Bro, I’m not an Undead!

FUUUWAAA!

It wasn’t extravagant.

It wasn’t explosive.

It was merely a transition.

The Centre of Skullius’ core changed swiftly after nothing more than a minute of blinking, shifting from super bright white to the same colour but with a dull and lazy vibrance.

Just like that.

For Skullius though, it was a different experience as he had seen the gradual change in colour of the Centre.

A light, dull shade of blue could now be seen over it.

His mana had condensed into the next stage of its progression!

Perhaps it wasn’t an extravagant change because his core wasn’t finished yet but none of that mattered.

The most basic blue core had been achieved!

Finally!

Skullius felt his body tense up, quivering as ALL his stats changed.

They grew, but not in the sense of numbers!

No.

His strength, speed, endurance and intelligence… their collective worth grew by ten times, each individual point of these also gaining elevated value!

It wasn’t as simple as him being ten times as fast or ten times as strong. It was a fundamental shift in what each stat meant.

It was akin to evolution!

Skullius’ muscles reacted splendidly, growing ridiculously tougher than just a minute ago while his senses screamed, picking up finer details in a wider range that neared a kilometre in distance on their own!

Of course they lost acuteness the further away they went but this was a huge boost still!

Skullius didn’t lose his focus as he made sure to appreciate this change in all its fullness, as it would probably have certain connotations to his cosmetic body, especially when he finally had a constant supply of mana that wasn’t about to vanish.

His <HEART> seemed to have also been affected as it releasing a stronger thrum that the woman before him heard clearly, though it was still bound by what felt like a ribbon of red energy.

Demion’s Dance still had a hold over him, something he didn’t fully understand yet, but it wasn’t a detail to focus on right now.

‘Hahahaha! Do you still doubt me now, tomato flinger?!’ Sila chortled to which Skullius didn’t reply.

For some reason, the Discount Human wasn’t as ecstatic as even he had expected to be.

Maybe it was because he had somehow expected… more.

Still, when his cosmetic body finished processing this change, his hold over the condensed mana that was pulling over his Refinery returning, he looked grateful.

He didn’t know this, but his cosmetic body had very rapidly processed such a huge shift to his foundation without compromising anything he had from before, different from regular humans who had to be mindful of the effects to sensitive body elements of such a shift in strength.

“A blue core, huh? This should be the bare minimum of what I need to participate in the Premium Age Royale,” Skullius said, his hand balling into a fist to grasp the ridiculous amount of strength he owned now.

He felt like he could display a higher degree of strength with just his base than if he used ‘Radiance’ and the amplification from [Perfect Night Domain] combined!

That was crazy!

‘Indeed. You’re likely going against some pretty powerful Families so there will be strong opponents in terms of class, cores and Stages. An invitation to join a House is a great honour after all,’ Sila said with hints of excitement.

“Irritating,” Skullius said, expressing the opposite. The fact that he had grasped a little of a high level concept was what made his hopes take a leap of faith but beyond that…

“Congratulations, Mister sir!” a feminine voice called from behind Skullius.

He turned to see the pitifully thin figure of a woman who couldn’t even stand try so hard to show a smile as she gazed with desperation towards him.

She even tried to clap.

Was she attempting to congratulate him on his new core?

“Right. There’s this one,” Skullius said as he walked over with Ferex in tow towards this anomaly.

He was still surprised that someone could remain alive after UNCoddled reached them but he was starting to accept it.

Eventually, he was going to meet someone like this, right?

Skullius stood just before the boundary to the array, his focus that even the woman could feel like a light touch over her body now that he had gotten a blue core making her shudder, but she didn’t withdraw her gaze.

‘Tomato flinger. This is your chance,’ Sila said.

Skullius knew exactly what the aged piece of soul was alluding to.

The thought had crossed his mind after the unsettling revelation of this individual’s odd ability after all.

The First Trial!

~~~

Exp: 0/800,000

First Trial:

Find a LIVING subordinate from any of the three dominant races in Aigas, who will be bound to your service, to help you without question, without proposed benefits to them asides from that you will. One who will commit to your demands for their lifetime until you release them from service.

~~~

This was it!

Who else could he find that could meet these conditions?!

Heck, this woman had already demonstrated that she could assist him without dying. Well, permanently at least.

This was too good!

‘Am I really going to progress in my core and Stages in the same day?’ Skullius asked himself as he started to get excited.

But first, he had to confirm this.

It was just too good to be true.

With Sila’s help, he first asked this woman a few questions.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

The woman was surprised to hear Skullius speak in a language she could understand as she had assumed he couldn’t. Sila knew the language she spoke after all. With it, he had even confirmed that she was from just outside the region.

While stealing a glance at Ferex for a moment, the woman gulped as she hurried to answer.

“My name is Yuyui Yuyui Yuyui, Mister sir.”

“What?”

“Oh, I apologise for the confusion. First name Yuyui, second name Yuyui, surname Yuyui.”

“… That’s really your name?” Skullius asked with a weird look.

“It is, Mister sir.”

“Why do you keep calling me Mister sir?!”

“Oh, does it offend you? I thought… it would give a feeling of… double respect. I invented it.”

“….”

Skullius sighed.

Was this worth it?

Such an eccentric character and name.

“How long have you been stuck in here?” he asked, genuinely curious.

“I… I don’t know. I lost count at 124 years. The hunger was driving me insane then, nomatter how many times I died. I had to eat a large tree just to keep myself from going insane… <sniff>. I was so hungry!” the woman who identified herself as Yuyui sobbed lightly.

‘I knew it!’ Sila exclaimed.

Skullius ignored and kept directing the interrogation.

“So, these corpses and bones. This is all you?”

“Yes. Whenever I die, the Inhumane Eye restores my soul with another body. The corpses don’t disappear but they do age pretty fast,” Yuyui said, making sure to answer adequately.

She would spill everything if she had to.

‘Inhumane Eye? It’s probably something I can’t see on her,’ Skullius thought. If further confirmation was needed, then this was it.

Yuyui Yuyui Yuyui was the host, the legacy holder!

“Why are you trapped here? Did you do something wrong?” Skullius questioned. If he was going to do this, he didn’t want atrocious ends that came to bite him in the ass as a result of recruiting Yuyui.

In his mind, he didn’t even need her but the First Trial needed to be accomplished and from the looks of it, this was going to be a long term relationship.

“I don’t know. I don’t remember much about what happened after I reached this place. My memories are mostly about… being so hungry…” Yuyui said with a pitiful face… over her pitiful.

Skullius sighed. It seemed that this was as much as he could extract from Yuyui right now. He wanted to know how she got these powers exactly but he could do that later.

He needed no more confirmation.

There was probably not going to be another chance like this, especially with someone so desperately begging for freedom and at his mercy.

So…

“Alright then. I can help you but that depends on whether or not you’re willing to do as I ask,” Skullius said while narrowing his eyes.

“ANYTHING!” Yuyui almost leapt up at this, her eyes showing more and more desperation that bordered on psychotic. “I’d do anything to taste anything that isn’t wood and water!”

‘Jeez. Talk about intense.’

“Really? Are you willing to become my servant for as long as you… ‘live’ then? To respond to anything I want, to help me with anything I need whenever I need it? To unquestioning do my bidding without expecting praise or compensation? To become what I want, when I want?” Skullius laid forth the ultimatum while wondering if the wording Sila was using was correct and not. He didn’t to appear too edgy.

“…”

Yuyui grew silent for a moment.

Skullius expected this and so did Sila.

He knew that this woman probably had some self respect left beyond her strange obsession with food.

Being asked to accept such a fate was no easy even if it was in exchange for freedom.

Wasn’t it just trading one captivity for another?

Skullius actually sympathised. Maybe he could tweak what he said a little as this whole scene almost gave him PTSD.

Given his background, the fact that Yuyui considered this deeply even gave him a little respect for he-

“I’D SELL MY SOUL FOR WORSE, MISTER SIR! TAKE MEEEEE!” Yuyui suddenly screeched, shouting at the top of her lungs.

“…”

—-

[Author’s Note]

Relax. This is not a generic meet cute or something. I feel you’ll like Yuyui and appreciate her purpose in the story.