Moonlight like water spilled onto the dirt road leading to the Black Forest.
Leo walked ahead, with the old butler Alfred following behind; their shadows stretched thin and long.
The night breeze blew, and low growls of beasts echoed through the woods.
Alfred’s hand instinctively rested on the ceremonial sword at his waist, but the cold hilt offered little comfort.
He looked at the young, slight figure in front of him, unable to associate it with the word “strong.”
Yet the skeleton that had appeared from thin air not long ago made him realize that the young lord he had watched grow up was shrouded in mystery.
Soon, the two reached the edge of the Black Forest.
The towering ancient trees’ branches and leaves blocked out the sky, and something lurked in the shadows, watching.
“This should be about the spot.”
Leo stopped and looked back at Alfred.
“Stand back. Don’t get caught in the crossfire.”
Alfred nodded and quickly stepped back ten meters or so, hiding behind a thick tree trunk, peeking out nervously.
Leo scanned his surroundings; the active magical elements in the air made him feel comfortable.
He stretched out his right hand.
Spiritual energy surged, instantly consuming forty points of his magic power.
“Come out, Bone One, Bone Two.”
Two identical black magic circles silently appeared on the dry fallen leaves.
The next moment, two skeleton soldiers crawled out from the circles.
They moved their jaws, emitting soft “ka-ba ka-ba” clicks, then stood to Leo’s left and right.
Both skeletons held a sword in one hand and a shield in the other—the standard cannon fodder setup commonly seen on the continent.
Far away, Alfred’s eyelids twitched uncontrollably.
Here they go again.
This bizarre undead summoning technique once more struck his aging heart.
And this time, it was two of them.
Leo was very pleased with his two “assistants.”
With only ten magic points left, he had to be careful with his consumption.
“All right, let’s begin.”
He gave the simplest command to the skeletons.
“Free to seek enemies. Prioritize isolated targets.”
The soul flames flickered in the eye sockets of the two skeleton soldiers before they staggered forward—one left, one right—into the shadowy forest.
They stepped on the thick fallen leaves with a rustling sound, quickly vanishing into the darkness.
Leo found a relatively clean stone to sit on and even waved to Alfred in the distance.
“Alfie, come sit. Standing is tiring.”
“Leave the fighting to the professionals.”
Alfred hesitated for a moment but then took a few steps over.
Still, he didn’t sit, standing behind Leo in a posture ready to draw his sword at any moment.
Soon, noises came from deep within the forest.
“Aroo!”
An angry howl tore through the night sky.
Immediately after, a black boar the size of a calf charged out from the bushes.
A rusty iron sword was embedded in its left eye, blood steadily dripping down the blade.
That was the work of Bone One.
The sharp pain completely enraged the corrupted boar.
It shook its head violently, flinging the annoying sword aside, and its blood-red single eye locked onto the nearest enemy—Bone Two.
Lowering its head, it bared sharp tusks capable of slicing open a human abdomen. Its hooves scraped the ground as it charged.
Alfred’s heart jumped to his throat.
A corrupted boar.
He recognized the creature—hunters in the town sometimes banded together to hunt them.
Though not particularly powerful, the monster had thick skin and flesh and an extremely strong charge.
An adult hit head-on would be seriously injured or worse.
And that skeleton frame…
Bone Two stood dumbfounded, raising its thin wooden shield in an attempt to block.
“Bang!”
A tremendous sound.
No surprise there.
Bone Two and its fragile wooden shield were smashed to pieces.
Bone fragments scattered everywhere.
“My lord!”
Alfred shouted, already gripping his sword, ready to rush forward.
“Don’t rush.”
Leo’s voice remained calm, even tinged with leisurely amusement.
“Watch.”
After smashing one enemy, the big boar, seemingly unsatisfied, charged forward to trample on it with heavy hooves.
It pressed Bone Two’s skull into the moist earth, crushing it into fragments.
Only then did it pant heavily and turn to deal with the other enemy that had wounded its eye.
At that moment—
A sudden anomaly occurred.
The scattered bone fragments began to move as if pulled by invisible threads, gathering toward the center.
Broken ribs.
Shattered vertebrae.
The skull fragments pressed into the mud.
Clicking and cracking sounds filled the air.
They rapidly reassembled and fused together.
In less than three seconds, with a flash of light, a fully intact Bone Two stood up once more.
It bent down to pick up the iron sword from the ground, the soul flames flickering in its eye sockets.
It seemed… “angry.”
It took a step forward and swung the blade straight at the boar’s thick hind leg.
Alfred stared at the reassembled skeleton, his mind blank.
This…
They can put themselves back together?
What kind of magic was this?
The boar obviously hadn’t seen this before.
It felt pain in its hind leg and turned to see the skeleton it had just smashed was alive again, seemingly stunned as well.
That brief moment of hesitation—
Bone One silently circled around from the other side, already at its flank.
In its hand was the sword the boar had thrown off earlier.
Pshhh.
The iron sword pierced the boar’s other healthy eye with precise accuracy.
“Aaaargh!”
The boar let out a scream of unbearable agony.
Blinded in both eyes, it completely lost its mind.
It began rampaging wildly through the forest, smashing trees the thickness of bowls with crashing sounds and flying wood chips.
But all in vain.
The two skeleton soldiers attacked relentlessly from left and right, unaware of fatigue or pain.
They kept carving new wounds into the massive boar’s body with their swords.
They did not dodge, nor did they need to.
Sometimes the crazed boar’s violent head shakes would send one flying, scattering bones everywhere.
But the other immediately took over the attack.
And when a shattered skeleton could no longer reassemble on its own, Leo would simply raise his hand and spend some magic to instantly restore it.
This was a merciless battle of attrition with no suspense.
Alfred went from nervous to shocked to numb.
He watched the huge corrupted boar bleeding more and more under the relentless assault of two skeletons that didn’t know what death was.
Eventually, with a heavy “thud,” its massive body collapsed.
It twitched a few times, then lay still.
Throughout the entire process, Leo hadn’t even stood up.
He simply sat quietly on the stone, as if watching an entertaining play.
【Corrupted Boar (Lv3) defeated, gained 45 experience】
【Ding! Level Up! Current level: 2】
【Ding! Level Up! Current level: 3】
【Ding! Level Up! Current level: 4】
【Ding! Level Up! Current level: 5】
A series of crisp notification sounds rang continuously in Leo’s mind.
That’s how absurd experience gain was in the newbie stage.
Killing one monster sent the experience bar rocketing upward.
【You have gained 20 free attribute points. Please allocate.】
Here it comes!
Leo’s heart leapt.
He immediately operated within his consciousness.
“10 Constitution, 10 Spirit.”
【Constitution: 4 -> 14】
【Spirit: 10 -> 20】
The moment the points were assigned, a warm current flooded his body.
The fatigue from the long journey and the body’s inherent weakness vanished.
He could clearly feel his muscles growing stronger, his breathing deeper and smoother.
Most importantly, the numbers on his status screen changed.
Max HP: 80 -> 280
Max MP: 50 -> 150
A complete transformation.
He stood up, moving his limbs, the full sensation inside sharply contrasting the previous frailty.
Is this the joy of assigning points?
Love it, love it.
“My lord, this…”
Alfred approached, glancing at the boar’s corpse on the ground, then at the two unharmed skeleton soldiers standing nearby, swallowing nervously.
“Is this your power?”
“This is just the beginning.”
Leo smiled.
His attention turned to his skill tree.
Reaching level 5 lit up a new skill icon under the Summoning branch.
【Summon Skeleton Archer】: Consumes 30 MP, summons a skeleton archer to fight for you for 30 minutes. HP 50, Attack 15.
Now there were frontliners and backliners.
That was a somewhat decent formation.
Leo calculated in his mind.
He had 150 MP now; summoning two skeleton soldiers cost 40 MP, and summoning one skeleton archer would cost 30 MP, totaling 70 MP.
His mana bar was more than enough, even with surplus.
“Alfie, I’ll show you something good.”
Leo raised his hand, and another black magic circle appeared at his feet.
But this time, the figure crawling out was no longer a sword-and-shield skeleton soldier.
It was a skeleton carrying a bone longbow on its back, with a quiver of arrows hanging at its waist.
Its frame was slimmer than the skeleton soldiers, and the soul flame in its eye sockets flickered more vividly.
Alfred didn’t know what expression to wear anymore.
Looking at the three undead servants before him, each different in form, he gave up trying to comprehend.
This young lord of theirs was clearly beyond simple talent recovery.
This was nothing short of a miracle.
At that moment, the newly summoned skeleton archer suddenly raised its arm without warning.
It drew a bone arrow from its quiver, nocked it, drew the string, and released—
A single bone arrow silently flew into the nearby grass.
【Slime (Lv1) defeated, gained 15 experience】
【Ding! Level Up! Current level: 6】
【You have gained 5 free attribute points. Please allocate.】
Another golden light flashed over Leo’s body as he leveled up.
He casually placed all 5 points into Spirit.
Max MP increased again, directly to 180 points.
After finishing, he patted Alfred’s shoulder and spoke softly.
“Now, do you think you still need to stay by my side?”
Alfred was silent.
After a moment, he bowed deeply to Leo, his head nearly touching his chest.
“Your old servant understands.”
His voice carried a hint of relief and unprecedented reverence.
“From now on, my lord, please do as you please.”
“Leave all the trivial matters of the territory to your old servant.”
He lifted his head, his aged face filled with determination.
From tonight onward, this fourth prince, abandoned by the capital, would embark on a path no one could foresee.
And he would be the first—and most loyal—witness on that path.