Re:Monster - Re:Vival

Day Sixteen

I blacked out. The last thing I remembered was that sea of confusing notifications and something about a rank up. I'd have to go through all of the notifications one by one in due time but for now, all I needed to know was that I'd ranked up, whatever that meant, I'd gained a tonne of skills and it would seem I'd gotten the attention of a few gods. Neat.

I looked down to see that I was still standing so I couldn't have been out long, however my appearance had changed, ever so slightly. My bones, which were once of a whitish-yellow colour, were now a pure white colour. I wasn't sure what that meant, to be honest. There didn't appear to be any other physical changes I could see at a glance but the other three were a little more obvious.

Starting with Ares, he had grown larger, though not by much; maybe a foot if I was being generous. His bones had also changed colour and unlike me, it was a little more noticeable. His bones had turned a steely grey colour with a strange, metallic lustre to go along with the metallic colour.

Ankou was the next I saw. His bones had taken on a dark purple hue, complimenting his stealthy and assassin-like demeanour. After looking at the two males of my group, I began to look around for Mara, worry starting to settle in when I couldn't see her.

"Behind you, Master."

A feminine voice called out politely from behind me. When I turned, I saw Mara. I was expecting some flesh on her bones considering the fact that she could speak but no, she'd gained the ability while retaining her skeletal appearance; the changes being just as noticeable as my own. That being, her bones had been refined and no longer had the yellowish tint to them, however they were far from the same white as my own.

With the appearance of their bones dealt with, I finally noticed a glaring difference in my subordinates compared to before. They had eyes. Well, maybe not eyes per-say, more like glowing lights in their eye sockets. Ares had a pair of orange lights, Ankou's were green and Mara had a blue left light and yellow right light. My curiosity quickly got the better of me and I raised my sword to inspect my own sockets, finding that I, indeed, also had a pair of glowing lights. They were a clear, surprisingly calm red.

"Master?"

Speaking of surprises.

"You can speak?"

Hm? Wait, did I just say that out loud?

Was it because of that Rank-Up thing? Now that I had become an Awakened Skeleton, I'd gained the ability to "speak" somewhat? Hm, no. It didn't feel like that. Ah, that's what it was. That [Thought Projection] skill I snagged from the Lich. Well now, that would definitely come in handy from now on.

After adjusting myself and testing the skill a little more, I returned my attention to my subordinates.

"Can you all speak?"

I was curious, hopeful even. Unfortunately, Ares and Ankou both shook their heads, looking downtrodden as they did so. I felt a little sorry for them so I gave them a quick pat on the shoulder and let them know that I was sure the next Rank-Up would get them there. They seemed to cheer up pretty quickly.

After that, my next question for Mara was why she could speak and the others couldn't. In response, she jolted upright and appeared to panic slightly. Her 'eyes' darted from side to side and her boney fingers rubbed together as if she was embarrassed about something. At first, her response was quiet and mumbled but when I asked her to repeat herself, she spoke clearly and loudly. Perhaps a little too loudly, if the awkward silence afterwards was anything to by.