Chapter 3: Expansion
Skeleton No. 1's evolution concluded.
A stream of energy flowed in reverse through the soul link, surging directly into Kaito's body.
This energy didn't strengthen his bones; instead, it poured into the Soul Fire burning in his eye sockets.
The originally flickering flame stabilized instantly, its brightness increasing by a tier.
Kaito felt his core—that cluster of Soul Fire—become more solid.
The increase in physical strength was just a side effect.
Kaito flexed his finger bones. The sound of their collision had become duller and heavier.
Before, he had the strength of one Chihuahua; now, it had at least doubled.
Although it was a negligible improvement, he saw a future of exponential growth.
The breakthrough of a single Skeleton No. 1 brought this much feedback.
What if it were a hundred? A thousand?
Kaito suppressed the thought.
One must eat rice one mouthful at a time.
The urgent task now was to find more raw materials.
He couldn't go back to the village with the angry villager.
Digging up someone's father, holding the father's skeleton hostage, and finally shattering it into spare parts before running away...
That bridge was burned too thoroughly.
Kaito cast his gaze toward the depths of the forest.
Since crossing over, Kaito had a feeling: staying in this forest felt more comfortable than being outside.
There was a sense of affinity here. The surrounding air (mana) was nourishing his Soul Fire.
Before, he hadn't dared to go deeper because he knew his own weight.
A newborn skeleton, no matter how fast it ran, would just be "Uber Eats" delivery for whatever lived in these unknown woods.
But now, things were different.
Kaito had Skeleton No. 1.
A Tier 1 Skeleton Soldier wielding a bone sword, capable of going toe-to-toe with an adult strongman.
"No. 1, scout ahead."
Kaito's jaw clicked open and shut, issuing the command.
Skeleton No. 1 immediately turned and strode forward on its bone legs.
Its steps were much steadier than before, and its posture holding the sword with its single arm looked quite decent.
After its frame heightened, its field of view had also expanded.
Kaito followed behind, maintaining a safe distance.
One skeleton in front as a meat shield and scout, another in the back as the commander.
This was the most logical formation.
The light in the forest was dim; the tall canopy blocked out the moonlight.
The ground was covered with thick layers of rotting leaves, making no sound when stepped on.
The air smelled of soil and decaying plants.
This environment delighted Kaito's Soul Fire, making it dance more actively.
They walked for about ten minutes.
Skeleton No. 1, scouting ahead, suddenly stopped.
It turned its body halfway, its empty sockets facing Kaito, and slightly raised the bone sword in its hand.
Alert signal.
Kaito immediately stopped, crouching his entire frame low to hide in the shadow of a large tree.
The surroundings were quiet.
Only the rustling of wind through leaves could be heard.
But Kaito felt a sense of being watched.
By more than one entity.
Soon, pairs of green glowing dots lit up in the dark bushes.
Wolves.
Four wild wolves surrounded them from different directions.
They lowered their bodies, low growls emanating from their throats, saliva dripping from their teeth.
Their target was Skeleton No. 1 standing in the middle of the path.
In the cognition of these wolves, this white skeletal frame looked easy to chew—a prey that was large but not strong.
Kaito didn't move.
This was the best opportunity to test Skeleton No. 1's combat capability.
One wolf lost its patience.
Its hind legs exerted force, and like a black shadow, it lunged at Skeleton No. 1's flank.
The target was the leg bone.
Break the support, and the frame would fall.
Skeleton No. 1's reaction exceeded the wolf's expectations.
It didn't dodge. Instead, it twisted its waist, swinging the bone sword in its single arm downward in a chopping motion.
The movement was simple, direct, and effective.
THWACK!
The blade smashed solidly onto the wolf's skull.
The sound of bone shattering was exceptionally harsh in the silent forest.
The wolf's lunging posture froze in mid-air before it crashed powerlessly to the ground.
It twitched twice, then went still.
Instant kill.
The remaining three wolves were stunned by this ferocious blow.
They stopped, hesitation appearing in their green eyes.
Skeleton No. 1 didn't give them a chance to think.
It took the initiative to attack.
Its target was the nearest wolf.
Seeing this, the wolf's ferocity was triggered, and it opened its jaws to meet the charge.
Skeleton No. 1 didn't choose to trade bites. At the moment of contact, it sidestepped.
Simultaneously, the bone sword swept horizontally.
CRACK!
The bone sword swept through the wolf's front legs.
The wolf let out a wail, lost its balance, and fell to the ground.
Before it could get up, Skeleton No. 1 stepped forward, raised the bone sword high, and stabbed down forcefully into the wolf's neck.
Second one down.
The remaining two wolves finally felt fear.
The skeleton before them was not prey—it was a hunter!
They exchanged a glance, stopped growling, and turned to flee back into the deep forest.
"Can't let them escape!"
The thought flashed through Kaito's consciousness.
Kaito didn't make a sound, but the soul link clearly conveyed this intent to Skeleton No. 1.
Skeleton No. 1 reacted immediately.
Abandoning the kill confirm on the second wolf, it turned and chased one of the fleeing wolves.
The undead knew no fatigue.
Its speed wasn't explosive, but its stamina was infinite.
One skeleton, one wolf; one chasing, one fleeing.
Soon, Skeleton No. 1 caught up.
It didn't slash this time. It simply thrust the bone sword from behind, driving it into the wolf's body.
Third one down.
There was one last wolf left.
Kaito stepped out from behind the tree.
The final wolf was already terrified out of its wits. Seeing another skeleton appear, it panicked and scrambled blindly in a different direction.
He didn't chase.
Instead, he bent down and picked up a rock the size of a fist.
He weighed it in his hand.
Calculated the wolf's running path and speed.
Drew his arm back, engaged his waist, and concentrated his entire body's strength into his right arm.
SWISH!
The rock cut through the air, tracing a precise parabola.
THUD!
The rock accurately smashed into the knee joint of the wolf's hind leg.
The wolf screamed, its leg buckling, and it tumbled to the ground.
It struggled to get up, but by then, Skeleton No. 1 had finished dispatching the third wolf and was walking over with steady steps.
It walked up to the immobilized wolf and raised its bone sword.
Combat over.
Kaito walked over, looking at the four wolf corpses on the ground.
He was very satisfied with Skeleton No. 1's combat power.
Strength, speed, hardness—all reached the standard expected of a Tier 1 unit.
Most importantly, it was absolutely loyal and fearless of death.
He walked up to a wolf corpse and pressed his bony hand onto it.
Kaito had been curious earlier: could he create skeletons using animal bones?
The rabbit was too small and failed. Now, he would try with a wolf.
A power surged from his palm.
The wolf's corpse withered at a speed visible to the naked eye, flesh and blood melting away.
Moments later, only a complete wolf skeleton remained on the ground.
The Authority activated again.
The wolf skeleton on the ground began to twist and reassemble.
The bones emitted a dense friction sound.
Finally, a standard humanoid skeleton stood up from the ground, while the wolf frame vanished completely.
Watching this scene, Kaito formed a preliminary hypothesis.
I see.
The form of the raw material didn't matter; as long as there were enough bones.
The Authority would convert them all into standard humanoid Novice Skeletons.
Kaito immediately processed the other three wolf corpses using the same method.
Soon, four new Novice Skeletons stood beside him.
Counting Skeleton No. 1, he now possessed a small squad of five skeletons.
Kaito had another doubt.
Skeleton No. 1's bones originally belonged to that villager's father.
So, was the skeleton transformed from the wolf bones still... wolf bones?
After thinking for a while, he felt the question was meaningless.
Bones were just materials to be consumed and reshaped.
Just like wood burned into ash—the ash was no longer wood.
There was no point in splitting hairs over this ship of Theseus.
Kaito named the four new skeletons No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, and No. 5.
Now, the question was how to make No. 2 through No. 5 evolve as well.