The Beginning

Bang!

A dull impact suddenly rang out. The goblin had been baring its teeth and waving a bone club as it tried to climb over the rotting fence. Its head burst open like a rotten watermelon struck by a sledgehammer.

Crimson blood mixed with milky-white brain matter and splattered everywhere. Some stuck to the broken fence boards; some even splashed onto the hem of Gu Su's clothes.

He didn't even blink. Instead, a confident smile spread across his face.

The icy system notification rang out, and Gu Su's smile grew wider.

This was nothing to someone like him, a veteran "game laborer" who'd spent years at the bottom of the industry.

Goblins bursting open were nothing. Over the past few years, when he'd directed zombie miners to dig in haunted mines, he'd seen twisted vengeful spirits and rotting corpses with half their bodies missing—things a hundred, a thousand times more disgusting.

Besides, the fresh corpse was his real target.

Gu Su raised a hand and pointed at the goblin corpse, which was still twitching. A hard glint flashed in his eyes as he barked, "Raise Skeleton!"

Pale gray necromantic energy surged from his fingertips, like invisible tentacles, and instantly wrapped around the corpse.

With a series of cracking sounds as bones scraped together, the goblin's flesh shriveled and dissolved at a visible speed. At last, it burst apart with a bang, turning into a pool of stinking blood.

A withered yellow skeleton crawled out of the blood. Faint ghostfire flickered in its hollow eye sockets as it stood crookedly in place, looking especially frail.

[You successfully cast Raise Skeleton (Level 1), obtaining Skeleton (Level 0) *1. Raise Skeleton proficiency +1.]

[Skeleton (Level 0, Summon): Experience (0/100), Attack 1, Defense 1, Health 10, Skills: None]

This thing didn't even qualify as a low-level skeleton soldier. At best, it was a moving pile of bones.

Yet this frail skeleton was enough to scare the remaining goblins outside the fence out of their wits.

Their cries of "Meat!" abruptly stopped. Their beady green eyes filled with fear, and the stones and branches in their hands clattered to the ground. They turned and darted into the dense fog without so much as looking back.

"Trying to run?" Gu Su sneered, a sharp glint in his eyes. "Kill!"

He'd finally been handed fresh meat. There was no way he was letting it get away.

At his command, the skeleton immediately set off in pursuit with stiff, clacking steps.

It wasn't very fast, but it never tired. Soon, it pounced onto the back of the slowest goblin and pinned it firmly to the ground.

But the skeleton was far too light. The goblin thrashed wildly, its sharp claws kicking dirt into the air as it struggled. It looked ready to break free at any moment.

Seeing this, Gu Su climbed over the rickety fence without hesitation and rushed over. He picked up a sharp stone from the ground and brought it down hard on the goblin's head.

Squelch—

Another dull thud, and the second goblin died on the spot.

[You killed a weak goblin (Level 1), gaining 6 experience.]

Gu Su bent down, picked up the bone club the goblin had dropped, weighed it in his hand, then casually passed it to the skeleton beside him.

"Take this and keep chasing them. Bring me at least one corpse!"

Ghostfire flickered in the skeleton's hollow eye sockets. It obediently took the bone club, rested it on its shoulder, and turned to plunge back into the churning fog. It soon disappeared from view.

Gu Su dragged the fresh goblin corpse back to the fence and tossed it into the graveyard as carelessly as if it were garbage.

After that, he didn't head back right away. Instead, he crouched and looked at the spot where the skeleton had been born.

A pool of goblin blood and flesh, mixed with bloodied dirt, remained there, filling the air with a thick, rank stench.

"Can't waste a single thing now," Gu Su murmured.

He picked up a sharp piece of stone and carefully scraped up the dirt clinging to the flesh, bit by bit. He even scraped every bloodstain off the fence, gathering it all together and tossing it into the graveyard.

This desolate graveyard lacked everything. This bloodied dirt, steeped in necromantic energy, might be just the nourishment it needed.

Just as Gu Su tossed the last handful of bloodied dirt into the graveyard, the sound of clacking footsteps came from the fog.

The skeleton emerged at a leisurely pace, the bone club over its shoulder and a blood-soaked goblin corpse dragging from one hand.

Gu Su nodded in satisfaction, took the corpse and tossed it into the graveyard, then waved at the skeleton. "Keep going."

The skeleton didn't hesitate. It turned and disappeared into the fog once more.

Only then did Gu Su climb over the fence and enter the graveyard to process his spoils.

He picked the most ordinary Level 1 empty grave and tossed the two goblin corpses into it side by side.

A shocking scene unfolded.

As soon as the corpses hit the ground, the dirt around the empty grave began to churn as if it were alive, gathering toward the center of the grave.

In moments, the open grave was completely filled in, leaving a small mound of earth.

Even more bizarrely, the dirt in front of the mound sank inward, then slowly rose up to form a battered black stone tablet.

There was no name on it, only a line of crooked, blood-red writing that glimmered eerily in the dim light:

Skeleton Squad (2/10).

Gu Su nodded in satisfaction.

Before coming here, he'd spent quite a while learning about the Graveyard Demon.

As the most basic base for a necromancer, its grave-mound mechanics were fairly standardized.

Bury a fresh corpse, and the grave mound would turn it into an undead creature based on its level.

Level 1 grave mounds produced skeletons, Level 2 produced zombies, and Level 3 could give rise to the lowest-tier ghosts.

Although the type of undead produced might occasionally vary due to a corpse's special qualities, the result would never stray from this general pattern.

This was the most basic kind.

At most, if the corpse had been especially strong in life, or had been carrying weapons and armor, the undead it produced would be a little sturdier.

It wouldn't be as flimsy as the skeleton he'd summoned earlier, barely more than a brittle pile of bones.

For now, Gu Su couldn't be bothered with those minor details. He pointed at the grave marker in front of him and shouted, "Come out!"

The moment the words left his mouth, the mound gave a faint series of cracking sounds.

The loose earth rolled automatically to either side, revealing a pitch-black opening beneath it, like a mouth slowly opening.

Then two withered yellow skeletons stepped out of the grave mound with stiff steps. Ghostfire flickered in their hollow eye sockets as they obediently stood before Gu Su.

[The empty grave automatically used your Raise Skeleton (Level 1), obtaining Skeleton (Level 0) *2. Raise Skeleton proficiency +2.]

Once the skeletons had fully climbed out, the churning dirt quietly closed up again, returning to the same inconspicuous mound as before, as if the scene had been nothing but an illusion.

Gu Su paid it no mind. He glanced over the two empty-handed skeletons, then picked out two reasonably sturdy bone clubs from the spoils scattered on the ground and tossed them over.

"Take these." He pointed toward the direction where the fog churned, his tone leaving no room for argument.

"You two go as well. Remember, after killing a goblin, bring the whole corpse back to me. Don't leave behind a single drop of flesh or blood!"

The two skeletons tilted their heads, gripped the bone clubs tightly, and bowed slightly to Gu Su. Then they set off one after the other, striding into the vast white fog. Soon, they were nowhere to be seen.