"World destruction..."
"Rebirth..."
It took a long time for Lucas to snap out of the solemn emotions from the moment of the world's destruction in his past life.
Having become a skeleton in the game world, he would live well in this identity.
Whether the real world would truly be destroyed as he predicted ten years later, Lucas didn't know. All he knew was that the biggest crisis he faced now was the arrival of players in three months!
The Fourth Calamity was not an empty title.
Once the players arrived, all monsters would become targets for their rampage.
Not just him—a lowly skeleton at the bottom of the undead hierarchy—but even high-tier undead like the Skeleton King, Death Knight, Lich, and Specter Queen would likely fall under the onslaught of millions of players!
Level up!
Evolve!
Only by becoming strong enough in these three months would he have a future; only by becoming powerful enough to rival the gods... would he be qualified to consider the cataclysm ten years later!
...
...
Growing from a lowly skeleton at the bottom of the undead hierarchy to a level where he could fearlessly face the arrival of players was a nearly insurmountable challenge for Lucas, even with ten years of game experience from his past life.
Fortunately.
As early as the first time he checked his status panel, Lucas had found the key to his growth.
Talent!
In 'The Second World,' talents generally referred to racial talents.
For example, the elves had a racial talent for plant affinity, allowing them to easily communicate with plants and hide deep in the forests; the dwarves had a racial talent for forging, enabling them to craft higher-quality equipment with ease; the beastmen had a berserk talent, allowing them to enter a frenzied state at a certain tier, becoming unstoppable...
And so on.
Such widespread racial talents were not uncommon.
In fact, apart from humans and the undead who had fallen from other races, most races in 'The Second World' had their own racial talents.
Individual talents were different.
Except for some extremely unfortunate talents, most talents indicated that the individual possessing them had immense potential!
Whether this individual could turn potential into strength and truly grow depended largely on how well they could utilize their talent!
Unique Talent!
Erosion!
Lucas didn't know where this talent of his came from.
Perhaps it was because he had transformed from a player into a monster, causing a mutation in his soul; or perhaps it was a gift from the world for returning from the future ten years later... All he knew was that this unique talent was his hope for becoming strong!
"Unfortunately..."
"The status panel didn't provide an explanation for this talent."
"The function of the [Erosion] talent can only be explored slowly."
Sighing silently in his heart, Lucas raised his head and looked into the distance.
This was the Land of Buried Bones.
As a gathering place for the skeleton race, the Land of Buried Bones naturally couldn't have only him as a skeleton.
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The place where he was reborn was the edge of the Land of Buried Bones, where countless weak skeletons like him roamed. Deeper in the Land of Buried Bones, there was a stronger aura of death, nurturing more powerful skeletons.
Even.
In the core area of the Land of Buried Bones, there were mid-tier and even high-tier undead like Skeleton Warriors, Dread Mages, Bone Knights, and Death Knights.
This was just a starting point.
...
...
Crack.
Crack.
A faint sound came as Lucas moved.
Having transformed from a player in the real world to a skeleton in the game world, aside from feeling a bit light while walking, he didn't feel any discomfort.
Even his vision wasn't much different from when he was a player.
After taking a few steps and getting used to his new body, Lucas picked up a thigh bone from the bone-littered ground and walked toward a skeleton not far from him.
He was hunting.
To evolve from a skeleton to a mid-tier or even high-tier undead, hunting was essential. And in the Land of Buried Bones, nothing was more suitable as hunting targets than the countless skeletons.
Lucas approached slowly.
The skeleton he targeted still stood there aimlessly: as the lowest-tier skeleton, it had no memory, no consciousness. Apart from instinctively attacking when it sensed living beings, it would only retaliate when attacked.
This made Lucas's hunting even easier.
One step.
Two steps.
Three steps.
When he was only half a meter away from the skeleton, Lucas raised the thigh bone in his hand and, with all his strength, smashed it down on the skeleton's skull!
Crack!
A crisp sound!
The thigh bone in Lucas's hand broke into two, and the skeleton's skull shattered. Without its head, the skeleton's grayish-white frame swayed slightly before collapsing into a pile of bones.
"You have killed a 'Weak Skeleton.'"
"You have gained 10 experience points."
As the skeleton fell, two messages refreshed on Lucas's status panel.
Thanks to the monster template, after killing the skeleton, he didn't need to personally devour the soul flame, the essence of the skeleton. The soul flame of the slain skeleton would automatically transform into experience points and merge into his body.
"Killing one low-tier skeleton grants 10 experience points."
"That means, after killing nine more skeletons, I can level up from Level 1 to Level 2."
"Not bad."
"But..."
After glancing at the refreshed messages on his status panel, Lucas felt a bit strange.
Because, after killing the skeleton, he clearly felt that the remains of the skeleton—the scattered bones—were calling out to him!
"Could it be... that becoming a skeleton has given me some strange fetish?"
He felt conflicted.
In the end, he couldn't resist the urge and gently crouched down.