In a pitch black place with purple streams of miasma wafting up like steam.
A skeleton stirred within a structure. In the area in the center of the middle trapezius, there was a bony plate with an odd insignia-like tattoo. It depicted a simplistic casket, one with three names tapered to the back in a language consisting of strange symbols.
[Detected three types of burial rituals were enacted on this vessel. …It will take time to decide on a Sanctity.]
[Detected the state of the body. No organs or muscles exist. 'Health' has been changed to 'Durability.' 'Skeleton' ???'s status…poor. 'Race' has been changed to 'Pitiful Skeleton.']
[An arm is missing. Additional status 'Limb Stability' has been added.]
[Stats will be displayed.]
===============
Name: Undetermined
Race: Pitiful Skeleton
Durability: 100
Mortisim: 100
Additional Stats:
Limb Stability:
A1: 0/0
A2: 100/100
L1: 100/100
L2: 100/100
Morbidity:
Death Stigma LV 01
???? LV 00
Memory LV 00
Organ Power: Not applicable.
Body:
Skeletal System LV 00
Bones LV 01
Muscles LV 00 Locked
Meridians LV 00
Core LV 00
Skin LV 00 Locked
Additional body parts may be added if they are differentiated in the future.
Overall Level: 0.2
==============
All these weird numbers and letters caused pain to wash over the skeleton's head. Its brittle, dusty bones rattled as a jarring sensation spread through all of its marrow. Fear gripped its nonexistent heart, and the stuffy air around it churned with apprehension.
[Fear not, child. You have been granted death.]
The system took on a motherly tone, hoping to calm down the skeleton. It worked only because it was seemingly within its infancy. A newborn soul inhabited the vessel, one disconnected from The Great Tapestry.
By The Mystery's grace, it was drawn within the game. Everything is Bury. This 'game' inhabited by sentients was ordered to watch over this child, so a system with the means to do so was created just for it.
Its current level was also at 0.
The dark structure around it disintegrated into dust that was absorbed by the skeleton after it slithered all over its bones. A low snaking hiss filled the skeleton's "ears," and an energy spread through the marrow as it stood.
This dark, dark place was revealed to it. Yet, strangely, even without eyes, it could "see", or rather sense the area around it.
Because this was a place bereft of light.
No souls existed in this place. There were only Husks, beings in the game that lacked a soul and sought to purge the grace of existence from the 'Participants' first and the 'Inhabitants' secondarily.
Which was unfortunate. for this skeleton, who would've been an inanimate object. Maybe one day, it could become an 'Inhabitant' by the grace of the mortisim seeping into its frame.
That, combined with the whim of the Great System.
But now, it was both an 'Inhabitant' and a 'Participant'. This ambiguous state only resulted in an amplified ire from the husks milling about the darkened area…leading to them sensing the poor skeleton's presence.
It was truly a "pitiful" skeleton.
Thump. Tak.
It stood up and leaned against a wall composed of unseen matter. Looking down, it moved one arm to the other.
But the other wasn't there. There wasn't even a "ball" to an arm's "socket", all that remained was a bony shoulder.
The system began to panic in a hurry at this. The weak skeleton was lacking many stats…and it even lacked an arm! What could it do in this deep place, The Embrace of Maara?
It was a corner of it, sure. The main 'Dungeon' was a high-level place where even the highest rankers weren't able to venture. Because this was the little guy's 'Tutorial', it was scaled down accordingly.
Yet true to its nature, the 'Boss' of this place was a whopping LV 05. Even though the creatures in here were common runts that didn't even appear in the Embrace of Maara originally, they were still creatures that the normal newbie would shriek in terror over.
The system tsked to itself and considered its options as the skeleton rummaged about the area due to its curiosity. It could sense the hostility around it, but there was also a welcoming feeling that invigorated its weakened bones.
—Right, there was that.
The singular [Redemption Point] it was granted, a resource the systems could choose to invest into their hosts and grant them a trait. Many systems simply decided whether to do this on their own, not even telling the host.
In truth, the trait related went along the system's wishes. And all this system wanted was to give this poor skeleton a fighting chance…but it was subconsciously focused on the missing limb.
Bracing itself, it entered the point in an immaterial slot.
—Scheduling…how lucky. Two traits have been granted instead of one!
The overseer system in charge of the Redemption Point services chattered to the system using it. An intrigued laughter rang hollow in the world only the system entities could hear.
—I wonder how your poor child will handle these…
[You hail from an odd land. One of your limbs appears to have been cut off, yet there is a solution. Schematics line the inside of your brain.]
[Trait Limb Construction LV 01 has been generated]
[An urge to kill is communicated to you by the miasma around. Something resonates deep in your soul, giving a root to a displacement from the life you were never granted.]
[Trait Aspiring Butcher LV 01 has been generated]
[Please check their effects at a later date.]
The skeleton felt a strange burst of power rise within it as it greedily sucked in the mortisim within the miasma.
Odd ideas also sprung into its empty mind. Soon it was able to process the idea of creating limbs and destroying others.
Since the fear it had was gone, it went out to do the only two things it knew. Although nothing could be seen, there were still scraps of paper, pebbles, and chunks of stone and bone. Before it could gather these materials up and mysteriously link them together, a door banged open.
The mottled door flew off its moldy hinges, and a decrepit porcine zombie smashed its way in. The system decided to warn the scrambling skeleton before it was too late!
[LV 02 Standing Porker detected.]
[Trait Aspiring Butcher activates! 20% status increase.]
The skeleton turned its head, and the permanent smile it had seemed to grow deeper. The casket stigma on its back glowed with a solemn energy.