Ryan focused again on the thin mental thread connecting him to the creature, and the second perspective returned immediately.
The room shifted slightly in his mind as the undead's sight overlapped with his own. It was still uncomfortable, but this time he was prepared for it.
He forced himself to focus only on the undead's view.
Ryan slowly guided the creature closer to the door and had it reach for the handle. He hesitated for a brief moment — if there was another one of those things standing just outside, sending the undead in blind was a risk.
But waiting forever wouldn't change anything.
Ryan sent the command and the undead pushed the door open.
The handle turned with a faint click and the door creaked apart just enough for the creature to slip through. Ryan held his breath as the hallway came into view through the undead's eyes.
The corridor looked exactly the same as before, empty and silent, but the silence didn't comfort him. It made his skin crawl.
The undead stepped forward into the hallway and Ryan slowly guided it down the corridor, scanning both directions through its vision.
Nothing moved.
The door where the screaming had come from earlier was still half open, the inside dark and quiet.
Ryan hesitated again, then pushed past it. He needed information. He sent the ash figure toward the doorway step by step, and without realizing it he leaned slightly forward in his room, his body unconsciously mirroring the undead's careful movement.
The creature reached the door and pushed it open wider. Ryan's stomach tightened as the inside of the room came into view.
The room looked like a tornado had passed through it. A desk flipped over, the bed frame bent sideways, and on the floor lay a body. A girl. Or what remained of one. He recognized her immediately as his neighbor's girlfriend from down the hall.
North University had no strict rules about opposite-gender visits. Seeing girls in the male dorm was normal.
Ryan's stomach lurched. Even through the undead's eyes, the sight hit him like a physical blow.
Blood covered the tiles in a dark spreading pool. The undead stepped closer, and then Ryan saw movement.
Something crouched beside the body with its back to the door, shoulders jerking slightly as it tore pieces of flesh from the corpse with wet, tearing sounds. Ryan's breathing stopped as the thing froze.
Its head turned slowly. Cloudy grey eyes found the doorway, blood dripping from its mouth, and it stared directly toward the entrance.
Ryan's pulse exploded in his ears.
For one long second neither moved. When Ryan had the ash solider take a step back, the creature suddenly lunged.
Ryan reacted instantly, pulling the ash soldier back just as the mutated human slammed into the doorframe with terrifying speed, the impact shaking the wall. The monster let out a hoarse, broken shriek and stumbled into the hallway, and even through the undead's body Ryan could sense how fast it was.
He sent the ash figure sprinting down the corridor immediately, the creature charging close behind with feet pounding against the floor. Despite being physically safe in his room, the shared vision made the danger feel painfully real.
As the undead rounded the corner of the hallway with the creature following instantly, Ryan's mind ran through his options. If the ash soldier died he would only lose the summon, but if he fled the room himself and failed he would die. He could also sense, though he hadn't yet tested it, that he could recall the undead from this distance.
His eyes hardened and he sent the command through the mental link. The ash soldier stopped running and turned just as the creature hit mid-charge.
Ryan forced the undead to step forward and bone met flesh with a sharp crack. The creature staggered slightly from the impact but did not fall, and a chill moved through Ryan.
It was stronger than he expected, but not invincible.
The creature roared and came in low again, arms outstretched and mouth hanging open in a crazed snarl. The ash soldier shifted sideways just enough for the creature to miss its throat. The monster's shoulder crashed into its ribs instead, sending both staggering into the corridor wall with a dull crack.
Ryan pushed harder through the connection, directing the ash figure's movements as clearly as he could, and the longer the shared vision lasted the less unbearable it became.
The creature spun around and lunged again. This time the ash soldier met it head-on, its bony hand shooting forward and slamming into the mutated human's face. The impact snapped the thing's head back, but it only recoiled for a second before surging in again like a rabid animal.
Ryan's thoughts sharpened.
"Hit the head."
The ash soldier twisted, avoiding the wild grab that came for its neck, then drove an elbow into the side of the monster's skull. The mutated human staggered but stayed upright, so Ryan pressed again. The undead followed immediately, its skeletal fingers hooking around the creature's shoulder to hold it in place while the other arm came up in a brutal arc. The strike landed squarely against the temple and the creature's legs buckled.
Ryan didn't stop there. Another blow smashed into its head, and another, and the final strike crushed inward with a sickening sound before the mutated human collapsed. Its body spasmed once, then went still.
Ryan held the ash soldier in place for a moment longer, making sure the thing truly was dead. Then a panel flashed in his vision.
[Mutated Human slain. EXP gained.]
So the undead's kill still counted for him. Before he could dwell on it, new sounds echoed through the corridor. Fast footsteps, multiple sets, followed by the crash of several doors bursting open almost at once farther down the hall.
Low growls filled the air.
Through the undead's eyes Ryan caught glimpses of movement at both ends of the corridor. At least three figures, no, four, maybe more beyond the corner. His heart lurched. Too many.
He remembered the mark on his palm then, that faint connection he had felt but not yet tested at range. He sent the command without hesitating.
"Return."
The ash soldier dissolved instantly, its body breaking apart into a burst of grey ash just as the first of the charging creatures reached it. Their claws sliced through empty air. The ash spiraled upward, rushed down the corridor, slipped through the partially open dorm door, and shot back into Ryan's palm like smoke being pulled into a vacuum.
Ryan stumbled back from the mental recoil and softly slammed the door shut with both hands. His breathing turned ragged.
Outside, the creatures crashed into the corridor where the ash soldier had been moments earlier, one letting out a frustrated shriek while another slammed into the wall hard enough to rattle the doorframes.
Ryan locked his door as fast as his shaking fingers allowed, then backed away and stared at the entrance as if expecting it to burst open any second.
It didn't.
The mutated humans roamed the hallway for several tense seconds, their footsteps erratic, their growls low and hungry, and then little by little the noises began to drift away again.
Ryan slowly unclenched his fists. His entire back was damp with sweat. He squeezed his eyes shut and forced himself to calm down, breathing slowly until his heartbeat settled, and only then did he pull up his status.
[Status — Ryan Ashford | Level: 1 | EXP: 7%]
[Strength: 12 (+4) | Agility: 11 (+4) | Vitality: 9 | Focus: 7]
[Skill: Undead Engraving Lv.1 | Basic Detection]
Seven percent. Before the fight it had been five.
After a moment's thought, curiosity got the better of Ryan and he said "Summon" aloud.
Grey ash leaked from his palm and gathered until the ash soldier took shape once more.
[Undead: Ash Soldier | Bound to: Ryan Ashford | Level: 1 | EXP: 3%]
[Strength: 8 | Agility: 9 | Vitality: 8 | Focus: 2]
So that was how it worked. Not only had an EXP bar appeared on the undead's panel, it was already filled with a small amount of progress. If the system worked the way any game did, both of them reaching a hundred percent would mean leveling up.
Based on the numbers so far, killing mutated humans himself would take roughly nineteen more kills to reach level two. Relying entirely on the ash soldier would require closer to forty-five kills for the same result, since the experience appeared to split between them.
Either way, killing was unavoidable. The thought disturbed Ryan, but by now he had partly accepted the new reality. If he didn't kill those things they would kill him, and if he waited and did nothing while his older sister was still alive somewhere out there needing help, she would have no one coming. That was unacceptable.
He looked at his palm. He could still remember the burning pain from when Mark's corpse had turned to ash and carved itself into his skin, and it hadn't just been pain. It had felt like something was taken from him in exchange.
Maybe it was mana, maybe it was Focus as listed on his panel, or maybe some hidden resource the system hadn't shown him yet. Whatever it was, he couldn't just engrave endlessly even if he had open slots remaining, and he still didn't know exactly where the limit was.
His gaze drifted toward the dorm door. Beyond it, somewhere in the hallway, lay the corpse of the mutated human his ash soldier had just killed.
A thought slowly surfaced.
If a corpse he killed could become an Undead Mark, then what about that one outside?
Ryan felt a flicker of excitement rise in his chest, cutting through the fear that had been weighing him down. "If it works," he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper. Another servant. More safety. The idea alone steadied him.
He exhaled slowly, forcing himself to stay grounded, then moved back toward the door and leaned his eye against the peephole.
Bloodstains and scattered marks along the floor, but no movement. The corridor was empty, or at least it looked empty. The mutants had likely drifted away, probably chasing other sounds in the building.
He hesitated for just a second, then stepped back and focused on the ash soldier. "Go out. Bring it back." The undead turned immediately.
Ryan reached for the connection again and the second vision snapped into place, still uncomfortable and unnatural, but manageable now. The ash soldier moved forward, grasped the handle, and the door creaked open just enough for it to slip through. Through its eyes the hallway returned, still empty, the bloodstains clearer now and dark.
Ryan guided the undead forward step by step, slow and careful, scanning every shadow and corner as it went. The body lay a short distance down the corridor, exactly where it had fallen. Ryan's heartbeat quickened as the ash soldier reached it and crouched down. Its hands gripped the corpse, and after a moment it lifted.
The body dragged slightly against the floor as the undead turned and began moving back, and every second felt too long.
Ryan kept scanning through its vision, checking left, right, every corner and doorway. Nothing moved. The dorm room came back into view and the ash soldier stepped inside, pulling the corpse across the threshold before Ryan sent the command to close the door. The latch clicked shut and silence returned.
Ryan let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. His heart was still racing, but this time it wasn't just fear. It was anticipation.
He raised his hand, looked at the skull tattoo on his palm, and stepped closer to the body.
"Undead Engraving."
The moment his palm touched the corpse the reaction was immediate. Grey dust spread rapidly from the point of contact, crawling across the skin like frost, swallowing flesh, bone, and blood alike.
Then the pain struck. Ryan's jaw clenched hard enough to ache, but he didn't make a sound.
It stopped after a few seconds. The ash vanished and the room fell silent.
Ryan exhaled slowly and lowered his hand, his arm trembling slightly from the lingering sensation, and then noticed a dull warmth spreading across his abdomen.
He frowned and lifted his shirt. A second skull tattoo sat etched into the right side of his stomach, distinct from the first.
"So it doesn't stack in one place," Ryan noted and pulled up his status.
[Status — Ryan Ashford | Level: 1 | EXP: 7%]
[Strength: 15 (+7) | Agility: 14 (+7) | Vitality: 10 (+1) | Focus: 8 (+1)]
[Skill: Undead Engraving Lv.1 | Basic Detection | Engravings: 2/5]
Ryan froze. Before, his total bonus had been plus four. Now it was plus seven, not plus eight. Only plus three from the second engraving.
He flexed his fingers slowly. The strength was there and clearly real, his body undeniably stronger than before, but the increase was smaller.
Ryan's brows furrowed as he turned it over in his mind. The numbers were accurate, but perhaps they didn't capture everything. The next mark would likely give even less or the same, but it would still make him stronger, and across all five slots the passive benefit alone would push him well beyond a normal human.
He also noticed that Vitality and Focus had each gained a single point, a smaller change, but it was there. Two engraved undead just to gain a single point in each.
Then he noticed something else.
A faint hollowness sitting somewhere beneath his chest, as if a part of him had been drained. He had ignored it before because the excitement had covered it up, but now that he paid attention it was obvious.
The engraving had cost him something. It wasn't stamina and it wasn't health. He was almost certain now.
"Mana," he murmured, or whatever passed for mana in this new world. Focus was listed on his panel and the description had mentioned energy, so maybe that had something to do with it.
Whatever it was, Ryan could feel the limit. He stayed still for a moment, trying to estimate it, then reached a rough conclusion.
One more engraving at most before he pushed too far. It wasn't certainty, just instinct, but that instinct felt strong enough to trust.
Ryan slowly sat back down on the edge of the bed. The room was quiet again, save for the rain tapping against the window and the faint distant sounds that sometimes drifted through the dormitory.
"Rest first. Recover whatever this energy was, then move."
If it came back with time, Ryan's next steps were clear: fill the remaining engraving slots, then get out of the dorm.
He could not stay here forever.
Even if the door held and the mutants outside couldn't see well, this room was still a trap, and food, water, and luck would all run out eventually.
His thoughts moved toward his sister and he stopped them there. One step at a time.