Iskar closed his status screen, ready to move on. He had the information; while he was curious to review it again, the need to get out of this room came first.
He looked for an exit. After a quiet, long moment of searching, he stood still. There was no door.
'What is this? a prison?' He looked at the coffins lining the walls. The thought came to him that maybe they were connected to a way out. He walked to one of them but paused before opening it.
'What if there's someone like me inside?' There were no weapons in the room.
He shook off the thought, deciding not to stall any longer. He forced the wooden lid open.
He was shocked. Inside was a skeleton holding a large hammer, its bony hands resting on its chest.
'A skeleton.'
He looked around the coffin's interior, but there was no lever or switch. He sighed and stepped back. 'I need to think. Maybe I missed something.'
CRACK!
A bone-cracking sound reached his ears. It didn't stop. He turned suddenly and saw the skeleton in the coffin. Its eye sockets now glowed with a faint red light, and it was moving, its bones grating against each other.
His gaze darted to the other coffins. 'Fuck.'
The skeleton climbed out and walked toward him, raising its hammer to swing. Iskar saw a faint red outline shimmer around its bones. He moved quickly as the hammer came down, smashing into the stone floor where he had just been standing. While the skeleton struggled to lift the heavy weapon, Iskar kicked its skull. The head spun around, now looking backward over its own spine.
Iskar looked at his hand. 'Come on, let's see what you can do.'
He closed the distance as the skeleton abandoned the hammer to try and fix its head. Iskar's bandaged hand grabbed its bony arm. In his mind, he focused, shouting, 'Decay! Decay! Decay!'
He didn't know if that was the way, but it worked. The bones under his grip began to discolor and sustain, cracking and withering. Without any warning, the entire skeleton crumbled into a pile of ash.
[You've Killed A Level 1[T1] Skeleton]
[You've gained Exp]
He looked at the message, a grim smile forming under his wrappings. He looked at the hammer and moved to grab it. The moment his fingers touched the handle, the lids of all the other coffins burst open at the same time.
It was quiet heavy, and not his type of weapon, but it was all he had. He saw the skeletons approaching him.
He lifted the hammer with a grunt and swung with all his might at the nearest one. The heavy head connected with a sickening crunch, shattering the skeleton's skull and causing its body to collapse into a pile of bones.
[You have killed a Level 1[T1] Skeleton]
He didn't stop. He continued the methodical head-smashing as they kept coming. Originally, there had been ten coffins, excluding his own. By the time he shattered the skull of the ninth skeleton, his arms were burning with the effort.
He looked around at the scattered weapons. 'Should I change to a sword?' He shook his head almost immediately. Against something with flesh, maybe. But for skeletons, nothing was more effective than blunt force. He kept the hammer and moved to the one coffin that hadn't opened.
He opened it slowly. Inside was a skeleton, but unlike the others, it didn't move. It was clearly 'alive'—its eye sockets held a faint red glow, but it was pinned, unable to move. He noticed a faint red circle glowing on the bottom of the coffin beneath it.
He looked at his bandaged hand. This time, instead of decaying, he willed it to absorb. He placed his palm on the skeleton's skull. A rush of energy flowed into his body, a cold, satisfying sensation that spread through his limbs.
[+1 Physical Power]
[You have killed a Level 1[T1] Skeleton]
[You have leveled up to Level 2]
[All stats increased by 1]
[2 Unallocated stats]
A fresh wave of strength surged through him. It wasn't a massive change, but it was noticeable, like a sudden caffeine rush clearing away fatigue. He opened his status to see the changes.
Name: Iskar Al-Sirius
Age: 1[Body] 10000[Soul]
Race: Primordial Undead [Mummy]
Level: 1 (0%)
Overall Tier: 1 [F](Lower Realm) ═══════════════════════ Physical Power: 15 > 16 > 17 [F]
Magical Power: 17 > 18 [F]
Spirit: 10 > 11
Energy: 100 > 110
Unallocated Stats: 2
He saw his Energy had increased by ten and his Spirit by one. 'Is Spirit representing my maximum energy pool?' It was only a guess, but it seemed logical.
Looking at the two unallocated points, he didn't hesitate. He put both into Physical Power. The hammer immediately felt lighter in his hands, and the bandaged muscles in his arms felt more substantial.
His reasoning was simple: he was fighting skeletons with a heavy weapon, and he had no active magical attacks yet. Decay and Absorb worked fine without needing a higher Magical Power, for now.
His thoughts were broken by a low rumbling. He turned to see a section of the stone wall slide open, revealing a straight, dark hall beyond.
'Finally. A way out.'
He took the hammer and swung it over his shoulder.
'This is surprisingly fun.'
He couldn't ignore the fact he was nervous, this was his first real encounter, after all, but the danger was exhilarating.
He walked into the hall. It was dark, but his vision didn't seem obscured by the gloom. As he moved, his mind wandered.
'I wonder what kind of world is out there...' He wasn't sure what it was like, but he knew it had to be worse than Earth. His reason for becoming a mercenary on Earth started with his uncle, who had tried to do things... and a young Iskar had mistakenly killed him.
All the way through juvenile detention, he kept meeting predators; his first foster family was bad, and it just continued. Until he decided to take matters into his own hands. Slowly, that work turned into killing corrupt leaders. Part of him understood he let greed take over, the money was enticing.
He wouldn't say he did it all from kindness or a sense of justice. Maybe in the beginning, but that faded. So if Earth was bad, he knew this world wouldn't be any better.
Give people power, and they show you their true selves. He'd fallen into that category, too. The moment he felt he could kill anyone, he took any job.
Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by something shooting toward his face at high speed. He managed to twist his head, but it still nipped his bandaged cheek.
Before he could even see what it was, another impact landed square on his chest, knocking him back a step. He looked down and saw a...