Death of an Arrogant Prick; I Reincarnated as a Skeleton?

Chapter 5: Surviving is winning, Franklin

‘Surviving is winning, Franklin’.

‘Everything else is bullshit, fairytales spun by people afraid to look life in the eye’.

‘Whatever it takes kid…, survive!’

At this moment, Clinton felt himself resonating so much with these famous words from NPC game characters in his previous world.

At this moment, to him, surviving really was winning.

Heck, to him right now, surviving was everything.

That f*cking Angel Athena sent him here to die right?

Well, he would spite her and survive.

To escape the 3 different species of enemies that his miserable undead system’s identification showed to him, Clinton had no choice but to disassemble his skeleton body again to hide under the roots of the tree.

And since he made that choice, it had been 4 hours already.

It was already more than 4 hours since he reincarnated into this world as a freaking lowly skeleton.

Hidden under the roots of the tree, all Clinton wanted was to survive.

For the first 2 hours, it was all smooth and easygoing until the already familiar interface of his system superimposed with his vision again.

Anytime the system superimposed with his vision since he reincarnated, it was always bad news and this time was no different.

***

{Chapter 21 of the 1^st Book of the Undead states that Light and Darkness coexists, relies on the presence of each other to exist but they cannot stand each other. One must suppress the other, the one that is more abundant, more powerful at any given time!}

{As a level 0 low-tier Skeleton, you have come into contact with the holy energy of a level 7 Holy Knight!}

{Due to lack of energy supplement to wipe off residual effects of holy energy, you have been infected with the power of light!}

{You will receive +0.1 damage every 10 minutes until you die or the residual effects of holy energy is wiped off!}

{You have received +0.1 damage!}

{HP: 1.6/3}

…

{Current H.P: 0.5/3}

***

Exactly 2 hours ago, Clinton’s misery started.

With this, it became apparent that he could not spend all his time under the roots of that decaying tree, hiding from the ruthless danger of this decaying forest.

‘F*ck!’

‘F*ck you Angel Athena!’

Despite feeling like hitting his skeleton skull against something hard, shattering it to end it all and just die the final death once and for all, Clinton was able to hold himself back again due to spite.

He would not die; he would live to spite her and her expectations.

This was the reason why for the next 2 hours that followed after his HP started reducing steadily, Clinton settled down and decided to use his brain.

As a track and field athlete, on the track, all Clinton cared about before was speed, he didn’t use his brain much but at this moment, even he could tell that if he wanted to survive, he needed to use his brain.

This was why he decided to analyze all the facts before him again.

Thinking of something, he cursed again. ‘This setting is exactly like a video game where I am kind of like an undead skeleton NPC’.

‘If so, is my HP not supposed to regenerate slowly with time?’

‘F*ck! Why is everything so against me?’

‘Is my HP not regenerating because of the holy energy of that stupid Holy Knight that invaded into my body or is it just because I’m miserable?’

At this moment, he had so many questions and no answers and in the end, deciding to put it all behind him, he decided to analyze this world.

‘This world, where is it? How big is it? To survive, I need to understand it’.

Unfortunately for Clinton, he had no clues and information to know about this world. The only clue he had was from a being that he hated so much, the f*cking Angel and out of desperation, though he hated it, Clinton revisited their conversation in that world of light before his reincarnation.

‘For being an arrogant prick, a womanizer who slept without remorse with your mate’s girlfriends, and for 999+ other sins that you have committed, you have been sentenced to life outside hell’.

‘Hell is too good for you, you need to live another life, one more hellish than hell’.

‘You have been sentenced to lifetime imprisonment in Planet #2122 as a low-tier undead in a Dungeon’.

Clinton sighed. ‘Well, at least this is not hell’.

‘That’s supposed to be a good thing, right?’ He chuckled in his mind but then he focused on something. ‘Dungeon?’

‘So, this world, it’s a dungeon?’

‘Dungeon like in games?’

That realization was all it took for Clinton’s perception of this whole saga to change. Instead of seeing it like another universe or planet like Planet Earth, Clinton finally changed his perception, now seeing it from the perspective of a game.

‘If this world is a dungeon like in games, then it’s supposed to have levels, right?’

‘What level of the dungeon am I in now?’

Through the holes in the root of this decaying tree, Clinton looked outside at this decaying world, at all the beasts aimlessly roaming about and clashing at intervals. ‘Is this level 1 of this dungeon?’

‘Or, is this an even more useless level 0 area of this dungeon?’

‘But if this is really a dungeon, why is the side that I reincarnated in filled with so much light and life while this side is so dark and filled with death?’

And then, his eyes widened. ‘Is this a dungeon with 2 layers? The first layer being that of light and life, and the other layer that of death and decay?’

Clinton had no idea if he was right or just spouting rubbish but for some reason, he felt that he was right and this brought the necessity again as his miserable undead system’s interface superimposed with his vision again.

***

{You have received +0.1 damage!}

{HP: 0.4/3}

***

Clinton grimaced and then he focused on the first notifications again. ‘The system said this is happening because of lack of supplement’.

‘And if this world is like a game, to receive supplement, I need to kill other beings of this world, right?’

Gulping though he had no throat, Clinton’s eyes peeked through the holes in the roots of this decaying tree.

And then, he admitted it painfully. ‘I need to hunt to survive’.