He could feel the arrow against his bone. He pulled it back, but his hand wouldn’t stop shaking. He wouldn’t let go. He didn’t want to risk it.

Shadow was on his back, he showed his teeth and growled his loudest. With his mouth, he was fending off one of the rats ugly large yellow teeth, whilst the other rat was mauling into his abdomen. Shadow was in pain, that was clear.

Arne’s mind raced like a ball swivelling in a cone. Shadow was hurt, his hands stopped him from shooting, that made his mind spin, even more, Shadow got more hurt and his hands continued shaking.

“+1 Mind calmness.”

He dropped the bow and rushed over at the rats. He slammed his arrow into one of the rats. It pierced into the skull, and blood sprayed out. Blood got all over his face. He barely felt it.

He took the other hand and grabbed the other rat mauling. He grabbed it, and pulled it off him. His bone hands were coloured red, it was a strange sight. The rat bit into his palm, crushing it. His palm regenerated.

He had lifted the rat into the air. Its tail was flailing everywhere. He bashed his fist into it, it broke and regenerated. He continued bashing his hand into it, until its skull got all bloody. The tail stopped flailing.

He dropped the rat. Shadow was hurt. He got down.

“System. Is there anything I can do to save him?” He asked.

In response, the system opened up his pet page. There was one critical difference.

----------

Pet:

Name: Shadow

Species: Canis Lupus.

Progression:

Speed Oriented;

Strength Oriented; X

Vitality Oriented;

Skills: Telepathy(super basic)

Evolution: Currently available. Canis Lupus Bonis: Skeleton wolf

-----------

The system gave him the ability to evolve Shadow. He saw that Shadow was bleeding out rapidly, and clicked on the button without thinking. A small light flashed around him and Shadow, like energy escaping.

Shadow’s bloody fur got whiter. He went from grey to a pearly white, the stained blood coloured him. His eyes turned red, his face became bony. There was a red light that escaped from his torso. His core.

His paws became sharper. The wounds closed up. His tiny teeth became sharper. He stood up. He was taller, meaner and ferocious.

Shadow purred. Walked up to Arne and licked his feet. From here on out they were skeletons. Arne looked at his hand, it felt so unreal. He’d have to leave home. Heck, there was a reason Arne never spent time with his peers. His town looked at him like a plague, and made him an outcast. Things were better this way.

He picked up his bow and continued walking down the tunnel. Naturally he felt a lot lighter than he had when he was still human. He tried jumping, he bent down and leaped up into the air. His head crushed into the roof. His sight and hearing disappeared until his head regenerated.

Arne thought, “Where does the strength come from?” From his understanding strength came from muscles, he had lost all his muscles but kept his strength. Arne thought, “there must be some sort of drawback to this.”

He spotted another rat. This one was stranger than the other ones. It had red lines running from it’s snout-like-mouth It was twice as large as the other rats. He was feasting on a smaller rat.

Shadow growled, it caught the rats attention. Arne took out his bow, and readied an arrow. The gigantic rat noticed them and rushed at them drool flying everywhere. Arne shot his arrow and the rat slightly moved making the arrow hit it’s back.

Arne activated both rapid shot and focus. Three more arrows flew at the gigantic rat. One hit it straight in the skull, one in the leg, the other one missed. Shadow leaped at the rat and bit into its mouth. Shadow was a lot more aggressive than before.

“Bow mastery 20/1000”

Arne drew another arrow, but before he could fire it a message popped up.

“+10 Xp”

“Shadow gained skill, “Chomp”

Shadow began feasting in the gigantic rat. He must have been incredibly hungry after the race change. For a split second, Arne looked at Shadow with fear, but it quickly turned to pride.

Arne cringed, he couldn’t imagine eating the rat. Especially the long pink tail that Shadow gulped down. The rat was more than three times Shadow’s size, but Shadow managed to eat every last part.

Shadow burped, Arne picked up his arrows, and they continued walking deeper into the tunnel. They took turns, left and right. As they continued the tunnel began going deeper, as the tunnel became lower quality. The walls became rougher, dirtier, some bricks were missing. A green liquid dripped from the ceiling. The gigantic rats became more common.

…

------

Status:

User: Arne

Race: Skeleton

Class: Shadow Archer

Level: 5

“Bow mastery 34/1000”

Speed:22

Strength: 18

Perception 22

Stamina: 19

Vitality: 1

Xp: 24/50

Skills: Focus lvl. 1, Shadow circulation lvl 2.3 (passive), Shadow bow lvl 1

------

Arne had levelled up twice, and increased his stats a bit. He wanted to spend his skill points.

“Assignment.”

-----

Assignment:

Points to distribute: 2

Powershot: 0

Rapid shot: 1

Focus: 1

Shadow bow: 1

Shadow warp: 0

Shadow shot: 0

----

He put a point into shadow warp and shadow shot. He had unlocked all Shadow skills. He tried activating them again. The tattoos that floated above his shoulders strained themselves.

First a shadow bow appeared in his hand, then his tattoos strained themselves further and a shadow arrow appeared in his other hand. It felt more material, like black dried blood. He pulled the arrow and released the bow. He couldn’t kill a chicken with that amount of power.

He tried the Shadow warped, a small black circle opened up. He tried sticking his finger through it but nothing happened. He figured that he might have to open another little spot, and did so. When he poked his finger it went through with a ticklish sensation.