Bro, I'm not an Undead!

[The skill 'Flesh It Like You Mean It' has timed out – 00:00:00].

"Finally," Skullius said as the cosmetic flesh receded, giving way for his tall, dark blue skeletal Penetrator form to show.

Due to the density of his bones and his overall height, Skullius had to remove himself from the bed and sit on the floor instead, fearing that he would break something.

Furthermore, the tiny sparks that constantly ran along the surface of his bones could burn down the room and the Fulgurant Bone Penetrator was forced to wear the Null Devil's Aegis of Damnation.

"It's good to feel strong again," Skullius said to himself. His presence would always be null in this form, which made him feel even more secure when it came to what he was about to do.

"I haven't used this form in combat in a while. I should at least use it in Clusters in the future."

With that, Skullius didn't waste anymore time as he gazed at the items before him.

He would have loved to upgrade the shield, the Keep, immediately but he was a few Null Life Essence points shy from the 1000 he needed to use [Permanent Random Upgrade].

Therefore, he moved onto the next task.

Extracting the skills from the three items he had.

If there was something that Skullius was thankful for, it was the fact that he could share normal skills between his two bodies. The only ones that were restricted were the racial, class and wield skills whose origin he still wasn't familiar with like [Pseudo Evil Veneration].

'I probably should have asked about that from Frock but... oh well. Now.'

Skullius grabbed the knife first.

Unlike what had happened with the sword [Demion's Dance], Skullius was sure his upgraded mana manipulation skill's effect on his Null Life Essence was enough to extract such a simple skill which he was going to spam while he still had a lot of mana.

"Here we go "

The Fulgurant Bone Penetrator focused on the Null Life Essence he had and began to direct it into the knife.

The bluish light that represented Null Life Essence streamed from his armoured hands and coiled as it gracefully entered the knife.

Soon, Skullius felt like his consciousness was sinking into the knife, a complicated network of glowing lines entering his view.

It was this familiar scene again.

All he had to do, was push through his Null Life Essence until it covered all of these lines!

Surely, these networks looked more intricate than the ones that he had seen on the staves that held [Flame Shot] and [Mana Bolt].

WHOOSH!

Null Life Essence gushed into the glowing lines speedily, tracing through them as it hurried.

Skullius lost himself in the feeling of passing through as he followed the Essence that raced through these networks.

Soon, a familiar notification popped in his view.

[You have mastered the skill 'Quick Strike' from the cool bandit knife. Your understanding of the compounds of the world and mana increases]

"Kek..." Skullius cackled in a way he hadn't in a while.

He didn't stop though, as he went on to grab the leather armour that held the skill [Great Rush].

The Penetrator immediately pushed himself to accomplish the task that he needed to do.

But...

"The hell...!"

As his consciousness sank into the inner workings of the mana-based effect in the armour, he saw a very complex network of glowing lines that was beautiful yet... terrifying.

It looked like the pattern for [Quick Strike], except interwoven three times!

When extracting skills, Skullius had noted that it was particularly hard to push his Null Life Essence through intersections on the network.

These kinds of intersections were abundant here.

'Is it because of this 'Great' thing?' Skullius wondered.

Still, he couldn't afford to give up before he gave it a try.

At least he wasn't getting the notification that his current mastery of mana was insufficient to learn this.

And so, the Penetrator began his work as bursts of essence raced through the glowing networks of lines only to be halted by the complex turning and spinning he could see all over.

Each part of the patterns that needed his focus taxed his mind and the longer he went on, the harder it got.

Skullius was too scared to stop as he had a feeling that he would have to start all over which was a rather terrifying thought.

He wouldn't allow it. He had to push through.

He devoted the next hour to this task as even though he succeeded in the end, his mind was strained for energy.

The skill [Great Rush] was added to his arsenal, to which Skullius was glad.

Was this skill going to be worth all this trouble though?

As far as he knew it, it was just a normal skill right?

Still, there was a lot to explore as he levelled up these skills.

Once more, Skullius held off on reading the descriptions to his skills until he was done with the last item.

Even though his mind felt like it was being pulled into itself, he pushed himself to work, the acquisition of the skill [Brawl] being far easier after having been tortured for a full hour with the complex patterns of [Great Rush].

As soon as he finished, Skullius leaned against the bed lightly.

Even though he didn't feel physical fatigue in this form, his mental state after enduring this torture was quite unsettled.

The sun was turning orange on the horizon as Skullius looked out the window.

This different sun that shone during the day and rested at night was slowly becoming his true reminder that life was far different elsewhere.

An elsewhere he had come from.

"Well... no need to rest! Let's level up these skills! Good thing they don't use a lot of mana."

And the Penetrator went about his task, taking advantage of his infinite endurance and abundant mana.

*

Next day.

Skullius came down the steps from the first floor and onto the ground floor.

He wore a dark shirt and brown pants that made him look a bit too ordinary, especially when coupled with his face.

He found the scenery to actually be the same within this lobby slash hall, as even with a few different folks being served drinks and food, the chatter and loud cheer was still vibrant.

Behind the counter was Betsy who only gave Skullius a glance before continuing to speak with the people in front of her.

'Did he spend the entire night without eating anything at all or did he sneak away while I wasn't looking?' she asked herself.

Her intrigue with this young man was far from over and she intended to maximise it.

Unfortunately for her, the answer to her question didn't come and the man in question merely walked straight out the door to the Inn as he was in a good mood.

Yet, even with his mood, he still felt the need to use his time wisely as it was time to tackle a problem of his that had been detrimental to his overall power.

Fighting Technique.