Wind of Sighs!
So that’s it, I made the right gamble…
Looks like it really is because the World of the Dead only spans a hundred li right now… As they say, the smaller the volume, the easier it is for a qualitative change to occur.
Just like how an ant can lift something a thousand times its own weight, but for a human, that’s nothing but a pipe dream.
As Ileya pondered…
Below, in that ashen land, there was suddenly some commotion.
Creak creak creak… pop!
Nourished by souls and caressed by the Wind of Sighs, pale bone hands burst from the ground like bamboo shoots after a rain!
Their terrifying momentum and numbers were enough to make even the once-fierce and frenzied Zombie Wolves withdraw and huddle together in a corner untouched by bone hands.
Very soon, these bone hands moved again, bracing against the earth, and half their bodies broke through the soil.
And Ileya noticed.
Among the first batch of Skeletons that emerged… there were some normal, human-shaped Skeletons, but most were a bit short, with flat heads and sharp teeth.
Although their appearance was rather abstract, the Lady could still tell—they had the skulls of Cave-Dwellers!
Could it be… because I used mostly Cave-Dweller souls?”
Ileya stroked her chin, but… her crimson eyes looked down below.
More than ten minutes passed, and about several hundred Skeletons with Soulfire burning in their eye sockets had crawled up.
It made this gray hill a little livelier.
But these guys were pitifully weak. If an ordinary adult could overcome their fear, a single swing would scatter three or four of them.
They didn’t even count as Level 1 undead; they were cannon fodder among cannon fodder.
Feeling the Wind of Sighs still blowing down upon her head, Ileya nodded slowly.
But with the Wind of Sighs here, at least this place could now truly be called… a bona fide “Kingdom of the Dead”.
Er… but since it’s only a hundred li, maybe “County of the Dead” would be more appropriate.
With these thoughts in her mind, Ileya floated in midair… bathed in the legendary Goddess’s Sigh, and began to meditate.
Time ticked by bit by bit…
As a soul-soothing, trembling sense of clarity washed through her entire body.
The Lady’s eyes snapped open!
She’d broken through—now she… was already a second-tier Necromancer…
And at this moment, the awakened Ileya also noticed that, on the ground below… the Skeletons, once quite dense, were now a lot sparser.
There were many scattered, broken bones on the ground.
Correspondingly… the remaining Skeletons were all stronger than when they were just born…
Some were even wielding their fellows’ leg bones and breastbones as weapons.
Were they… killing each other and devouring their souls?
As expected of savage undead creatures~
Ileya didn’t stop this. It could be considered… survival of the fittest.
She needed at least decent cannon fodder, and these little Skeletons… clearly couldn’t even serve as that right now.
[Grrr… grrr grrr…]
At that moment, just as Ileya was about to leave the Kingdom of the Dead… she heard a strange sound.
It was noisy, like many people shouting, screaming…
Honestly… her tolerance for such indescribable noises was very low, but Ileya still turned her head, frowning in the direction the sound came from.
With that one glance, she saw… on the side of the slope, countless arms, like those of a thousand corpses, stretched out from the barrier of black mist!
They… looked like moss growing on a black wall, or like prisoners locked in a cage, reaching their hands out for rescue.
These… are the “Soul Pivots”?!
Seeing those arms like a thousand corpses, Ileya understood almost instantly what these things were.
With a mix of thirty percent unease and seventy percent curiosity…
The Lady slowly floated up to the slope at the border.
These arms stretched from the black mist seemed to notice her, waving and howling… as if trying even harder.
Are they… asking me to touch them?
Ileya raised an eyebrow… Is this because I’ve advanced to the second tier?
She was silent for a few seconds, then reached toward the nearest shriveled arm…
Slap! As her hands clasped together, information appeared in the Lady’s mind just as before!
Basic Necromancer’s Magic [Bone Armor]
Casts a layer of bone armor formed from Necromancer’s Magic on yourself or another, able to block damage and highly resistant to cold.
Bone spikes can also be generated on the armor to injure attackers.
Whew…
As Ileya withdrew her hand, the Soul Pivot of [Bone Armor] seemed to let out a sound of relieved comfort…
The next moment, it turned to flying ash and disappeared.
So that’s how it is…
Compared to before, it’s much easier to accept now… and my head doesn’t hurt as much.
It was still like a Skill Book from a game, the information directly branded into Ileya’s mind.
But aside from that, Ileya also received some emotions from the [Soul Pivot].
That was despair, endless despair.
Before, her understanding had actually been too subjective.
It wasn’t that the barrier of black mist appeared only after she took full control of this Kingdom of the Dead.
Rather… only after she took control of this “Kingdom of the Dead” did this hundred-li stretch of land appear—without the black mist!
The reason she was so muddle-headed and confused when she first entered was precisely because she was in that black mist…
That wasn’t the border of her territory, but the original state of this world.
“Hm…” Ileya nodded, looking at the countless still-remaining, withered arms ahead.
Once again, she reached out…
Basic Necromancer’s Magic [Bone Spear]
Conjures a sharp bone spear using Necromancer’s Magic.
Advanced Necromancer’s Magic [Soulfire Infusion]
Gathers Netherflame with Necromancer’s Magic, which can be infused into weapons and armor to increase their power.
Whew…
At the instant she learned the third spell, the Soul Pivots that had stretched through the barrier slowly withdrew their arms, ceasing their howls…
As if unable to sense Ileya anymore, they drifted off into the distance.
“So… this really is a benefit from my advancement?”
Muttering to herself…
Ileya gave one last glance at the aimlessly wandering Skeletons, then with a thought… vanished from this realm.
……
Night had fallen, and everyone else had gone to sleep one after another.
Reliel… slowly curled up under her blanket.
She had just done something rather bold.
That was…
Hoo… The girl slowly turned her head, looking at the Lady beside her, who seemed to have “lost her breath”.
Normally… the Lady would sleep beside Veil.
But this time, she’d carried the “sleeping” Lady from her chair onto the bed…
And placed her at her own side.
Honestly… Reliel had never really understood.
Why does Ileya protect her? Why… does she always unconsciously pay attention to her?
No matter winning or losing, or… anything else.
She…
Felt so strange to her—both so close, and yet… so distant.
Such complicated feelings left the simple-minded girl’s thoughts in a jumble.
“You…”
Instinctively, Reliel reached out and gently clasped the hand of the person beside her…
In that instant, she felt the icy coldness of the other’s palm.
So cold… Instinctively, she pulled the Lady’s hand under her own covers.
“Mm…?”
Mmm!?
But right at that moment! Ileya let out a sleep-talking murmur!
She… she’s awake?!
Feeling the cool, icy hand, Reliel instantly panicked!
If she got caught doing this… it’d definitely be really weird, right!?
What should she do… What should she do!?
Her mind racing, the little mute girl did something a bit childish…
She tilted her head… and pretended to be asleep!