Chapter 120: A Strange Skill

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Ervas glanced at the status notification, as he had acquired a very peculiar sounding skill.

"Inner Skeleton Form Manipulation…? This should be… related to what I felt the moment I evolved…" muttered Ervas.

The moment Ervas evolved to a Rank 6, Phantasmal Lich Dhampir Half-Demon, he felt as if his own flesh and skin had begun to itch him… a tiny bit… over his own bones.

Yes, he 'felt' his bones way more than what is natural. It was a strange and odd sensation to him, but Ervas' mind was already quite used to such odd, strange, and grotesque sensations, so he had quickly got used to it and paid no attention to it… until he got the skill that represented what was happening to him.

"I didn't become a skeleton, but it seems that I can 'feel' my own skeleton way better… was this an ability of the Lich that became 'Living Zombies'… that new and already extinct race of Lich? So, I really do have a Lich ancestor, unbelievable… my lineage is really messed up," said Ervas out loud.

Veronica quickly caught up to his words and was just as baffled.

"W-What did you say?! A Lich ancestor? But they're skeletons- No way… one of your ancestors is a Living Zombie?!" asked Veronica in disbelief.

Ozgeth and Legion were also surprised, but also felt much more familiar to Ervas… it was as if he had become a bit undead like them as well, way more than before.

"Congratulations on your evolution, Lord Ervas," said Ozgeth.

"Congratulations, Master! Your presence is even more phantasmagoric than before! It is truly delightful to follow a being such as yourself!" said Legion with strong fanaticism.

"Thanks… And yeah, Veronica… at first I thought that the 'Lich' was just referencing our power over death… but it is not really that, I do really have a Lich ancestor, the extremely rare Living Zombies, the few descendants of the only Lich that managed to acquire flesh again and created one of the few artificially created Demon races…" said Ervas.

"Whenever we met your mother, we have a lot of questions to ask her about… we must know in detail just how many strange ancestors you have…" said Veronica.

"Yes… well, because intelligent races rarely give birth to hybrids, it is often fine for different Demon races to be together and have children, as the children are usually either one of the other race… now that I remember, there were many aristocrats families that did this lineage breeding in the Demon Nation where all of their ancestors were always strong demons so their descendants would slowly grow stronger and stronger… but the side effect is that whenever the lineage reached a certain amount of power, the babies would not be able to sustain everything and would be born dead… but why am I an exception?" wondered Ervas.

"Most likely because your mother somehow 'cleaned' the lineage by being with a human such as Jason… this lineage thing only works within members of the races, whenever another race is mixed in, it is usually reset… and also, it could also be possible that you also had beastmen ancestors that cleansed the lineage. In any case, that you are awakening hidden bloodlines is most likely related to your ability to evolve through the Samsara System! But… I don't remember that happening to us as Anastacia, and I am pretty sure that we had just as a messed-up lineage tree as you" said Veronica.

"I agree… I don't know what were the conditions to awaken the bloodlines within a lineage, but it just happened when I got a bit thirsty… perhaps having my mother already awakened the trait of the vampires such as nourishing through bloodsucking made it easier for me… but, well it is all theories, we cannot confirm anything" said Ervas.

"The thing is it is a good surprise, and a welcomed one! …I guess, although is it weird to move your bones? Ah, I am a living armor so I should still be the weird one in here anyways" said Veronica.

"Hmm… it is still very weird, but I perhaps cannot show my astonishment through my facial expressions… but let's see," said Ervas, raising his hand and then trying to use his new skill.

He channeled his senses into his hand and slowly could feel the path towards moving his bones.

Just like any other part of one's body, bones could be easily moved, in fact, it is obvious that all vertebrates use them to sustain the weight of their own bodies and move.

Ervas moved them as always, but now he could feel something deeper in within, now he could move the bones without having to move the muscles or cartilage around… he even felt as if his bones were slightly detached to them now, and seemed a bit 'freer'.

He glanced at his fingers as he willed it, using his strong sight, he was capable of slightly sensing the mana being infused into his own bones, which began to expand…

Of course, his flesh could not be manipulated like his bones… so…

Splash!

"It worked!" said Ervas, as he glanced at his hand, which had grown large and sharp bone claws from the points of his fingers… and of course, the flesh and blood vessels on the way were destroyed, blood was splattered all around.

"Ervas!" shouted Veronica worried about the little boy's safety.

"I'm fine… I have Rapid Recovery so it already recovered the flesh, it had now just cicatrized around the claws… though I suppose I will have to endure a bit of pain whenever I want to use my bones as weapons" said Ervas, moving his bone claws around.

"Still! Your father would probably faint in horror if he were to see you do such a thing…" muttered Veronica.

"That… you're right about. I will have to tell father about this new skill so I don't surprise him whenever I use it… but manipulating my bones and making them grow like this is… very convenient, now having a small body doesn't matter, even if I cannot grow muscles…" said Ervas, who was still two years old and couldn't even hope to develop a strong body yet, let alone muscles. All of his 'physical' strength was mostly magic-based such as using his spectral soul and telekinesis.

"Sigh… for now, get back your bones inside your body and change Jobs, okay? I am hungry!" said Veronica.

"But Veronica, you lack a stomach," said Ervas.

"Yeah but Digestion is kind of like one! I do not really feel any hunger, but there is the gluttony of wanting to eat things" said Veronica.

"I guess you're right…" said Ervas, glancing at his available Job options.

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[Name: Veronica

[Race: Death Acheron Living Armor Executioner.

[Age: 0 years, 2 Months. 

[Titles: Monster Tamer, Mysterious Demon Knightess, Army of One, Queen of Death (New!)

[Type: Undead/Ethereal/Material

[Rank: 7

[Rank Level: 001/100

[Job: Light & Darkness Spirit Caster.

[Job History: Armored Unarmed Fighter, Soul User, Shadow Soul Fighter, Spectral Soul Knight, Apprentice Spirit Caster, Apprentice No-Attribute Mage, Armored Shapeshifter Fighter, Slime User, Apprentice Warrior, Metamorphosis Synthetic Knightess, Wicked Metallic Legion, Accursed Shadow Soul Metallic Knightess.

[Job Level: 001/100

[Health Points: 8760/8760 > 16.410/16.410

[Mana Points: 11300/11300 > 20.665/20.665 (Increased a lot by using Mana constantly with Ervas's help!)

[Strength: 4054 > 8179

[Defense: 3925 > 6145

[Magic: 3670 > 4820

[Resistance: 2310 > 3575

[Agility: 2603 > 3777

<Passive Skills>

[Memory Retention; Level 5]

[Special Five Senses; Level 6]

[Superhuman Strength; Level 4]

[Abyssal Soul; Level 5]

[Phantom Form; level 6]

[Mana Enlargement; Level 5]

[Magic Enlargement; Level 5]

[Abnormal Status Immunity]

[Strengthened Physical Power; Level 4]

[Physical Damage Resistance; Level 4]

[Armor Rearrangement; Level 5]

[Absorption Healing (Mineral, Materials, Armor); Level 5]

[Chant Revocation; Level 4]

[Strengthen Followers; Level 5]

[Commanding; Level 5]

[Coordination; Level 4]

[Self-Enhancement; Following (Ervas); Level 4]

[Slime Binding Technique; Level 4]

[Parallel Thought Processing; Level 5]

[Fast Speed Thought Processing; Level 5]

[Surpass Limits; Clones; Level 3]

[Automatic Mana Recovery; Level 4]

[Increased Mana Recovery Rate; Level 4]

[Strengthened Attribute Values; Legion; Level 3]

[Death Attribute Charm; Level 3]

[Golem Transmutation; Level 3]

[Soul Binding; Level 3]

[Dominate Created Undead; Level 3]

<Active Skills>

[Hardworking; Level 7]

[Appraisal; Level 6]

[Charge; Level 6]

[Unarmed Fighting Technique; Level 6]

[Javelin Technique; Level 4]

[Shield Technique; Level 5]

[Armor Technique; Level 5]

[Thread Reeling Technique; Level 3]

[Artillery Technique; Level 4]

[No-Attribute Magic; Level 3] 

[Mana Control; Level 5]

[Spirit Magic; Level 5]

[Cursed Wounds; Level 5]

[Soul Materialization; Level 6]

[Phantom Materialization; Level 6]

[Tame; Level 4]

[Body Form Manipulation; Level 4]

[Long-Distance Control; Level 4]

[Digestion; Level 4]

[Cooking; Level 2]

[Butcher; Level 2]

[Alchemy; Level 3]

[Crafting; Level 3]

[Body Size Alteration; Level 3]

[Fission; Level 4]

[Mining; Level 3]

[Aura of Fear; Level 2]

<Unique Skills>

[Armory; Level 4]

[Soul Break; Level 4]

[Legion; Level 2]

<Current Armory Slots: 5>

[Slot 1: [Grand Scarlet Spider Queen's Dusk Living Armor] > [Dark Crystal Scarlet Demon Minotaur Empress Living Armor] [Armor]

[Slot 2: [Medium-Sized Flexible Iron-Silver Snake Exoskeleton Shield] > [Great Crystallized Green Scales Manageable Shield] [Shield]

[Slot 3: [Silver Metallic Slime Soldier Exoskeleton Living Armor] > [Ice Crystal Silver Mercury Empress Living Armor] [Armor]

[Slot 4: [Golden Magical Ruby Long Spear] > [Magical Crystalline Blazing Ice Fanged Long Spear] [Weapon]

[Slot 5: [Anna's Strengthened Silver Axe]

<Bonded Spirits>

[Shade, Spirit of Shadows and Darkness (Light-Attribute)]

<Tamed Monsters>

[Slot 1: [Rank 7: Huge Deep Swamp Lake Water Slime, Aqua] (Evolved!)

[Slot 2: [Rank 6: Giant Nine-Eyed Scarlet Armored Black Widow, Charlotte] (Evolved!)

[Slot 3: [Rank 6: 

Giant Steel Venomous Scales Drake Worm, Nidhogg]

[Slot 4: None.

<Following Monsters (Undead, etc.)>

[Rank 6: Dark Phantasmal Gazer Ghost, Ozgeth] (New!)