Chapter 5: The Undead Slayer

Raising his hands, Xiao Yang grew increasingly pleased the more he looked at the bracers in his grasp. Behind him, a small skeleton thief dragged a bulging sack, rummaging through the remains of a fallen skeleton warrior.

That was Xiao Yang’s summoned attendant, Little Bone.

Before long, it indeed found something and happily ran over to Xiao Yang, holding the item high.

Xiao Yang took the thing Little Bone offered—it was a broken bone fragment, an item of some sort.

【Undead Slayer (Skeleton)

Quality: Common

Type: Accessory

Effect: Increases damage against skeleton-type undead by one

Description: Yes, yes, you fished out a smooth bone shard from the skeleton’s frame. This means you’re no longer afraid of these guys.】

Though it was only a white-quality item, it was still useful to Xiao Yang. He accepted the broken bone fragment and smiled, patting Little Bone on the head.

“Awesome, Little Bone!”

Little Bone showed no outward delight, but it seemed pleased, beginning to pull various items from the small pouch on its back.

【A Large Bone

Quality: White

Type: Material

Description: Just a large bone. It serves all the functions a large bone should.】

Little Bone kept pulling out these white-quality large bones, presenting them to Xiao Yang.

These skeletons dropped materials, but rarely anything valuable—mostly just bones. If luck ran low, not even bones would drop, only inferior bone fragments.

This was the first time Xiao Yang had properly obtained items from these creatures—well, technically it was Little Bone who found them.

Putting away the materials Little Bone had brought, Xiao Yang was satisfied. Though Little Bone lacked combat ability, it not only gathered a heap of miscellaneous materials after each battle but also kept him company in this silent, dim skeleton dungeon.

Raising the wild short-handled axe in his hand, Xiao Yang called out happily to Little Bone.

“Let’s go, Little Bone! Next room!”

With excitement in his voice, Xiao Yang and Little Bone continued exploring the first floor of the skeleton dungeon.

...

Within a few days, Xiao Yang was close to clearing the entire first floor of the skeleton dungeon.

Though the first floor was no small area, for a game player eager to conquer a dungeon, this was quite fast.

Of course, the Dark Lantern helped greatly. Its slow health regeneration after battles was fantastic. Even if a skeleton’s bony club accidentally struck his head, Xiao Yang could retreat, hide somewhere to fully recover, and then cautiously peek out again.

During meticulous exploration, to ensure he didn’t miss any spot, Xiao Yang carefully drew the floor’s layout and map on the safety room’s wall.

Fighting in this skeleton dungeon felt like playing a game, yet it wasn’t quite a game. The game-like part was leveling up and monsters dropping loot, but unlike a game, death here was real death, and the world engine was based on reality.

Xiao Yang dragged a wooden box containing the adventurer’s bracers back to the safety room and lit it with the Dark Lantern’s magical, unquenchable flame, using the charred charcoal to sketch the map on the wall.

Besides tracking exploration progress, staying long in the dungeon brought real-world problems: as a living person, he needed food and water.

Food was manageable thanks to the five loaves of bread he had. The starter pack’s long loaves could last him two days each. Water, however, was a bigger challenge.

Fortunately, along the outer edge of the first dungeon floor, the cold, smooth stone brick walls were covered with moss. This moss acted like a sponge, storing plenty of water. Heating the skulls of the skeletons allowed him to boil water and drink safely.

What should have been straightforward dungeon exploration had turned into a wilderness survival exercise.

In the safety room, Xiao Yang studied the simple map he’d drawn. He had yet to find the passage to the next dungeon level. On the map, two unexplored corridors remained—one to the east and one to the west. Today, Xiao Yang planned to choose one direction to investigate.

Finding the way down to the next floor was the priority.

...

Like the Divine Game, this skeleton dungeon was both a game and not a game. There were treasure chests, but monsters did not respawn. Neither the ordinary skeletons nor the skeleton warriors would reappear.

This posed a problem: even if Xiao Yang wanted to grind levels, once he’d cleared all the skeletons on the first floor, there was nothing left to fight.

At that point, he had to move on to the next dungeon level.

Still, he had some reservations.

He felt that even if he cleared this entire floor, he wouldn’t be able to defeat the dungeon guardian patrolling below.

Stretching lazily, Xiao Yang glanced back through the iron door’s small window. The dungeon guardian, wielding a giant axe, still prowled the corridor.

“What if I go down to the second floor and it’s a one-way ticket? I’d have to clear the dungeon to get back up!” Xiao Yang muttered softly.

It was a problem he had to consider, but he had no solution. For now, he’d just find the passage to the next level.

Scratching his greasy, tangled hair—unwashed for days—he made this decision.

So, which passage to explore?

Xiao Yang pulled a dull gold coin from his pocket and flipped it on the table. It was a pure gold coin he’d found in one of the dungeon rooms. If he took it outside, he’d be quite happy—one gold coin could sustain him for a long time. But after spending so long in this skeleton dungeon, he’d come to accept that he might never leave and return home. In that case, gold or no gold didn’t matter.

The coin stopped spinning. With a crisp sound, it landed facing the skeletal door, toward Xiao Yang.

“All right! West it is!”

Decision made, Xiao Yang resolved to explore the western, unexplored corridor today.