I can't really approach the city looking like this, and my communication skills as a skeleton is very limited, I thought to myself.

Out of nowhere, Neifil screamed for me to duck, which I immediately did.

An arrow flew right through where I had been standing, nearly hitting me.

"It's an ambush," Neifil said. "We don't know how many there are."

I looked for the attackers, expecting them to hide, but they were all standing nonchalantly. It seemed the archer was being scolded for missing the shot.

I can't believe I didn't notice them at all. In the past, that would have never happened.

Neifil commanded me to flee because we didn't know the strength of these hooded figures.

"No," I said. "My experience tells me that these guys are mediocre at best. They avert their eyes from the enemy and underestimate me purely based on looks. Only the big guy with the axe seems a bit more skilled." I said to Neifil, full of confidence.

Although it's annoying not being able to hear them, I just have to keep them all in my field of view.

For now I should use Mr. Werder's fighting stance. That should be good for this light body.

"Come at me!" I screamed at them, but only rattling from my bones came out.

The archer was stopped being scolded and he started to drew his sword, slowly advancing on me. When he was near, he sped up and thrust his sword at me.

I imagined this would be easy, but he almost stabbed my face. If I hadn't been prepared, I would be dead right now.

Seeing his face up close, I noticed he was a demi-wolf human. He also looked a bit surprised that he missed.

Neifil screamed at me, "You idiot! Do you still think you possess your strength from the past? We have to run now."

Neifil was right, but unfortunately, I don't think I can run away now that they're so close. The moment I turn my back, I'm dead.

I also don't really want to spill the blood of those who haven't committed crimes.

But that thought was for nothing because he started relentlessly attacking me with thrusts and slashes, and I was only barely dodging.

I can't keep up with him; his attacks are getting faster and faster. Then I noticed his friends were laughing at him for not killing me already.

Maybe I could use this, I thought to myself.

One thrust aimed at my shoulder and another at my chest. A slash came from above, only to change direction to my side.

These attacks started exhausting him, and when he put all his weight into a sword swing, I pulled his hood towards me, making him trip.

I noticed a dagger on his backside and took it out.

The rest of the group laughed even louder, and the archer stood up, looking furious at me.

He screamed and swung many times at me. They seemed to have more force behind them, but his sword style became sloppy. He seemed more like a kid throwing a tantrum, blindly attacking.

I waited for the perfect opening and hit his chin with the handle of the dagger.

The hooded archer stopped for a moment and fell to the ground.

"See, Neifil? I am still the strongest human," I said, full of smugness.

Neifil responded, "But now you are a skeleton, and we have to leave."

I saw the group stop laughing and look rather confused. Some of the younger ones even looked a tiny bit scared, which gave me a brilliant idea.

I started holding the dagger to the archer's neck, hoping the three younger ones would drop their weapons am dtge rets would follow.

Neifil said, "Leave now!" in a panicked and annoyed voice.

Suddenly, two daggers were thrown in my direction, one aimed at me and the other at my hostage, hitting him in the face and killing him immediately.

I was surprised and saw the guy who was scolding him just a moment before had thrown them.

I was confused and furious. Why would they do something like that to their own comrade?

The other people in his group didn't really react to it, and I think I misjudged this group, I thought to myself.

Suddenly, two men started sprinting towards me, two prepared to shoot arrows one was standing behind, and the mats one disappeared from my sight.

I could dodge and block the attacks from the younger ones, but the leader who threw the daggers had a punch behind him that felt like it almost broke my bones with every hit.

I infused my dagger with spirit light and hit the young one behind me. Right after, I was ready to block the leader's attack. He stopped in his tracks and seemed to say something to his group.

Everyone stopped and waited for orders from this guy.

He turned towards me and started saying something.

Neifil said he was saying that he couldn't believe an ugly skeleton could use sword aura and that his fools couldn't.

He commanded his group to stand still and said he was going to have some fun with this ugly skeleton.

I thought that my bone structure looked rather handsome and was a bit insulted by his remarks, but this was a good opportunity because I didn't think I could handle all of them together.

The leader started putting spirit light into his axe and swung it at my head.

I couldn't doge that I attack so decided to block it instead, but the sheer force hitting my dagger broke my wrist in half. I screamed in pain and jumped backward now without a weapon.

But right at that moment, he had already caught up to me and swung again, this time trying to cut me in half.

I noticed his intention and dodged out of the way.

I started to attack him, but he was already on his next swing, which grazed my head.

I should have listened to Neifil, I thought to myself, ashamed.

The hooded leader started a big swing for his final attack.

Neifil screamed, "Move, you stubborn, stupid, dumb skeleton! You said you would free me, you great protector, or were you just lying?" Her voice sounded almost broken, as if she were about to cry.

This surprised me very much; normally, Neifil talked in a more noble-like manner.

But those were wasted thoughts. I suddenly felt heat burning inside me.

I put my broken wrist into the axe swing, letting it cut a part of it off, making my bones like a spear. The pain was unbearable, but I didn't care about that for now. I thrust my bone into his neck and rolled away, creating distance.

He looked rather confused and put his hand on his neck, noticing himself bleeding.

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His body fell to the ground, not moving.

Everyone in his team was shocked and looking at each other.

I felt strange; I felt enjoyment in killing him, and it felt better and better.

I suddenly remembered what the figure said to me about being a monster, and my body started moving on its own. It was like I was possessed, but at the same time, it was like I was willingly doing it.

I picked up the axe with my left hand and sprinted to the archers.

Both, still in shock, couldn't react fast enough. I threw the axe at one and stabbed the other with my bone.

Suddenly, two swordsmen swung at me, and I nearly dodged it. I tried attacking the neck again but was interfered with by a dagger from the guy who hid himself at the beginning.

I started creating distance, and the guy started hiding again.

"I used my spirit eyes and concentrated on where he was hiding. Ignoring most of my surroundings, I focused only on the enemy. Then, I sensed a presence behind me.”

"I found the one hiding, and it looked like he was preparing to throw another dagger. I anticipated this attack and caught the dagger mid-air, redirecting it at one of the swordsmen and hitting him in the eye.”

I took the opportunity and stabbed the other swordsman killing him.

The swordsman with the dagger in his eye dropped his weapon and put his hands around me to crush my bones.

My body struggled, and I felt my bones starting to break, so I bit him in the neck, pulling most of the flesh out.

He dropped to the ground, and I finished it.

Now I looked for the last guy, but it seems like he ran away and he hid his tracks pretty well.

I fell to my knees, surrounded by dead bodies. I looked at them and Siad annoyed, "Fuck!"

I didn't even feel bad about their deaths, but that alone frustrated me more.

Suddenly, everything turned gray and stopped moving, like when I met that strange guy in the grass field. I heard that emotionless voice again.

"Subject reached requirements for evolving.

Should subject evolve?"

Yes No

I said yes, confused.

“Subject evolved into superior skeleton”

"Subject learned skill: Bone Manipulation, D rank."

My head was filled with knowledge, and I knew how to use this skill.

I used a bit of Koha and the equivalent of spirit light to not die, and my broken wrist turned into a sword that I imagined, and using the skill again, I turned it into a hand.

I asked Neifil what she thought about the new skill and how it was possible for me to get something like that.

I was met with silence.

I asked Neifil why she didn't say anything, but right when I said that, I understood why.

So I sincerely said, "Neifil, I wanted to say that I—eh, fuck it. I am sorry I didn't listen to you. I almost died hanging onto my past, and at the same time, I didn't think about how that would affect you. Would you accept my apologies?"

Neifil's eyes narrowed slightly as she listened to Varek. After a moment of silence, she spoke, her voice measured. "Varek, your apology doesn’t erase what you did, and it’s not easy for me to just forgive and forget. But I see that you’re sincere, and I appreciate that. So next time, listen to the great spirit Neifil, who is probably 100 times wiser and older than you, you dumb little skeleton."

I got demoted to skeleton, but I am happy she started talking again.

This was still informative. I don't know if this group was just ruthless in killing their own, or if the city is also full of people like them.

I don't know if the city is safe, but I think with the clothes from these guys and some rags around my face, I could at least get more information from the citizens.

The problem is hearing the people of this city. I can't rely on Neifil all the time, and how exactly does my body work? I asked myself, confused.

On one hand, I don't breathe and have no sensory organs, but I still felt pain from the attacks. I succeeded in sensing where that one guy was hiding, but without a living body, that also seems rather impossible.

The pain also felt very different from what I remember as a human.

I asked Neifil if she knew something about this.

"Hmm, I think it's probably because of the Koha in your body. The longer my soul is in you, the more fascinated the Koha makes me. Although I tried to manage the Koha the same way I did with the spirit lights in your body, it didn't react at all, and I think it has to do with the fact that I put a barrier between my soul and yours," she said.

"So, is my soul connected with the Koha?" I asked, a bit confused.

"Yes, at least I think it is. Normally, the soul in a living being is connected with the body, but the spirit lights and soul show a clear distinction from one another. The Koha in your body and your soul are the same," she explained.

"Maybe that is the reason I don't feel much remorse in killing these people. This body of mine changed me quite a bit," I thought to myself.

"But if the Koha is the reason for me being able to feel pain and sense my surroundings as if it's a real body, shouldn't I be able to imitate all sensory organs?" I wondered.

So, I put it to the test. The same way I tried to sense the guy that escaped before by concentrating, I tried visualizing smell, hearing, seeing, feeling, and so on.

At that moment, I heard the emotionless voice again that I decided to name Kalt.

"Subject reached requirements for skill evolution. Should subject evolve?"

Yes. No.

"Yes," Kalt, I replied.

… Calculating ...

"Please clarify your answer."

"Oh, eh, yes," I replied a bit awkwardly.

"Subject skill Spirit Mana Eyes rank D turned into Spirit Mana Body Rank B.”

And at that moment, everything seemed different.

I could hear the forest and its rich wildlife. I could feel the sun and the ground I was walking on. I could smell the very strong smell of blood.

"What did you do? I felt a change in the Koha amount and your body for the second time since the fight ended," asked Neifil.

I explained to her what happened, and she was very interested and wanted to know every detail. Like the alchemist in the Northern region I met.

But I myself am very curious about this too, and it should be more for her because of how long she has already lived.

"Oh, that's it," I said to myself while moving around. "This doesn't feel so awkward anymore."

Before, I had to anticipate when I stepped on the ground and, in fact, with all my movements.

"Now that this problem is solved, it's time to gather information, and we are headed to the city to the west of us."

On the way, I met other skeletons, and I tried talking to them. I could tell them with the skeleton communication skill to walk to the east, and they would do it, but anything slightly complicated like "walk 10 steps to the south, turn 180 degrees and walk 5 steps backward" turned into them just standing.

I started moving again and sensed 3 people and used my skill to hide my presence completely to eavesdrop on their conversations.

Guy Voice 1: "Since so many people started living here on the 20th floor, all the monsters that spawn are skeletons, and anything deeper into the dungeon is still too dangerous for us. I don't know what to do."

Girl Voice: "Maybe we should try heading deeper anyway since doing nothing will not fill our bellies."

Guy Voice 2: "We should find a solution fast. The entry to the city is worth all our money."

Guy Voice 1: "Okay, let's go back, rest a bit, sell what we got today, and start our plan of action for the lower floors."

Girl and Guy 2 agreed to this proposal.

I’m glad I took the money from the group earlier, but I've never seen such a currency before.

"Let's follow them to the city," said Neifil.

I agreed and followed them to the city.

The city is protected by high stone walls with two exits. It's rather large; I don't remember seeing this structure when I was alive. Building this with all these monsters around must have taken forever.

But it makes sense; floor 20 was the largest floor that was fairly livable, I thought to myself. What's weirder is that I only see skeletons and sometimes slimes. Floor 20 had normally more goblins and orcs, with wind wolves and lightning bears.

Neifil said that the demi-humans probably killed all of the monsters and stronger monsters take more time to be created. If the competition is big, you would rarely see stronger monsters.

"Oh, so they probably are worth more now in this environment than when I was alive. But let's first observe the people in front of the city."

I saw a big line of people waiting, mostly armed, looking like adventurers and even some merchants being escorted by some.

Neifil asked me if I recognized the guy that is next in line.

I looked, and it was the person who was good at hiding and fought in the last battle.

He looks nervous and a bit wide-eyed. He said something to the guard; they then took him inside the city, but I couldn't hear him.

He probably talked about me and what happened.

"Should we observe more or move away?" asked Neifil.

"I think it's best to join the line. They should start gathering people and searching for me, so pretending to be a normal person right in front of them should let us slip right through."

Neifil agreed and added that there's also the possibility of them closing the entrance for a bit, and that would be bad for us.

So, we lined up and waited for a while. After 6 minutes, a group of hefty armed men and the guy from before walked into the forest.

From what I have seen, the entry fee was 6 of these wooden plaques with the symbol of two snakes engraved into them.

It's a strange currency, one that I am not used to. I have 30 wood plaques, 20 iron plaques with the same symbol, and the big guy had 2 gold plaques that had a lion engraved into them.

It's now my turn to pay the entrance fee. He looked at me weirdly, probably because I hide my face, and said:

"What is your purpose here at Hydro, stranger? Looking like trouble."

I handed him a gold plaque, and he took it without hesitation.

"Oh, sorry, sir, I haven't noticed the person I was dealing with. Please step in and enjoy our beautiful city however long you want," he said with the biggest smile I have seen.

I walked through the door and was rather surprised by the happy atmosphere. Maybe I was just unlucky with my first encounter, I thought to myself.

The city was fully packed with people doing trade and walking in and out of shops.

The weaker-looking adventurers looked rather depressed, while the stronger ones drank and were having a good time.

Of course, this was also the norm in my time, but the divide is much larger here with more weak guys; they seem also very young like the 3 guys from the group that attacked me.

I was walking around looking at the food and sweets and feeling depressed that after all this time, I still have not felt hunger, which means that I can't eat food.

I eavesdropped on the conversations the people had, but it was just daily occurrences and rumors, nothing of use for me at the moment.

I thought it wouldn't be easy getting information from normal citizens, but they don't even say one word of the dungeon as if it doesn't exist.

And I can't really trick them into giving out information because I can't talk to them via my skill; the skill makes me sound like a beast trying to imitate a human voice that would just be suspicious.

Neifil said, "Maybe we should wait till the night and look for foolish or drunk people."

As she said that, I thought of a great place that has many drunk and stupid people.

"The guild is the perfect place. After people almost got killed, they would celebrate still being alive, and the ones that achieved something would also drink, and people who couldn't do anything would also drink out of depression."

So, we waited till it hit dark and walked around the city for a bit.

The guild here looks rather large, and the people already started drinking.

We should head in, and we were stopped by a big guy full of battle scars standing guard outside who said:

"I have never seen you before. Please show me your guild card."

I tried to play it cool and gave him a gold plaque and started heading towards the door, only to be met with an arm stopping my way.

"Do you seriously think I would let you in after giving me a gold plaque?" he said, looking down on me.

He pocketed the gold plaque and shoved me, saying:

"Scram before I call the guards," and laughed at me.

I will not make the same mistake and take him head on. I walked away to hide my presence. I climbed to the roof of the building next to the guild and jumped onto the roof of the guild.

I slowly climbed near the edge and am now over this guy's head. I threw my iron plaque into the alleyway next to him.

He noticed the sound and investigated what it was. He saw it being iron plaques and said:

"Today must be my lucky day. First an idiot giving away gold plaques and now another one losing a silver plaque."

As he was picking it up, I jumped on his head, stomping him into the ground. Then I put him in a headlock and choked him out.

"Now who is the idiot?" I kicked him.

Neifil asked, "Did you really have to stomp his head into the ground? You could have just started knocking him out."

I responded, "It was totally necessary because I didn't know if I was even strong enough to choke him out. Didn't you say I had to be more careful?"

Neifil responded with a chuckle and said, "I guess you are right."

I took my gold plaque and iron plaque from him and the rest of his plaques too.

Now I have two gold plaques, 60 iron, and still 30 wood ones.

I walked over to the entrance of the guild and was ready to step in, but then the alarm rang and a loud voice was projected around town.

"Multiple lightning bears are headed towards the city. All guild personnel and city watch, prepare for battle."

"Why can't anything ever go smoothly?" I asked myself, frustrated.