Skeletal Dragon Avatar

New in the neighborhood

Matt looked blankly at the bartender that looked back at him with a pale face before she quickly sprung into action, she quickly grabbed a piece of cloth and a bottle of spirits as she hurried over to Matt while she was visibly panicking

“You got stabbed, quickly, let me see the wound! I know a bit of first aid!”

Matt tilted his head before he pulled up his shirt and showed his side to the flustered bartender that paused at once

“...No way”

The wound that still should be bleeding was all but closed, the bartender looked up at Matt with wonder and confusion in her eyes as he sighed and spoke

“It’s a skill… No, I suppose it’s more of a trait”

The bartender’s eyes widened once more, traits or racial traits were, although rare, sometimes seen in humans, which in and of itself was a conundrum, because humans themselves didn’t have a racial trait, other than the fact that they were ‘adaptable’ this “Trait” was the reason they inhabited every corner of the Alpha world Matt found himself on, though it was also the reason why so many humans strangely enough had traits, through being ‘adaptable’ when a human had a child with a non-human the child would be in 8 out of 10 times a human, though they also had about 50%% change of inheriting the non-human parent’s trait. This was why humans with traits were rare, even more so the kind of trait Matt displayed, a self-healing or regeneration trait. As the bartender gazed at Matt, she suddenly found him more and more attractive, not only physically but also financially

‘5 silver a week for such a good bodyguard sure is a steal! Maybe he can help me if my family shows up..?’

Matt however wasn’t really that interested in the bartender, he simply stood up before he walked over to the corpses and ripped the cores out, then he looked back at the bartender and asked plainly

“What should I do with the corpses?”

The bartender blinked her eyes twice before she spoke just as plainly

“Leave them in the street, the sweepers will take care of them”

“...Got it”

Matt ‘took out the trash’ before he returned inside and after downing a bottle of strong spirits he and the bartender he had yet to learn the name of went to bed upstairs…

-

Matt was dreaming, he was aware of this as he seemed to float in space, drifting along the star winds and solar storms until he arrived in front of that star, the star itself was unremarkable, though the giant skeleton of a winged beast that was warped around it was anything but, Matt gazed blankly at the skeleton for a while before he asked

“Why did you bring me here?”

Matt didn’t expect any answer, but a moment later an aged male voice sounded out

“Because of your compatibility”

“Compatibility..?”

“Your soul, it’s like wet clay… Ready to be molded into something else, but enough about that, what is it you really want to ask”

Matt was at a loss for words for a moment before he remembered his question

“Is there a way to view my skills?”

“...Yes there is, you simply have to focus your will, and it will be projected in front of you”

The aged voice sounded a little surprised at the start of its sentence but somehow really happy by the end, Matt however didn’t notice this as he was focused on trying to ‘focus his will’ soon something appeared in front of him, like illuminated floating mist

Skills:

Undying (passive), Skeletal reinforcement (passive), Bone modulation (active), Dragon’s charm (passive)

“This is somewhat helpful, though I don’t see a description…”

“Simply focus your will on a skill, though it looks like that’s all we have time for now… remember, you don’t have to bow down to anyone, child”

-

Matt’s eyes snapped open as he sat himself up on the bed and looked around, besides him lay the bartender from yesterday, though Matt didn’t have interest in her right now, even after the heated night they had shared, he was more interested in learning about his skills, that said he wasn’t interested in anyone learning about his secrets, so he held off as the bartender seemed like she was walking up… Or was she?

“Oi”

Matt poked her forehead twice before she opened her eyes and innocently asked

“What?”

Matt narrowed his eyes slightly before he spoke

“Don’t plot against me”

“...I won’t”

“Why are you averting your eyes then?”

Matt stared at the bartender for a while longer before he sighed and got out of bed before he put on his pants and shirt and spoke while his back was turned to the bartender

“I’ll go get us some food…”

“Sure, there’s a bakery down the street, get us some bread”

“Okay”

Matt walked out of the room, or at least he was about to when he stopped in the door and asked

“What’s your name anyway?”

“Lilly, what about you?”

“Matt”

Matt glanced back and saw the bartender, or rather Lilly sitting up on the bed while covering herself with the blanket as she appeared to be muttering his name to herself for a bit before she realized that he was staring at her and showed a cat like smile and asked with a slightly seductive voice

“Did you fall in love, Matt~?”

Matt sighed for the 2nd time since he woke up and continued out of the door, after walking down the stairs he arrived in the bar, the stairs were behind the counter with shelves built into them that were filled with various kinds of spirits, mugs carved from wood and ivory along with a few drinking glasses made from crude glass, Matt walked out the door and was greeted by the midday sunlight, he glanced to his right and saw only some dried blood on the spot where he had piled the bodies of the core snatchers last night and muttered

“‘Sweepers’ huh, well they sure do clean up… Well, saves me the trouble”

Matt looked further to his right past the crowds of people that were out and about and saw a few stores down towards the walls before he muttered to himself

“Down the street? But where exactly?”

Then he looked to his left and found what he was looking for, a bakery, about 300 meters down the street, walking down the street Matt noticed a few people that were obviously not human, but he knew better than to stare, especially because the non-human people seemed stronger than normal people, not that he wasn’t confident in taking down, he just didn’t want to start a fight for no reason, arriving at the bakery Matt open the door and walked in where he was greeted by a rough looking man at once

“Welcome”

“Hey… Hmm, do you have any brown bread, something soft?”

“Sure, coming right up… I haven’t seen you around before, are you new to the neighborhood?”

The baker collected some bread and put it in a paper bag while he spoke

“Yeah, I just made a contract with Lilly, you know her?”

“Ah… Yeah I do…”

“What is it? Something I should know?”

The baker sighed before he spoke

“Yeah, how confident are you in your fighting skills, kid?”

Matt blinked once before he spoke

“I am around level 3 in combat power, why do you ask?”

The baker leaned forward after confirming that nobody was coming into the store and spoke

“It’s the city guard, those corrupt bastards, they have been freeloading at Lilly’s bar for a while now while harassing her”

Matt raised an eyebrow before he asked

“What level are the people in the city guard?”

“There are requirements, but most use their connections to get in, you know, for the authority… They’re more used to shaking down people than fighting, though there are some idealists among them that actually have some fighting power, though they should be around level 2, plus they patrol in groups of 3 or more… Are you confident?”

Matt showed a carefree smile

“Sure, sounds like a light warm up”

The baker looked at Matt for a bit before he nodded

“Alright, if you say so kid, here’s your bread”

Matt took the bread and paid for it, it cost him 5 copper, but he paid with a piece of silver and spoke

“Thanks for the information”

The baker nodded and showed a grin as he spoke

“Be sure to come back tomorrow, I’ll pay back your advance in bread and information”

“Thanks, I’ll see you around”

Matt walked out of the baker and sighed for 5th time today before he wondered if he would get in trouble if he killed a member of the city guard

“‘You don’t have to bow down to anyone, child’... If that’s the case…”

Matt’s eyes shone with a dark green light as he decided something, if anyone crossed him he would pay them back in full, no matter who they were