In total, there were five major cultivation stages for Body Cultivation. With each stage, the body would become significantly harder and difficult to kill.
If a Peak Marrow Cleansing stage cultivator lost blood, they would be able to easily recover it as blood is made in the marrow. But of course, Alsis doesn't have any blood.
"How am I getting stronger anyway?" Alsis asked himself in confusion.
The soul fire he absorbed merged with his own soul fire, but he clearly felt his bone become stronger. It was similar to the cultivation back in his world but clearly very different.
With no way to answer his own question, Alsis roamed around and found another lone skeleton. It immediately ran to him like a maniac. There was madness in its eyes.
Alsis took a step forward at the right moment and punched the skeleton right on its skull.
*BAM!*
The skeleton's skull shattered into countless pieces. The soul fire hovered in the air and waited for him to claim it.
Unlike before, he sat down on the ground and closed his eyes. Well, he closed his vision. He didn't have eyes anymore.
Then Alsis swallowed the soul fire, and it merged with his own. He felt the changes start from his skull and propagate to all of the bones in his body. It nourished them and made them harder.
"Wait! This is the Bone Nourishing stage!" Alsis exclaimed in shock.
The second stage for Body Cultivation was the Bone Nourishing stage. You fill your bones with elemental energy in that stage, causing them to become harder and more durable.
Unlike what Alsis thought, he was actually in the Bone Nourishing stage. That made more sense for him as he didn't have any bone marrow as an undead.
"But I feel like I'm only as strong as a Marrow Cleansing stage cultivator…"
Alsis was confused. Even though he was strengthening himself through the way of a Bone Nourishing stage cultivator, his strength was not the same.
"Maybe this is a difference in cultivation techniques. After all, a skeleton would not be able to cultivate their marrows."
Alsis stood up and looked around once more. He planned to find another skeleton and take its soul fire.
And so, Alsis killed three more skeletons. Each time, he would observe the change in his body, and he became more sure that it was really similar to the Bone Nourishing stage.
He decided that using his knowledge as a human cultivator was useless. He could only use his previous knowledge as a reference in the future. Right now, he was a skeleton cultivator.
When Alsis killed his sixth one, he felt a resonation in his soul fire. He immediately sat down and ate it.
His soul fire merged with that soul fire, and he felt a qualitative change in his bones. His soul fire burned brighter.
A few seconds later, his soul fire calmed down, and he opened his eyes.
"Wow. This is easier than I expected."
Alsis clenched his fists. He advanced to the Mid Bone Nourishing stage. He could probably stand still and take on one attack from the brainless skeletons with his current strength.
Alsis looked around and found no more skeletons. He only saw a few around him when he was reborn.
But just as he was about to leave, he saw something move from the corner of his eyes. He looked to his right and saw a skeleton stand up from the ground.
It was a newly born skeleton!
"Sorry, bud. Whoever you are, you won't even be able to explore this world," Alsis muttered and shook his head.
He approached that skeleton and drop-kicked its head. He didn't give it a chance to attack him.
Alsis grabbed the soul fire and swallowed it.
"Ahhh… Soul fire tastes good."
Alsis smiled. He picked a random direction and walked that way.
Before long, he found another skeleton. Though, it was different from all the skeletons he had seen in the past. The skeleton was crazily hunting another skeleton. It was bashing its head to it and stuff.
"Wait, is that the skeleton from before?"
Alsis recognized the moves the skeleton was using. It was similar to that skeleton that chased him before.
Alsis immediately ran towards it when he realized that it was that skeleton.
"You piece of sh*t! I will swallow your soul fire for chasing me!" Alsis shouted as he charged to the two battling skeletons.
Before he reached them, that skeleton bashed the skull of the weaker skeleton and swallowed its soul fire.
With absolute calm, the skeleton turned its head and stared at Alsis.
"Woah!"
Alsis came to a stop. It might just be his imagination, but the skeleton looked slightly grayish compared to before.
The skeleton charged at Alsis.
Alsis turned solemn. He could guess what this skeleton was doing all this time while he was analyzing the effects of absorbing a soul fire. It must've eaten more than him.
That means that it was stronger than him.
Alsis slid to the right and dodged the skeleton. It stopped running and charged in his direction once more.
Alsis crouched and waited for the right moment.
When the skeleton got close enough, Alsis jumped into the air. He flipped in the air and landed behind the skeleton.
Seeing the chance, Alsis chopped at the skeleton's skull. With his technique and increased strength, the skeleton shot to the ground like a ragdoll.
"Easy."
Alsis smiled confidently. It was a play in the park to fight against brainless skeletons that didn't know martial arts.
But just as Alsis approached closer, the skeleton suddenly jumped back up and tackled him.
The surprise attack was unexpected. He thought that his attack would have surely cracked its head.
Instead, he saw an insane tenacity in its empty eye sockets.
"F*ck!"
The skeleton rode Alsis and raised its fist.
'F*ck! F*ck! F*ck!'
Panic filled Alsis' mind. If that fist falls down on his skull, he was done for.