The Path of the Skeleton Mage Swordsman

The condition for using the skill was a quest. It would take time, but it wasn't particularly difficult to complete. If I considered it a guaranteed reward, this seemed like the best choice.

'Looking at the other options one by one, they're all good in their own way.'

In the end, what mattered most was the direction and standards I was aiming for. During my first class change, I'd chosen Skeleton Bomber because I thought I needed powerful, focused firepower, and that reasoning still held true now. Looking back, it was probably because I'd been fixated on the skill I wanted to obtain in the D-rank Dungeon of Nargul that the Bomber class had been offered to me.

Anyway, my most important duty was to take down powerful single targets like this one, or at the very least prevent them from interfering in battle. Holding the line against multiple enemies was important too, but that was something I could get help with from Yeonhee and the others around me.

— To you who doesn't want to miss anything...

Yeah. I didn't want to miss anything. Not the tactics that utilized stealth, not the magical abilities like bombs, and not even using a sword. But my desire wasn't simply greed for having multiple abilities.

'If I could melt down all the abilities I have now, and all the ones I'll steal in the future, into one...'

Ever since I'd seen the Lower Flame Bullet I got from the flame monkey fuse with Skeleton Bomb, I'd been thinking about it constantly. How many more skills and traits would I gain through Thievery from now on? And if I could recreate them with explosive synergy...

Wouldn't it be possible to step into a new realm that had never existed before?

'For example... an explosion like a Skeleton Bomb going off wherever I swing my sword... Is my imagination getting too carried away? They did say to dream big, though.'

At that level, maybe I'd be able to stand against Jo Giman, who was living his seventh life, or even the Seven-Headed Dragon that had granted that lunatic such insane power. Of course, I hoped I'd never even brush against a monster like the Seven-Headed Dragon — or rather, a god-like being — but the future was unpredictable.

What was certain was that by the time I died in my previous life, this world had already been transforming into one where common sense no longer applied, where power was everything. So when it came to protecting Yeonhee, I couldn't set any limits on how strong I needed to become.

The Seven-Headed Dragon, Jo Giman, the Blue Eye's Asuran, the Orc Legion Commander, and those insane villains on top of that. The goal felt so distant that the road ahead seemed endlessly long. But if I could grow as I envisioned, even if the system itself declared my growth would be slow, I believed this was the right path.

Besides, the part about the Book of Akasha and creating new history appealed to me too.

Huu—

'Alright. I'm going with Skeleton Mage Swordsman!'

'Yes!!'

I squeezed my eyes shut and shouted fiercely in my mind. Crack— Crunch—

The moment I selected the class change, the bodily transformation I'd experienced once before began to manifest again. A single thick line starting from the top of my skull branched out, then branched again, slowly stretching into countless pathways.

'It's slow... This is going to take longer than last time.'

It would be nice if it transformed instantly like the transforming robots I saw as a kid, but things in this world rarely went that smoothly.

Crunch—!

'What?! My Iron Needle Assassin armor—!'

Suddenly, the armor I'd been using so well whipped off me, exposing my pale ribs. It then floated into the air and vanished into some other space. It happened so fast that all I could do was gape.

'...Why are you doing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this to me...'

I flinched. The system messages sometimes answered as if responding to my questions, and it was always creepy when that happened. This was one of those times.

'...Uh... Like this?'

When I pushed my internal mana outward with the sensation of releasing it externally, all of it was instantly absorbed somewhere.

'......'

At this point, I decided to stop thinking and just become a bot that followed orders. When I thought of the Ancient Kettle, the kettle manifested from my inventory, tilted in mid-air, and poured out water for several minutes. The massive amount of water defied the laws of nature by shooting upward into the sky before vanishing somewhere else.

'...Is it over?'

'You son of a— Fine, I'll do it! You think I'm some pushover who just does whatever you say?!'

Crack— Whoosh—

I ripped out one of my ribs and carefully placed it into the air. Wiiiiing— Grind—

After my rib disappeared, a sound like something being ground in the distance continued for a long time.

'I'm hearing hallucinations again... Have I finally gone mad...?'

Just as my doubts about my own sanity were deepening, a new message appeared.

'If you're going to make it, at least put some effort in. You just "roughly crafted" it? What, is life that hard for you?'

Even if I shouted into the empty air at some nameless entity, there was no way I'd get a proper answer.

'Still, the performance is insane. It's more than twice as sturdy as the Iron Needle Assassin's Chain Mail, isn't it?'

My previous armor only had 51 defense, so this was an incredible acquisition. On top of that, it had the bizarre option of increasing agility despite being armor. If I'd had this, I wouldn't have been smashed apart by that damn Orc Advanced Warrior. The thought left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Shhhhh—

As I stared at the bone armor slowly wrapping around my body like creeping vines, it didn't seem like the concept of "wearing" applied here.

'Ughhh— It's covering my bones...'

Crack— Crunch—

The pure white, snow-like unknown material that had completely enveloped my bones began to take concrete form as a rather plausible suit of armor.

Crunch—!

'Ugh!! It hurts again?'

From inside the forming bone armor, sharp needle-like things suddenly shot out and embedded thousands of them into my bones. The Pain Resistance trait activated repeatedly.

'Aaaargh... Just kill me, you bastard...!'

The pain that made me wish for death continued endlessly, and my mental strength plummeted toward rock bottom. If I hadn't had the Pain Resistance trait, I might have actually lost a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠life point. I wanted to smack my past self who had complained about what the hell this trait was even for.

'Haa... Haa... This isn't armor. It's more like becoming one with it, isn't it?'

Now I understood why it had no concept of durability. This wasn't armor — it was practically body modification. If it was destroyed, I would be destroyed too, so durability couldn't exist. At least after the brief intense pain passed, there were no further difficulties.

However, watching the slow formation of the bone armor, I realized that if I'd class-changed during the fight with the Orc Advanced Warrior, I probably would've been killed without even putting up a proper fight.

'Ughhh... There's more. Fu...sion... W-wait! ...My head... consciousness...'

By the time the circuits had fully spread throughout my body and the message asking about fusion disappeared, my mental strength had reached its limit, and I lost consciousness.

. . .

When I regained consciousness, I was shocked when I saw the remaining time.

'If the resummon time was cut in half... that means I was unconscious for two and a half hours? Wow...'

The thought that it would've been truly disastrous if I'd class-changed in the middle of fighting the orcs made me unconsciously wrap my arms around myself.

'Huu... My Heavy Strike...'

I hadn't expected the skill Heavy Strike to disappear. Of course, it had merged with Flame Slash and evolved into a higher-tier skill called Flame Slash, but losing Heavy Strike — my very first attack skill in this life — stirred strange emotions in me.

'System, you could've at least asked me before merging it... I wasn't mentally prepared, damn it...'

It might be ridiculous to pour special affection into one skill among so many, but for someone who had no attack skills at all in my previous life, using Heavy Strike to defeat enemies had been an incredibly thrilling act. It was like the heart of a boy hearing an adventure story for the first time...

'Tsk... What's gone ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠is gone. By the way, why is the description for Flame Slash so long for a single skill?'

It even consumed a whopping 7 mana despite being a slash skill. Advanced skills usually cost 5... That just meant it was that good of a skill, I suppose.

'If I swing it twenty times, my mana will be completely drained? That's ridiculous.'

Still, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠design of stacking Flame marks to trigger Flame Explosion was incredibly interesting. Of course, the fact that there were more conditions to learn Flame Explosion was annoying, but I'd take care of what I needed to do first and think about it again later.

My current level was a whopping 48.

'I haven't even run a D-rank dungeon yet and I'm already this high...'

The stat points accumulated from leveling up totaled 27. Six of them were special 5-level perks that could raise a stat by 5 at once.

'I'll get one reset opportunity when I complete the quest, but since I have no idea how long I'll stay in D-rank, I need to distribute them carefully. For now, more mana seems absolutely better the more I have.'

Among my current attack skills, the strongest was Skeleton Bomb, but after reading the description for Flame Slash, I had a feeling it would soon hand over the title of ultimate skill. Therefore, increasing my mana pool seemed essential if I wanted to spam this technique.