A simple status, yet it encompassed everything.
He was the Bone Alchemist. His ability to create undead constructs no longer had a set limit, and his mastery over the law allowed him to operate freely.
After admiring himself long enough, Jeremy turned his senses to the surrounding environment.
He no longer needed skills or anything of the sort. It was as if the world itself was feeding him the most relevant information about everything around him.
He saw the battle the headmistress herself was waging against the three Rank S monsters, but he also sensed that a battle had taken place long before.
"Demons?" the boy muttered, surprised at his own knowledge of such creatures. "So that's how it went…"
"All of this, everything that's happening, it's their doing. It's no coincidence the world changed so suddenly."
"But this—" Jeremy continued, smiling from ear to ear, "This changes everything. Boredom will be the least of my worries."
At that point, everything began to fall into place in Jeremy's mind, like the pieces of a puzzle being assembled.
And with those thoughts, he stepped out of the room. The only sound echoing through the building was the rhythmic thud of his own footsteps.
His bone-crafted soles were there just to set the mood, after all.
Once outside, the gruesome scene of death and destruction didn't faze Jeremy much.
The nearby monsters saw him and attacked without hesitation.
Jeremy didn't even bother to look at them.
With a simple wave of his hand, the approaching monsters were decapitated.
But the cut was nothing like one would expect.
The flesh hadn't been sliced from the outside in.
The beasts' skulls seemed to have been severed starting directly from the bone.
Such was Jeremy's control over bones. He could be considered omnipotent against anyone who hadn't unlocked a law—be they Rank F or A.
"You leveled Up"
"You leveled Up"
"You leve…"
Even the leveling system had changed. Once the EXP limit was reached, he would level up instantly.
He had no more Rank Ups left to go through, after all. He could simply enjoy his power—and destroy everything.
But before doing that, Jeremy took his time studying the Rank S Gates.
"So it's true," he said after observing the Gates. "The world I was teleported to at the start of my journey… was even more powerful than a Rank S Gate. Those guys weren't lying, after all. There really are humans stronger than Rank S in there."
More monsters charged at him relentlessly, but Jeremy didn't care. They died the moment they got close enough—but not like the earlier beasts. This was different. Their bones exploded into tiny fragments.
The monsters just collapsed to the ground, lifeless.
But that didn't scare the beasts. They were furious, almost incapable of recognizing the overwhelming power radiating from the human before them.
And so they kept dying, while Jeremy kept leveling up.
"I've said it once already, but I'll say it again," Jeremy muttered, staring at the carnage he was causing. "I'm getting strong way too fast."
As if to contradict him, a Rank A monster, fiercer and larger than the rest, approached Jeremy.
It was a Slime—massive. Jeremy looked it straight in the face, but it didn't seem to have one.
He could only see the inside of the monster. A multitude of human and monster figures were trapped within it.
In particular, one figure—a man—seemed to be alive. He was struggling, trying to escape, but the monster was digesting him in real-time.
"You're still alive?" Jeremy murmured to himself. "Don't worry, I'll save you… from your suffering!"
And with a wave of his hand and a grin on his face, all the bones inside the monster's prisoners exploded—and so did the Slime itself. A mess of blood, bones, flesh, and slime bits filled the area.
Then—
"You leveled Up"
"You leve…"
A series of Level Up notifications flooded in.
He had just killed his first human—but Jeremy didn't care. It had simply been… fun.
Not that he was about to start killing every human around him. That had just been a special case… maybe.
"Well then, it's time to intervene—like a messiah saving the people from destruction."
Jeremy raised his arms to the sky, palms open. His one visible eye gleamed with light, while the golden symbols on his robe shimmered.
"Bone Legion, rise!"
At that moment, as if he had just cast a spell of unimaginable magnitude and power, every single carcass in the area around him began to stir.
Or rather—
The bones within them came to life. The flesh simply exploded outward, leaving behind only the beautiful, pristine bone.
And so, countless skeletons, ready for slaughter, charged toward their targets.
The monsters.
Jeremy's robes continued to glow, as if the spell had yet to end.
In fact, with each step he took, more skeletons rose from the bones of the beasts around him.
Step by step, he approached the heart of the battlefield, where thousands of human beings fought in desperation.
Their faces were etched with panic and resignation.
Thousands more had already died, hoping that something—anything—might change. But nothing had.
Even though they had slain tens upon tens of thousands of monsters, the creatures seemed endless.
But then—
From the corpses of monsters near them, masses of bone shaped like the monsters they had once been emerged as if by magic. Just as deeper panic began to take root in the hearts of the humans, these skeletal beasts charged the enemy monsters.
It was a massacre.
"Wonderful!" Jeremy's expression was one of pure ecstasy. He was enthralled by his power—or rather, the power of his summons. They, too, could no longer be classified in conventional terms. Like him, they were in a completely different league from the rabble of this world.
Jeremy's level continued to climb—higher and higher. He had already reached level 60. It was incredible, the fastest leveling up in history.
Then a thought formed in his mind, and his power responded immediately to his will.
Why should only the monsters have the honor of joining the Bone Legion?
"Let's give this chance to humans, too." A twisted smile spread across his face and then—
Countless human-shaped skeletons appeared on the battlefield.
Their power was different from that of monsters. They seemed more intelligent, more capable of executing battle tactics—not that they needed to.
Their fighting style focused more on the use of their skills. The ones they had while alive.
Jeremy saw skeletons wielding light, some casting healing spells—though these had no effect on the other skeletons, of course. They couldn't be healed that way.
"Ah," Jeremy said, glancing at the humans with tired faces and battered bodies. "We must show mercy."
And so, the skeletons with healing powers simply healed the wounded humans—which meant all of them. After all, these skeletons were no longer bound by the Ranks they held in life. They were all at a monstrous level.
With a single spell, all the humans in the vicinity seemed to be reborn.
Then, as if that wasn't enough, countless buffs were stacked onto them and the Bone Legion.
The humans were stunned—suddenly more powerful, energized, and reinvigorated.
The only thing they wanted to do in that moment was to destroy the monsters that had backed them into a corner just moments before.
But they couldn't. All the monsters were already dead.
And as if that weren't enough to process, the humans watched these masses of bone form into squads and march straight into the Gates.
The humans were paralyzed by the sight.
After all, there were simply too many skeletons. Every monster that died was added to the Bone Legion in skeletal form.
And each skeleton was as strong as a Rank A monster.
Of course, they couldn't be considered Rank S—they didn't possess a law to rely on.
In fact, the way to surpass Rank A was by understanding one's own law. These skeletons, even though physically stronger than most Rank A monsters, couldn't compare to a true Rank S.
Some skeletons were destroyed under the attacks of a few Rank A monsters. After all, these monsters had all been enhanced, evolved, and were far stronger than normal.
But that was it. The number of skeletons destroyed could be counted in the dozens—but it didn't matter. They would simply reform. There was nothing the monsters could do unless they completely destroyed the bones.
But they couldn't, so…
Total destruction was all that awaited them.