บท 9: The True Hoarder

Ed was lost on what the hell just happened.

After a few seconds of still silence he quickly assessed himself.

His pristene white bones had multiple abrasions not to mention they weren't quite pristene anymore. He swore he could see multiple cracks here and there but more importantly...

The pain!

His health was only lowered by 55 points but the pain wasn't something he could so easily ignore. That's over half his health! In his head, that's the same as being half dead!

The first time he got hurt, the magician quickly put him out of his misery. He survived the struggle and for the first time ever he felt what it was like to be seriously injured.

[Champion has defeated 2 trespassers. 4 remaining]

Ed stopped thinking about the pain and tried his best to ignore it.

'Where the hell is my reward! And why can a skeleton feel pain you crappy system!'

He sat down next to a wall looking like an actual skeleton while withstanding the aching of his bones. He was blankly staring at the ceiling, he hoped the reward could solve his problem.

[4 remaining]

'Don't play with me give me my reward!'

It's hard to not have facial expressions, Ed wanted to make his anger known at this moment.

[<Minor Explosion Resistance lvl. 0> Acquired]

He didn't know how useful that skill would be in the future but he decided to ignore the system for now and focus on his current situation. It didn't even want to give him a reward, he shouldn't have gotten his hopes up.

He eyed the messy pile of items in the middle of the hallway.

'Something in there might be able to help me'

With that thought in mind, Ed stood up and walked carefully towards the pile of items. In reality he could walk normally but the pain would be augmented.

'You should have given me pain resistance instead'

He grumbled in his mind disapprovingly.

Ed quickly started searching for anything that could help. He picked up a green potion from the mound and examined it.

'This won't hurt, right?'

In some stories health potions could be used to damage undead beings.

Hoping it wasn't the case he poured some of the green substance on one of the cracks. After a few seconds of careful examination...

'Nothing happened'

Ed didn't know what the potion was made of but green usually means health.

'Is it because I am just bones? Or is the potion too low level? Maybe it wasn't a healing potion'

Red is another common color for healing potions after all. He put the potion aside and continued digging out different items from the pile.

'Eh?'

He pulled out a toothbrush.

'Did this magician guy just stuff everything in his robe? Is that why it was so heavy?'

He pulled out multiple clothing articles at this point, random materials, coins, magic devices, books, food, there were countless items. If the inventory function of the robe could hold creatures he was sure the magician would be living there.

Suddenly a small explosion occurred.

[You've been dealt damage. -8hp]

The explosion was caused by more broken potions of unknown origin. The explosion scattered many items revealing the body of the thief and something that caught his eyes.

It was a pristine white bone, it reminded him of... himself!

He reached out towards the bone and was startled to find out it disappeared. His surprise was answered by an announcement from the system.

[Constitution +1]

All of a sudden his pain decreased.

'Status!'

[Name: Ed$#&!]

Type: Skeleton

Health: 145/200

Strength: 0

Agility: 0

Constitution: 1

Dexterity: 1

~Skills:~

[Hurl lvl. 7] -Show info-

[Swordsmanship lvl. -1] -Show info-

[Hoarding lvl. 5] -Show info-

[Mental Fortitude lvl. 1] -Show info-

[Basic Transmission Lvl. 1] -Show info-

[Minor Explosion Resistance lvl. 0]

Reduces damage taken from small or weak explosions by 20%

~Achievements~

[First Kill] -Show info-

The weird bone increased his constitution and doubled his max health. Ed didn't expect that to happen at all. But more importantly...

'Did he get that when I died? Do I have to kill myself to get a stronger constitution?'

He shook off the thought, how was he supposed to kill himself and pick up his own drop? Will an item even drop if he kills himself? It was best not to experiment with things like that. Especially not if the system decides to give him a penalty for dying to himself.

He wanted to chuckle for thinking about farming himself.

He glanced at the thief or assassin's corpse and quickly looked away.

'Chemical burns are no joke!'

If he could puke he probably would have.

The magician seemed to house so many deadly items in his robe, it made it all the more shocking that he had to run away while seriously injured.

'What do I do now?'

The system might want him to immediately eliminate the other trespassers but he wasn't too fond of that idea.

'I'll take the useful items back to my living space'

He no longer had a convenient robe but the gear from the dead adventurers and the robe should help him carry somethings.

'Let's see'

He grabbed a medium-sized bag that was on the floor and opened it up. It was empty inside.

'Perfect, I will put somethings in here'

He proceeded to stuff the bag with as many books as possible. Any bit of knowledge was appreciated in his current situation, not to mention he wouldn't be so bored in the future.

The bag which he stuffed with 8 or so books was incredibly heavy but his Skeleton body wasn't too hindered.

'The robe must have reduced the weight of items'

It was a shame that he lost such a convenient feature, if only he had found out about the robe's capabilities much earlier.

He grabbed a new robe that he found in the pile after a bit more digging, it was a smooth black robe with a golden outline. He tried many things but it was seemingly a regular one. Still, he stuffed a bunch of differently colored potions in it, he was hoping to use them against the other trespassers.

'One last thing'

He headed towards the archer's body and removed her toolbelt. He could have taken the assassin's toolbelt but he would much rather not look at his corpse if at all possible.

He attached the archer's shortsword to the belt and got ready to leave. If he grabbed too many things his movements would be significantly hindered.

'I can always come back for them. Some of my injuries are still not healed'

A lot of the cracks and abrasions were gone now but his health was not at max.

Ed grabbed the archer's bow and squeezed in some arrows into his bag. He had no idea how to use a bow but it wouldn't hurt to try. Worst case scenario he gets <Bowsmanship lvl. -1>.

[Champion has met the conditions to level up, do you want to be recalled? Y/N]

'Level up?'

He completely forgot he had a level on his consciousness. Ed had spent 10 days in the dungeon and had become quite used to being a Skeleton.

He couldn't see any downsides, last time he was summoned back to his body. This time will probably be the same.

'I need to get back to my base first'

There were still four enemies in the dungeon. If they were separated they might have been scouting out the area or looking for someone. If their scouts disappeared they would probably send a stronger group in that direction.

'Better get going then'

Ed ignored having killed two more people to the best of his ability as he headed back to his base.