"You!" Jack frowned with rage, a vein bulging on his forehead. He was bitter and in pain, which only multiplied with the addition of this strange man.
"How rude.. is that how you say thank you for bringing me back?" The man smirked calmly staring at jack, as if admiring one of his creations.
"So it was you." jack had his suspicions but now he finally cleared it. "Why? Why and how did you bring me back?" Jack impatiently asked demanding answers.
"Easy there. One question at a time, I can only speak so much in this age." The old man chuckled, but jack could sense it was more than just a normal chuckle. As whenever the man spoke he could feel it. A strange dark energy seeping out from him. His voice carried a strange aura, that planted fear in the hearts of whoever heard it.
"Why did you bring me back?" Jack calmly asked, blanky staring at the man. Narrowing his eyes the old man stared at jack for a while. Not uttering a word but still, it made jack uncomfortable.
"I was bored, just like you." The old man sighed in boredom.
"Well that's a plain way to answer." Jack sarcastically spoke rolling his eyes.
"Haha! When you've accomplished the things I have you'll know the world is plain." Listening to him jack couldn't help but take his comment seriously. He could tell the man wasn't being sarcastic, but meant it. Like he'd experienced different horrific sightings over his years.
"How did you bring me back?" This was the main important question jack had longed to ask. Normally when one died, it was considered impossible to bring them back. Yes technology was advancing but it was still slow, and they'd not reached the stage of bio inventions yet. Where they could transfer the mind of a corpse, or any part with a machine's. Momentarily bringing them back.
"Oh! it was easy. I just used my remaining life gem." The man shrugged terming it as nothing.
'Life gem. Does he mean that dull red gem on the top of his staff?' Jack wondered. He didn't know what the old man meant by life gem, but he had a hunch.
"What do you mean by life gem? Is it some sort of ritual or incantation." Jack was new and oblivious to this things. He'd just been reincarnated today, so he had never heard of such till now.
"Ha.. you have a lot to learn." The man sighed shaking his head a bit. "How about we make things interesting? For every opponent you defeat I'll answer any of your questions. Sounds fun huh?" The man chuckled making jack frown more.
"What opponents?" The latter asked confused, seeing no other presence apart from the three of them.
"This~" waving his hand dark energy swirled around it, creating a dense small dense fog. Out from the ground potruded what looked just like jack, but with little skin or flesh hanging from their bones.
'Skeletons?' Jack could clearly tell these creatures were skeletons from their look, having seen some pictures in the internet and books. From their old frail bones, to the little rotten decayed skin hanging on their bones. And last but not least was the signature two huge hollow eyes, with their gaping jaw extended a bit.
"Impressed? I always aim to please." The old man grinned with a sinister expression. A look of pride filled his face seeing jack shocked reaction.
"Defeat these group of undead skeletons and I'll answer one of your questions. But I must warn you.. they might look easy to defeat, but they're way tricky than you think."
"And what makes you think am going to fight a bunch of skeletons because you asked?" Jack shrugged not interested. He wasn't about to go into battle with a bunch of skeletons, he wasn't familiar with. The odds were stacked against him, and he wasn't willing to risk his life for nothing.
"If you do I'll consider not killing you." An omnious aura, way more deadly and stronger than before excluded from the man. Making the air very thin and hard for jack to breathe.
"That was just an example." The old man grinned, reducing his aura just enough for jack to breathe. "You're my creation and will do as told or else." there wasn't nothing left to say as jack got the message clearly.
[Quest received!]
[Defeat the skeletons: a group of skeletons has appeared before you. Being a skeleton they are a subclass of an undead, possessing high resistance to physical damage and fast regeneration.]
[Rewards: kill all skeletons and level up to 7 penalty: death]
The quest was simple, he had to kill all the skeletons here. Looking at the rewards it was quite alluring, as he'd automatically level up to 7.
'I'll die if I fail.' Jack thought his gaze hovering on the penalty. He didn't know how, but the system clearly stated he would die if he failed to complete the quest.
'Great, my first penalty with a death sentence.' Jack lightly chuckled shaking his head a bit.
'They shouldn't be much of an issue to deal with.' According to the system they were a subclass of an undead. Meaning they were lower than him in terms of class. But the system also mentioned they had high resistance to physical damage, and fast regeneration.
'With my new stats I should be able to swiftly deal with them with blood decay.' Jack didn't know how strong or fast they were, as the system didn't mention. but he wasn't worried. Blood decay skill covered some range with the blood balls he shot. So he just had to get close enough, to hit them with his poisonous blood.
Stretching out his hand a sadistic smile formed on the old man's face.
"Go." He commanded to which the group of 5 skeletons obeyed, charging forward.
"Let's do this." Stomping his feet jack ran forward with some speed. He first wanted to test his physical stats against them for comparison.
Closing the gap jack reached the closet skeleton. Swiping it's boney hand it tried to scratch jack, but the latter was prepared. Shifting his head he dodged, sending his fist to the mummie chest.
'Crack!' A crack sound was heard with his fist potruding out from behind. Followed by the skeleton bones crumbling to the ground.
"T-that was it?" According to the system description of skeletons, he'd expected a challenge and not this. It was too easy, as he'd even faced some few difficulties facing a human.
"Hmph! so much for high resistance and regeneration." Jack scoffed with a cocky grin. Not only were they slower than him but also weaker. One punch from him and they went crumbling to the dirt.
"I must admit am disappointed if you think this was a challenge for me." Jack smugly said finishing off the last skeleton.
"Hahaha!" The old man burst into laughter startling jack a bit.
"What's so funny?"
"The fact that you think you've won is so amusing." He smirked his grip tightening on his staff.
"W-what do you mean think I've won?" Jack asked confused. He didn't need an explanation though, as the ground beneath him started rumbling.
"What the-" he watched as the crumbled bones from the skeletons levitated a bit in the air. Swirling with power, surrounded by an insidious dark energy.
Before his eyes he saw the once piles of bones reassemble, forming the strange skeletons he'd just killed seconds ago.
'Why are there four?' Jack wondered seeing their numbers decreased. He'd fought five mummies before, but now they were four.
"It doesn't matter, I'll just kill you again!" A mad grin was plastered on his face. Moving swiftly he reached the skeletons, trying the same logic as before.
His fist was fast heading to the skeleton chest, but in that split moment the creature sidestepped.
'It dodged?' Jack didn't expect the skeleton to dodge that fast. If he didn't know better, he would've said thus skeleton speed increased.
"Am still going to kill you!" Jack roared slamming his head into the skeleton head.
[Body state: 18/30]
[-1hp]
The system notification flashed before his eyes but he didn't care. He'd been in pain all his life, so he saw pain as an adrenaline fueling him.
"Argh!" He grunted feeling an item pierced his skin.
[-5hp]
Turning he could see a piece of the skeleton rib sticking out his gut. Enraged, he grabbed the skeleton neck that stabbed him. slamming him to another skeleton, crushing them both.
"One to go." Jack muttered staring at this skeleton. It was different from the others as it had four arms instead of two.
"Roar!" The skeleton let out a deafening roar showcasing it's power. Not waiting, the skeleton charged forward with speed reaching jack within seconds.
Punching forward the skeleton aimed for Jack's head, to which he dodged. But it didn't stop there no! it sent out a barrage of fists to jack.
'It's faster than before.' Jack could tell this skeleton speed had improved than before, but it still wasn't a match for him. Dodging the multiple strikes he was eventually caught by one.
[-5hp]
His body shifted off balance, but he managed to regain himself just in time. Ducking down he avoided the skeletons fist. Grabbing the undead legs he pulled it down, stomping his leg to the creature ending it.
[It's not over yet.] The system voice sounded in his head and he could feel it. The ground rumbled like before and he knew what it meant.
"This just keeps getting better and better." Jack sighed, staring at the undying skeletons regenerating at a fast pace.