“Music? What are you, a lunatic?” Georg asked with an angry tone to his voice before Jakob’s head kept clattering, “Put me back on my body, ya piece of shit! Or I’ll bite yer ass!”

But Foster just shrugged and shook his head, “Sorry, boys, but that’s a no-go. I have a hostage now, or at least part of one. I’m just missing 184 pieces to complete the set.” Foster pointed out, turning toward Jakob’s body as it kept standing there. He seemed unsure of what to do before the fibula Foster used to make Jakob’s arm get stuck in his own armor snapped out of the bent-metal and fell to the ground.

“You’ll regret-“ Georg started, grumbling in a deep voice, but Foster swiftly held his hand forward, “Ah! Wait a second, a good bit is coming up riiiiight... now!” He pointed out, intensely listening to the music before turning back toward the skeleton in charge, “Okay, keep going.”

Nearly even growling, Georg stared back at Foster, if that even was possible without eyes, and repeated himself, “You’ll regret thi-“

“Wait! Better even, tell me what the hell is down there, or I’m dropping Jakob’s head into the well.” Foster suggested with a light smile, swiftly holding the skull above the deep hole. While Georg didn’t seem too impressed, Jakob was seemingly of a different opinion.

“I-I’ll tell you everything! Just please don’t put me down there with that monster!” The dismembered skeletal head screamed out loudly, and Foster turned toward it with a slightly curious smile, “Oh? Interesting now. Please do.” Foster said with a broad grin directed at Georg as he just so slightly tilted his head to the side, obviously acting overly smug about it on purpose.

“Down there is an undead-eating monster! It-It used to be a Lich, but instead of creating more undead, it just started destroying them! It won’t hurt living things, but we need to get something from it so that we can leave this damned forest!” Jakob yelled out, explaining the situation in a way that actually made sense to Foster, although he still had some questions.

“Why exactly can’t you leave the forest?” Foster asked, and instead of Jakob, Georg actually responded, “Because nobody and nothing can. Not for 25 years. We’ve been stuck here trying to find a way outside... There used to be five of us, two of them went down there to try and get the thing we need.” Georg pointed out, and Foster slowly started to frown in response, “What do you mean? Nobody and nothing can?” He asked, and Georg began to scratch the back of his bony head with a sigh.

“I don’t know, I’m not a mage, I’m a Pugilist. 25 years ago, our adventuring party was sent here to figure out why nobody is returning from this forest anymore. Then we found this well at the center of it. But we turned into undead ourselves after... After failing the test that thing gave us. We managed to escape because we still had a ladder then, but-“

“Wait, wait, wait, what? You’re saying I might have turned into a skeleton like you guys did?” Foster asked, and Georg slowly shook his head, “Probably not. Most likely, you would die instantly. If you can become an undead depends on your strength. These two guys barely made it, and they can’t even beat someone as weak as you anymore. I managed to retain a little of my strength, but... You know.”

“I can still drop his skull down there, you know?” Foster asked as his grip around Jakob’s head kept tightening, and Georg scratched the back of his neck.

“Listen, no living person can stay in this forest for too long. Either they become undead like us and are instantly killed by the Lich or the monsters like those Lunacides you already met kill them. We’re safe from them, but you won’t be. But I guess I see why you wouldn’t want to go down there... You won’t be able to pass the trial anyway.” Georg pointed out before he just let himself drop onto the ground cross-legged.

Weirdly enough, to Foster, it seemed like he was actually pouting right now. “Is there really no way out of here? Or anywhere I can hide?”

With a quiet grumble, Georg just nodded his head, “That’s what I just said, isn’t it?”

“Then what is the trial?” Foster asked. There had to be a reason why he was suddenly here... Maybe this was it. Perhaps he could go back home if he helped these guys out a bit.

“Well, I don’t know, really. The first step is to be Class-Less. But a kid your age-“

“Good, that step’s covered.” Foster said in a bit of thought as he turned off his headphones again since he didn’t want to waste the battery any more than he already did just now. At the same time, all three of the Skeleton-Bros looked at Foster with puzzled expressions. Well, Jakob at least tried to. Foster figured they were puzzled, at least. He wasn’t actually entirely sure.

“What?” Georg asked, “You’re class-less?”

“Well, yeah, I am. What about it?” Foster asked. Was not having a class something crazy? How was he supposed to know? Foster didn’t even know where the fuck he was!

“How old are you? Eighteen, nineteen?”

“That’s very flattering, but I’m twenty.” Foster replied to Georg, and the skeleton stared back at him in thought, “Who knows, maybe you’ll be able to actually do it...” Georg muttered quietly, and then stood back up.

“Alright then, change of plans. You’re coming with us. I’ll train you and help you survive, and in return, you’re going to help us out by trying to clear that test at some point.” The animated skeleton suggested.

With a slightly suspicious expression, Foster moved Jakob’s head away from the top of the well.

“How can I trust you after THAT?” He asked with a deep frown, but Georg just took a few more steps toward Foster. He was sure that if Georg actually had a face, he would be grinning right now, “You can’t. But we’re your best chance. And you’re ours as well.”

With a bit of thought, Foster held Jakob’s head back over toward his body and kept staring intensely at Georg, “Fine. But first, I want you to bring me to the edge of the forest. To see if you’re telling me the truth.” Foster told them with a slight glare, and Georg just nodded his head.

“Alright, alright, sounds fair enough. Then let’s go right away. If we hurry, we’ll be there by tomorrow morning. The monsters around here don’t like the smell of undead, so if you’re with us, you’ll be safe from them.”

“Hmm, doesn’t that mean I could have just strapped Jakob’s head to my backpack, and I would’ve been fine?” Foster asked the three skeletons, and as Jakob made his head snap back into place, he just stared back at the young man.

“Probably. But thanks for not doing that.” Jakob replied slowly, and then, Foster realized something else as he looked at the bones lying on the ground next to him.

“Erm... Ernard, also sorry about your leg...” Foster said with a wry smile, trying to pick it up to hand it back to him, but the skeleton just shrugged and shook his head.

“Eh, don’t worry about it. It’s not mine anyway.” He explained, and swiftly placed the leg with the broken fibula back onto his knee.

“I... I see...” He muttered quietly, and just then, another message appeared in front of Foster.

[Basic Skill Leveled Up!]

“Argh, this is really annoying...” Foster said with a wry smile, but the message soon disappeared again the moment that he wanted it to, and Georg looked at him curiously.

“Ah, was it a skill message?” He asked curiously, and Foster just nodded his head, “Mhm, the ‘Arthor Language’ comprehension. Never heard of ‘Arthor,’ though.”

“What do ya mean?” Jakob asked in response to hearing that, “The Arthor Empire ain’t a thing anymore?”

“It could not be, something of that size could never vanish from the thoughts of people within such a short amount of time...”

“Arthor..? Wait, wait, wait, what? That’s just not a thing.” Foster pointed out with a deep frown before he slowly came to a conclusion that he didn’t like to think about in the slightest.

He started asking the three skeleton-bros about anything he could think of. Requesting them to talk about different countries, current technology, and even how many Kardashians there were at the time.

But all the answers were completely wrong... Or rather, completely different. Then, Foster had to come to peace with the possibility of something he really didn’t want to think about.

“Don’t fucking tell me this is another world..?” He asked himself confusedly, really unsure what the fuck was actually going on at the moment. Foster just dropped onto the ground and leaned back against the well while grasping at his face, with Georg just squatting down in front of him.

“Kid, stand back up. I don’t know what’s going on with you right now, but I think we should head off now.” Georg told Foster, and the young man just slowly nodded his head, taking the skeleton’s hand as he was offered. Although, just a few moments later, he dropped back onto his ass because Georg’s arm was immediately ripped off.

“To the gods!” He yelled out, immediately ripping the arm back out of Foster’s hand as he stuck it back onto his shoulder, “I hate this body!”

Kind of thinking that this situation was weirdly funny, albeit incredibly disturbing to the point that Foster should definitely see a therapist if he should manage to get back home, Foster slowly stood back up by pushing himself up by the well.

“Well, let’s just go, I guess.” Foster suggested, and then swiftly picked his backpack back up before swinging it over his back. At that point, Ernard chose to ask a question that had obviously been bugging all three of the skeleton-bros.

“What actually is that contraption on your head?” He asked, and Foster turned toward him with a slight frown, “This?” Foster asked as he pointed at his headphones, and Ernard immediately nodded his head as obviously as he could, “Yes, it looks a bit like an ear warmer, but that doesn’t really seem to fit this summer.”

“They’re not ear warmers, you can play music through them. They’re headphones.” Foster pointed out, and Georg leaned forward curiously, “Ah, so it is a magic item that can reproduce the skills of a bard?”

Then, Foster heard something that he should have paid attention to beforehand already. He snapped his head to look at Georg and ripped his eyes open as wide as he possibly could, “Did you just say magic? With like, flying islands and dragons and shit? That kind of magic?!” Foster asked, and Georg looked back at him with a slight frown.

“Surely, dragons do exist, but flying islands only in legends...”

“Nah, boss, I've seen one myself. There was one of’em right next to my village in-“

“Sure there was, Jakob...” Ernard interrupted immediately, not wanting Jakob to go on a tangent again. But Foster just kept thinking about what the hell was going on right here. If this was another world like in all those hyper-cliché stories, then it was obvious that there would also be magic! Why didn’t he realize that yet, he literally had ‘Mana’, which is always described as the essence of magic!

“Holy fucking shit, yes!” Foster exclaimed, with his arms raised into the air, “At least there’s one good thing about this shithole!”