The eerie quiet enveloped Bones as he moved among the fallen bodies, taking in the aftermath of his actions. Turning to survey the small open clearing, surrounded by grass up to his knees and encircled by the forest, his mind drew a blank. The gravity of the situation should have triggered a response, but he found himself strangely devoid of emotions.
"I wasn't exactly what you would call a sentimental person before, but I'd still feel something - shame, regret at least," he mused, staring intensely at the lifeless forms. Their clothing, equipment, and the frozen expressions of surprise, shock, and horror on their faces told a silent tale of their abrupt demise.
ding
You have learned a new skill: Identify
Irina, Priest lvl 5, dead
Mitras, Mage lvl 5, dead
Anna, Archer lvl 6, dead
Validas, Guardian lvl 6, dead
Bones supposed he should feel exhilarated about acquiring a new skill, but the gravity of the situation tempered any sense of celebration. Using Identify, he discerned that the priest and mage were level 5, while the archer and the guardian were level 6. Bending down over one of the lifeless bodies, he began searching for items to loot.
From the mage, he took the hood, and from the archer, he claimed the boots, gloves, and leather armor. A small pouch yielded a loot of 2 gold, 43 silver, and 20 copper coins.
Bones wasn't sure if the loot amounted to much, but he decided to take the adventurer's weapons, thinking they could prove useful in the future. Bending down, he reached for the mace lying next to its deceased owner. As he picked it up and contemplated where to store it, the mace suddenly vanished from his grasp, leaving only faint blue sparks.
Startled, Bones spun around, scanning the surroundings for any signs of what just occurred. The mace reappeared in his hand as he pondered the strange event.
"What in the world..." he mumbled, opening the notifications to understand what had just transpired.
Item: Mace [common] stored in inventory
Bones contemplated on storing the item, and once again, it vanished from his hands.
"Inventory," he uttered, prompting a new screen to appear, distinct from his usual interface.
Inventory
Mace x 1
"This is - a dimensional space the core was referring to? It is a storage place to hold items!" Bones exclaimed, his expression oscillating between bewilderment and amazement.
Taking a deep breath, he began collecting items he deemed useful and stashed them in his inventory. Once done, he left the clearing and vanished into the shade under the canopy of trees, leaving the bodies of adventurers to the mercy of the beasts.
There were numerous new notifications to go through, but he wasn't in the mood to inspect them immediately. Eventually, he relented. New levels meant more power, so he opened up the system log and read them as they appeared.
Combat experience gained
Combat experience gained
*
*
Level up!
Congratulation, you are now level 8
+1 STR, +2 VIT +2 INT
Level up!
Congratulation, class Bonemancer is now lvl 5
You have learned a new skill: Mend Bones
Level up!
Congratulation, class Bonemancer is now lvl 6
Bones halted in his tracks. He was halfway to level 8, but the required experience to reach the next level was disproportionately higher than what four kills should yield. He had been correct before—experience was granted for each action, and additional experience was awarded for killing humans. The thought troubled him, and the fact that it didn't disturb him as much as it should have left him frowning. As for the new skill...
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Mend Bones (basic) - Grants the ability to mend broken bones. Rate at which bones mend depends on mana spent and is affected by the VIT and WIS attributes.
The purpose of the skill was evident—Mending, precisely what he needed at that moment. Bones had observed that his health points never fully regenerated to his maximum ever since sustaining damage. The nicks, cracks, and scratches against his bones lingered despite normal regeneration. Without hesitation, he activated the skill, and a novel sensation enveloped his body. A pleasant and serene feeling emerged as green mana blended with the typical blue flow, mending every little imperfection inflicted by the hits. After a minute, his health points were once again at their peak, and his bones were restored to perfection. However, his mana had decreased by a third, emphasizing that the newfound ability and the convenience of mending came with a cost.
Climbing the nearest tree, Bones took advantage of his light body and the sturdy branches, hopping from tree to tree. Along the way, he observed numerous adventuring parties, ranging from three to five members, and the occasional solo adventurer.
Solo adventurers seemed to focus on monsters below their level, while parties engaged with creatures up to three levels higher. Bones remained hidden, following adventurers from a distance for a day until he decided he had gathered enough information.
Every adventurer he observed was at least level 5, displaying well-practiced stances and tactics. Despite their training, their youth and inexperience were apparent. As he continued, he noticed the adventurers becoming more frequent, indicating he was nearing the end—or perhaps the beginning—of the forest.
Traveling westward, Bones engaged in battles against monsters, including a few formidable level seven creatures and one of his own level, providing him with challenging fights. As he continued his journey, he earned a level in his class and was on the verge of achieving another in his race.
With a higher level and the realization that defeating monsters more than two levels below him wasn't worth the time or effort, Bones refined his approach. After a few hours, he found himself perched on a tree branch, observing a group of adventurers setting up camp for the night. Remembering his past encounters, he decided to stick to his last approach, emphasizing full coverage for a more successful interaction.
Adjusting his gloves, tightening his boots, and lowering his hood, Bones concealed his skeletal features with various cloth straps, leaving only tiny slits for his eerie, baleful blue light to emanate.
"Here we go again."
“Ahem, greetings, adventurers! I mean you no harm!” Bones announced as he stepped out into the open. As expected, his sudden appearance had everyone on edge, swiftly assuming battle stances. Unlike the first encounter, however, no one immediately charged at him.
"So far, so good!"
“Stop right there! Don’t come any closer!” cautioned a girl at the front, clad in chainmail and wielding a two-handed battle axe.
“Alright, here is fine, right? - Good. Like I said, I mean you no harm! I was only hoping to join you in the camp over the night - if it wouldn’t be too much of a hassle. All sorts of beasts are lurking in the night, and there's safety in numbers.”
It sounded reasonable, and everyone turned to the last figure standing behind them. It was another girl with long, dark hair, wearing a purple robe, a pointy hat, and holding a staff pointed in Bones' direction. She watched him for a few seconds, then relaxed and stashed the staff away.
“Sure, you can join us. My name is Less. These four are my party members. Norris, Nica, Kate, and the one still baring her teeth your way is Anna, our frontliner,” she said with a smile.
While other party members greeted Bones back, Anna snorted, ignoring him and walking over to sit next to Less.
“Don’t mind Anna, Berserkers are like that. Short fuse and bad at socializing,” the only male member in the team, Norris, provided an explanation.
The party started a fire, or more accurately, Less started it by snapping her fingers. She was a fire mage, the leader of the party, and the highest level here at level 10. Others were level 9, and they seemed like a pretty capable and balanced party. Their whole party was focused on offense, with Anna at the front keeping enemies at bay with wild and wide swings of her axe.
All of them had uncommon classes, with the Ranger having a minor healing ability. Understandably, they wouldn’t go into details about their classes and abilities with a complete stranger, so Bones continued questioning about the nearest town, adventurers, and the Adventurer's Guild. His questions, however, raised eyebrows, and everyone showed puzzled and rather surprised expressions.
“The nearest town is Westbrook, half a day's walk from here. How do you not know this? And what do you mean by 'what are adventurers?' and 'what is an Adventurers Guild?'” Nica asked, all puffed up. Apparently, such information was common knowledge, and Bones was forced to come up with a plausible explanation on the spot. His story turned out to be that of a young mage wannabe from afar, whose village was burned to the ground by - let's say bandits, with him being the sole survivor now seeking revenge. As he recounted his made-up story, his voice became more silent until they couldn’t hear him anymore. The party members listening all looked at each other and nodded in understanding.
“It’s fine, Mr?”
“Jones,” Bones replied after mulling over the name for a second.
“Mr. Jones, you don’t have to say anything anymore. We understand how you feel; most of us lost someone close to us too, either from monster attacks or bandit attacks.”
Bones played the grieving part perfectly. Hopefully, no one noticed he avoided answering why he didn’t know anything about the Adventurers Guild. There was only so much bulls*it he could come up with.
“Let me start from the town of Westbrook, situated in the southwestern region of our kingdom. You, uh - do know about our kingdom of Wezar?” Nica asked.
“Of course, of course, please continue! For the love of - stop questioning me so much!
“Great! Westbrook is a small town governed by the branch of the Adventurers Guild. Now, foremost, the Guild's purpose is to stop monster surges in this region from reaching the middle kingdom. The zone we’re in right now is a part of the training grounds for lower-level adventurers to gain experience and level skills. Deeper in the forest, both south and southwest from here, the monsters are way above our level, and the mountains in the distance make up for a natural border between us and desolate lands, and…”
“Booooring!” Anna rudely interrupted.
“Keep it short! He doesn’t need a history lesson; just give him facts about the guild! The rest he can find and read in the guild's library, yeah?”
"My apologies, I got a bit carried away..." Nica apologized.
"No problem at all. I'll be sure to check out the library. What can you share about the Adventurer's Guild? Just the facts, please." Bones inquired, flashing a grin while glancing at Anna.
"The Adventurer's Guild is considered the oldest and most powerful among the guilds. Historical records indicate its foundation predates the system's creation, and its mission has remained consistent—to protect our world from monsters and invaders!" Nica asserted with enthusiasm.
"Right, invaders, got it." Bones chuckled, mentally noting to explore the library for more details.
Nica kept her promise and provided a concise summary of essential information about the guild—what they do and why. Bones also sought clarification on certain aspects of the system, particularly attributes, classes, and skills. Attributes were explained in terms of their functions and impact on the user. In essence, he was relieved that he hadn't allocated any of his free points to strength and dexterity. Given his lack of a physical body to strengthen, those attributes wouldn't have had a significant effect on him. Instead, he decided to focus on intelligence, recognizing it as the key attribute for his skeletal form, with occasional points in wisdom when he felt the need for enhanced regeneration.
Classes became available at level 5, as Bones discovered. At level 25, he'd have the opportunity to upgrade his existing class or choose a new one, provided he met the requirements. The same progression applied to levels in race, and he planned to explore these possibilities in the guild's library.
Further upgrades awaited him at level 50 and 75. Regarding the second class, he had the freedom to choose one at any point, as long as the prerequisites were met. Upon reaching level 99, the user hit a cap, and the only path for further advancement was the mysterious process of Ascension, details of which remained undocumented.
Beginner classes were commonly categorized as common, uncommon, with the occasional rare class. Although the system didn't officially classify them, this categorization was based on general knowledge, considering their frequency and upgradeability. While theoretically, there was no limit to the number of classes one could have, each new class significantly reduced the experience gained. Nica cautioned that acquiring additional classes too early could impede progress in the main class, emphasizing the importance of timing.
Skills, on the other hand, had limitations determined by the skill points gained per level in a class—a detail Bones had initially missed. Up to level 25, he would automatically gain a skill every five levels at the cost of one skill point per skill. At level 25, he would choose a skill based on the class upgrade. Additional skill points could be used to forcibly upgrade the level of a skill, but Nica warned against doing so recklessly.
"Thank you for the explanation. In our small village, only the elders could teach, so my knowledge is limited. I've noticed that fighting higher-level monsters provides more experience?"
"Absolutely! The system encourages us to challenge ourselves, rewarding us with increased experience, improved skill proficiency, and better loot for facing higher-level targets."
"Alright, that's enough for today. It's gotten dark, and we're waking up early. Go to bed," Less interrupted and scolded the two.
She was right. The night had fallen without Bones even noticing. The girls shared a larger tent, and Norris had his own. Everyone went to their tents, and into their sleeping bags, leaving Bones outside, contemplating what to do. They offered him an extra tent, and he gratefully accepted, but he had no need for sleep. The only fatigue he felt in the last few days was mental, and meditation was all it took to dispel it. So he got up, entered his tent, sat cross-legged on the ground, and entered meditation.