Chương 26: Jun and Boneman

Jun Song is qualified to meet his mentor. Commencing teleportation to Mentor 'BoneMan'… Jun's world went black. When his senses returned, a biting chill tore across his face, and the blue of the sky surrounded him. He wasn't standing. He was straddling something hard and narrow, its surface pressing uncomfortably between his thighs. Directly ahead, a ragged cloak snapped violently in the wind. When the fabric whipped aside, Jun caught a glimpse of the figure wearing it—and froze.

There was no flesh beneath the cloak. No skin. No hair. Only a white skeleton. Jun's eyes widened, and his gaze immediately swept across his surroundings. Beneath him stretched what appeared to be the spine of some enormous flying creature. A massive rib cage curved below it, while two skeletal wings extended from either side, their bare bones cutting through the air without an inch of flesh between them.

"Ah! It seems the third level is finished!" the figure shouted from where he sat astride the creature's spine.

"Just in time, too!" Jun instantly recognized the voice. He had heard it countless times through the projections inside his head—raspy, yet upbeat. The pieces finally clicked into place. He had known his mentor carried the tag BoneMan, but he'd assumed it was simply some eccentric class title. He hadn't expected the man to literally be made of bones. Jun drew a slow breath and tightened his grip around the creature's spine.

This was his first time flying, let alone on what he could only describe as an undead dragon assembled entirely from skeletal remains. The flight itself was surprisingly smooth, but the open sky made his stomach churn, so he hunched forward and wrapped both arms around the spine, pressing his body firmly against it. Once he trusted himself enough to look down, a sprawling city came into view below. Towering spires, and dark stone buildings gave the city a distinctly Gothic appearance.

A thin veil of violet haze hung over the streets, casting everything beneath it in a sickly gloom. From this height, half the buildings looked like elaborate Halloween decorations. The residents were even stranger. Figures shuffled through the streets in every imaginable state of the undead. Jun spotted ghouls, translucent spirits, and several other creatures he couldn't begin to identify. Some crawled. Others floated. A few looked so grotesque that he instinctively grimaced and looked away.

"Are those somebody's undead summons down there?" Jun called over the rushing wind.

"No, boy. They're not undead. That's a cliché." BoneMan glanced back at him.

"They're UnAlive! And this is UnAlive City! Named it myself."

"UnAlive?" Jun raised an eyebrow.

"Doesn't that just mean dead?"

"How does that make any sense? By that logic, wouldn't undead just mean alive?" Jun's expression tightened as what little patience he had began slipping away.

"You know what? I don't really care. I'm more interested in why there's an entire city overrun with undead summons."

"They aren't summons, boy" BoneMan corrected.

"They're people, same as you and me!"

"People?" Jun glanced back down at the streets.

"So do other mythological species live on this planet too? Elves, dwarves—things like that?"

"Nope. Nothing like the fantasy races you Earthborn are always imagining. The majority of Astoria's population is human." BoneMan turned his attention toward the city below.

"Why the UnAlive reside here is because of an incident that happened a long time ago."

"The world was struck by a plague in scattered regions. An Awakened was believed to be responsible." BoneMan gestured toward the city below.

"A small portion of the planet contracted the sickness and eventually transformed into full-blown undead. Their personalities didn't change—only their bodies did. But people were afraid of them. They were eventually ostracized from their communities, driven from their cities, even cast out by their own families. They had nowhere left to go, so I built this place for them! The Undead City…" He spread his bony arms wide, then quickly corrected himself.

"I mean, UnAlive City!" Jun hummed thoughtfully, still struggling to keep his balance atop the flying bone dragon.

"That was a really kind thing to do for them. Who was the Awakened who spread the plague? And why?" BoneMan lifted his shoulders—or at least his scapula—in a shrug.

"Not really sure. Very little is known about whoever caused it. Most researchers believe the plague originated from an Awakened, but some think a Kaiser Riftborn may have had a hand in it." He waved the subject away.

"Anyway, maybe I'll take you down there for a visit someday. I think you'd fit right in with that dreadful personality of yours. But for now, we've got an entire intermission phase to spend training!"

"Training sounds good." Jun tightened his grip around the dragon's spine.

"Where exactly are we going?"

"To an unclaimed Astral Rift!" Without warning, BoneMan guided the skeletal dragon into a steep dive. Jun's stomach lurched into his throat as they plummeted toward the forest. Wind screamed past his ears, whipping his clothes against his body while the treetops rushed closer at an alarming speed. Just before Jun became convinced they were about to crash, the dragon leveled out and soared just above the trees. Jun swallowed hard, fighting back the sudden urge to vomit. A few moments later, the mount finally slowed.

Its enormous skeletal wings swept outward with a heavy rush of air and brought them to a hover. BoneMan reached back, grabbed Jun beneath the arms, and hopped from the dragon. They dropped toward the ground before BoneMan abruptly slowed their descent inches above the grass, the force of the landing sending loose blades and leaves scattering around their feet. Behind them, the crimson lights burning within the dragon's eye sockets abruptly vanished. The creature collapsed.

Vertebrae separated with a series of dry clacks. Ribs broke loose, wings folded apart, and the entire skeletal frame disassembled into a heap of bones that scattered across the grass. Jun recoiled.

"What just happened?" BoneMan dropped into a deep squat, then pulled one arm across his chest as though stretching muscles he didn't possess.

"Oh, the deconstruction? That's just what happens when I deactivate the summoning spell." He glanced at the pile of bones.

"I'm sure they'll give the grass some nice calcium to grow! Ka-Ka-Ka-Ka-Ka-Ka!" A breathy rasp escaped his jaw, apparently meant to be laughter. Jun stared at him, deadpan.

"Anyway… you said we're going to an unclaimed Astral Rift. What exactly is that?"

"How about I just show ya?" BoneMan beckoned him forward before heading into the forest. Jun followed. Several minutes passed beneath the dense canopy with little more than the crunch of leaves and snapping twigs filling the silence. Eventually, Jun decided he couldn't take the quiet any longer.

"So, am I supposed to call you BoneMan?" he asked.

"Or do you have an actual name?"

"Well, nobody gave me one when I was created. All I had was the BoneMan class tag, so I decided to come up with one myself." BoneMan turned toward him, his voice brightening.

"You can call me Fletcher!" Jun's eyelids sank halfway as his expression went flat.

"Fletcher? As in the occupation that makes arrows?" If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Exactly!" Fletcher quickly turned his skull toward Jun.

"I'm glad you got the pun! Not many people do." Jun narrowed his eyes at the boneman.

"I get the feeling they might just avoid mentioning it so they don't encourage you." He cleared his throat, abruptly changing the subject.

"Anyway, may I ask why you wear a blindfold?"

"Oh, this thing?" Fletcher hooked a finger beneath the cloth, tugged it away from his skull, then let it snap back into place.

"It helps lessen the burden of my Archer Mastery skill."

"Burden?" Jun echoed.

"Yes. Nearly every Archer-type class possesses some version of Archer Mastery, but mine is a little different." Fletcher made a vague gesture with one hand.

"You can consider it more enhanced in a way."

"Enhanced how? What makes yours different from the other Archer classes?"

"Well, for starters, have you noticed the Signature tag beside your Archer Mastery ability?" Jun recalled the entry on his status page.

"Yeah. Other people told me they had a separate Signature slot filled with question marks. Mine didn't have one. The tag was attached directly to the passive mastery skill." Fletcher hummed in acknowledgment.

"A Signature ability is basically a class's grand ability that embodies what makes the class special." He spread his bony arms wide and swept them dramatically through the air.

"Normally, an Awakened can't unlock their Signature until they break through into the next rank: Elite. Odds are you'll gain another one then, if not sometime later. But for now, your Archer Mastery already qualifies as a Signature because its properties are vastly superior to those of an ordinary Archer."

"Your battle sense alone can reach twice that of a standard Archer. Instinct, hearing, sight, memory, reflexes, agility—you name it. Every sense and reaction will operate at an exceptional level." Fletcher tapped the side of his skull.

"And that advantage doesn't stop at other Archers. In those areas, you can potentially eclipse most other classes as well." Jun's eyes widened. The implications clicked into place almost immediately, and fascination overtook his expression. Fletcher raised a finger.

"But it isn't without drawbacks. You can't switch those senses off. Ever. And as the tier of your Mastery increases, they'll only become more potent." He tapped his blindfold.

"As you can probably guess, this helps dull some of the strain."

"That's… incredible!" Jun's face lit up, apparently having ignored every warning Fletcher had just given him. Even without visible eyes, Fletcher somehow managed to look concerned.

"I guess that explains why I could still make out faint silhouettes when I was trapped inside that smoke cloud," Jun continued.

"Yeah…" Fletcher replied, his usual cheer noticeably absent.

"They said you can grant me a boon during this intermission." Jun stepped closer, excitement creeping into his voice.

"Is there any way you can increase the rank of my Archer Mastery? If it gets stronger, would I be able to see people clearly through smoke instead of just hazy silhouettes?" Fletcher recoiled slightly. The boy hadn't shown even a flicker of concern over what permanently heightened senses might eventually do to him. Only interest in how much further the ability could be pushed. Then Fletcher remembered the Jun he had watched throughout the competition. The reaction shouldn't have surprised him.

Jun approached nearly everything through the lens of optimization. Efficiency, ruthlessness, advancement—those were the things that seemed to matter most to him. If enduring constant sensory overload meant gaining even the slightest advantage, Fletcher suspected the boy would accept the trade without a second thought. Fletcher, in good conscience, couldn't tell Jun to slow down or steer him away from the bloody path ahead. The boy's current environment didn't allow for that kind of idealism.

The only thing he could do for his disciple was give him every possible advantage and hope it was enough to keep him alive.

"Yes, I can upgrade your Archer Mastery," Fletcher said.

"You'd definitely be able to see silhouettes clearly through smoke afterward. But it might be a little too potent for someone at the Awakened rank, and it'll take time for your body to adjust."

"I'll do it." Jun's eyes hardened with conviction. Fletcher studied him for a moment before answering.

"Alright. If you insist. Tilt your head forward." He curled his ligaments in a beckoning motion. Jun lowered his head, and Fletcher pressed the tip of one finger against his forehead. At first, nothing happened. Then everything hit at once. A bolt of searing pain erupted through Jun's skull and tore down the length of his body like electricity racing through his nerves. His muscles locked, then began trembling uncontrollably.

He staggered backward before collapsing onto his side in the dirt, every limb seizing as the agony consumed him. Seconds felt like an eternity. His vision vanished. Sound disappeared. For one terrifying moment, the entire world seemed to dissapear from him, and Jun genuinely wondered if the upgrade was going to kill him. Then the pain began to recede. In its wake came an entirely different world. Birdcalls rang through the distant trees with immense clarity.

Jun narrowed his eyes toward the dense canopy and spotted the creatures perched in a nest made out of scrap metal nearly three hundred feet away. Their cries weren't like any birds he knew from Earth, carrying a strange metallic trill that almost sounded artificial. The whisper of leaves rubbing together in the breeze filled his ears, and closer to the ground, he could make out pencil-length insects tearing into one another along a tree trunk. Fletcher extended a skeletal hand.

Jun took it and pulled himself upright, only for a violent wave of vertigo to nearly send him back to the ground. He stumbled, caught his balance, and blinked rapidly as his vision settled. The forest looked completely different. The greens appeared richer and more vibrant. He could distinguish individual grooves running through the bark of distant trees, tiny tears along the edges of leaves, and specks of dirt clinging to Fletcher's bones.

Everything possessed a level of clarity he hadn't realized his eyes were capable of processing.

"The process was a little intense because I forced the upgrade while you're still at the Awakened rank," Fletcher explained.

"But it should remain manageable. At least enough that you won't lose your mind from the sensory overload." His exposed fangs gave his skeletal grin an almost mischievous look.

"So, how do you feel?" Jun stared down at his palms, clenching and releasing his fingers before rubbing both forearms.

"Amazing. It feels like I gained an entirely new sense." He lifted his gaze.

"How do I test its limits?"

"Well, that's exactly why we're here. Training!" Fletcher turned and waved him onward.

"Follow me." They continued through the forest for another minute. Before long, Jun picked up a low hum somewhere ahead—quiet at first, but growing steadily louder with each step. The dense tree line eventually gave way to a broad stretch of open plains. At its center hovered a rift no more than six feet tall. The portal churned, its interior glowing a deep crimson while dark violet energy pulsed ominously around the edges. Fletcher marched toward the rift and extended one arm.

Bone began to grow from his palm, branching outward until it formed the frame of a composite bow. Its limbs curved in jagged, wave-like ridges that mirrored one another before converging around a luminous white orb at the center. A blood-red bowstring stretched between the tips, glowing faintly against the ivory. Jun took the hint and summoned his own bow from his dimensional storage ring. Compared to Fletcher's weapon, his looked almost plain.

There was no glowing core embedded in the center, nor anything nearly as elaborate about its construction. They crossed the grassy plain until they stood directly before the portal. Up close, its low hum vibrated through the air with enough force for Jun to feel it faintly in his chest.

"It's time to hunt some Mini-Locusts!" Fletcher announced. Jun glanced toward the rift.

"This right here"—Fletcher gestured at the swirling gateway with a bony arm—"is an unclaimed Elite-Ranked Astral Rift. One rank above yours. If nobody enters and conquers it, the RiftBorn Beasts eventually spill out on their own and invade this world." He rested his hands on his hips.

"I leave this particular one uncleared because it makes excellent target practice. It saves us the trouble of entering their territory, fighting through all the prerequisite mobs, and killing the boss." Fletcher nodded toward the portal.

"They don't provide any rewards, but the environment on this planet can't sustain these Locusts for more than five minutes. Once they cross over, they're already on borrowed time. Which means…" His skeletal grin seemed to widen.

"Hunting season."

"They should be coming through any moment now." Fletcher folded his arms and tapped one bony foot impatiently against the grass. A few seconds later, the portal's deep crimson hue abruptly darkened to pitch-black.

"Ah. About time." Something burst through. Jun instinctively tightened his grip around his bow as an alien creature shot into the open air. Its slick, misshapen body was no longer than a man's leg, with a contorted face and four translucent wings—two on either side—beating rapidly enough to blur. The creature hovered above them for only a moment before another followed. Then another. Nineteen more streamed through the rift in rapid succession, shooting into the sky before scattering in every direction.

Within seconds, the swarm was circling erratically overhead. Fletcher calmly raised his bow. He drew the string back until it brushed his cheekbone. As he did, a bone arrow began forming from the luminous orb at the weapon's center. The pointed tip emerged first, followed by a smooth shaft that lengthened until its end settled against the taut bowstring. He released. The arrow screamed upward at a steep angle, piercing straight through the center of the swarm. It climbed until gravity finally stole its momentum.

Then it shattered. In a single instant, the shaft splintered into twenty smaller bone spikes, each one-twentieth the length of the original arrow. They fanned outward in a perfect spread. Every spike struck a different Locust dead center. Not one missed. The creatures' wings stopped beating almost simultaneously. Their bodies dropped from the sky, hitting the grass around Jun and Fletcher with a scattered series of dull thuds. Jun stared at the fallen swarm, eyes wide.

"Whoa. Was that some kind of area-of-effect ability?"

"Not at all." Fletcher lowered his bow.

"I used Bone Manipulation to manipulate the bone from the arrow, then controlled each fragment individually and directed them toward separate targets." Jun slowly looked from the corpses back to his mentor.

"How… How do I do that?" A new excitement burned in his eyes. This was the first time he had seen what his own class might eventually become in the hands of someone who had already mastered it.

"It's a basic ability you'll acquire soon enough," Fletcher explained.

"Once you increase its tier, you'll eventually be able to manipulate bone the way I just did." He lifted a finger before Jun could get too excited.

"But for now, you need to take things one step at a time." Fletcher pointed toward the darkened rift.

"Let's spend the rest of this intermission sharpening your aim on these Locusts." Jun nodded and raised his bow.