[You lost your vitality to some extent permanently. Constitution - 1]

Fang looked at the notification and was disheartened. His constitution stat was now 15, back to what it was. Max HP was reduced to 10 like before.

Fang got up from the unconscious woman and then used the Cleansing Stone to clean her and himself. He pulled down the red robe of the woman to cover her lower body.

"Lily, I was at death's door again. Do you think she got unconscious before hearing me ?"

"Don't know, I was so flabbergasted at that moment, I didn't notice."

"Anyway, I have to make sure she knows about the origin of the robe before next session. I'm thinking about another issue though."

"What issue ?" Lily asked.

"I learned the Duel Cultivation Art. But when I tried to absorb the Yin Essence from her to nurture my Yang, I got nothing. The vitality I lost, I can get it back by dual cultivation in future. But only if I can nurture my Yang, sigh."

"I think it's because she didn't release Yin Essence." Lily made a guess.

Fang remembered the content of the book. Yeah it said something like that, Yin essence would be released after orgasm, just like Yang.

Then it clicked on his mind, "Yesterday she was under the effect of a potion that made her horny and quick orgasm. That man made sure she would release Yin essence so that he could plunder it."

Fang smiled bitterly, "Well, practice makes a man perfect. At least she is getting better, especially today, after sucking my vitality."

He took the seat in helm station and gestured to Lily to come, "Let's sleep."

Lily also loved it yesterday, sleeping in his lap while cuddling. She didn't hesitate and soon they fell asleep.

Next day.

Fang woke up refreshed and got ready for the ancient battlefield. The woman was still unconscious, and Lily entered his soul space.

This time he strictly followed the path of the first day.

He noticed a huge difference in the concentration of necromantic energy when he entered, it was much less than yesterday. And the effect was negligible, he didn't get any notification of losing vitality over time.

He carefully traversed the lands, soon he found four animated skeletons. They were grouped together, and Fang didn't dare to attack them. Lily continued spreading fuzzy feelings from the soul space preventing the psychotic damage due to his fear of boney things. 

Before the skeletons could notice, he used stealth and moved, searching for solo skeletons.

He found one after a few minutes, it was just mindlessly strolling. No other skeletons were nearby,

Fang got behind it, equipped his basic steel dagger and rapier; then sneak attacked with rapier

-5

[Successful sneak attack]

-3

The skeleton turned to him. No sound, pain or surprise; it was just an insentient undead. It raised its rusty short sword and slashed at him vertically.

Fang stepped left to dodge it then thrusted his rapier.

-11

The skeleton crumbled before him.

[You gained 50 XP]

He needed 50XP more to level up.

He didn't notice a small skeleton was hiding nearby behind a stone. Even Lily didn't notice it.

Fang started searching for single skeletons again, unaware that he was being stalked.

Fang continued to search for the next single skeleton and found it soon.  Like before, he sneaked an attack with Rapier and killed it in 2 rounds, the skeleton couldn't touch him.

[Level UP]

[Learned new skill : Cunning Action]

[HP : +7]

Fang checked the new skill and full stat .

Cunning Action (level 1) : Bonus action at each turn. Can only be used for dash, disengage or hide .

Name : Fang Hao

Race : Human

Class : Rogue

Subclass : Beast Master

Level : 2 ( XP : 300/900)

DP : 3/5

AC : 13

HP : 17

STR : 14

DEX : 17

CON : 15

INT : 16

WIS : 15

CHR : 10

Skill Proficiency: Acrobatics (+25%), Athletics (+20%), Deception (+10%), Investigation (+25%), Perception (+15%), Nature (+25%)

Expertise : Stealth (+35%), Thieves' Tool, Animal Handling (+20%)

Skill : Sneak Attack (lvl 1) , Thieves' Cant, Beast Taming, Beast Companionship, Cunning Action (lvl 1).

Special Trait : Fear of Boney Things, Holyphant Whisperer

Beast Companion : Lulu, a holyphant. A holy spirit beast that spreads happy and fuzzy feelings wherever it goes .[/spoiler,]

Now Fang would dare to attack a group of 2-3 skeletons. And so he did. When he found a group of three skeletons, he equipped his shortbow and used sneak attack skill when firing.

-7

[successful sneak attack]

-6

The skeleton crumbled. He used Cunning Action skill to hide, but failed.

The other skeleton started running at him, raising a short sword.

Fang readily loaded the bow and  aimed -

-5

Then he dashed at his right to avoid the close fight with the skeleton.

The skeleton slashed with his shortsword, but missed

Fang fired again,

-7

Fang used his cunning action to dash away like before.

The skeleton didn't get a chance to hit.

Fang shoot again,

-8

The skeleton was destroyed.

[+100 XP]

He fought and destroyed 2 skeletons easily without getting a scratch.

Fang continued his grinding for three more hours, wisely picking the group that he could handle and vanishing from the spot after that.

"Let's return now, Fang. Come back , tomorrow," Lily said, she was quite impressed with his performance.

"Just one more hunt, I need only 50 XP to level up."

"OK, but be careful. We have ventured deep in the battlefield, necromantic energy concentration here is close to that place yesterday."

Fang nodded in agreement and became more vigilant. He didn't attack immediately when he saw a suitable group that he could handle , rather observe the surrounding for sometime to check for anything unusual.

Soon he noticed that the group was acting differently, they were moving in a certain direction as if they had a destination. It was odd, as the skeletons he saw till now were roaming aimlessly.

"Seems like they are being controlled, I need to leave this area. There must be a necromancer nearby," Fang thought and began to retreat backward keep an eye on the group.

c.r.a.c.k…

A sound of bone crushing was heard, he stepped on old skull. "Damn, why was I staring at those skeletons instead of checking the place where I was stepping," he cursed and used stealth skill .

One of the skeletons looked at his direction, it's eye glowed more brightly, as if it sensed life.. It stopped other skeletons and started to come to his direction with the group. 

Fang was tensed, if they continued to approach him, he would be revealed. At this time, another sound was heard, it came from behind of Fang. But he didn't look back, any subtle movement will be noticed now.

The group of skeletons stopped advancing and turned back to their original path, as if they had lost interest.

Fang was surprised, he looked back slowly - there was a small skeleton walking aimlessly, sometimes it would kick or stepped on bones littereing on the grounds making the sounds. It's size was less than one ft, and it had torn, discolored wing at its back. 

He understood, the necromancer assumed that this small skeleton made the previous sound.  "When did this skeleton came behind of me ? I was always vigilant about any creature in my surroundings," Fang surprisedly thought. He used investigation skill :

Pixie Skeleton

??

AC : 14

HP : 7

CR : ¼ (50 XP)

"Huh, I can't see what type of creatures it is." Fang was surprised, the challenge rating of the creature was lowest, he should be able to get at least basic information about this creature.

"Lily, can you check what's that creature ? Also have you noticed it coming behind him ?" Fang asked Lily hoping she could see through it.

"No Fang, lets leave this place, there are many mysterious things in hell, we should not involve in those with our tiny strength."

Fang agreed. Lily was vigilant about the pixie skeleton until it was out of sight.

On the way , Fang saw many skeletons that he could destroy, but he kept moving. He was feeling uneasy since he saw the group of skeletons that were being controlled by someone and the pixie skeleton that he couldn't see through. Also his sixth sense was screaming, someone was watching him. 

He asked Lily about it, but she said that he was thinking too much and the hellish environment was affecting his mental condition. "We should leave quickly from hell, I thought we had enough time because of our bond. But reality is harsh." Lily said in grim tone.

Fang got out of the battleground without any incident. He couldn't feel the invisible eye on him anymore, "May be Lily is right. It was my imagination." He shook his head and continued walking to the Infernal Machine.

At the outskirt of the ancient battlefield, there were two creatures looking at the disappearing silhouette of Xiao Fang. 

One was the Pixie Skeleton that helped Fang before. It looked different from before, there were no ragged clothes, but almost complete golden armor. There was a necklace on its neck, a mysteriously engraved locket was hanging on its chest.It's wings were not totally discolored now, there was a golden hue.  

Another was a big skeletal knight. It had a kite shield in one hand and wicked-looking greatsword in another. A spectral blue fire was burning from within it's armor and empty eye socket.

"Are you sure , princess ?" The knight asked.

"Yes, they have found out about me. Also that boy seems perfect - I don't think I'll find anyone with such untainted soul anytime soon. I can't wait too, those bastards won't let me be in peace."

"But still, forming a bond with that boy will be improper. I smelled the stench of duel cultivation from his body, he is not untainted as you said." The knight told in disgusted tone.

"I'm a skeleton, you know. OK, don't talk nonsense anymore. This is my opportunity to get out of this hell. Just don't know how to take you with me"

"Princess. I'll keep them busy here. You don't have to think about me. Let me fulfil my duty. 

"Also Princess, promise me, you will live your life full to the brim after getting out of here. You have done more than enough for the empire."

"I promise, Sir Alex. Also I'll be back to take you out from here, hold on for me." The Pixie skeleton then stepped out of the ancient battlefield, her armor turned into ragged clothes, the necklace couldn't be seen anymore.