Itai

Instead of his body, Flain had bones! He raised his hand—it was skeletal. He looked at his legs—they were skeletal too.

[The Darkness System adapts to the host...]

[Congratulations! The Darkness System has successfully adapted to the host!]

A purple system window appeared in front of Flain. He stared at it in disbelief.

'Someone implanted some kind of darkness system into me? I've never heard of that before. So someone saved me! But I'm a skeleton… Well, that doesn't matter, because I'm alive!' Flain thought with a grin, though it didn't quite show on his skeletal face.

"Hmm, that skeleton is kinda weird. Hey, come here!" the young man shouted.

[Tip: You can open the system just by thinking about it.]

Flain didn't know what the system contained, but it was worth a try. So he thought about opening it.

[Stats] [Shop]

[Tip: Select an option by holding your finger on the chosen system window.]

Two system windows appeared side by side in front of Flain.

'Stats… I don't know what that means, and a shop is usually for buying something. Let's start with the last one—shop.' Flain thought.

"Ugh, that skeleton seems defective. What did I do wrong?" the young voice above muttered in frustration.

'Alright, let's deal with my rescuer first. He's probably the one who implanted this system into me, so hopefully, he can explain.' Flain thought.

Flain slowly and weakly stood up, climbing out of the ground. He barely managed to stand, and his body felt incredibly weak. That frustrated him—he assumed he had lost all his strength upon revival, which was a real problem. But at least he was alive and had a chance to fulfill his goal.

Flain looked around. He was somewhere in a coniferous forest. He glanced at the pit he had just emerged from—an oblong-shaped hole. At the edge of the pit, there was a neatly arranged stone with some kind of markings on it. Then Flain turned his attention to his rescuer.

Tall young man with red hair and red eyes. He had an excited expression and wore something that looked like leather armor. Flain felt strange—this place didn't resemble a laboratory at all, and the young man before him didn't look like a scientist who had revived him. Maybe this was some kind of experiment?

"It looks like it worked. But it didn't say anywhere that the skeleton would have dark purple light in its eye sockets," the young man mumbled to himself.

"Thank you for saving me, sir," Flain said.

The young man froze for a moment. "Hey… did you just talk?" he murmured in disbelief.

"Yes? Did you create me in a way that I shouldn't be able to speak?" Flain asked.

"I created some ultra-rare talking skeleton!" the young man shouted excitedly.

Flain wasn't sure how to react. Was this a test? But for what? Surely a scientist capable of reviving someone could easily obtain information. Then it occurred to Flain—this could be a scientist from an enemy nation, meaning they had no information about him and were testing him.

Flain didn't care which side he was on, as long as he could grow stronger and stronger.

"Can I ask what your name is?" Flain asked.

"I'm Itai. And I'll name you Skelly," Itai said.

[Your master has named you Skelly.]

"My name is Flain, not Skelly," Flain said.

"You remember your past life?" Itai asked skeptically.

"Well, yes," Flain replied.

"I have the best skeleton ever! And that was just my first try. I'm going to be the strongest necromancer," Itai said confidently.

"Hmm… What is a necromancer?" Flain asked.

"You don't know? Well, necromancers summon the dead from the ground, and they serve them. And you're one of my skeletons," Itai said.

'That guy talks about it like it's common knowledge. But in my domain, I never heard of anything like this—and I knew plenty of things that normal citizens couldn't possibly find out. This must be some kind of test… or could it be reincarnation?'

'No, that can't be. Scientists studied reincarnation and declared it wasn't real. But I'll keep that possibility in mind. Reviving someone from death seems even more unrealistic than reincarnation. Alright, for now, I'll assume this is reincarnation.' Flain thought.

Then, Flain's mind began to tremble maniacally. 'If I'm in another world, then I can't kill the ones I want to.'

Flain's mind stopped shaking. 'I don't care. I'll find a way to return to my old world, even if it takes me millennia.'

"HAHAHAHAHA!" A maniacal laugh burst from Flain.

"Heh, Flain, you seem to be in a good mood. I didn't know skeletons had so many emotions—looks like you're special," Itai commented.

Then, Itai sat down on the forest floor. "Reviving you really tired me out. I need to rest for a bit," he said to Flain.

Flain sat down next to Itai. Then, he smirked—this was a good opportunity to explore the system. He thought about opening the system, and the familiar two purple system windows appeared in front of him.

[Stats] [Shop]

Flain started from the back and clicked on [Shop]. A large purple system window appeared before him. In the center, it read: Currently, nothing is for sale in the shop. In the top right corner, it displayed EXP: 0.

'Looks like something will be sold here later. The currency is probably EXP, and I have 0,' Flain thought.

[Tip: You can close any system window by thinking about making it disappear.]

Flain thought about closing the shop, and it vanished. Then, he thought about opening the system again and clicked on [Stats].

[Name: Skelly

Level: 1

Class: None

Age: 0

Race: [Skeleton]

Master: Itai

Titles: [Body Rotten with Darkness] [Bloodthirsty] [Powerthirsty]

HP: 10/10

MP: 0/0

EN:20

Strength: 1

Agility: 1

Intelligence: 0

Vitality: 1

Bonus Points: 0

Skills: None

EXP: 0

Next Level: 100 XP]

[Tip: If something in the system window is marked [like this], you can click on it to open its detailed system window.]

Flain read through it, his mind swirling with thoughts. So, this was basically his analysis. Itai was his master, and Flain didn't know what that entailed. The idea of having a master didn't sit well with him on principle. It also seemed like he was incredibly weak, judging by those stats.

According to the tip, he should be able to examine his titles and see what they actually meant. So, Flain clicked on his first title, [Body Rotten with Darkness].