*HAH*

As new air smelled of bone and dist filled his lung, Alexander attacked the last layer separating him from the sky.

Soon, the gap was wide enough for his head to go through. Scared of what his brother had planned for him on the other side, Alexander tossed his tunic through first before carefully thrusting his head up.

Underneath a grey sky, his head arrived in a barren place. It was no worse than the ground below. Coarse dirt, dead logs and damaged tombstones filled the wretched landscape.

With only his head above ground, Alexander was a sitting duck. His gaming instinct kicked in, screaming at him to prepare a potential ambush.

With all of his strength, Alexander burst out from his earthen prison. The naked elf covered in dirt and sweat immediately drew his Spellblade into a battle position.

However, as the eerie soundtrack simmered down, the reaper bid Alexander farewell, signalling the end of the chase. He finally lowered his weariness.

_ _ _

_ _ _

_ _ _

A series of notifications immediately bombarded his screen. Alexander sheathed his Spellblade and walked towards his tunic whilst scanning through the new information.

Alexander attempted to open his character screen by yelling a series of common phrases.

“Screen!” “Status!” “Inventory!”

“Interface!” Finally, his character screen appeared.

_ _ _

[Name]: ???

[Species]: Ælf [Culture]: Neasdocs-Ælf

[Renown]: 50

[Level]: 0/100

[Stats]: 8(7) Strength, 9(8) Agility, 12 Charm, 7(6) Endurance, 9(8) Stamina, 8 Intelligence, 0 Mana, 0 Faith

[Traits]: Children of Neasdocs

[Affinity]: Normal Faith, Minor Single-handed Weapon

[Attainment]: Inspect

[Free points]: 3

_ _ _

Alexander scanned through his [Stats]. Although he had nothing to compare to, he was satisfied with high Agility.

However, as Alexander was inspecting his information,

“Hello!” Chibi Cillian appeared behind him on a floaty. He spoke proudly, “You got out much faster than I expected. My teaching is working.”

Alexander looked back at the relaxed Chibi. He couldn’t hold back his wraith.

“You buried me! You bastard!”

The Chibi, however, ignored his vengeful cry, “Well, that’s the spawn location for your race. Who asked you to pick an extinct race!”

“You did!” Alexander rebutted back before realising something was wrong. “Wait, Ælf is a dead race?”

A notification popped up, cutting Alexander off.

_ _ _

_ _ _

Chibi Cillian nonchalantly replied, “Yeah, and it’s your job to find out more about it,”

Before Alexander could vent more, Chibi Cillian glanced at his hand, “Oh! Look at that! It seems that I have left the oven running. Ciao!”

Chibi Cillian disappeared as fast as he arrived, leaving Alexander alone once more.

Alexander decided to put on his tunic before carefully reading through his new quest for additional information.

However, another notification soon came up.

_ _ _

_ _ _

The simmered soundtrack roared again. Its heavy drums banged.

*DA* *DUM* *DA* *DUM*

Its commanding sound vibrated across the empty land. It called upon the soldiers of old.

*DA* *DUM* *DA* *DUM*

To serve their master once more.

To march under the same banner again.

To fight another glorious battle.

*DA* *DUM* *DA* *DUM*

It was the marching song of the damned.

*DA* *DUM* *DA* *DUM*

To their eternal master, they answered. From the ground, they came. Forsaken soldiers whose names had long been lost in the river of time awaken from their eternal slumber.

To the rhythm of the drums, they crawled. Skeleton hands, legs and skulls arose from below, eager to fight once more.

Alexander used the ability he randomly received from the first quest on them.

_ _ _

[Attainment]: Inspect

Mastery: Recruit Proficiency: 0% -> 1%

_ _ _

[Name]: Forsaken-Soldier

[Description]: Lost in the madness of war, these soldiers were first to be sacrificed to protect what they held dear. Sadly for them, in war, nothing last forever. As they fell into the embrace of this accursed land, they were twisted into nothing but mindless puppets compared to the brave soldiers they once were.

[Species]: ???-Undead [Culture]: Skeleton

[Level]: 1

[Stats]: 3 Strength, 1 Agility, ??? Charm, 3 Endurance, ??? Intelligence, ??? Mana

[Traits]: ???

_ _ _

Seeing their meagre [Stats], Alexander immediately sprung into action. Not letting them regroup and overwhelm him with sheer numbers.

He pulled his Spellblade from the sheath and rushed forward.

Arriving at a protruding skull, Alexander swung his sword, cracking its head.

*Bam*

Chunks of the skull exploded. The black fires in its eyes dissipated. The skeleton stopped moving.

Time was of the essence, so Alexander rushed to other targets.

Arriving at another group of skulls, in one sweeping motion, Alexander returned their skulls to dust once more.