Verso walked along the narrow path, his eyes darting from tree to tree. On both sides, the forest was deathly silent. There was no birds chirping, and no leaves rustling.
'Don't they say that you should be afraid if the forest goes completely silent?' Verso thought, his pulse quickening.
He took a deep breath in an attempt to shake the nervousness out of his system but the silence was starting to feel heavy as now he felt like he could hear his own heartbeat.
'Wait, I can just summon the little guy!'
Verso immediately focused on the summoning space in his mind. He didn't want to be alone in this creepy silence anymore so with a mental tug he called forth the Nameless Skeleton.
But instead of appearing neatly on the ground, the skeleton materialized a few feet in the air and fell straight down.
Clack!Rattle!
As soon as the skeleton hit the ground, both of its arms popped off and rolled away.
Seeing this Verso just froze in place. His face twitched as he watched the headless body and loose limbs lying in the dirt.
"I don't even know what I expected..."
He sighed and slowly kneeled down. He picked up the two grey arms and carefully reattached them to the shoulder joints.
As soon as the bones clicked into place, the skeleton sat up and then stood upright.
It looked at Verso and gave a small stiff bow.
Verso realized the summon was trying to thank him for putting it back together.
"Don't worry about it," Verso replied, dusting off his knees.
"Let's get going."
He started walking forward again. After a few seconds he looked back and saw the skeleton was following him, its small feet making a light tapping sound on the uneven ground as it looked around at the forest.
"You know what? I'm going to call you Lil' Bone." Verso said.
He had already been thinking about a name. Nameless Skeleton was a mouthful and using the skeleton's title felt more natural.
Almost as if the skeleton understood that it had received a name, Lil' Bone stopped, putting its bony arms up in the air as it started waving them around like it was celebrating.
Looking at this, Verso couldn't help but laugh.
"Okay, the Headmaster was right about you. You definitely are the funniest summon I have ever seen."
As they kept walking Verso realised that with Lil' Bone rattling along with him, the forest didn't feel so lonely anymore.
Soon, the path started to slope upward and Verso hiked for a few minutes until he reached the top of a high ridge.
He stopped in his tracks, his eyes widening at the view below.
In front of him was a massive crater. It looked at least ten kilometers wide and looked like it was carved deep into the earth with a lot of boulders floating in the sky.
On the far side of the crater, sitting in the opposite direction as him was a massive castle.
It was magnificent. The stone walls were white and shimmering and rocks as large as hills were floating in the air all around it making it look magical.
"This is the beginner grounds." Verso said, looking down into the pit.
He remembered the lessons from his classes where they were taught about this dungeon. Students were only allowed to hunt inside the crater and they were warned to stay far away from the castle on the horizon which was supposed to be way beyond their level.
Before Verso could find a way down, Lil' Bone stepped up beside him.
As the little skeleton reached out, trying to grab Verso's pants to steady itself its foot caught on a jagged rock.
Lil' Bone tripped.
Verso watched in slow motion as the skeleton tumbled forward. It went over the edge and started bouncing down the steep slope into the crater.
Clack! Rattle! Snap!
Every time it hit a rock, more pieces flew off. By the time it was halfway down, it was just a bunch of bones rolling in different directions.
"Oh god..."
Verso's mouth twitched. He realized that using Lil' Bone in its beast form was going to be a pipe dream for now. The little guy was just too weak and clumsy with barely any stat points in endurance.
With a thought, he called the summon back. The bones tumbling down the hill vanished into thin air, returning back to the summoning space.
Verso looked down at the steep drop and because he did not have a better way down he tried to jump between the larger rocks.
He managed to hop a few times, but just as he stepped onto a floating rock that looked solid, his foot slipped.
"Ouch!"
"Fuck!"
Verso went down hard as he started rolling down the slope, his body slamming into rocks and dirt. Every impact sent a jolt of pain through his body.
After a few painful seconds of falling, he finally hit a flat patch of ground and stopped. He stayed there, lying on his back and staring up at the pink sky.
"Ugh... I think I broke my back." He groaned.
He laid there for a few more seconds, feeling the bruises already starting to form all over his body.
"This is what the system meant by the pain would be real." He muttered.
Slowly, he pushed himself up until he was sitting straight as he looked around the crater.
"Thank god the little guy isn't here to see this." Verso muttered.
He had a feeling that Lil' Bone would have something to say if it saw him fall down the crater just like it had.
He stood up quietly, shaking the dirt off his uniform. He was finally inside the hunting grounds and even if he was a little banged up his hunt has just begun.