Chương 1: Apocalypse, Death, Rebirth

Alex Rivera had always been the quiet guy in the accounting department. Pale and lanky, he felt far more comfortable behind a screen rolling dice for tabletop campaigns or grinding necromancer builds in every MMO he could find than talking to actual humans. He suffered from social anxiety after years of being bullied in childhood for his nerdiness, and as an adult he remained painfully socially awkward.

Nonetheless, he struggled through life however he could—waking up every day, going to work, and dealing with his annoying coworkers. Not everyone was unbearable. Some were decent enough for small talk, though he had never truly clicked with anyone. He had never spoken with any of them for longer than ten minutes. That was why, when he went to fetch coffee on a Monday morning and a big blue notification screen appeared in front of him and all his coworkers, he felt something he hadn't felt in years.

[The Multiverse has reached integration threshold. Earth is now under System administration.] Excitement.

"Huh? What's this?"

"Is anyone seeing what I'm seeing?"

"What?"

"Um, is this some new thingy you put on the office, Edward?"

"What?! No, there's no way I would've put holographic— Wait." The notifications didn't wait for them to process what was happening. Alex's heart beat faster and faster. Was this real? He didn't know. But he desperately wished it could be. [All sapient beings will be transferred to a Tutorial Instance for acclimation. Survival is optional. Growth is mandatory.]"What do you mean acclimation?"

"This is some bullshit. Is anyone even going to believe this— Ah!"

"Wait!" Alex's heart pounded as he watched his coworkers vanish one after another, leaving only faint trails of blue data behind. Not long after, it was his turn. He didn't resist. He simply let it happen.

"Ah..." In the blink of an eye, he appeared in a dense, misty forest with twenty-three other confused office workers from his building. Trees towered like skyscrapers. Distant roars echoed through the mist. A floating blue panel hovered in front of every face.

"What's happening?!"

"Where are we?!"

"W-What the fuck!"

"Is this the end of times?"

"W-Why were we teleported out of nowhere?!"

"Aahhh! I'm scared!"

"D-Don't touch me! Get away from me!"

"Calm down everyone! Please calm down!" Most people panicked. Some cried. A few tried to organize. Alex looked around, his face showing almost no emotion beyond mild surprise. His strange calm drew the attention of one of his coworkers—a young blonde woman named Emma.

"Um, Alex? A-Are you okay?! Do you know what's going on? You look awfully calm…"

"I have no idea what the hell is going on, honestly… But…"

"…What?"

"Look." Emma's eyes widened as she followed where Alex pointed. A floating green holographic screen shimmered in the air. [Welcome to the Tutorial, everyone. I am your assistant for today. I have no name and you shouldn't remember me after this.] [As sapient lifeforms, you're allowed to choose a class before the Tutorial begins.] [Once you choose a class, you will obtain the necessary tools for survival.] [You will remain in the Tutorial for a total of 30 days. Only those who survive until the end will be allowed to return to your newly terraformed Earth.] [There will be plenty of Tutorial Missions, Objectives, and Hidden Dungeons scattered everywhere, courtesy of the God of Earth—your patron—who has vouched for all of humanity and purchased the [Sapient Lifeform 30-day Tutorial Package] for your entire species.] [Now please, don't be afraid. Monsters may be approaching, so please choose your Class.] The mechanical voice sounded far too cold and eerie.

The people stood frozen, too terrified to step forward. They whispered among themselves, trying to rationalize what was happening.

"Who are you exactly? What's going on here?" [I am a System Administrator. I already told you that.]"Take us back home!" [Would you really like to return? The world as you know it… will soon be gone.]"My parents…! I left them at home! What will happen to them?!" [They will undergo the Tutorial like everyone else.]"What about children? Newborn babies? Do you expect them to do the damn Tutorial too?" [Children will be teleported alongside their parents if they are within proximity. It is part of the Package. There are no other benefits.] A chill ran down everyone's spine. The cold, mechanical voice made it brutally clear that it did not care about human life at all. In just a few minutes, their entire world had been flipped upside down.

"Take me back! I left my daughter in school!" Emma ran toward the hologram and tried to touch it, only to phase straight through. [That is not part of the package benefits. Please choose a Class.]"Take us back!"

"Get me out of here!"

"Are you some kind of alien?!"

"It has to be aliens, dude!"

"Take me back!!!" People began shouting and revolting, but the screen only repeated the same cold command over and over. [Please choose a Class.] [Please choose a Class.] [Please choose a Class.] [Please choose a Class.] [Please choose a Class.] [Please choose a Class.] [...] Seeing the growing panic, Alex was the first to step forward. Before everyone's eyes, he made his choice.

"I want to choose a Class, please." [Very well. Do you wish to choose from the Beginner Class Selection or test your luck with the Random Class Generator?]"Random Class Generator?" [There is a small chance you may receive a very interesting class… or something far worse than the available options.]"A gamble, huh?" Alex smiled. He no longer cared. He opened the menu and saw the brand-new experimental option at the bottom: [Random Class Generator] Newly implemented feature.

Uses advanced generative AI to create a unique class based on the user's soul signature, memories, and subconscious desires. Warning: Results may be… unpredictable. There is no guarantee the class will be strong or effective, and it might weaken the user instead. Choose with responsibility. He didn't hesitate. He tapped it. The panel flashed white. A surge of blue energy—Mana—flooded his body. His vision filled with visions of bone armies, whispering spirits, and endless nights of conquest.

He coughed as the images faded, but they had already shown him exactly what his Class was: an embodiment of everything he had always loved in games. [Class Assigned: Necromancer (Unique Variant – Soulweaver Necromancer)] You walk the line between life and death. Command the fallen. Weave souls into obedient vessels. The dead are not your tools; they are extensions of your will.

"A Necromancer?" Alex laughed out loud—a genuine, delighted sound that made the others stare at him as if he had lost his mind.

"Yes! Finally! This is the class I always wanted. In every game, every campaign… I get to be the necromancer!" He felt powerful. Alive. The System even provided a starter robe that looked properly edgy—black with faint bone embroidery. Mana pooled in his chest like liquid night and spread through his body. Stolen story; please report. The rest of the group stared in stunned silence, suddenly realizing that Alex was no longer just another human.

"G-Get out of the way, Alex!"

"He got a class?! Give me one too!"

"W-Whatever can help me survive!"

"I got here first, get out!"

"No, I did it first!"

"Fuck off, bastard!"

"W-Why are you treating me this way?! We were all coworkers!"

"Please everyone, calm down! We must remain calm and work together to survive!" It was complete chaos. They shoved him aside without hesitation. Alex stumbled and fell onto his butt, watching as everyone frantically demanded their own classes. Some chose the safe options—Warrior, Healer, Archer, Rogue, Magician—while others risked the random generator. Alex slowly stood up, brushed the dirt from his new robe, and began walking away from the crowd.

"Alex!" Emma, who had already received her class, ran after him.

"I heard you got a Necromancer Class? Oh my god, is this really real? Is this not a dream?"

"I did. What did you get?"

"I… I chose Magician. I didn't want to risk it with random crap… You got lucky, it seems."

"Maybe."

"What do we do now, though?"

"I don't know, but I think I can summon a skeleton. I'll try that first. Afterward, maybe find shelter and—""Aaaaaagh!"

"W-What is that?!"

"Someone help me!!!" Their brief moment of calm shattered as terrified screams filled the air. The group had barely begun testing their new classes when the first monsters appeared—wolf-like creatures with glowing red eyes that leaped onto people's backs and tore into their necks with razor-sharp fangs. In front of Alex, several coworkers were being mauled alive.

"R-Run!"

"Aaaaahhh!"

"Wolves?!"

"Wait, we have classes now—fight back—AAACK!"

"I'm getting the hell out of here!"

"Wait, everyone! We have to remain together!" The survivors scattered in every direction. Alex held back, heart racing with dark anticipation. Emma stayed close, her entire body shaking.

"Alex, what do we do?!"

"Come." He grabbed Emma's hand and ran until they reached a quiet clearing while the others fought or fled. This was it, his first summon. He raised his hands and began the chant from the "Summon Undead" Skill, the only one he currently possessed.

"Rise, servant of bone. Answer the call of—" Emma watched in awe until her eyes suddenly widened in horror at something looming behind them.

"ROOOAAAR!" A thunderous roar cut him off. The ground shook violently. Trees snapped like toothpicks as something enormous crashed toward them. A Giant Forest Troll—easily four meters tall with moss-covered hide and arms like tree trunks—burst into the clearing. It had been stalking the noisy humans and chose this exact moment to attack.

"Aaahhh!" Emma screamed and ran, shoving Alex straight into the magic circle in front of him.

"W-Wha…?! Wait, Emma!!!" Alex cried out as he tried to stand, but it was already too late. CRASH! The troll's massive club smashed into him before he could finish the incantation. Bones shattered. Pain exploded through every nerve. His vision went black as the creature pulped his fragile human body in a single brutal swing. [You have died.] But the spell had already been cast. An error rippled through the System. To Alex, there was only darkness.

He found himself floating in an endless void with no physical body—just a soul, or perhaps something even less certain.

"Emma… she pushed me away?" Alex realized he had been a fool to trust her. She was well known at work for being vicious when it suited her. Yet the betrayal still stung. He had genuinely wanted to help her. He had even imagined the two of them surviving together. Reality, it turned out, was much harsher. She had only stayed with him for protection, and when real danger appeared, she used him as bait and shoved him forward without hesitation.

"Where am I anyway?" As he fell through the abyss, his eyes widened at the horrors waiting below.

"W-What the…?!" It was not mere darkness but an endless hell of infernal blue flames where skeletons, zombies, ghouls, and ghosts tore one another apart in eternal torment. A colossal bone creature loomed over them, smashing and crushing everything to dust. Far above, a pair of crimson eyes like blood moons stared down at him.

"Welcome to the Netherworld, young Necromancer." It was the Underworld. The Hades.

"W-Wait! You got it wrong! I didn't—" [Critical Error: Summoner killed mid-cast. Soul anchor lost. Re-routing summoning target…]"Huh? Wait, what? The spell was still ongoing?" His vision was suddenly interrupted by another system message as he continued to fall. The entity noticed something strange about him, and its red eyes widened.

"He's mine now! Who dares oppose the forces of death itself?!" Giant bony claws rushed toward Alex, trying to seize him.

"W-Wait! Wait!" [Error resolved by binding caster soul to summoned vessel.] FLASH! A golden thread suddenly appeared within Alex's soul, reaching back up into the void he had fallen from and yanking him far away, barely escaping the entity's grasp.

"NO! HE'S MINE! GIVE HIM BACK, SYSTEM! YOU HAVE NO AUTHORITY IN MY REALM!" The monstrous voice boomed as an aberrant being made of millions of corpses—with long bone legs and arms—began crawling through the void like a giant, disgusting spider.

"AAAHHHH!" Alex screamed in horror as his mind began to melt from the sight of the nightmare creature. Its claws kept reaching for him, but… [Soulweaver Necromancer – Unique Evolution Triggered.] Alex woke up.

"Huh?" He felt empty. He dropped to his knees. He could hear the world and see it, yet it felt as though he had no eyes or ears anymore. He was incredibly cold, and all his senses felt strangely dull.

"Ugh…" But unmistakably, he was back in the Tutorial. Blue sky, trees, and distant screams of people.

"What… happened to me?" He tried to recall the events, but his memories were blurry. He still remembered darkness—and something chasing him after he died. And then it hit him. He had returned to the world of the living. Not as a human.

"What the hell?" His hands were pristine white, made entirely of bone. In fact, he was all bones. He touched his face and found it just as hard.

"Ah…! I'm…" A skeleton.

"Okay… let's… take it easy." He sat up slowly, bones clicking. No flesh. No organs. Just clean white bone wrapped in faint black threads of murky ethereal energy—Mana, most likely. His empty eye sockets glowed with cold violet light. A status screen hovered in front of him, brighter and stranger than before.

♢♢♢♢ [Name]: [Alex Rivera] [Titles]: [Necromancer] [Self-Summon] [Race]: [Undead Skeleton (Bound Self-Summon – F)] [Level]: [1/30] [Class]: [Soulweaver Necromancer (F+)] [Profession]: N/A [Health Points (HP)]: [65/65] [Mana Points (MP)]: [140/140] [Nether]: [95/95] {Stats} [Strength]: [8] [Agility]: [14] [Endurance]: [6] [Toughness]: [18] [Wisdom]: [16] [Intelligence]: [17] [Perception]: [19] [Willpower]: [20] [Spirit]: [22] [Free Points]: [0] {Passive Skills} [Self-Binding (Tier 1: 30%)]: You are both the Necromancer and your own first minion.

You may issue absolute commands to yourself with zero mana cost or resistance. Pain, fear, and hesitation can be forcibly suppressed. You gain both the Skills and Abilities of the Necromancer and their Undead Minion and enjoy both of their benefits… and penalties. [Undead Evolution (Tier 1: 30%)]: Your skeletal form can be upgraded through absorbed death energy, bones, or rare materials. No biological limits. No need for food, air, or sleep. Once upgraded, you will be able to "evolve" more than just bones.

{Active Skills} [Summon Undead (Tier 1: 25%)]: Use your Mana and chant the necessary words to create a Summoning Circle and summon a Lesser Undead bound to you. The amount of Undead you can bind depends on Skill Tier and your Soul Capacity. Limit: 1/1. Chant: " Rise, servant of bone/rot/phantom. Answer the call of your new Master." [Soul Thread Weaving (Tier 1: 1%)]: Manipulate your own soul threads to repair, reinforce, or temporarily enhance your frame.

Future summons will be stronger due to the "first vessel" resonance. A combination of Nether and Mana is required to use this Skill. [Death Echo (Tier 1: 0%)]: Once per day, replay the final moments of any recently deceased creature and absorb a fragment of its strength. {Changelog} After becoming a Skeleton, your body is no longer alive, thus there's no Vitality and you cannot possess Stamina either. Vitality has been replaced with Spirit. Stamina has been replaced with Nether. ♢♢♢♢"Huh, I'm really all bones…"

Alex flexed his bony fingers. He felt… better. Lighter. Faster. The old awkward human clumsiness was gone. No more social anxiety. Just pure, cold efficiency. It was strange—and strangely liberating. Somehow, after the initial shock, he wasn't even that surprised. Most of his human worries and fears seemed to have vanished along with his flesh. He felt cold, yet oddly at peace with himself. He didn't know if this was how all undead felt or if it was unique to him.

"Honestly, the saddest part is that my friend down there is no longer with me anymore…" Alex let out a long, ghostly sigh, realizing he could somehow "breathe" through the strange motions of the dark energies that moved his body. As someone who had always loved anatomy and biology, becoming an undead creature opened an entirely new world of possibilities. How does his body even work now? What makes a skeleton move when it's dead? What exactly is Mana? Spirit? Nether?

So many questions, each one leaving him both perplexed and quietly fascinated. Now, completely free of his old human hesitation and fears, he wanted to experience everything this new world had to offer. Though he still quietly lamented the loss of his little willy.

"I should test my Skills, no?" First, he needed to see what each one could actually do. Descriptions alone wouldn't be enough—he wanted to feel them for himself. He started with Self-Binding.

"Stand up and run ten meters." His body obeyed instantly, even though a tiny part of his mind screamed in existential panic. That panic was silenced with a single thought. He ran ten meters. Then he ordered himself to do a backflip, then climb a tree—things the old Alex had never done and didn't even know how to do. Every command was executed perfectly. It felt like Auto-Mode in the phone games he used to play. When he remembered his old belongings, he searched the bloody clothes left behind.

His phone was smashed beyond repair. At least his wallet was still intact, so he kept it in case he could use his ID to prove who he really was.

"Interesting," he rasped, his voice a dry whisper of bone on bone.

"I can force myself to do anything. No excuses. No fear. This… this is perfect." Alex wandered for a moment as the sun slowly descended. The area was now deserted, but corpses littered the ground—half-eaten humans and…

"Oh, someone killed this thing?" He looked down at the troll's corpse. The beast was covered in large icicles that were slowly melting.

"Death Echo, was it?" He placed his bony hand on the troll's head. A faint surge of memories and energy flooded his empty soul. The memories were fragmented, but he learned the troll had come from a nearby mountain nest controlled by a Troll Queen. This giant had only been a weak scout; the truly strong ones had not yet left the mountain. FLUOSH!

[Death energy absorbed: +47%] [Your Nether has increased by +10] [Your Strength has increased by +12] [Your Spirit has increased by +7] [Your Toughness has increased by +8] [You learned the Active Skill: [Brutish Force (Tier 1: 0%)]: Charge Mana and Nether into your body and attack, doubling your Strength and Agility while piercing 10% of a foe's defenses.] [Undead Evolution: 77%] [Once you reach 100%, you can undergo Undead Evolution.]"Not bad."

A grin he could no longer physically form still bloomed inside his mind. Then voices approached. The surviving humans—his former coworkers—stumbled into the clearing. They saw the dead troll… and the lone skeleton standing over it, violet eyes glowing.

"A skeleton?! Wait, is it trying to loot the troll?!"

"Hey dude, we got here first!"

"Why are you even trying to speak with that thing? Kill it! It's a weak-ass skeleton anyway." Alex recognized all of them and tried to shout, "Wait, it's me—!" but his voice came out as a horrifying dry hiss.

"Ack?!" They couldn't recognize him. The System had overwritten his old identity. To them, he was simply another Tutorial monster: Undead Skeleton, Level 1 (F Rank). A spear thrust toward his skull. Alex dodged on pure instinct, narrowly avoiding a fatal blow. He quickly realized dodging was much easier now. Bones were far lighter without all the meat and organs they once carried.

"How can I communicate with them?" He racked his empty mind for a way, but they had already surrounded him. Fireballs flew. A sword swung. They were clearly eager to kill him.

"Please, wait…!" Alex kept trying to speak and gesture, but every attempt produced only a ghostly, empty, terrifying voice.

"Damn thing, is it mocking us?!"

"How is this thing so fast?!"

"Die already!"

"Ugh…" Alex rolled his nonexistent eyes and sighed. From the clumsy way they fought, their stats were likely less than half of his own. Becoming both a Skeleton and his own familiar had caused his stats to skyrocket far beyond what a normal F-Rank skeleton should possess. Still, before anything, he tried to show them his ID and then point at himself in a gesture of attempting to show them that he was Alex. However, it didn't work.

"Did that thing kill Alex?!"

"Why...! What is it doing?!"

"Give his ID back!" These people were simply too scared to rationalize things correctly. After being attacked and bombarded with fireballs, Alex had enough. He activated Self-Binding again.

"Take them down without killing them." His eyes gleamed with cold light, and his body moved on its own. Even as a skeleton, he didn't want to kill them. He didn't want to abandon what remained of his humanity. These people were terrified and had no idea who he truly was now. He chose mercy. But he hadn't been specific enough about how "alive" they should remain.

"Aaagh!"

"W-Wait!"

"Ugh?!" He moved like lightning. His bony hands were incredibly hard thanks to his Toughness stat, and his soul threads made his body flexible like a puppet controlled by his will. A palm strike shattered the swordsman's elbow. A kick twisted the woman's leg the wrong way. Finally, he grabbed the dropped sword and sliced through the spearman's hands, leaving him bleeding and helpless.

"Ah, I think I screwed up." Alex didn't feel guilty at all—yet he knew this wasn't something he should have done.

"Aaaahh!"

"Uuuggh!"

"A-AAHH!" With no way to heal them and no desire to stay and care for them, he quickly fled with the stolen sword.

"Sorry." He hoped they would survive, but deep down he knew what he had done might be worse than killing them outright. His soul felt conflicted. Becoming undead was strange. He wanted to feel guilty, but he couldn't. His soul remained cold and emotionless.

"I have to get away from humans for now. I don't want this to happen again." He shook his head and ran toward the mountains, where the Troll Nest waited. From the troll's memories, he knew the Troll Queen guarded a precious treasure. Even as a skeleton, Alex planned to survive. He didn't know what type of hell awaited him back on Earth, and its exactly why he had to grow as much as possible in this Tutorial.