"It's so spectacular… Wow, look, there! Another skeleton's being blown into the sky, and there's another one over here! Zzz... Such a waste. Those skeletons hopping around up there must be at least level 2 or 3. If I could devour them all, I'd probably level up so much."
Zhao Lun crouched near the entrance of the cave, propping his skull head in his hands as he drooled, watching the poor skeletons being tossed into the air by the fierce winds outside.
Not long after Zhao Lun reassembled his shattered skeleton, the natural disaster, the "great wind," finally arrived. The wind's power showed itself fully, but for Zhao Lun, who was safely tucked away in his hideout, his fear had diminished. In fact, he was so bored that he started to treat the event as an exciting spectacle.
Minutes passed, and the winds gradually subsided. The skeletons in the sky were either ripped apart or fell from hundreds of meters in the air, meeting a cruel fate. After clapping his bony hands in admiration for the "show," Zhao Lun stood up, looking like someone who had just finished watching a performance and was preparing to leave.
"Wait a minute... Something's wrong."
The seasoned observer that he was, Zhao Lun, still holding his skull, suddenly realized he had forgotten something. Maybe it was his new skeleton body making him slow to react, but it wasn't until he settled down in the cave, lying flat with his head resting on the giant axe skeleton's bones, preparing to take a nap, that he suddenly jumped up in realization.
Then, in a burst of energy as if possessed, his pale eye flames flared up brightly, and he muttered, "I've struck gold, I've struck gold!" He began rummaging frantically through the cave, eventually tearing the spine out of the giant axe skeleton and eagerly grabbing it in one hand while holding his bone staff in the other, rushing out of the cave.
The reason Zhao Lun suddenly became so excited was because he remembered that a few skeletons had fallen not far from his cave in the chaos of the windstorm.
He was overjoyed. He knew that some of those skeletons had to be at a higher level. And now, after being blown around by the wind, they were barely hanging on to life. This was the perfect opportunity to take advantage of their weakened state.
Excited, Zhao Lun rushed out of the cave. He paused to orient himself, trying to recall where exactly those skeletons had fallen when the wind had subsided. After a while, he decided to head north, taking large strides toward his goal.
He chose this direction because, from what he remembered, one of the skeletons had fallen closest to his location and looked like it would be easy to deal with. Zhao Lun had seen that the skeleton's bones were nearly torn apart. The last time he saw it, all that was left was a single arm, half a shoulder, and a broken spine still attached to the skull. With injuries like that, Zhao Lun figured there was no way the skeleton could fight back.
As he hurried, Zhao Lun kept an eye out for his surroundings. After all, once he handled this situation, he would have to return to the cave, and getting lost would be a nightmare.
The aftermath of the windstorm made the terrain even harder to navigate. Zhao Lun noticed that the ground was oddly unmarked by the storm's destruction, and though there were small scattered stones, they seemed untouched. Perhaps the ice rain and fire rain were responsible, as they were both powerful enough to affect the surface.
The path was barren and desolate, with little to use as a reference, so Zhao Lun had to leave small marks along the way to help him find his way back.
His memory, however, was sharp. Within minutes, Zhao Lun spotted his target.
Unfortunately, the poor skeleton that had fallen was already beyond saving. It had landed head-first on a basketball-sized stone, and its soul flame had shattered into pieces, killing it instantly.
Zhao Lun was stunned. He was certain that the stone was the only one of its size he had seen during his journey. It was small, barely five meters in diameter. The fact that it hadn't been blown away by the wind was already a miracle, but for a skeleton to fall onto it and have its soul flame shattered? The odds seemed impossible.
Still, Zhao Lun was so surprised that he thought the stone might be something special. He immediately forgot about the shattered soul flame and began inspecting the stone, poking and prodding it for a long time, hoping it was some kind of treasure. As he played with it, the soul flame fragments nearby began to flicker dangerously low. Only then did Zhao Lun finally swing his spine bone at the stone, shattering it, and he reluctantly admitted that it was just an ordinary rock.
"Ugh, such a waste of my time!"
Realizing his mistake, Zhao Lun grew frustrated. He kicked the useless stone a few times and then gathered up the remaining soul flame fragments, tossing them into his own soul flame.
"Ugh, that's such a full, bloated feeling."
Zhao Lun hadn't fully absorbed the energy from the giant axe skeleton's soul flame, but now he stuffed even more soul flame fragments into himself. This overeating resulted in a painful consequence: his head throbbed as if it had been hit by a heavy stick, and a digestive-like pain spread throughout his body as if he had eaten too much.
Worse, just as his soul flame grew brighter and the absorption rate sped up three times, the comforting sensation vanished. Instead, Zhao Lun began to feel incredibly exhausted. His eye flames flickered dangerously, threatening to go out at any moment.
"This isn't good. I need to go back quickly, I can't stay here any longer!"
Forget about his anger, Zhao Lun pushed through the exhaustion and grabbed the giant axe skeleton's spine to help him stagger back. He knew that even if he collapsed now, he wouldn't be in danger of dying, but he couldn't risk resting here. If he fell asleep, even if he woke up at level 1, there was no telling if some passing skeleton would find him and finish him off.
As he pushed himself forward, the sense of urgency kicked in, and Zhao Lun picked up the pace, anxiety growing with every step. The fear of running into a roaming skeleton and being caught in a bad spot kept him on edge.
"Almost there… just a little more… ah!"