Encounter (pt 1)

The skeleton had no muscles to speak of but he felt like he was sore all over, continuous battles would do that to even the most mystical of creatures.

*SQUELCH*

Cal dug his hands into his newest goblin victim and quickly grasped the core inside, he almost surprised himself with his newfound efficiency.

There had been 8 lone goblins that Cal had come across since comprehending Chakra for the first time. Each goblin felt stronger and more versatile than the other; the cores proved that fact by increasing in quality with each encounter. This would've been troublesome if Cal hadn't been also getting stronger with time, as each core was harvested, Cal immediately fed it to his system and got the required points.

In accordance with his title, all goblins who detected him would immediately stand on guard, ready to defend themselves in case of attack. None of the goblins decided to attack him first however, Cal attributed that behavior to a lack of confidence within the goblins, goblins only preyed on weaker humans; the only cases of goblins attacking a strong human were when they had much larger numbers.

'Phew! That's number 9!' Cal hurriedly beckoned the system over and allowed it to consume the core of the newest goblin, this one had the largest and purest looking core of any goblin that Cal had seen, it was about twice the size of the first goblin's core and almost three times as heavy.

The system eagerly drifted over and consumed the core.

'Alright, bud! All DP into Agility this time, oh, and pull up the status afterward!' Cal commanded.

[You got it!] chimed back the system. According to the system, the greater the quality of the core, the more flavour it packed; it had grown to love this new sensation of "eating".

Cal, with his newfound possession of Chakra, delved deeper into the dungeon. He was nearing the place where he took a stand against the monster horde that killed him, the dungeon walls were growing ever familiar.

Although Cal hadn't felt as if his life was in danger during the past few battles, the growing strength of the goblins disturbed him deeply. Goblins usually were creatures that most adventurers, even E ranks, would have little to no trouble in defeating, however, the ones Cal had come across had massive improvements to their physical bodies. The goblins were taller, faster, and more muscular; Cal couldn't understand it but this change just made him all the more confused.

[Here it is!] chimed the system. Cal shelved his concerns for another day and focused on his new and improved status.

-------------------------------

{STATUS}

• Species: Low-level skeleton

• Class: Null

• Affiliation: Null

[STATE]

• DP: 0.0

• Health: 30/30

• Chakra 28/28

• Wisdom: 78

• Agility: 58

• Constitution: 9

[SKILLS]

INNATE SKILLS:

-> Relentless || Level ? (E)

-> Will || Level ? (D)

ACQUIRED SKILLS:

-> Null

ACTIVE EFFECTS:

-> Null

ACTIVE BUFFS:

-> Null

TITLES:

-> Asura's Traitor

-------------------------------

Cal looked at the new numbers proudly.

The skeleton had focused on the Chakra stat and the Agility stat, the former was due to it's mysterious nature and link with Ki, the force Cal attributed most of his powers to as a human. Agility wasn't a stat he had cared for much as a human but in his current form, improving it would reap the most benefits compared to anything else.

Every goblin that Cal had slain, he had done so by relying fully on his Agility stat. Contrary to its name, the stat doesn't merely improve the speed of the user; it makes everything from their joints and legs to their mind move faster while consuming lower amounts of energy. Improving Cal's constitution would be a waste of DP, it'd be akin to taking a small piece of glass and covering it in a coat of paint, thinking that that meant it was now stronger.

'It's coming along nicely! Chakra especially! Hm... if I remember correctly, it was about when the Ki stat was 50 that I managed to use it in battles effectively, I wonder if it's the same for Chakra!' Cal thought, planning his future excitedly.

He focused the DP on Chakra until he felt the divide in strength between him and the goblins he was facing grow smaller, the past 2 cores were dedicated to Agility just in case Cal made any mistakes in his battles.

The skeleton took a fighting stance and punched the air a few times, the increase in Agility and speed was noticeable, his bones didn't feel as if he were lugging them around as much.

'Soon... I'll find a way back soon...'

Cal had first opened his eyes as a skeleton right by the dungeon's entrance, after delving deeper down he was almost near the site of his death; he wasn't looking forward to seeing the fresh corpse of his former body at all.

'Now what? Do I keep going down? What if I encounter another goblin horde? They haven't attacked me yet but if they were all together, killing me would be easy...'

Cal was between a rock and a hard place; the rock was the possibility of dying to a rampaging monster horde (for the second time) and the hard place was dying to the guards stationed at the dungeon entrance. Most of the dungeon was mapped, and as an experienced adventurer of this dungeon, most of that map was embedded inside his head, he was confident in being able to escape anyone with malicious intent who managed to find him. The issue was Cal's ever-decreasing mental stability and desire for freedom, this stuffy dungeon was driving him nuts.

'Hey uh... Brahma system?' Cal called out.

[Yessir~! Is there another core already? Wowzers! Gimme!] the chimes came one after the other, Cal's quest to gain DP had spoiled the system somewhat.

'What? No! I don't have any cores'

[D'Awwww] groaned the system. Unlike Cal, this system was thriving inside a dungeon.

'I just... wanted to ask if you had a name or something?' he asked, Cal hadn't really regarded the Brahma system as anything more than a tool at first, just like his previous system, but after exhibiting so many "human" characteristics, Cal didn't feel like calling out "system!" whenever he needed help.

[A name? Oh yeah! You called me system boy!] it chimed back happily

'No no! I meant like a real name, not one I made up on the spot!' retorted Cal.

[Hmmm, guess not! Why? Can I have one?!] chirped the system.

'...' Cal stared intently at the screen.

Names were a big deal in the outside world, they were written into your soul as well as your Deva system, getting rid of the name you were given at birth was an impossibility. Cal disregarded that thought, after all, it was still a system at the end of the day. It wasn't like it had a soul... right?

'Ahem... Well, I could think of one for you' Cal felt a bit embarrassed.

[Oooo yes! Skeleton boy's gonna give me a name!]

'My names Cal! Call me that from now on, not skeleton boy!'

[Oh? Yes yes of course skel- uhh... Cal~!] the taunting system caught itself after seeing Cal's gaze.

'Good... but a name for you? I've never come up with a name for someone before...' Cal mused silently.

'He's a Brahma System, I don't know much about that... something to do with the initials then? BS? That means bullshi-'

[HM?] a loud chime interrupted his train of thought. There were some upsides to having a system that could read your mind, this wasn't one of them.

'Ahem.. sorry...' Cal stepped away from using its initials as a way to choose a name.

Cal's metaphorical eyebrows were downturned in a frown, the skeleton stood still for a few minutes before clapping his hands together with a *clink*.

'I know! Your name shall be... Torchie!' Cal said proudly, his chest huffed in pride as the system took in his new name.

[...] there was no chime.

[Is this because... I light up?] the chime sounded like a low growl.

'Oh! Haha yeah, you do light up! That just means the name fits you even better than I thought!' Cal said, 'How nice that it suits you so well!'.

[...], emotions were a new feeling for the newborn system, however, it instinctively felt that the emotion creeping up on it right now was an insurmountable fury.

[Skeleton boy fits you right? So why don't I call you that huh?] retorted the system, fighting back against Cal's villainously bad naming sense.

'Skeleton boy isn't a name!' Cal argued back.

[Neither is Torchie!] the chime was loud.

'Oh Come on! Torchie sounds like the name of a gallant warrior! There's no need to compla-'

[I don't like it!] the chime was deep and final.

'Ugh fine!' Cal said, giving up. So what if the system had a bad taste in names, he would find one it liked!

The skeleton returned to his frowning state and focused his mind. Words and phrases fluttered across his mind.

'SystemThing? BrahmaKid, DPboy, NotAnAsuraGuy... bright-orange-fellow? Light-thing? Lit-rectangle? DarknessLord? LightMaster300?' names of varying size and intricacy fluttered through the skeleton's mind, the Brahma system, who was intently reading Cal's thoughts, felt itself grow numb from the ludicrosity.

'That's it!' Cal had decided.

'Chimey!' Cal thought out loud excitedly, he was sure that this was the one!

[...]

[Oh you little bast-] Chimey's anger was brought to a halt by a bloodcurdling scream.

"AHHHHH!! FUU&&##! HELPPPP!" shouts and yelps that sounded of death reverberated through the dungeon, Cal dropped his dagger in surprise and stared at Chimey.

'Hey, it's not that bad!?'

[It wasn't me!] Chimey chimed in anger. Cal's stupidity at times had the supernatural power of getting on the nerves of a nerveless being.

Upon hearing Chimey's defense, Cal's head spun to where he felt the sounds coming from and his metaphorical eyes widened in surprise.

The screams weren't coming from deeper into the dungeon. They were on the other side. Whoever was shouting, was doing so from near the entrance.

This only left one possibility. Cal's remaining few neurons worked overtime to come up with the conclusion.

'Humans!'