Flain pondered what to do. If he took off his hood, they would kill him because he was a skeleton. If he tried to escape, they might catch up to him since they didn't seem particularly slow, or the crossbowmen—whom Flain had noticed, about five of themuld shoot him down. Moreover, if he decided to run, he'd have to carry Itai on his back, which would slow him down even more, and he'd have to be careful not to drop him.
The last option was to attack now and catch his enemies off guard. It was a tough choice. These warriors lookedmpetent, not like those bandits.
Then Flain remembered something—he had enough EXP for another level-up, which meant heuld use [Extremely Powerthirsty]. He hadn't leveled up immediately because he was saving it in case they euntered an overly strong monster in the valley. The temptation to level up now was immense, but he resisted. Flain chose the third option.
[Strength increased by 1, agility increased by 1, vitality increased by 1]
[You have gained 1 bonus point]
Flain immediately felt a surge of power—he had no time to waste. He lunged at the soldiers.
Flain charged at the nearest warrior. The strength from [Extremely Powerthirsty] gave him a brief but intense advantage. His sword slashed toward Lucas's chest.
But Lucas was no bandit.
He quickly raised his shield and intercepted Flain's attack, his legs firmly planted into the ground.
[Due to recent events, you have gained: [Low-DualSwords-Mastery]]
"Flain, what are you doing again?! Please, don't die!" Itai shouted, running off to hide.
"Hmph, fool! Boys, kill him!" one of themmanders roared.
Flain's blade bounced off the shield, and in the same snd, an axe from another soldier struck his side.
The impact sent him staggering back a few steps. Another soldier was already prepared—a spear drove straight into his chest.
Flain fell to one knee. At that moment, a strong gust of wind blew his hood off, revealing his skeletal head to everyone.
"Undeath? A skeleton? How is it speaking?!" one of the soldiers shouted.
"It's just a skeleton! Kill it!" themmander ordered.
The archers Flain had noticed moved into position. Five arrows were loosed at once.
Three struck Flain directly in the skull, while another embedded itself in his neck.
Flain found himself back in the void. Those warriors were far beyond his level. Even with Extremely Powerthirsty, he hadn't managed to even wound one of them. He had underestimated them, and he knew it. If he had realized how strong they were, he would have chosen to flee.
As the dark hands engulfed him, his eyes burned with madness. Heuldn't even defeat a handful of primitive warriors. He wanted more power—far more.
He resurrected in the familiar grave. He repeated everything the same way as in attempt 12. But when everything was ready to leave the area where therpses lay, Flain decided to do one more thorough search.
"I'm going to search them again," Flain said, standing up.
"I already checked them. You won't find anything valuable," Itai said.
Flain started searching them anyway. He noticed something on therpse of the man with the club—a rolled-up yellow paper. It looked like a map. Flain picked it up.
"What's this?" Flain asked.
"A piece of paper. I checked it, it's not a map," Itai replied.
Flain unrolled it, and sure enough, there was nothing on it. It was just a blank yellow sheet of paper. He rolled it back up and tossed it onto the ground, where it landed precisely in the dead man's open palm.
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A strange sound came from the paper. Flain stared at it and picked it up again, but it was still blank. He tossed it back into the man's hand, and the same sound echoed.
An idea struck Flain. He aimed one of his blades at the man's forearm and severed a piece of it. Holding the open paper in one hand and the severed arm in the other, he pressed the arm against the back of the paper.
"Flain, what are you doing again? I'm starving! Let's go find some civilization," Itaimplained.
"I'm testing something. Wait a moment," Flain respondedldly.
That strange sound rang out again, but this time, something began appearing on the paper—it was a map. In the center of the map was a blinking red dot, and to the north, there was a blue dot with a blue arrow above it. Flain removed the severed arm, and the map vanished. When he placed the arm back, the map reappeared.
Flain walked over to Itai. He noticed that the map changed as he moved. This was truly strange—it didn't feel like something from a medieval world, yet its design was medieval. Flain realized it was a dynamic map that updated the surroundings as he moved.
"What is this?" Flain asked, showing it to Itai.
"Where did you get that?!" Itai said in shock.
"That guy with the club had it. I did a few experiments and found out that when his hand touches the paper, a map appears. This map is really weird—there are twolored dots, and the red one in the center is even blinking. And when I walk, everything on the map moves with me. It's really strange," Flain explained.
"It's most likely a magical map," Itai said.
"What's a magical map?" Flain asked.
"Only really rich people can afford one. When I worked as a bartender, a wealthy man used to secretlyme to drink at my place—he did it in secret so his wife wouldn't find out. We got to know each other a bit, and he had a magical map. One day, I just asked him about it, and he explained. A magical map moves with you and shows your surroundings within a radius of half a kilometer. The blinking red dot is you. You can also set waypoints—waypoints let you mark important locations you've been to while using the map. It will then display an arrow pointing toward them. And, ofurse, you can have as many waypoints as you want," Itai explained...