Bro, I'm not an Undead!

What were the advantages of getting recognised by the Voice of Worlds?

What did one gain above others who hadn’t received such an honour?

The criteria to attain this was something that could be described at another time as Skullius was a terrible case study. Chance played a major role with an overly special circumstance being the final ingredient to his receiving of this gift.

When one was recognised by the Voice of Worlds, they would gain the ability to be informed of things that they would otherwise not be privy to, like exact numerical measures of their strength, seeing the strength of others without having to get powerful skills first, the abundant stats after each level among many others.

With each significant increase in strength, many other aspects would be revealed through the guidance field.

Skullius at this moment was staring at a floating ball in the palm of his hand.

It was Sila’s soul.

It was bright with a powerful energy being emitted from it, but at the same time, Skullius couldn’t help but feel like it wasn’t the full package, especially for someone whom he recognised to be stronger than he had initially thought before seeing the reward for killing him.

“What do I do with this?” Skullius questioned. He couldn’t imagine exactly what to do with a soul. He didn’t exactly have much knowledge about these things because he barely got to leave the tombs and mines to see the actual undead stuff that Liches did.

As he looked at the soul, Skullius felt a sudden desire to… eat it.

It was a weird sensation that made even him to question his own sanity. Eating a soul? Where did this impulse come from?

It was too strange. His head suddenly inched closer to the soul, but Skullius fought back._.

Little did he know, this was simply an instinct that came from his Boneman self which still existed but was just wrapped under a mystical camouflage.

The sensation got too much for Skullius to bear and in the next moment, he found himself throwing the bright ball of light into his mouth!

Taste? There was none.

But as the soul went down into his body, Skullius felt a burst of heat that rushed into his body like a fountain!

It travelled to all his body parts, the soul breaking down into particles of energy that were assimilated into Skullius.

[You have consumed the soul of a Higher level existence]

[A piece of ‘Sila the great Tower General’ has  been permanently ingraved into you]

[The strength residing in this soul is too much for you. 99% has been wasted and the rest has been salvaged]

[+35 intelligence]

[+30 Strength]

[+50 Mana]

“Bro!” Skullius yelped as he saw the stats he had just received. This was a great and unexpected haul from a single ‘victory’!

Skullius grinned.

“This is a pretty good jump in my stats! I wonder if I can get more from… No! Let me not get greedy. I doubt it will continue to be this easy as I go. At least I have more mana to spare now!” Skullius said while toning down his enthusiasm.

He decided to do this step by step.

First, he transferred all the experience he had gained to his Boneman form, watching with an exhilarated expression as he gained another level bringing him to level 9.

Just a step away from Tier 1, with merely 305,800 experience points remaining.

“Just a bit more!” Skullius said with determination.

***

A double edged sword crackled with white lightning as it released a barrage of devastating attacks that lit up the space in the narrow corridor!

Unfortunately, the ridiculous response to this incredible assault was even more devastating as the holder of the sword that looked like a fearsome reaper, found a massive axe swinging towards his torso with an even quicker speed than his sword attacks!

As the blade of the axe was illuminated by the flashes of arcs of lightning that ran on his body, an inch away from his body, Benzard gnashed his teeth and used up a large chunk of his mana to evade the deadly attack.

He turned into a flash of light that zipped its way back to the point where he had been standing initially; right beside a panting Reon who had his sword ready to attack anytime.

The two had found themselves together after entering the Labyrinth. As they were the strongest two, their pairing was a major concern as if they reasoned this situation with the assumption that they were paired in twos in different locations, this could mean that one of them was alone!

Therefore, they had wanted to hurry and try to regroup with the others but unfortunately…

A tall humanoid creature with aged flesh and dirty cloths on its face had appeared.

It had a blue core with glimmers of purple, which alerted the two as they came to same conclusion as Denille.

With their perfect coordination and powerful attacks, they had tried to kill of the creature in one blow but unfortunately… it couldn’t be done.

“Is this really just the beginning of the Labyrinth? If this is some kind of gatekeeper, I have no idea what the actually challenge is like. What do we do?” Reon asked while lowering his katana.

At this point, he and Benzard already knew that this creature was a reactive type. No matter how long they waited, it wouldn’t attack and it seemed to have one skill which he had deduced after watching its movements and using his high level appraising skill, [Source Tracker].

This creature was merely physically powerful. Its power came from the level of its core which was already ridiculous but it didn’t have much in the way of tact. It was a living creature conditioned with a skill to respond to any attack with skilful and refined movements perfected through many years of training.

Or rather torture.

“We have no choice. One of us has to use their Full Body Aura. We are just beginning, we can’t afford to waste all our energy and time here,” Benzard said while his eyes never left his opponent.

Reon sighed as he knew that ‘one of us’ meant him. He would have to use to use his Aura, his current full strength, to take down this creature with Benzard’s help.

Without wasting time, Reon lowered his stance and took in a deep breath. His eyes closed shut as he then placed his right hand on the hilt of his sword and the left on the scabbard.

Suddenly, bright wisps of mana raged from his blue core and shrouded his figure with a firm enclosure. They exuded a white hue first and then it turned blue, the mana within exploding outwards and taking the vague form of a wolf!

Reon looked to be struggling to keep this form of his mana as even as this shape was formed, raging out and creating a low rumble in the corridor, Reon himself was trembling.

In the next moment, Reon opened his eyes and drew his sword, blinding lights blaring from them as they were directed at the tall creature with an massive axe!

A sonar-like ripple travelled through the ground in a blink and when it touched the creature, it tinged it with a blue outline which acted like a mystical force that thundered down and bound the creature in place with deafening boom!

A crater appeared under the creature’s feet as its weight seemed to be increased by Reon’s Aura, making it difficult for it to move!

Reon used his full strength, drawing his blade while carefully weaving mana into it for maximum damage with the current added boosts at his disposal!

However, the creature they faced, suddenly moved!

…!

It wasn’t supposed to move!

Reon momentary panicked as in one moment, the creature took a step forward and in the next, it was right before him, swinging its axe casually even while the blue outline around its body which represented the influence of his Aura tried to stop it!

‘Dammit! My Full Body Aura still isn’t complete! I can’t stop it!’ Reon thought.

The agitated air parted for the speeding axe and its carrier with crackles and sparks while Reon was already feeling disheartened.

This thing was too fast!

BOOOM!

Right then, an incandescent white light stormed right in front of Reon protectively with the image of a man in a timely rescue!

Benzard looked like a divine being as he swung his sword upwards, the loud clang that rang afterwards spelling the clash of mighty existences!

This was not a simple skill that Benzard was using. It was a special one.

A type of skill that individuals with white cores could only dream of using.

The axe was parried into the air and Benzard immediately cancelled his skill, his godly appearance vanishing.

“Do it now!” he boomed.

Reon tore himself from the fright and awe as he immediately refocused, charging with immense speed to take the opportunity to cut down this enemy that had been created just for him!

Ethereal slashes with a speedy trails of mana were delivered from Reon as four figures similar to him flickered in and out of existence in a millisecond around the axe-wielding creature!

The lone and intense body of Reon appeared a few meters from the creature with the axe, holding the katana with both hands while a mirage-inducing heat left his body!

The creature with the axe was torn split apart with blood spraying, falling to the ground in death…