The zombie with a pig head and boar bristles shambled over with its decomposing body. Sniffing the air, it couldn't determine any figure in the room…so it quickly stumbled about banging its fists on everything in the room.
The skeleton viewed all of this with a bemused look. It didn't know what it was trying to do…?
Yet it still felt an odd urge. Swishing it's sole fist like the Standing Porker did, it weakly beat at the air. A rising sense of enjoyment grew, and it lead the skeleton into an odd train of thought. Odd to a normal person, at least.
Would it feel happier if it was hitting something physical?
Bony feet clattered against the floor as the skeleton repeatedly smacked the wall. The enemy heard these noises as vapor ran out of the sides of its mouth, its eyes glistening with a streaming ray of red light.
It ran up and bashed wherever it heard a sound. Yet its slow speed hindered it from hitting the childish skeleton that was overjoyed with itself, it being the first time it ever experienced happiness.
This tirade continued as the zombie chased the skeleton for ten minutes. It was so frustrated it was malding, saliva and festering fluids streaming down from its mouth in a torrent of spittle.
Little did the skeleton know, it was gaining experience from these sequence of events. The system breathed a sigh of relief when it saw that it gained enough of it for a specific skill…and if it kept it up, that one skill might turn into two!
[Due to the continued failure of an enemy finding your presence, the passive skill Stealth has been added at LV 00]
…
Those that were dead lacked the status called 'Stamina', which set them apart from the undead, or those given a life in death. As such, the skeleton was able to keep at this indefinitely…
But the Standing Porker was a standard undead—it ran out of steam after ten long hours transpired. With a loud thump it fell over, bringing the euphoric skeleton's attention back to it.
Logs of information expanded before the system's perception, telling of the large amounts of experienced it gained hiding its presence from an existence stronger than it.
The level of Stealth was now LV 09, a level away from arising a tier. If the skeleton carried on with its inadvertently dumb actions, it had a chance of both ranking up the skill and triggering a mutation that would rise or change its quality. Heck, maybe it would even generate a trait from it!
The motherly system that wanted to coddle the skeleton awaited with baited breath.
…Only to have its expectations shattered. The skeleton turned around with what it could swear was a gaze full of sparkling stars at the thump. Drawn away from its random bashing with its hand, it crept over and perched over the Standing Porker.
With a pointy finger it nudged at its face, fluids lining its finger as they oozed out of the piggish texture. Surprised at the curious surface, it poked and jabbed wherever it could.
[-1, -1, -1…]
These messages emerged in the logs as it did this for a solid thirty minutes. Not a single poke was enough to inflict this much damage on the tough Husk, but the amount of jabs the skeleton delivered whittled away at the creature's health.
The system watched in befuddled horror at what the skeleton was doing, and how focused it was at it too! It gasped sadly as it saw that it gained more than enough experience for two more skills to be added…it wasn't able to perform it's duties due to the shock and boredom that dulled it's senses.
[Because of your narrow avoidances, the passive skill Agility has been added.]
[Because of your focus, the passive skill Concentration has been added.]
All of a sudden, the skeleton felt as if it could both focus on its current objective better and somewhat sense the stuff around it at a very small radius. Its movements became slightly lithe, nimble movements causing its bones to clack even louder as it kept poking at the "Laying" Porker.
Yet this noise was very muffled, only loud in its own "ears". This was due to the effects of the level nine stealth, one that granted a suppressed level of presence by drawing in the energy and sounds a creature made. Unless they willed to make a sound or stand out, their presence in general would be dulled.
Ten minutes later, the Standing Porker was grievously injured. Only a remaining tick of health remained as it opened its bleary eyes, having recovered its stamina. It was greeted with the grinning face of a bizarre, brittle skeleton. One it wanted to destroy for some odd reason.
As it made to stand upon it's feet, foul fluids poured out of multiple unnatural punctures.
[…Enemy Standing Porker LV 02 has deceased]
The system entered this prompt as it sagged with exhaustion. This whole time it was gripped with anxiety, wondering when the Husk would awake from its slumber.
Thankfully, when it did it brought about its own death. It shuddered to think of what would happen if it did. Those 'Reapers' might not even spare a second glance at the little skeleton if they had to retrieve its body…which meant it wouldn't be brought back into a waking world ever again.
Unlike the bittersweet relief the system felt, the skeleton soon became despondent. It's movements faltered as it dejectedly poked at the empty air, the figure dissipating into mere particles of mortisim that floated adrift. The experience of the creature's death was transmitted into experience and a single item drop.
===========
Porker's Vile Barb LV 01
Type: Material
Description:
The bristle of a Standing Porker that was soaked in toxic fluids for hours before death. These fluids refined it into an unusually sharp hair that it left upon its death.
Skills:
Sharpness LV 01
Fury LV 01
===========
As the skeleton went to grab it it tilted its head. Rubbing the bristle in between two digits, the craftier side of it wanted to keep the object!
With that thought, the stigma on its neck began to glow. The Porker's Vile Barb was stored in a small dimension within that same stigma, allowing the skeleton to carry it wherever it went without having to physically hold it.
But it didn't know that.
Instead it was glum. It had no real thoughts lining its weak mind, but if it did it would probably wonder if everything it liked would disappear. The system, unable to see these nonexistent thoughts but saddened by the apparent cheerless demeanor of the skeleton wracked it's "brains" trying to come up with something to cheer it up.
[Please note: There are other hostiles in the area around you.]
[Skeletal Frame reaches LV 01. Overall quality has been amplified. 'Durability' increases. Overall 'Limb Stability' increases.]
—Can that thing even read?
—Shut it, I hope *he* can…
—Are you really giving that bag of bones a gender?
—I want a son, so shut up and mind your business already. Don't you have the 'Redemption Point' service to oversee!
The two systems bickered back and forth as the skeleton cocked its head to the side. It's eerie face seemed to brighten as it skipped out of the broken door, on its way to explore the small crevice of the Embrace of Maara dungeon.