Bones wasn't sure what Silva meant by showing him what he got, so he did the only thing that came to mind. He made a joke.

"Alright, alright. Pick a number. Any number from 1 to a 100, but don't tell me which number you picked!"

A puzzled look came over Silva's face. "What do you…Solin? You haven't told him?"

Solin had an equally confused expression on his face. "Told him what?” A moment later, he remembered. “Ah! Sorry, I forgot."

"Never mind. Bones, I'd like for you to spar with Solin. I'd like to see what you are capable of."

"Assessing my abilities?" asked Bones

"Yes. Also, you need to experience what it’s like fighting against a more experienced opponent."

Bones looked at Solin who was already positioning himself into a fighting stance. "Alright, show me you got Solin!"

"Wait, wait." hurriedly spoke up Silva. “Clover, CLOVER!” he shouted.

From somewhere inside, a crashing sound was heard, followed by the stomping of feet against the stairs.

The door to the courtyard opened and a head peeked out. "What?" Looking at the three, a woman read the situation instantly and emerged into the courtyard. "Oh, are you ready to spar?" she asked. Silva nodded and the woman, Clover, approached the two looking at her. She knelt and placed both palms against the ground. Bones watched as at the next moment thousands of little blue clovers sprouted from the ground, covering the whole courtyard. She stood up and slowly raised both hands at the same time. From the thousands of clovers, a barrier sprang up.

"The barrier will mute the sound of battle and stop any stray attack from damaging the walls." Silva said.

"Are you sure the barrier would hold?" Bones asked.

"Of course! Clover is a talented barrier specialist! She's also a silver rank, so you don't have to worry and could let it all out." Smiling, Silva gave him the “thumbs up”.

Bones turned his head back to Solin, eagerness showing on the assassin's face. "Don't hold back on me, Solin".

"Of course I.." Solin stopped mid-sentence and side stepped the Bone Spikes rising from the ground at the spot he was standing not even a second ago.

Failed huh. Bones thought while Solin grinned widely. "Way to go Bones! I'm sure most of the others would be caught in a sneak attack like this one!"

Solin took on a low stance, slightly hunching with both hands hanging limply by his side. He leaned forward and - in the next moment, two daggers appeared, one in each hand as he dashed forward. Bones casted and fired lance after lance but each was avoided as Solin zig-zagged between lances and approached fast. The courtyard was small, barely twenty five meters wide and it quickly turned into close combat as Bones was prepared to meet the incoming attack. He didn't take out a weapon from the inventory yet but trusted his Bone Armor would hold enough to test his attacker's strength.

The assassin approached from Bones' left side and was in motion to attack. Bones saw it coming and stepped to his right only to lose sight of Solin the next second. In that split second, the attack he was expecting to come from the left, came from the back. The attack pierced his armor halfway through before Solin stopped, pulled back his dagger and somersaulted off Bones' back, distancing himself.

Solin smiled at Bones who didn't find it as funny. The moment Bones lost sight of Solin he knew he couldn't beat him. The man was playfully moving around the courtyard. "Assassin huh…"

"What do you think? Surprised?" Solin asked, visibly enjoying how their first encounter turned out.

"Quite surprised. Please, continue." Bones said as his armor repaired at visible rate and he was ready to continue.

Solin winced a bit, seeing the armor repair itself so easily, but he had a lot more to offer than a simple backstab. Again, taking his stance, he attacked. As he moved forward, so did Bones move backward, but there was only so much distance he could put between them until Solin caught up. A low slash that would sever an artery on anyone else, left a long gash on his pants. Solin turned and pounced on Bones back, leaving another mark on armor from his piercing attack.

Bones spun around, summoning a lance and completing a sweeping attack. Solin took a step back and jerked his head with great reflex, watching as the tip of the spear passed his forehead by centimeters. "Whew, that was close! Nice one!" he complimented Bones and continued his one sided assault.

After numerous bouts, Solin was frowning while Bones felt the frustration. He kept repairing cracked, pierced and broken pieces of his armor, barely keeping up. As for why was Solin frowning? Because the match was supposed to be over some time ago and yet, Bones was still standing and repairing his damned armor. "You aren't out of mana yet?" he eventually asked.

"Yes." replied Bones. A few seconds later, he added: "Not anymore."

Solin's frown deepened and he attacked again, with more fervor than before. His attacks were faster and sharper. The man was going all out. On one occasion when he was close enough, Bones surprised him with a bone nova. Projectiles were fired in a circle around Bones and one was heading towards Solin. The assassin's acute perception let him perceive the attack and react almost instantly. He dodged by plunging below the projectile and dashing at Bones.

The moment Solin dodged his attack, Bones knew he had nothing more to show. When he saw Solin dashing at him again, he started getting really pissed off. Big chunk of his mana was consumed instantly and Bones was about to let it out in a mana blast around him. Before he did, however, Silva stepped in and - with a loud clap - interrupted both of them. "Alright, that would be enough for today."

Solin slid to a stop and Bones looked at Silva, nodding his head. That clap? It felt a lot like a soul attack. Bones recognized what Silva had done to stop them. He was somewhat familiar with it. The attack wasn't strong enough to stop Bones but the familiarity with the sudden attack made him pause. And now? He found out something else about him. Silva knew soul magic!

"Bones, you still have mana left!?" Silva asked and Bones nodded. He saw a bit of surprise on Silva's face.

"At the end there, it felt like you were about to cast Mana Blast. I didn't know you had the affinity for arcane magic." Silva said.

Bones hadn't expected for Silva to figure it out with one glance, without even casting a spell. Great, and now he knows something else about me.

"Ahem, you should probably fix your shirt."

Bones wasn't paying attention to it until Silva pointed it out. He looked down and saw it was full of holes and gashes. The shirt had a self-repair enchantment, but it would take a while to self-repair. "I have a spare one, be right back." Bones said and left to change his attire.

Meanwhile, Solin was meditating, beads of sweat falling down his face as he was regenerating his resources. "We'll be in the booth", Silva said and left, Clover following behind him.

Inside the booth, Clover and Silva were waiting as Bones was coming down the stairs in a new shirt.

"You haven't formally met. Bones, this is Clover. Clover, meet Bones." Silva made the introduction. Both greeted each other and Bones asked if Clover was her real name. It wasn’t, like he thought, it was a nickname, or maybe a codename?

"So Bones, I take it you understand now why I needed you to see the difference?" Bones nodded and Silva continued. "You actually surprised us greatly there. You wouldn't know, but Solin has a lot of experience fighting one on one. The experience he gained working as an assassin and fighting in the arena against other users."

"I didn't know the guild had an arena?" asked Bones with interest.

"It does and it's a big deal, but I was referring to an Underground arena. Never mind that for now. I'm sure you have realized by now the difference in having advanced skills. It wasn't a fair match up but it was a necessary one!" Silva stated.

"Not at all, it was an eye-opening match." Bones replied.

"I'm glad you see it that way. Most adventurers have at least two advanced skills before they reach level 25. I don't think you are like most adventurers, Bones. I do have one remark. Tell me, why haven't you used any physical abilities in the match?"

Bones thought it over for a second before asking with a puzzled complexion. "What do you mean? I have a weapon mastery and I used a lance."

This time it was Silva and the silent Clover that were surprised. "I meant weapon abilities or skills that empower your movement like Solin used."

"Ah, I see. I don't have any."

"WHAT?" Both Silva and Clover blurted out, drawing attention to their private booth.

"How can you not have any? By now you should have learned at least one weapon skill or at least a passive skill boosting your movement speed, if not a movement skill." Clover asked, finally joining the conversation. Silva stayed silent, deep in thought.

"I know what you mean, but I have yet to be prompted by the system with either of the skills. I do have one passive skill reinforcing my bones, if that counts? I thought it was odd at first, but then again, my situation isn't exactly normal."

"Could I ask you to tell me, and you don't have to answer, how long does it take you to regenerate your mana to full?" Silva suddenly asked.

Bones checked his status and replied, "under a minute, if not in combat." They don't need to know I need half a minute to regenerate my mana pool.

“Under…a minute?” repeated Silva.

“Under a minute, that’s…” Clover repeated as well.

“Is that fast? I thought it to be fast but I had no one to compare myself to.” asked Bones.

“Bones, most mages that invested in mana regeneration take at least 4-5 minutes to regenerate mana while meditating. Do you have low mana or something?” Clover asked, now more intrigued in Bones.

“I don’t know if it is low, but around five hundred mana.”

“That’s not low, a bit above average at your level.” added Silva.

Solin joined them roughly ten minutes later but quickly left to his room after Clover teased him about Bones’ mana recovery. The rest of them stayed talking until midnight when Bones said good night and went to his room.

Silva and Tivaara were the only ones left in the booth. Clover left sometime in the evening after Tiv joined them. “What do you think about our new addition?” Silva turned to Tiv and asked.

“Bones?...I like!”

“I thought you would Tiv. Don’t get attached though. He's mine!” warned Silva.

“Oh yeah?” She exclaimed. “Is this where your interest lies? You think he might be The One?”

“I think he could be and probably is! It won’t be long now until this body expires.” replied Silva, pulling up his sleeve and revealing dark veins underneath his skin.

“Are you sure? He is a skeleton Silva, why would you think that..” but Silva interrupted her mid-sentence. “Tiv, he is like me!.”

“What? What do you mean?” Tiv asked.

“Didn’t it occur to you when you failed to identify him the first time? He, like me, most likely is or was, a soul mage. He isn’t some skeleton that just happened to gain sapience. He transferred his soul, somehow, to a skeleton and from the looks of it, doesn’t seem to have any negative side effects like me. Well, apart from the obvious ones like being an undead.”

“Are you sure? It seems rather far-fetched Silva. The man didn’t know a thing about the system.” Tiv sounded skeptical.

“And yet, he knows his name, his real name. He looks at things like they are completely new to him and yet drinks coffee in the mornings like it’s his routine. Yes Tiv, I’m sure of it. He was a soul mage. Maybe he lost parts of his memory during a soul transfer? As a side-effect of a ritual? Who knows?”

“Maybe he lived before the system?” Tiv voiced her thoughts then chuckled and said, “As if!”

“Impossible Tiv. He would have to be over six thousands years old. That would make him the oldest living, or nonliving I guess, soul in the world.”

“How long do you have?” asked Tiv, changing the subject.

“My guess? A few years at best.”

“What is your plan with Bones?”

Silva looked at her, narrowing his eyes then sighed. “Nothing for now, I need him to step into silver rank first. This early and that body of his wouldn’t be able to handle soul transfer.”

“So, we teach him? Make him strong so when the time comes, you would have a body worthy of your stature.” Tivaara said while getting up from the table and leaving Silva to his musings.

“Good night Tivaara” Silva said and continued sipping on his drink, ignoring everything around him as he got lost in his thoughts. That body of his is something I’ve never encountered before. No stamina and can’t learn any skills to reinforce his body? How peculiar. He doesn’t seem to comprehend yet just how much of an advantage he has over everyone else that has to train their body for decades, centuries even. Disadvantages are there for sure, but.. *sigh* If the circumstances were different, perhaps I wouldn’t have to…

Silva hadn’t finished his thought, but did finish his drink. He got up and left, but not to his rooms like others. He headed toward the hidden manavator and descended into the Underground City. He still had some business to take care of.