Bone Hunter

[Do you want to select this evolution?]

[Yes | No]

Flain thought—it seemed to be the best of the three. It would significantly boost his agility and also a bit of strength, which is very good. If Flain chose it, large spikes would grow on his body—spikes that hunters use as their primary weapon, which Flain certainly did not plan to use as his primary weapon.

He also hoped that with spikes on his body, he would still be able to wear armor; otherwise, that would be a big problem. But his biggest concern with this evolution was that, when he moves, it produces a very loud noise; Flain isn't exactly sure how loud, but it's still a huge disadvantage. Theoretically, if he chose it, when he walks through the cave, it would attract monsters from below. He also thought of another major drawback: if the two of them were to enter civilization, everyone would know that Flain is a monster.

Flain pondered for a long time, and finally his eyes began to flash maniacally, and a long, bloodstained, eerie smile appeared on his face.

"All options except 3. somehow reduce my power. But I don't mind being conspicuous. I am immortal; I am death, and I am already, albeit slowly, but surely marching toward those who deserve it." Flain whispered and clicked [Yes].

[Evolution will begin in 10 minutes. During evolution, you will be defenseless, so it is recommended to find a safe place where you can remain for an extended period.]

Flain's eyes flashed when he saw that. He quickly selected the magic map and dashed into the camp; it is certainly not safe to stay here.

He ran as fast as he could—fast enough that a normal human would barely notice him.

Flain ran and ran; he had only one minute left. If he didn't make it in time, he wouldn't, because he didn't know what would happen to his hard-earned evolution Shards if he died.

Flain reached the base, running so fast that he nearly collided with the wall.

[-40 HP]

"It's all good, Flain?" Itai asked, looking at him.

[Evolution begins...]

"I don't know what will happen to me now, but just don't touch me and protect me," Flain managed to say before he lost consciousness.

Around Flain's limp body, a bony cocoon began to emerge from the ground, completely enveloping him. Inside, a large amount of necrotic mana gathered around Flain and seeped into him.

Flain regained consciousness, and in front of him there was only the wall of the bony cocoon. The evolution should now theoretically be complete. Flain slammed into the cocoon, and it shattered into dust.

Itai noticed that the cocoon had collapsed and shouted, "Flain, finally, what happened to you—" But when he saw him, he couldn't finish the sentence.

"Flain, are you still... you?" he asked.

"Of course. Hmh, I haven't changed that much," Flain replied.

"You're about 180 cm now instead of your original 150 cm, and there are a lot more protruding spikes on your body. I'm sure your bones have changed a lot too, though I can't see that under your armor," Itai said.

"It's some kind of evolution?" Itai asked.

"Well, I can evolve after collecting a certain number of souls—I've gathered that amount," Flain said.

"So you evolved for about 5 days. I can already summon a skeleton on the first try. I almost grew bored to death from waiting here. I'd even gladly peel the rotten flesh off corpses myself, but I don't know where they are," Itai sighed.

Then Flain tried to walk toward Itai. As he walked, very strong sounds were produced by his footsteps, comparable to a blacksmith hammering iron.

"Flain, what are those sounds?" Itai asked.

"You'll have to get used to it. When I walk or run, I make that kind of noise," Flain said.

"Doesn't that attract attention?" Itai asked.

"Well, yes, that's a disadvantage for me. But the bonuses are greater," Flain said with a smirk.

'Since we're on the topic of bonuses, let's check how much I've grown stronger,' Flain thought.

[Name: Skelly

Level: 13

Class: Warrior

Age: 0

Race: [Bone Hunter]

Master: Itai

Titles: [Body Rotten With Darkness] [Bloodthirsty] [Extremely Powerthirsty]

HP: 370/370

MP: 15/15

EN: 840/840

Strength: 39 [+3]

Agility: 46 [+2]

Intelligence: 1

Vitality: 30 [+7]

Bonus Points: 0

Skills: [Low-Dagger-Mastery lvl:1] [Low-DualSwords-Mastery lvl:2] [Swift Slash lvl:1] [Necrotic irradiation lvl:1] [Tornado of Spines lvl:1]

EXP: 11200

Next Level: 5200 EXP]

The world around Flain shattered when he saw it. He slowly looked at his hands. Then suddenly, he fell to his knees and began to tremble.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" A bloodcurdling, guttural laugh erupted from Flain.

"Flain?" Itai asked cautiously.

Flain stood up with a smile. His happiness was indescribable; he had become almost three times stronger.

"Yes?" Flain asked slowly.

"Are you okay?" Itai asked cautiously.

"Hahaha, more than ever before. Now I'm going to clean that corpse of yours of all its flesh," Flain said, grabbed the sack, opened the magic map, and walked toward it.

As he walked, strong sounds echoed continuously, like someone hammering iron. Flain didn't care at that moment.

Flain reached a pile of corpses; there wasn't even much of a stench because the bodies were already in a very advanced state of decay.

He didn't even need to clean them because they probably had already lost 50% of their flesh. He put three snakes into the sack. Then he set off toward Itai again.

----

At the nearest cave entrance, closest to Flain's base, which was guarded by three black Lizards:

"Hey, aren't you hearing something?" one of them said.

"No?" the other two replied in unison.

"Hmh, well, I guess that's enough for me," said the black Lizards, not bothering any further.

----

Meanwhile, Flain returned to Itai with the corpses and dumped them in front of him.

"These snakes are a bit stronger than the skeletons. If you can summon them in 20 attempts, I'll give you stronger ones," Flain said.

Flain opened his stats to examine his strength. But he noticed something he hadn't seen before—he before had been blinded by his own stats...