He didn't have many options; looking around, he couldn't see the edge of the dark forest, nor even anything that could serve as the first clue pointing him toward the nearest civilization.
In this matter, Krystian chose a simple strategy: keep walking forward and pray to every God who might be merciful enough to hear him, that the next creature he encountered on his path would not be strong enough to end his new life before it had truly begun.
However, before he moved on, he once again looked at the remains of the skeleton he had defeated moments earlier.
The skull itself had turned into a rather peculiar, bright-green dense substance. Krystian truly regretted not having anything with him to collect this unusual material. Apparently, his innate talent was not only bonuses to proficiency in those particular fields, but also something deep within him, somewhere at the back of his subconscious. It was beginning to transform into something that in the future might become his greatest passion, as well as his greatest weapon.
The rest of the skeleton's body structure seemed to have lost the "magnetism" that just a few minutes earlier had held all the bones together. Now, after its death—aside from the melted skull and the broken spine—everything had separated completely, leaving the bones scattered loosely on the ground.
Krystian's attention was drawn to the skeleton's femur, which by its size and weight was perfectly suited to serve as a makeshift one-handed club. And the thicker end of the femur was ideal as a head with which, upon encountering the next skeleton, he could crush its skull with much greater ease, without relying on the potentially harmful Skullshroom.
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Name: Skeletal Femur
Type: Monster RemainsSubtype: Necrotic Remnant
Element: Darkness / Necro
Description:A femur extracted from an animated skeletal entity. The bone structure remains intact despite prior necromantic activation. Surface coloration is pale with faint gray undertones, indicating prolonged exposure to death-aligned energy.
Residual necrotic essence permeates the inner lattice of the bone. Material stability appears above that of ordinary organic remains.
Properties:• ????
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"I didn't expect this… but it makes sense."
Krystian had thought he would see something different. He intended to use the femur as a weapon. So, remembering numerous mechanics from many games, he expected that upon seeing the system window, he would find something like bonuses to attack power or statistics.
However, his ability that allowed him to see a system window containing descriptions and other data about things such as Skullshrooms or a simple stick was limited to a more basic view—name–type–subtype–element and a visual description. Additionally, properties, as he had managed to observe based on the Skullshroom.
These were discovered through his own actions, even unconsciously. He could mix two substances into one by accident, and then the system window might register that a given substance mixed with another gains regenerative properties. Though that was only speculation.
However, in summary, the system windows of the Skullshroom, the femur, and probably many others were limited to a strictly alchemical perspective. Functioning as a kind of automatic notebook, with additional information that, it seemed, the system or the ability itself drew from an external, unknown source.
Walking forward at a slow pace, looking around and gripping his new makeshift club in his right hand, he came up with a new idea. Since in the case of leveling up and defeating the skeleton he hadn't received any notification, not even a sound signal, then the system certainly wouldn't give him any notification about an increase in stats caused by equipping a weapon.
╔══════════════════════〔 STATUS〕══════════════════════╗
Name: Krystian FirebonesRace: HumanGender: MaleAge: 25
Level: 4Titles: NoneClass: NoneSubclass: NoneBloodline: Ordinary HumanInnate Talent: Moderate Alchemical Potential (D+)
MP: 150 / 150Status: Healthy
Attributes:Strength –13-->20 Endurance – 13 Agility – 14 Intelligence – 17 Perception – 13 Will – 9
SP:0
Skill:
• Alchemist's Insight (D)
╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Krystian chose a fairly simple strategy to test this theory: he would put the weapon down on the ground and then pick it up again after a moment, each time turning the status window on and off.
Seeing one stat alternately rise and fall, he easily calculated that his makeshift bone club granted him +7 to Strength.
"This one bone is worth half of my total strength… I'm fucking weak."
The real, physical weakness of his body was not something easy to accept—especially in such a dangerous environment.
The skeleton from which the bone came had over 70 raw Strength, although Krystian wasn't sure whether any of the monster's titles added to its stats. Even so, the fact that he possessed less than 30% of the strength of a creature considered one of the weakest hit his pride hard.
Without meeting another human, he couldn't even confirm whether his theory—that his body differed significantly from the people inhabiting this world—was true. If so, then at the moment even an elderly person could kill him quite easily.
Walking on, frantically glancing in every direction and listening to the forest as if behind every small sound—even one seemingly harmless—there could be a level one hundred undead.
Krystian even tried to keep his breathing as steady as possible, as though breathing too heavily might draw some beast to him.
"Fewer and fewer Skullshrooms… hmm… maybe that's a good sign."
For the first half hour of calm marching, the Dark Forest had seemed unchanged. However, after another stretch of walking, Krystian began to notice a discrepancy in what he had observed so far. The number of Skullshrooms was starting to decrease. Just a short while ago, those mushrooms had grown almost everywhere. Now, to locate even one, he truly had to strain his eyes.
And one aspect significant to Krystian was the size of the Skullshrooms he could currently see. It had drastically decreased compared to the mushroom he had used to defeat the skeleton—one roughly the size of a basketball. The ones he now saw were only about the size of tennis balls.
And in most cases, the only difference besides the mentioned size was a slightly more greenish tint to the bone-like structure of the Skullshroom.
Based on this information alone, Krystian speculated that he was apparently moving away from the center of the area where, according to his theory, there must be something that was the source of the Skullshrooms themselves—or perhaps even of the forest.
Of course, Krystian had no intention of checking that at the moment, but this observation at least gave him partial certainty that he was approaching the edge of the forest.
"Fuck… Fuck… Fuck…"
At that moment, Krystian was frantically increasing the distance between himself and the peculiar situation he had observed nearby.
Starting from the beginning—after about an hour of relatively calm wandering, he heard the sounds of impacts, a rhythmic thudding accompanied by a rather strange noise that resembled a mix between eggs being crushed—though with a slightly firmer structure—and the splashing sound of someone striking the surface of a dense substance with a bare hand, causing it to spray.
The moment he heard that peculiar sound, Krystian's gaze automatically shifted toward its source. What he saw alarmed him and sent a truly unpleasant twist through his stomach.
Five skeletons were taking turns striking a creature curled up at the base of one of the trees. Aside from the bloody pulp and the splashes of blood accompanying each blow, several things caught Krystian's attention. First, these skeletons were equipped with weapons—or rather, farming tools. A sickle, a hoe, and an axe.
And although the thought of trying to defeat the skeletons and obtain those tools for himself flashed through Krystian's mind, rational thinking and awareness of his own weakness firmly suppressed that dangerous idea.
However, the mere fact that the skeletons possessed farming tools, combined with Krystian's memory of the status of the skeleton he had previously defeated, made him begin to wonder. What must have happened for so many villagers to die and turn into undead? Was it some variety of Skullshroom? Or had something that was the source of those mushrooms caused a corruption of the land? There were many theories—but the last element of this controversial situation stirred hope within him.
Namely, the creature currently being massacred by the group of five skeletons was… a wild boar, or an animal of similar mass and brown fur. The skeletons' actions provided Krystian with rather significant information about the peculiar nature of the undead—or at least of this particular subspecies known as Skeletons.
Despite being one hundred and fifty percent certain that the animal—the boar—was already dead, and that its physical structure had been flattened into ruin, the creatures continued striking it, relentlessly pounding the remains into a fleshy paste.
Krystian wondered whether the skeletons were unable to stop, or whether something still remained within the creature's remains that, despite its death, compelled the undead to continue their assault. Perhaps life energy, as portrayed in many works of pop culture. There was no certainty—but thanks to this analysis, the seed of a plan gained its desired component.
However, the presence of animals that are neither undead nor monsters is a good sign; perhaps he was approaching the end of this cursed forest.
In this forest, Krystian had seen other monsters besides skeletons. He was not sure what kind of monsters they were, as the distance was large enough that if not for the moving fluorescent fragments of their bodies, he would not have been able to see them. Especially considering his tactical move of gradually crouching down, slowly and quietly steadying his breathing, and hiding behind the nearest structure resembling a tree.
Despite his analysis and the theoretical advantage granted by his current speed and the distance separating him from them, he was still afraid. The sight was slightly macabre, and the realistic graphics of the surrounding world firmly reinforced his belief that the smallest mistake could cost him his life.
He considered bypassing the opponents and continuing to search for a safer area, but then the thought of his current strength surfaced. As well as the fact that the more green and lively area he was undoubtedly approaching might not be as safe as this Dark Forest.
The terrain he was currently in was barren, with little vegetation (Skullshrooms and trees). However, although this deprived him of the ability to obtain food, such terrain also provided significantly better visibility.
And although he did not yet know the anatomy of the undead wolves he had seen from a truly great distance, the skeletons, according to his observations, relied mainly not on sight but on something peculiar unique to the undead—as if they sensed life force. And most importantly, this peculiar sense had a limited range. He was not sure of the exact distance, but based on his current position and that of the five undead, it was greater than twenty meters.
Meanwhile, the area from which the massacred boar originated was most likely a green zone. Perhaps a forest or a clearing, but those were areas where the number of animals and monsters could be significantly higher. The variety of species and types of creatures could be astronomically greater—from simple goblins and wolves, to murderous fairies on dragons, all the way to chimeras.
And although these arguments clearly supported staying in this area until reaching minimal strength, one thought modified his current plan.
Namely, there was a reason the vegetation in this forest was so… dead. Based solely on the presence of Skullshrooms, Krystian had already considered the potential source of the land's corruption; a farmer would not turn into a walking skeleton without reason.
And the lack of certainty about the harmfulness of staying in such an area was alarming to him. So after thorough analysis, the plan was relatively simple: find the boundary separating this Dark Forest from other areas, and attempt to establish a makeshift base of operations outside this forest. A place to rest and eat, away from potential invisible threats.
At that moment, Krystian decided to sneak past the five skeletons and find the boundary. After preparing a makeshift base, he would slowly begin searching for individual skeletons to fight.
It was not a difficult task—the sound of the undead's blows acted as an acoustic confirmation that the entire group had not followed him and that he was temporarily safe.
With every moment the thudding of impacts grew quieter, and the terrain around him seemed to slowly change. He could no longer locate a single variant of the Skullshroom, and although the trees remained unchanged, the shade of their bark gradually appeared more intense.
And after about an hour of walking, he managed to spot the first more natural colors ahead. He saw green—less than twenty minutes of calm walking marked the beginning of an area that could be called land for living beings, not the land of the undead.