Secrets

It feels like Denise was cursing those students but she certainly was not. It was according to her experience last year when a bunch of students went out.

Weeks or months later, many of them would return as corpses.

"That's good news. Ah, no! That's... that's quite sad to hear..." Kyle immediately corrected himself.

However, Denise was already giggling as she put down her cup of tea.

She already knows that Kyle has some sort of fetish regarding corpses so she didn't really mind his reaction.

"Right, are you curious why the corpses are being cremated?" Denise suddenly asked with a teasing smile.

Kyle started scratching his chin as he tried to recall anything about this in the book he read before.

Unfortunately, he couldn't remember anything related to the death of Dark Arts Practitioners. Then, he decided to make a guess.

"Isn't it for fuel? Their bodies still have some sort of mystical power so the Academy is thinking of using them instead of wasting them…" Kyle tried to guess.

He didn't really think too deeply about this matter since he thought that it was not that important.

However, upon seeing Denise's smug face after he replied, it seemed that it wasn't only that.

"Is it not something I can learn from the book? Tell me about it if you know more."

"Your cold pudding is mine for the next whole week."

"Deal…" Kyle answered with a sigh. In any case, the cold pudding will only be served twice or thrice a week during lunch.

Denise clapped her hands after hearing this.

"Great! I only learned of this after hearing it from my sister when she was still here. She mentioned that anyone who had consumed the Darkness Possession Potion and died later would have their bodies possessed by an evil spirit. They would transform and become evil creatures. No matter how many years had passed after consuming the potion, it will happen. She said that there are no exceptions."

Denise explained, stunning Kyle for a moment.

'Our body will become a vessel of evil spirits after death?'

Kyle didn't expect something sinister to happen even after his death. Luckily, he wasn't immediately cremated after 'dying' and was transported instead, giving him time to resurrect.

However, Kyle suddenly frowned as he recalled that not all corpses were being sent into the furnace.

"I remember that some bodies were being sent to other places aside from this workshop. Do you know what's being done to them?"

At this question, Denise just shrugged while showing her palms.

"Don't you have any idea?" Kyle still continued. He also has guesses but he wanted to hear her thoughts first.

"Well, they're probably being turned into undead by the Necromancy Branch. Or perhaps being used as food for certain creatures or existences that we don't know. You can probably imagine something more. As long as those corpses weren't in a state where they could become vessels of the evil spirits, then isn't that good enough?" Denise replied.

Kyle gently nodded as he could also agree with this.

"I wonder why it wasn't written in any books." He ruminated.

"There might be a reason we don't know…"

"Mhmm… By the way, did you consume the Darkness Possession even after learning about this?" Kyle curiously asked. Since they'd just finished eating their food, they decided to just have a chat while digesting the food.

"No… My sister already fed me before she taught me a few things. Well, it was a pity that she couldn't teach me most of the time since she was also busy. She can only write letters… If it wasn't for that, I'm probably several times stronger than those bunch of third-year students…"

Apparently, Denise wasn't previously staying in the academy's territory and it only happened after her sister made arrangements for her to learn in the academy. Unfortunately, her sister, Cressida, disappeared after offending a few people so even after Denise was at the perfect age to study, she didn't have the support she needed to do so.

She was already lucky that Cressida had prepared lodging for her in the town and introduced her to a few trustworthy people. These people helped her to earn a bit of money so she could feed herself and not just die out of starvation.

Kyle finally learned about her full story, but he still felt that something was off.

"How did your sister know that you'd survive that Darkness Possession? Isn't that a bit too dangerous?" Kyle asked after recalling his own experience.

He knows that many people have died on the recruitment sites. It means that the chance of surviving isn't that great at all.

"Heh heh… That's another trick she learned. If you want to learn it. You have to pay me this time." Denise said as she believed that Kyle wasn't lacking money at all.

However, Kyle just shook his head.

"I don't think I'll be needing that method. It's not like I know someone whom I wanted to tread on the same Arcane Path." Kyle replied as he stood up.

It's time to practice his Phantasm State. Later, once the corpse delivery has arrived, he has to be there and "help" Mr. Heinz take care of them.

Seeing this, Denise could only cheer for him as she revealed the duration of her Phantasm State for the first time.

"Good luck! I'm sure you can also last for three minutes like me if you continue doing that for the next whole year. Heh heh…"

With that said, Denise left the hall with all the cutleries leaving Kyle alone to practice.

'Three minutes?' Kyle mused as he realized the huge difference between them.

'Wait… Didn't she say not to let others know about this since it can be considered a weakness that can kill you? Why did she tell me that?'

Kyle shook his head thinking that this might just be her bluff. Anyway, it wasn't important to him for now as he entered his Phantasm State and summoned his Ghost Hands.