“Well, nothing I can do. Maybe it will be like when I finally got all five primary senses and then gained something for the collective.” It had to be; otherwise, he had just wasted his time, and this world rewarded all effort.

Should he finish the skull now? He had been secluded here for ten hours already, so a short break would not go amiss. But then again, the head was small and would be quick with the new upgrade to Greater Consume, now Supreme Consume. Who comes up with these names?

“Well, I can’t do anything more now with the torso until I get bigger anyway.” Five kilograms was more than he had ever been before, and in his head, that seemed inconceivably huge. He was now at 2.6kg, so just over half that, and still too big to fly. Was he ready to give up on flying again? No, of course not, but anything he did would be temporary. He didn’t know how long it would be until he could fly again if he became too big.

“Resh, are you alright in there? I want you to meet someone else if you have finished the torso.” Haemish’s voice came in through the door.

“Uh, debating whether to finish off the skull quickly or take a break, Haemish!” Aarav replied. Their use of his old name was getting a little confusing. Aarav found he was slow to respond, his mind taking a few precious parts of a second to register that they spoke to him. I need to fix that. The two options were that he could give his actual name, Aarav, or he needed to get accustomed to working with two names quickly.

“How long will it take you to finish it?” Haemish asked the next obvious question.

“Uh, a little over an hour? Maybe an hour and a half?” If he had just moved straight on to the head without letting Consume Blorenar drop, he would have been able to finish it off in an hour, but he was starting to get tired from its constant working. He usually would not have felt the strain so keenly, but this was the longest time he had continuously used the Talent. It seemed his mental fortitude also had its limits even for background abilities like this-so many limitations. When he removed one, it appeared another took its place. It was as if the universe conspired to keep him weak for as long as possible.

“Fine then, just get it done. I need to bring the guest anyway. Maybe she can meet us here then.” Haemish said in reply, still not coming to the door.

“Oh! A lady friend? Nice!” Aarav jested.

Silence. “I was only joking, Haemish!” He yelled out.

A crash and grunt, the sound of splinters. “Haemish!?” Aarav called. Perhaps he should investigate.

Aarav strained with his body to grab the door handle and turn it. Outside, a beet-red Haemish was spluttering and righting himself from where he had fallen to the floor. The chair Aarav had occupied earlier was shattered into splinters all around him. “Haemish, uh, did you fall or smash the chair?” Aarav eyed the damaged furniture sceptically.

“Huh? No, no. I just lost my balance! Nothing to be concerned about.” The bulky man hopped up and started vigorously patting and brushing himself down with his hands to remove bits of wood and dust. Yeah, “lost his balance”, says the guy who is bending splinters with his skin and can ride a flying gryphon. No chance, mate, you can’t fool me. Interestingly, his question had flustered the man so severely that he had fallen from his chair. Aarav tucked that little nugget away for later before re-entering the room and getting started on the skull that lay on the floor by its lonesome.

Messing with Haemish is excellent stress relief; I feel ready to go! Aarav reflected with a smirk. He could focus on the final part of the skeleton now. Aarav looked at what lay on the now clean and dust-free floor. Maybe they will use me as a cleaner at some point.

The skull still looked pretty grotesque, even clean as it was. The bleached effect was startling and had eaten away small bits and pieces, creating a pitting effect in places. Aarav tried not to study it too closely. It was time to get busy, then an hour and a half later:

You have Assimilated 1 Human Skull. Congratulations, you have managed to Consume and Assimilate a complete human skeleton. For gaining all parts from a single skeleton, you gain +5000 Bonus Exp. Your Skills Strong Legs of Bone and Strong Arms of Bones and your bone torso have merged to form a Skeletal Presence! Experience compounded! Your Melee Skills Poisonous Jaws, Bone Claw and Bone Kick have all combined to form Skeletal Kata! All experience compounded, +5000 Bonus Exp from the merge.

Skeletal Presence manifests an entire skeleton; you may also cover it with skin and Slime. It will allow you the semblance of a Human (Slime). Requires a minimum of 7.5 kg to manifest the whole skeleton. You gain the ability to take a pseudo-Human form and can walk on two legs. In the bone form, you will require a minimum of 0.5 MP per minute to manipulate your arms and legs to resemble movement. You will also need the Stamina to move based on the Strength of your Legs.

Skeletal Kata, your fully formed Skeleton is capable of unarmed combat. You will be able to use your arms, legs and other parts to participate in unarmed combat fully. All 8 of your point weapons! Damage dealt is based on the density of your body, as with all your other weapons. Piercing, slashing, and blunt force damage are all possible with your body. The minimum Volume required is 1000 cm3 for arms and legs to manifest.

Your Skill Skeletal Presence has increased to Level 22!

Your Skill Skeletal Kata has increased to Level 17!

Okay! That is more like it! He had fewer weapons, but now he could use all his bones as weapons. Nice! Maybe his could be called a bloodline legacy too?

The challenge here was with all the weight requirements, and he would need to bulk up even to test his capabilities. He would have to speak to Haemish about it, as unarmed combat would become necessary. All those relevant skills effectively had become one with his new potential body.

But he was feeling pretty good about these new gains. “Haemish?” Aarav tentatively called out to the man he expected to find. It hadn’t been long, and Haemish always had a lot to get through with Taler on potions. Not to mention Haemish most likely experimenting with the sample he took from Aarav.

Aarav was under no delusions; Haemish was testing his body matter. But whatever, there was no point in trying to find answers when he didn’t have the means to look or the foresight to understand what they could be testing. Learning more of Alchemy would help with both, and he needed to get into Haemish’s good graces before the man would trust him enough to explain.

Aarav got up and prepared to walk out of the room on his legs. Now that he had the whole skeleton, it should have been a simple case of learning to walk, but of course, there were complications with everything else in his life. He should learn to walk in both forms; legs and arms only, and then an entire skeleton. It would be essential to learn to balance with both, and a trickle of Mana into his feet and hands would allow for more nuanced control.

Aarav had called out to Haemish a few seconds ago and not responded. Had the man left the lab? No matter, he needed to leave the room anyway. He could just check what was going on outside and, if required, wait on the round man’s return.

A straining Aarav made it out into an empty lab two minutes later. As expected, there was no one there, and so while Aarav waited, the Slime made his way over to the counter where he had his mixtures set up. Even though it had been a full day, they were exactly the way Taler had left them. Do I have time to play with them a little?

Aarav remembered that Taler had said something about funnelling Mana into the process before the reaction happened; otherwise, it would only end in an explosion. A small and insane part of Aarav wanted to see stuff blow up, but he wasn’t five, so he did not indulge it. I am less than one-year-old in this world, just one teeny, tiny explosion? Aarav had to shake himself out of the thought. Time to get on with it. In all likelihood, there would be more than his share of explosions by the end of this.