Throughout the night, Alsis swallowed countless soul fires. Even though he ate a lot, he still didn't increase in cultivation.
That was because the soul fires from the Malevolent Ghosts were impure. Compared to a skeleton, they only provide one-third of the total amount of soul fire.
When morning came, the fog slowly disappeared, and so did the ghosts. Alsis looked around and found nothing standing in sight. Presumably, the unlucky skeletons were all killed by the Malevolent Ghosts.
Alsis looked around and grabbed a skeleton leg from the ground. It was the femur bone and supposedly the strongest bone in the body.
Alsis hoped to use it to bash any skeletons he met.
He wandered around for a while before he found more skeletons scattered around. They were newborn skeletons that looked lost.
Alsis took this chance to test using a bone as a weapon. He ran to the nearby skeleton and smashed its arm while it had its back turned away from him.
*Crack*
The bone he was holding shattered into pieces. Contrary to what he expected, the bones in this place were weaker than live human bones.
The skeleton fell to the ground from the force and stood back up. It then looked at Alsis calmly instead of attacking.
"Hello?"
Alsis was taken aback and waved his hand in front of the skeleton. Even though he was so close, it still calmly looked at him.
Alsis moved closer and stood directly in front of the skeleton, but it only backed away and gave him space.
"What the?"
Alsis smashed the skeleton's skull without any difficulty and ate its soul fire.
"Was that skeleton stupid? Wait, they are all stupid… Maybe he was an idiot when he was alive?" Alsis wondered to himself.
He looked around more and found another skeleton. This time, he approached the skeleton and didn't attack it.
The skeleton's soul fire stirred and was about to attack him but quickly stopped as if it realized something.
"What the? Did eating those ghosts make me look weird?"
Alsis squatted in front of the skeleton and observed its body structure. The bones were held by joints that released dark mist.
"Oh, so that's how these work…"
Since the skeleton wasn't moving, Alsis took this chance to examine it further. He looked at all of its crevices and found that some unknown force held it. He presumed that it was Dark Energy.
Back in his world, there was no Dark Energy, but there were a lot of legends about it. They said that dead people would rise from the dead in ancient times, but after living for 500 years, Alsis never saw a moving corpse before.
Alsis moved farther from the skeleton, and it followed him, to his surprise.
"What? Do you want to be my lackey or something?"
Alsis stared at the skeleton in confusion. Since it wasn't attacking him and followed him, wouldn't that mean that it wants to be his follower?
Alsis lowered his head and looked at his black bones. It was a stark difference compared to the white bones that the skeleton had.
"I see, I see. You want to follow me because of my strength?"
Alsis finally understood. There might be some hierarchy in this world for skeletons. It made sense because newborn skeletons would die in the hands of powerful skeletons. They might as well serve them.
"Alright, since you're going to follow me, I will give you a name."
Alsis rubbed his chin with his boney fingers and thought hard. This skeleton was a… skeleton.
It was bright white and followed him.
"Whitey?" Alsis called out.
The skeleton, as if it understood his words, half-kneeled in front of him.
"Holy sh*t? Does that mean that I can start a skeleton army?" Alsis said out loud.
Alsis placed his hand on the Whitey's head and patted it.
"Serve me well, buddy. I will help you grow," Alsis said.
If he had flesh, his face would be full of smiles. He was happy to find a companion in this dark world.
Whitey stood up and looked at Alsis, waiting for his orders.
"Follow me. I will help you improve your strength," Alsis said.
The soul fire in Whitey's head flickered in response.
"Good."
Alsis nodded his head in satisfaction. He brought the skeleton with him and quickly found another skeleton.
This time, the skeleton was facing them. It immediately saw Alsis and stood silently.
"..."
Alsis was speechless at the status his black bones brought him. That new skeleton quickly pledged allegiance to him without any suspense.
He named him Boney.
With the two skeletons in tow, Alsis found another skeleton. As expected, it stood there like an idiot.
Just as Alsis was thinking of a name for it, the two skeletons on his side attacked it without any warning.
"Hey!"
Alsis was already too late. With the two of them attacking a defenseless skeleton, that skeleton quickly died. Its head shattered, and countless bone pieces flew everywhere.
"..."
Alsis watched as Whitey and Boney looked at each other and then at Alsis. Whitey held the soul fire in his hand, waiting for orders.
"That guy was supposed to be your ally! Why did you kill him??" Alsis scolded the two of them angrily.
"..."
"..."
Silence.
The two skeletons looked at him the same. They didn't understand anything he said.
"Okay. Then we're staring at each other."
Alsis was upset at them and simply stared back.
It turned into a deadlock. No one moved, and no one spoke.
…
Soon, the sky slowly darkened. Alsis was shaking in anger. They had been staring at each other for a whole day. He took the soul fire and ate it.
The moment he ate it, the two skeletons suddenly attacked him. Whitey threw a punch while Boney threw a kick. They attacked as if they had planned it before.
Alsis was unguarded, and their fist and kick hit him. He fell over, and they started beating him up.
Alsis raised his arms up and defended himself from the two berserk skeletons.
"Stop!"