Chapter 56: The Bone Zone

BoneCollector was still typing, so Zion waited. A few seconds later, another message appeared.

[50,000 Essence.]

[I’ll give you 50,000 Essence for the Ossuary Knight contract.]

Zion didn’t reply right away and simply stared at the message. His boney grip tightened around the stone throne armrest.

A few moments later he shifted his view to the current essence.

[Current Essence: 9,486]

His balance had been climbing steadily since the bracelet rumor brought another wave of adventurers into the dungeon. Most of the new groups were still struggling through Floor 1, but there were enough of them that twelve essence at a time added up quickly, and every successful clear added even more.

Nine thousand essence felt like a lot. Fifty thousand was something else entirely.

Zion looked toward the Ossuary Knight contract still floating beside him.

"You’re worth fifty thousand? No way."

The knight simply stood still without offering any reply. Zion shook his head and turned back to the messaging screen.

BoneCollector sent another message.

[That’s a serious offer. Please?]

Zion believed him. Fifty thousand essence could buy multiple floors. It could buy monsters Zion had only looked at before closing the store because of the price. He could build Floor 4, Floor 5, and probably still have enough left to do something ridiculous afterward.

His finger hovered near the message box. Selling it was tempting, very tempting.

Then he looked at the knight again. BoneCollector called it ultra rare. Not only that, he was willing to spend fifty thousand essence on a contract he could not even guarantee would work immediately.

That alone made him hesitate.

If someone else wanted it badly enough to offer five times his entire essence balance, maybe selling it before he even understood what he had would be stupid.

[I’m going to keep it for now.]

The reply came quickly.

[Damn.]

[Had to try.]

Zion smiled slightly.

Then BoneCollector sent something completely different.

[Wait.]

[Are you actually undead?]

Zion looked down at his body. His thin skeletal legs stretched from the edge of the throne while one bony hand rested against the armrest.

[Yes.]

There was a short pause.

[What kind?]

[Umm, a skeletal kind.]

For some reason saying he was a lesser skeleton didn’t feel right for a dungeon lord, so he left that detail out.

BoneCollector responded almost immediately.

[That’s perfect!]

Zion frowned.

"What does that mean?"

Another message appeared.

[Favorite monster type?]

Zion didn’t need to think. There was only one answer.

[Skeletons.]

This time, BoneCollector replied so quickly it felt like he had already been waiting with his finger over the button.

[I knew it.]

[You’re joining the Bone Zone.]

Zion stared at the message. The name alone felt like it could be a trap.

[The what?]

[Bone Zone.]

[Private group. Kind of like a guild, except nobody owns territory together and nobody can order you around.]

A second message followed.

[Mostly undead Dungeon Lords. We share builds, contracts, evolution paths, terrain stuff. Help each other out.]

[And argue, but only sometimes.]

Zion leaned back slightly.

A private group did sound useful. He had already learned more from a few minutes talking to BoneCollector than he had from posting publicly on the Network, and if there were other Dungeon Lords who specialized in undead monsters, one of them might eventually know something useful about the Ossuary Knight.

There was also something reassuring about BoneCollector’s reaction to his favorite monster.

Skeletons were obviously the best choice. Anyone who understood that was probably fine to hang around.

[Sure.]

BoneCollector stopped typing for almost three seconds before another message appeared.

[Seriously?]

[Yes.]

[Hold on.]

A notification appeared.

[Group Invitation Received.]

[THE BONE ZONE]

Zion stared at the name.

He liked it more now that he knew what kind of group waited inside. He accepted.

The Network shifted, replacing the private message with a smaller group window. A list of usernames appeared along one side, most of them darkened and apparently offline.

Three were active.

[BoneCollector]

[GraveMom]

1

[RotKing]

A message appeared before Zion could look at anything else.

[BoneCollector: NEW GUY.]

[GraveMom: Oh?]

[RotKing: He alive?]

[BoneCollector: Even better.]

[BoneCollector: Skeleton.]

There was a pause before GraveMom sent:

[GraveMom: Welcome, dear. Feel free to ask us about anything.]

RotKing followed.

[RotKing: Welcome.]

[RotKing: Ignore BoneCollector if he starts explaining why skeletons are superior to everything else. We all know that having flesh is the best.]

BoneCollector responded immediately.

[BoneCollector: They are! I’ve already proven it to you multiple times!]

[RotKing: They don’t even have flesh.]

[BoneCollector: Exactly.]

Zion stared at the exchange. He had been inside the group for less than a minute, and he already understood why BoneCollector said they argued.

[SkeletonLordZion: I agree with BoneCollector. Skeletons are cool.]

There was a brief pause.

[BoneCollector: SEE?]

[RotKing: Great. Another one.]

GraveMom added a small laughing symbol.

Zion found himself smiling. Then BoneCollector apparently remembered why they had started talking in the first place.

[BoneCollector: Zion has an Ossuary Knight contract.]

The chat went quiet.

A few seconds passed.

[GraveMom: Really?]

[RotKing: How?]

[BoneCollector: LUCKY DRAW.]

[BoneCollector: And he won’t sell it to me.]

[RotKing: Smart. Tell him to offer you double whatever amount of essence he already offered.]

BoneCollector did not respond to that.

Zion pulled the contract back into view beside him.

[SkeletonLordZion: I can’t place it. It says there are hidden floor requirements.]

[GraveMom: That sounds normal for a rare themed contract.]

Zion leaned forward.

[SkeletonLordZion: Do you know what the requirements are?]

[GraveMom: Not for an Ossuary Knight specifically.]

His excitement dropped slightly. Then she continued.

[GraveMom: But hidden conditions are usually environmental.]

[GraveMom: Terrain, structures, theme, sometimes even a specific situation.]

[BoneCollector: Stronger contracts get annoyingly specific.]

[RotKing: Very annoyingly specific.]

Zion looked toward the knight again.

Graves. Bones. Crypts. Those had been his first guesses. Maybe he had not been completely wrong.

GraveMom continued typing.

[GraveMom: I had a rare Wailing Banshee contract years ago.]

[GraveMom: Couldn’t place her anywhere.]

Zion waited.

[GraveMom: Tried graveyards. Crypts. Ruined churches. Nothing.]

That sounded unpleasantly familiar.

[GraveMom: Eventually I built an old castle room for a completely different floor.]

[GraveMom: Large bed. Two places set at a table. Man’s clothing left inside a wardrobe. Portrait above the fireplace.]

[GraveMom: Then I added a woman in mourning as part of the room’s story. Her husband had died and she’d spent years waiting for him to return.]

Zion tilted his skull.

[GraveMom: The moment the floor recognized the room as a widow mourning her husband, the contract unlocked.]

He stared at the message. That was much more specific than graves.

[SkeletonLordZion: You had to make a story?]

[GraveMom: Apparently.]

[GraveMom: I didn’t know that beforehand.]

[GraveMom: I found it by accident.]

Zion looked at the Ossuary Knight again. Suddenly, fifty thousand essence sounded reasonable.

He imagined building graveyard after graveyard and crypt after crypt, filling rooms with bones, armor, and whatever else looked appropriate, only for the contract to continue telling him the hidden conditions had not been fulfilled.

How was he supposed to guess something like a grieving widow?

Maybe the Ossuary Knight wanted a battlefield. Or a ruined fortress.

Something like a tomb filled with fallen soldiers. And a king buried with his guards. It could be anything.

BoneCollector apparently sensed his hesitation.

[BoneCollector: Offer still stands.]

Zion stared at the message. Fifty thousand essence. He opened his status again.

[Current Essence: 9,486]

Then he looked at the knight. Black armor. Bone ridges. The enormous sword.

Ultra rare.

Zion closed his status.

[SkeletonLordZion: I’m keeping it for now.]

BoneCollector replied almost immediately.

[BoneCollector: Damn it.]

Zion smiled. He was not saying no forever. If he spent weeks building around the thing and still could not unlock it, fifty thousand essence would remain extremely attractive.

But selling it before he even had a chance to try felt wrong. At the very least, he wanted to see what the Ossuary Knight could do first.

Zion dismissed the contract and looked back at the Bone Zone chat.

So far he liked the vibe of this group. Something like this would certainly come useful when it came to questions about being a dungeon lord. The other lords seemed cool too.