Thanks for the food~

[Mmm! Tangy! Is this what tang tastes like? I like it!]

The monster core that Cal had lied on his hand disappeared the moment the orange screen drifted through it, Cal's hand was left unharmed.

'You! You can taste monster cores?! And it's tangy??' Cal thought, exasperated.

Monster cores were rock-like formations that contained an unbelievable amount of energy, there were many fools who swallowed cores both by accident or on purpose; all of them had a swift death launched upon them.

'How...' Cal's mind was a mess.

[Mm! Almost done eating!]

'Already?!?!'

The energy embedded into a monster core could only be absorbed with meticulous planning and care, most people who did this did it with multiple bodyguards in place to administer first aid if necessary, such quick consumption of a core was unheard of to Cal.

[Ahh! Done! I feel satisfied!] the chime was especially cheery.

Cal looked at the system with complex emotion, during his time at the Black Bear guild, he had focused his entire being on amassing as many monster cores as he physically could; striving towards increasing his strength and gaining a foothold in the guild to one day achieve a position as prestigious as his grandfathers.

Cal didn't consider himself to be intelligent or wise, yet he had confidence in his understanding of dungeon-related phenomena such as monster cores, yet, something unbelievable had just occurred right in front of him. His mind was aflame with questions for the system, he felt a deep desire to bombard it with his queries but before he could start, the system gave him another surprise.

[Oohh we got something! Look!] the orange screen buzzed, floating toward's Cal and promptly opening a new window.

Cal silenced the questions that were sprouting in his mind and focused on the text that appeared in the new screen, the words shocked him to his core.

[Monster core absorbed, 3.4 Deva Points have been transferred in accordance.]

'AH?! DEVA POINTS?!?!' Cal's mind broke.

Cal was very familiar with his reward. Of course, after using Deva Points for the past 19 years of his life with his old system; one would grow familiar.

'HAHA!! HOLY SHIT?!' Cal's legs sprung up with joy and he re-read the text screen 10 more times to make sure that his mind wasn't playing tricks on him.

Cal had been been running on empty in terms of hope or happiness, he had all but resigned himself to his fate once he got no stat boost from killing the goblin and a new title that harmed him; this gift was an oasis to him.

'Deva points!? Actual Deva points?!?! Amazing!!' Cal had never wanted a mouth so badly before, he wanted to scream and shout his own accomplishments to the world!

The skeleton had no way of showing emotion, yet looking at his body jittering and dancing about showed how ecstatic he was.

He had never heard of converting Monster Cores into Deva Points but he had thrown out the idea of following logic a long time ago.

'System boy! Thank you!!!' any issues Cal had with the system were immediately forgotten and forgiven, his joy had silenced any thought other than celebration.

Cal wasted no time. He knew exactly what to do.

'System! Assign all the Deva points into Ki!'

[Ki? You don't have that!] the system said, crushing his dreams with a sweet chime.

'o h'

'Never mind I still hate you.' Cal wished he could take back his gratitude.

Ki was the lifeblood of everything that Cal had built up during his lifetime, his swordsmanship, martial arts, and archery, all relied on the usage of Ki. For a brief moment, Cal had forgotten that with his human body, the Ki stat that he previously held had been robbed alongside it.

[Wha- Hey! It's not my fault that you got yourself killed!] chimed back the system.

'...' Cal ignored the system's rebuttal; he had just gotten hold of renewed hope, he wouldn't let the system ruin his mood.

'Phewww...' the skeleton sighed internally and focused his mind, the loss of Ki was a tragedy but despairing any further would cause him trouble, he needed to channel the excitement and momentum of gaining Deva Points into creating a foundation for his growth.

'System! Show me my status.'

The orange screen quickly expanded.

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

{STATUS}

• Species: Low-level skeleton

• Class: Null

• Affiliation: Null

[STATE]

• DP: 0.6

• Health: 30/30

• Chakra 0/0

• Wisdom: 78

• Agility: 45

• Constitution: 9

[SKILLS]

INNATE SKILLS:

-> Relentless || Level ? (E)

-> Will || Level ? (D)

ACQUIRED SKILLS:

-> Null

ACTIVE EFFECTS:

-> Null

ACTIVE BUFFS:

-> Null

TITLES:

-> Asura's Traitor

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

'Hmm...' Cal focused his vision on the [STATE] tab, it was the only one that could be influenced by his DP (Deva Points).

'Ugh, all of these values are disturbingly low...' Cal's eyes hurt from looking at the values on his screen, he had tried his best to shovel the memories of that status away from his mind but seeing the weakness he felt during his bout with the goblin presented as numbers hurt to see.

'Hmm... Perhaps constitution is best? Most of my fighting capabilities previously were due to my constitution, the hunting experience I have from my old body uses that value as the basis for all attacks and defensive maneuvers; improving that value might be the way to go...' Cal mused.

'Ah! But even if I want to use the hunting experience I have, is that the smartest call? Should I change my niche and become a fast attacker? My constitution, even if buffed to 12.4, is too low to be relied upon, however, improving my agility to 48.4 might-'

[Hey! How about that other stat!] the chime interrupted Cal's thoughts.

'Hm? Oh... Chakra? That's an interesting one for sure' , there was no need for the system to specify what stat it was referencing, cal looked at the strange word displayed on his status with interest.

'An increase in value of 3.4, while somewhat important, probably wouldn't be the determining factor on whether I win a battle or not... using this core's points in order to establish a new stat might be the way to go...'

Cal sat down in a lotus position on the dungeon floor, moving his fingers into the same shapes that he used for Ki circulation in his old body. Cal tried to close his eyes, but it proved difficult without eyelids so he instead focused his eyes on one spot of the dungeon wall.

In this position, Cal felt like he was better able to think and form plans, even if he had little confidence in his wit or intelligence, he was sure that with time he'd find the optimal decision.

10 minutes passed by quickly.

Even with no throat or lips, his mouth felt dry. Cal took his time on the floor to organise his thoughts and digest all the new information he had been bombarded with.

*clink clank*

The skeleton clumsily stood up and faced the orange screen which had silently waited for him.

'System. Place all points into Chakra.' Cal was resolute in his tone.

[Got it boss!] the cheery chime responded.

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

[ACTION]

DP: 3.4 -> 0

Chakra: 0->3.4

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

[You have unlocked the Chakra stat, congratulations.]