My Skeleton Has a Bright Future

Late at night, inside an old, worn-down hut.

Mu Yuan sat before his computer, staring at the game scene that looked strikingly similar yet far less real, unable to snap out of it for a long time.

This seemed to be just a game?

Indeed, what appeared before his eyes was nothing more than an ordinary game scene, but whether it was the clues he had found earlier or the lifelike illusion he had just experienced, both made Mu Yuan realize he had stumbled into something serious.

Good news: he had obtained the key to a supernatural world;

Bad news: he might not have long to live.

"Don't panic. Panicking won't help."

"Since supernatural power exists in this world, the real world might not be all that safe either. Now that I have a chance to touch the extraordinary, it's clearly a good thing... Look on the bright side—maybe in the future I can personally enter that vast world, become a Great Lord, live in a magnificent palace, and enjoy a life of luxury."

Mu Yuan forced himself not to panic.

After his fantasy ended, he looked back into the game. The entire village was extremely dilapidated, as if it had been abandoned for who knows how long.

Scattered around were a few thick trees, and farther off seemed to be a forest, but it was shrouded in a gray mist, making it hard to see clearly.

When Mu Yuan dragged the map further out, all he saw was pitch black.

An unknown, dangerous blackness.

In the center of the ruined village, specks of radiant light suddenly fell like shooting stars, like brushstrokes, outlining, intertwining, and coalescing until they gradually formed and manifested an altar.

An altar etched with mysterious runic patterns, about two and a half meters in diameter.

On top of the altar, the remaining starlight gathered into a human silhouette. Even though it was a top-down view of a game character, Mu Yuan could tell at a glance that this handsome bastard was him.

It was his anchor point in the game world, on the Eternal Continent—if it fell, he fell.

Just then, characters like searing fire appeared on the game screen, one after another.

"Randomizing..."

"Tip: You have received a batch of initial troops—Little Skeleton ×10."

--

"Little Skeleton (Unnamed)"

"Grade: Common ★"

"Rank: Zero Order Level 1"

"Skills: None"

"Talents: None"

"Description: A common undead creature. Though weak, it offers good value for its cost and excels at the evil tactic of ganging up."

As the prompt faded, the mysterious runes on the altar began to glow, and the air rippled faintly. One after another, skeletons with frail, drafty frames and rusty cleavers stepped out from the altar.

They crowded together in a dark mass, even pushing Mu Yuan's own game character off the altar.

The Little Skeletons looked just as Mu Yuan had imagined.

Their bones were a grayish-black, their frames thin, their walking posture slightly hunched. Aside from a battered weapon, they wore no equipment, only tattered rags barely covering their bodies.

Truly the legendary cannon-fodder unit, the Little Skeleton.

Mu Yuan's mouth twitched. Setting aside their creepy appearance, he felt he could take on two of these little skeletons by himself!

"Starting with a ruined village and a few crippled-tier troops—no wonder they say this game is hard and you can die at any moment... Anyone would easily die like this!"

"Seems like other players didn't get great starting troops either—militia, Goblins, even Slimes. Compared to that, Little Skeletons are actually not bad."

Setting aside their slow movement, garbage equipment, low intelligence, and pathetic offense and defense, Little Skeletons actually have many advantages, like... this, and that.

Mu Yuan couldn't see much difference between these ten Little Skeletons for now.

He looked outside the village at the thick gray mist and didn't dare send his skeletons out yet.

He only had ten starting troops; he couldn't afford to lose a single one.

But if he didn't go out and take a risk, given this game environment, he'd die sooner or later anyway.

"This game has no tutorial or guidance, but since it's a game... or rather, a world with supernatural power, there must be a way to grow stronger."

"Little Skeletons are Common Star grade, same as Goblins and Slimes. Following game logic, grade might not be easy to improve, but leveling up the troops shouldn't be too hard, right?"

"I need to figure out how to level up the skeletons, or find a way to recruit more Little Skeletons. Either would effectively boost the defense of my territory."

The problem was, Mu Yuan had no idea about any of this.

But that was fine. On the Secret Forum, where he had just gathered a lot of information, he might find the answers he needed.

After giving the Little Skeletons the order to 'hold the position and clean up the village,' he switched over to the Secret Forum and began browsing more carefully.

By now, he was certain that many 'game players' existed on this forum. They shared their experiences and knowledge, and even help-seeking posts contained plenty of details.

This was game strategy.

Of course, there were also plenty of freshly made-up stories mixed in.

"Now that I'm in the game myself and have real examples to compare, I can naturally tell which posts are solid info and which are pure fiction."

One post had the OP claiming they randomly got a Dragon Troop, slaughtering monsters and leveling up like crazy. But their account of entering the game didn't add up—obviously fake at first glance.

The vast majority of players randomly got trash-tier Common One-Star troops, with only a rare few pulling Common Two-Star troops like Spearman, Archer, or Half-Orc.

And compared to stronger troops, the trade-off was fewer starting soldiers. One player who got a Spearman said they started with only six units, while players with Little Skeletons or Goblins began with ten.

Even so, after seeing some screenshots and video clips, Mu Yuan was still insanely jealous.

Spearmen were fierce—wearing light armor, a single thrust could nearly kill a Wild Wolf, far outclassing Little Skeletons or Goblins.

Even with fewer numbers, their overall strength was a huge advantage.

He was bitter about it.

If Two-Star troops were this strong, what about Three-Star? Unfortunately, he hadn't found any player who'd randomly gotten a Three-Star troop—whether that was because Lucky Ones kept a low profile or no such players existed.

Compared to the smooth start of Spearman players, others were having a rough time, sharing nothing but tragic experiences.

One player who started with a Two-Star Half-Orc eagerly ventured out to explore, only to be ambushed by a group of Cave Dwellers, barely escaping after heavy losses.

Pretty miserable stuff.

"Even if your starting troop is decent, it's only a slight edge—nowhere near enough to take risks... The Eternal Continent runs deep!"

Mu Yuan's expression turned serious. Soon, he found a genuinely useful guide post.

Real and detailed, packed with solid advice.

"The Eternal Continent is full of dangers. How you establish a foothold early on determines your survival and future development. Here are my suggestions:"

"Don't rush to explore outside. Make the most of the resources within your territory to create a combat environment that favors you... Understand that this isn't just a game—if you can think of it, there's often a way to make it happen."

"After fully utilizing resources, you can gradually test the waters outside. Don't stray too far from your territory. If possible, lure monsters back to your starting village and rely on pre-set traps and fortifications to kill them, minimizing your losses."

"The Eternal Continent has some 'game mechanics.' Killing monsters has a chance to drop 'Soul Sand,' a universal resource used for troop training, upgrades, and recovery. There's also a small chance of dropping 'Troop Remnant Souls,' which you can consume along with Soul Sand to recruit additional troops."

"Blind exploration will get you into trouble, but staying holed up in your spawn point is just slow death. So, you need to take the initiative—avoid strong monsters, hunt weak ones, and steadily grow stronger to fend off increasingly fierce attacks."

"..."

"As time passes, you'll face stronger enemies. Only by passing the Novice Trial can you escape the early struggle."

"Wishing all players a victorious start. Feel free to leave questions below."

"Now that's a guide full of substance!"

"Without this guide, I'd probably have paid a heavy price to figure this stuff out. Thanks, OP—may you live long and prosper."

"Even if my situation isn't great, following this guide for defense and exploration might just give me a fighting chance."

If he could find a tip function, he'd definitely throw in a generous reward.

Oh, he had no money? Never mind.

Mu Yuan genuinely admired whoever wrote that guide. It helped him a lot.

He thought it over. "First, I need to use the limited resources in this ruined village to make some traps—like Pit Traps, Spike Traps, or at least some hiding spots for ambushes."

"I can look up how to make them online... but can those dumb little Skeletons actually follow my orders?"

Mu Yuan switched back to the game.

One thing worth praising about Little Skeletons—they carried out their lord's commands without holding back.

That was way better than thieves, thugs, or Goblins.

Sure enough, the moment he switched back, he saw a Little Skeleton picking up and dismantling stuff... Wait, what did you just break?

Boom—

Dust billowed as a rundown shack collapsed completely under one skeleton's demolition.

The skeleton picked up a beam, clattered over to his character, and acted like it was showing off.

Mu Yuan: "..."

So this was what skeletons considered 'organizing'? He really shouldn't have expected any brains from them—they didn't even have any.

But credit where it's due, tearing down a wooden shack showed they had decent strength. His earlier thought that he could take two of them in a fight was way off.

I underestimated you, Skeletons.

And it even showed off—in a way, this skeleton's intelligence wasn't that bad, comparable to a pet cat or dog.

"Whatever, these shacks were death traps anyway. They'd have to be torn down and rebuilt eventually. Now I've got materials to set up traps."

"As for the housing problem... Skeletons don't need houses anyway. This demolition makes perfect sense."

This time, Mu Yuan personally micromanaged, afraid the skeletons would destroy something useful.

He also scanned the cramped Village Ruins inch by inch, thinking about what traps to set.

Setting traps was an art.

He had to maximize the use of traps and environmental advantages to minimize future losses.

Mu Yuan moved his mouse, observing and thinking. Suddenly, he paused, his gaze fixed on one skeleton's head, wondering if he was seeing things.

A faint, tiny, barely noticeable +0.01 floated up from that skeleton, then faded away in moments.

"What's going on here?"

He looked at the other skeletons and found that this wasn't an isolated case. Every so often, a faint '+0.01' symbol would appear above their heads, as if some kind of mechanism had been triggered.

But the other players weren't experiencing anything like this, were they?

Just as he was thinking about it, a line of special characters popped up in the middle of the screen.

Skeleton Evolution Points: 0.13

An indescribable, great power that can be applied to a single troop type, causing it to evolve—current Evolution Points can only be used on Skeleton Troop Types.

Evolve?

Why was the Eternal Continent so incredibly dangerous? It was because the power players possessed was far too weak. If he could get his hands on a batch of three-star or even stronger troop types, his situation wouldn't be so dire.

And now, it seemed his own Little Skeletons could keep evolving. Even cannon fodder troop types could possess the Appearance of an Emperor!

The future was promising!

"When you think about it, I've already transmigrated and been chosen by the Transcendent Game. So adding a little bit of special ability on top of that isn't too much to ask."

--

PS: Written at the start—the setting in the book is that initially, control is through computers, phones, and other media. Later, there will be Consciousness Descent and true-body entry. If you can't accept this setting, just click the X in the top right corner~~~┓(;_｀)┏