My young (human) student shows promise.

The same "old (skeleton) hermit" tales, but this time in the point of view of Mr. Skeleton himself.

Traversing through the dungeon I had previously prepared for my young student with them being on the lead was an interesting experience to behold. My years of dungeon crawling had helped me discern which elements were more prevalent in dungeons and allowed me to ‘come up’ with my own training temple, specifically made to test my student’s ability.

I didn’t just make up a dungeon, I had refurbished it. This one had been a temple from an ancient civilization of lizard people who wanted nothing more than to bring war and famine to the ‘world of the above’, who were now dead.

All I had to do was clear out the lizards and traps and then streamline the experience for my little student.

Smart she was, but also impatient. It wouldn’t do for her to end up in a pitfall trap just because she wanted to run around a dungeon to get around faster.

I also had to fill the dungeon with ‘enemies’, in order to train my minion’s combat abilities. I have to make a mental note to thank my old friends from the skeleton fan group, their acting as ‘skeleton ghosts’ has been impeccable.

Oh, I’d forgotten to mention that minion was a nickname our zombie friend picked for her, something about her reminding him of the old times when I used to have way more minions around.  She hasn’t complained about it so I assume she enjoys it, for whatever reason.

This adventure has been very informative and had given me a greater grasp of how competent my little minion was. Wish she took things slower however, had this been a real dungeon with traps I didn’t know about…

Bah, there’s no use on thinking like that. I just have to teach her a little more about the possible dangers in this line of work.

She’s just like her grandmother, excited for adventure regardless of the risks. An insatiable thirst for knowledge.

…I just can’t seem to get away from this family, even after all these years.

“Mr. Skeleton?” Speaks my student, her voice bouncing from the walls in the hall.

It appears as though I had stopped walking while processing my thoughts, my minion standing some distance away from me, clearly worried.

“Is something wrong?” My minion continues, confirming my thoughts “Do you sense something ahead?”

There’s some worry on her eyes. Perhaps she’s worried about me? Or maybe she thinks I felt something bad ahead?

“It’s nothing Minion,” Nothing important anyway “You should keep moving on. We don’t have all day now, do we?” I’m thankful she’s still not that smart as to figure out I’m trying to change the topic quickly.

My minion complied while I pushed her slightly into the dungeon. We’ve been at this for several hours now, excluding some ‘hiccups’ along the way, she’s been doing quite well if I say so myself.

Now, if she’d only take the time to think before touching anything… That would certainly improve her chances of survival in a real dungeon, not to mention decrease the amount of time I spend sitting while I wait for my healing magic to wake her up.

It was amusing at first, now it’s just sad.

Heh. Just like her grandmother.

Just as we reach the end of the hallway, I can hear my Minion’s breath hitch, before she turns around and yells.

“Look Mr. Skeleton!” There, in the center of the room she was just rushing in, was another contraption just like many others in the dungeon.

She’d ended up getting excited at the prospect of dungeon puzzles, just like a good ol’ adventurer should.

If only she was good at figuring them out…

Before things could escalate further (and to stop her from fiddling crazily with whatever it is that this room wanted us to touch) I rushed and placed myself between her and this room’s puzzle.

“Now now Minion, it’s good you’re showing initiative but,” I start, raising my index finger in order to get her attention, “I think this is as far as we go today.”

“Whaaaaat!?” I almost flinched at the pitch of her voice.

I let one of my trademarked ‘tired teacher’ sighs, one she’s pretty familiar with by now, before explaining why.

“We’ve been here since the early morning and now the moon is almost out. If we keep going it’s only a matter of time before you pass out or something.”

“No!” She starts “I can keep going! I’m not even hungry!”

Despite her words, I can already see that her breath is ragged. Her hair is stuck to her forehead thanks to the sweat on her, the poor girl probably hasn’t noticed thanks to the adrenaline rush she got from exploring a dungeon and fighting.

That, or because my healing spell makes her ignore her weariness.

Hmm, that’s something I should look into. Don’t want to accidentally make her pass out just because magic makes her ignore how her body feels.

“That’s the rations speaking,” I look into her eyes, as if challenging her “And by the way, didn’t you only bring enough food for lunch?”

She sputters for a moment, before looking down and mumbling under her breath.

It doesn’t take long for her to stop and look me in the eyes again.

“How do you even know what time it is?” She asks, her tone accusing “There’s no windows or any light sources here.”

Why minion, being undead left me with a lot of free time which I eventually used to learn how to subconsciously count every second of every day.

Being undead was quite boring during the first couple of years.

…I could just tell her the truth, but where’s the fun in that?

“Magic, my dear minion, magic.” I can already feel her fuming.

“That’s your answer for everything!”

Doesn’t make it any less fun.

“Doesn’t make it any less true.” I respond.

“…Fine. I guess we’re leaving then.” My minion looks crestfallen.

Oh dear, it looks like she’s gotten addicted to the dungeon crawling. That’s good, just like any other adventurer does.

“Don’t look so sad,” I put a hand on her shoulder “We’ll come back next week, when the skeleton ghosts come back.”

Her face scrunches up.

“Wait. Do they normally come back?” She says, one eyebrow raised, “Is that a thing?”

Yeah, because they aren’t dead. They’re just actors.

“Probably. It’s happens in a lot of dungeons.” I say, taking my hand away from her shoulder and then starting the oh-so-familiar process of teleporting several people at once.

Once that’s done, I turn around to her.

“Anyway, step onto the magical circle please.”

She does so without complaint, by now she’s probably starting to feel her own exhaustion, by the way she slowly slumps over.

It’s not until the spell begins the process of teleporting us back that my minion speaks.

“Wait does this mean we have to go down all these floors again?”

That’s a good minion! Asking the questions that should be asked.

I answer her inquiry “Yes, teleporting into a dungeon tends to be risky, so we’re not doing that.”

“And I have to fight all the skeleton ghosts again?”

“Why yes, you do.”

By now, the spell has taken us home. – Well, more like my home and her studying place – and my minion seems to be done asking questions.

I just sat down on my favorite chair, taking a moment before putting all of my stuff back and resting for the night, but my student stands right where we appeared, unmoving, staring at space, before finally saying something.

“I hate dungeons.”

She only gets a chuckle from me in response.

University continues to be my mortal enemy, but my will to keep writing about these two is as strong as ever.