Having a non-physical screen pop at my eyes was something I wasn’t exactly ready for. Neither did life ever train me for it. Now that I think of it, life really does nothing but throw shit at people. And it’s great at what it does, unfortunately.

Anyways, back to the non-physical screen. It turns out that while I can access to my Status, I cannot do anything else, unlike many light and web novels where such things are more detailed. But I was also informed beforehand that I had access to only the alpha build of the system. I guess no reality will ever be topped by fiction no matter where. So a lot of the stuff in the no-thick screen will have to be left as mysteries till I get my braiinnnnss...

Also, I experienced what it’s like to have rigor mortis, even when your muscles have dried almost ten centuries ago. How do I know that fact? Apparently the catacomb is a millenia old. So my guess should be close enough.

The topic of rigor mortis comes from me finding out that I still have my grip on the amulet and armor piece. I had expected to have lost them in the underground river but to my surprise found my hand still maintaining a vice-like grip over them. What’s more surprising was the fact I didn’t take a notice of them till I did. This will be a pain to get used to.

After all that hub-bub I set off on my merry way to the unknown, having no idea of where the fuck I was headed at and how am I supposed to find my brain.

Of course, in such a dilemma a man can hope to not be fucked over by anything as he is already being fucked hard by the absolute crazy shit happening all around and the more he gets to know the more crazier shits hit the fan.

But no. Because life’s a sadist. Period.

It all started somewhere after 3 hours of endless walking on root mats and admiring glowcologies when I was starting to wonder if undeads like me even need a rest or break, considering the non-stop walking I’ve been doing. And that’s coming from me, a shut-in.

And a wild bone appears. Not just any bone, but a yea big ass bone that I couldn’t begin to fathom what it belonged to. Or where it came from for that matter.

It stuck out of the root mat with half of its length entangled in the local vegetation. Out of sheer curiosity, I gave it a pull, to find out that its rigidly stuck. After minutes of exertion, I finally freed it from its captivity, only to find how big and heavy it is. It was as tall as I, and was a bit thicker than my arm, making me wonder just what kind of beast might’ve lived here. By giving it some test swings, I determined it to be the best weapon against the other draugrs up there. They were close to skeletons, so a huge, blunt weapon is the only solution.

The only problem is that I’m wearing nothing but a pair of gauntlets, a fancy amulet and the piece of armor that was currently tied on my left shoulder. In other words, nothing to carry my new best friend with. Dejected, I decided to drag it around, as carrying it on my shoulders gave me this weird feeling of suddenly falling apart under its weight.

One would expect that dragging a bone across the root-mat covered floor would create no sounds at all. But one should also know to expect disappointments, so that nothing disappoints you.

The act produced a lot of noises. So much that I started to feel an instinctive fear developing. Fear that something with a lot of “nope” heard it and was gonna jump at me any given moment. Something I have no desire coming face to face with. I don’t know where this fear is coming from, but I think it has something to do with the possibility of a huge beast lurking nearby or the load of noises that don’t usually get produced down here. I mean, you wouldn’t want to make noises in a dark, seemingly quiet place where any sound except that of the rushing water is out of the ordinary. And when you’re in an unknown place like this, you would naturally want to be as less unordinary than you already are, as you may be as unknown as the place is to you.

So on I went, dragging the big bone with me, trying to make as les sound as possible and furiously failing. As time went by, my fear of getting discovered by something out of nightmares slowly dispersed. I was getting farther and farther from the river and more into the cave system. The ecology in here had less glowy creatures than the ones near the river. This would mean that water and glowing flora and fauna had an important connection. This also meant less light. As much as I didn’t want it, I also discovered something else. Something forboding.

A piece of stick with a jaw-bone sharpened and tied to it. In other words, a crude, makeshift primitive knife.

A sign of relatively intelligent life. In this cave system.

Holy shitballs.

I set the bone aside and picked the knife to examine it. It was a primitive, crude looking knife and was heavier than it looked. The bone must be quite dense. At also gave off a savage feeling, which was a bit odd in a way. The bone seemed to have been carved at areas to make it sharper. The most carving seem to have been done at its base, where the stick had been fitted and then tied to the bone. The rope used for tying seemed to be made of dried roots. Now I’m more convinced that the roots may not be just simple roots. More important is the way the the roots were tied. A crude knot, yes, but still looked like some kid was trying to be artistic about it. It has a nice grip, if that says anything at all. Also, it looks to be painted in a sloppy way. The edged sides are painted, as if they’re gonna stay once a fight breaks off. I mean, the blood of whatever it hits will wash...wait a second! This is blood! Dried blood!

I looked around to see any signs that may spell out what happened, all the while holding the knife tightly in my left hand and the bone on my right shoulder, for no fucker is getting the jump on me. Soon, I found a figure sprawled next to the walls. While it was humanoid, it wasn’t a human in the slightest.

For one thing, it reminded me of goblin in a weird way. Except it had smaller eyes, longer fingers, shorter arms, longer legs, and other features that don’t match with the knowledge of goblins I have from the games. From all I know, this might not be a goblin at all, but some kind of subterranean dweller. But one thing is for sure. Whatever it was, it was intelligent animal. Probably one with sentience, as it is wearing some sort of armor made of hide, wood, bone and other stuff.

I took a few step back to get a different perspective of the picture before me. Right above where this thing was lying, about thrice the height of the creature, the wall seemed to have a splat on it with trails running down towards the corpse. This would mean that the creature died from getting splattered against the wall and then falling. This gives rise to many questions.

What threw it so high and so hard against the wall to make such a splat? Even without checking I can say that its bones are broken in the most painful ways. Was this creature facing a lone goblin (for the lack of better word), or multiple ones? Was this goblin abandoned or left alone or lost? Possible test of courage? If number 2 or 3 is a possibility, Where will I find them? And even if I do, how do I know they aren’t hostiles?

The more I think about it, the more questions take birth into the hatchery of thoughts of my mind. This is some freaky shit right here. Nothing freaks out anyone more than not knowing what you are up against. And this no info thing is getting too old.

The corpse must be pretty old, as insect can be seen crawling through its eye sockets and shit. Ugh...a disgusting idea just popped into my head. Necessary, but still gross.

I grabbed the body’s leg, which had the least amount of bugs, and dragged it towards the river. It was a bit of a path and I wasn’t happy about dragging a dead body all over it. It made me reconsider my life decisions, which were mercilessly interrupted by the creepy crawlies skittering all over my arms.

So the first thing I did after reaching the river was dunk myself in, getting rid of any crawlers off my body. Then I dunked the body, and made sure it didn’t float away. It wasn’t a pretty site, seeing all manners of dried and decaying bodily fluids and bugs washed off by the stream. After a good 30 mins, I brought it back on shore and started stripping the body of its valuables.

Under the glowy ecology, more details of the goblin and the armor was visible. The armor hard lots of colorful, shiny stones tied like beads around the arms and chest. Probably there is a gem vein or something nearby wherever its hideout or village is. Its left leg is missing, which is kind of random. I’ll have to go back the way I dragged it to check that it didn’t just come off, but that’s highly unlikely. I mean, the body maybe rotting, but flesh and bone density are different things. I never in my life thought that stuff from NCIS would help me like this.

After taking off the wet armor off the goblin I double-checked and washed the insides before putting it on. The armor was not this guy’s size, but a few bigger. The belt fit perfectly, but I doubt it’ll hold the big bone. So the jaw bone knife is the only thing that can hitch a ride. Then again, the Knife was a sword to this fellow. Wait, jaw knife, right?

And so, A mysterious headless corpse was left at the riverbanks, giving rise to many questions to whoever might find it.