Global Survival: I Have Endless Skeletons-Chapter 179: He’s Back.

Thoren stood on a small hill overlooking the human settlement in the distance.

For a moment, he simply stared.

He had not expected to be transported so close to a human settlement after the battle.

"I suppose I can say my goodbyes before I depart for the surface," he muttered quietly.

With that thought, he began walking toward the town.

A gentle breeze swept across the plains, brushing against his long silver hair.

The strands fluttered lightly behind him, while his deep blue eyes glowed with a calm yet mesmerizing brilliance.

As he walked, he observed his surroundings carefully.

Something about the world felt different.

Even though he was still hundreds of meters away from the town, he could clearly see everything happening at the gate as if it were occurring only a few steps away.

Guards stood watch atop the wooden platform.

Awakeners were entering and leaving through the open gate.

Every detail was perfectly clear.

Thoren slowed his pace slightly, surprised by the clarity of his vision.

But that was not the only difference.

He could sense everything within several hundred meters around him.

The faint buzzing of bees moving from flower to flower.

The chirping of insects hidden among the grass.

Even the tiny rodents scurrying beneath the roadside shrubs.

Nothing escaped his awareness.

It felt as though his senses had expanded in every direction.

Previously, he had felt as though he was viewing the world through a narrow, two–dimensional lens.

Now everything had depth.

The world had become vibrant and alive.

Three–dimensional.

Colorful.

Bright.

Thoren continued walking for several more steps before suddenly stopping.

His brow creased slightly.

"I knew I was forgetting something," he murmured with sudden realization.

He had not yet checked his status after his transformation.

"I never checked my status after my evolution," he mused.

Without hesitation, he summoned the familiar translucent panel.

[Name: Thoren Starfall]

[Occupation: Necromancer]

[Rank: Bronze]

[Level: ?? (Available on the Second Floor)]

[Attributes: Strength 40, Agility 34, Constitution 39, Intelligence 70, Perception 57, Charm 32]

[Awakened Soul: 1]

[Skills: Undead Summoning, Bone Manipulation]

[Talent: EX-Rank Undead Space]

[Sub-Talent: SSS-Rank Soul Lantern of the Eternal Crypt]

[Abyss Market: Unavailable (Available on the Second Floor)]

[Unassigned Attribute Points: 0]

"Huh!"

A sharp gasp escaped his lips the moment he saw the numbers.

Thoren halted completely, staring at the floating panel in front of him.

"H-How..."

For several seconds, he neither moved nor blinked.

The changes in his statistics stunned him to the core.

His rank had changed.

Iron Rank was gone.

He had become Bronze Rank.

But that was not what shocked him the most.

Every single one of his attributes had increased by twenty points.

Twenty.

It was an unbelievable increase.

He had expected improvements after evolving, but nothing this drastic.

His gaze slowly dropped to another line.

"Awakened Soul..." he whispered.

His voice trembled slightly.

"So... my Spirit has evolved into an Awakened Soul."

The realization sent a strange wave of excitement through his body.

He had suspected that the invisible shackles around his soul had been broken during the evolution process, but seeing the proof written directly in his status made the truth undeniable.

The transformation had elevated him to an entirely new level of existence.

It took him several moments to calm himself down.

"This is... quite the surprise," he said with a faint grin.

Then he closed the panel and resumed walking toward the settlement.

Who could have imagined that a single evolution would bring about such profound changes?

The thought still felt unreal.

Not long afterward, he noticed a group of awakeners returning from a hunt outside the town.

They were chatting casually among themselves while carrying the corpses of several beasts.

One of the young men in the group suddenly noticed Thoren approaching from the road.

"Who’s that?" he asked, pointing in Thoren’s direction.

The rest of the party turned to look.

The moment their eyes landed on Thoren, their expressions froze.

A shiver ran through their bodies.

Merely looking at him filled them with an indescribable sense of oppression.

"T-This..." one of them whispered.

Their muscles stiffened instantly.

Their hearts began pounding violently against their chests like war drums.

It felt as though they were standing before a higher life form.

An existence far above them.

None of them dared to move.

They wanted to step aside.

They wanted to run.

But their bodies refused to obey their commands.

Cold sweat began soaking their backs.

Meanwhile, Thoren noticed the group and frowned slightly.

"What happened to them?" he wondered.

Their reaction puzzled him.

He continued walking toward them, intending to greet them.

But before he could speak.

"P-Please... don’t kill us..."

The trembling voice came from one of the awakeners.

The short sentence seemed to drain all the strength from his body as he continued shaking uncontrollably.

Sweat dripped down his pale face.

Thoren blinked in confusion.

He looked at the five awakeners standing before him.

They were trembling as though facing a terrifying monster.

"What’s going on?" he wondered internally.

It was obvious that they were not pretending.

Their fear was completely genuine.

"But I didn’t attack them," he thought.

He considered questioning them.

However, when he saw that they were on the verge of a mental breakdown, he changed his mind.

There was no point frightening them further.

With a small shake of his head, he simply walked past them and continued toward the town gate.

Only after he had moved several meters away did the group collapse to the ground.

They fell onto their backsides, breathing heavily.

"I have never been that terrified in my entire life," one of them muttered.

The others nodded silently in agreement.

Meanwhile, Thoren continued walking toward the settlement.

But the closer he got to the town, the stranger the situation became.

Every person he passed along the road reacted the same way.

Each of them looked as though they had just seen a terrifying monster.

"Is there something on my face that scares them?" Thoren wondered.

At first, he had thought the previous group was simply strange.

But now it was happening repeatedly.

Every person he encountered reacted with the same intense fear.

Some even looked as though they wished the ground would open and swallow them whole.

Finally, when he was only a few meters away from the town gate, he stopped walking.

A thought suddenly crossed his mind.

"Could it be... because of my Awakened Soul?" he murmured. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

The moment the idea appeared in his mind, it immediately made sense.

That was the only major change that had occurred within his body.

His spirit had evolved.

If that evolution had elevated his existence to a higher level, then weaker awakeners might instinctively feel suppressed in his presence.

"Yes... that must be it," he concluded.

With that realization, he focused his attention inward.

He concentrated on his soul and slowly tried to suppress the aura radiating from it.

Gradually, the invisible pressure around him faded.

Only then did he resume walking toward the gate.

When the town guards noticed him approaching, their eyes widened in surprise.

But this time, there was no fear in their expressions.

Instead, they looked shocked.

"T-The Grim Reaper..." one of the guards whispered under his breath.

His hand trembled slightly as he gripped his spear.

Then he pointed toward Thoren.

"...He’s back."