"I'm telling you, its eyes just lit up." a female spoke with a shaky voice. She was afraid of something.

"There's no way. I just smashed its body to bits." a male responded with a deep voice.

"It doesn't matter, we got what we came for, so let's get out of here." a different male spoke.

'Quest? What are they talking about? Who are they?' As soon as he thought those words, he felt himself becoming hot, as if his core temperature was rapidly rising.

"What the hell? Why is it glowing?" the same female asked.

As the heat increased, he felt a tugging sensation on the joints where his limbs would be.

"Holy fuck. It just came back together. How is that possible?" the first male yelled out.

He heard feet shuffling and metal hitting against rock. He couldn't bear not being able to see what was happening. The heat that was heating up his body began moving to his eyes. He didn't feel his eyes open, simply everything coming into focus and the mysterious figures came into view.

His eyes landed on the male between the others. A large bodybuilder of a man. He was wearing silver armor on his chest and the rest of his body was covered with what looked like leather weaved with fur. He had a large, double-sided ax in his hands. He couldn’t tell what his facial features were due to the low light the cave gave off, but he could tell that he wasn’t happy with the clenched jaw.

The male on his right was a few paces behind him and had on dark green clothes. They appeared to be connected and draped past his waist like a tunique. A wooden bow had an arrow already perched and a sack of arrows occupied his back. His somewhat blonde hair was tucked behind his ears, which came to a sharp point. Something Chris found very odd, but peculiar.

The female on the left wore a lavish red dress that came down to her ankles. Her neckline came down in a V-shape, stopping slightly above her chest, filling out the dress a bit. Her hair was a mix between blue and purple, a strange combination. She was holding a wooden staff that had a glowing, red gem imbued within the tip of the staff, the light casting a red glow over her face.

They were all staring at him, as if he was a ghost. Which reminded him of the only thing that should matter. He looked down and his heart skipped a beat. Well, his non-existent heart because he was staring right through his rib cage, where his heart should have been.

He could see everything, yet nothing all at once.

He was a skeleton.

Bare, naked and exposed.

No wonder they were staring at him like that. He would too. He looked back up and good thing he did. The ax wielder was swinging the giant weapon down at him. How did he not hear him approach? He lunged out of the way and flew further than he wanted. His body was extremely light.

"It's faster than before for some reason." the male in the middle said. "Slone, use your arrows."

Clearly the leader.

The blonde male, Slone, drew back the arrow and released it. It landed at his feet, stuck into a crack in the stone ground.

Chris looked up at him. His jaw made the movements one would make to talk, but nothing came out. 'No vocal cords. Fuck.'

"Is it trying to talk?" the female asked.

"Freeze." As soon as Slone spoke that word, ice erupted from the arrow and wrapped itself around his left ankle. Chris did not feel the chill of the ice like he would normally. With the nerves and muscles gone, he probably wouldn't feel anything. He hit the ice with his bare knuckles, but only managed to create small fractures in the ice.

"Buff me, Mary." the ax wielder spoke.

"Okay, Marx." Mary replied. She began whispering to herself and the gem on the staff glowed brighter. As Marx advanced, his body was engulfed in the same red light. He swung his ax, faster this time.

Chris had a feeling he could dodge the ax, but not without receiving damage. As the ax reached his head, Chris leaned back and the ax slammed into the ice, sending him flying backwards from the shockwave.

As he shook his head, a red screen appeared before him. It was see-through and didn't disturb what he was supposed to be looking at, like in the darkness with Silian. He stared at it, reading the white words displayed on it.

[Durability has decreased to 94%]

'Durability?' He thought. He tried to get back up and fell on a bony knee instead. His left ankle was gone.

A shadow fell over him.

Chris awkwardly dove out of the way as the ax swung down at him again, barely dodging the huge blade. It sent chunks of rock flying as it split the floor where it landed. He looked about and located the female.

That girl, Mary, was troublesome. Whatever she was doing with that weird staff was making Marx stronger and he didn't like that.

He got on his hands and began hobbling towards her. He needed a weapon, bare handed fights will probably not work, as he is nothing but a skeleton and there's no protection. He did not like attacking females, but he didn't really have a choice right now.

When he got a few feet from her, he pushed off of his good foot and crashed into her, a yelp escaping her lips. The pair tumbled back, but he had a plan already in mind. He sprung up and crawled towards the staff. Grabbing it, he began bending it over his good knee and it broke in half with a crisp snap, red light flickering where it had broken. Was it supposed to be this feeble?

"No! Do you know how expensive that was?" Mary reached under her dress and pulled out a dagger. As she swung down, his combat instincts kicked in. He grabbed her wrist, squeezed and twisted it, a loud pop followed. She yelled and dropped the knife, which fell into his bony hand. As soon as he had it, he thrust into her stomach, and she let out a forced grunt. He sliced to the side, and she fell over with a thud.

A blue screen popped up.

[You have killed a human. You have gained 37 experience.]

"Mary!" Marx yelled out. "You damn skeleton! I’ll destroy you for that!" Marx heaved the ax over his head and lunged at him. Chris began crawling back as fast as three limbs would allow, dagger scraping against the floor.

He heard a whistling sound and looked to his right. An arrow was flying towards him. Was it his imagination or was the arrow moving slower than what it should be? He swung the hand with the dagger in it, and the arrow bounced off the blade.

'That was lucky.'

Changing directions, it impaled itself in Marx's left eye and he yelled out in pain, causing him to drop his ax as he reached for his face.

'That was way too lucky.'

Luck or not, now was his chance. Chris reached for the ax and tried to lift it, but it wouldn't budge at all.

A red screen popped up.

[You are unable to use this weapon.]

'Come on!' He kept yanking at it, but nothing happened, except the same message popping up again and again.

[You are unable to use this weapon.]

[You are unable to use this weapon.]

[You are unable to use this weapon.]

Not seeing any results, he gave up and made his way towards Marx. The dagger will have to do. Marx was trying to pull the arrow out, but Chris advanced first and began stabbing Marx in the neck over and over and over, not stopping until he received the strange message again.

[You have killed a human. You have gained 86 experience.]

He stopped stabbing and stared at the message. He was slightly bothered by how remorseless his actions were, but since he had no physical brain, he had no neurons, thus not room for standard emotions. As strange as that was, it still meant that he won, right? That's all that should matter.

His thoughts were interrupted when an arrow passed through his ribcage, scrapping a bone and knocking it off. It skidded to a halt a few feet away as the arrow flew into the dark void beyond his vision.

[Durability has decreased to 90%]

Even though Slone froze for a few seconds after watching his comrades massacred, he was still a threat with his ranged attacks. He couldn't use the ax and the dagger already had chips in it. It'll probably break after another hit or two.

He had to think.

Another arrow hit him in the top of his skull, making white flakes fly.

[Durability has decreased to 89%]

When Chris gave Slone a quick look-down, he didn't see any weapons that could be used in the case he lost his bow. As Mary had stated before, Chris was faster than the original skeletal host and this gave him the edge needed to knock the opponents off their senses, since it looked like they were expecting an easy second fight.

With a plan in mind, Chris threw the dagger as soon as Slone reached for another arrow. It impaled him in the shoulder, and he let out a yell. Chris charged Slone and leaped at him, throwing a right fist at his chin, knocking him back. Slone hit the wall behind him and slid down. Slone either had an insane glass jaw or Chris was stronger than he anticipated.

He hobbled his way towards Slone and yanked the dagger out of his shoulder. Raising it, he hesitated when their eyes met.

"Please…spare me…" Slone was begging. What an unnerving sight.

Chris couldn't talk, so all he did was kant his head to the side, showing some sign that he could understand him.

"You're creepy, you monster shit!" Slone's eyes slanted in anger, and he reached out with his other hand, a fist aimed for the skull.

Chris swung the dagger towards his hand, sending it flying. He thrust the dagger into his neck and left it there, Slone choking on his own blood as he tried to breath, to no avail.

[You have killed an Elf. You have gained 57 experience.]

[You have reached level 2 (30/300)]

[All Stats increased by 1]

[You have received 5 Stat Points (SP)]

[You have unlocked your first skill]

He shook his head, this is too much right from the start. Silian didn't give him any information about this. With a sigh, he hobbled back towards the ice patch, which had melted as soon as Slone stopped struggling. Picking up his foot, a message popped up.

[Would you like to activate auto-reassembly? Yes/No]

'Yes,' he replied.

At those words, the foot slipped out of his hand and merged back with the base of the ankle, the cracks mending seamlessly. He also felt a slight shove from behind as the missing rib flew back into place and the top of his skull closed up.

[Durability has reached 100%]

He balanced on his now repaired leg. Good as new.

This is crazy.

He came from one battlefield to another and has not had a single chance to get himself together and the chance that he gets is done with some sort of magic trick? He shook his head and looked about at the damage that he had done. Three dead bodies in a cave with a walking, talking skeleton. If others showed up and saw this, they wouldn't hesitate to attack, just as did this group of unfortunate souls.

He needed to clean this up.

Since he was in a cave and not in a familiar place, he didn't know how much time had flown by as he stacked everything into separate piles. He had dragged the three bodies into a hole in the ground that he found. They were visible, but only if you were looking for them.

He left the ax alone, as it was still too heavy for him to pick up, apparently. The dagger had crumbled to pieces after he killed Slone, so he only had the Bow and the broken staff left for weapons, both of which had interesting messages that popped up when he picked them up and examined them.

[Basic Hunting Bow] A bow made out of Kilt Wood. It has a flexible body and is mainly used by the Elves, a tribe known for their hunting expertise, although anyone can use this basic hunting bow.

[Staff of Gredion (Broken)] A wooden staff made from the bark of the Druiden Tree. The red gemstone is common among Conduits who can purify mana gems. You must have 50 Mana affinity to use this staff.

The bow turned out to be the only useful weapon, as he didn't know what Mana was nor did he know what his current capabilities were.

[Would you like to view your Status? Yes/No]

He perked up when the message popped up. Did it work in sync with his thoughts?

'Yes.' He said.

A large, blue screen popped up. It displayed a lot of information.

[Name: Chris]

[Species: Skeleton (Summoned*)]

[Level: 2 (30/300)]

[Durability*: 100%]

[Health: 11/11]

[Strength: 11/11]

[Defense: 11/11]

[Agility: 11/11]

[Mana: 6/6]

[Gear: Basic Hunting Bow (10 Arrows), Mana Gem]

[Skills: Third Eye*]

[Stat Points (SP): 5]

Some of the displays had a star next to them. When he thought about the starred words, a separate window popped up next to the displays, providing a description.

[Summoned] You qualified for a summons due to your valor in battle. You inhabited a being that died at the same time as you.

So that’s why he was a skeleton. An unlucky draw, perhaps? What would he have been if he had lasted another few seconds? A stick? A worm? No point dwelling on that now.

[Durability] You are a skeleton. You do not suffer from the things that living things suffer from. You are weak against all physical and some mana attacks. Acquire armor or strengthen your skeletal frame to mitigate damage received during combat.

That made sense. Skeletons are probably the weakest things ever, at least according to what he learned in school. Yet, the fact that he could see, hear, and feel but not talk bothered him. Why have those senses but leave out the most important one? He never talked much to begin with, so he wasn't too put off by it, but it made life easier. He'll simply have to find some other way to communicate.

[Third Eye] You have the passive trait to see information of other things, in-animate or animate, on or below your own power level. Information of higher levels will be limited.

That explained why he couldn't view any information about the ax, apart from not using it, its level or power was higher than his own. In a way, it made sense, but at the same time, it really didn't.

Most of the other things described his own wellbeing, which he had a hard time wrapping his head around. There was no other information provided about them, besides that they were called Stats.

He discovered that using Stat Points, or SP, made them go up when he put five into Health. When he did that, nothing really changed except a message acting as an indicator.

[+5 Health.]

'Oh! That’s how it is. I could've done that to my strength. Maybe I might've been able to use the ax.' He sighed.

After taking a second browse through his [Status] screen, he somewhat had an understanding of its contents.

Chris had a fast adaptance rate when it came to situational awareness, so this concept of boosting your core values seemed somewhat normal, in a completely abnormal and cheat-like way. It made sense in his head, but if someone asked for an explanation, he'd simply stare at them blankly.

With the [Status] screen out of the way, he continued with looking through the equipment. He ended up with a usable bow and a glowing stone for a small light source. He had also tried to take some of the clothes but a message popped up.

[You can only wear clothes worn by other monsters.]

Clothes worn by other monsters? He smiled to himself. That means there were others like him, and if he could find another monster within the same intelligence range, he could create a group and exploring the world would be easier.

He was a little upset that he would have to walk around exposed until he found a monster that had clothes.

First, he would need to find a way out of this cave.