Crack.

  Crack.

  In the dim, sunless Land of Buried Bones.

  A skeleton was walking across the ground littered with broken bones.

  The skeleton was a grayish-white color.

  Despite having no flesh or blood, only slender bones, it gave off a sense of "sturdiness" at a glance, standing out starkly from the other skeletons on this land.

  This was Lucas.

  Over the course of several hours, Lucas had hunted and killed over a hundred skeletons in the vicinity.

  These hundred skeletons not only brought him over a thousand experience points but also significantly boosted his four-dimensional attributes.

  Lucas's attribute panel now looked like this:

  [Name]: Lucas

  [Race]: Undead - Skeleton

  [Level]: Level 4 (32/400)

  [Status]: Health 38, Mana 15

  [Attributes]: Strength 3.5, Agility 4.0, Constitution 3.7, Spirit 1.5

  [Talent]: Erosion (Unique Talent)

  [Skills]: None

  ...

  In just a few hours, his level had risen from 1 to 4. His four-dimensional attributes, except for Spirit, had increased by two to three times. This was undoubtedly a huge gain!

  However, Lucas still felt somewhat unsatisfied.

  At the beginning, he could absorb an average of 0.2 attribute points from each skeleton. Later, this amount decreased to 0.1 per skeleton.

  Now, he needed to absorb the bones of several skeletons to gain just 0.1 attribute points.

  The returns from the Erosion talent were diminishing.

  In fact, this was easy to understand.

  This was the outskirts of the Land of Buried Bones. The skeletons that roamed here were the lowest of the low, even among the weakest monster race in The Second World—the skeletons.

  Level 1 to 3: Weak Skeletons.

  Level 4 to 6: Common Skeletons.

  Level 7 to 9: Strong Skeletons.

  Even the "Strong Skeletons" had pitiful four-dimensional attributes.

  Take Lucas, for example.

  As his level increased from 1 to 4, he gained attribute growth three times.

  From level 1 to 2, his Constitution increased by 0.5; from level 2 to 3, his Strength increased by 0.5; from level 3 to 4, his Constitution increased by 0.5...

  In other words, each time a skeleton leveled up, it only gained 0.5 attribute points.

  And this 0.5 attribute growth was random.

  With such growth... even if a skeleton leveled up from 1 to 9, the total increase in its four-dimensional attributes would only be about 4 points compared to its level 1 state!

  Averaged across Strength, Agility, and Constitution, that's about 1.3 points per attribute.

  In other words, excluding Spirit, a level 9 Strong Skeleton's Strength, Agility, and Constitution would hover around 2.0.

  Far below Lucas's current four-dimensional attributes.

  Lucas's Erosion talent essentially allowed him to absorb the essence from the bones of the skeletons he killed, enhancing his skeletal body.

  When Lucas was weak, every skeleton here was on par with him, if not stronger. Their bones were also sturdier and more robust than Lucas's. Absorbing essence from such bones naturally allowed Lucas's skeletal body to strengthen rapidly.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  On the attribute panel, this was reflected as an increase in attribute points.

  As Lucas leveled up and his attributes improved, his bones became stronger and more robust than those of the skeletons. The essence he absorbed from their bones was no longer sufficient to rapidly enhance his skeletal body.

  On the attribute panel, this was reflected as diminishing returns on attribute points.

  So it wasn't that the Erosion talent wasn't powerful enough. It was that the bone essence provided by the skeletons could no longer keep up with Lucas's growing needs.

  According to Lucas's calculations, only when a skeleton's four-dimensional attributes reached or exceeded half of his own could the essence absorbed from their bones rapidly enhance his skeletal strength.

  Without a doubt.

  Only level 8 and 9 skeletons had such attributes.

  And in the outskirts of the Land of Buried Bones, even level 7 skeletons were extremely rare, let alone level 8 or 9 skeletons.

  Without high-level skeletons of sufficient level, he could only hunt Common Skeletons and Weak Skeletons. As a result, the rate of his attribute growth would slow significantly.

  He needed to kill several Common Skeletons or over a dozen Weak Skeletons to gain a 0.1 increase in attribute points.

  "It's time to head deeper into the Land of Buried Bones."

  After glancing at his attribute panel once more, Lucas picked up a thigh bone he had taken from a level 7 Strong Skeleton and walked briskly toward the deeper parts of the Land of Buried Bones.

  ...

  ...

  The Land of Buried Bones was vast.

  Even at Lucas's speed, it took him the better part of a day to travel from the outskirts to the inner regions.

  Along the way, he casually killed many skeletons.

  These skeletons didn't provide him with many attribute points, but they did raise his level from 4 to 5. His Constitution attribute also increased from 3.7 to 4.2, making it his highest attribute.

  Starting from the outskirts of the Land of Buried Bones, the deeper one went, the thicker the aura of death became.

  Similarly.

  Areas with a stronger aura of death were more likely to nurture more powerful undead.

  In the outskirts of the Land of Buried Bones, level 1 to 3 skeletons were the norm, level 4 to 6 skeletons were relatively rare, and level 7 to 9 skeletons were as rare as phoenix feathers.

  But in the inner regions of the Land of Buried Bones, level 7 to 9 skeletons were the norm!

  With four-dimensional attributes more than double those of a level 9 skeleton, Lucas didn't hesitate. After reaching the boundary between the outer and inner regions, he strode straight into the inner parts of the Land of Buried Bones.

  However...

  Just as he entered the inner regions, Lucas came to a halt.

  Because a special skeleton had appeared in his field of vision!

  "LV9. Skeleton Soldier!"