So far, over twenty skeletons have been destroyed, with only three surviving the lava.

  But then, in the second round, Lucia shoved some strange crystal into his chest.

  The eerie blue flames in his chest and eye sockets instantly turned orange-red, swiftly and cleanly burning him to a blackened mess.

  Now, all the skeletons around Li Pound were gone, leaving only him.

  Damn, so conspicuous.

  Li Pound was focused on the skeletons being grilled, oblivious to the fact that all the skeletons around him had been captured.

  He stealthily turned his head, pretending to wander aimlessly towards the area with more skeletons.

  If he stayed a little longer and observed how the other skeletons fared during the grilling, he might survive a little longer.

  But he had barely moved when two succubus grabbed his shoulder blades from either side.

  Damn it, he couldn't move.

  Li Pound suppressed his urge to struggle, feigning a dazed expression as he was led towards Lucia. He absolutely could not reveal his intelligence, or he would surely die.

  Li Pound was forced to stand before Lucia. Up close, Lucia was indeed a stunning beauty, with an extremely alluring figure. Her chair legs, tail, and bat wings added to her allure.

  But Li Pound wasn't concerned with how beautiful this demon was at this moment.

  He suppressed his trembling spirit, awaiting the onslaught of flames.

  Lucia glanced at Li Pound, paying him little attention. After all, to her, these skeletons were driven only by instinct, no different from wild beasts or insects.

  Her right hand rested on his smooth skull, and then her voice rang in his ear.

  "Magma." Magic traced a diagram in her palm, then flowed in continuously, molten flames pouring down his skull.

  Until it covered every inch of his skeleton, as if coating his bones with a film of fire.

  This was the first time Li Pound had felt pain since becoming a skeleton.

  The eerie blue flames in his chest and eye sockets flickered and trembled wildly.

  His throat emitted strange, uncontrollable sounds, like bones grinding together.

  "Crack, crack, crack..." His bones were constantly being charred and healed.

  [Fire Resistance] greatly weakened the effects of the magma, allowing him to endure until it ended.

  His bones now glowed a faint red, emitting heat, like iron blanks perfectly heated and ready to be forged.

  "Such a weak aura, yet you survived the magma." Lucia looked at Li Pound with some surprise.

  Then, the two succubus lifted him up again, but this time not with their hands, but with invisible hands formed by magic.

  After all, the temperature of his bones was exceptionally high.

  "I hope you can still surprise me." Lucia took out the crystal. Whether it was Li Pound's imagination or not, this one seemed to be a size larger than the crystals of the previous three unfortunate men.

  Special treatment? An outstanding reward?

  The crystal was precisely inserted into the eerie blue flames within his chest.

  Then, the flames blazed fiercely, rising high into the air.

  In an instant, the flames in his eye sockets turned orange-red, and his entire body burned intensely like a blazing pile of firewood.

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  The pain was excruciating; compared to this, the previous lava was like soaking in a hot spring.

  "Crack! Crack! Crack!" A series of cracking sounds rang out as his bones shattered, his entire skeleton turning a deep red.

  Like porcelain over-fired in a kiln, about to collapse at any moment.

  [Self-Healing L1] continuously healed his crumbling body, but against the speed of his skeletal disintegration, it was merely a drop in the ocean.

  The fact that it hadn't shattered into dust yet was probably only thanks to [Resilience], [Hard Bones], and [Fire Resistance].

  "It still didn't work, huh?" Lucia looked at the skeleton lying on the ground, engulfed in flames, a look of disappointment on her face.

  This demon deliberately increased the dosage of crystals injected into his body.

  She injected a lethal dose of crystals based on the performance of each skeleton in the first round of lava.

  She never intended for them to survive; she probably just wanted to collect experimental data on their deaths.

  Li Pound endured the pain and opened the panel.

  Even under the scorching flames, the panel remained clear and unaffected.

  “Free attribute points, add to Constitution!” He had a few attribute points left from the last level up, which he had been saving up for this moment.

  [Ding, Constitution +1] Adding Constitution points heals injuries to a certain extent.

  It was like a surge of heat flowing through his bone marrow; the spread of the cracks finally stopped.

  Then, [Self-Healing] and the Constitution points activated simultaneously, the cracks slowly healing and resisting the scorching flames.

  Broken, healed, broken, healed.

  A tug-of-war seemed to be playing out on his skeleton.

  And this skeleton was groaning in agony.

  Only when the power of the flames gradually weakened did Li Pound feel a sense of liberation, as if he had crawled out of hell.

  [Ding, Constitution +1]

  [Gained skill, Fire Magic lv1]

  [Unlocked lv10 selectable class, Elemental Mage]

  [Elemental Mage: A type of mage who wields dangerous elemental magic, a master of destruction and annihilation]

  [Unlocked evolution path] Low-Tier Flame Skeleton

  [Low-Tier Flame Skeleton] A special variant of the skeleton, a special skeleton that has mastered the power of fire, level cap lv20. The flames completely subsided into the body, and the orange-red flames gradually turned into a ghostly blue.

  Lucia's expression changed from surprise to disappointment.

  "Did the transformation fail again?"

  "But he actually survived, what a lucky guy." Lucia kicked the fallen Li Pound and looked at the remaining skeletons.

  “Next.” Li Pound stood up shakily, pretending to be dazed as he continued wandering.

  However, a flash of orange-red flickered in the two dark blue flames in his eyes.

  Fire magic, acquired.

  Li Pound resisted the urge to try the legendary magic, wandering aimlessly.

  Hidden, lying in wait, searching for an opportunity.

  He had gained another trump card.

  Of all the skeletons, only Li Pound survived the experiment, but even he failed to be transformed.

  This was not unexpected for Lucia; she hadn't expected to succeed on the first try.

  She began searching for new experimental skeletons in the canyon.

  Soon, skeletons filled the experimental field again.

  After the first round of experiments, Li Pound confirmed that Lucia hadn't kept track of the skeletons' numbers.

  These experimental skeletons, driven only by instinct and devoid of intelligence, were no different from pigs to Lucia.

  She wouldn't remember how many pigs she had captured.

  Li Pound identified five skeletons among this batch, four level 5 and one level 6.

  When Lucia went out to collect materials again, leaving only some low-level succubus to guard the area, Li Pound quietly approached the targeted skeleton.

  He pressed his hand against the skeleton's face.

  "Fire!"

  Fire magic activated; the eerie blue flames, inconspicuous in the darkness, instantly engulfed the skeleton's head, frantically scorching its skull.

  His other hand plunged fiercely into the skeleton's chest, grasping the flames within and continuing to burn them.

  [Ding, Killed a low-level skeleton, Experience +50] Li Pound carefully surveyed his surroundings, detaching the skeleton's left leg, then detaching his own left leg, which possessed [Fire Resistance].

  However, after detaching the [Fire Resistance] left leg, Li Pound discovered that the [Fire Resistance] on his character panel hadn't disappeared.

  Perhaps it was because he had survived the frenzied burning flames, thus gaining [Fire Resistance] as well.

  He aimed the left leg at the hip joint, activating [Bone Transformation].

  [Ding, Gained Skill Stealth Lv1] The faint sound in the air also vanished.

  Then, Li Pound dismantled the remaining remains into large and small bone fragments, carefully encasing them in flames, burning them little by little into powder, and scattering the powder on the ground.

  After cleaning up all the bones, Li Pound felt a wave of mental exhaustion.

  "Is magic related to mental points...?" Li Pound was relieved that his mental points were still quite good, and then he fell into a deep sleep.