Immortality

Flain opened his eyes. He was lying down, looking up at the top of a coniferous forest, with dirt on either side of him. Flain quickly got to his feet.

[Your title [Body Rotten With Darkness] has been updated.]

"Yes! I did it!!" Itai's familiar voice rang out.

'Wait, I'm alive! Did I go back in time?!' Flain thought and quickly opened his stats to check the updated title [Body Rotten With Darkness].

[Body Rotten with Darkness

You refused to die. You fought for a long time with all your strength. In the end, you convinced the darkness to let you live, and it took quite a liking to you, so it seeped into you. You are enriched with a dark system. Unlike normal skeletons of your level, you can think, see, and hear. You also have a curse, or perhaps a blessing. You cannot die. When you die, you will always reappear at the beginning with your strength preserved. But you'll lose any unused EXP you had on you.]

As Flain read this, the purple lights in his eye sockets glowed dangerously bright.

"I can't die? I'll kill all of you, I'll kill all of you, I'll kill all of you, I'll kill all of you." Flain knelt down, clutching his head like a madman.

Then, suddenly, he stopped. He tilted his skeletal skull upward toward the sky and remained motionless in that position. If he had skin, there would be a long, eerie, bloodthirsty grin on his face.

[Tip: You gain EXP by killing any being. The stronger the being, the more EXP you receive. EXP is used for leveling up and upgrading skills. Leveling up strengthens you, and leveling up a skill improves that skill.]

'Well, I expected that, but it's good to have confirmation,' Flain thought after obtaining the skill.

"Hey, Skelly, what are you doing? Get over here," Itai said.

"I'm Flain," Flain replied and climbed out of the pit.

"What the? I summoned some ultra-rare talking skeleton with glowing purple eyes?" Itai said, grabbing Flain by the shoulder and inspecting him from head to toe.

"I'll be straight with you. I'm weak—way too weak," Flain said.

"Hmh, don't be so pessimistic. Anyway, I'm Itai," Itai replied.

"That's just reality. Do you have a weapon?" Flain said coldly.

A plan formed in Flain's mind—one that would drastically improve his combat skills. He would keep fighting those men who were after Itai over and over again. His battle experience would definitely improve that way. Flain's eyes gleamed with madness at the thought. Now that he was immortal, he could fight them a billion times if necessary until he finally defeated them, just for the combat experience he would gain. And since he would be fighting them constantly, he would learn their movements perfectly. The men would probably arrive in about five minutes.

But something else occurred to Flain—something he needed to test.

"Ah, here's a dagger. I don't have anything else," Itai said, handing Flain the dagger.

Flain took it and immediately stabbed Itai in the throat.

"Flain…" Itai hissed as he collapsed, dead.

[Your master has died. Because of this, you are also dying.]

Flain managed to read the system message before he collapsed onto the ground as nothing more than a pile of lifeless bones.

Flain appeared in the void once again. Being there felt extremely strange. He had the unsettling sensation that he wasn't supposed to be there. The feeling was deeply unpleasant and kept intensifying.

Dozens of black hands began to surround him. This time, Flain didn't resist—he had no reason to.

Then, darkness consumed his mind. He opened his eyes and found himself back in the familiar pit. Flain climbed up, and in front of him stood Itai.

"I did it! Wait… his eye sockets have purple lights, that shouldn't be normal."

"I'm Flain. Give me the dagger you have on you. Some men are coming after you. I know the future," Flain said.

Flain wasn't worried about Itai knowing this, since he would die anyway and reappear at the beginning again. He then waited for those men once more. Itai was, once again, thrilled by him and examined him thoroughly.

"There's that bastard!" came the same familiar voice of the man who had shouted before.

Flain charged at them. They fought for a while before one of the men crushed his skull with a single strike from a mace. Then, Flain found himself back in the void again.

Attempt 4: Flain quickly climbed out of the pit. He repeated the sentence, "I'm Flain. Give me the dagger you have on you. Some men are coming after you. I know the future." Then he fought the men, but there wasn't much noticeable improvement.

There were a total of five men: one with a large two-handed sword, two with normal swords, a big man with a mace, and finally, an archer in the back.

(From now on, I won't mention what Flain did when he respawned, only details about the fights, since it's basically the same. He said the sentence, "I'm Flain. Give me the dagger you have on you. Some men are coming after you. I know the future," and then waited for the men.)

Attempt 5: Flain died when both his legs were cut off, leaving him unable to move. He felt like he lasted a little longer this time.

Attempt 6: Flain died when the archer shot him in the skull, which cracked upon impact. His head was his weak point—a single small hit was enough to kill him. Flain had already learned to fight better with a dagger, and his movements felt improved. However, his extremely weak body still kept him at a disadvantage.

Attempt 7: Flain died when one of the men stabbed a sword into his head. This attempt was a success—Flain managed to stab one of the men in the back with his dagger. Unfortunately, he was then killed by another man who drove his sword into Flain's skull.

Attempt 8: Flain died when the man with the greatsword split him in half. However, he managed to stab two of the men this time. He had started to learn their movements, making the fight feel more balanced, as if he were fighting them on equal footing.

Attempt 9: Flain died when the man with the mace crushed his skull. This attempt was a success—he managed to kill the archer in the back, earning 240 EXP. Unfortunately, he couldn't level up because he simply didn't have time to do so in battle, and when he respawned, he lost the experience.

Attempt 10: Flain died when one of the men struck his skull with a sword. This was his best attempt yet. He managed to kill 3 out of 5—the man with a sword, the one with a greatsword, and the archer.

And then came attempt 11...