Rise
By sacrificing it's own army, the kingdom of bereth manage to force the empire to retreat.
The kingdom of bereth celebrated their victory against the empire. It was the empire's first defeat and they are the ones who caused it.
Some of the local countries found this as a reason to form an alliance and this strengthen the bereth kingdom.
All the nearby kingdoms were under the empire's rule and because of it's known military might, none of them dared to fight back.
But now, with their defeat against the kingdom of bereth, the kingdoms under the empire had to consider another option.
To Fight.
And so, an the alliance was formed with the kingdom of bereth at it's center.
And so, just like that...
..the kingdom of bereth rise to power and another war broke out.
Though most of the kingdoms under the empire sided with the bereth kingdom, there are still some who remains at the empire's side.
This cause a stalemate for both sides, and no true victor emerge from the fight. They only suffer losses with no gains, and because of that, the soldier each side send gets lesser and lesser as time pass.
But even so, the war continues for a new ruler of the land to rise.
Unknown to them, while they fight with each other, something dreadful rise from the ground.
It was a skeleton, a being of the undeath.
***
After the explosion, Owen knew that his body was blown into pieces so he couldn't understand why he was still alive.
However, his curiousity only lasted for a few seconds, he didn't know how but it didn't matter.
He was alive, he was still alive and that's all that matters to him. He was still under the mountain of corpses so his priority is to get out of it.
He didn't know how was he still able to breath under such mass, but just like the last time, it didn't matter.
He crawled his way out while pushing the pieces of corpses around him to find a way out. As he continue to push the dead, he saw the moonlight behind the dead bodies.
As he saw this, he quickly kicked the dead man's body and it rolled down the mountain of corpses.
He climbed out to reach the moonlight and soon, he saw the previews battlefield that was now littered bit dead bodies.
Around the dead bodies, he could see black smoke coming out, forming a black mist. It was trying to reach him, and it was calling for him.
The mass of black smoke looked dreadful even for Owen, however, something about it attracts him.
His instincts are telling him to take the black mist into himself. He didn't know how but he felt the need to do it.
He instinctively reached out his hand towards the black mist. Then, he saw his arm, with only bones with no flesh.
He quickly pulled back his arm, he was shocked seeing his arm move without it's flesh. However, he noticed that it was not only his arm, his whole body didn't have a single flesh.
How could he move without a single bit of flesh?
A normal person would have worried about that, however, Owen lived for 30 years on earth. It was impossible for him to not have heard of anything about the living dead.
He also played lots of game which were mostly rpgs which made him more familiar to what he was now.
"..am i, an undead...?" Owen asked himself. For someone who had lived twice as a walking flesh, it was a strange experience to be suddenly left with only bones.
Like a person who wore clothes their whole life and was suddenly told to walk naked. The only difference is that, it was his skin rather than a cloth.
...
Asking himself wont confirm anything so he decided to use his system. It had been useless his whole life as it only shows the obvious but now, he found a way to put it in a good use.
"I guess you could be useful sometimes, Status."
After Owen said the word 'status', a blue screen appeared.
-------------------------------
Name: Owen
Race: Undead
Type: Skeleton Soldier
Rank: Tier-3
Title:Captain late,The first undead
-
Life Points:60/60
Mana Points:40/40
-
Strength:9
Speed:13
Endurance:6
Mana:4
-
●●○
-
[Evolution(0/30000)]
[Soul Points:0]
-
Skills:
[Combat Sense(Passive)]<Level 2>
[Swordsmanship(Passive)]<Level 4>
[Archery(Passive)]<Level 2>
[Horseback Riding(Passive)]<Level 1>
[Bloodlust(Active)]<Level 1>
[Masquerade(Active)]<Level 1>
-------------------------------
His stamina stat was gone but his other stats increase by a small amount. He also gained some skills but most of all, a way to grow stronger.
While he was looking at his status, he could hear or maybe feel something calling for him. He looked back and saw the black mist, it was fading slowly as time pass by.
Owen didn't waste anymore time, he reached out towards the mist and as expected, his hands just went through it. He failed as he couldn't touch it, but Owen didn't panic.
Though he was unable to touch it, he could feel some type of connection between him and the black smoke.
It could be because he was now an undead or maybe it was because of his useless system. Whatever the reason was for this connection, Owen didn't care, he couldn't care less.
All he could really think of was the black mist, however, he couldn't think of a way to absorb it.
That's right, he wanted to absorb it. His very being was telling him to, but he didn't know how.
Not knowing what to do, Owen allowed his instinct as an undead to guide him and what his instinct, his senses, were telling him was...
...just touch it.
It was dumb but Owen just followed it. He kept on swinging his hand towards the mist and each time, it just went pass through.
Time pass and all Owen did was swing his hands towards the black mist. It seems stupid and he look stupid but with each swing of his hand, the connection that he could feel have gotten even stronger.
Owen kept on swinging his hands towards the mist and his connection towards it keep on getting stronger. As he continues to swing his hands towards the black mist, some of the black smoke got sucked into his hand and a blue screen appeared.
<You have learned the skill [Touch of Undeath].>
Owen saw this and he tried using the skill to suck the black mist but nothing happened. It didn't even do anything so Owen couldn't understand what it was for.
"It should be related to this mist, that's all i know. The name sounds nice so i hope it's not a useless skill..."
Because the skill didn't work, Owen had to keep on swinging his hand like an idiot for a few more hours until another screen popped out.
<You have learned the skill [Soul Reap]>
Owen quickly tried the skill hoping for a better result and unlike the last time, the skill worked. The black smoke around him got sucked into him as he could feel a strange energy entering his body.
When he already sucked all the amoke within the area, he started walking around to absorb the black mist coming out of the dead bodies.
The previews battlefield where hundreds of thousands of people have died was filled with black mist. In the middle of all this, a skeleton walk over the dead bodies as he absorb the darkness around him.
<The skill [Soul Reap] Leveled up>
"Kyakakkakaka~!!!" Owen laugh as he absorbs the mass of darkness. The power of death was like a drug for the undead and with so many of those around him, he was overdosed.
In other words, Owen was pretty high and drunk.
Nevertheless, he continued to absorb the mist and his skill continues to level up.
<The skill [Soul Reap] Leveled up>
Owen couldn't think clearly, he couldn't walk properly as he stumbled on the ground.
<The skill [Soul Reap] Leveled up>
"Haha..haha..ha..."
<The skill [Soul Reap] Leveled up>
That was the last thing Owen saw before his nonexistent eyes closed.