Chapter 9. Awakening in Life (9)

The hunter's swing radius was reduced. He was also wielding the hammer with only one hand. Meanwhile, my skull was the hardest part of my skeleton, and now I had high blunt resistance.

Nevertheless, headbutting the hammer was a crazy move. Even I couldn't quite understand my actions. However, after fighting him three times in such a short period, my instincts told me this was the way to avoid dying.

"

Ugh!

"

Instead of falling, I leaped into his arms. Normally, he should've stepped back to maintain distance, but he was so startled by my headbutt that he stumbled.

Thud!

The hammer-wielder fell. I jumped toward him and plunged my dagger toward his neck.

Squish!

The hammer-wielder raised his arm to block the dagger. He merely intended to use his already broken arm as a shield, but the sharp dagger dug deep into his arm, causing him more pain.

"

Argh!

" he screamed.

He tensed his muscles, and the dagger got stuck in his muscles. He swung his arm backward.

Whoosh!

I lost my grip on the dagger.

Lightning continued to strike. I was shocked by my ridiculous mistake. My neck bones rattled.

Pathetic.

I needed to make up for my mistake. I raised my finger and poked his eyes, making it impossible for him to keep them open.

"

Arghhh!

" the hunter screamed in pain and threw me aside.

Rumble!

The thunder continued to roar as I fell to the ground. For the hunter named Pretcher, this was his first encounter with me, but that wasn't the case for me. In just a short period, I had already encountered him three times.

I had grown accustomed to him, but I still couldn't manage to kill him. Normally, he could easily crush an opponent like me with a few swings of his hammer. In our first encounter, I wasn't even worth the trouble. He simply kicked me off the cliff.

However, I was trapped in a time loop. I would die and come back again. I knew when he would arrive, where he would come from, and how he would move. If I fell here, I knew what he would do to Rubia.

Though I was thrown aside, I wasn't injured. I quietly grabbed the crossbow that had fallen to the ground. I had one bolt left.

Creak, creak.

I slowly loaded it. Pretcher had been blinded by my eye attack, so couldn't open his eyes fully and see me well. But could he hear? Could he hear the sound of me loading the crossbow that would end his life?

Rumble! Boom!

No, the thunder was deafening.

Shaaaa...

I stood still and aimed the crossbow at his neck.

"

Ugh, ugh, ugh!

"

I took three steps back and fired.

Thunk!

The bolt pierced his neck.

"

Ugh!

"

His neck was completely punctured. He clutched his throat with his broken arm, gasping.

I sat quietly in front of him.

Splat!

With his bones broken, he couldn't exert any strength. Even with his good arm, he couldn't stop the gushing blood. The blood spurting from the hole was like a newly burst spring, painting my skull bright red as it splattered in front of him.

Shaaaa...

Rumble...

The rain continued to pour, washing away the blood that had painted my skill. Both the sensation of blood being painted on and then washed away felt refreshing.

Shaaa...

I turned my head. A woman in a completely drenched semi-formal dress was staring at me.

"Oh..."

She let out a small sigh, still standing there.

Should I tell her to search the corpses?

I decided not to. It was already commendable that Rubia had not fainted from seeing all this.

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

I should deal with this first.

I opened my status window.

[Name: None

Skeleton Soldier Lv. 6 (47)

Health: 29

Strength: 24

Agility: 23

Wisdom: 9

Remaining Points: 5]

I had gained five levels for killing two men. Each time I killed one, my level increased by two, then four. But killing both had increased it by five in total. It seemed like an excessive reward, but it wasn't difficult to accept. The higher the level, the more experience I needed to level up. The same enemy gave different rewards depending on my level.

Defeating higher-level enemies gave more rewards. No matter how many lower-level enemies I defeated, I wouldn't gain significant experience. The enemies I defeated weren't ordinary, even with the stats of a Lv. 36 Skeleton Soldier and the unknown perks I had repeatedly lost to them.

Thinking back, when I was truly a Lv. 1 Skeleton Soldier twenty years ago, defeating humans like those hunters would've been unthinkable. It would've been impossible unless they were tied up and stabbed with a knife. Even twenty Lv. 1 Skeleton Soldiers attacking together would struggle to defeat them.

Hmm.

In the end, I had accomplished an impossible task. Considering it a reward for that, it wasn't so unreasonable.

Maybe it's even less than what I deserve.

Regardless, I had to allocate the points I gained. The basic stats were Health, Strength, Agility, and Wisdom. I didn't know the detailed correlations between the stats as I just had a rough sense of them. I hardly ever increased Wisdom. Initially, it was around three or four points. I increased it a few times, but I stopped doing so when I saw no noticeable effect.

Health determined how much I could withstand attacks. Strength was related to direct attack power, and Agility was movement speed. Increasing Strength made the world feel lighter, and increasing Agility made the world feel slower.

In fact, before meeting my master, I didn't know how to increase stats. I just wandered around with unallocated points. If I stayed idle, the points automatically invested somewhere. I learned about the stats after meeting my master.

She used her authority to force me to increase my Health stats as much as possible to avoid being killed by humans. Yet, she didn't send me to the battlefield. She was a terrible dungeon master—a failure. If she increased the health of a dungeon servant, then she should've sent them to the front lines. That was only natural.

Clatter.

I shook my head. This wasn't the time to reminisce. To meet and protect her when I see her again, I must fight alone for countless years, however long it may be. I invested three points in Strength and two in Agility.

[Strength 24 —> 27]

[Agility 23 —> 25]

It was time to search the hunters' corpses. I started with the hammer wielder's body, which was the closest. I intended to gather anything useful. First, I found a wallet. It was quite full. Where was he headed with such a loaded pocket? Having it wouldn't be useful for me.

I looked at the trembling woman. I opened the status window to check her again. It seemed to have become a habit.

[Name: Rubia Ray

Necromancer Lv.1

Health: 6

Strength: 5

Agility: 6

Wisdom: 12]

[Affection: 3

— Rubia has a slight attachment to the skeleton she awakened.]

[Basic Skills

— Unlock by increasing Affection.]

[Perks

— Unlock by increasing Affection.]

[Titles

— Unlock by increasing Affection.]

I couldn't see her basic skills, perks, or titles. They all had conditions: increasing affection. How could I increase the affection of a human woman? It was hard to imagine. I had no experience dealing with human women. Would giving her money work?

Thud!

I threw the leather pouch in front of Rubia. She flinched in surprise.

"Pick it up. You might need it," I said and then checked the status window again.

[Affection: 3

— Rubia has a slight attachment to the skeleton she awakened.]

"What... what is happening?" Rubia asked, trembling.

She looked extremely frightened. She didn't seem interested in the money I threw.

Hmm. This isn't working.

The leather pouch I threw to her was quite heavy. She must've heard the jingling sound but didn't pick it up. She just kept trembling. In fact, her reaction was normal. She had come out after hiding for a while only to find out that a skeleton had killed two people.

Picking up money joyfully is probably too much to ask.

Feeling awkward, I tried to change the subject.

"You were the one who raised me, weren't you?" I asked while searching the corpse.

Rubia nodded as if she were in a trance.

After a moment of confusion, she asked, "But,

um

, are you okay?"

"Okay?"

"You were hit hard on the skull with a hammer."

That was correct. Had she been watching from the beginning?

I did tell her to hide quietly.

I looked at her. She was holding something in her hand. It was a stone.

"Why are you holding that?" I asked her.

"It might be useful. I should help if you're in danger," she answered, and then awkwardly smiled.

I was a little surprised that Rubia was showing signs of composure. Moreover, she even talked about helping me. It was an absurd idea, but I had already experienced it several times. After I was broken, she was brutally violated. The scene flashed through my mind. I didn't want to remember it, but I couldn't forget it either.

Clatter.

I shook my head.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I'm shaking off the rainwater."

Rubia still hadn't picked up the pouch. Instead, she was muttering something. I couldn't hear it clearly. The money I had thrown at her was exactly seventy-two roti. Of course, I couldn't tell the amount just by touch. I knew because of the message that had appeared in the air.

[You have acquired 72 roti!]

It was the first time I had experienced such a thing.

Getting a message just for picking up money?

It was a fascinating experience. The leather pouch was quite thick. I considered a small compensation for the damage from the hammer.

I told Rubia, "Count the roti later."

"Huh?!"

Finally, Rubia's big brown eyes widened.

"Y-you know about roti?"

So that was what surprised her. I did know about it, but I never used it. Roti was the currency unit of the human empire. It was torn apart into countless factors, but the currency unit was all the same.

"I also know about widgets, seirons, and dukats. I'm even aware of shekels."

"

Hic!

" Rubia hiccuped in surprise. "H-how?"

The empire used widgets and roti. A hundred roti was equal to one seiron. The Free Confederation was the Empire's greatest enemy, the long-standing land to the other side.

The currency used by those republicans was different from that of the Empire. They used the free dukat and the shekel. Twenty-five dukats equaled one Shekel. Roti and dukat were made of silver, while seirons and shekels were made of gold. When melted, all were the same metal. On top of that, the Empire stamped the emperor's face and a laurel wreath on the coins.

The Free Confederation stamped the shape of their parliament and a voting person. Both sides assigned value and character to the metal. By stamping something on the melted, fluid metal, they try to prove their society.

Rubia asked, "Do you not know about widgets?"

I shrugged and replied, "Of course I do."

Widgets were a lower currency unit than roti in the Empire. The order was seiron, roti, then widget.

"Anyway, you keep the money. Even if I know what it is, it's useless to me."

It wasn't charity. All that mattered was whoever held the shiny silver coins, which was important. I was a skeleton without any flesh. If I were to hold the silver coins, the money would no longer be a subject of trade.