Huff...
I didn’t have lungs with which to gasp for breath, but my entire body hummed while every joint trembled.
Did my mana circuits overload...?
That meant I had exhausted myself completely just to kill a single wild dog.
Even a trivial fight like that left my body...
Everything below my left elbow had been crushed and was hanging uselessly, while my damaged leg could barely support me.
I was in a miserable state.
The durability of a low-ranking skeleton was truly hopeless.
I won’t even make it ten steps before another monster eats me.
Forget escaping the forest. At this rate, I could be beaten to death by a passing slime.
That was when the dead Black Hound caught my eye.
Its corpse was still warm.
Beneath its taut hide, I could see the contours of powerful muscles that looked ready to burst.
Those muscles had to be supported by a perfectly designed skeleton—one capable of enduring the tremendous force generated by the creature’s explosive leaps.
[Precision Analysis (EX) has been activated.]
[Transplantable bones have been detected.]
The creature’s hide and muscles suddenly became translucent, resembling a three-dimensional wireframe model.
Even the smooth, flexible bones concealed inside its hind legs were fully exposed to my sight.
Their density was on an entirely different level from my old, brittle bones.
I could see the curved structure designed to absorb impacts and even the mechanical arrangement of its joints, which allowed them to launch the creature forward like compressed springs.
Damn, whoever modeled this thing did an incredible job.
Along with a strange sensation of excitement, the expected system window appeared.
[Bone Replacement (Lv. 1)]
[Target: Black Hound Femur — Grade: Common]
[Target: Black Hound Lower-Leg Bones — Grade: Common]
[Estimated Effect Upon Transplantation: Increased Agility]
So I can extract those leg bones and use them myself.
[Would you like to replace the corresponding bones?]
The system window shimmered enticingly before me.
Since these weren’t human bones, I didn’t receive any warning messages or feel the same sense of rejection as before.
I don’t feel particularly guilty about using a monster’s bones.
I extended my hand without hesitation.
Rip, tear—
Using the femur I had been holding in place of a dagger, I roughly sliced open the dead Black Hound’s hind leg. Smooth white bone emerged from within the crimson flesh.
Would you look at that finish?
Although it was stained with dark-red blood, its natural luster was incomparable to my own dry, weathered bones.
I extracted the creature’s entire left leg skeleton.
The vibrations of tough tendons snapping one after another traveled through my fingertips. It should have felt revolting, yet a strange thrill ran down my spine.
Now it was my turn.
I grabbed my cracked and nearly useless left leg with both hands.
All right.
I couldn’t take a deep breath without lungs, but I still needed to prepare myself mentally.
Without hesitating, I tightened my grip.
Crack!
“......!”
I didn’t scream.
There was no pain.
However, the grotesque sensation of a part of my body being forcibly torn away struck me with full intensity.
A heavy, unpleasant vibration passed through me as the head of my femur came free from the socket in my pelvis.
I tossed my ruined leg into the bushes and positioned the Black Hound’s blood-dripping leg bones in its place.
Attach. Please!
[Unique Skill: Bone Replacement (Lv. 1) activated!]
Sizzle—
The moment I aligned the joint with the socket, black smoke rose with a sound resembling welding metal.
As the bones of another species connected to my pelvic joint, fine threads of mana extended from their ends like blood vessels and wrapped tightly around one another.
The bones fused.
My severed mana circuits reconnected along an entirely new pathway.
The peculiar pleasure of that process swept through me.
[Transplantation successful!]
[First Skill-Use Bonus acquired!]
[Your proficiency has increased.]
[Bone Replacement has advanced to Lv. 2.]
[Skill proficiency inherited: Beast’s Leap (Lv. 3).]
It worked.
With trembling anticipation, I carefully rose to my feet.
The world looked slightly crooked.
My new left leg possessed the reverse-jointed structure of a beast and was longer than my humanoid right leg.
The mismatched lengths left me standing awkwardly, but the moment my new leg touched the ground, I could feel the difference in its elasticity.
I applied only a little strength—
Huh?
The recoil was far more powerful than I had intended.
My body shot five meters forward in an instant.
I nearly crashed into a thick oak tree after losing my balance, but managed to grab the trunk, swing myself around it, and land safely.
Whoa. Transplanting bones lets me inherit their skills too.
My jaw dropped open in silent amazement.
This was it.
This elasticity.
This explosive responsiveness.
It felt like abandoning a broken-down clunker and stepping on the accelerator of a sports car.
Apparently, becoming a skeleton didn’t mean I had simply been sent here to die.
At this rate, I might be able to replace my entire body.
Greed began to rise within me.
My left arm had been mangled when the Black Hound bit it, so I decided to extract the bones from one of the creature’s front legs as an experiment.
If its hind legs were this impressive, its front legs should also be useful.
Let’s give it a try.
I boldly removed my shattered forearm bones and positioned the creature’s front-leg bones in their place.
Clack.
However, instead of attaching themselves, the bones fell limply to the ground.
[Warning: Incompatible body part.]
[At your current skill level, this bone structure cannot replace an “arm.”]
Ah.
A disappointed sigh escaped me.
Apparently, I couldn’t attach just any bone I wanted.
Structural similarity.
That appeared to be the condition.
Human arms were designed to grasp and manipulate objects, while a dog’s front legs were designed to support its weight and run.
Their ranges of motion and fundamental functions were completely different, making them incompatible.
Then what about this?
As another test, I picked up an arm bone from the skeleton whose femur I had used as bait earlier.
Since it had belonged to another humanoid skeleton, its structure should have been identical to mine.
But once again, the bone failed to attach and bounced away.
[Warning: You have already acquired a bone from this individual.]
[You may acquire bones from each individual only once.]
...Ah.
Now that I thought about it, I had personally pulled out this skeleton’s femur to use as a dagger.
Apparently, that had already been counted as my acquisition.
Simply extracting a bone physically was enough to trigger the limit.
Damn, this skill is demanding.
There were ultimately two conditions.
First, the bone had to possess structural similarity to the corresponding part of my body.
Second, I could acquire a bone from the same individual only once.
Which means I can’t take the Black Hound’s right leg as well.
I had thought this skill was completely overpowered, but apparently it had received its own balancing restrictions.
For the time being, I would have to endure having these grotesquely mismatched legs.
Still, it was a hundred times better than walking on a fractured one.
I need to move. The smell of blood will attract other monsters.
Using Beast’s Leap, I bounded awkwardly through the forest.
I stepped with my right foot, then launched myself forward with my left.
The rhythm was unbalanced, but my speed was impressive.
Boing, boing.
The forest scenery raced past me with every leap.
After traveling for some time, I heard a noisy commotion beyond a nearby thicket.
“Kekekek! Hit it! Hit it!”
“Smash it! Break that bone bastard!”
They were speaking an unfamiliar monster language, yet I understood its meaning naturally.
...This really makes me feel like I’ve become one of the monsters.
The realization left me feeling strangely miserable.
I concealed myself in the undergrowth and activated Precision Analysis.
[Green Goblin Chief (Lv. 6)]
[Green Goblin (Lv. 5) ×2]
Three green-skinned goblins stood in a clearing, surrounding something and cackling as they beat it with clubs.
Their victim was another skeleton, but it was considerably larger than me.
Two thick horns protruded from its skull. Its shoulder bones were broad, its limbs were as thick as logs, and its rib cage was far larger than a human’s.
[Orc Skeleton (Lv. 8)]
It was a skeleton created from an orc’s remains.
Under normal circumstances, an Orc Skeleton should have been able to tear three ordinary goblins apart with ease.
Yet this one wasn’t even fighting back properly. It was simply enduring a one-sided beating.
The goblins were armed with nothing more than animal-bone clubs and crude stone axes.
Why is it just letting them hit it?
The Orc Skeleton held a worn axe in its right hand, but it couldn’t swing the weapon properly.
All it could do was curl up and desperately protect its vital points.
[Precision Analysis (EX) has been activated.]
A defective area highlighted in red appeared within the glowing white wireframe structure.
I see. Its right hip is dislocated.
The right femur had slipped out of its pelvic socket and was dangling loosely.
Since the central support bearing its weight had collapsed, it couldn’t properly exert its strength.
Dragging its right leg behind it, the Orc Skeleton desperately raised its arms to block the goblins’ clubs.
“Kikik! You stupid bastard! Hand over your bones!”
“We’ll make broth out of them!”
The goblins rampaged gleefully.
“......”
Now that I had become a pile of bones myself, watching another skeleton get ganged up on left a bad taste in my mouth.
Perhaps it was a sense of solidarity between fellow sufferers.
Then my gaze settled on the object held by the apparent leader of the goblins.
The heavy white club it was swinging...
On closer inspection—
That’s an orc’s arm bone.
It was a thick, durable forearm bone in excellent condition.
My hollow chest throbbed once again.
That was it.
The perfect component to replace my destroyed left forearm.
At that moment, the cornered Orc Skeleton raised its head.
The blue flames characteristic of skeletons flickered within its hollow eye sockets.
Its desperate gaze seemed to be begging for help.
Don’t worry. I happen to need a new left arm anyway.
I lowered my body and gathered strength in my new left leg.
Explosive force accumulated within it as though a spring were being compressed to its absolute limit.
“Hehehe! Die!”
The Green Goblin Chief raised its club high above the Orc Skeleton’s head.
Whoosh—
The weapon sliced through the air.
Before it could descend—
Boom!
I kicked off the ground and shot forward.
The propulsion generated by the Black Hound’s leg bones surpassed everything I had imagined.
I crossed the distance in an instant and landed on the goblin’s back.
“Gwek?”
The goblin made a stupid noise and turned around.
Its eyes widened into circles.
What? Never seen a skeleton drop out of the sky before?
Before it could resist, I drove the femur I was using as a dagger into its spine.
Shnk!
“G-Gwegh...!”
The strike pierced all the way through to its heart.
The goblin pitched forward without even managing a proper scream.
“Wh-What?!”
“Has that skeleton gone insane?!”
The remaining two goblins jumped in alarm and readjusted their grips on their clubs.
But it was already too late.
I was a proud South Korean gamer who understood the importance of striking first.
I snatched the club—or rather, the orc forearm bone—from the fallen chief’s hand.
Its satisfying weight settled into my fingers.
Nice grip.
I leaped and spun my body, swinging the bone into the head of the confused goblin on my left.
Crack!
A heavy yet satisfying impact rang out.
The goblin’s neck twisted at a grotesque angle before it crashed to the ground.
“E-Eek! R-Run away!”
The final goblin staggered backward in terror before turning to flee.
I couldn’t allow that.
My experience points were escaping.
I gathered strength in my left leg once again.
[Skill: Beast’s Leap (Lv. 3) activated!]
From above, the crown of the goblin’s head was completely exposed.
I adjusted my grip on the femur dagger, holding it in reverse, and plunged downward with the full force of gravity behind me.
Crunch!
My foot crushed the goblin’s shoulder as the femur dagger impaled it from top to bottom.
It was skewered like meat on a spit and slammed into the ground without managing to scream.
[You have defeated the goblin group.]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have become a Skeleton Soldier Lv. 5.]
Wow. That’s some generous kill credit.