Crunch… crunch…
Lance sat on a massive boulder, his upper and lower jaws clicking rhythmically.
His “well-defined” skeletal palm held a piece of bread before his jaw.
A small bite was taken, but it didn’t stay in the eater’s mouth.
Instead, it fell unimpeded into his ribcage, sliding down his spine until it landed near his tailbone.
Clack.
His teeth snapped shut on empty air. In the silence of the tunnel, the sound was exceptionally clear.
Coming back to his senses, the pale green soulfire deep within Lance’s eye sockets flickered.
He looked down at the half-eaten bread in his hand.
‘I didn’t feel a thing… What am I supposed to do?’
Lance felt deeply melancholy. He had been a skeleton for nearly a month.
Without the ability to speak.
He could clearly feel a certain change happening to his psyche… he felt more and more like an actual skeleton…
At the thought, Lance quickly shook his skull.
‘No, no, no! How can I think like that? I’m a genuine human! Both before and after my reincarnation!’
‘I can’t stay in the Maze any longer! I have to get back to Sivlar City right away! It’s been a month; that child Noren must be worried sick.’
The thought of his inexperienced sister potentially rushing into the Maze to find him made Lance incredibly anxious.
‘But… where exactly am I?’
Lance clutched his head in agony. Since becoming a skeleton, he had completely lost his ability to speak.
Over the past month, he had occasionally encountered one or two adventurer parties.
However, the moment Lance appeared in their line of sight, those adventurers would unleash various attacks without hesitation.
Every time, Lance had to flee in panic, given no room for negotiation.
If it weren’t for the fact that skeletons were so common and their materials were so cheap they were practically sold by the pound, Lance probably would have been turned into warm copper coins for those adventurers by now.
‘God! If only I had the ability to talk to all living things without opening my mouth… Sigh…’
Ding!
A mechanical and ethereal voice suddenly echoed in Lance’s mind:
[I am the God of Another World. You are a person from another world. Now, you may choose a special ability as your reliance for survival in this other world… Your choice has been fulfilled.]
‘Huh?’
‘What is going on? The God of Another World?’
‘Wait! What did you fulfill!’
‘I haven’t even chosen yet!’
Startled, Lance jumped off the rock. He repeatedly asked in his mind if the deity was still there, flailing his arms for a while, but there was no response.
‘Are you serious?! I’ve been in this world for eighteen years and survived countless life-or-death crises. Now that I’m dead, you tell me you’re giving me a survival tool?’
‘Is this a joke? Shouldn’t you have given me this when I first arrived?!’
Lance wanted to cry but had no tears. After struggling for a long time, he finally had to accept reality and summoned his class panel:
[Status Window]
Name:Lance Fallos
Race: Undead (Skeleton)
Class: Swordsman
Level: 21
Skills: White Crow Sword Art (Advanced) LV6, Charge LV5, Divine Protection LV5, Appraisal LV4, Detection LV3, Undead Eye LV2, Basic Potion Theory LV2, Monster Material Identification LV2, Archery LV2, Universal Persuader LV1.
**XP:** 28014
Universal Persuader?
The skill that appeared out of thin air immediately caught Lance’s eye. This must be the ability the God of Another World just gave him.
Lance clicked on the skill description, which was quite simple.
[Universal Persuader].
You do not need to study to understand any language.
Whether it is a human, undead, dragon, or demon—even elements without a unified consciousness—as long as they possess spirituality, you can easily converse and form friendships with them.
‘It really is a language ability…’
As long as it was a skill, it needed to be activated to be used.
Although obtaining it was a bit haphazard, the description seemed promising…
‘Universal Persuader,’ he chanted in his mind.
Lance turned toward the large rock he had been sitting on and asked in his head:
‘Brother Rock? Can you understand me?’
The rock gave no response, simply standing there in silence.
“What is that big idiot doing?”
“I don’t know. Looks like he’s talking to a rock.”
“How weird…”
Startled, Lance quickly looked around, but there was nothing.
“Undead Eye!”
The pale green soulfire in his sockets flared up, filling the cavities.
Lance’s vision instantly became clear, with living objects highlighted in red.
In Lance’s sight, two small red dots were crawling on the ground.
Looking closer, they were two grubs moving through the tunnel.
“Is it looking at us?”
“Huh? What nonsense are you talking about? Hurry up and move!”
Hearing this conversation, the soulfire in Lance’s eyes suddenly burned intensely.
‘I can really understand! I can actually understand them!’
Lance was overjoyed. He had been talking to himself for a month and felt extremely suppressed.
Hearing two little bugs bickering brought him immense joy.
Just then, a faint fluctuation of magic power drifted over, followed by a loud bang that made the ground tremble.
Lance’s entire skeletal frame creaked. Startled, he quickly grabbed the longsword leaning nearby and stared nervously toward the end of the tunnel.
‘What the hell? A large monster charging?’
Full of doubt, Lance dared not be careless, keeping his eyes fixed on the direction of the sound.
After a while, the ground returned to stillness, but no new movements followed.
Only the wisps of magic fluctuations continued to spread.
‘Someone is fighting.’
Survival experience made Lance instinctively want to move away from the conflict zone, but he hesitated after taking a few steps.
‘I can’t stay in this underground Maze forever. I have to find a way back!’
He sensed his abundant mana and holy power once more.
Lance pondered:
‘After losing my physical body, my strength has actually increased again. Even my depleted mana and holy power are full once more…’
‘The current me is definitely stronger than I was before I died. I should have the ability to protect myself, right?’
‘Besides, I can communicate with other creatures now. If I run into adventurers, even if I can’t return to the surface yet, I could at least ask them to tell my sister that I’m safe, right?’
Thinking of this, Lance changed direction and crept toward the source of the sound.
‘If it’s some gods fighting, I’ll turn tail and run.’
‘But if it’s undead monsters… my holy power is nothing to scoff at now!’
As Lance got closer to the cavern opening at the end of the tunnel, the sounds of clashing steel became clearer, and faint light sources appeared in the distance.
Lance had discovered that opening a few days ago, but at the time, he had not mastered Undead Eye.
He had been instinctively afraid of the pitch-black hall that seemed to go on forever, so he had not dared to explore it.
Quietly creeping to the entrance, Lance peeked half of his skull into the hall.
Clang.
Sparks flew, and a flash of light cut through the dark hall.
Lance focused his gaze and could vaguely see several figures moving back and forth in the darkness.