The next day, the Grand Elder convened another clan meeting and informed everyone in the village about the repair of the Holy Lantern.
As a raging fire burned, the Grand Elder stood at the entrance of the Clan House and spoke with passionate intensity.
“The grace of the Holy Lord has descended upon us once again! we are about to emerge from our hardships!”
With a soft hum, the Holy Lantern in the Grand Elder’s hand suddenly flared to life.
Sacred light surged from it, and a sense of warmth welled up from deep within everyone’s hearts.
Every single person present stared with burning eyes.
This was true light! It was completely different from the glow of their own fire pits!
In this Great Labyrinth, where had the Takins ever seen such brilliance?
In the sky, there was only the eternal, unchanging river of stars and the endless night!
After feeling the grace of the God of Nature, the crowd turned their gazes toward the pointed-eared girl with deep golden hair who sat at the highest seat of honor within the Clan House.
“Long live the Holy Lord! Long live the Holy Messenger!”
Under the Grand Elder’s intentional guidance, hundreds of Takins spontaneously began to shout, their voices shaking the heavens.
The Elf’s eyelid twitched slightly. She forcibly suppressed her guilt and raised a hand to wave.
‘I’m just moving my arm because it’s sore… I’m not greeting them…’
She convinced herself over and over. Fortunately, the Elf was mentally strong enough that, by the end, she actually believed it.
Hidden behind the hall, Lance heard the commotion and couldn’t help but marvel at the terrifying power of faith…
In times of crisis, faith truly could unite people’s hearts with incredible strength…
While Lance was lost in thought, the Takin Fourth Elder came trotting out from the basement of the Clan House.
“Lord Lance! This is the Flesh Essence you requested!”
Lance looked closely and saw the Takin Fourth Elder holding a clay jar.
It was only when the Elder reached him that Lance could see the contents clearly.
But with just one look, Lance quickly averted his eyes.
This was disgusting!
Inside the clay jar lay a lump of purplish-black flesh.
It appeared to have long since rotted, but because the Takins had preserved it well, no small white maggots were actually crawling on it.
However, even without those wriggling worms, the meat in the jar was squirming on its own, as if it still possessed a nervous system!
The Fourth Elder also took a glance, and an expression of disgust immediately appeared on his face.
He casually grabbed a piece of white cloth from a table, covered the mouth of the jar, and hurriedly handed it to Lance.
Lance took it and quickly moved it toward his Traveler’s Pocket, storing the jar of flesh inside.
After a few brief pleasantries, Lance prepared to return to his temporary room through the back door of the Clan House.
He asked in his mind:
‘Master, how do I use this thing? Do I need to prepare a ritual?’
In Lance’s view, turning from a Skeleton into a Ghoul was the kind of thing that, in dark magic novels, usually required a ritual to increase the success rate.
However, upon hearing Lance’s question, Falia said casually, “It isn’t that much trouble. No ritual is needed.”
‘Oh? Then what should I do?’
“Just find a place where no one is around and eat it…”
‘What? But I don’t have a stomach!’
Lance was horrified. Was he supposed to eat that wriggling lump of meat? And it was half-rotten too?
Detecting Lance’s psychological resistance, the Witch gave a light chuckle and said, “It’s fine. Just chew it into smaller pieces.”
Lance was speechless.
Seeing that Lance still wanted to say something, the Witch adopted a stern tone and began to lecture him.
“Can this even be considered an obstacle? You don’t even have a sense of taste! You must bind your soul within a body so that you can face the Dream Eater and find the path out of this village! Furthermore, if you remain a Skeleton forever, do you think you can return to Sifral City? Do you still want to reunite with your sister?”
Lance fell silent. He quickened his pace and rapidly returned to his room.
Through the doors and windows, he heard the Grand Elder announce the Demon Extermination Plan, followed by the boisterous cheers and enthusiastic responses of the Takins.
Lance opened his Traveler’s Pocket and summoned the jar containing the Flesh Essence again.
His Soulfire flickered for a moment. Lance reached out and slowly peeled back the white cloth.
After staring at the writhing lump of blood and meat for a long time, Lance reached up and removed his full set of Knight armor, revealing a skull with flickering green Soulfire burning in its sockets.
‘It’s still eating meat, after all. Just eat! I don’t usually get to eat, anyway!’
The persuasive words continued to echo in his mind.
Taking a deep breath, Lance finally reached out his hand, grabbed a piece, pinched it, and lifted it up.
The quiet room was soon filled with a crackle and crunch.
As time passed, the lump of meat in his hand gradually grew smaller and thinner.
After the meat was bitten off, a miraculous scene unfolded in the room.
Many of the meat fragments shrank rapidly as they fell through his ribcage; not even a tiny shred remained to fall near Lance’s tailbone.
However, even after Lance had finished his “feast,” he didn’t see any changes in himself.
As if anticipating Lance’s question, the Witch spoke first. “Don’t be in a hurry. It’s coming.”
As soon as the Witch finished speaking, a scalding sensation suddenly erupted from every part of Lance’s body.
Lance looked down and saw that his entire body was emitting scorching heat. Wisps of white mist steamed off his skeletal frame.
“What is thi— “
Before he could finish, the burning sensation increased exponentially. In less than 1 second, Lance felt as if his entire being had been tossed into molten lava!
The pain instantly tore through Lance’s sanity, causing him to let out a continuous, silent scream in his mind!
“AAAAHHHHH — “
Within those few seconds, deep red muscle and sinew abruptly appeared, rapidly connecting the various bones of Lance’s body.
Lance’s scream suddenly became physical. The sound actually erupted from a throat that was growing in his neck.
Lance had completely lost his reason and didn’t seem to notice this change.
Seeing this, and to avoid attracting the attention of the nearby Takins, Falia raised her elegant hand and manifested a blue magic circle out of thin air.
She directly summoned Lance’s consciousness into her own room, though she added several more spells to isolate his senses.
Lance collapsed directly at Falia’s feet.
His uncontrolled body fell stiffly, but the flesh on his frame continued to grow at a rapid pace.
Falia stepped on Lance’s chest, let out a sigh, and murmured, “How can you not even handle this much pain? I still need you to help me find my body… But it should be better after this… Promoting to a Blood Servant shouldn’t be painful…”
Driven by momentum, Lance continued to scream for a while longer before realizing the pain was gone.
He thought the promotion was complete.
“AAAAHHHHH — wait, is it finished?”
He hurriedly tried to see what was happening.
However, Lance’s vision was a vast expanse of gray; he couldn’t see anything.
‘What’s going on?’
He suddenly felt a slight pressure on his chest. Lance instinctively reached out his hand to scratch it.
He touched something that felt like skin—warm and smooth.
Lance was overjoyed, thinking that his chest had already grown flesh and skin.
He immediately spread his five fingers to grab it.
Falia, who was leaning her head on her hand in thought, felt her body shudder.
She hurriedly looked down.
She saw Lance reaching out his hand to stroke her ankle.
Startled, Falia quickly lifted her leg, preparing to pull her foot back.
Sensing the skin “struggling” to escape, Lance was shocked!
‘Don’t leave! My flesh!’
Anxious, Lance lunged to grab the “skin” that was trying to run away.
Falia couldn’t dodge in time, and her small, delicate foot was caught firmly in Lance’s grasp.
Her slender body trembled. How could Falia have ever experienced something like this?
A crimson flush rapidly climbed her cheeks. Tears shimmered in her eyes, making her amber pupils sparkle even more.
In her shame and anger, Falia quickly conjured a magic circle and, without the slightest hesitation, threw Lance’s consciousness out.
The smooth, soft skin in Lance’s hand vanished instantly, and his consciousness became illusory.
After a moment, Lance slowly opened his eyes.
This time, the previously gray world was filled with color once again.
Lance raised his hand to look and found that his palm indeed had flesh and skin, though it appeared somewhat dull in color.
He reached up and felt the skin.
“Wait… why is it so rough?”