Kenji continued along the forest floor, retracing his steps to his grave. He began to look for any sort of clue that could trace back the origin of the skeleton body's original host and provide clues to a nearby town.
Using the power of the A.I. chip, he analyzes the coffin completely, including any small scratches or engravings. Doing so, he managed to scrape away a woolen cloak, which seemed to be almost glued to the side of the coffin, before properly covering his body.
"AI Chip, determine the nearest village to my proximity." He mumbled.
[A.I. IS SUCCESSFUL IN DETERMINING A POSSIBLE AREA OF LOCATION BY SCANNING POLLEN IN THE AIR AND TRACKING THE DNA BACK TO A POSSIBLE REGION BASED ON THE WOODEN COFFIN'S MATERIAL COMPOSITION.]
[MARKED AREA ON GPS]
After hearing this confirmation of what to do next, Kenji smiled inwardly and was glad that he had a tool as useful as the A.I. chip. So far, his survival has been entirely dependent on its existence, yet it has asked for nothing in return. If anything, Kenji was a bit suspicious, but he learned not to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Kenji continued onward, following the instructions of the AI, until he finally came across a dirt road after an hour of constant running. From what he knew, it was probably best for him to hide, and he ran along the road, making sure to keep track of it to avoid any enemies he might encounter.
Sooner or later, he came across tracks in the road that looked relatively fresh, which led him to believe he was close to a village.
Excited, he gave up on hiding on the forest side of the road and simply continued to run on the dirt road. He managed to almost double his speed by not having to worry about tripping.
Kenji finally began to hear people talking and began to slow himself down to avoid surprising them. He believed he could pass himself off as a sickly, starving vagrant to anyone passing by.
But as Kenji finally managed to pass the bend in the road, he came to a grim realization at what he saw!
A group of bandits had set up camp in the middle of the road, with their horses tied to nearby trees and a fire roaring in the center. Kenji could see the glint of weapons and the greedy expressions on their faces as they talked about their latest victory and the riches they had pillaged from a nearby town.
Kenji knew he couldn't just walk past them without being noticed, but he also couldn't risk getting into a fight with them. He tried to backtrack and find another way around, but the forest was too thick to navigate through quickly.
Suddenly, one of the bandits spotted him and called out, saying with a sneer, "Hey you, what are you doing here?" "Come join us by the fire!"
Kenji hesitated, but then decided to approach them cautiously, hoping to find a way to escape. As he got closer, he noticed that the bandits were heavily armed and outnumbered him. But he was determined not to give up without a fight.
"Who are you guys?" he asked, trying to keep his voice steady.
"We're the Red Wolves," replied the bandit leader with a wicked grin. "The most feared band of thieves in these parts. And you're trespassing on our territory."
"Heh, aye, it doesn't look like he has much on him, boss."
"We can't let every Dick and Tom think that they can just walk all over us, can we now?" The boss guffawed.
Kenji tried to reason with them, but they were in no mood to listen. They attacked him without warning, and he found himself outnumbered and outmatched.
Soon one of his arms was dismembered, and his legs followed before he fell to the ground and seemed to disassemble.
Seemingly satisfied, the bandits walked up to my body before panicking and dropping my skeletal limbs.
"Boss, this thing was not human!"
"It was talking to us!", "This isn't a normal necromancer's summon!"
"You!" He pointed to the nearest bandit and ordered him to bundle me up and throw me somewhere in the forest.
As the bandits left, tossing Kenji's remains into the dense forest, he lie there, motionless. But even in his lifeless state, his AI chip was still active, and it began to scan the area for any signs of life.
It was then that the chip detected the presence of a nearby cow. It had been grazing in a clearing not too far away. Kenji's chip analyzed the cow's milk and determined that it had the necessary nutrients and minerals to help repair his skeletal structure.
Kenji's chip instructed him to crawl towards the cow, which he did, using his remaining limbs to drag himself along the forest floor. When he finally reached the cow, he used his remaining arm to pull himself up to its udder and began to drink its milk.
As he drank, he could feel his bones beginning to mend themselves. The milk was like a miracle cure, and with each drop of milk, he felt himself growing stronger.
After 20 minutes of "drinking", Kenji felt as good as new. His limbs had regrown, and he was once again a complete skeleton. He stood up and looked around, scanning the area for any signs of the bandits, but they were long gone.
After getting this much milk, he began to experiment with his strength in order to avoid the previous scenario. He hurriedly absorbed his old limbs and then he patted the cow a few times before he walked to the nearest tree, prepared his fist, and charged at the tree with all his might.
*THUD*
"I am an idiot."
[AFFIRMATIVE]
Ignoring the AI chip, he stood up and glanced at the tree, which was undecidedly intact. Staring at his fist, he soon began to develop an idea.
Once again preparing to charge the tree, he focused on channeling all of his extra body mass in calcium to his fist, and the A.I. chip gave an analysis.
[FIST DETERMINED TO BE QUADRUPLE THE HARDENING STRENGTH OF HOST!]
He launched his fist at the tree!
*BANG*
His calcified skeletal fist left a large indent going four inches into the tree!
While at first not seemingly impressive, it was not minutes ago before his strength was about half that of a regular human!
"Hah... the power of calcium is really exaggerated in this world."