The Skeleton ran off to who knows where and the crowd of skeletons dispersed as if it was the end of some street show. Then again, I think there was hardly anything but kicks and punches, except that weird move in the end.

  I gasped as a sudden influx of knowledge popped into existence in my head. Before I could gather my wits, a pouch shimmered into existence and dropped at my feet. Picking it up, a screen popped out.

  The palm sized pouch felt like one of those coin purses I’ve read about in history books. Despite of what was written in the contents, I couldn’t feel anything inside even after rubbing it between my palms. As if it were empty. Touching the opening of the pouch, however, gave a different result.

  Suddenly, I could feel shapes. Four different shapes and empty space around it. Conical, elliptical, semi-sphere and a stick of some sort. Concentrating on the stick caused the opening of the pouch to unfurl and half a scroll to pop out. Taking out the hand sized scroll, a panel appeared.

  What an interesting item! In other words, as long as it isn’t alive, I can appraise it as much as I want as long as I want. Then again, I don’t know if there are any organic items. Wait, maybe like herbs and other stuff?

  I pushed the scroll back and concentrated on the conical shape. Almost immediately, a pointy tip poked out from the opening. It was glowing with a pulsating organic light. Not like the light from the cave flora, but like the light you’d see on jellyfish and the deep dwellers of the sea. Taking it in my hand, a panel appeared.

  I don’t get it. What does a magicore do anyways?

  …I am a monster, right?

  And I am not a part of the dungeon.

  So it’s fine if I eat this narwhal core, right? I mean, in one sense, its seafood.

  Yes, it’s seafood.

  I popped the core in my mouth and swallowed.

  …

  ……

  ………

  Nothing’s happening.

  Maybe it was a dud?

  Who knows?

  Anyways, let’s check out the next magi-

  FLASH!

  I find myself swimming underwater. Well, I am not the one swimming. It’s more like I’ve taken a backseat in a car. Now that I mention it, who’s driving me?

  I feel the current of the water flowing between my curiously flat limbs. Sunlight falls before me in curiously flickering way, yet calming. I feel one with the water. One with the Sea. The Ocean.

  SQUUUU UUUEEEE EEEEIIII!!!

  …what in the world was that? That ear-raping squeal just kicked me out of my zen mode! Apologize to all the yoga practitioners!!!

  SQUEEE EEEUU EEIEEI!!!

  But before my demands were over, the thunderous squeal escaped from my mouth too.

  Then, in a ticklish way, I felt various teeth in my mouth slowly grow. They burst out of my mouth and spiraled into a long cone.

  SQU…skzzt*…position reached. Pike deployed!

  Roger that. Dive!

  Diving…

  The squeals abruptly turned into military radio conversation as I watched myself shed my lazy swim and execute a nose…er, “Pike” dive.

  Slowly, I began to pick up pace. Faster and faster. Towards the azure depths of the sea. The water pressure around my body is noticeable now, but nothing worrisome.

  As I dived, I started to pick up noises. Not just white noises one gets in the ocean, but that of violence and struggle.

  Soon enough, I had visuals of a heavy siege on an outpost.

  Wait, how did I know its an outpost?

  We have visuals. I repeat, we have visuals.

  What do you see?

  A heavy siege, sir, by the Mer. Our outpost is holding, barely. They are in desperate need reinforcement.

  Heavy silence followed.

  Sir?

  Pull back. Nothing we can do abou-

  They’re dying, sir! We ought to do something!

  We don’t have anyone to spare. They’re on their own.

  I felt a sharp tug on my back, making me spread my fins to stop the descent.

  We’re abandoning them?!

  We have no choice. We have taken heavy casualties on the last attack. And this doesn’t even fall under our sector.

  I floated leisurely as they spoke.

  You need to get back.

  Admiral, they need help. I want to help them.

  You are too injured! Your Leatherback is too valuable! Why do you not understand?!

  Who has a leathery back?

  You’re breaking up. Clam here needs a breath too. Over and out.

  I order you to—

  Eh? Did he just get hung up? LOL

  I feel a tug in my back again and I’m swimming once more.

  I curve up and torpedo through the water. Soon enough I spear through the surface and land with a huge splash.

  I expel the long held breath and take in the rich, salty breeze.

  Suddenly, I felt my head getting disconnected or unwired. I felt my back unfurl and something climbed out of me. It works its way out of my back cavity and towards my head. Eventually it passes by my blowhole and jumps into the water leg first. I think I saw a glimpse of blue greenish skin and black hair.

  For some reason I swim by where she splashed and curve my giant body around the place to shield her from the waves. It’s a bit uncomfortable but felt necessary.

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  Soon she emerges from the blue green depths.

  “Rotten oysters, is it cold!” She cursed in a slightly squeaky voice as she shook her head vigorously. Her long almost fin-like ears flopped along. But then she lowered her head, making the bangs cover her eyes.

  “The admiral’s right though.” She started saying after a while. “We might get killed if we try to help them.”

  I merely listened.

  “But! But we’re the only one who can! It’s not fair to them to be left to fend for themselves when we have the power to spare.

  So! I was thinking… we should try ‘it’!”

  She said ‘it’ in a loud whisper and started fishing around her hip and pulled something out of her pouch. A green glowing and pulsating stone. The air got thick and slightly uncomfortable, as if something dangerous was sleeping nearby.

  At its presence, a place around my head throbbed slightly and at the same time somewhere at the girl’s left breast started to glow blue, and the oppressive feeling was gone.

  “I thought about selling it, y’know. But… we worked so hard to put down the menace. I think we should use this as the next step.”

  She held it up with her partially webbed fingers to show me.

  “You do remember this beast, do you not?”

  I felt myself shift uncomfortably.

  She dropped her hand, seemingly discouraged. “Yeah, you’re right. Forget it! Let’s go! If I can’t do anything about it, then no use killing myself over it.”

  Sigh*

  I sighed too, wondering if I’ll be a narwhal ride from now on.

  “I mean, there’s also the possibility that we evolve into…well, something else, y’know? There’s always that uncertainity. So let’s not take any bad steps.”

  Suddenly, I lunged, deftly knocking her into my mouth, and swallowed. Then, with a beastly grunt, I shot out a screaming girl out of my blowhole.

  “What was that!?” She asked, alarmed.

  My head throbbed and I noticed light coming from there.

  “Why are we glowing?” she asked. Then gasped. “You didn’t!” She accused, probably figuring out that she was empty handed. I guess going through a whales innards do that to people.

  She started dashing down my head and towards my back, all the while letting lose a string of profanity. I unfurled my back just in time to let her in.

  Soon, I felt the connection reestablish. My body felt hot, like a fever. But good all the same. The pain I didn’t notice all this time vanished too. I felt my bones groan and creak as they shifted and grew. My hide and muscle tore, melt and stretched. It hurt. But it was more like a memory of pain.

  Why would it be a memory?

  FLASH!

  I blinked. Or at least tried to, but my eyelids didn’t move.

  I was back again. Back in the tunnel systems. Still holding the pouch.

  I think I relived a memory of whatever the core belonged to before it died. How did the system get its hand on it, I wonder?

  Ding*

  Whoa, that rush of knowledge. But knowledge is power.

  THEN, I HOLD THE PAOWAAA!!!

  Oh hey, vitality boost! Probably from the Sea-elf knock-off of Moana. Why the endurance though? I think the narwhal was a Leatherback or something.

  And the skills. The Encumbered Swim is pretty self-explanatory. I’ll be able to swim while wearing an armor. Or carrying stuff. Could be heavy, could be light. It means I won’t have to worry much about drowning. Then again, I’m dead. I don’t know if I should worry about drowning at all.

  The Sea-elf Traditional Swim Technique is probably from the elf chick.

  Blue Revolve. Hmm. It can spin stuff?

  I’m gonna spin his jaw!

  Water affinity means what? I can do water magic? Or swim better? Whatever it is, I didn’t receive any heads up for that unlike the skills.

  I think it’s a good idea to stow these cores away. I don’t know how long I’ve dazed off but core consumption should be left for safe areas.

  If my System has upgraded, I think it will give me a list for skills too. It’s giving me info on stuff I pick up, it should be able to do at least that.

  Now that I think about it, the fact that a SYSTEM has those version number itself means its artificial. Either I am in some VR, which is very unlikely. Last time I checked, it was 2029 and we are still knocking our heads on the wall while wearing VR face screens.

  Anyways—

  Skills!

  Okay!

  That’s...those are a lot skills, I’m not going to lie.

  But it kind of makes sense. But later on that.

  Although, these scaling that are added next to the skills are a bit...

  I concentrate on certain skills.

  I see.

  The shadow element ignores defense by 10% currently— emphasizing currently. With Scorpion stance, it jumps to 30%.

  The swim technique is a good addition, especially when I have no stamina limit. Oxygen is debatable, but I’ll burn that bridge when I get there.

  Underwater Spear Art Mastery, which is kinda odd. I’ve heard of underwater wrestling, but this is something else. I’m guessing the sea-elves developed this by using spears for hunting and battling coastal or sea monsters. Or harpoons, as they make more sense in underwater kills in my head. Ask Moby Dick.

  The best skill so far in my opinion is Blue Revolve, which looks absolutely insane. I can fucking drill into my enemies. Hell, I’ll drill through these tunnels and make my own tunnels, dungeoneering be damned. Spin kicks, windmill fists, sawblade strikes…I’m a walking beyblade!

  Well, skills from my previous world showing up is the next best thing. If they were not here, it would be weirder. Remembering your previous life yet not able to derive anything from a lifetime is…illogical. Once you learn how to ride a bike, you’ll remember it pretty much the rest of your life. Same for skating too.

  But this brings up more questions.

  Ah, fuck it!

  I tied the pouch on the sorry excuse of belt and ran towards where there might be skeletons.

  Strictly for research, I swear.

  Also, this is a pretty lit place, with hanging glowy roots on the ceilings, and less rocky floor.

  So this place must be near the river.

  The jaw weapon just hangs by my waist, unused. It's not my fault there aren’t any goblins spawning in the dungeon. That’s isekai dungeon 101. You gotta have goblins in your fantasy world. No one admits it, but everyone loves goblins.

  Now that I think about it, I never got any skills based on staff wielding or dagger wielding. No wait, I think the Sting technique along with the Shadowclad may work with the jaw knife.

  I absentmindedly stroke the bone as I walked deeper into the cave-system. Hopefully, I’ll get to the river again.

  Ah, While I am at it-

  Status!

  Holy crap! There’re new windows on my status screen now! YAY!

  Also, let’s note what a complete dumb fuck I am when I am using a bone to bash stuff when my talents call for hit-and-run tactics. I mean look at those juicy stats. Heck, I am a fucking freight bullet train.

  Skill points? What do they do?

  I see. That system update or whatever did some good at least. Now I don’t have to grope in the dark anymore…err, never mind. Skill tree, huh?

  Hmm, just a thought, but I might as well see what this place thinks skills are. What I may think of it may not be what it really is.

  What is Skill?

  Wow. That surely was an eye-opener. Glad I did that. There’s a lot of hidden messages in this description, so I’ll mull over it later.

  4 racial points? What’s that?

  Holy shit, this thing is more dangerous than the others. Which also might mean more gains. But it also needs requirements to be fulfilled, which might be the catch.

  I still have no idea why my endurance is shooting so high. Maybe my bones. I remember slicing through a skeleton’s sternum and into its spine, and yet that epicly strong Skeleton lost its fingers. Maybe my bones are epicly strong.

  Adamantium skeleton, perhaps?

  Hmm, just who was this guy before I possessed his body?

  Man, I’m really decked up in that Poison resistance. And about lightning...I don’t think any subterranean species would generate lightning, to be honest. Sea creatures are more likely. Then again, we do have a river here. The Homo Florensians might have fire, seeing that they have made armors and weapons. I tugged at the Hide McJacket I’m wearing. It cut from the middle by that Skeleton I got the skills from.

  And that cut is still on my stomach.

  I poked the cut, wondering if it was my imagination or if the cut looked actually smaller. Still, I’m not brave enough to peer inside. To have the option of peering into your own body...ugh! The cons of being an undead.

  Alright, time to up my stats. 10 to PER, STR and 11 to VIT. 6 to COR and 2 to CHR. Upon dismissing the Status window, the effect was immediate.

  The surrounding went from 4k to 12k. Body felt lighter and springier than ever. And there was this hot and cold feeling in my chest, almost like a heartburn, but pleasant. All in all, I felt fresh and dandy.

  Anyways, enough dawdling.

  The tunnel I am in at the current moment, I only entered it because the noise of the stream could be heard from here. The weird thing is, the noise just cut off when I reached the end of it.

  And oh, does it get better! After shrugging off the measly ambush and enjoying that invigorating level UP, I was faced by a set of double doors. The kind that are tall and imposing, with murals and stories pictographed on it. The kind that scream BOSS.

  How do I know there are pictographs engraved? Well, hitting the door once caused vibration to travel through it, causing it to ride the uneven shapes on the way. The vibration then released into the air and the air transmitted them into my ears in a method locals know it as…sound. Echolocation.

  This doesn’t mean I know what the picture loks like, as the sound didn’t clear up the finer engravings and certainly did not differentiate color. But I can make a few heads and tails with what I have.

  That is, until you read the window appearing in front of you saying LOBBY.

  Pretty anticlimactic. What, did it waste all its “Dungeon Points” or whatever on this door or something?!

  Unfrugal bastards! No wonder there’s no one trying to top this shit but me!

  I pushed the door, but it wouldn’t budge. Great, probably rusted because no one has the resources to OIL THE HINGES! Oh wait, my bad. These doors are MADE OF STONES! STONES, WHICH ALWAYS MAKE GOOD DOORS!!!

  Hah…hah…hah…hah. I think not talking to anyone is having more toll on me than I realized.

  But seriously, how do I get in. Can’t even see because there’s no light.

  I put both of my palms on the door and look for something resembling engraved words, which might tell me how to get it open. And soon enough, I did.

  It was a small set characters, a single line, engrave quite deeply. Was it a one-liner riddle. One that will test my wits. Cause its about time my 88 WIS shows its might.

  I cupped my hand at the side of my eyes to concentrate the sorry excuse of light of my eyes on the engraving.

  Hmm…its… certainly not any kind of language I’ve ever encountered. Then again, I thought the same thing of Hindi, when I first encountered.

  You have learnt Volaan’s Tongue

  The engraved words briefly spiraled in a beautiful pattern, before settling down into what seemed to say—

  PULL

  “…”