“Mufufufufufu! This is brilliant! A genius idea! Ahahahaha!” I was laughing maniacally inside my head. “Why has no one thought of this before?”

It had been two days since I set off on my woodland excursion. On the fortunate side, I haven’t run into any problems so far. On the unfortunate side, absolutely nothing has happened. Frankly, I’m getting terrifyingly bored of these woods.

I was currently cackling about my idea to carry my weaponry. All I had was a sizeable branch to wield like a sword and a rock about the size of my palm with which to bash enemies with. The general battle plan was to harass my opponent at a range with the stick, and then when they are tired or slip up, bash their head in with the stone mercilessly. I have no idea if this would work though.

My genius innovation was that, in order to keep a hand free whilst traveling, I set the branch inside my ribcage. Pretty clever if I do say so myself. Does it hurt my body to do this? Nope, not at all.

During my few days on the new world I have done several tests with my body to understand various limits and how it works.

Firstly, my senses. I don’t have any eyes, ears, or nerves, yet I can still see, hear, and feel things. Unfortunately, I don’t have an exact reason as to why this is, but I hypothesize that my body can naturally glean these senses from the mana in the environment. However, except for touch being a bit dulled, everything is about the same.

Pain, however, is not mitigated. On the other hand, my bones regenerate. I had taken my stone and smashed my free hand with it yesterday, which was extremely painful, but my fingers and hand have regenerated back to how they once were. When I had done so, I lost about 1 HP, but it eventually restored by the next day.

I also discovered that I am unable to remove my body parts. I don’t know what will happen if I do lose an arm or leg, but it seems like a little too much of a gamble to find out.

I also realized that I am not speaking. Because I don’t have any vocal cords or lungs, I cannot speak or sing, my bones just clatter around a bit. I have done nothing but think to myself and make weird gestures in the woods.

My quiet adventure quickly turned into a silent one.

As for why I haven’t run into any animals or predators, I just think that there is little nutritional value in hunting me. I’m a weak, level 1 skeleton, so the experience any hunter would get is minimal. On top of that, I have no meat on which to feed. It’s possible I have marrow, but honestly most animals probably judge that it would be a waste of time.

Of course, this theory doesn’t take into account monsters who may be starving and desperate.

I slowly came down off the high of my innovative prowess and began moving onwards again. I contemplated where exactly I was headed.

I knew where I could not go, and that was anywhere near people. I may be able to think, but I have no way to communicate, and I guarantee I will be killed on sight. Compound that with my low level, and it will be instant death. So where should I go? I imagined that something would happen after walking so long but so far…

At that moment, my thoughts were stopped short by a sudden voice resounding in my cranium.

You have learned the [Hiking] skill!

Oh! How interesting! I finally got a skill! That took quite a while, too. I’ve been resting during the nights, so about 30 hours of hiking in the woods has finally gotten me a skill.

It seems that getting skills isn’t as easy as I first thought. Usually in the various ‘other world’ novels I had read back on earth, some chump swinging a sword for a little bit could get them the skill, but here it appears to take much more work.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

However, the difference was noticeable. I could feel myself being better able to navigate on the unsure footing, I was tripping over plants and debris a little less, and my bones didn’t feel as much pressure on them.

“Skills are amazing!” I marveled inwardly. “I should try to get as many as I can!”

How nice it is to have a goal again. I began to swing the stone I held in my palm, visualizing some sort of enemy I had to hit with it. I slid the branch from out of my ribcage as well to physically practice my weapon combo. Even if I didn’t get a skill from my flailing around with these items, I would at least get just a bit more used to having them in my hands.

I took a break from my wandering in the forest to practice my swings against a nearby tree.

I had just begun to get engrossed in my attempts to break more and more bark off this defenseless plant when I heard a rustling behind me.

Unlike most of the noises in these woods, this one somehow gripped my attention. It was just a gut feeling, but I knew that there was something there, and that it was watching me. Well, I don’t have any guts, though. My training paused, and I slowly turned towards the bushes behind me.

I crouched my body a little, and tensed my grip on my weapons. I was backing away slowly as well, ready to run if the situation calls for it. Unfortunately, I became distracted by the poorly timed voice in my head.

You have seen through a higher leveled opponent’s [Sneak] skill! You have gained the [Presence Detection] skill!

Easy! What the heck, why was that one so easy?! I had to hike for a few days just to get hiking, but I awaken a 6th sense just like that? Wasn’t the whole premise going to require more effort? Now I just look pretentious!

I’m grateful for the skill, however. The voice also gave me a little bit more information about my unknown opponent. It’s apparently a higher level than me. Then again, I’m still level 1, so pretty much everything is a higher level than me.

My mind reeled back towards my incoming battle, but I could no longer sense the presence.

That voice from heaven basically broke my concentration and now I was in far more danger. Gods are the worst.

I focused my ears on my surroundings, staying completely still and silent. After a short period, I felt eyes on me once again, only this time it came from the right, where I held my trusty stone. I didn’t make any sudden movements, in hopes that the monster would make a move and I could counter it. This thing may be a higher level than me, but it obviously is taking this slowly and seriously, so it is wary of me somewhat.

I decide to show my back to this creature in a gambit to pull it out of the bushes. I turn towards the left ever slowly.

As soon as I am completely facing away from the underbrush, I hear a loud rustle and a howl. I whirl around as quickly as my bones let me, swinging my branch with my body. I land the blow against the monster who was mid jump and couldn’t dodge, and it crashes into the tree I was practicing on.

It lands to the ground with a whimper and I finally get a good look at my opponent. It’s a wolf. Slightly larger than a dog with dull gray, matted fur, it starts to pick itself up again. The wolf was ghastly thin, it was mostly skeleton at this point. Something tells me that this sickly dog was kicked out of his pack, and has been starving for a few days, struggling to hunt, and has come upon me as a last resort. It appears weak, but its eyes have a wicked, ravenous light to them, so I watch carefully.

I regain my stance as the wolf picks itself up, and I advance forward ready to stop its mouth with my branch. It snaps its jaws at me and I attempt to wedge my makeshift blade into its maw.

At this moment, I realized that my left arm was oddly light.

I looked down, and noticed a distinct lack of stick in my hand. Apparently, most of it had broken off after I had slammed the wolf just a little while ago. The wolf latched on to my unguarded radius and started to gnaw.

It hurt like hell. I writhed in agony and fell on to my back, and the dog fell on top of me. It was unbearable, but now it was close enough for my stone to hit effectively.

I swung my right arm, desperate to get the beast off me, and hit it right in the eye with my stone. It rolled on to the ground. I then quickly jumped on top of it and hit its head repeatedly with the stone.

Scared and panicked I continued to bash its head with my rock for what felt like minutes. I eventually noticed that some of my bones were soaked in blood, and I slowed my bashing to a gradual stop.

I got off the beast, rolled it over, and searched for a heartbeat. When I found that I could not hear one, I was finally satisfied. I slowly got back on my feet and leaned against the nearby training tree.

“Ah, I’ll have to find a new branch,” I muttered in my head. I need to get away from here, there was no telling when something would come here smelling some fresh blood, looking for a nice snack. I intended to be far, far away by that point.

I also needed to find a river to wash off its blood, so I don’t attract any pursuers.

I didn’t gain a level for that fight, oddly enough, but during my panicked swinging I definitely heard an announcement.

You have learned the [Blunt Weapon Mastery] skill!

I guess my training, along with the actual fight, compounded to get me this skill. Though calling that brawl “skillful” would be quite the joke. Getting tons of skills probably won’t be as fun as I had originally thought.