Still “early game” but is the Skeleton minion worth it?

I’m pretty early game I hit 28 days today, and I’m getting to 10-15 Oc CPS ish before I’m ascending, but the Skeleton Minion seems like it’s a drain for way too long at the stage I’m at?

You have to get it to level 20 before it pays for itself to go on missions, and even if I was sending it out every 3 hours that’s 2 and a bit days of burning souls before he brings in enough to pay for a mission, and he only maxes out at 3750 which would take 4 or so days at max missions rate (likely more because I don’t have the game open all the time).

So yeah, should I prioritise other things? Or is this just the grind?

I’m at the point where the upgrade tree is starting to be an order of magnitude higher than my earnings. I’m guessing there is a jump in earnings coming up from a mechanic I’ve not noticed though. Only have one more Pro quest to go.