Darkness again! Ahh! How did I even die while I was still focused? Maybe it was something sharp on the ground that I laid on? Or it might be a shot by an arrow from far away? Damn it!

[You have been killed by lv 9 ???, Respawn time 24 hours]

How did it even kill me? Was it something I can't see? Invisible? Ahh, I will think about that later, first think of something to do in my free time. I can see the light?

I proceeded to walk towards the light but it was beyond my control, my body keeps moving forward towards the light as I entered it the world around me changed.

[You have entered the graveyard of the fallen, your form has been changed to a Ghost]

'A graveyard out of all the places available' I sighed as I murmured to myself.

"Hello young one" A mysterious sound appeared out of nowhere, I turned behind and said, "Who is here?!"

A laugh came out of the mysterious man as he walked from behind the tombstone "What brings this young fellow upon my ground?"

My eyes couldn't believe what I am seeing, and I growled at the man "Wear something to cover your bottoms first old man!"

"Hohoho, excuse this little brother" As he snapped his fingers and white cloth covered his bottom. "You look lost, did you try to escape the reaper son?" laughed the old man while holding his white beard.

"No, why do you ask?" I replied with cautiousness

"Nothing much boy, haven't met anyone within the last few centuries" The old man laughed "Hoho, excuse me, would you like to play a little game boy?" As he grinned

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

This old man is crazy, I must get the hell away from him "No, keep it to yourself" Before I can even turn around I was kicked in my ghost form 5 feet away. "Old man! What are you doing!" I shouted with rage before I prepared myself to fight.

"Nothing much, you remind me of someone which is why I wanted to test you hoho" The old man laughed again, he began running towards me for another kick "Catch this boy."

I dodged to the side, but I was again sent flying by a bent leg from a damn ghost! "Old man, I will kill you!" While flying towards the tombstone, I raised my leg to fend off the old man running towards my flying body.

[Tip: To use any skill, mentally think about it, and it will show its effects based on its grade]

'Speed hack' I thought, and the world turned slow around me

"Hmm, you truly resemble them young one! Hohoho!" The old man began laughing louder than before, and as if the speed hack didn't affect him, he kicked me to the tombstone which led me to go under it. "Young one, the moment I saw you I knew you were the right one."

What is he even speaking about! All he does is hit me! "Old man!" I dove upwards out of the tombstone and faced the old man "At least introduce yourself before hitting me!"

The old man eyes shined with vigour "My name is Agnar young one, what is yours?"

"Call me Ace and nice to meet you too" I replied with a bit of anger, hmm, I can't feel pain from all the beating? "Old man, why did you hit me?"

He grinned and replied "Hoho, a young boy who disrespects his elder requires some beating, now you will be beaten for a while hohoho" He jumped again to beat me, which he did with passion.

This continued for 23 hours non-stop, and even though I felt no pain or fatigue, my mentality was getting worse. I couldn't touch Agnar the entire time while I am being thrown like a damn garbage bag around!

"Hoho, young Ace, go back to where you came from, we will meet again, but next time I will discipline you more!" He keeps nodding while waving his hands to go back into the darkness. I decided to go back to the darkness and what I met was a skeleton.

[Congratulations on completing phase 1 of the tutorial, proceed to enter your skeleton to obtain the rewards]

I walked slowly to the skeleton and with a touch towards it, I was sucked in.

[Endurance has increased from F to F+]

[Speed hack has been upgraded to 1 star]

[Dexterity has increased from F+ to E]

[1 level gained]

[Prepare to go back towards your last death point]

I felt immense pain as my body was forming on the skeleton, every fibre, vein, meat, skin on my body felt unimaginable pain! I couldn't stand it, but I couldn't faint too! As soon as my lungs and mouth were formed, I began screaming with pain for a few hours.

Looking at the character screen in front of me, I closed my eyes. To remember something from the orphanage days.

"Look at you Ace! An ugly monster with red eyes hahaha" the kids laughed at me, I was 6 at that time, and I had nothing to protect myself "Don't laugh at me!" I growled

Yes, I wasn't the most liked because I looked a bit scary, red eyes, black hair, sharp tooth and a damn hard body. The entire orphanage hated me, and unlike the others who were well liked by the 'families' who came to take them as their own, I was always the one who was used as an example by the new caretaker.

"Don't be like Ace kids, see he is always angry" She looked at me with a grin as if she loved doing this. "Now kids go back to your beds and sleep, and Ace go wash the dishes".

Breathing in and out hardly I finally opened my eyes, I smiled and screamed: "It's good to be back!".