[Delivering Starter Pack to registered host...]
[ERROR: Host status - Deceased]
[Soul integrity: Crushed | Mind: Inactive | Body: Compromised]
[Attempting emergency rebind…]
[Retrying: 3%...]
[Retrying: 7%...]
[Retry failed.]
[Retrying again…]
[Retrying: 5%...]
[Retrying again…]
[Retrying again…]
Darkness. Nothing but darkness.
Ethan should be dead, shouldn't he? So why was there only this endless void?
"Kak… it's so big."
"Yeah… and kinda vibrating?"
And… Whose voices were those…?
"You think we can fit it in?" came a voice, young, female, like a teenage girl.
"...We'll have to push from both sides," replied another, this time male.
What the hell were they doing?
"Slowly, okay? Last time you forced it, it got stuck."
"Relax. I've done this before."
"...You have?"
"Yeah. Lockpicking level five, remember?"
"...Oh. Right. The door."
And then… Ethan opened his eyes.
It was strange. The light felt far too bright, blinding almost.
Daylight? Wait, how was it day already?
Before he could even begin to process what was happening, someone shrieked right in front of him.
"Skeleton!"
Ethan jerked his head up instinctively, just in time to see a girl, maybe in her teens, with short black hair and clothes that looked like… were they cosplaying? Tight, black, and lined with plates of light armor, especially around her collar and shoulders.
She stared straight at him like she'd seen a ghost.
Then came another figure, dashing over to her side. A man, early twenties at most, and from the resemblance alone, Ethan could guess they were siblings.
"Lina, what's wrong?" the man asked, stepping beside her.
"Oh no, I was just surprised," Lina replied, letting out a small sigh. "Look at it… hah, what a pitiful skeleton. I think it needs help," she added, pointing straight at Ethan.
The man silently drew a dagger from his belt, aiming it directly at Ethan without hesitation.
Wait… no… I'm not a skeleton.
Ethan tried to push himself up, but his limbs felt like dead weight. He opened his mouth to speak, but not a sound came out.
"Looks like a low-level one," Leon said flatly.
"I thought you said this place was safe," Lina muttered, frowning as she glanced around.
"This place was chaos when the monsters first showed up," Leon said. "But over the past five years, only the weaker ones stuck around. So yeah, finding a stray skeleton wandering here isn't exactly shocking."
"Well, maybe we should try the floor above. Might be safer there," Lina suggested.
"Nah, it's fine," Leon said casually. "I'm guessing this poor thing just got separated from its pack."
What the hell are they talking about?
Monsters?
Five years?
What the fuck.
Ethan's mind spun wildly. The memory was still sharp, he remembered the impact. Something massive had fallen from the sky, crashing into the city with devastating force. A meteor, or something far worse. And then came the message, hanging in the air in front of everyone's eyes.
The system message.
After that, the desk had fallen on him. That was the last thing he could recall before blacking out.
So… he hadn't died. He was still alive. Maybe just unconscious for a while. But… this wasn't just the next morning.
He glanced around the room, the remains of what used to be his office. Sunlight poured in freely through shattered windows, the glass long gone. But something felt wrong.
He didn't recognize this place anymore.
Sure, the basic layout was familiar, but the condition… The devastation was too far gone. This wasn't a place abandoned overnight, it looked like it had been left to rot for years.
Dust blanketed everything, thick and undisturbed. Mold crept along the edges of the walls.
What the hell had happened here?
Ethan had thought he'd only been out for a night. But clearly, it had been far longer.
And these two… Leon and Lina… were they survivors? Awakeners?
Had they received powers from the system? Their outfits certainly looked the part.
Were they just role-playing some game of hunting monsters? Or had the world really become one?
"And… so, are we just going to leave it here?" Lina asked casually.
"Nah, let's help it… by making sure it gets out of here quickly," Leon said as he stepped forward, aiming his dagger straight for Ethan's head.
No! No! Wait! Wait!
Ethan panicked. He had just woken up, and now he was about to be put back down, for good this time? By a complete stranger?
"Wait!" Ethan shouted, his voice cracking. But it came out.
He could speak.
The man froze mid-motion, narrowing his eyes at Ethan in confusion.
"Leon… the skeleton can talk?" Lina asked from behind him.
"Wait… I'm not a monster. I'm human," Ethan said quickly, forcing the words out.
At least now he could speak, even if his limbs were still useless. He could feel something pressing behind his back. He was still leaning against debris, maybe part of the old wall or a collapsed shelf.
Leon crouched down, face now clearly visible and inches away. He studied Ethan like a curious specimen.
"This skeleton can talk? Now that's interesting…"
"I'm not a skeleton," Ethan repeated, trying to stay calm. "I was trapped under a desk. I must've passed out. I don't understand what's happening. There was a meteor… it hit the city, and then, everything went crazy. I don't know how much time has passed."
But both of them were just staring now. Something in their expressions changed slightly.
"What kind of monster is this?" Lina asked, suspiciously. "Why can it talk like a person?"
"I don't know," Leon muttered. "Maybe it's a mimic-type. Trying to trick us into thinking it's human. Shame though, kinda forgot it still looks like a damn skeleton." He let out a short laugh.
Skeleton? Skeleton? What the hell were they talking about?!
He wasn't a monster! He wasn't some skeleton thing, he was alive. Human. Flesh and blood!
And then. It happened again.
Right in front of Ethan's eyes, glowing text blinked into existence, floating in the air. Just like before. Even when he'd been trapped in that endless darkness, the system's messages had always found him.
[Override Triggered: Host Classification - "Undead Exception"]
Wait… Undead Exception?
What the hell was the system talking about now?
[Binding soul fragment to skeletal remains...]
[Success.]
His breath caught in his throat, if he still even had one. The more he read, the worse the weight in his chest became.
Skeleton.Undead Exception?
No. No, no, no.
What was it saying? That he was… dead? Truly dead?
That can't be.
He was still conscious. He was still thinking, still seeing these people in front of him. He could hear their voices, understand their words, feel the floor beneath him, feel the weight behind his back.
This wasn't death. It couldn't be.
He looked back at Leon and Lina… and suddenly, the way they stared at him made a little more sense.
Just as Ethan was still grappling with the horrifying realization, more text burst into view, as if the system couldn't care less about his existential crisis.
[Starter Pack Granted]
[Contents (Randomized):]
[Skill Acquired: Bone Leech]
[Passive Skill - Bone Leech: Absorb trace mineral density and necrotic essence from defeated foes to gradually reinforce and harden your skeletal structure.]
That… sounded incredibly morbid.
But it wasn't over.
[Item Acquired: Cloak of Hollow]
What now?
[Item - Cloak of Hollow: A tattered cape woven from cursed fabric and faded shadow essence. Reduces the physical damage received by the wearer to a notable degree. Also slightly obscures the user's skeletal outline in dim environments.]
[Stat Boost Granted:]
[+1 Strength]
[+1 Luck]
[Dimensional Storage Unlocked]
[Capacity: 1 cubic meter]
[Restriction: Non-living items only]
At that exact moment, the dagger in Leon's hand shifted slightly, catching the light, and in its blade, Ethan saw something that made him shocked!
His reflection.
And what stared back at him… Was a freaking skeleton.
Slumped against the crumbled, stained with soot and dust, its bones dull and cracked in places. Hollow eye sockets where his eyes should have been… yet somehow, impossibly, it was looking back at him.
That thing was him?
His mind recoiled from the image, but it was too clear, too vivid to deny.
Then it hit him like a hammer to the chest, and the scream tore from his throat before he could stop it.
"NO! I'M NOT A SKELETON!"
Ethan, in a blind surge of panic, tried to move, and this time, he could.
He forced himself upright, trembling as he raised his hand toward his face.
No…
Bones.
"Fuck!" he gasped. "No way…!"
His mind spun in chaotic spirals. The system hadn't been exaggerating. He wasn't disguised as a skeleton. He was one.
He turned his head, slowly, toward the man still crouching in front of him.
And it happened too fast. The dagger flashed once.
Before Ethan could even react, the blade struck.
Darkness swallowed everything once more.
[You have been slain by Leon Lv. 25]