The last thing he remembered from his previous life was not something dramatic.
No last words.
No heroic sacrifice.
No tragic confession.
Just a stupid accident.
He was crossing the street while reading the newest chapter of his favorite web novel on his phone, half-annoyed by the cliffhanger and half-excited about the comments section. The light was green. He stepped forward without looking up.
A delivery truck ran the red light.
There was a loud horn.
A flash of white.
Then pain—brief, sharp, and instantly gone.
Darkness swallowed everything.
When consciousness returned, it did not come with warmth.
It came with emptiness.
No breathing.
No heartbeat.
No weight of flesh.
At first, he thought he was dreaming. A strange, lucid dream where he could think clearly but feel nothing. He tried to inhale.
Nothing happened.
He tried again, panic rising instinctively.
Still nothing.
Why can't I breathe?
He tried to move his fingers.
Clack.
A dry, hollow sound echoed in the darkness.
That sound didn't belong to a living body.
His thoughts froze.
Vision came slowly, like an old screen powering on. Flickers of light, then vague shapes, then clarity.
Stone.
Cold, damp stone stretched in every direction. The ceiling was low, covered in cracks and dark stains that looked suspiciously like dried blood. Rusted iron bars stood a few meters ahead, bent and broken as if something had forced its way out long ago.
Then he looked down.
And saw bone.
White, cracked fingers rested on the ground where his hands should have been.
No skin.
No muscle.
Just bare skeleton fingers, slightly yellowed, chipped at the edges.
"…You've got to be kidding me."
The thought echoed in his mind, soundless yet clear.
He raised his hands closer to his face.
Two skeletal arms. Thin. Fragile. Some of the bones were fractured and poorly fused, as if this body had been assembled carelessly.
He didn't need a mirror to know the rest.
I'm a skeleton.
A monster.
Not undead royalty. Not a lich. Not some cool overpowered existence.
Just a skeleton.
And the worst part?
He recognized the place.
His mind raced as memories flooded back—not from this body, but from his old life. From countless nights spent reading web novels, theories, and wiki pages.
"This dungeon…"
Cold realization settled in.
"This is the beginner dungeon from Eternal Dominion."
His favorite novel.
The one he had reread three times.
The one he knew inside out.
His hands trembled.
"No. No way."
In Eternal Dominion, skeletons like this appeared in the first ten chapters. They were background monsters—EXP fodder for newbie adventurers. Weak. Slow. Pathetic.
They existed to die.
A pale blue light suddenly materialized in front of his eyes.
Sharp. Artificial. Emotionless.
A translucent window unfolded with mechanical precision.
[SYSTEM DETECTED]
[Initializing…]
[Reincarnation confirmed]
His thoughts went blank.
"…A system?"
Another window appeared.
[Race Assigned: Skeleton]
[Rank: F – Broken]
[Status: Trash-Class Monster]
He stared at the words.
Rank F.
Broken.
Trash-Class.
Even by monster standards, this was the bottom of the food chain.
A third window appeared, almost mocking.
[STATUS WINDOW]
Name: Unassigned
Race: Skeleton
Rank: F
Level: 1
HP: 12 / 12
Bone Integrity: 33%
Soul Stability: 8%
Attributes:
Strength: 1
Agility: 1
Endurance: 1
Intelligence: 1
Skills: None
Equipment: None
Condition:
Cracked Soul Core
Minor Bone Fractures
He didn't need the system to tell him how bad this was.
In the novel, even beginner adventurers could crush Rank F skeletons with wooden swords. One hit to the skull, and it was over.
And he wasn't even a special one.
Just another mob.
A notice appeared beneath the status window.
[NOTICE]
Due to extremely low racial rank, Compensation Protocol has been activated.
His empty eye sockets widened.
"Compensation?"
Another message followed.
[COMPENSATION PROTOCOL]
You will receive attributes, skills, weapons, and armor proportionate to XP gained through monster hunting.
No free rewards.
No mercy.
A cold chill ran through his bones.
Not fear.
Something sharper.
So that's how it works.
The system wasn't saving him out of kindness. It was correcting a balance. Giving him the chance to grow—if he survived.
Before he could think further, a sound echoed through the dungeon.
Scritch… scritch…
From the darkness beyond the broken bars, red eyes appeared.
Dozens of them.
Rats.
Dungeon rats.
Bloated bodies. Patchy fur. Teeth unnaturally long and blackened with rot.
Mutated monsters.
In the novel, these things were considered weak—but only to humans.
To a Rank F skeleton?
They were lethal.
A warning window exploded into view.
[WARNING]
Host detected by hostile entities]
Threat Level: F
Estimated Survival Rate: 6.9%
The rats charged.
His body reacted before his mind could catch up.
He tried to step back.
His leg buckled.
Crack.
Pain surged—not physical, but deep, rattling his entire structure. His femur fractured further as he collapsed to the ground in a clatter of bones.
The first rat leapt.
Its teeth scraped against his skull, sparks flying as enamel cracked uselessly against bone.
The rat squealed in pain.
Surprise flickered in its eyes.
They can't bite through me easily.
That was his only advantage.
He grabbed it.
His skeletal fingers closed around the rat's head.
Strength: 1.
Pathetic.
But desperation fueled him.
He slammed the rat against the stone floor.
Once.
Twice.
The skull cracked open.
Black blood splattered across his arms.
The rat twitched… then went limp.
Silence fell.
The remaining rats froze.
A chime echoed through the dungeon.
[KILL CONFIRMED]
Target: Mutated Dungeon Rat
Threat Level: F
Rewards:
XP +3
Bone Fragment x1
Blood Residue x1
The blue light pulsed.
And something changed inside him.
Not his body.
His soul.
A faint warmth—almost unnoticeable—spread through his bones.
Another window appeared.
[XP Accumulated]
Progress toward Level 2: 3%
"…So killing monsters is the only way."
The thought was calm.
Too calm.
The rats slowly backed away, their instincts screaming danger.
He pushed himself up, ignoring the cracks spreading through his bones.
His body was fragile.
His HP was low.
But he was still standing.
And now, he understood the rules.
This world did not care that he was once human.
It did not care that his death had been stupid.
Here, only one thing mattered.
Survival.
A final system message appeared.
[MAIN QUEST ACTIVATED]
Hunt monsters. Accumulate XP. Evolve.
Failure Condition: Permanent Deletion
The Level F skeleton took his first step forward.
In the darkness of the dungeon, the hunt had begun.