Cashew was shocked at the sight of his Stone Golem being destroyed by the arrows, lucky for him, it seemed like the skeleton archers deliberately missed the Stone Golems core, because if the Core was destroyed, so would the Golem.
Deciding that he needs to help the Golems, Cashew Raised his hand and launched 3 Poison Balls at the Skeletons. The Poison Balls were blocked by the Skeletons Tower Shields, but it lingered on the Shield and the Poisonous Mist wafted its way to the skeletons thanks to convenient wind currents.
The Woman in Purple noticed the Poisonous Mist and retreated to the left, out of the way.
Woman in Purple: Ha! You know Poison Magic too? Well, while the idea wasn't bad, Skeletons aren't effected by poison. Only exception would be High Tier Poison Magic that was acidic. And even then, it would be the Acidic properties that harmed the Skeletons, not the Poison itself.
Cashew Gritted his teeth and launched a few Poison Balls directly at the Woman in Purple, she swiftly dodged it, it didn't even seem like a dodge, more like taking a side step or lightly shifting her body out of the way of the projectile, it didn't even seem difficult for her, like she said, she was playing.
Cashews attention was more focused on her that he didn't notice that one of the Skeletons with a Great Bow was aiming at him, releasing the Drawstring and sending an arrow straight into Cashews side, ripping him in half and sending fragments of his body flying off the hill and into the forest below. Cashew didn't even notice until his body was already in two pieces.
Laying on the ground, Motionless, his eyes fell in the direction of the Woman in Purple, who raised a Magical Barrier surrounding the 3 Stone Golems and the 1 that was repairing itself. The Golems couldn't do anything in the Barrier except watch.
The Woman in Purple then approached Cashew and Crotched down in front of him, looking down at him with a Sinister smile.
Woman in Purple: Since you have potential, I'll give you this.
As she said that, She placed an old notebook on the ground. Old and weathered, the pages were yellow and it looked like half of the pages were ripped out, it didn't look in much better condition than the book Cashew found in the chest he uses for personal storage.
Woman in Purple: The price of that book will be every single one of the crystals you have in the cabin. I'll be nice and let you keep 20 of them, as you'll need them for that book. I'll also let you keep the Orb.
As she said that, she gave a smile and a giggle, waving her hand, presumably creating a Portal to take all of Cashews Crystals, which he wanted to stop, but he couldn't.
Woman in Purple: Oh yeah, here's another secret. As you consumed Dragon Meat, you have Regeneration, it might take a couple of days or even weeks, but you'll eventually regenerate completely from that attack, even if nobody helps. But once you start reading that book, you'll realize why I took all of your crystals. You can keep the Cabin, bye!
As she finished talking, She eventually started walking down the path and leaving the area, leaving Cashew stuck on the ground, his body in two halves, not regenerating at all from his perspective. Once she was gone, the Barrier on Cashews Stone Golems was lifted and they could move freely again, Billie Nelson rushed over to Cashews Side and put Cashews lower half closer to his upper half, speeding up the regeneration, Causing Cashews body to regenerate completely in 7 minutes.
He sat up, rubbing his head before trying to stand up, falling back to the ground, then trying again more slowly. When he was finally on his feet again, he rushed into the cabin and found that all of his Crystals were indeed gone. With the exception of 20 small Crystals on the table near his Orb. Cashew Rushed over to where the Crystals were, saw that they were gone and not invisible because of an illusion or something similar.
Silently Cursing that Woman and promising to kill her some day, Cashew walked back outside and grabbed the book on the ground. Cashew opened the Book and started reading it, he had already thought of how he was gonna make her suffer, he wasn't gonna create a plan around it just in case Necromancy isn't as flexible as he thinks, but Cashew was gonna make killing that woman and make it his life goal.
Skimming through the Book, Cashew Decided he would focus on creating a Pocket Dimension inside his Orb first.
Realizing one thing, Cashew doesn't know how big the Pocket Dimension will be, but he feels like having a separate dimension for storage is very important. Seeing as he wants to learn Necromancy and Necromancy is banned everywhere on the Continent except for 1 country, he needs a place to hide any undead he creates as well as the... Materials, to create Undead.
Cashew: Heh... I don't even know Necromancy yet and I'm already referring to people as "Materials"... I really am going down a bad path.
Cashew also realized that if he started making the Orb sooner and hid his Crystal Hoards inside it before the woman came, he wouldn't have been robbed.
Cashew: But maybe the Crystals were the primary reason she didn't kill me fully?
Dropping the thought as it would make him angry and anger makes his head hurt, Cashew took the book inside, tossed it on the table and grabbed his Orb again, taking a deep breath and coating it in his Mana.
Using his Mana, he searched the entire Surface of the Orb for some time of crack or imperfection, and-... His Mana hasn't even engulfed the entire Orb before he found several cracks and imperfections.
Cashew: The Orb looks perfectly fine, but I guess the Old Man was so mediocre that it's still full of imperfections.
Cashew Chuckled at the thought and started to seep his Mana into the Biggest Crack he could find. He thinks that the bigger cracks would be able to house a larger Pocket Dimension, so he was doing that. Plus, if he was wrong, he lives near Crystalized Mont territory. He can simply continue to Harass them and he will eventually get a bigger Crystal and he could pay a more skilled person to turn that into an Orb, but for now, he needs the Pocket Dimension.
Seeping His Mana into the Orb, he slowly used it to form a small Room within the Orb, he then realized how this might work.
Cashew: I see... I can choose how big the Pocket Dimension is, but I need a bigger and more perfect Orb to house a bigger Pocket Dimension, while if I try to fit a big one in a small and imperfect Orb, the Orb might crack and break. I feel like I can feel how much the Orb Struggles, so I'll just keep making it bigger until the Orb starts to strain.
Slowly and meticulously, Cashew kept injecting Mana into the Orb, making the Pocket Dimension bigger and bigger, after about 20 minutes, the Orb started to feel hot in Cashews Hand, as if he's holding a piece of freshly made charcoal.
Cashew: I think the Orb is straining. I'll stop and hope the Pocket Dimension is big enough.
Cashew suddenly Paused, realizing something.
Cashew: Can I even go into the Pocket Dimension? I'll find out when I open it for the first time.
Cashew spent some more time refining the Pocket Dimension he made with his Mana, wanting to make it a bit more durable, but stopped as he felt he was pushing his luck.
Cashew stopped messing with the Orb and gently placed it on the table, watching it, the Vision that the Orb gave him for creating a Pocket Dimension said you need to let the Orb settle and get comfortable with the Pocket Dimension. This process can take anywhere from 5 minutes to a whole week to even a year, Cashew felt it would take no more than 10 minutes, so he sat patiently and watched the Orb, which was Glowing Red, the Orb was normally a Clear Purple color, but now it was Red.
Cashew Backed up a little, afraid that he messed up and the Orb was about to detonate, the vision never said anything about Colors, but even if it did, Cashew could only sit and wait and hope he did it right.
About 7 minutes have passed and the Orb started to calm down, still glowing red, but dimming slightly, Cashew could tell that it was done. He didn't touch it until it was back to its Clear Purple tint, only then did he pick it up and attempted to open the Pocket Dimension.
Cashew: Like this?...
With a wave of his hand, spraying light Mana out, Cashew opened a Pocket Dimension in front of him.
Cashew: I see! So the Orb doesn't really matter! Well. As long as I'm holding it or it's nearby, I don't need to use the Orb directly to open the Pocket Dimension, just Do what I just did and I can open it anywhere. Seems I can enter the Pocket Dimension as well!
Looking at the portal for a moment, Cashew finally stepped in and looked around, it was rather lackluster. The Pocket Dimension interior was simply a small room, about 4 meters Wide, 4 Meters Deep, and 4 meters tall, the walls looked like Stone, but a light Blue color, honestly hard on the eyes to look at.
Feeling Disappointed, the Pocket Dimension was smaller than the Cabin, but it was big enough that Cashew could hide stuff in there and not need to worry about it being stolen.
Exiting the Portal, but keeping it open, Cashew Dragged his chest out from under the bed, pulling it out and opening it with a key, the Chest was pretty full, it had the Wolf Pelt bag that Cashew made and abandoned when the strap broke, it also had all 5 of Cashews spell books and his regular books inside of it. Cashew took the Wolf pelt bag out of the chest and stuffed his remaining crystals inside of it, not putting it back in the chest, but instead closing the chest and locking it. He then carried the chest and the Wolf Pelt bag into the Pocket Dimension, placing them in the back right corner, he also put the Animal Pelts he collected over the years into the Pocket Dimension as well. Over the 6 years, Cashew has killed many animals for food, keeping all of the pelts, he used a few for blankets and warmth, but the rest collected dust. So he figured he could sell them.
Now that Cashew was done with the portal, he closed it and sat down at the table, picking up the Necromancy book again and opening it to read. He made sure to keep the Golem Construction Spellbook and the Runes Spellbook out as well so he could compare the two as he read them.
Before opening the book the Woman in Purple left him, Cashew contemplated whether or not he truly wanted to learn Necromancy. It's illegal all over the continent, so he would be crossing a boundary he can't take back, hecould always quit, but he can't uncross the Boundary.
Cashew: Is Necromancy worth it?...