《Reincarnated as a Skeleton With a System》 Beginning Roman was walking back from home after working a particularly late shift, his boss had went home early and delegated Roman his work which was the cause for Roman finishing work when it was already dark outside. Roman was on his phone reading through one of his favourite novels when a masked figure walked out a dark alleyway and blocked Romans path. The masked figure quickly closed the distance between Roman and themselves before whipping out a kitchen knife which they had hidden in their joggers and leaving its edge gently on Leonards neck. Before Leonard could even process it he already had a knife up against his throat. The masked man said in a quick tone of voice "Give me your phone, wallet and watch or I''ll dig this knife deep in your neck." After Roman had processed that he was getting mugged he had no though of fighting back or running away. "Ok, alright just don''t kill me." Roman shakily replied his voice laced with fright. "Looks like you understand huh, hurry up then I don''t have all day." Leonard quickly retrieved his wallet from his pocket and unclipped the sliver watch he was wearing on his wrist, his phone was already in his hand so he didn''t have to get it. He had his phone, wallet and watch cusped between his two hands and offered them to the masked man, tremors continuously running through Roman''s hands as he had never had a knife up against his throat before. The masked man snatched the items in Roman''s hands and stuffed them in their pockets. Roman looked expectantly at this masked person as since he had handed over all his valuables he should be let free now right? The masked man on the other hand seemed to be contemplating something for while before his eyes suddenly steeled in resolution and the knife that was held against Roman''s neck slashed from end to end leaving a massive gaping gash in his neck. Roman could only fall to the floor helplessly with both hands clutching, squeezing on to the large gash attempting to stop the bleeding but to no avail. Although Roman couldn''t talk his eyes were asking the masked figure why he had cut his throat even after following his instructions. The masked figure looked conflictingly at Roman''s pitiful sight. "Nothing personal, it''s just I have to kill someone to fully enter my gang, you were the first person I saw when I went out hunting for someone to kill, so if you want to blame something for your own death you can only blame your own luck." As the masked figure finished explaining to the man bleeding out on the floor why he had killed him he disappeared back into the alley he had first arrived from.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. As Roman was swiftly bleeding out due to the almost endless amount of blood gashing out from his neck he could only feel indignant. He still had so much he wanted to do before dying but because some guy wanted to join a gang Roman was mercilessly murdered. Not only was Roman indignant he was also extremely angry, angry at the masked figure for slicing his neck, angry at his boss for making him work late which resulted in Roman meeting with the masked figure and finally anger at his own rotten luck that never seemed to go hisway. Roman''s dead body was slumped on the cold uncaring streets with a final expression of extreme anger, indignation and hatred. After his death a shimmering pure white sphere slowly escaped Roman''s body and although he had died, Roman''s consciousness had not been extinguished fully although he was in a heavily dazed state. The white shimmering sphere that left Roman''s body seemed to carry his consciousness with it. The sphere floated up into the sky at accelerating levels of speed, at first it was floating at a snails pace but as it went higher and higher the sphere began floating faster and faster. After an indefinite amount of time the sphere was travelling through space at speeds incomprehensible, having left the solar system long ago. Roman''s consciousness was still in a dazed state passively observing. The sphere just kept travelling and travelling until it went straight through some kind of massive hole, if Roman was able produce actually thoughts he would of noticed that this hole he had went through looked just like a wormhole. After the sphere went through the worm hole it appeared right on top of a gigantic planet of massive proportions. Instead of travelling through the planet like it had many times before the sphere felt a massive amount of suction, forcefully dragging it down onto the planet below. The sphere crashed down into a graveyard, travelling through a metre or two of soil it went straight into a skeleton which stopped its descent into the planet. The sphere slowly assimilated into the skeleton making its bony body its new home. A day or two after the sphere assimilated with the skeleton was around the time Roman''s consciousness had come back to him. Roman''s first thought after regaining consciousness was ''Where the hell am I?'' Trying to move his body Roman realised that he stuck in something, panic seeping through his mind Roman erratically began to move his body before stopping after he had stuck one of his arms straight up and he could feel that his hand had broken through whatever was surrounding him. Sticking up his other hand Roman slowly climbed himself out. After a couple of minutes of struggling he had finally managed to get his full body out. Finally free of whatever was encapsulating him Roman took a look at his surroundings wondering where the hell was he. ''The last thing I can remember is getting stabbed by some guy and dying out on the street, and I can feel that something else happened after that but my mind just keeps slipping off it. Taking a look around all I can see surrounding me are just graves and bones, wait no how am I still alive, that wound on my neck was fatal. [You are not alive host.] A sudden mechanical voice resounded in Roman''s ears stopping all his previous thoughts. ''Who the hell was that?'' Who Are You? ''I swear I heard a voice in my head telling me I''m not alive, perhaps the mugging gave me brain damage or something.'' [I am not a voice in your head, I am a system bestowed unto you by this planet''s will and also I suggest you take a look at yourself since after reviewing your thoughts it seems you still think you are a human.] ''Huh? System, plant''s will and I''m not human anymore, what type of nonsense are you spouting.'' Naturally although Roman thought this wannabe system was spouting rubbish he still took a look at himself just to make sure and that''s when Roman came across a shocking discovery. He truly wasn''t human, gazing at himself he found he had no blood, flesh, skin or organs, he was just bones, and not pristine white bones either but dirty and chipped bones with tiny cracks throughout. Roman was so speechless by what he was seeing that he just stood still in a daze until the systems robotic voice resounded in his head again. [Now that you''ve realised that you truly are not human anymore, I would like you to not refer to me as a ''wannabe system'' in your thoughts. I am a genuine system crafted by the planet''s will after it had reviewed your memories. In fact you could call me the first system in existence since I was created based on your strange preferences to get you used to this world.] Broken out of his daze Roman was just getting more and more shocked. He began to try talk to to the system but that was a stupid idea since as a skeleton he had no vocal cords to release sounds and the system could be communicated to through thoughts so there was really no point in trying to talk orally. Roman, quickly realising he could just talk to the system in his head since it had alluded to the fact that it could read his mind multiple time began to ask questions. ''Since you''re a system does that mean I have a status and other such system benefits, and also is this earth or am I on a completely different plant in general and who is this planet''s will and why is it so invested in me?'' [You are an immense distance away from your original planet and currently occupy the planet of Sylvara and any further knowledge on the planet''s will except knowing that it is your benefactor can not be shared to you. As a system taken from your memories you indeed have a status and levels but you do not have quests or an inventory or a system shop where you can purchase physical items as even I have limits.]If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ''Ok thank you system and I''ve got one last question. Why the hell am I a skeleton!?'' [The skeleton was the closest compatible body for your soul so it naturally made the skeleton its new home, you can only blame your own luck for that.] Roman could on sigh in exasperation and ignore the little jab the system sent him by using the same words the mugger used ''you can only blame your own luck''. ''Alright so how can I activate my status, I would of thought you would need to just say or think status but it still hasn''t popped up in front of me.'' [You first have to set an activation word or phrase, what would you like it to be?] Roman didn''t think too hard about what to set the activation word or phrase to be and decided on ''activate status'' to be it. [I have noted down your activation phrase and you are now able to open up your status.] Roman was a little excited since he had wanted a status for as long as he had been reading novels. Taking a metaphorical deep breath in to quell his excitement Roman thought in his mind ''Activate status'', and immediately a bright blue hologram popped up in front of Roman. [Name: Roman Lucian Laurent] [Race: Skeleton] [Rank: F-] [Level: 1/5] [Strength: 5] [Defence: 3] [Speed: 4] [Perception: 4] [Magic: 0] [Active skills: N/A] [Passive skills: (Adapt) (night vision)] [Just to let you know but an average adult human male has 10 in every stat except magic and the stat vitality has been removed as you are an undead] ''My status is just a pitiful sight huh, I''m assuming that to level up I need to kill other creatures, also what does the skill (Adapt) even do?'' Roman didn''t question night vision since it was self explanatory. [You were gifted the skill (Adapt) by the planet''s will, the skill allows the user to adapt to any foreign and strange situations at a much quicker pace then they would normally have. That is why even though you freaked out slightly at the fact you had become a skeleton and that you were in a different world you adapted to the situation quickly.] ''Looking at my past actions it did seem like I calmed down a little too fast, I guess (adapt) is a pretty neat skill. I think its time to start levelling up and get my status to stop looking so pitiful haha.'' [You are correct, currently you are very weak and can die to any above average monster.] Roman firstly began to try to find a weapon as if he tried to fight something barehanded he would probably hurt himself more then his opponent. Conveniently there was bones scattered in the surroundings so Roman began to try find the biggest and toughest bone to use as a pseudo bat. After some time Roman settled on a bone around 50 cm long and pretty thick, it was also in the best condition out of the bunch with barely any cracks. Roman was pretty sure the bone he was using as a weapon was a human femur but since this was a magic world that bone could have been anything really. clenching the weapon in his hands Roman felt a little more secure, he walked through the dark graveyard trying to find any movement. Roman kept walking cautiously until his eyes had caught some movement in the distance, or more appropriately speaking the two glowing red orbs which were situated in his eye sockets had caught movement in the distance. Prey Roman slowed down his pace as he saw multiple silhouettes in the far distance. After walking slowly and cautiously to whatever he had seen in the far distance Roman could finally make out what the creatures were. They were skeletons! Roman stopped around 10 metres away from the small group of skeletons marching around. Taking a closer look Roman counted four skeletons. ''I''m not sure if I can take on four skeletons all at once, I''ve never really been in a real fight before except for the last few moments of my past life and you couldn''t even really call that a fight.'' [Host I believe that you can fully take on those four skeletons, not only are you much more intelligent then them as at their current power level they can''t form any real thoughts and only move on instinct. Also if you look you can see they are all bare-handed with no weapons unlike you.] ''You know what, you''re right, even though they have the numbers advantage, that''s really the only thing they''ve got, all I need to do is not let they surround me or get too close and I think I''ll be fine.'' As Roman kept giving himself encouraging words he sneaked up on the four skeletons. He noticed earlier that even though he is only a pile of bones he can still see and hear, though he couldn''t smell, feel or taste, as even though he could see he was holding a big bone in his hands he couldn''t feel it in its hands, it was a pretty weird experience overall. Though if Roman could see and hear then the other skeletons should also naturally be able to see and hear, so Roman sneaked up behind them trying not to get into their sight and also tried to be as quiet as possible when sneaking up behind the little group of skeletons. Getting right behind the skeleton at the back of the group, Roman took a big swing, using his whole body''s momentum and smashed the bone he was using as a bat into the skeletons skull, shattering it into pieces, at that moment a mechanical voice that sounded similar yet different to the system resounded in Roman''s ears. {You have slain a level 2 skeleton} {You have gained experience} Roman had many queries in his mind, like who was that voice that he heard in his mind as he knew that wasn''t the system as although they both have mechanical voices there are also slight differences between the two. He was also shocked at how easily he had killed the skeleton though Roman couldn''t ponder on these questions as the three remaining skeletons turned their heads and stared at Roman, their glowing red orbs getting slightly bigger, almost like a human''s pupils dilating.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. The remaining skeletons seemed angry at Roman and shocked at the sudden death of their friend. The skeletons rushed at Roman, as if they were trying to avenge their fallen brother. Roman tried to keep his nerves under control as he maneuvered out the way of the angry skeletons, Roman moved so that the there was only one skeleton in hitting distance with the other two coming in behind the skeleton closest to Roman. Before the other two skeletons could come near he swung his weapon at the closest skeletons skull just like he did the first time, as the weapon came into contact with the skeletons skull it left several deep cracks into the skull doing some serious damage and it also left the skeleton sprawled out on the ground. Roman was a bit disappointed that he didn''t one shot the second skeleton like he did the first but he didn''t dwell on the matter and sidestepped another skeleton that was rushing at him with its hands trying to grab him. As the skeleton failed to grab him and stumbled past him, Roman once again swung his pseudo bat at the stumbling skeleton and smashed its skull into pieces, killing it instantly. {You have slain a level 1 skeleton} {You have gained experience} Taking a quick look around he saw that he only had two opponents left, one of them was slowly getting up from the ground whilst the last one was rushing at Roman, however the last skeleton was too close to Roman for him to dodge and the skeleton dragged Roman onto the ground with him. The skeleton was on top of Roman and began head butting Roman''s skull, a weird method of attack but probably the most effective. Roman began to worry as he could hear quiet cracks happening every time the skeleton would bash its skull into Romans. Still gripping onto the weapon, Roman smashed it into the skeleton''s body, cracking its arms and breaking a few of its ribs. Roman pushed himself onto the skeleton and began to smash its skull in with the pommel of his weapon. Roman only stopped his crazed frenzy of smashing the skeleton when he heard the notification in his mind that he had killed it, thoroughly destroying its skull. {You have slain a level 3 skeleton} {You have gained experience} {You have levelled up} Ignoring the notification Roman quickly snapped his head around trying to find the last skeleton that he had only injured. Finding that it only just got on its feet Roman quickly lunged at it from his almost kneeling position and gave it one last whack before destroying its skull and sending it back to the afterlife. {You have slain a level 3 skeleton} {you have gained experience} Roman stood still for a second after all the skeletons had been defeated. ''Wow I actually won, who would of guessed huh.'' Although his thoughts were pretty tame after such an intense fight if Roman still had a face and a mouth he would of had the fattest grin spread on his face. Roman felt a sense of accomplishment he had never before felt, the rush of euphoria after defeating all his enemies was something he could used to. ''Alright it said that I levelled up, lets see what benefits that brings.'' Level Up Roman internally said ''activate status'' and then the blue hologram appeared in his vision. ''It''s kind of spooky how the status screen just pops out of nowhere.'' [Name: Roman Lucian Laurent] [Race: Skeleton] [Rank: F-] [Level: 2/5] [Strength: 5] [Defence: 3] [Speed: 4] [Perception: 4] [Magic: 0] [Stat points: 5] [Active skills: N/A] [Passive skills: (Adapt) (night vision)] ''hm, nothing really changed except stat points, they weren''t there the last time I opened my status.'' [Currently for you every time you level up you gain 5 stat points, that number will increase every time you evolve.] ''I''m assuming I can just place the stat points into any stat I want?'' [You would be correct.] ''I now know how to increase stats but how do I gain skills?'' [You gain a certain amount of skills every time you evolve and also if you repeat something for a large number of times you may gain a skill that way. For example if you trained with a sword for a long time you could gain an apprentice swordsman skill, also you may be offered skills when you reach a level milestone.] ''Ok, thank you system, and talking about the system who was that other voice which rang in my ear when I killed a skeleton or levelled up?'' [You can liken me to the artificial intelligence of the system that is interactive whilst you can think of the other voice as a set of fixed code that activates every time you do something like kill something or level up.] ''I can kind of understand that, if you are technically AI does that mean you have no emotions?'' [Hmmm, I don''t know.]The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Roman rolled his eyes internally at the system''s last answer, he was going to ask it about why he easily killed the first skeleton but after some contemplation he came to a conclusion. Looking at his stats he saw how his lowest stat was defence whilst his highest was strength, since both he and his opponents were skeletons Roman made an assumption using his own stats as proof that all skeletons had defence as their lowest stat and strength as their highest. Of course he could be completely wrong since his conclusion was created on baseless assumptions but his theory was the one that made the most sense in his mind. So if his opponents had low defence like Roman then him being able to one shot the first skeleton was very plausible. After Roman concluded his theory he focused on the more pressing matter at hand, how should he spend his 5 points? Roman touched his skull and although he couldn''t feel per se, he could sense his hand moving slightly inwards at certain places of his skull and was certain that his skull has slight cracks in it from that one skeleton''s headbutts. ''That skeleton only headbutt me a few times and my skull is already covered in small cracks, if I had let it keep headbutting me then I could have easily died.'' Roman shivered at that thought, although he could hear cracks he didn''t realise how truly close he was to his second death. ''Having taken into account everything I think I should put the majority of my stat points into defence as not only is it my lowest stat but my skull is already damaged and then ill put the remainder into strength.'' Having made up his mind Roman asked the system for confirmation that he''s not messing up somewhere. ''Say system do you think putting the stat points into defence and strength is good or am I doing something stupid?'' [Every stat is useful in some way or another but for your specific circumstances I do believe that defence and strength are the best stats for you.] ''Since I don''t have vitality am I unable to heal these cracks on my skull?'' [Indeed you are unable to naturally heal any sort of injury you receive, although every evolution gives your body a full heal, But although you can''t heal naturally you can get skills which can heal your type of body such as bone absorption skill where you absorb external bones into your body which heals and reinforces your own bones or a creation skill which can recreate the chipped or cracked bones on your body for the cost of mana. These are only a few examples there is a near unlimited amount of skills which can heal your body.] ''Alright so until I either evolve or gain a healing skill I''ll have these cracks on my skull, I think this fact reinforces my idea of putting the majority of my stat points into defence to strengthen my weakened skull so I don''t get one-shot.'' Finishing on that thought, Roman finally placed his 5 stat points. [Defence: 3 -> 7] [Strength: 5 -> 6] [Stat points: 5 -> 0] Roman felt as if some sort of energy went through his entire body before leaving. ''That felt pretty good. Looking at my stats, I''m one step closer to reaching the power of an ordinary male human.'' ''I''m guessing I should try to quickly level up as I''ve got nothing better to do, plus I need to evolve quickly so I can heal these cracks in my skull not to mention looking at the rest of my body I can see chips and tiny cracks in my bones, probably caused by the decay of time, it seems the body I possessed was quite old.'' ''Say, system is there only skeletons here to kill?'' [I am unable to confirm as I can only observe through your senses but judging by how this location is a graveyard filled with bones then you probably will be facing mostly skeletons with perhaps a few other undead races as well such as zombies or ghouls.] ''I would rather take skeletons to fight over zombies or ghouls, let''s hope I never encounter them.'' At that moment Roman realised that he might have jinxed himself. ''Alright lets go get get some experience and level up quickly, and hope to only meet skeletons.'' Killing Roman narrowly dodged a charging skeleton before he lifted his weapon up and released a downward strike on the skeleton''s skull mercilessly shattering it into countless pieces. The headless body fell to the floor, never to rise again. {You have slain a level 3 skeleton} {You have gained experience} {You have levelled up} After Roman had levelled up to level two he had encountered a few more groups of skeletons with around three to four skeletons per group. After going through numerous skeletons lives Roman had finally levelled up again to level three. ''Phew, that was a close one, had I reacted a second later and let that skeleton jump on me I could have died even with my boost in defence. Luckily I''ve only encountered skeletons so far so that''s good, I''ve already decided on where to put the five stat points while travelling in search of more skeletons.'' [Oh, what stats are you improving host?] Roman rolled his eyes at the system''s antics. He was sure that, since the system could read his mind, it already knew which stats he was going to improve, but he didn''t dwell on it too much. Nevertheless, he answered the system. ''Speed and perception, speed since not only will help me better dodge attacks but it will also make my strikes more powerful since the power of a strike is a combination of how strong it is and how fast it is, and then perception because it will give me a faster reaction time and also improve my senses slightly.'' [That''s a wise choice host.] After finishing his conversation with the system, Roman popped up his status screen and distributed his stat points. [Name: Roman Lucian Laurent] [Race: Skeleton] [Rank: F-] [Level: 3/5] [Strength: 6] [Defence: 7] [Speed: 4 -> 8] [Perception: 4 -> 5] [Magic: 0] [Stat points: 5 -> 0] [Active skills: N/A] [Passive skills: (Adapt) (night vision)] Roman felt that wave of energy rush through him again before dissipating. Unlike the last time he distributed his stats Roman could feel the change that happened to his body immediately, although it wasn''t large he could feel his sight getting sharper and his thinking speed quicken slightly from the boost to perception while his boost to speed brought a more drastic change.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Roman ran up and down two separate graves and could feel that he was way faster than before. ''System are you able to calculate how fast I am?'' [That is within my capabilities, Judging by how fast you ran between the two graves I can estimate that your peak speed is twenty kilometres an hour.] ''That''s pretty fast, since I''m undead and don''t have any stamina does that mean I can continuously run at my peak speed without getting tired?'' [You are technically correct but I would not recommend you to do that, since although you can''t grow tired your body will break if put under too much stress for too long.] ''That sounds about right, I mean there had to be limits to unlimited stamina, at least there had to be limits at my current level of power.'' After finishing his conversation with the system Roman practiced swinging his bone weapon and moving around in weird ways to get himself used to his boost in speed, a slight worry Roman had was that he noticed that he could move slightly faster then he could think but it wasn''t that big of a difference. Getting used to his new state Roman wanted to test his power on some skeletons. Travelling through the graveyard Roman searched like a maniac, before his eyes landed on a small group of skeletons moving in the far distance. Quickly closing the distance Roman stood a few metres away from a group of four skeletons. Roman observed the skeletons for a moment before attacking the closest one, taking a step forward to close the distance Roman sent a swift blow to the skeleton, easily smashing its skull in. Ignoring the notifications of the system ringing in his mind Roman closed in on two skeletons at the same time. Roman sent a very wide swing easily smashing the first skeletons skull before continuing on its path albeit with a lot less momentum and smacking the second skeletons skull, sending it flying to the ground with a massive crack etched on its skull. Only after Roman had killed two skeletons and incapacitated one did the last skeleton finally react and start running at Roman. The thing is though in roman''s eyes the last skeleton which was running looked pitifully slow. Not caring enough to dodge Roman simply swung his boned weapon and the skeletons skull came flying off its body. Its headless body kept running for a few seconds before collapsing to the ground. Walking slowly to the final skeleton Roman gave it one swift swing and put it out of its misery. Leaving battle mode Roman stood still slightly incredulous at what he had just done. ''Was it supposed to be that easy.'' ''I didn''t notice it originally but one level can make you a lot stronger.'' [It is not only the increase in speed and perception that made that battle very easy but also the battle experience you have gained from skeletons.] ''Yeah I guess if you put it that way, but levelling up is going to be a lot easier since I can kill skeletons as easy as mowing down grass.'' [It is good to grow confident but do not stray into arrogance and recklessness, face every enemy with all your strength, no matter how weak you perceive them to be and carry a certain level of cautiousness too no matter what your facing. I saw in the last fight that you were doing some very flashy and reckless moves against the skeletons when you definitely could have been more careful and cautious.] Roman was a little taken aback at the systems response since it had never talked like this before. ''Yeah I guess I was being a little too reckless when I didn''t have to be, I''ll keep your words in mind.'' After having been given a stern warning by the system Roman continued in his search for skeletons but even after hours of searching he only found dead skeletons. ''I''ve searched for hours and I keep coming across these skeleton bodies.'' Roman observed a few skeletons which seemed to have been destroyed lying on the ground, these skeletons looked to have been killed recently. As Roman had come across this scene multiple times in the last couple hours a slightly chilling theory ran through his mind. ''Is there someone else killing these skeletons other then me?'' Zombie Roman was certain that there was something else out there killing these skeletons or why else would he find nothing else except destroyed bones even after hours of searching. ''System what do you think about all of this? This can''t have just been a coincidence, that I suddenly stopped finding alive skeletons and keep finding their corpses.'' [I believe you are correct and I recommend you try avoid what has been killing all these skeletons since even though you have gotten a little stronger you are still weaker then the majority of creature on this planet. In fact you should start running now since over these hours the skeleton corpses have looked fresher and fresher, in fact the skeleton corpses you are at currently look like they have been killed extremely recently.] ''And what does that mean exactly?'' [That the killer of these skeletons are in the near vicinity, you should run lest you meet them.] As if planned by fate the exact moment the system finished saying those words Roman spotted a shadowy figure in the distance approaching. ''You wouldn''t bet that the thing I see approaching me is what''s been killing all these skeletons, would you?'' [Stop you''re foolery and run!] Roman immediately began sprinting in the opposite direction of that shadowy figure. But it seemed that the figure saw him running and chose to up its pace, closing the distance faster then Roman could run. Roman kept glancing behind, watching as the figure continuously drew nearer. Despair slowly engulfed Roman as he realised he wouldn''t be able to outrun it. As the figure got closer he got a better look at it and could finally see what exactly was chasing him. ''A zombie!'' A humanoid figure clad in leather armour with only its face exposed was running towards Roman, everything about it looking normal and human until you looked at its rotting face that even a mother couldn''t love. It ran like a drunk fool, its arms flailing wildly and body swaying side to side as if about to topple over at any moment. Even with its very inefficient running technique it was still a lot faster then Roman, closing the distance between them rapidly. ''It doesn''t look like I''ll be able to run away from that zombie, system is there anything I need to know about zombies before I fight it?'' [Firstly all its stats should be a lot higher then you so keep that in mind and much like the majority of creatures on this planet, a zombies weakness is its brain, so you''re lucky in the fact that the only thing unexposed on its body is its head and lastly do not get hit. The zombie probably only needs one or two hits to kill you, though I do have to mention the odds of you overcoming the zombie are slim to none, however if you do manage to defeat it you will receive rewards over a hundred fold what killing a skeleton would have given you.]If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ''Alright so aim for the head and don''t get hit, I was already going to do that anyway.'' Roman kept sprinting until he saw the zombie was getting too close. Roman turned around and suddenly stopped running as he realised if he kept running he would be putting himself in more of a disadvantage because when the time to fight really happened he would have less time to prepare. The zombie seeing Roman had stopped running unsheathed its rusted sword from the scabbard tied to its waist. ''Crap, I didn''t notice it had a sword.'' Roman was extremely exasperated as he believed that even though the zombie had an advantage in everything at least it didn''t have a weapon and Roman did but with this new revelation Roman truly had no advantage over the zombie. The zombie lunged at Roman and delivering a wide swing. Realising he couldn''t dodge Roman blocked the swing with his bone weapon, however the power of the attack was too powerful and Roman was sent flying a few metres away before rolling multiple times on the floor. Roman could hear the zombie running at him again so he quickly recovered and was barely standing when the zombie had already attacked again. Relying on pure instincts Roman jumped to the side landing on his rear and narrowly dodging. ''I can''t keep barely blocking or dodging since if I commit a single mistake I will undoubtably die.'' Roman got up from the floor and attacked the zombie with a two handed horizontal swing, he was sure that even if his attack didn''t kill the zombie it would cause it some damage but Roman didn''t take into account one thing. He wasn''t fighting skeletons where all their movements were as predictable as clockwork, he was fighting a zombie which moved like a rabid dog. The zombie had dodged his attack, It moved its body at an impossible angle and Romans swing had only just grazed it. The zombie thrusted with its sword from its very awkward angled body, its piercing strike so fast Roman couldn''t react however if Roman was unlucky ninety nine percent of the time then this would be the one percent time he would be lucky since the zombies thrust had hit in between Roman''s ribs hitting nothing but air! Roman inwardly breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the sword slide in and out of his body, causing no damage. ''Stupid zombie. I would have expected, from the number of skeletons it had killed, that it would of learned piercing strikes are vastly ineffective against skeletons. However this is my chance! I refuse to believe that the zombie can dodge my next attack from its ridiculous position.'' Roman took a step forward and smashed the zombies head in as if he was a batter in base ball. Green blood sprayed out of the zombies mouth and even with its supernatural balance it collapsed to the floor. Roman didn''t give the zombie any time to recuperate and attacked it relentlessly but although the zombie was slightly dazed from the hit to the head it still had enough mental capabilities to block Romans attacks with its sword. Roman attacked again and again but the zombie kept blocking every single one of his swings. The hope that Roman gained after knocking the zombie down was slowly getting extinguished as he saw it not only block every attack but also slowly begin to recover. ''Am I truly fated to die to this zombie today?'' Roman felt helpless. Realising that attacking the zombie wasn''t going to do anything, he looked around at his surroundings trying to find something, anything to help him against this zombie. That was until his eyes landed on a towering visage in the distance and an idea formulated in his mind. ''Even if the chances of this plan working are slim its better then what I''m doing currently.'' Against all odds Roman stopped attacking the zombie and ran as fast as he could to the towering visage. If the zombie caught up to him before he reached his destination then the plan would fail before it even started. The zombies grunts and moans grew more distant as Roman kept running. Peeking behind him, Roman saw through the light fog which encased the entire graveyard that the zombie had finally gotten back on its feet and was staring straight at him. Roman, seeing the scene, ran faster than he thought was possible, with the sound of the zombie''s approaching footsteps only pushing him even harder. Getting closer to the towering visage, Roman could make its figure out more clearly now, it seemed to be a destroyed statue of an awe-aspiring person. It looked to be a mighty warrior or king holding a sword up to the sky, however that was the only thing Roman could piece together as the statue was covered in massive crevices with massive chunks of stone missing around its body, not to mention that it was headless, as if something or someone had cut off the statue''s head. When Roman finally got next to the statue he could hear the zombie''s footsteps approaching at an alarming rate, not wanting to waste time Roman immediately put his bone weapon in between his teeth and began to climb the statue as fast as he could. He put his bony hands and legs through any crevice or uneven part of the statue, scaling up the statue swiftly and within no time he had climbed the 8 or some metres tall statue, collapsing at the top in mental fatigue. Around the same time Roman had gotten to the top of the statue the zombie which had followed him faithfully had just arrived at its base, looking up attempting to find Roman. ''Alright I have to do it now. If I wait any longer, I fear the zombie will stop circling around the statue and start climbing.'' Roman steeled his nerves before picking up a small stone that had come off the statue. He listened to where the zombie was currently and threw the stone where he approximated the zombie''s location to be. Roman wanted to divert the zombie''s attention for only a moment so it wouldn''t see and try to dodge what Roman was going to do. The stone right behind the zombie, causing a small noise, the zombie spun around and slashed at the sound, however it found nothing. Unbeknownst to the zombie the real threat was right above it, Roman waited a second after he had thrown the stone before jumping off the statue himself. Roman had his bone weapon clasped tightly between both his hands raised above his head, ready to strike the crown of the zombie''s head with everything he had.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Time seemed to slow as Roman closed in on the zombie, at the last second the zombie had sensed something wrong and looked up however it was far too late. The bone weapon crashed onto the zombie''s head, carrying behind it all of roman''s weight and power coupled with a nearly 10 metre fall. The zombie''s head exploded like a watermelon with its disgusting green blood spraying all over Roman and his weapon. However almost immediately after smashing the zombie''s head in Roman had to face the consequences of jumping off such a high distance. He came crashing down onto the floor with only the zombie''s body as a cushion, both Roman''s legs had snapped off and one of his hands had splintered into countless pieces leaving Roman as legless with only one hand. Nevertheless, he was alive, Roman was alive. {You have slain a level 10 zombie} {You have gained experience} {You have levelled up} {You have levelled up} {You have reached the maximum level} {Evolution available} {You have gained a title} Roman disregarded the seemingly endless barrage of notifications, only one thought echoed in his mind. ''I won.'' ''I actually won!'' Lying on the headless zombie''s chest, Roman stared at the sky covered in ominous dark clouds that shrouded the graveyard in eternal darkness. At first Roman was incredulous at his own victory, the zombie seemed to him like an insurmountable mountain against which one could only struggle and die. But as the realisation of what he had just done settled in his mind, Roman felt at this very moment, anything was possible. [Congratulations host, however you are in a very critical position right now, if even a group of normal skeletons stumble upon you, you would die very easily. I would suggest checking all the system notifications.] ''You''re right, I can''t even walk right now not to mention fight.'' A feature of the system that Roman learned while he was hunting skeletons was that he could look back at old notifications. ''Alright so I''m level 5 now and ready to evolve which means I shouldn''t worry about my current health since when you evolve you get fully healed, I understand everything but I didn''t know the system had titles, so how do I check what title I got?'' [Simply click on the notification and a description will pop up. The reason you didn''t know there were titles was because you didn''t do anything worthy of receiving a title before fighting the zombie.] Roman clicked on the notification telling him he received a title and the old notifications panel had gotten replaced by a title description panel. Title: [Against all odds] Description: "You stand where others fall. You strike down those who were meant to crush you. You are a defier of fate." Effects: - Permanent 20% boost to all stats - Killing enemies that are higher levelled then you rewards you with extra experience gain - When facing an enemy with a higher level then you, you gain a moderate boost to all stats - When severely injured in battle, all stats get boosted majorly for 3 minutes Roman was shocked at the effects of the title not to mention how cool it made him seem in its description. ''Against all odds.'' Roman quietly repeated the title''s name in his mind. Evolution ''The title''s effects all seem to be quite vague except for the first one, never specifying how much my stats or experience would get boosted, is there a reason for that?'' [If there is a reason for the system occasionally being vague then I wouldn''t know, but I''m assuming the system was just created that way.] ''Alright but other then the title being a little vague it nonetheless gives some very good benefits. I mean just the first effect plain and simple makes me 20 percent stronger, not to mention the other effects. Are all titles this overpowered? [Against All Odds is definitely one of the stronger titles, just the fact that it gives percentage based boosts to stats makes it superior to the majority of titles as they usually only give numbered boosts, for example plus 5 to all stats or something like that which is unable to grow unlike percentage boosts which grows as the host grows his stats. Then there''s the experience boost effect which is extremely rare for a title to have, so to answer your question no, not all titles are this overpowered.] ''That makes sense, now that I''ve finished with the title, the only thing I got left is to allocate stat points and evolve, but should I allocate the stat points before or after I evolve?'' [You should allocate them after you evolve since you could allocate them now and when you evolved you might of wanted to allocate them into a different stat more specific into what you evolved into.] ''Yeah I guess you''re right, let''s check on how this evolving thing even works then eh, status activation.'' Like every time Roman thought of ''status activation'' the blue hologram popped out of nowhere in front of him. [Name: Roman Lucian Laurent] [Race: Skeleton] [Rank: F-] [Level: 5/5] [Strength: 6 (1)] [Defence: 7 (1)] [Speed: 8 (1)] [Perception: 5 (1)] [Magic: 0] [Stat points: 10] [Active skills: N/A] [Passive skills: (Adapt) (night vision)] [Titles: (Against All Odds)] [Evolution options] [Just to let you know host, the brackets next to your stats are the extra stats you gain from your title so you have five points in perception and also an extra one point because of the title''s stat bonus which makes the overall stat of perception six. Before you mention it, the reason the status is showing (1) for speed and not (1.6) is because it only calculates stats to integers and if the number is a fraction it truncates it to an integer, for example (1.6) truncates to (1) making it so the system displays only (1) even though in reality you have (1.6) in your stat.]Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ''So does that mean I''m not losing any stats but it just shows me a slightly inaccurate number?'' [Absolutely correct.] ''That''s pretty weird, but it is understandable, now lets see these evolution options.'' Roman went to press on the [Evolution options] line in his status screen when his remaining skeleton hand paused a few centimetres away from it as a thought sudden resonated in his mind. ''Am I able to make changes to my status without using my fingers, for example if that fall I had taken destroyed both my hands instead of just one would I be helpless to change my stats or expand the evolutions line?'' [No, as long as you concentrate quite hard on what change you want to be done with you''re mind then it will happen.] Listening to the system''s advice Roman fully took back his hand and concentrated on his status screen, intent on expanding the evolutions option and in front of his eyes a new page of text appeared before him. ''Hey it really works.'' Evolution options: ----- Reinforced skeleton: Description: A basic but reliable upgrade, gaining a boost to all physical stats with its bones becoming more durable. Evolution potential: Medium (Can evolve into a knight-like or elite skeletal warrior) ----- bone giant: Description: A bigger and bulkier skeleton with greater defence and strength, capable of wielding heavier weapons. Evolution potential: Low-medium (can evolve into an even bigger skeleton or a heavily armoured skeleton) ----- Swiftbone Skeleton: Description: A lighter, more agile skeleton with greater speed and perception, suited for stealth and quick strikes. Evolution potential: Low-medium (can evolve into undead with heightened agility and stealth) ----- Magicbone skeleton: Description: A skeleton that has started to absorb traces of magical energy, gains a darker bone colour and an increase in magic and perception. Evolution potential: High (can evolve into an undead caster or potentially even a lich) ----- Blightbone skeleton: Description: A skeleton carrying a slight aura of rot and decay, its attacks can rot the victims flesh, gains a greener bone colour. Evolution potential: High (can evolve into plague-ridden or toxic undead forms) ----- Wretched skeleton: Description: A malformed skeleton tainted by an unknown curse. Its very existence feels wrong, as if something abnormal clings to its bones. Evolution potential: superior (can evolve into an unimaginably powerful cursed undead with mysterious and unpredictable abilities) ----- Zombie: Description: This skeleton has gained a layer of rotting flesh, gaining an increase to all stats. Evolution potential: High (can evolve into flesh-based undead or a small possibility of evolving as a royal of the night, a vampire) ----- Graveborn skeleton: Description: The Graveborn skeleton is a long-forgotten race thought to have been driven extinct, it begins to blur the boundary between martial might and sorcery allowing it control of both. Gains a purplish tint to bone as well as making its bones slightly bulkier. Evolution potential: superior (can evolve into long-forgotten legendary undead) {Some options here were only offered to you because of you''re achievements or external reasons.} Roman was shocked at how many options he could pick from, knowing that what option he picked would effect his future tremendously Roman read them very carefully, making sure he fully understood what the options were offering him. [Host, I would suggest you pick between the two superior grade options and disregard the other ones if you care for your future.] ''Talking about the evolution potential thing, what does it really mean? Like does it mean how strong your future evolutions are or something.'' [You are incorrect, evolution potential means how many evolutions you can go through before reaching your peak potential and being unable to evolve any further, if you have a low evolution potential then it means you will reach your evolutionary peak within only a few evolutions while if you have a superior evolution potential you have almost no limit to how many times you can evolve, however there can be exceptions such as mutations or someone external intervening but they are incredibly rare.] ''Is reaching your evolutionary peak bad?'' [yes, you will be unable to evolve any further, subsequently meaning you will stop growing stronger.] ''Ok, that does sound quite bad.'' Roman thought about what to pick and after some contemplation he narrowed his choice down to three. Zombie, Wretched skeleton and the Graveborn skeleton. Evolution (2) ''The reason for the Wretched skeleton and Graveborn skeleton are pretty obvious, since they''re both the only superior potential options, however the reason I am also stuck on the zombie even though it only has high grade potential is because it looks like its future evolution tree brings me closer to humans or even just looking like one.'' [Host I sincerely advise you to pick one of the two superior grade options, I understand that you might have a deep connection to a human form since you''ve lived the vast majority of your life as one but no matter what option you pick you will never truly become a human, just a different shaped undead. If you say you don''t care about being human and just want a form similar to them I can confidently tell you that there are a near endless amount of skills or magic that can transform your body to look like a human without having to make your whole evolutionary line about it.] ''I''ve lived thirty two years of my life as a human, while I''ve only lived less then a couple days as an undead. I just don''t know.'' [You need to adapt to the circumstances you have been placed in, and pick the best option you have available, without your emotions affecting your judgment. I believe after you give it some thought, you will listen to my advice.] Roman didn''t reply back to the system and just fell into deep contemplation, seriously considering the system''s words doing a thorough reflection on himself. After some silent reflection, Roman came to a conclusion. ''The system''s right, because of my past attachment to humanity I seriously considered picking the Zombie option, and if I did pick it I would be foregoing some major benefits and a lot of my future potential, just for the mental satisfaction of looking more human. I need to learn and accept that I''m no longer human, and instead of dwelling on my past life as a human and making stupid decisions, I need to focus the present, and make decisions that best benefit my current situation.'' [Does that mean you''ll no longer consider the Zombie as an evolution option.] ''Yes, I never should''ve even considered it in the first place, and I would like to thank you for putting some sense into me.'' [No problem, my goal is to best help the host.] ''Alright now that the Zombie option is out of the equation its between the two superior evolutions, they both sound incredibly cool, but there is an obvious choice. The Graveborn skeleton.'' [Why did you give it so little thought, what was your though process behind picking the Graveborn skeleton over the Wretched skeleton?]This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ''They both sound very powerful in their own ways but from the description of the Wretched skeleton, it just sounds as if there is too many dangerous and unknown variables with picking the option. I mean not only does the description say its been cursed by something but it also talks about it feeling "wrong" or something, just overall very creepy and eerie. Whilst on the other hand the from the description it seems like the Graveborn skeletons doesn''t seems to carry any disadvantages or things of that nature.'' [Understandable, the logical answer would always be the Graveborn skeleton ten times out of ten. Now hurry up and evolve so you can get out of your severely injured predicament.] ''Say no more.'' Roman, excited at the thought of the upcoming evolution focused his mind on the Graveborn skeleton option and a system pop up appeared in front of him. [Are you sure you want to evolve into a (Gravebound skeleton) Y/N] ''It''s good they have this confirmation message in case I accidentally pressed on the wrong evolution option.'' Roman once again focused his mind on the yes option and suddenly all the system pop ups disappeared and a single blue line of text replaced them. [Evolution starting.] Roman felt his consciousness grow weary and his thoughts begin to slow. ''Looks like I''m going to be put to sleep, and when I awaken I''ll be a Graveborn skeleton. Sleep, I haven''t had that in a long time.'' That was Roman''s last thought before his consciousness fully switched off and the evolution phenomenon took place. As if Roman''s body was a black hole, energy from the surroundings began to rush towards him. The first visible change to Roman''s body was that he began to regrow his snapped off legs and destroyed hand, once that was completed, the energy began to flow through any cracks or crevices within Roman''s body, closing them up and healing him, it also pushed all the blood, dirt and any other foreign thing out and away from roman''s body. At this moment, Roman was floating around half a metre above the dead Zombie''s corpse. His body looked brand new, his bones were pure white with no cracks or blemishes. After the energy had fully healed and cleaned Roman''s body, it began to to make his bones thicker and stronger, as well as increasing his stature by seven or eight centimetres. Once the energy finished strengthening Roman''s bones it began to change the bones'' colour, from its original whiteness it slowly began to get more and more purple before finishing and leaving the bones a light purple colour. That was the end to all of Roman''s external changes, however even though the energy stopped changing Roman externally it still ran rampant through his body, this continued for some time, gifting Roman with changes non perceivable visibly. That seemed to be the last change happening to Roman as the energy slowly began to dissipate back into the surroundings. There was less amount of energy that left Roman''s body then what originally went in, making it obvious that he had absorbed a large amount of it. As the energy left Roman''s body he slowly floated back down onto the Zombie''s body, but unlike before when his head rested on the Zombie''s chest, since Roman had gotten bigger and taller his head now rested on the Zombie''s shoulder. A few minutes after his evolution completed, Roman slowly regained consciousness, and the first thing he saw was the systems blue text congratulating him. [Congratulations for successfully evolving, you are now a (Graveborn skeleton)] Graveborn Skeleton [Congratulations for successfully evolving, you are now a (Graveborn skeleton)] [You have been fully healed] [You have gained stats] [You have gained new skills] [You have gained a new title] [Check your status for more information] Roman was a little dazed after just awakening but he quickly recovered and remembered what he had just happened. ''I''ve evolved.'' Roman read through the notifications and got up from his position. ''Hmm, I don''t remember being this tall, nor do I remember my sight being so strong, I can see so much farther and clearer then before I evolved.'' [That is because every evolution greatly boosts all your stats and your physical appearance to an extent, you are now a little taller with thicker bones. As the description said your now a little purple as well.] Roman took a good look at himself, realising he looked a lot more intimidating, and he was purple. ''I guess the evolution description for the Graveborn skeleton didn''t lie when it said I would turn a little purple, but ignoring that fact I''m a lot bigger now, and I can just feel power flowing throughout my body, I wonder how much my stats have increased? Not to mention I really want to know what skills I gained, especially that new title.'' Succumbing to his curiosity, Roman muttered ''Activate status'' internally to see how much he had improved. [Name: Roman Lucian Laurent] [Race: Graveborn Skeleton] [Rank: E] [Level: 5/20] [Strength: 20 (4)] [Defence: 22 (4)] [Speed: 18 (3)] [Perception: 17 (3)] [Magic: 20 (4)] [Stat points: 10] [Active skills: (Bone absorption) (Death''s whisper) (Phantom stride) (Mana veil)] [Passive skills: (Adapt) (night vision) (mana manipulation) (Lesser darkness affinity) (Lesser ice affinity) (Graveborn''s will) (Graveborn''s bones) (Graveborn''s regeneration) (Graveborn''s requiem)]If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. [Titles: (Against All Odds) (Last of the Graveborn)] Roman was shocked speechless by the sheer amount of skills he gained, not to mention the amount of stats he had gained. ''Hey system, do you think my current self could of defeated that Zombie on a fair one on one?'' [Definitely, Even though you have just entered E rank, you have stats and skills that can rival even a veteran E rank monster.] ''I''m assuming every time I evolve, I go up a rank.'' [Correct, when you reach level twenty and evolve you will become a D rank, and then the next time you evolve you will reach C rank.] ''Alright, let me check out this title first before I go on to skills.'' ----- Title: [Last of the Graveborn] description: "You walk alone where none remain. The dead do not forget. The forsaken do not forgive. And the lost do not let go." Effects: -Gain skill (Graveborn''s requiem) ----- ''That''s a pretty grave sounding title no pun intended, but it''s only got one effect unlike my other title. Since its only got one effect it better be good.'' Roman clicked on the Graveborn''s requiem skill, intrigued by what the sole title''s effect would be. ----- Skill: (Graveborn''s requiem) description: "You were never meant to be here. The Graveborn are dead, their bones turned to dust, their names lost to time. And yet... you remain. You walk alone where none should tread. And so, for this one moment, the lost will not let you fall." ----- Roman tried to scroll down and see the skill''s effects, only to realise there was no more to read. That vague piece of text was all there was to explain what the skill did. ''What the hell, this description tells me nothing about the skill.'' Roman was outraged at the nonsense the system just gave to him. ''System do you have any idea what this skill actually does?'' [Hmm, that''s strange, it seems this skill isn''t in my database, sorry but I cant help you with the effects of this skill.] Roman could only let out a sigh and move on with his life¡ªwell not a literal sigh but a mental sigh since Roman had no mouth or lungs. ''Well lets just see what my other skills do then, I hope they''re not as vague and confusing as this one.'' ----- Skill: (Bone absorption) description: Using mana you can absorb bones into your body, allowing you to heal yourself if injured, if you absorb bones when you are uninjured your defence will temporarily be enhanced, depending on the quantity and quality of bones absorbed. Amount of mana used depends on the quantity and quality of bones absorbed. ----- Skill: (Death''s whisper) description: You release an aura of domination and death, intimidating all beings within your presence. can be turned on or off at will, costs no mana to maintain. ----- Skill: (Phantom stride) description: This skill improves your speed and reaction time greatly, and when used in the dark it leaves behind afterimages, confusing your opponents. Mana expenditure depends on the duration for which the skill is activated. ----- Skill: (Mana veil) description: Allows the user to coat themselves or their weapon in mana, coating yourself in mana greatly boosts all physical attacks and coating your weapon in mana greatly boosts its durability and sharpness. Amount of mana used depends on duration and how large of an area the mana is coated on, can make the skill stronger by using a higher density of mana in the coating process but leads to much higher mana cost. ----- Skill: (mana manipulation) description: Allows you to control and shape mana to your will. ----- Skill: (Lesser darkness affinity) description: Allows you to transform mana into darkness, mana regeneration is boosted slightly in darkness, gives greater control in darkness magic and allows you to summon darkness magic quicker and at less of a mana cost. ----- Skill: (Lesser ice affinity) description: Allows you to transform mana into ice, mana regeneration is boosted slightly in cold environments, gives greater control in ice magic and allows you to summon ice magic slightly quicker at less of a mana cost. ----- Skill: (Graveborn''s will) description: Gives high resistance to all mind-affecting magic (charms, illusions etc) ----- Skill: (Graveborn''s bones) description: Greatly enhances the durability of your bones. ----- Skill: (Graveborn''s regeneration) description: Greatly enhances your mana regeneration rate. Skills ''Damn, these skills definitely make up for the (Graveborn''s requiem) one, they''re good. I''ve finally gotten magic skills as well, before I do anything else I should test out how these skills work, so I can use them efficiently in battle.'' Finishing on that thought Roman first wanted to see how he his current body was without the boosts of skills. He began to run around the perimeter of the decayed statue, pleasantly surprised at how fast he was. "Wow, I''m at least two or three times faster then my previous self, in fact I might be faster then that Zombie now." Roman began to search for his trusty bone weapon that has served him ever since he became a skeleton since he had dropped the weapon when he jumped off the statue and gave the zombie one last attack. It didn''t take Roman long to find the bone weapon but it wasn''t a sight he wanted to see, the weapon he had used ever since inhabiting the body of this skeleton, what Roman had theorised was a human femur, was laying on the ground on the ground into two. It seemed that the last attack Roman unleashed on the Zombie had been to much too handle for his weapon, leaving it broken on the floor. Roman was a little heartbroken to say the least, the bone weapon was a large part on why he was able to level up so quickly and even kill the Zombie. He had even started to grow a bond with it. ''sigh, I guess everything has to come to an end, femur, or whatever bone you were, you were a good partner.'' Roman momentarily halted his plans of testing his skills and stats and began to dig a hole, it was around half a metre deep and half a metre long, you could say digging the hole partially tested Roman''s improved strength and speed since, he was able to dig that hole in less then a minute just using his bare hands. Roman then gently placed the two broken pieces into the hole and began to bury it again. Putting a decently big rock on top of the bone weapon''s grave to act as a tombstone. ''I''ll have to leave your tombstone blank, since I have no way of engraving in stone yet, but I hope this can slightly give back to all the help you''ve given me.'' Roman looked silently at the tombstone for a few seconds and then slowly began to return to what he was doing before finding the broken weapon. ''Ok, I''ve practically tested my stats now, let''s start testing out my new skills now.''Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Roman first used (phantom stride), it was a little hard at first since Roman had never used an active skill before but he quickly got the hang of it. You just had to think about using the skill and it would activate. When phantom stride activated, Roman could feel his mana pool continuously empty as the skill stayed activated. Immediately after turning on the skill Roman could feel his thoughts getting much faster, and when he started moving to see how fast he now was, Roman was shocked at the sheer speed he could produce, with the skill activated he could travel around the statue in a blink of an eye, he could throw out dozens of punches within a second. However even though phantom stride was an incredible skill it carried a heavy downside, it took a lot of mana. Roman did some calculations and he got that if he kept the skill active for less than five minutes, his whole mana pool would be drained. ''Although its an overpowered skill, I got to make sure not to overuse or I''ll quickly run out of mana in a battle. Though, system, I''ve got a question about the stat magic, what exactly is it? Like when I increase it, does it purely just increase my mana pool, or is there more to it?'' [Good question, you''re correct in saying that when magic increases so does your mana pool but it also does so much more, it also increases mana regeneration, though that wont be noticeable since when your mana regeneration increases so does your mana pool so it still takes the same time to regenerate your whole mana pool no matter how high your magic stat is, though it takes the same time, per second it does regenerate more mana. The second thing that happens when you increase your magic stat is that your spells increase in strength and effectiveness, for example if two people learned the same spell, a simple fireball, but one had ten in the magic stat while the other had one hundred, the person with a one hundred magic stat would have a much more powerful fireball even if they both cast the same spell and used the same amount of mana to create it. The last effect of magic is very subtle yet extremely important. As you increase your magic stat your resistance to foreign magic cast by others increases, so if someone cast a mind control spell on you but you had a very high magic stat then the spell wouldn''t work because of your high magic resistance due to your magic stat.] ''Ok, that''s quite a lot to take in, magic is definitely the most complicated stat in how it works, though what you''re basically telling me is that magic is a super useful stat.'' [Correct, you could argue that all stats are equally important but you could also argue that one stat is more important then the others and if you did say that then magic would be a strong contender at the number one place.] ''Yeah, though I have gotten quite side-tracked, lets go back to testing out my other skills, though for that I think using it against some skeletons would best show the effects of the skills.'' Right as Roman began to leave the statue site where the Zombie''s corpse lay, he paused in his tracks. ''Hold on, before I leave this place, I might as well loot the Zombie''s body, I do remember seeing some things that could be useful to me.'' Looting Roman walked back to the Zombie and began to strip it of everything it had, it was all pretty easy except for when it was time to take off its armour, it seems that the Zombie''s rotten flesh had partially fused with the leather armour, so when Roman ripped the armour off its body he also ripped off the zombies outer skin, just making the whole thing a disgusting mess. ''I was thinking of wearing that armour but hell no, I''m not wearing that disgusting thing.'' After Roman stripped the Zombie bare, he began to put all the items into different piles, one pile for things he wouldn''t use or wear and another for anything slightly interesting or that he would use. In the end, the items in the useable pile was the Zombie''s sword, its scabbard, necklace and a small pouch with what seemed to have some coins and a map of some sorts. Roman wrapped the scabbards leather belt around the gap that was just above his femur and just below his pelvis, then Roman picked up the slightly rusty sword and practiced swinging a couple times to get a feel for it, since his bone weapon had sadly broke, the Zombie''s sword would be good substitute. ''Hm, now that I''ve got a sword lets test the skill mana veil a little.'' Roman, using his will, activated mana veil and pushed his mana to his sword. The entire sword began to glow in a blackish blue type of colour, walking to the stone statue, Roman slashed with his sword, unlike what he had expected where the sword would simply leave a scratch, Roman was shocked to find out that the sword, enhanced with mana veil had cut through the solid stone with utter ease, as if going through butter. Roman deactivated the mana veil skill and slashed the statue again, however now with the skill not active Roman''s sword simple slid across the statue, leaving a small scratch. ''Mana veil is beyond impressive, though it is quite mana intensive. The skill''s description also said I could coat myself in mana as well and get a boost, let''s see how that fares.'' Roman used mana veil, but this time on his whole body, his purplish bones glowed just like the sword in a blackish blue hue. He felt power just rushing through his body, he began to jump around, shocked how fast and powerful he had become. Roman punched the air with the wind howling with each punch, he wasn''t satisfied with just testing his newfound strength on the air. He quickly sped towards the statue, appearing before it in a blink of an eye and began to unleash barrages of punches onto it, each hit leaving Roman''s fist indented deep into the stone, however he was interrupted when he suddenly felt a bout of weakness permeate throughout him and the blackish blue hue radiating from his bones vanished. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Roman put one of his hands on the statue for support as he felt incredibly dizzy, he didn''t need to search for what had weakened him so much as he instantly knew what the problem was, he was out of mana. ''Ugh, I was so absorbed in the power that mana veil gave to me, that I didn''t notice the massive drain it was on my mana pool, I had it active for less then a minute as well. That is a pretty acceptable price for the sheer power it gives me, but I probably should only use mana veil as a last resort, at least for coating my body, for coating the sword on the other hand, the mana drain is much more acceptable.'' As Roman slowly recovered from the dizziness he had a few questions for the system. ''System, why is it when I use up all my mana there are side effects but back when my magic stat was zero and I had no mana I felt completely fine?'' [It''s pretty simple really, when you didn''t have any mana, your body neither relied on mana to function nor even knew how mana felt, but now that you do have a mana pool, although your body isn''t depending on mana to function its used to the mana being in your body, and when you just drain out your whole mana pool then immediately after you feel dizzy because your body isn''t used to not having mana in itself.] ''Fair enough, it''s like when someone who drinks coffee everyday suddenly stops drinking it, and then they just feel tired and drowsy all the time. I''ve also got a second question about the colour of mana veil, why is it blackish blue. Like is that the colour of pure untouched mana?'' [The colour of pure mana is white, the reason why mana veil exudes a blackish blue colour is because your own mana has been affected by your affinities, black for darkness and dark blue for ice, mix them together and you get blackish blue. So mana veil exudes your own special mana, if you had no affinities then mana veil would exude a white aura.] ''That''s pretty cool, does mana veil''s effects change depending on the users affinities?'' [Technically the affinities do affect mana veil''s effects but the change is so insignificant that you shouldn''t worry about it.] Roman nodded his head and went back to the pile he looted from the Zombie, he had gotten side-tracked using mana veil that he nearly forgot he had other items to check. Checking the pouch, Roman found a gold coin, around a dozen silver coins and a ton of copper coins, as well as a map. ''I should keep these coins just in rare case I ever go to the kingdom they originate from, there''s also that map, lets see if I can decipher where I am currently.'' Roman started to read the map but stopped almost immediately after beginning. ''Hold on, these words aren''t English and yet I can perfectly understand them, what the hell!'' [Oh, I forgot to mention, one of the in-built functions of the system is full comprehension of anything you read or anything you hear, regardless of language, it''s also the same when you speak, even if the other person doesn''t know English they will understand what your saying. The only limitations though are that your personal writings wont be translated to others and you cant understand hidden codes or languages or that sort.] Bleak Graveyard ''Why have you never told me about this until now!?'' [Because you were never in a situation when I had to.] ''And I would expect something like that to show up in the skills section right? Like why is it so hidden.'' [It was never registered as a skill since its just one of the systems in-built features, but if you would like too, then I could add it.] ''Hm, yes, that would be nice.'' [Done.] Incredulous at the speed of the system since in a instant it proclaimed that it had added the skill in, Roman pulled up his status screen and lo and behold there was an added skill to the passive section. (Universal communication) ''Would you look at that, the system really could just add skills at will.'' [I cant add skills at will, all I can do it make skills for your already existing abilities.] ''Fair enough, but now that I know that language barriers wont stop me that will make my future a lot more easy.'' Roman went back to reading the map trying to find where he was, it seemed that the Zombie was once an adventurer or something since the map had a lot of added information as if the person who owned it had been to those places themselves and added extra information about them. ''The map itself isn''t that detailed but the annotations that cover it make it much better, first let me see where I am.'' Studying the map, Roman attempted to work out where he currently was, searching for keywords such as skeletons, graveyard and ever present thick dark clouds to try piece together his location. After a while of searching Roman was ninety-nine percent sure he knew where he was. ''Bleak Graveyard.'' That was where he was, Roman knew this since the annotations on the map described exactly the place Roman was at right now, with words such as ''numerous skeletons'' and ''very bad visibility due to the dark clouds, and other such descriptions to work out he was at the ''Bleak Graveyard''. ''I''ve looked at the whole map and this is the only place that matches where I am right now. However there is a question that''s been lingering in my mind ever since I defeated the Zombie. What killed it originally? Since judging from how the Zombie was still wearing its leather armour and carrying its sword it was obvious that it had not died of natural causes and been buried here, it seems the Zombie before it had become an undead was an adventurer and while the adventurer was checking out the Bleak Graveyard, something had killed it.'' If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Roman paused his thoughts and read the annotations'' on the Bleak Graveyard multiple times. ''No matter how many times I read, the descriptions only talk about skeletons being here, nothing else, and I know for a fact that mere skeletons couldn''t have killed him, well at least skeletons who weren''t me. So that leaves one option left, another being living in the Bleak Graveyard who is not a skeleton, killed the adventurer. So, in conclusion, that means something very dangerous is lurking here, much more powerful than the zombie.'' [That''s good that you figured that out, but there''s nothing that can be done currently.] ''That''s right, I should leave this place swiftly. As the only beings in the Bleak Graveyard are skeletons and a powerful being that killed the adventurer, both which are undesirable for me. The skeletons because they are too weak to give me any real experience points and the mysterious being because he is too much of a wild variable that I would rather not fight.'' Roman began to study all the places surrounding the Bleak Graveyard, calculating which one would best serve as his future home. To the south of Bleak Graveyard was a human city so that was instantly off limits as Roman was pretty sure that humans wouldn''t act kindly to a skeleton. The north was also off limits since it was just an endless grass field for countless kilometres, which leaves the east and the west, with both of them being forests. With both directions being forests Roman simply chose the forest which would bring the greatest benefits to him, which would be the east. On the map it describes the forest west to the Bleak Graveyard to just be a regular one with no high level monster inhabiting it, whilst on the other hand the eastern forest was described to have a populous amount of strong monsters, saying that the deeper you go into the eastern forest the stronger the monsters. Obviously, since the western forest had no strong beasts that Roman could level up from he ruled it out, meaning the east was the only suitable option and its name being, ''Oakmist Forest''. ''Oakmist Forest, yes that is where I will go next.'' Roman put the map back into the pouch and clipped the pouch to his only piece of clothing, the leather belt which also served as a scabbard. Before leaving the place Roman still had one more item to check, the necklace. Picking it up, it seemed to be just a normal necklace, it was silver chained with a small blue gemstone. Roman quickly lost interest in it and was going to put it into his pouch until the system interrupted. [I suggest you wear that necklace host, it is enchanted.] ''What do you mean enchanted?'' [Enchanted equipment is something that makes its owner stronger, whether that be by giving the owner skills or giving them extra stats.] ''So what does this necklace give me if I wear it?'' [To be honest its enchantment is very weak, simply giving its owner plus one in every stat but nevertheless every increase in strength should be valued, no matter how small.] ''I guess its not that bad, though you were kind of getting my hopes up haha. So do I have to be in direct contact with it to work, which means putting it in my pouch would be ineffective?'' [Yes, it has to touch your body somehow to activate its stat boosting function.] ''Fair enough then.'' Instead of placing the necklace into the pouch Roman put it around his neck. Finishing with the Zombie''s loot Roman headed east, to the Oakmist Forest. ''Hm, I wanted to test my other skills but I guess that will have to wait until I arrive at Oakmist Forest.'' Roman took one last look at the dilapidated statue, thanking it in his heart, for saving him and for being a test dummy for his power. Then he headed east, to Oakmist Forest. Oakmist Forest ~~~ One week later ~~~ Roman stared at the magnificent forest in awe, the massive trees seemed to have no end as they stretched endlessly in the horizon all the while a cool sparse mist flowed throughout the forest, seeming to be in unison with it, Unlike in the Bleak Graveyard where the mist felt oppressive and harsh. The sun shined down on the forest in all its glory, not a cloud in sight to suppress its beauty. As the sunlight clashed with the cool mist it gave the forest a nigh angelic aura. This was the Oakmist Forest. Roman was still a couple hundred metres away from the Oakmist Forest as he had just stood in shock at the immense beauty of his new home. Realising the he should quickly enter the forest lest any human spotted him, Roman rushed into the forest. Entering the forest Roman was assulted by various different sounds. The buzzing of the insects, water melodicly dripping from the humid trees, small animals scuffiling around the forest floors, the chirping of the birds and much more. After a week of travelling Roman simply wanted a small break, so he walked leisurely through the beautiful forest, slowly going deeper and deeper, admiring the view. Walking through the forest, Roman''s mind inadvertantly reflected on the past week after he had decided to leave the Bleak Graveyard. The journey was only supposed to have taken three days at most but Roman came to learn a hidden fact about himself, he was awful at reading maps. He kept on going the wrong direction and getting lost so the originally three day trip took a whole week. However, on a slightly more positive note Roman had managed to acomplish some things while travelling. First of all, he had allocated the ten free stat points all into mana as that was the stat he belielved he needed to bolster the most with all the mana intenisve skills he had gained. Secondly, Roman had tested out all the skills he previously didn''t, the skill Bone absorbtion worked just as described, he would use some mana to absorb any old bone and it would either heal Roman''s bones or enhance their durability temporarily. The skill Death''s whisper was very impressive, when he had toggled it on a thin black aura radiated around his body and when Roman toggled Death''s whisper around skeletons they would prostrate to him in complete terror, even when Roman killed them one by one they wouldn''t move an inch and simply let Roman kill them. However as impressive as Death''s whisper seemed on the skeletons Roman had theorised that it would only be that effective on creatures much weaker then him and that being who were as strong as him would have their morale and fighting spirit weaked slightly while beings stronger then him would only be affected by Death''s whisper negligibly. Thirdly was Roman''s affinities, with the Ice affinity he could create ice shards in thin air and pelt them at anything he wanted, Roman could also freeze the floor around him in a two to three metre radius and could just overall lower the surrounding tempeture if he wanted. Roman found that his Darkness affinity was slightly less useful then his Ice although it still had some uses, if he wanted to then Roman could enshroud himself or a small part of his surroundings in darkness, though not very useful at its current level Roman hoped that as its rank increased then he would be able to do a lot more mystical things with it such as dematerialising his physical body into darkness and travelling through it or creating thousands of shadow clones that could confuse his enemies but currently that was all wishful thinking. Fourth and finally Roman though back to the training he did over the week, he practiced his skills whilst travelling so that he could use them more readily in battle. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Roman was interupted out of his musing when he sensed a couple of foreign entities trailing him. The purple skeleton stopped his leisurely pace and waited for the entities to either reveal themselves or run away, and reveal themselves they did. Five goblins walked out of the bushery and trees as they snarled at Roman and screetched at each other. These goblins were exactly as decipted in stories and shows, they were all around one hundred and fifty centimetres tall with green skin that could camouflage well in forests and skinny scrawny physiques which had almost no meat on their bones. They were hideous beyond redemption with massive disproportional noses and unaturally big ugly ears. They wore rags that barely covered their lower bodies and were armed with pitiful looking wooden clubs. Observing these pathetic creatures Roman suddenly felt a little better about transmigrating into a skeleton, at least it wasn''t a goblin. His skill Universal communication was coming in handy as he could roughly understand what these goblins were screetching to each other about. "Big walking bones." "Pretty bones." "Kill bones and give chief present." "Yes." "Yes." "Yes." After the goblins unanimously agreed to kill Roman they ran at him, bearing their clubs ready to destroy the skeleton. Roman felt a little offended at the goblins'' audacity. ''Simply a bunch of fools running to their death!'' Roman pounced on one of the goblins and coated his hands using mana veil. He spread his arms wide open and slammed his hands together with the goblin''s head in between them crushing its head into a bloody mush and killing it instantly. {You have slain a level 2 Goblin} {You have gained experience} Giving the remaining goblins no chance to react Roman pivoted to another and pinned it to the grassy floor, his fist came crashing from above and hit the pinned goblin in the middle of its chest. Only the sound of a deep crunch could be heard as Roman''s punch had shattered all the goblin''s ribs. The shattered bones'' had stabbed themselves into the goblin''s organs, it instantly began to vommit mouthfuls of black blood. It died with disbelief and pain etched on its face, still not fully comprehending what had happened. {You have slain a level 3 Goblin} {You have gained experience} It was only by the time that Roman had brutally killed two of the goblins that the others managed to react. Their eyes widened in horror at their slain friends and they could only release bloody screams of terror. Roman felt delight at their reactions. ''Now now, you brought this nightmare upon yourselves, and now you''ll have to face the consequences.'' In the brief moment that Roman was savouring the goblins'' expressions, they seized that opportunity and ran as hard as they could, as if a demon was behind them. Roman chuckled internally to himself at the goblins'' feeble attempts to escape from him. He activated Phantom stride, arriving behind the slowest goblin in an eye blink. Roman grabbed the goblin''s head, slowly twisting it, the goblin could only flail around and struggle hopelessly against Roman''s overbearing strength. Roman continued twisting the goblin''s head until he turned it 180 degrees with its head facing Roman and the rest of the body facing the fleeting goblins''. Roman let the goblin die with his figure being the last thing it would see. He gave it a final mercy and ripped its twisted head clean off, the headless body spurting blood like a water fountain. {You have slain a level 3 Goblin} {You have gained experience} Roman coldly tossed its head on the floor and ran to the next goblin. This time when Roman caught up to the goblin he chose to kill it differently, he grabbed the shrieking goblin and threw it onto the ground. He gently placed his hand onto the goblin''s chest and began to release mana. Ice began to spread from Roman''s hand and swiftly began to spread throughout the goblin''s body. The goblin struggled and shrieked in dread at Roman''s actions but they were futile. Within only a few seconds the goblin had turned into a popsicle, frozen inside out. {You have slain a level 4 Goblin} {You have gained experience} Roman slowly stood up and stared eerily at the final goblin that was running in the distance. If he wanted to he could catch up to it in mere seconds but no, Roman simply watched it run. ''Lead me to your village.''