Flain had a second to decide.
If he tried to dodge to the side, the sword would hit him. If he tried to retreat, he wouldn't make it in time.
The only option was to go against the attack.
Flain lunged forward, straight under the strike!
The sword flew over his head, narrowly missing his skull.
The man lost his balance—Flain was now in the perfect position!
Flain positioned himself right next to his enemy, where the massive sword was completely useless.
And then he stabbed. The dagger plunged into the big man's stomach.
But that wasn't enough. Flain immediately pulled the dagger out and stabbed again.
And again.
And again.
[+280 EXP]
The giant collapsed to the ground. Dead.
[Due to recent events, you have gained: [Low-Dagger-Mastery]]
Flain looked down at the corpses on the ground.
"Hahaha, you think you can stop me, you ants?" he said, then burst into insane laughter and began kicking their dead bodies.
"Skelly, you're amazing!" shouted Itai, who had been hiding in the bushes and now came over to Flain.
Flain's eyes flickered madly as he stared at the corpses. "I am Flain. I remember experiences from my past life," he said. Flain didn't mind revealing this because he didn't consider it a secret. Not with those glowing purple lights.
"Wait, you remember things from your past life? That's awesome! At least I won't have to explain everything to you," said Itai.
Flain looked at his damaged dagger, which seemed like it would fall apart at any moment. Even though he had gained [Low-Dagger-Mastery], he definitely didn't plan on using a dagger as his main weapon.
"I'm going to release air particles now," Flain said. He needed to give Itai some explanation for why he would occasionally stop and wave his hand in the air. Of course, Flain was actually doing something in the system, but he wasn't about to tell Itai that. So he made something up.
"What the hell? Releasing air particles? That sounds way too advanced and powerful," said Itai.
"Well, since I'm an ultra-rare skeleton, I have a special ability. My existence consumes life energy. When I'm low on it, I release air particles, which restore it. Don't disturb me while I do it. Right now, my life energy is low, so I need to do this," said Flain, spouting nonsense he had just made up.
Flain opened his inventory.
[Name: Skelly
Level: 2
Class: None
Age: 0
Race: [Skeleton]
Master: Itai
Titles: [Body Rotten With Darkness] [Bloodthirsty] [Extremely Powerthirsty]
HP: 50/50
MP: 0/0
EN: 100/100
Strength: 3
Agility: 3
Intelligence: 0
Vitality: 3
Bonus Points: 0
Skills: [Low-Dagger-Mastery lvl:1]
He noticed he had a lot of EXP, so he leveled up.
[Level 2 -> Level 3]
[Level 3 -> Level 4]
[Strength increased by 2, agility increased by 2, vitality increased by 2]
[You have gained 2 bonus point]
Flain couldn't level up any further because level 5 cost 450 EXP, and he only had 70 left. But now he had 50 HP, which was a huge upgrade.
[Tip: Bonus points can be used to enhance any stat of your choice. To do this, click on the bonus point and then click on the stat you want to upgrade.]
Flain considered what to improve. He didn't know what intelligence did, but he assumed it had something to do with MP. And Flain didn't even know what MP was.
So he decided to put 1 bonus point into intelligence.
[Intelligence cannot be increased due to the absence of a mana core.]
[Tip: The abbreviation MP stands for mana. Mana is the energy all around us. It is used for casting spells.]
[Tip: Intelligence enhances mana. Since you do not have a mana core, it cannot be improved.]
[Tip: You will gain a mana core when you evolve into an undead that possesses one.]
Once again, a flood of system windows appeared before Flain, but he was already used to it. He still didn't fully understand what mana was, but it was too early for that. Then, he noticed that [Low-Dagger-Mastery lvl:1] was marked, so he clicked on it.
[Low-Dagger-Mastery
Level: 1
Stage: 1
Type: Mental Technique
Consumption: None
Description: Basic dagger skills acquired by almost anyone who has fought or trained with one for a while.
Next level: Fight or train with a dagger.]
Flain read through it. It didn't grant him anything; it simply evaluated his skill level. Flain then looked at his stats. He still didn't know what EN meant, and that piqued his curiosity.
[Tip: The abbreviation EN stands for Existential Tension. Existential Tension is an inner force present in all beings, even in the undead. It serves as a fuel source for physical skills. It is similar to MP, yet not the same. It increases when you improve Strength and Agility.]
A system window with a tip popped up in front of Flain. This confirmed something he had suspected—the system was reading his thoughts. He had already considered this possibility, but now it was undeniable. Flain wasn't sure how he felt about it, but the idea of someone reading his thoughts didn't sit well with him.
Finally, Flain made his decision on what to upgrade.
[Strength increased by 2, Agility increased by 1]
"It's done," said Flain.
"Hmh, I expected it to look cooler. It was just you waving your hands in front of you," said Itai.
Flain then turned to the corpses. He wanted to pick a more suitable weapon.
Flain tossed the dagger to Itai. "Pick a better weapon for me from these guys. In the meantime, gather all their valuables. If you want, you can choose a weapon for yourself too."
Itai didn't like taking orders from his skeleton, but he admired Flain, so he obeyed.
Flain carried all the weapons over and began choosing from them. A club and a bow were out of the question. That left the greatsword and the regular sword. But then something occurred to him.
In his past life, he fought with striking katanas, and before his mutation, he wielded two. He must have been good at it since he remembered having other weapon options but sticking with katanas. Now that he had two normal swords at his disposal, he could try dual-wielding. Flain considered it and eventually decided—it seemed like a great idea.
Flain picked up the swords and swung them a few times. It was much harder than using a single dagger, but that didn't bother him too much. He didn't have a sheath for them, but he didn't mind carrying them in his hands. After all, he was a skeleton, and skeletons didn't get tired.
Flain looked up at the sky. "This is going to be fun," he murmured with a smirk—if, of course, he had any skin on his face.