Chapter 17: It Has to Be the Cellar

At night, when Heine left the Viscount's manor, he felt quite relieved.

Not just because he had climbed another step in his life.

But also because, as a butterfly struggling to flap its wings, he finally managed to bring some change to the storyline.

Tomorrow he would return to the Haunted Farm to assist Arthur in investigating the places where the Tree Herder and Elves appeared.

Under his guidance, George finally turned his attention to this mysterious "fog of war."

Then came the Whispering Forest and Ying Xian Mountain.

As long as they dismantled those three Energy Wells, everything would start to improve.

At this moment, the surprise of the two skeletons had risen to the level of questioning their existence.

"I used to think he was just perceptive, but I didn't expect him to be demonically talented to this extent... Brother Yang, do you think he could really hear our spoilers?"

"We shouldn't dwell on this too much, thinking too deeply will only terrify us, brother. So here's my advice: simply don't think about it; don't scare yourself. But if you insist on bringing it up, his deductions all come from known information, and the key is that he's just heading in the right direction—the majority was still figured out by the Viscount himself."

"That's true, Heine knows too little."

"It's not his fault though, who could have imagined such a tiny place would actually be the battleground of the four major power factions... Did anyone expect this much at the start of the server?"

"Let's not go there, the storyline party knew barely more than Heine did when the server just opened, looking forward to the future of the Makala mountain region, only to be obliterated by orbital cannons."

"I feel for the storyline party."

Heine felt a hundred claws scratching at his heart...

What on earth was the struggle of the four major power factions about? Speak up!

His yearning was destined to remain unfulfilled, as the two quickly changed the topic.

This self-destructive face-smearing gave them plenty of insights, the resistance of their bony bodies, the nature of their existence, and whether they would actually die if their Soulfire were destroyed.

In the end, it came back to censure for Zhuo Yang.

Teacher Xia: "You said, if you had some exorcism or a purification judgement, wouldn't we have avoided all this trouble?"

"Ah right, right, blame me for not having advanced to a Paladin yet... Bullshit! I am a skeleton, you know!"

"Speaking of which... didn't Heine sneak a corpse back home?"

Zhuo Yang: "Yes, in pieces."

"Does that mean we'll have another brother soon?"

"What do you mean, can't it be a sister?"

"You really went there, huh."

…

Driving back home, Heine was surprised to find the lights on in his house!

He had been medicating Xiya La the past few days, and her condition had gradually improved, but there were no signs of awakening.

He left a letter by the bed in the morning briefly explaining the situation, which seemed to have come in handy.

The person inside the house heard the carriage and pushed the door open.

Xiya La, with her hair simply tied up at the back, appeared at the door.

Only four days had passed, yet everything was so different.

Heine stepped down from the carriage.

"Teacher Xiya La, it seems that my letter—"

His words were interrupted by an embrace, accompanied by trembling and sobbing.

He opened his arms in astonishment, then gently patted her on the back.

"The nightmare is over,"

he soothed.

To him, the night of the Bone Burial Ground's annihilation had passed four days ago, and he had already experienced much.

But for Xiya La, it all happened not long ago.

The embrace did not last too long, as Xiya La quickly let go of him.

Though her eyes were reddened, her gaze had already sharpened.

"I want to see your Skeleton. This is important, I need to ensure you haven't been deceived by a malevolent spirit."

Look at that professional spirit! He had only mentioned it in passing in the letter.

Xiya La was responsible for this at the academy, preventing students from being swayed by malevolent spirits.

Malevolent spirits are not sly Wandering Souls, but those "souls yet to die" that smuggled themselves to the Netherworld.

It was a shortcut to eternal life, more like exploiting a bug.

Abandoning their bodies to smuggle into the Netherworld, then summoning themselves back as a Wandering Soul, to adhere to a prepared corpse.

—This is how Liches are made.

To some extent, malevolent spirits are the natural enemies of Necromancers.

If a Necromancer relaxes their control even a little, they could be backstabbed by a malevolent spirit.

And unlike Wandering Souls, since they did not die, even if the summoner dies, the malevolent spirits won't be dragged back to the Netherworld but will instead gain freedom and eternal life.

As for Heine's skeletons, even though Headmaster Gale said they were Fine Souls, elite Wandering Souls, thus ruling out the possibility of betrayal or turning against their master, but...

This was, after all, the work of a transmigrator.

Faced with Xiya La's request, Heine, though helplessly, nodded his agreement.

He opened the package to show Xiya La.

She puzzled, "How did it come to this?"

"Something happened this afternoon…"

"Go on, I'm listening."

Xiya La picked up Teacher Xia's skull and examined it carefully, "I indeed have never seen silver soulfire before, but I don't think it's a Fine Soul because, fundamentally, a Fine Soul is still a Wandering Soul, yet I don't sense the characteristics of the dead in them."

As she spoke, she reached into the cranial cavity and touched the pulsing soulfire.

Someone immediately panicked, "Fuck, she isn't going to study me, is she?"

"Hahaha, this is revenge for always being interrupted by you in the past!"

"That was for the team, dammit!"

Heine briefly went over recent events and said quite a few good things about the two.

"These days, they've helped me a lot. I suspect they are Wandering Souls who died in battle in the Makala mountain region, especially the one in your hand, who might have been an elf when alive."

"An elf?"

"Yes, his combat awareness is very complete, and his movements have even amazed the proper Elven Wanderers."

Xiya La nodded and put down the skull.

"It's indeed not an evil spirit; there is no negative energy, and it's so peaceful it doesn't resemble the deceased… I'm beginning to buy into your story, it's just that I know too little about Spirit Communicators, so…"

"Oh, and there's this."

Heine opened another package, which contained a pile of clean, processed bones.

He activated Eyes of the Undead and could still see the silver specks on them, but several attempts at summoning elicited no response.

"Huh? How come it's different from the last time?"

Heine furrowed his brow, then, as if remembering something, he grabbed the package and dragged her towards the cellar.

"The problem might be in the cellar!"

The two quickly departed, leaving the two piles of skeletons behind, expressing shock.

"Fuck, he's having a change of heart!! He takes a woman to see it but doesn't take us!"

"Hmm, men!"

Heine quickly ran back, muttering to himself, "I can't believe I forgot these two," and brought them along as well.

...

In the cellar.

Heine didn't turn back just because he heard the snide comments.

Firstly, they needed them to communicate with the newly arrived spirits.

Secondly, he took the opportunity to repair the two.

As a priestess of Lady Speaker of the Dead, Xiya La was able to use dark healing, which had an unusually good effect on the undead.

Anyways, since the one damaged by Arthur needed to be repaired before it could be summoned again, he decided to fix them all at once.

In the flickering firelight, the three piles of bones were arranged by Heine, who was familiar with human anatomy, into three human shapes.

With his now basic skills, he could return to Earth and possibly work as an orthopedic doctor.

As Xiya La cast her spell, a dark radiance, like flowing ink, engulfed the three figures.

When the dark light faded, all three looked as good as new.

Xiya La's face remained unchanged, showing no sign of exhaustion, which made Heine wonder what level she was.

Teacher Xia exclaimed, "That dark healing is at least third level, right?"

"Indeed, it's a waste for her to have become a banshee; the Shadow Temple truly doesn't keep any freeloaders."

"But didn't you say that the Shadow Temple and the Netherworld are at odds?"

"Someone has to do the right thing, like that principal, and like her."

"Sigh…"

Hearing them speak like this, Heine couldn't help but take another look at her.

"Haven't you looked enough before?"

Xiya La straightened her hair and asked him with a smile.

"Of course."

Heine smiled, then directed the two skeletons to stand behind him, making room for the new guests.

With Eyes of the Undead, he saw familiar silver threads.

Thanks to the last upgrade and continuous experience gains, his observations were even more detailed.

He noticed a silver thread connecting the light spots on the corpses, ultimately plunging into the ground.

"The focus truly lies in the cellar…"

He wanted to dig here, but feared he might ruin something, so he decided not to worry about it and recited the summoning spell.

"Dead things, heed my call and walk; Wandering Souls, cross the boundary and come to me!"

All four waited expectantly for three seconds…

The silver soulfire lit up, and the skeletons suddenly stood up.

"Where am I?"

He asked in his mind.