Along with the new skill came a small flood of information on how to use it. Without a God guiding their movements, all the system did was give an accuracy enhancement upon using the skill. To Genesis, all this meant was that this new ability would allow them to hit their current fast-moving enemies.
[You have used Strike!]
Once again, Genesis raised his bony hand and swiped downwards at the fleeting sparrows. This time though, his crude swipe downwards managed to slap one of the birds straight out of the air, knocking it to the ground.
[You’ve slain the sparrow!]
With two comrades down, the remaining two birds are far more cautious. Their instincts scream at them to escape, that their tiny selves cannot deal with the enemy several times larger than them, but their irrational hatred due to Bane of Life pushes them to continue attacking. They focus harder on destroying the small bird skeleton that clumsily hops around them, while also keeping an eye on the larger skeleton that’s ready to strike once more.
Both birds sweep down suddenly for an attack, and succeed in bashing the side of the awkward skele-bird. With their weary caution, they fail in causing any meaningful damage. While they’re still close to the ground, Genesis uses Strike once again, missing but dispersing the two birds.
He controls the bird skeleton to hop towards the downed foe, throwing its skeletal body on the corpse and immediately casting Proliferate, beginning the conversion process once more. One of the remaining birds, seeing this, disregards its own safety and dives as quickly as it can to interrupt the process. Genesis capitalizes on this opportunity, successfully Striking down the remaining bird and instantly killing it.
[You’ve slain the sparrow!]
[Due to the effects of Expanded Consciousness (passive): Wisdom + 1, Intelligence + 1, Creativity + 2]
Fear for its own life finally wins over the murderous rage the remaining bird feels. As it flies away, it strangely feels the rage for the skeletons vanish, as though it was never there in the first place. All that remains is a bestial fear that will keep it from this part of the forest for the rest of its short life.
[You’ve won your first true battle! Creativity + 3, Wisdom + 3]
[Watching your undefeated enemy flee has improved your understanding of the world.]
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[You’ve unlocked a new tab on your Status menu: bodies! View the number and types of undead under your control.]
Genesis watches the bird fly away and makes no attempt to chase it. It feels no anger or frustration towards the animals, with its retaliation only taking place to protect its bodies. It now understands that without its skeletons, it can’t see further than several meters in front of its main body. It doesn’t want to return back to being unable to see, or anything similar to it, like when it first awoke.
[You’ve begun to awaken emotion! Wisdom + 5, Intelligence + 2]
It raises its skeletal hand and looks upon it with its empty sockets. During the battle, its hand caused a prompt to appear in its mind, and it learned something new. Using its hand, without using anything sharp, it managed to kill a foe. Gradually, Genesis understands that even without a weapon, it is capable of doing damage.
[You’ve learned a new skill!]
[Unarmed (passive)
A closed fist is as good of a weapon as an adamantine sword in the right hands. Gain a minor damage bonus to all attacks made without a weapon.]
Genesis continues to reflect on the battle as one of his two new skeletal birds approaches the last body, hops on top of it, and begins casting Proliferate. Genesis recalls that once the battle ended, it read a prompt that mentioned a word it didn’t understand, even with the system’s translation. ‘Status’.
[Status]
[Name: Genesis
Race: Skeleton (undead)
Strength: 10
Endurance: 10
Dexterity: 10
Intelligence: 5
Wisdom: 12
Creativity: 8
Abilities:
Proliferation, Strike, Shared Senses (passive), Expanded Consciousness (passive), Weak to Light (passive), Perpetual Endling (passive), Stagnation (passive), Sense Graves (passive), Magic Sense (passive), Endless Stamina (passive), Unarmed (passive)
Bodies:
Human x1, sparrow x2.]
[You’ve accessed your Status for the first time! This menu may change in the future as you gain more experiences within the world.]
[Note that Health is not shown, as death simply requires all bodies to be destroyed.]
Genesis processed the Status screen as the final bird finished its conversion. It ignored the notification for Expanded Consciousness, and attempted to comprehend the information being presented to it. What was Dexterity? What was Endurance? What did it mean for it to have a value of ‘10’?
[Dexterity is the measure of your speed, fluidity, accuracy, and proficiency in certain weapons.]
[Endurance is the measure of your toughness, hardness, and proficiency in certain armors and shields. It would normally also dictate stamina, health, and all modifiers related to them.]
[The default value for an untrained adult of any race is set to 10.]
[You’re asking questions related to your own existence! Wisdom +5, Intelligence +5]