Grabbing both of the dead men at my feet, I ran from that spot, before anyone else could show up. I'd made a bit of noise, and while the two now on my shoulders, I wasn't doing much better, but it would be smart to get away from the scene of the battle. I had taken too much damage already, and I didn't know how to recover, nor could I possibly hope to fight anything else down here.

After maybe a solid five minutes of running, I dumped the corpses at my feet, the bones clacking against the stone, and went to work, dismembering both of them entirely. I could use the femurs as clubs, and the rest could be used for bone armor later, if I could find something to act as a makeshift rope. Quiet's ribcage was useless at this point, since I'd torn out so many of his rib bones,so I simply tossed it. Moron's ribcage however, could be used as either a crude pack, so long as I stuffed enough in there or didn't move too fast. Quiets' skull could be thrown as an attempt to intimidate, maybe. I wasn't sure. The hands and feet weren't horrible, but I didn't know what I could use them for, so I left them to the side. I snapped the spine from the ribcage down, seperating it. I then put in three femurs, before breaking apart the radius and ulna bones. It was only a little harder than snapping a wishbone, although I wasn't sure how I knew that. I could use them as shivs, although they wouldn't last long that way. I threw them in with my haul as well.

I ended up with four bone clubs, eight bone shivs, a skull, and the ribcage basket, which could double as a shield. I felt a little proud of myself, before checking my status.

Name: N/A 3:37 AM Race: Undead Sub-race: Skeleton Class: N/A Sub-class: N/A Level: 1

Hp: 9/20

Mp: 5/5

Stamina: N/A

Head: Injured

Torso: Healthy

Left Arm: Healthy

Right Arm: Healthy

Left Leg: Healthy

Right Leg: Healthy

Buffs:

Debuffs:

It seemed I could recover naturally, although I had no idea how to figure out the rate of recovery, or how to improve it. I also felt my skull to determine how bad the injury might be, but I only discovered a small crack near my eye socket. I wondered what would happen if it got worse. I decided to move on again, considering I'd just spent who knows how long dismembering my fellow skeletons. Staying in one place was bound to get me killed.

Frankly, I was surprised I hadn't met any adventurers yet. Either the dungeon I was stuck in was huge, or there wasn't much traffic in my area, which suited me just fine. The endless hallways were a bit annoying, though. Why not a room with some furniture? Or even just a large cavern?

I'd love to sit down with whoever designed this place, and tell them their sense of style is enough to kill anyone who comes in here.

There was no response to my thoughts, the hallway still, and silent, aside from my feet clacking against the stone, even though I was using [Stealth] while walking.

After about an hour of walking, according to the system clock, I was looking at my status again, while leaning against a wall. I'd come into a slightly larger room, which was inhabited by another group of skeletons, five of them altogether. Having seen my ribcage basket, they gave me a wide berth, although one of them gave me a somewhat hostile look. At least, I think it was hostile. Without expressions, it was really hard to tell. There were two torches on opposite ends of the room, with the group clustered around one, and me at the other.

Name: N/A 4:37 AM Race: Undead Sub-race: Skeleton Class: N/A Sub-class: N/A Level: 1

Hp: 19/20

Mp: 5/5

Stamina: N/A

Head: Injured

Torso: Healthy

Left Arm: Healthy

Right Arm: Healthy

Left Leg: Healthy

Right Leg: Healthy

Buffs:

Debuffs:

My head was still injured, which wasn't a good sign. It seemed that while hp recovered, actual injuries did not. I had no idea how that worked, but I'd have to find out soon. For now, I needed to stay safe, and that could only come from numbers. Being ruthless wouldn't work, so I'd have to try a bit more patience.

"Any of you talk?" I closed my status, and looked over the others. They were like Moron's group, no weapons, and no armor. They'd die quickly if they didn't prepare. Hopefully I could change that.

They all looked at me simultaneously. It was a bit strange to see, although we had been in that room for roughly ten minutes. None of them said a word. I waited for half a minute before reaching for my basket.

"Will your thoughts to be heard, and they'll be heard." I grabbed one of my bone clubs, and debated on if I wanted to try sharpening it, looking somewhat between it and the group. If I couldn't convince them, I'd have to either prepare to fight alone, or find another, more willing group. I'd rather do neither, if possible, but it's always good to prepare.

"Where'd you get the bones?" The first voice I heard sounded suspicious, and slightly aggressive. If I had to guess, it was the skeleton on the far left of the group, who I thought had given me the hostile look earlier.

"A less than successful attempt at forming a stronger team than a few ill-equipped skeletons." I felt being entirely honest would be counterproductive to my goals, so instead, I decided to be slightly more eloquent, although it wasn't my strong suit.

Please don't end up being aggressive. I think two is my limit right now. Not six. I'd rather not die a few hours after being created.

"Why would we help you? You've clearly killed at least two of our kind." They took a step forward.

"For strength. With it, you can survive, gain power, and choose your own fate. Without it, you will die, having never known anything beyond your birthright." I looked up at each of them in turn, looking them in the eye sockets.

"We're skeletons. What exactly, is our birthright, if not to hunt and slay adventurers?" Their voice was defensive, and a little angry. It seemed I'd gone a bit far. However, there was no backing down now.

"Our birthright," I looked right at them, and held their gaze, my voice cold as ice. "... Is our death."

The other skeletons seemed to fidget amongst themselves at those words. I think I even saw one of them flinch. I pressed on.

"We are spawned here with no real knowledge other than hunting those that hunt us, and yet we are given nothing to fight them with, while they strut around this place with swords, axes, spears, armor, and all manner of items we could use to keep ourselves safe, secure, and strong." My voice was gaining momentum that I didn't know it could get.

"I do not appreciate having to face off against my brethren in order to first gain a chance to fight those that would destroy us. I would much rather take the fight to those who trespass in a place that so viciously defies them, as to create us. As such, I must fight. I have no choice. So I ask you." I spoke, looking once again at each of them in turn.

"Will you help me fight back against the invaders?" My voice felt like it was breathing fire, although I didn't know how long that fire would last, nor did I speak entirely true. I would simply do as I needed to, in order to keep myself alive. After all, I held no bonds to these skeletons, nor to the place I was located, but it was still safer than the surface.

In order to be completely safe, I needed to carve out my own territory. That was the only way I could begin to grasp any measure of security.

The five bony figures looked at each other, seeming to come to a silent agreement. They stepped forward. "We will fight with you." The one in the middle took an extra step forward, her tone not entirely confident, but trusting enough for my goal. I was honestly surprised that it wasn't all men. I couldn't quite tell the difference.

"Fine." The sixth stepped into line, although the looked away, crossing their arms. They might be trouble later. I decided I'd deal with it if it happened. I'd either kill them, or talk to them. It didn't matter to me. I'd already killed two before. What was one more?

"Alright, in that case, come choose your weapons." I emptied out the basket, and spread out the different bones. "I've got shivs, and I've got clubs. If we could find some rocks, we'd be able to have a few ranged weapons, although they might not be very effective."

The clubs were grabbed by three who gave a few test swings, although it seemed they were a bit uncomfortable with using them, considering they were using the limbs of one of their former comrades. It didn't bother me much, so long as they gave it their all when it came to an actual fight. The others grabbed rib bones, treating them like makeshift knives, holding one in each hand, leaving me with two.

"I think I saw some rocks awhile ago, but it was in a large cave, and I had to run from some adventurers before they found me." One of the club wielders spoke, swinging the femur like a baseball bat, his voice a deep baritone.

"We'll try and get those later, but for now, we still need more of us. If we can't beat adventurers in a battle of skill, we'll need to overwhelm them with numbers, and strategy."

The rest seemed to agree with my logic, and thus, we set out to find more of our brethren, after I taught them how to acquire the [Stealth] skill. I didn't want us moving around, only to get caught before we could find others.

It seemed I had made the right choice, and maybe, just maybe, I'd earned a little bit of respect.