Endless Evolution As A Skeleton In A Game-Like World

Soo-jin stared at the area the monster had used to escape. What had been a gaping hole was now almost entirely sealed. There was no way to get to them.

Even if the worm had left a tunnel, considering its speed, it would be practically impossible to catch up.

Ark was still alive, she was sure of that because there was no notification announcing his death. But for how long?

The Grave Keeper could shoot out slime so acidic, that it could burn rocks. If that was the same way its stomach acids were...

”Soo-jin?” Olivia called. ”W-what do we do?”

Soo-jin kept staring at the hole, her eyes were often cold and emotionless, but now they looked even more lost.

The echo of the beating rain sounded loud in the silence, like drumbeats ringing in her head as Soo-jin considered all possibilities.

How could she save Ark? What was the most logical move to make? Why did she feel so strange?

One of her best traits was that she was always able to think objectively, even in the most difficult situations. But there was nothing logical, nor objective about what she was thinking right now.

Every single thing in her wanted to go after him, but when she turned around to face the two girls, it was her logical part that spoke.

”We’ll keep moving...”

There was no way to save Ark, none of them were fast enough to keep up with that worm underground, and considering how much damage it took, it was likely not coming back.

”Are we going to just leave him? Should we at least try—”

”We are not abandoning Ark.” Soo-jin Olivia, cutting her off. Her eyes grew fierce as she began waking away from the hole.

”Our best chance at saving him is by completing the tutorial.”

Once they beat the boss, everyone who had reached the requirements for passing would automatically be transported back.

That was the only way they could save him.

Olivia still looked conflicted, but when Soo-jin began to walk away, she had no choice but to follow after her.

After walking for about half an hour, a bright glowing ball soared into the air from somewhere far ahead.

Once it reached an appropriate height, where they could see it even with the tall forest trees obstructing them, it erupted like fireworks, sending sparks filtering through the air.

Olivia stared up at it. ”Is that?”

”Yes.” Soo-jin replied calmly. ”Now we know the right direction.”

What they had seen was the beacon, meaning one of the parties had located the two boss.

It took about thirty additional minutes of walking for Soo-jin’s party to get to the source of the beacon. There were already a number of players present when they arrived, but the number was far fewer than what Soo-jin had expected.

At the start of the tutorial, there had been about two hundred players, but now Soo-jin could only count a little above twenty.

Of course, more players were likely to join them later, but Soo-jin was sure she would be able to count them on one hand.

From the looks on the faces of the players, it was pretty obvious what had happened to most of them...

There was a large building at the site. It resembled some sort of archaic castle, with grey stone walls and moss clinging to every part of it.

’So this is how the tower looks...’

In front of the tower, the hero, as well as some of the class leaders were having a meeting. Darius spotted her and waved her over, but Soo-jin did not immediately comply.

”Let’s get ourselves healed first...”

Luckily for them, the best healer in the class, Daffodil, was still alive. She was a pretty girl, so much so that she had quite the following among the boys back in the academy.

She had brown skin that seemed warm underneath the campfire, long, wavy cream hair, and the type of figure that would make people lose focus. Her teal eyes would often light up softly, whenever she used her magic.

She was sitting gracefully underneath what was left of a house, attending to the players who were injured.

There was a serious expression on her face while she worked, but the moment Soo-jin arrived, her mood seemed to turn sour...

”I see you’re still alive and kicking.” Daffodil clicked her tongue.

She was treating a minotaur whose forearm had nearly been cut in two, her entire focus on the wound.

”You don’t sound too happy about it.” Soo-jin replied dryly. ”I hope you didn’t make any bet on my death?”

”I did, it’s a shame you had to ruin it.”

The cracked bones mended, and the flesh rejoined themselves. In the space of a few seconds, the injury was completely healed.

Not even a D-ranked potion could work that fast, Daffodil was simply that good, even at her level.

But Soo-jin could tell that she must have been healing people all day. Her eyes were hollow and she smelled of sweat. Just how many people had she attended to?

Soo-jin almost felt bad that she was going to impose on her once more, but she had no choice, she could not go to battle anything less than a hundred percent.

”So? What are you waiting for?” Daffodil snapped, pointing a finger at her in a drowsy manner. ”Sit down, I don’t have all day y’know?”

”I think you need to take a little break first, there is no one left on the line....”

”Wait really?” Daffodil’s eyes suddenly brightened, life returning to her bleak form. ”Why didn’t you say that at the beginning?! Hehehe!”

She summoned a bottle filled with blue liquid and gulped the entire thing down in one go.

”A mana potion?” Olivia asked. ”I guess it makes sense, a healer won’t need health potion.”

”Keh—! Wooo! That really hit the spot!” Daffodil laughed, slapping her knee.

Soo-jin gave her a blank stare as she sat opposite her. ”It’s a mana potion... Stop acting like it is a bottle of beer, you alcoholic.”

”Hey, this is the closest thing to a proper drink I can get here!” Daffodil yelled, her eyes turning moist. ”Don’t bully me okay?!”

Olivia glanced at Isabella and whispered. ”Do they know each other?”

Isabella nodded. ”They are childhood friends, but they hate each other’s guts.”

”Alright, strip, let me see that wound.” Daffodil said in a plain tone, staring intently at Soo-hin’s stomach.

Soo-jin rolled her eyes and raised her shirt up, revealing the nasty scar that was on her abdomen.

The moment Daffodil saw the wound, her mouth dropped open and her tone turned serious.

”How did you survive this wound?” As a healer, she had seen people who died from less.

From what she remembered, there was no healer in their party, and this was far beyond what a health potion could do.

”Who treated this wound?” She glanced at Isabella and Olivia. ”Was it one of you two?”

But when she saw the expressions on their faces, she immediately understood.

”I see, a shame. I would have loved to meet him. He did a good job, I’ll finish what he started.”

Daffodil was about to begin when a familiar voice froze her in place. ”Daffodil. Who authorized you to heal those people?”

The healer immediately sprung to her feet, her eyes filled with fear as someone walked up to them.

Soo-jin sighed and turned to see the cocky grin plastered on his face.

Cain Lancelot.

”Ahh, Soo-jin?” Cain feigned ignorance. ”Forgive me, I almost mistook you for one of the trash. How have you been?”