"So what are you planning for tomorrow? The skeletons are definitely going to try something different tomorrow after seeing how you handled yourself after being outnumbered." Ezio said and spewed a chicken bone from his mouth.

"I’ve realized that creating a fortress was useless when it would consume a lot of mana. I could just run back to the tunnels where they can’t enter."

It was stupid for me to think I could kill a bunch of undead skeletons while the fortress seeped away at my mana at a fast rate.

The main reason I had created it was because of the undead skeleton archers—they were a pain to deal with, and I couldn’t reach them without having to go through the skeletons at the front protecting them.

So having that into account, I thought of another plan.

"I’ve thought of another plan." I said.

Ezio spewed another chicken bone and said, "Go on."

"You know how the skeletons can only attack at night, right? So instead of waiting for the night, I will attack them during the day."

Ezio finished eating his last piece of chicken and washed his hands with water.

"You want to catch them off guard." He finally said.

I nodded. "Exactly. They probably think that I would never do that since it would be careless and dumb—after all, they outnumber me and could gang up on me in the tunnel. But it’s priceless because they don’t think I would attack them during the day."

A stick made of darkness formed in my hand, and I used it to draw on the ground.

"From what I know, those two tunnels are connected. The right tunnel where the undead skeletons come from is the one that leads further into the mountain until outside. While the left one just connects to the right tunnel."

I drew the tunnels on the ground with my stick and drew a skull, showing where the skeletons came from.

"In case I get stuck and they block the other exit, I’ll just use this one."

"But what if they block both exits?" Ezio asked.

"You can just shadow teleport me." I smiled. "After all, you wouldn’t let me die."

Ezio just snorted in reaction.

"But there’s only one problem—that is, if I’m not wrong, there are more undead skeletons deeper in the tunnels other than this group. So I have to kill this group before the others decide to come and make things difficult for me to escape."

Deeper in the tunnels were more undead skeletons, and in a larger number compared to the ones I was fighting currently—that meant stronger skeletons and more trouble than I had asked for.

So I had to quickly kill all these skeletons tomorrow and get out of here.

"You’re right. I’ve sensed more mana signatures deeper in the tunnels, and they are not shy in numbers." Ezio had already sensed them.

"Can you pinpoint exactly how many they are?"

"Hundreds of them."

"..."

I’ll be damned—it’s a whole big army. I definitely have to speed things up before they decide to join.

"And how about the group I’m fighting against?"

"Hmm, you killed four of them today, so forty-six undead skeletons remain."

I nodded at his words.

Forty-six, huh? That was quite a lot, and I had to kill all of them in the next two days and get out of here.

I could already see myself getting cursed again because even if one prepares too well for every possible outcome, there’s always something you’ll be unaware of.

Honestly, I wouldn’t be lying if I said I didn’t want to order Ezio to kill all of them to make things easier for me.

He could kill them all, including the other undead skeletons, in minutes if not seconds. That would make my path easier, and I would get out of this mountain faster.

But where is the fun in that?

Even though I wished things could be done faster with the help of Ezio, my mind refused, and my body wanted nothing other than to fight.

Earlier when I was fighting the undead skeletons, my mind had to constantly think of solutions when I fought them.

It was a wonderful thrill fighting monsters that could kill you.

In addition to that, that would mean that I wouldn’t get my story fragments if I got help from Ezio.

So no, I would do things my way. But that still didn’t mean that I wouldn’t use his help for something else.

After telling Ezio more about the plan and finishing eating, I meditated as I absorbed mana from the environment.

Mana here wasn’t as rich as the outside, so I had to absorb every little bit I could to fill my core.

And damn, the curse was a pain. Every movement of mine felt sluggish as hell—I couldn’t wait for it to disappear by tomorrow.

Afterwards, we both went to sleep.

The next day when I woke up, my body was all healed, and the curse was long gone. The sluggish feeling I had felt all over my body was finally gone.

When I got out of my futon and stretched my limbs, popping them one by one, I found Ezio already eating the fire monkey leader’s roasted meat again.

"Damn, how much meat have you saved from that monkey?" I said with surprise at how much of that meat he had in his spatial ring.

"Plenty, but it’s going to finish soon, so I’ll have to hunt again." Ezio said as he chewed. "I can see that your curse is gone."

"Yeah, it’s finally worn off."

I walked to him and sat down next to him.

"Give me some."

Ezio pulled out another piece and handed it to me.

I received it and took a bite as well, and damn—no matter how many times I tasted it, it was so damn good.

I don’t know what he had done for it to taste this good, but props to him.

"I wonder if Van—my father—already knows that I’m not in the mansion." I corrected myself.

I could already guess that he did. After all, nothing related to his children was unknown to him. With the exception of never knowing that his real son was no longer alive.

"Oh, he already knows." Ezio said. "Probably even the moment we left the mansion. After all, he has people watching your every move in the mansion, so it’s not surprising that he already knows."