Endless Evolution As A Skeleton In A Game-Like World

Ark felt the same weightless sensation he had experienced a few minutes ago, and then a wave of Vertigo slammed into him, distorting his senses.

The world around him vanished like mist, and then suddenly, he was in a whole other world.

A large blue moon hung in the sky, surrounded by golden stars veiled by ashen clouds. Fire flies drifted through the air, and a gust of cool, refreshing wind slipped through his ribs.

Ark’s eyes sparkled as he took in his environment. He was in Eden.

Surrounding him were various other students that stared at their environment with excited looks plastered on their faces.

”It is beautiful!” One of the girls chuckled as she twirled around, her hands brushing past a flower bush.

”I could stare at that sky for all of eternity.” Another student said, a wide grin on his face.

Ark noticed that the flashy clothing, flamboyant gowns and formal suits they all wore were gone, replaced by equipment assigned by the system.

He raised his hands and observed himself, using the appraisal skill that was tied to the system. He was wearing a worn out brown cloak that did little to fully clothe him.

[Worn cloak (F-rank)]

”Tch. What a greedy system...”

Around him, the students were also wearing similar clothing, although it differed based on their class.

Knights had wooden armour, archers had light feather armour, and warriors were bare-chested, well... except the women of course.

[Welcome to the tutorial players!]

A screen flashed before Ark.

[Stage objectives:

1. Reach a minimum of level 2

2. Defeat the tower boss.

Players must not actively participate in the boss raid to qualify, as long as the boss is defeated, the stage will automatically be cleared!]

The moment Ark finished reading it, the screen vanished, but he could always recall it by summoning his system.

”Hmm...” he stroked his bony jaw as he contemplated. From the discussion that had sprung up among the students, it was clear that they had all seen the notification.

The thing about the tutorial stage was that it was never consistent. There was no set mission that all new awakeners would take, neither was there a set location. Because of this, it was impossible to predict what the mission would be.

So the academy trained them on tge three most common mission types...

Defense, exploration and annihilation. Ironically, annihilation, which required them to fight monsters head on, was the easiest and most desirable. The mission requirements were always crystal clear...

They were lucky. Although...

’I didn’t expect a tower to be involved in a newbie tutorial.’ Ark mused. It was not impossible, but it was a very rare occurrence.

”Alright everyone gather around!” Darius, the hero’s voice rang out, pulling the attention of everyone present.

Ark snaked his way through the students, easily slipping through due to his skeletal frame. Although he was tall in human form, his skeleton body was quite the shortie, so he had to make his way to the front to get a better look.

Darius was standing besides the class leaders, his gaze intense as it swept over the crowd.

Beside him were Cain, the warlock; Vanessa, a human who had awakened the grand mage class; Durin, a dwarf who had awakened a tank class; Seth, an elven knight; and finally, the strange girl from earlier...

Soo-Jin, the oracle.

They all stood confidently, their postures straight with pride. They had been born for this life, bred through the harsh fire of expectations, one that weighed heavily on their shoulders.

Darius naturally took command over the group. ”We have unlimited time for this mission, but that does not mean we can slack off!”

”The longer we wait, the more the monsters level up, and it will continue this way until we are unable to put a dent on them!”

”Take out your skill stones and use them now, we won’t have time for that later.” Soo-Jin spoke, her voice heavy with authority.

She had said it in a way that left no room for argument. She was nothing like the person he had met earlier...

Following her command, the students began pulling out their skill stones and crushing them, smoky mana rushing into their bodies.

Skill stones were items that contained different types of skills, ranging from spells to combat techniques.

Since the inventory aspect of the system was active after the race awakening, those from well off families had bought all sorts of skill stones for their children.

But because they were still very low level, they could only use F-rank and D-rank skill stones. Trying to absorb anything greater would be extremely difficult, bordering impossible.

But even then, just having one proper skill may be the line between life or death, so of course they had gone out of their way to get them.

While other students quickly absorbed their skills and took out their custom gear, discarding the useless starter equipment, Ark and a few other less fortunate students stood in silence.

”For those of you who do not have a skill stone, make sure to equip your starter kit.” Soo-jin added.

’I almost got distracted...’ Ark thought. He had been so fascinated by their skills that he forgot to fully prepare himself.

He summoned the starter kit into his hands and stared at it. It was a black, plain wooden box.

He grabbed the lid and pulled it open. ”Alright, let’s see what you have for me...”

[Congratulations! You have received 1x wooden staff (F-Rank)]

[Congratulations! You have received 1x Fate Charm (F-Rank)]

The wooden stick appeared in his palm and Ark stared at it, a disappointed look on his bony face.

Magic staffs were important because they helped a mage focus their magic power. A proper magic staff could even improve a mage’s magic power by a hundred percent!

But that depended on the quality of the staff. A shitty weapon could as well reduce a mage’s efficiency.

As a mage, Ark had gained the ability to sense mana in both objects and people. That was how he knew...

This was garbage! Judging by the weak flow of mana, it was only slightly better than an ordinary stick.

Still... he rested the staff on his shoulder. It was better than nothing. As for the F-ranked trinket, Ark simply ignored it. He considered even tossing it out of his inventory, but decided against it.

Fate charm? What was he supposed to do with that?

”Alright, now that we are all done.” Darius made a show of clipping his D-rank sword to the belt of his shiny leather armour.

Him and the other leaders were armed to the teeth, sporting weapons that most of the student body could only dream of having (at this level).

Well, all except for Soo-Jin.

She wore a simple, flowing cloak resembling priestly garments, with a long slit that went up to her mid thigh, allowing for ease of mobility. The only weapon she held was a crimson fan with a golden handle.

When his gaze met hers, she smiled, revealing fangs so long that they kissed her lower lips.

She licked her teeth, slowly, her eyes never leaving his bony frame. Her cheeks tingled red as she held his gaze, her eyes filled with a feral hunger.

It was the type of look a fox would give a rabbit when it was just inches away from its grasp.

Ark gulped air.

He had thought Cain would be his major problem in the tutorial. But now, he couldn’t help but wonder...

’What the hell is wrong with that girl? And why is she looking at me like I am some sort of chew toy?”