It's been a week since becoming a skeleton.

  As a mole within Pound's Skeleton Legion, Eric has quietly smashed the skulls of ten of his skeleton colleagues. It sounds like a lot, but for Pound's Skeleton Legion, it's nothing to write home about.

  Here's Eric's current skeleton status panel:

  [Name] Eric Pound

  [Race] Low-Level Skeleton

  [Level] LV3/LV10 (The level cap for low-level skeletons is LV10)

  [Class] None

  [Strength] 5/10

  [Constitution] 5/10

  [Spirit] 8/10

  [Free Attribute Points] 1

  [Evolution Requirements] Achieve max points in Strength, Constitution, and Spirit to evolve the race.

  [Skills] Bone Mutation LV1, Appraisal LV1, Tough Bone LV1, Brute Force LV1, Agility LV1, Stealth LV1

  [Status] Enslaved, Bone Deterioration

  [Experience Points] 60/300

  [Description] A fragile and spooky yet versatile skeleton, cannon fodder enslaved by the evil bone dragon Pound, likely to collapse and fall apart in about 1.5 years.

  [Stealth LV1] was something Eric "borrowed" from the left leg of a level 3 low-level skeleton. This skill significantly reduces the noise he makes while stalking and running. It's super practical for Eric, who often needs to tail other skeletons for his job. With this skill, combined with his [Agility] and [Brute Force], he usually doesn't even have to wait for skeletons to sleep. He can just grab a boulder, stride over with his long legs, and smash them.

  But today, Eric isn't stalking other skeletons like he usually does. Because today, the Bone Dragon's lair has some visitors. These visitors are not like the mindless skeletons. They have goat horns, slender tails with fine scales, and a pair of pitch-black bat wings on their backs. If Eric had to guess, these seem to be succubi—demons of the seductive kind.

  The succubi are flying around, their eyes scanning the skeletons like they're inspecting merchandise. Eric is all too familiar with this kind of gaze because he was doing the same thing to other skeletons just three minutes ago. "Damn it." Eric shrank his neck and hid among the skeletons, hoping he wouldn't be so conspicuous.

  But, a versatile skeleton like him just can't help but stand out no matter where he is. His smooth, pure white bones seem to shout out his uniqueness with every inch. He owes this to a certain skeleton's obsession with hygiene that keeps him always clean.

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  Eric got picked out by a succubus. He hasn't even escaped Pound's clutches yet, and now he's in the grasp of a succubus.

  "Appraisal."

  [Name] Lucia Pound

  [Race] High-Rank Demon

  [Class] Mage—Elementalist

  [Level] LV34/LV40 (Third-Rank Mage, High-Rank Demon level cap is LV40)

  [Description] A high-ranking demon servant of the evil bone dragon Pound, a symbol of destruction and evil, proficient in elemental magic, and possessing extensive magical knowledge and a spirit of research.

  "Good quality, a great subject for research," Lucia said, tapping Eric's skull approvingly.

  Eric could only pretend to be mindless. If they realized he had intelligence, he'd never have a chance to break free from Pound's control. But being a research subject... well, his future looked pretty bleak.

  Eric was taken to a plaza separated by stone walls. Besides him, there were other skeletons, all wandering mindlessly around the limited space. Having played the part of a mindless skeleton for so long, Eric naturally started wandering too.

  Among the skeletons, a few succubi were also wandering around. Their levels, as appraised, were generally above LV10, and they had intelligence. All their surnames were ×××·Lucia, and the higher-level ones had the suffix "Pound" after Lucia. They seemed to be low- and mid-rank succubi enslaved by Lucia.

  "Keep an eye on these skeletons. They're all-important research materials!" Lucia instructed before flying off again.

  With the succubi watching him in this confined space, Eric lost his chance to sneak attack and level up. He could only hang around the succubi, pretending to be a mindless skeleton, and gather information from their conversations.

  After some time, Eric finally found out about Lucia's research. She wanted to breed a special type of skeleton—elemental skeletons. Unlike regular skeleton monsters, elemental skeletons are a rare and special kind that can use elemental magic.

  The low-level skeletons in the plaza were all expendable...

  In Lucia's estimation, these skeletons basically had no chance of becoming elemental skeletons. They were just there to record experimental data as cannon fodder.

  Lucia had left to collect more materials for her experiments. The first experiment on this batch of skeletons was scheduled for three days later.

  In the blink of an eye, the first experiment was about to begin. Over these three days, under the watchful eyes of the succubi, Eric didn't get a chance to sneak attack any of his skeleton colleagues. So, neither his level nor his attributes changed.

  But he wasn't idle during these three days. He took advantage of a few of his "colleagues" sleeping, knocked them out, and quietly replaced their limbs.

  The mindless skeletons didn't notice any changes to themselves. Now, Eric had replaced his limbs' skills with [Tough Bone], [Self-Heal], [Toughness], and [Fire Resistance]. All of them were survival and defense-oriented skills.

  After intentionally bumping into the succubi a few times, he got some important intel. The first experiment involved fire, so he specifically found a [Fire Resistance] skill to equip himself with.

  The first experiment officially began, and the high-ranking demon Lucia reappeared in the experimental area.

  Compared to three days ago, Lucia hadn't changed much. She had no intention of wasting time on low-level skeletons, waved her hand, and two succubi grabbed one of the skeletons.

  Lucia walked up to the skeleton, stretched out her hand, and placed it on the skeleton's skull.

  "Fire Slurry."

  Flames poured down like molten sludge, and the skeleton thrashed wildly, its bones clacking and grinding together, making a creepy sound. Soon, the low-level skeleton fell silent, collapsing to the ground as a pitch-black wreck.

  Eric's nonexistent scalp tingled. He carefully checked his skill panel to make sure his carefully prepared skills were still there before he could breathe a little easier.

  "Can't even make it through the beginning? What a waste," one of the succubi remarked.

  "Next one," Lucia's alluring voice sounded, but to Eric, it had no charm at all.

  Quickly, the second unlucky skeleton was brought up. It stared blankly upward, the flame in its eye sockets burning quietly.

  Lucia reached out again and placed her hand on the skeleton's skull.

  The same magic—fire slurry poured down. This skeleton didn't even last as long as the previous one. It kicked its legs and fell to the ground, dead.

  "……Next one!"