Chapter 11

Chapter 11

'What the hell is this...'

I thought 'Guardian's Mana Core' was merely the name of an item, but did it signify some kind of qualification?

I cautiously moved inside.

The room at the end of the short corridor was more ordinary than I had expected.

'Looks like a laboratory.'

Despite having been sealed for a long time, there was no smell of rot or any cobwebs, perhaps because preservation magic had been cast on it.

An old mahogany desk and chair stood in the center of the room, and atop the desk lay someone's research journal, dried-up reagent bottles, and fragments of a broken staff.

But it wasn't the desk that instantly captured my attention.

Parchment diagrams completely covering every wall of the room.

"...!"

As though entranced, I approached the wall.

There were skeletal anatomy diagrams of humans, dragons, orcs, and all sorts of bizarre monsters I had never seen before.

They were drawn with chilling precision.

'This is insane... What's with this level of detail?'

The proportions of every single bone, the structure of the joint connections, even the locations where the ligaments attached.

These weren't simple sketches, but diagrams that could only have been drawn by someone who had performed actual dissections dozens, hundreds of times.

Unable to suppress my admiration, I turned my gaze toward the desk.

A thick book with a leather cover lay there.

[You have discovered the research journal of 'Sage Arcanus'.]

The system window kindly informed me who the owner of this room was.

'Sage Arcanus?'

It was a name I vaguely remembered seeing in the setting guide. He had never directly appeared in the game, and had only been mentioned in one or two lines somewhere in the lore text.

I began reading the first page of the journal, written in fading ink.

[Bones are the absolute blueprint that determines the structure of life...

...Flesh decays and scatters, but bones remain, proving one's existence.

...Therefore, if one can perfectly understand and alter bones, one can transcend the limits of species and reach the realm of creation, redesigning existence itself.]

I let out a soundless exclamation. It felt as though I'd been struck in the back of the head.

'This reads like the prototype for my skill.'

The [Bone Replacement] I used. The philosophy underlying that system was laid out in its entirety within this journal.

I swallowed dryly and turned to the next page.

[The Holy See and

the Mage Tower's

old fools declared my research heretical and banned it....Using the excuse that it was

'wicked sorcery that defies divine providence.'

Disgusting hypocrites.

...What they truly fear is the equality this technology will bring. They fear the very fact that anyone can transcend the limits of their birth and become stronger...]

The journal continued.

[But there must be another truth hidden behind it... They are hiding something.]

'...What the hell is the Holy See doing?'

Was there foreshadowing like this in the game's story?

In <​Dungeon and Empire>, wasn't the Holy See the final bastion against the armies of the Demon Realm? Was there some shady backstory behind it?

I turned my gaze toward a box sitting on one side of the desk.

Relics neatly arranged beside the journal.

The first was a recipe scroll covered in a thick layer of dust.

[Polymorph Reagent Recipe(Lightweight Version)]

- Description: Mimics a humanoid appearance for approximately 3 hours.

- Key Ingredients: Chameleon Slime Mucus + Refined Mana Catalyst(Dream Butterfly Extract)

-...

'Chameleon Slime mucus?'

Apparently Arcanus had needed a disguise just like me and had set his sights on the same monster.

And instead of stopping at the primitive method of using the mucus directly, he'd even made it into a reagent. He really was my senior.

Fortunately, three glass bottles containing finished reagents were also sitting neatly inside the box.

[Arcanus's Polymorph Reagent x 3]

[Can be consumed immediately. Duration: 3 hours.]

This was an unexpected windfall.

I carefully packed away all three reagent bottles.

Looks like I won't have to grind away in the Echoing Cave right away. Thank you, senior.

Then the wooden case beside them caught my eye.

Inside was a small, bizarre-looking skull about the size of an adult man's fist.

It had a flat, dainty structure like that of a small dog, with two horns protruding from either side of its forehead.

And beside it lay a tiny bone no bigger than my thumbnail.

'The skull... is probably too small to work, but maybe I can transplant this.'

I didn't know what body part it came from, but I reached for the small bone first.

[Warning: This is a bone of the 'Human' race.]

[This flesh has not been granted to you.]

'What?'

It was a human bone? But although the warning window appeared, it was strangely quiet.

There was no voice burrowing into my head like when I'd touched the dead soldier's bones, nor any pain like the crown of my head was being seared.

'This is kind of ambiguous.'

Still, it probably wasn't just some random bone lying around. And the fact that both of them had blue patterns engraved across their surfaces was significant too.

Without hesitation, I placed them in my leather pouch.

Then there were several parchment notes underneath them.

Judging by how much less faded the ink was compared to the research journal, they seemed to have been written relatively recently.

[I endlessly researched a way to escape the restraints of the flesh... I cast aside the frail shell of blood and meat, and at last, only my perfect skeleton remained. I obtained freedom unbound by eternal time.]

[...That is a lie. I did not become free. I lost everything. The taste of warm meat stew, the sensation of the spring breeze brushing my cheek, the warmth of the one I loved... All those weaknesses I had believed were restraints were, in truth, the only things that proved I was human...]

Instead of the feverish scholarly obsession I had seen earlier, those words were steeped in deep resignation and regret.

"..."

Silently, I looked down at my gaunt finger bones.

Faded white, dead bones incapable of feeling anything.

'...This man became a pile of bones too, just like me. And he regretted it to the marrow.'

I too had briefly been intoxicated by the thrill of growth and wondered whether it might be fine not to return to being human.

But Arcanus's journal was giving me a clear warning. Immortality gained by becoming a monster was nothing but a curse.

My mood turning solemn, I was about to gather up the parchment along with the journal.

Tap.

A small, worn note tucked between the leather cover and the final page of the journal fell to the floor.

I picked it up and unfolded it.

[I have left everything in my laboratory. May it reach one who is qualified to move beyond my failures.]

'He has a real laboratory somewhere else?'

Apparently, this place had only been a temporary residence.

If so, his main base might contain more than a mere three-hour reagent. There might even be a way to completely turn me back into a human.

A new objective became clear.

[Laboratory Coordinates: Northern Snowy Mountain Range, beneath the Eternal Ice Wall.]

...The problem was that the Eternal Ice Wall wasn't the name of somebody's bedroom. I couldn't search that vast place from end to end, so I'd have to look around for clues.

I carefully tucked the note into my leather pouch as well. While I was at it, I also grabbed the robe hanging over the chair and put it on.

Now it was finally time to leave this dark, damp mine and head into the human world!

I gave the room one last look and was about to turn away without regret.

Among the anatomical drawings on the wall, one sheet of parchment I'd merely glanced at when I first entered caught my attention.

The silhouette looked strangely familiar.

A massive lump of rock. Broad shoulders, with a heavy upper body compared to its lower half.

'That's the Crown Stone Golem I killed earlier, isn't it?'

I slowly approached the diagram.

The name 'Guardian' was clearly written on it. It really did seem that Arcanus had personally designed and created it. That explained why its structure had been far too sophisticated for a simple mana-powered automaton.

But something was marked at the center of the diagram, on the cross-section of the chest.

The place where the mana core was inserted. Just inside it, on the central axis that secured the core, there was an annotation.

'Insert natural mana-sensitive medium into the central axis of the core chamber. Stabilizes mana circulation.'

Wait, a mana-sensitive medium?

I traced the densely packed annotations with my finger as I read.

No matter how precisely a mana-powered golem's core was constructed, unstable mana vibrations were unavoidable, and Arcanus had written that he stabilized them using 'bone originating from a living creature.'

In other words, he'd implanted a bone inside the golem's stone heart.

I thought it was nothing but rock, but there was a bone inside?

I was already running toward the door.

The bottom of the pit.

Amid the remains of the Crown Stone Golem scattered everywhere, I pulled out one of the remaining torches and lit it.

Under the sparse glowing stones embedded in the walls, I'd barely been able to make out the shining core, but beneath the torchlight, the surroundings became clearly visible.

'According to the blueprint, it was one layer deeper inside from the center of the chest.'

Using the tip of my sword as a lever, I pried up a flat stone plate.

Tap.

A flat black bone rolled out from between the fragments of stone.

[Fossilized Ancient Obsidian Lizard Sternum(Grade: Advanced)]

[Long-term exposure to a mana-rich environment has naturally formed a mana-sensitive structure.]

[Expected increase in mana sensitivity upon transplantation.]

Jackpot!

I almost walked right past this adorable little thing without finding it.

It was slightly misshapen from fossilization, but when I held it against the position of my sternum, it seemed like transplantation should be possible.

I immediately activated my skill.

[Attempting to activate Unique Skill: Bone Replacement(Lv.3).]

[Warning: Grade requirement not met.]

[Bones of Advanced Grade or higher require skill level 5 or above.]

'Damn it.'

I knew intellectually that there was a wall between Common Grade and higher grades. Still, being stopped right when it was in front of me was infuriating.

'Wait.'

Come to think of it, there was still something I hadn't used.

The skill points converted from excess experience when I evolved.

'Was I saving them for this?'

In truth, I hadn't been saving them at all. I'd simply forgotten about them, but either way, the timing was perfect.

I immediately poured in the points.

[Bone Replacement Lv.3 → Lv.4]

[Bone Replacement Lv.4 → Lv.5]

[Advanced Grade transplantation is now possible.]

I brought the sternum to the empty space in my rib cage once more.

[Unique Skill: Bone Replacement(Lv.5) activated!]

Along with black smoke, the ancient fossil began settling into the center of my chest.

The Skeleton Soldier Is Good at Replacing Bones

Author:

Metdoyo

Publisher:

Jakga Dabang

Publishing Registration:

No. 2025-000022

Address:

3rd Floor, 50-9 Myeongmul-gil, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Telephone:

02-313-7388

Email:

info@jakgadabang.com

ISBN/UCI:

G720:N+A475-20261015075

Publication Date:

October 23, 2026

Copyright © Metdoyo.

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