As the sun rose in the distance, I laid there, my mind a bit hazy. Apparently I didn't need any sleep, though my body becomes sluggish after a while. The bone chest piece was firmly in place, and I had convinced the other two to find armor pieces for me during the night. I figured running into humans, they might accept a man in armor over a skeleton walking around, even if it was a disguise. They were both lazily coming back as I stood up, and if I could frown it would be easier to see my discomfort.

In the piles of ‘armor’ that they pulled up, and gathered behind them were mostly trash, one of the items seemed to be a parasol, a shoe, it looked like a homeless man’s home had been ransacked for supplies. Shaking my head as they placed their haul, looking quite proud I sighed, starting to look at it to make them happy.

It wasn't a complete loss, a helmet, a rusted chain shirt, and enough pieces to cover up the rest of the body with old armor pieces. I looked a mess, skinny and famished, but at least no one could see that I was a skeleton without looking closely. “Thank you, you guys helped a lot.”

They gave each other a high five, one of their hands falling apart, as he looked down at it. Shrugging he reached down putting back on his hand. After he did he paused, looking up to the sky, he suddenly seemed worried, frantically pushing me to the ground. Before I could catch my footing, a pile of bones landed on me. One of the skeletons moved his finger to his mouth motioning me to be quiet as he crept forwards, eying the skies.

I could barely make out two figures both of them larger than a human, their skin stretched over muscles making it look like it might rip under the pressure. Red fiery hair was in disarray upon their heads, they both seemed to embody the ferocity of fire, eyes glistening in bloodlust.

My breath would have felt heavy if I had the lungs to hold them, both of them had a visible layer of energy about them. They were worth hundreds of me, even if their armor and weapons weren't counted in I doubt I could survive for a second even if they waved their hand in my general direction. A deep pressure filled the air as they descended, causing the bones to pick up around them crackling beneath their feet.

Ding!Magic Perception (Level 1) skill gained!

I hurriedly pushed the popup away, I knew they could see the menu when it formed, I had yet to confirm if they could see the blue messages when they came into existence. Soon around me the flow of mana could be seen as blue wisps seemed to flow in the air and around everything, creatures seemed to be the highest concentration. These two demons looked like two blazing blue suns, dwarfing any other mana source in the area.

“There should be a very powerful source of magic around here, the last heroes brought with them strange weapons, so be vigilant against flying copper.” The smaller demon seemed to be talking to himself, wondering forward, but he paused as he looked to the two skeletons. “Hey, when was the last time you saw a skeleton with a weapon brother?”

The skeleton with the long stick pointed to it, shook his head and started moving it around like a broom. It started to blow wind through its teeth, starting to whistle as it moved along trying to get out of sight. Sadly the movements of this skeleton brought more attention to it, the two demons staring at it blankly.

“What… Is this skeleton doing?” The bigger one looked at the skeleton quizzically, the smaller demon shaking his head.

“Either way, this skeleton is of no concern, we just need to find the hero and leave. If we can get in a small fight that would be good too, heroes are considered the top fighters in the world.” The small demon smiled a bit as he turned away from the skeleton, “The magic in this area is the strongest, but it is too weak to be a hero. Maybe he’s already left?”

The skeleton wiped fake sweat from his brow before looking at his hand, some of their actions were starting to seem more human. I’m thinking that leveling them up might actually give them clues into their own past and background.

“Who would want to hang out with a bunch of skeletons anyway? At most they could take down a warrior with a group of ten or twelve.” The bigger skeleton scoffed, pushing over the skeleton with the stone hammer in his hand, smiling as it scrambled away. The cowering skeleton moved back and watched through, the magical density in the air was too tempting, and too rich to not want to bask in it.

Ding!Gained 2 points in Bone Reinforcement!

It seemed like just being around these two, and the pressure they put off strengthened me. I wondered if being around strong creatures like this would always result in gaining strength. Tutorial ruined my dreams though, “Demons are considered the cause of creatures like yourself since the residual energy that radiates from their body is nourishment to your kind.”

I’m going to have to get myself a demon to carry around some day then, it seems like a nice way to strengthen yourself, my thoughts drifted as I stared at these two.

“Either way, we should continue on, our prey isn't here. Heroes always come in at their peak, but it's like giving a battle axe to a child.” The bigger one grinned looking away from the skeleton crawling around. “Hey, maybe he came back as a skeleton?”

“Improbable, even the strongest one wouldn't pose a threat to even a farmer.” The smaller demon’s wings unfolded from around his chest, spreading out to catch the wind as he took off.

The bigger one watched for a moment before looking over to the pile of rubble that I was in, smiling, “Picking a fruit before it's ripe is never any fun. Little brother doesn't like games though, it's sad. Get strong little skeleton, the Demon Lord has great plans for you.”

Ding!Negotiation is now (Level 3)!

As the demon took to the skies the sound of its wings covering up my soft curses to Tutorial.