The combat class had ended by the time they’d gotten back. The hallways were a clutter of students doing their own thing. Arne’s mind spun on what he’d been told. What about the arrow could make it so powerful?

Oslo rushed back to the dorm, he wanted to read more about air magic. Arne walked over to the list, he’d noticed something. The list changed. Names burned and disappeared, and then reappear somewhere else. The list continuously updated itself, Arne wondered if he was still at the bottom.

He walked over to the crystals. They seemed perfect for upping his stat points. He entered the crystal that pitted him up against the strong white figure. They started pushing.

“+1 strength.”

After an hour he was sent out. His strength increase was keeping the same pace due to the white figure getting stronger when he did.

“Status.” He said.

------

Status:

User: Arne

Race: Skeleton

Class: Shadow Archer

Level: 1

“Bow mastery 50/1000”

Speed:50

Strength: 82

Perception 50

Stamina: 55

Vitality: 1

Fearsome: 5

Xp: 3/10

Skills: Focus lvl. 1, Shadow circulation lvl 7 (passive), Shadow bow lvl 1

------

His eyes almost fell out. He saw the big fat 1, and couldn’t believe it. He thought his skills hadn’t disappeared. Losing his level hadn’t affected him in a negative way. It would only make it easier for him to gain levels.

He remembered. One of the crystals gave him Xp for shooting the monsters. He entered it and found himself on the battlefield. He shot and shot. He killed countless monsters but he didn’t gain a single Xp point.

It seemed that it would be harder for him to gain Xp now. He’d have to kill fiercer creatures. That being said, how much had he improved? He needed a way to test himself, a way to measure how far he’d come.

He’d hunt slimes! He wondered how many slimes he could kill now. However, it was soon night and he couldn’t go out alone. He returned to the crystal of strength. The stronger he was, the stronger his shots would become.

strength: 82

He laid on the floor completely exhausted. It would be a while before his body recovered from the exhaustion. He swung his eyeballs around, spending the time. Accidentally, he locked eye contact with Midol.

Midol had floated through the roof holding biscuits in his left hand. There was a look of terror on Midol’s face when he saw Arne. The type of look where the eyes gape widely, the mouth stretches apart further than it should. He froze. Crumbles of his biscuits fell ontop of Arne.

“Why are you still awake? You’re a skeleton, not a fucking vampire.”

“Well. I’m exhausted.”

“Oh, so you’ve used up your core.”

“What?”

“You don’t know? Well… our lesson on skeleton is a long time away but I’ll tell you this. Your core has a limit, and you should be able to sense it. Anyway, don’t mention this to anyone.”

“Mention what?”

“The biscuits.”

“Alright.”

Midol suspiciously floated up the roof. Arne wondered how he’d manage to take the biscuits with him. Soon, Arne stood up and walked his way up to the dorm. Oslo’s head was shoved into a book, reading about air magic.

Arne laid on the stone bed. His core felt nearly empty, it must have been a result of him moving around so much and training. He wondered why Loko and Oslo never seemed to have the same issues.

Where was Loko? The woods were dangerous, and he was a snack. Anre doubted that he could survive the night alone. He quickly fell asleep.

He woke up to the wind in the room ravaging. Light shone from Oslo’s eyes. He poked Oslo through a rift. He had found that ability more and more useful, he’d have to invest into it in the future.

Oslo quickly stopped. “Did you see that!” He shouted, jumping up into the air with his hands spread out. “I’ve reached a new zone.”

Arne scratched his forehead. His mind was still drowsy after waking up. He nodded along to Oslo as he explained everything. Arne continued nodding, but truly his mind was still wrapped up to what that person in the woods had told him. What significance did the arrow have?

“Anyway. Get up, we need to go to class.”

They rushed to class. Once again, Loko was one of the last people to enter class. He sat at the very back of the classroom, in between Kloso and Nokko. They made sure to give him a ridiculing greeting.

His body was covered in scripture. He had almost been painted into a new colour. His bones had gotten extended, his chest thicker. It covered his core completely. Arne could have sworn he saw scripture inside of his skull.

“Hello class. Today we’ll talk about venoms and poisons. I think this information might aid you in the test coming up. I hope the combat teacher went over it as she said she would. Anyhow…”

Nokko roughly slapped Loko’s head. It didn’t move. He slowly turned, his hand flashing towards Nokko’s arm. He grabbed it and squeezed, Nokko flinched in pain. Kloso glinted towards them, having too much pride to bother.

“Venoms come in every colour. They come as solids, liquids and gasses. They have varying effects on you. Even some of you, like, skeletons, are weak to some venoms. However there are a lot of ways to deal with them.”

Oslo was spinning two balls of air, one on top of the other. Arne used a rift to flick one. His finger went through the ball of air, not impacting it, he could have sworn he saw sparkles in Oslo’s eyes. Arne strained his fingers and flicked with everything he had, the gust of wind created made Oslo lose the balance of the ball. Arne grinned inside.

“It all really depends on the strength of the venom. Really potent venoms are best dealt with immediately. However, potent venoms also require physical contact in most cases.”

They heard a loud bang in the back of the classroom.