Alpha_Ruby

After Earth collapses into dimensional entropy, billions of people are scattered across broken worlds and forced into a brutal survival game known only as the Shattered Trial. Each player gains a random class. Most wield magic, swords, or elemental power.

But Iden Virel, a former engineering student, is given something else.

A black ring. A broken interface. And the command:

[SUMMON: Skeleton – Worker Class]

With a system unlike any other, Iden can summon and assign skeletal minions to tasks—miners, scouts, warriors, mages, builders, and more. These skeletal followers don’t sleep, don’t eat, and never stop improving. The longer they work, the smarter they get.

Together with his sister Rael—a rare Sanctum Channeler who can empower and evolve allies—Iden must lead his growing skeletal force through monster-infested zones, hostile player factions, and ancient ruins... all while preparing for the apocalyptic battle known as the Final Judgment.

In this world, only one law remains:

Build. Adapt. Conquer. Or be erased.

Endless March: Skeleton King Ascends

The Etheric Relay Hub stood like a spine of bone and arcstone, its six radial pylons glowing faintly as a hum passed between them. Above, a spectral shimmer briefly lit the sky—only visible to those bound to Iden's command.

[Structure Complete: Etheric Relay Hub]→ System-linked communication grid unlocked.→ Remote summoning, command echo, and passive scouting unlocked within Domain radius.

[Second-Class Quest Progress: 3/5]

Iden exhaled, watching the tower's central glyphs stabilize.

"Three down," he muttered. "Two more to go."

Rael sat on a stone bench near the base, arms folded in her lap.

Kael stood across from her, fiddling with a bone-carved phylactery.

Not in tension—but in a different kind of peace.

"It's strange," Rael finally said. "How this place feels more like home than anywhere else."

Kael gave a ghost of a smile. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

"No," she said, voice softer now. "It's just… I didn't think we'd survive long enough to feel something like that again."

Kael turned the phylactery once more, then tucked it away.

"You help people live. I help the dead walk. We balance each other."

Rael tilted her head. "Is that how you see it?"

"No," he replied after a moment. "That's how I explain it. But how I see it…"He looked away. "Is more complicated."

She didn't press. But she smiled, just a little.

Nyra leaned on the outer wall of the south tower, her eyes not watching the woods, but the one walking through the central scaffold—Iden.

He wore plain leather sleeves today, bone-inscribed gloves caked in dust and soil. He wasn't summoning. He was building. Checking angles. Giving quiet instructions.

"He never stops," she muttered to herself.

She could feel it, like gravity. The way his presence made others stand taller. The way even the skeletons responded more quickly near him. The way she did.

"No distractions," he reminded himself.

Another housing frame went up. The new comm-link station for patrolling squads was operational. The storehouse restructuring was queued. Three new paths had been cleared to nearby elevation points for future lookout posts.

"Iden," came Milo's voice. "The civilian blacksmith? He awakened. Class type: Rune Forgewright. Wants to begin testing reinforced tool chains."

"Approve it," Iden said. "Assign two Builders and Kael if he's available. That's infrastructure. Might push the quest."

[Non-Combat Advancement Recorded — Infrastructure Expanded][Progress Updated: 4/5]

Rael and Kael ate quietly beside the hearth, talking in hushed tones.

Nyra stood under the archway, eyes flicking toward Iden's quarters—but never stepping closer.

And Iden, sleepless as ever, reviewed maps, made notes, assigned routes for tomorrow's expansion...

But paused, just for a moment, to look at the broken moon overhead.

"They're not just surviving anymore," he said to himself. "They're building."

Chapter 48 — Signals and Silences