"..."
My consciousness began to slowly flood back as I regained awareness of my surroundings.
Instantly, I could tell that something was not right.
Everything around me was dark and I felt as if hard matter was surrounding me from all sides.
'This feels so real...'
I thought, slowly moving my limbs to assess the situation.
As I predicted, my arms and legs seemed to be trapped or confined in some kind of tight space.
For a moment, I was frozen with confusion, however, it didn't take long for me to realize what was happening.
I was underground, buried alive under a massive mound of dirt and rocks.
'What a way to start a game...'
Slowly, I began to use my limbs to claw at the dirt, desperately trying to free myself from the suffocating grave.
My hands scraped against the rough surface, dirt and pebbles falling back onto my face, but inch by inch, I persisted.
It took me what felt like an eternity, but finally, I managed to create a small opening above me.
'Light!'
I gasped in relief as a tiny sliver of daylight peeked through the crack in the soil.
With every ounce of strength left in me, I continued to dig, widening the hole above me.
Crack...
I could hear the sound of collapsing dirt and weight shifting above me as the hole grew larger. My hand emerged from the ground, grasping onto the soil as I pulled myself up.
Finally, with one final push, I emerged from the earth's clutches and into the open air. If I were to have any vocal capabilities, I would let out a scream of triumph and relief.
"..."
Instantly, I noticed that the world around me had drastically changed.
I was currently leaning against a tombstone that was weathered and worn from years of exposure to the elements and the passage of time.
The inscriptions on its surface were also faded and illegible.
'Where am I?'
Slowly raising my gaze, I realized that I was in a graveyard.
Graves of various shapes and sizes surrounded me in every direction, stretching out as far as the eye could see.
I couldn't see any other players untilting the ground, no sign of life anywhere. It seems that they probably still didn't realize that they were buried underground like I was.
As I took in my surroundings, I noticed something strange. My hands were not made out of flesh, but rather just a collection of white, gnarled bones.
I looked down at my body and saw that I was completely skeletal. My rib cage was exposed, my skull was empty, and my limbs were nothing but a collection of hollow bones.
'This feels weird...'
Clenching my bony fist, I noticed the brittleness of my bones and the absence of any sensation.
In my past life, I had chosen to be a Demon so I hadn't experienced the physical sensations of being dead.
Of course, I knew a lot about the game and all of its mechanics, but this was a completely new experience for me.
Swish...
I tried to move my skeletal limbs, but they creaked and rattled with every motion as if they were held together by sheer will.
Crack...
After making myself familiar with the skeletal form, I slowly rose from the ground, my bones scraping against the soil.
'Status...'
I spoke within my mind as I diverted before me.
At first, nothing happened, however, in a split second, a translucent blue screen materialized in front of me, displaying various statistics and information.
~~~~ Status ~~~~
Name: Ash
Race: Undead
Class: ???
Level: 1 [ 0/25 EXP ]
Health: 10/10
Stamina: 100/100
Mana: 5/5
~~~~
|| Short description ||
A weak skeleton that doesn't feel any hunger or fear.
~~~~
|| Attributes ||
Vitality: 2
Strength: 2
Agility: 3
Endurance: 10
Intelligence: 1
[ Status Points: 0 ]
~~~~
|| Active Skills ||
None.
|| Passive Skills ||
None.
|| Spells ||
None.
~~~~
|| Inventory ||
1️⃣ Rusty Sword [ Common Weapon ]
~~~~
Friends: 0
Guild - [ Not affiliated ]
[ Log off ] [ Close ]
~~~~
As I scanned through the hologram of my status, I sneered or at least tried, however, only the sound of dry bones clacking together echoed in the empty landscape.
'This is so bad...'
My attributes were severely lacking. Very severely!
Even a baby had higher stats than me!
The only thing that was at least adequate was my endurance, which made sense for an undead creature that didn't feel pain or fatigue.
'At least I have a sword...'
I glanced at my Inventory and willed the weapon to appear in my hand.
Swish...
Light particles began gathering around my bony fist, forming a rusty sword in my grasp.
The weapon was far from impressive, its blade was dull and covered in patches of rust.
A short description was given beneath its name.
Item: Rusty Sword [ Common Weapon ]
Damage: 2 || Durability: 15/100
Once a formidable weapon, capable of effortlessly cleaving through the toughest armor, this sword now languishes as a mere shadow of its former self, its once-mighty blade reduced to a feeble whisper of its former glory.
~~~~
Reading through its description made me sigh, or at least emit a sound that resembled a sigh.
I knew that something similar would happen since the undead starting point does not offer much in terms of strength or equipment, however, this was simply crazy.
'Can I even kill a bug?'
Swinging my sword randomly, I observed as its blade swished through the air with a sad, feeble sound.
'It's going to be a long day...'
I muttered internally as I began to explore the cemetery with slow and steady steps.
Since I weighed practically nothing, I managed to move silently through the overgrown grass and decaying gravestones.
My goal right now is to find an NPC.
An AI that would be able to give me, an undead, my first quest.
Luckily, I knew that within the graveyard there were such NPCs who could communicate and provide me with quests.
One of them was located just before the crypt of a diseased warrior.
It was the NPC I was currently searching for and, fortunately, I could already see it in the distance.
'Let's pick up the pace...'
The sound of skeleton bones clinking against each other echoed in the empty landscape as I hurried toward the NPC.