Good Life

The black skeleton had changed into a figure that was very familiar to the young girl. He had turned into the girl's father. He had the man's face and everything. The only difference was that it had not yet mastered the facial expressions. He now looked like a young man in his mid-twenties. He had wild brown hair and piercing green eyes. He was six feet tall and his body was quite muscular. He had well-defined cheekbones and broad shoulders. He was a handsome man by human standards. He was a lady killer.

This was all some sort of mental projection created by the skeleton's soul. The original skill morphed the flesh to achieve the transformation but the skeleton did not have any flesh to speak of. Using the skeleton's knowledge, the original art had been modified by the battle axe to create a skill more suited to the skeleton's needs. This projection would be what everyone saw when they looked at the skeleton. This was better than moving around in his original form. Still, it could see some inconsistencies that could give away its disguise. These were minor details but if one were to focus hard enough on the skeleton, they would easily see through the projection. The skeleton could also keep up the disguise for less than ten minutes. This was not enough time to kill a pig let alone tens of humans.

The skeleton took its time inspecting its projection. It realized that it needed to upgrade this skill further if it wanted to pass for a human.

It looked at the battleaxe.

[Corpse Qi: Seven Units]

[Skills:Life Sense----Stage Two...Upgrade///Decomposition----Stage One...Upgrade ///Faceless Wonder-----Two Stages,,1/2.....Upgrade]

[Unknown Technique-----Level One (Life Force Vision, Rapid Decomposition, Dark Blade.)]

The Faceless Wonder skill had two stages and it had only reached the first stage.

It still had corpse qi and the information showed that it could still upgrade to a higher level. The skeleton did not hesitate. It thought about upgrading the Faceless Wonder skill and immediately, the axe released a powerful crimson light that engulfed the skeleton. After less than a second, the light disappeared.

The skeleton felt new information about the skill filling its mind. This information was very detailed. It felt that it had cultivated this skill for countless years.

It then looked at the battle axe.

[Corpse Qi: Zero Units]

[Skills:Life Sense----2/4 /// Decomposition----1/3 /// Faceless Wonder---2/2]

[Unknown Technique-----1/1 (Life Force Vision, Rapid Decomposition, Dark Blade.)]

The information had changed slightly.

The skeleton had completely run out of corpse Qi. It had cultivated the Faceless Wonder Skill to its highest stage which was the second stage. It was the second stage of the Life Sense Skill which had four stages. It was the first stage of the Decomposition skill which had three stages.

The most worrying information was about the Unknown technique. This was the skeleton's main path to improving its cultivation and yet it had only a single stage which the skeleton had already achieved.

This made the skeleton a bit worried that it would never be able to increase its cultivation beyond its current stage.

The skeleton was worried for just a few seconds before it calmed down. It decided to collect more corpse Qi and more information about cultivation. It hoped that this would remedy the problem.

The skeleton then inspected its projection once again. This new projection looked much more human and could last for over an hour.

The skeleton sat down and continued reading the books that were left around. After an hour, the projection disappeared. The skeleton had to wait for about thirty minutes to use the skill again. This was because the skill used the power of the soul to function. This power was not limitless and even for the skeleton that had a powerful soul, this Qi was limited. The skeleton replied that to improve this skill further, it would need information about how to cultivate the soul.

When the young girl finally woke up, the first thing she saw when she came downstairs was her father seated in a chair reading a book about cooking. The young girl ran toward her father as she cried loudly.

She tightly hugged her father. This was when she realized that something was wrong. She could not feel the warmth that she expected to radiate from her beloved father. All she felt was coldness beyond anything she had ever felt. She immediately jumped away.

She was a bright girl. She understood that this was the skeleton in disguise.

The skeleton transformed back into its true form. The young girl properly cried for the first time since losing her parents. Seeing the father she longed for vanish and be replaced by the skeleton finally broke the girl.

The skeleton went back to its reading leaving the girl in tears.

When night came, the skeleton tied up the girl and went out to hunt for the corpse Qi.

It stayed in the slums. It also used its disguise skill(Faceless Wonder) to move around like any other normal human. This made its hunt much easier. All the humans who saw him saw a handsome man and nothing else. This gave the skeleton enough confidence to stay out hunting for longer. It killed over sixty people that night. It collected all their books and money.

On its return trip, it slaughtered another restaurant for food, money and books.

This had become the life of the skeleton and it was somewhat content with its current situation.

The skeleton gave the food to the girl before examining its battle axe.

It had managed to collect one hundred and twenty units of corpse qi. This was a good harvest.

[Corpse Qi: 120 Units]

[Skills:Life Sense----2/4...Upgrade /// Decomposition----1/3.....Upgrade /// Faceless Wonder---2/2]

[Unknown Technique-----1/1 (Life Force Vision, Rapid Decomposition, Dark Blade.)....Extrapolate]

The information on the axe was very encouraging. It now seemed that with enough corpse Qi and knowledge,techniques and skills could be extrapolated to create higher stages.

The skeleton felt something akin to happiness well up in its mind. This was the good "life".