"Ugh..." Mikel groaned and held his head as he felt an overbearing headache wash over him.
It took a few minutes, but the seemingly unbearable pain dulled and Mikel breathed a sigh of relief. The pain wasn't gone, but it was something he could bear.
Immediately, memories rushed into his head and he remembered how he was struck down by a sword previously.
'Am I dead?' Mikel thought as he looked around at the endless expanse of darkness that surrounded him while he floated naked in the middle.
'My flesh is back.' Confusion reigned supreme in Mikel's mind as he tried to make sense of it all.
After spending almost an hour trying to create an explanation with no results, Mikel gave up. He sighed as he realized he didn't even get a chance to do anything before he died at the hands of an ordinary soldier.
Never would he have imagined going out like this.
'At least it's all over now. The others should've been transported out of the game upon my death. As much as I hate being the scapegoat in all this, it is what is it,' Mikel sighed.
[Loading...]
The blue text mysteriously appeared before Mikel's eyes out of nowhere. He was startled at first, then he remembered seeing them when he looked at the undead Python and the Beltimian airships, and also the fact that he was in a video game.
[Loading complete]
[Hello Mikel, how are you enjoying the game so far?]
He could hear a feminine voice speaking those words as they appeared before him. It was like listening to an audiobook with subtitles.
"Considering I just died about five minutes after I entered, I'll rate my experience less than one star," Mikel replied with a blank expression.
[You may have died, but the concept of death is quite complicated when it comes to you.]
"Wait, so I'm alive?" A newfound feeling of hope arose in him as he heard those words.
[Yes and no.]
"Alright, enough with vague responses," Mikel said with a frustrated look on his face.
[As you wish. But for me to explain properly, you'll need to be brushed up on a few things.]
[Loading profile...]
[Name: Mikel Raven
Class: Grunt skeleton
Level: 1
Energy: -
MP: -
Live(s): 0/2
Bone vitality: -
Exp:0/50
Summoner: -
Link: -
Bone density: 10
Joint flexibility: 20
Impact resistance: 10
Skills: -]
'Grunt skeleton? I guess I really did turn into nothing but bones,' Mikel thought as he read through what was supposedly his in-game profile.
"Why exactly am I a skeleton?" Mikel asked.
[That was your fault, but don't think too much about it. Your objective remains the same.]
"You sound just like that bastard," Mikel frowned.
[Remember when that "bastard" said he left a gift for you in the game? That gift is me. I am here to help you achieve your objective. But keep in mind that I'll only help you to some certain extent.]
"So you'll be helping me in committing genocide?"
[That's one way to look at it.]
"When you say you're a gift, does that mean the others don't have access to a system?" Mikel asked since if that was the case, this would take away some important elements of this videogame trope.
[They do. Just not like you.]
"I see," Mikel sighed.
[Maybe you should concentrate on asking more important questions.]
"Yeah, right. What's with those stat names? Bone density? Bone vitality? Lives? Why are some of them blank? What even is this place that I'm in? You mentioned that I wasn't dead, then what exactly am I? Am I—"
[Calm down.]
Mikel was beginning to panic as he asked those questions and slowly realized that he was in the dark about everything going on. The lack of information was unnerving.
[Ask your questions one at a time or we wouldn't be able to gain clarity before you leave here.]
"Leave here?" Mikel's eyes widened in surprise. "So I can—"
[Didn't I just say one at a time? Relax.]
"Sorry," Mikel breathed in and out slowly as he tried to calm his rapidly beating heart. 'This is one smart system. It's even able to hold a conversation this complicated and give intricate responses as well,' Mikel thought as his mind trailed as he dwelled more on the wonders of the AI.
[I'll start by explaining your profile.]
"That'll be appreciated," Mikel had regained his cool.
Over the next two hours, Mikel learned that his stats were not that different from what he was used to.
[Bone vitality] was practically the same as health points. They worked the same way in the sense that if he was struck while he was a skeleton, his [bone vitality] will drop. It was then that he would lose a life.
Since he was a skeleton, he couldn't die. Somewhat. He had [lives] which would deplete once his [bone vitality] ran out. If he had zero lives left, he would be transported here.
This black void was purgatory.
Necromancers could raise the dead, and since Mikel wasn't dead per se, he couldn't go to the land of the dead, and since he wasn't alive, he couldn't be in the land of the living. So he was stuck here until he was summoned by someone in the land of the living, who most likely would be the undead monarch.
When he would be summoned, his [link] stat would read something between 1% - 100%. The higher this [link] was, the more control the summoner had over him. The value of the [link] was decided by the distance between the summoner and the summoned.
At first, Mikel wasn't happy to learn that he wouldn't be in control of his actions, but when he heard that the [link]'s value was determined by distance, he was happy.
The necromancer rarely appeared on the battlefields so he would be freer than he thought.
This was his train of thought until the system informed him that even though the necromancer wouldn't be on the battlefield, the [link] could still be maintained through a medium. This medium was usually a high-ranking summon.
Mikel's vigor evaporated for a few minutes, but it came back when he thought of a new line of action.
[Bone density] was in summary, worked the same as the [strength] and [attack] stat. The higher it was, the harder he could hit. [Joint flexibility] could also be called [agility].
As for [impact resistance], it was pretty self-explanatory. Think of it as the [defense] stat.
"So how long will I be here?" Mikel asked.
[Can't say. It entirely depends on when you're summoned.]
"In summary, it could take months or even years," Mikel sighed.
[Possibly. But if I were you, I would be more concerned about the necromancer's wellbeing.]
"Why would I do that?"
[If my calculations are correct, the other players should still be hung up on killing him since their mission slot would not be updated.]
"So their target would be the necromancer? Shouldn't that be a good thing?"
[If the necromancer dies, that's it for you. You'll lose your immortality and possibly your only connection to the land of the living.]
Mikel froze.
[But don't worry, the game should be adapting to the fact that you're now a skeleton so it would possibly create a way around this. You just have to play along and level up.]
"I just have to kill monsters and gain EXP? That should be easy."
Due to the necromancer releasing a lot of death aura as he summoned and controlled his army, most of the world had mutated under its influence. Aside from the skeletons, creatures of death now roamed the earth.
Players were able to level up away from the battlefield in the original Beltimus online, by clearing out these monsters.
[You're a skeleton now so killing anything with the same death aura composing you wouldn't grant you any EXP. You'll have to kill humans.]
"Eh?"
[That's the way this works.]
"At this point, I'm beginning to think you all will stop at nothing to make sure I commit murder," Mikel sighed.
[Do you have any more questions?]
"I'll let you know if I do."
[Very well. The game is still working to create skills for you, but I've been instructed to give you one as compensation.]
[Loading skill...]
[Name: Bone breaker
Skill level: 1/3
Skill rank: A
Active: Deals 300% bone density as damage. Has a chance to cause a stun effect on opponents.
Description: Its versatility and efficiency make this an incredible skill for close combat. Become unstoppable!
Special effect: 50% increase in joint flexibility.
Skill duration: 5 minutes
Cooldown: 20 minutes]
"An A-rank skill? That's awfully generous of you," Mikel smiled.
As far as Mikel knew, skills in Beltimus online ranked from F, E, D,...., A, S, SS, and SSS. This also applied to items and many others as well. Although there are other ranks in between.
Nonetheless, getting an A-rank skill that was also upgradable as compensation was more than acceptable. At its peak, it could be an S-ranked skill! Or possibly SS!
"To be honest, I thought I would be getting a cliche skill for skeletons, but this... why does it feel like it was made specially for me?"
Looking at the details of the skill properly, Mikel could see why this skill was perfect for someone like him. As a trained MMA fighter, he could utilize this skill to perfection.
[This skill was created with all of your traits in mind.]
"That explains that. So... what now?"
[We wait.]
"We might be waiting for eternity," Mikel sighed.
[Maybe next time don't die so easily.]
"Noted," a smirk formed on his lips. "It's a good thing I have company. I may have ended up crazy if I stayed here on my own."
[You would've been a lot more than crazy.]
"What do you mean?"
[Luckily you're too weak for now. You'll find out soon enough.]
Mikel didn't understand what the system meant, so he just ended up going through all he had learned while looking at his stats.
His lack of attention to other things made him miss the red dot on his mission icon.
[New mission:
The 49-kill challenge.
State: Ongoing
Progress: 0/49]
*****
"Commander."
"Commander."
"COMMANDER!"
David groaned as he raised his head from his desk and looked at his lieutenant who had been shouting since she got in here and saw him sleeping.
Although he had woken up when she got in, he was too lazy to raise his head so she thought he was still dozing off.
"What do you want Helen?" David asked drowsily.
Neatly dressed in the black and white brilliantly patterned military uniform of the army of Beltimus, Helen stood before her commander with a blank expression... but other thoughts ran rampant in her head.
'He still looks handsome as ever even though he just woke up.'
Even though her thoughts were inappropriate toward a superior officer,
She wasn't wrong. Despite being at a position just below the highest in the Beltimian military, David was also known for his amazingly good looks.
His rough dark hair, smooth skin, perfect hair, teeth, mannerisms... it was enough to make any girl swoon.
"Helen! Don't tell me you woke me up just to stare at me?" David shouted and she snapped out of her daydreaming.
"I'm sorry sir!" she stood at attention.
"At ease lieutenant," David gestured and she broke her salute. "What do you want?"
Helen's expression turned serious and David sighed.
"Where?" He asked.
"Exactly 3608 meters away from Meadowbrook village."
"That's a new location. Wouldn't they approach the wall?" David asked in confusion.
"Our analysts believe they're trying to draw out our forces," Helen replied. "There might be an attack once we leave."
"If that is the case then I can't go with you. This city is under my protection, so I'll have to leave this to you."
"Very well," Helen nodded.
"How much death aura is gathered there at the moment?"
"The mages estimate that it'll be enough to summon an army a hundred thousand strong."
"So they truly want to drag us out," David placed his hand on his chin as he thought about his next course of action.
His eyes moved to the sword hanging on the wall in his office. Its sheath was a dark red and the hilt was pitch black. It released an aura that made it impossible for one to ignore the sword when they entered the office.
'Why do I have a bad feeling about this?' he thought.
"Maybe we should share this information with the general?" Helen suggested.
"The general is leading the armada to the north."
"I see. So then should I still handle it as you asked?"
"Please know that I'm not questioning your ability lieutenant, but it's best if I contact the capital to send reinforcements."
"I'll abide by your decision sir."
David nodded, "If things get out of hand, I'll be there in a second."
"Of course commander," Helen saluted.
"Prepare our forces, once the reinforcement comes, you'll lead them to battle."