Chapter 48: Skeleton Soldier

Sakura Garden Academy.

Graveyard.

Rewen peeked in the grave only to find it was dark and hollow. 'It's a large hole. I wonder how deep it is.' He thought, turning to look at Luna. "A-are we supposed to go down?" He faked gulping.

"Don't worry. As long as Big Sis is with you, nothing would happen to you… I suppose?"

"What's with the pause!?"

"Ahaha, look at you. I'm just teasing you." Luna came near to him and held his hands. "Hold tight, okay?" Her emerald-green eyes glittering brightly as she looked at him. At this moment, Rewen felt something he couldn't explain. It had nothing to do with attraction, something more profound. He could understand yet can't explain.

He blinked his eyes.

The next second, he felt a soft sensation on his head as his lower body laid straight on the ground. 'Here we go...' He carefully positioned his hands so as to not touch the forbidden regions and got up looking at the surroundings.

"Cave?" Unlike the graveyard he was in seconds ago, Rewen found himself in the middle of a closed cave with a path ahead of him lighted for unknown reasons. He looked up and his eyes gleamed in realization. "We came from up? How do we leave?"

Luna, who was still lying on the ground, stood up but didn't answer his question. "I have my ways. Forget about that for the time being. Follow me. From here on, it's dangerous-"

{Grrr….}

'Uh oh.' Rewen's eyes sharpened as he looked straight. There was a naked skeleton bare-handed towards their direction. "How strong is the skeleton?"

His question startled Luna who was preparing to make a move. She raised her eyebrows. "A little stronger than you with a POW value of nearly 1.5."

Rewen didn't reply for a while before directly running towards the skeleton again startling Luna. "Wait, what are you doing?"

As Rewen got extremely close to the skeleton, he threw a punch he had prepared. With the inertia from the run, the punch was faster than normal.

However, it missed by a centimeter's worth of width.

'Still slow? No problem. I'll try ag-'

"Kukk!" The skeleton didn't give him time to pull for another punch striking Rewen's abdomen with it's leg. 'I need to find an opening.' His face was grim. Unfortunately for him, the skeleton didn't stop there.

Face…

Abdomen…

Abdomen…

Face…

Abdomen…

Face…

Abdomen…

The flurry of attacks continued in no pattern or order.

Luna watched the one-sided from a distance with a frown. 'He is too frustrated about his life but this is not the way to go about it. He is clearly not a fighting type. This would be a good lesson for him. I'll go save him when he reaches his limit.' Few seconds later, her eyes narrowed.

Meanwhile, Rewen laughed blocking the incoming kick on his face. His face was filled with blood, a few teeth broken additionally looking horrifying. "Had enough of this." All of a sudden, his whole figure gleamed in an white aura, pushing his palm towards the face of the skeleton.

Luna exclaimed in surprise. "Full-body channeling!? When did he get that?" Like the name suggests, it is an advanced application of G.C. Channeling but the difference between the two is akin to heaven and earth. G.C. Channeling is a simple exercise while the "Full-body Channeling" is an unique skill exclusive to only those whose G.C. is pure without a single impurity. Also, to fully learn the skill, one needs to have all the "Five Points" (each located at the brain, right hand, left hand, right leg, left leg) on their body open.

"Huh? What happened?" She saw the palm that was about to hit the skeleton stopped and Rewen fell on his knees. "I guess that's his limit." She sighed and prepared to strike the skeleton.

Just as the skeleton again pulled in for a punch on the fat youth before it, the uneven white aura gleamed again as Rewen pushed his palm and this time, it hit the skeleton and instantly the bones fell apart.

Rewen got up panting, the white aura still there. "Even as a skeleton, you should know that you shouldn't let your guard down." Then, looked at his own condition. Currently, he was happy beyond bounds. 'My current POW should be around 2.2. Not bad. I got a strength boost in my first fight and I'm sure there's more to come in the future.'

"Do you know what this aura is?"

Rewen turned back to find Luna smiling and shook his head.

"This is a premature state of Full-body Channeling. Have you heard of it?"

"I did but I'm not sure if this is the legendary Full-body Channeling. The POW boost is only a single unit." Rewen asked in a confused tone.

"That's why I said it is a premature state. Look at your aura, it's still fluctuating. If you manage your aura, your POW would increase four times its base strength permanently."

Rewen nodded with an excited look. 'Perfect. I was just missing [Freestyle Knights Combat] technique.' Unknowingly, he smiled.

Luna noticed that. "Why are you smiling?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm happy to have such an overpowered skill."

Luna giggled. "You suddenly sound so confident. I'm missing the timid Lil Bro Arai."

Rewen forced a smile. He decided to behave in an usual manner with her. Part of the reason being he was getting tired with his stupid acting. Even so, he wouldn't completely show off his personality. It's more like - 'Since I got stronger and am special, I can show my confidence.' Of course, this was only exclusive to her. He still can't act unbridled in front of his classmates.

Throwing away the trivial thoughts, he pondered about his newly awakened skill. "Which rank is this Full-Body Channeling? I have only heard about it before."

"It is an unique skill, not a ranked skill." Luna answered briefly. Ranked skills are skills which uses G.C. as a medium for various purposes. There are broadly three known types of ranked skills - Healing, Combative and Sealing. There are further several subcategories of the three types and are divided into - Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond and Enum - ranging from low to high based on their effects. There are also unique skills which don't fall into any of the three types of ranked skills.

"If I have to answer, it's capabilities are at least high-Gold rank but then again, it is an unique skill and can't be 'learned' which increases its value." The most distinctive difference between ranked and unique skills is that unique skills can't be learned. Every unique skill has their own criteria and automatically appears. Till now, not a single unique skill has been written or grasped.

Rewen nodded, then looked at the road ahead. "What do we do?"

"There should be a room of sorts." Luna bitterly smiled. She herself had very little knowledge about the place. Before coming here, she thought she would directly see the thing she is here for. "Come, let's go."

"Wait, there is something important I forgot to ask. Who are these skeletons? I have never heard of them."

"Oh, they are skeleton soldiers."

"What? I mean, I didn't ask for the name. I was wondering where they came from and how?"

"I think it's pretty obvious where they came from. It's a graveyard after all. As for where they came from, I honestly have no clue."

'She is a bit unreliable.' Rewen started guessing on his own. "Could this be the work of necromancers or Dark Mages?"

"Pfft, this is not a fictional novel."

'I beg to differ.'