The object hovered low, cloaked in a faint greenish glow, then darted toward Ethan in a blur, slipping straight through his chest. It was supposed to go directly into his dimensional storage.
Ethan didn't pause to inspect it. Dawn was beginning to break, and he had to keep moving. He'd done what he could to disguise the skeletal form beneath layers of bandages and fabric, but someone entirely wrapped from head to toe, face included, was always going to draw unwanted attention.
He couldn't risk that. So he melted back into the ruins.
After several minutes of cautious maneuvering, he came upon a derelict shop along the roadside. Still mostly intact, offering just enough shadow and shelter for him to lie low.
Safe. For now.
He sank down and summoned the item from his storage.
The gloves materialized in his hands. Sleek and dark, made of a matte leather that shimmered faintly in the light. They felt almost weightless as he turned them over in his bony fingers, the surface cool and flexible, yet somehow durable.
[Shroudgrip Gauntlets (Uncommon)]
[Durability: 80/80]
[Skill: Grave Veil (Passive)
Strikes may inflict "Dread," causing enemies to stagger briefly and slow their movements for a short time. Attacks against undead or cursed creatures deal slightly increased damage.]
Ah, this was the first time Ethan had ever touched an item ranked above Normal. Uncommon, to be exact.
He tapped the grade label on the floating screen out of idle curiosity, and right then, a new panel slid open beside it, displaying a clean breakdown of the system's item grading hierarchy: Normal, Uncommon, Rare, Elite, Epic, Unique, and finally Legendary.
So this glove stood just one step above the base tier, but that one step meant a significant difference. Better quality, additional effects, and in this case, a built-in skill directly linked to the item itself.
Not bad at all.
Definitely a useful addition to his growing arsenal, something that could raise his overall battle potential.
Now, with the night's hunt behind him, Ethan checked his accumulated stat points. He distributed them evenly across his four usable basic stats.
[Strength: 28 | Agility: 22 | Magic: 0 | Constitution: 20 | Animus: 22]
Well then, his stats were looking much better now.
Ethan unwrapped the cloth bandages around his arm, letting them fall aside as he examined the bones beneath.
His skeletal arm now looked… different.
Cleaner. The surface of the bone had turned a brighter white, and there was a new clarity in the texture, almost polished. He tapped the forearm, and the sound echoed back.
More solid.
That was the Bone Leech at work.
But again… wasn't that just a random skill he received from the starter pack? If it had effects this impressive, shouldn't it be a natural racial trait for skeletons in general?
Or, maybe not.
Maybe it was because Ethan had been revived into a skeleton by glitch, not born as one through the system.
While his thoughts were racing, something in his gut twisted. A flicker of instinct, his Instinctive Hunter skill fired off like an alarm.
Crash!
A loud impact slammed against the shop's front door.
Ethan shot up immediately, yanked the gloves onto his hands, and turned just in time to see the door burst open.
A creature burst through the underbrush, snarling as it came.
It was a boar, but not just any boar. Its hide was a deep, slate-black, coarse and thick like armored leather, and its body towered with muscle, nearly twice the size of the wild boars Ethan remembered from his days as a human.
This one wasn't undead. And it was clearly about to attack.
The real problem? Ethan still had no way of knowing a monster's level unless he fought it firsthand. Which meant he had to engage just to figure out how dangerous it really was.
Not like he had much of a choice anyway.
"Alright then. Let's test these upgrades on you, beast."
He gripped the sword tight and immediately noticed the improved hold. His total stats had climbed close to a hundred. Stronger than he'd been on any night before.
"Come on, little piggy. You like dancing with skeletons?"
The boar charged, fast and violent, trampling everything in its path as it hurled itself straight at Ethan with terrifying speed!
**
[You have killed Wild Boar Lv. 13]
[You received 48 Exp]
[You have leveled up]
[Level 7]
[Exp: 11/92]
[Bone Leech activated.]
[Absorbing target remains…]
Ethan crashed to the floor, landing hard as his sword skidded across the tiles, clattering out of reach.
The wild boar slumped in the corner of the room, blood gushing from a deep gash torn into its right side, his blade had struck true. But Ethan's condition wasn't much better.
His left arm had been completely severed. It now lay lifeless on the floor a few feet away.
Damn it.
No pain, that was the one mercy of being a skeleton. But still, losing a limb was not ideal.
He reached for the detached arm, lifting it with his remaining hand.
"Could it be… reattached?"
He pressed it back to the shoulder joint and, after fumbling around, grabbed a strip of bandage cloth and wrapped it tight around the break.
It stuck, kind of. It hung there, limp.
And then, another notification flashed into view.
[Your skeletal frame has reached a critical threshold. Evolution pending.]
[Condition: Unfulfilled.]
[Requirement: Basic racial Class must be attained before evolution path can be determined.]
[Your skeletal frame has grown stronger.]
Ethan blinked at the message.
Eh… a critical threshold? Evolution pending? And basic racial class?
What exactly was a basic racial class? Was it like the Class System that awakeners received upon hitting a certain level? That point when someone stopped just being a pile of stats and started becoming something more?
He glanced back at his own state. Right now, he didn't have a class, just raw stats and skills.
So maybe that was it.
Maybe the system did support classes, even for undead like him. But the real question was, at what level did one unlock their first class? And more importantly… how?
Because whatever the method was, Ethan hadn't met the condition yet.
Still… one thing had just been confirmed beyond doubt.
He could evolve. And now, he would.
Unfortunately, he didn't have nearly enough access to figure out how the system really worked.
To uncover the deeper mechanics, like how class unlocks or evolution paths are chosen, he'd definitely need to meet other awakeners. Talk to them. Extract whatever information he could. That, or steal it if he had to.
He had considered heading toward the distant light he'd seen that night, a possible sign of human settlement. But something had held him back.
He wasn't ready yet. Not yet someone who could walk into a camp of armed humans without getting shot or interrogated on sight.
No, he needed power first. Enough to protect himself. Enough to command the situation when the time came.
So he made a decision.
He'd keep hunting. Grinding level after level until he knew more, until he had the strength and skills to move without fear.
Just give it one more week. Then he'd be ready.
[Minor skeletal damage repaired.]
[Soul-core efficiency stabilized.]
Another system message appeared just as Ethan flexed his left fingers. His arm, finally, responding again.
The bandaged limb twitched, then moved freely.
"Well, look at that."
Animus really was something else. Not just a stamina substitute, but a force that seemed to govern the integrity and function of his skeletal form. As long as he didn't lose the bones completely, he could reattach and restore them over time.
That was incredibly useful.
So practically speaking, he could recover from dismemberment… as long as the bones were intact.
But what if they weren't? What if they were shattered or taken away?
He didn't want to test that just yet. There was no telling what the system would do if part of him went truly missing. Would he regrow the limb? Replace it with something else? Or just… stay broken?
Let's not find out.
At least for now, he'd take the win. His body had limits, but also remarkable resilience.
Five days later.
[You have leveled up]
[Level 10]
[Exp: 44/125]
[Your skeletal frame has grown stronger.]
[Class acquisition conditions fulfilled.]
[You are now eligible to choose your first class.]
[Available class options:]