops significantly but not all the way. As I reach back for another arrow, the creature creates a magical ice shield in front of itself. According to the material we studied, these golems have two spells: ice shield and ice shards. The latter is kind of like my water splash—an area attack with limited range. Some golems can also cast ice bolt, but those aren't found right at the dungeon entrance.

I shoot again. The arrow destroys the shield, but it also shatters on impact. I'm not sure how much mana the golem has, but we go back and forth like this a couple more times, until it starts rolling toward me—probably trying to get close enough to hit me with its ice shards.

It doesn't make it. My next arrow finishes it off.

What's curious is that these creatures must not have great senses, because I haven't drawn aggro from any of the others lurking above, waiting to ambush us from the ceiling.

That thought still fresh, I glance at Ronan so he can point out the next golem—only to frown in confusion.

What is he doing?

I thought I caught a glimpse of him moving toward the first golem's corpse out of the corner of my eye. And now, yes—he's picked it up off the ground and is examining it. I stare at him for a few seconds, completely at a loss.

It looks like he's trying to open it.

"Ronan, what are you doing?" I whisper.

"I want to see if it has any kind of core, if I can understand how it works."

I roll my eyes. I can't help it.

Bianca, did you really expect him to just stand there quietly while you cleared enemies and practiced with your bow? I think to myself. Honestly, how do I still not have this man figured out? Mental note: don't let Ronan get bored—keep him busy.

"Do you know where there are more golems?"

He points out three more. But before repeating the process, I want to try something. I take one of the arrows I had packed separately in my backpack and slide it into the quiver. No red aura. So, channeling was only applied to the arrows that were already inside. The quiver doesn't pass on the fire element to any new arrows added afterward. Got it. I nod to myself and get back to golem hunting.

As I do, I notice Ronan take something out of the pouch at his waist, throw it to the ground, and summon one of his small zombie bears; it then lumbers over to one of the creatures.

Seriously, I stop firing just to watch him. Thankfully, the last golem I shot went down in a single hit.

When the bear gets close enough underneath the golem, the creature lights up with a bluish glow and unleashes a burst of ice shards. The shape is kind of like a cone—only way wider than normal. Think a big waffle cone that could hold three or four scoops of ice cream. Eyeballing it, I'd say it spreads out to nearly a 90-degree arc.

The bear takes the full blast right to the head—and doesn't even flinch. It calmly reaches up, grabs the icy orb from the ceiling, and pulls it down. Then it walks over and drops it at Ronan's feet, pinning it in place with one paw.

Another ice shard spell hits, this time against the bear's leg, and it just keeps going like nothing happened.

Undead don't feel pain, right? I shake my head.

"What's this?"

"I want to see if I can figure out how its energy works while it is still alive."

Fine. I'm out. Ronan can be kind of weird sometimes. Or maybe he's an academic type and I'm just an airhead like Darius, who only thinks about shooting. I don't care. I grab another arrow and keep firing—channeling time is ticking away.

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I notice the golems follow the same pattern all the time: if I manage to kill them with a crit, great. If not, I have to break their shields.

Ronan signals for us to take a few steps forward and points out another golem. I take it out with a clean shot.

The three minutes are up. Out of the twenty-four arrows in my quiver, only three remain. I check to see if I can recover any that didn't break against the ice shields and top off the quiver with the spares I carry in a pouch sticking out of the top of my backpack.

I notice Ronan grinning from ear to ear—something I rarely see—as he animates the corpses of all the golems I've killed. The one from before, the one he was studying under the bear's paw, apparently didn't survive the testing.

Seriously, this guy doesn't know how to meditate and he doesn't have an evil-seed cub feeding him mana either. I think he must've spent some of that money—he wasn't sure whether to put it in a bank—on mana potions, because otherwise I have no idea how he's burning through so much mana. I even saw him drink one just a moment ago.

"Ronan, why are you raising so many golems? Do you have a golem animation spell?"

"My lady, these golems are creatures, so I can raise them with animate zombie. I did not know if it would work—I had to try."

"But why do you want so many?"

"It is to store them. If I raised only one, then in the future, once I learn the summon zombie spell, I could only summon that one."

Wait…

"You don't have the summon zombie spell? What about the giant bear in the desert dungeon?"

He taps a small pouch hanging from his belt a couple of times.

"I kept some teeth. It is like with Joe's skull. Well, I could summon Joe, but if he dies—like he did in that dungeon—it costs me less mana to animate him again from a piece of his body."

"Then why didn't you correct Darius? The guy thinks you summoned the bear."

"Darius is not a necromancer. I imagine to him it is all the same. Animate, summon… what is the difference? All he wants is for me to give him a zombie of some big creature so he can ride it."

Totally true.

"But you still haven't answered why you want so many. Okay, I get that if, say, you animate ten, then in the future you'll be able to summon those ten. Or animate them again if you've kept a piece of… ice?"

"Core." He pulls a small blue stone from his pouch and shows it to me.

Lesser Ice Golem Core. Alchemical material.

"Alright. So you can animate ten of them with those cores, or summon them in the future, but… why do you want so many?"

I honestly don't get it.

"My lady, they could be very useful for storming a castle, since these golems can levitate."

"So?"

"I order them to go up—very, very high in the sky—as high as they can during the duration of their spell, and then drop straight down on the castle."

"But they'd be destroyed."

"My lady, my zombies are already dead."

"I see…"

If they were living pets, it would be super cruel—but like this… I guess not.

Oh, now it hits me: even if they go above the atmosphere, they wouldn't suffocate either.

"And if you can reanimate them again inside the castle," I continue, this time thinking out loud, "you'd have allied troops within the enemy stronghold—and not just any troops, but ones that can cast spells and shield themselves."

"Exactly," he keeps smiling.

Uh… knowing him, this probably isn't the only thing he's come up with.

"Anything else I should know?"

"I think my animate zombies spell just leveled up. I feel a surge of energy—maybe I have unlocked its evolution into summoning them."

Well, that's great. I reapply channeling to the quiver. I'm down to four mana points.

We continue like that, slowly making our way through the tunnel. Ronan, once he has twenty zombie golems, stops raising the corpses. We eventually reach the entrance to a chamber also carved into the rock.

This dungeon is veteran level—one above the desert one, which was supposed to be intermediate. That's why, even though we don't need to reach the third level or fight any boss to get the worm eggs, the difficulty of this mission is rated 5. However, I have to keep in mind that both Ronan and I are far from normal—we either have spells never before seen, like my channeling, or the kind that show up in legends, like Ronan's ability to preserve the souls of his undead.

Turning back to the chamber, based on the information we were given, we assume there are a few golems and a huge swarm of ice bats. The golems are higher level and can cast ice bolts. The bats have frost-covered bodies and, aside from their area-of-effect disorientation attack, they have an impact one where they slam into you. The ice covering them acts as protection, and you take physical damage. Oh, and they bite too.

Since I used up two more mana points on another channeling, I ask the pup for a healing lick, which gives me five mana points back. I'm at seven now.

I know the pup hasn't done much so far, but the golems were perfect for practicing with the bow, thanks to how slowly they move.

Also, I see I've got several notifications I didn't get while I was peppering the golems with fire, since I'd disabled combat notifications.

Congratulations. You have just learned Bow Mastery. Fighting from a distance with a bow now feels natural. +1 to Agility.

Congratulations. Your level of channeling with the fire element has leveled up. The channeling with the fire element goes from low to intermediate.

Congratulations. Your creative use of the fire element channeling applied to a quiver of arrows has generated a new utility effect: Possibility of Explosion.

Intermediate fire element channeling costs 2 mana points and lasts 3 minutes. It increases the temperature of the flame even more, thereby increasing armor penetration. There is a chance that the object receiving the channeling will explode if its mass does not exceed 100 grams. The explosion doubles fire damage and applies an area-of-effect impact.

Explosion? I smile as I read it. Greedily—I will not deny it.

And as for the plan in this cave, since I've learned that's what works best, I'll leave it to Ronan.

His twenty zombies, being undead, are immune to disorientation, right?

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