Being A Skeleton Is The Best

When I open my eyes I am staring into darkness, with nothing around me. I can't see, hear or feel anything. While I am wondering if I am dead or something, it appears in front of me.

[Please choose your beginner perk category:

-Attack

-Defence

-Agility

-Stamina

-Magic

-Healing

-Mental

You will randomly be given a perk of that category.]

Hmm. Ok. Between magic and healing, which should I choose? Since it's only a beginner skill it won't really matter right? Well, still I'm a bit more inclined to magic. Because I believe with magic, anything is possible.

[User has chosen the category: Magic.]

[Randomly assigning a beginner magic perk.]

[You have been given the perk: Magical Intuition]

[Commencing transmigration...]

[Successfully bound user to a body without an owner.]

[Commencing awakening...]

After the last prompt I start to lose focus. Then suddenly I am in a tunnel lit up by glowing crystals. There are also blue grass that grow near the crystals. The tunnel isn't that tall or wide, just enough to move around without getting uncomfortable.

Ok, first things first.

'System.'

In hopes of seeing an interface I think of that word.

[Name: ---

Age: Newborn

Race: Skeleton

Titles: ---

Level: 1

Stats

Health: 100%

Mana: 100%

Strength: 15

Defence: 13

Agility: 14

Magic: 15

Intelligence: 29

Perks

Magical Intuition]

I don't know about my other stats but my intelligence seems really high. I also seem to have become a skeleton. I raise my hand and just as expected, I see bones. I clench and unclech my hand. There doesn't seem to be any problem. I focus on my perk.

[Magical Intuition: This perk is like a sixth sense of magic. You can intuitively know of what to do in regards to magic even if you don't have any prior knowledge of the matter.]

Well, I could have guessed that from the name too. I'm guessing one would need a fundamental level of knowledge to use magic. But that isn't the case for me because of this skill.

I seem to have mana, so I can start testing magic right now. I raise my hand and point it to the wall. Let's do something basic first, like fireball.

I can feel the mana course through my bones and as it moves I can intuitively feel what direction it should go next. It's quite easy I must say. Must be because of my perk.

A magic circle gradually forms in front of my hand and a small ball of fire comes out. It starts moving to the wall at a painstakingly slow speed. If I start running now I can surpass it. The fireball then hits the wall and a small explosion errupts.

Bang.

[You have successfully cast the spell "Fireball".]

[It will be shown in the Spells section.]

[You have successfully cast a spell.]

[You have acquired the skill "Spell Casting"]

Does it show them on my status panel?

[Name: ---

Age: Newborn

Race: Skeleton

Titles: ---

Level: 1

Stats

Health: 100%

Mana: 95%

Strength: 15

Defence: 13

Agility: 14

Magic: 15

Intelligence: 29

Perks

Magical Intuition

Spells

Fireball

Skills

Spell Casting]

It does show it. Anyway, I should first focus on my survival. I stand up and pick a direction to go. That glowing crystal looks interesting so I go that way.

For a while I only see the cave walls, crystals and grass. The monotony ends when I come across a fork.

Left or right?

They both look the same. Well, you know what they say, right is always right. So I end up going left. Every time I trust other people I end up in a disadvantageous situation. This time I choose not to trust them.

As I get deeper into the left path I notice that the grass cover gets thicker and thicker. The tunnel also gets wider. At one point it opens up into a cavern full of greenery. There are bushes and even trees. How do they live without sunlight you ask? I don't know. Probably magic.

I kneel down into the tall grass and hide behind the bushes. It's time for stealth mode. As I sneakily move around the forest I suddenly see something dark green moving in my sight.

Wait a minute. Is that... a goblin?

The goblin stops for a moment and sniffs around. Then sniffs his own armpit.

"Urghhh!"

The goblin gets disgusted by its own smell. This might be a chance for me. I raise my hand and cast fireball. The magic circle once again appears but this time I put more mana into it, 30% of my max mana.

'That should be enough to handle a mere goblin.'

Whoosh~

The goblin feels something amiss and notices the fireball shooting towards him. But it's already too late. The fireball hits it square in the chest.

Boom!

[You have slayed a level 5 goblin.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

I become level 3. Is there a reward for leveling up?

[Name: ---

Age: Newborn

Race: Skeleton

Titles: ---

Level: 3

Stats

Health: 100%

Mana: 70%

Strength: 15

Defence: 13

Agility: 14

Magic: 15

Intelligence: 29

Stat points: 2

Perks

Magical Intuition

Spells

Fireball

Skills

Spell Casting]

Stat points... No questions asked I will assign all of them to intelligence.

[1 stat point is equal to 0.1 intelligence point. Would you still like to continue?]

'Yes.'

[Intelligence: 29 > 29.2]

The effects of higher intelligence will show itself gradually. As I level up I will continue putting the stat points in intelligence.

I continue wandering in the forest looking for other prey. As I do that my mana slowly fills up. When my mana gets to 92% I see a group of three goblins huddled up, sitting around a bonfire. They are grilling a creature I have never seen before. It looks like a hairy frog with it's front legs replaced by a mantis's raptorial legs.

Since they seem to be focused on that delicious piece of meat sizzling above the fire. I can just slay them with an ambush.

This time, I will take on a different approach. Instead of the fireball exploding upon touch, I want it to pierce through the skin and explode inside the body.. This plan is entirely dependant on my magical intuition perk. If I fail to kill all three of them I'll have to escape.

I raise my hand and circulate mana in my bones for the fireball spell. This time I alter the circulation path slightly to make the fireball smaller and faster. It should also explode after entering the body, changing the command from explode on hit to explode with a slight delay from the hit.

Once I am sure I am circulating mana correctly, I dirrect it to my hand where a magic circle forms. This magic circle has some very small differences with the previous one but I can see them. A fireball the size of a pebble forms in front of my hand. My target is stationary so I don't have any problems aiming.

Whoosh~ Pierce. Bang!

With incredible speed the fireball shoots towards the closest goblin. The goblins are seated such that the closest one has his back turned to me while the other two can't see the attack coming because of the fire in the middle.

So the goblin gets hit in the back and the fireball upon piercing the skin and muscles explodes right next to the goblin's heart and lungs.

[You have slayed a level 6 goblin.]

[You have leveled up.]

The sound of the explosion is somewhat suppressed by the goblin's body but in this relatively quiet forest, the other two goblins still end up hearing it. The dead goblin falls off the rock it was sitting on.

Now alert, they quickly grab their sticks and stand up. They start carefully inspecting the surroundings. I am still behind the bushes, so they ca't see me. That last shot had taken 30% of my mana so now 62% remains. Enough for two more shots.

The goblins can't just relax when their comrade has been killed. They have to find the threat and eliminate it or they will be next.

I wait patiently in the bushes. The goblins decide to look around together.

'They seem to be quite intelligent. I have to wait until they turn their backs to me.'

Finally a chance presents itself when one of the goblins kneels down to pick up and sniff something and the other looks away from my position.

I immediately start casting the spell. From the magic circle comes out a high speed fireball and hits the standing goblin.

[You have slayed a level 6 goblin.]

The kneeling one is startled. It's head starts erraticly moving around. In a 1v1 I am now sure of my win. So I jump out of the bushes while shaking my arms and opening and closing my mouth.

The goblin gets terrified and turns around to run away, which is exactly my plan.

Now that the goblin is not facing me, it can't dodge my fireball since it can't see it. I put all my remaining mana into this last fireball and shoot it.

Whoosh~ Crack. Bang!

It's a headshot. The goblin's head explodes into smithereens.

[You have slayed a level 6 goblin.]

No level up? I guess it gets harder to level up as my level goes higher.

Because my mana is low I walk away from the goblin corpses for a bit and just lay down on the grass. My skeleton body sinks right into it.

While I am waiting for my mana to recover, I have time to think of my situation. I have transmigrated and become a skeleton. Magic exists in this world. I am sure there are types of energy other than mana too. Like aura, which warriors possess.

My immediate goal is survival. As long as I get to a level of power where I am sure of my survival I can think of other things I would like to do in this world.

Time quickly passes by and my mana fills up to the brim.

[Mana: 100%]

It is time to continue the hunt. I stand up and stealthily walk deeper into the forest. In my left hand is one of the sticks the goblins were holding. Better to have a weapon than not.

As I continue going deeper, I come across goblins of higher level in groups of two or three, sometimes even four. I avoid groups with more than three goblins just in case. I don't want to die after all.

The more goblins I hunt the more my level increases. I add all stat points into intelligence.

[Level: 10

Intelligence: 29.9]

One more level and my intelligence will reach 30.

As I continue to delve deaper into the forest I come across a group of goblins which look different from the rest. Three of them wear brown leather armor while the one that looks like the leader wears a black one. The leader goblin is also taller and more muscular than the other goblins. Is it a mutant goblin or does it just have a very high level?

These are the first goblins I see wearing armor. Am I getting closer to their village? While the goblins are walking forward they keep looking around, alert of the surroundings. The smart decision here would be to avoid them and look for other prey. I wait in the bush without moving and they eventually pass by.

Once I'm sure they are gone I continue my sneaky hunt.

Some time passes as I keep hunting goblins. The goblins deeper into the forest all wear leather armor so my hunt gets a bit more difficult. But the amount of exp I gain from them also increases.

While hunting I keep getting system messages.

[Fireball has reached enough proficiency.]

[Fireball level 1 > 2]

[Spell Casting has reached enough proficiency.]

[Spell Casting level 1 > 2]

[You have acquired the skill Ambush.]

[You have acquired the skill Snipe.]

[You have acquired the skill Stealth.]

[Ambush has reached enough proficiency.]

[Ambush level 1 > 2]

[Snipe has reached enough proficiency.]

[Snipe level 1 > 2]

[Stealth has reached enough proficiency.]

[Stealth level 1 > 2]

My new status looks like this:

[Name: ---

Age: 1 day

Race: Skeleton

Titles: ---

Level: 15

Stats

Health: 100%

Mana: 98%

Strength: 15

Defence: 13

Agility: 14

Magic: 15

Intelligence: 30.4

Stat points: 0

Perks

Magical Intuition

Spells

Fireball 2

Skills

Spell Casting 2, Ambush 2, Snipe 2, Stealth 2]

One thing I've noticed while leveling up is, even if your stats remain the same, if your level gets higher the power of your stats also get higher.

So 15 points in strength at level 15 is much stronger than at level 1. This means that my intelligence also gets better. I can now feel a difference from before. My thoughts are definitely smoother and faster.

My health and mana has also increased. So I can now snipe multiple more goblins at once. I am thinking of trying out new spells like ice bolt or shield which can increase my combat capacity.

While I was thinking as I walked I saw a brown wall appear in the distance. As I get closer, I notice it is a wall made of logs. It isn't that tall. I can definitely jump over it with my current strength.

From the other side I hear some incomprehensible sounds. I jump and hold the top of the logs with my hands. I take a glance at the other side. There are many goblins doing various stuff.

It's a goblin village.