The Girl

Seeing the rusty but still powerful weapons in the skeletons' hands, Ivan wisely retreated.

Although he was currently wearing a tattered suit of armor, this armor, which had been worn for countless years, was essentially just for show and could not withstand the damage inflicted on him by the weapons in the hands of these skeletons.

What's more, some of these skeletons were carrying long and short-handled hammers specifically designed for armor-piercing. If Ivan felt that with his current frail body, he might be pulverized.

Are there any usable weapons in this Graveyard?

With a thought in mind, Ivan remained facing the skeletons, retreating and dodging while searching for any weapons that might be hidden in the nearby Stone Coffin.

Those skeletons looked frail, but they wielded their weapons incredibly fast and with tremendous power, showing that they were once experienced Warriors.

Using the surrounding tombstones and Stone Coffin as cover, Ivan circled around them. Taking advantage of the skeletons' low impact resistance, he climbed onto Stone Coffin and jumped around on them to evade their pursuit.

Several skeletons were dizzy from his entanglement and couldn't do anything about him. Some skeletons followed him up to the Stone Coffin and couldn't get down. Ivan could easily jump down from the Stone Coffin, but once these skeletons jumped down, they would shatter into pieces and have to rebuild their bodies.

After all this searching, Ivan didn't find the weapon, but he did manage to trick all those silly skeletons into standing on the Stone Coffin. The undead's eyes gleamed as they stared at him.

"You will stay here and guard the tomb."

Seeing that all the skeletons were trapped, Ivan said, "I'm leaving."

He abandoned the skeleton and slowly backed away from the Graveyard. As if seeing him about to leave, the skeletons became anxious. One of them, wielding a short-handled hammer, was the first to jump off the Stone Coffin, crashing to the ground and shattering into a pile of bones.

Seeing this, Ivan didn't hesitate and suddenly started running. He rushed to the skeleton's side and, while the skeleton was still slowly reforming under a mysterious force, snatched its weapon from its hand bones and smashed it into the skeleton's skull with a backhand hammer.

With a bang, Ivan smashed the skull, shattering the skeleton's reconstructed body into pieces on the ground. Holding the hammer handle, Ivan suddenly felt a strange sense of familiarity.

It was like smashing a skull—something he had done hundreds of times before.

After its head was shattered, the skeleton that was rebuilding collapsed onto the ground, scattering its bones everywhere. The faint glow in its eye sockets suddenly flew up and entered Ivan's body from its palm.

After absorbing this fluorescent light, Ivan suddenly felt as if the emptiness within him had been filled.

But he quickly dismissed it as an illusion, because the emptiness within him remained boundless, just like the endless darkness that had enveloped him when he emerged.

However, Ivan felt that his physical strength seemed to have indeed increased.

To confirm his suspicions, he gripped his One-Handed Hammer, walked up to the skeletons, dodged their attacks, broke their leg bones, smashed their heads, and after absorbing all the fluorescent light from the skeletons, Ivan's strength was once again enhanced.

"It's not an illusion."

Ivan glanced at the small, cracked dent he had casually made on the Stone Coffin beside him and clenched his fist.

Before setting off, he sorted through the spoils left behind by the skeletons and found a shield, a longsword, and the One-Handed Hammer he had previously snatched from the skeletons.

He took his shield and longsword in his hands, then hung the hammer at his waist, and continued on his way.

Ivan didn't know the current situation of this world, nor did he know the attitude of other life forms towards him. But at least, the dangerous creatures currently roaming near this Graveyard were hostile to him, and he had to be well prepared when exploring this world.

Ivan followed the path and left the Graveyard. Along the way, he encountered many more skeletons, some of which were even dressed in tattered robes and wielding rotten wooden clubs, but they would launch a very dangerous black Missile at him.

Having lost his memory Ivan didn't know the principles behind the skeletons' existence, their reasons for attacking him, or what those strange Missile were. But his instincts guided him, allowing him to avoid danger and defeat the monsters that wanted him dead.

While still battling the skeletal monsters, Ivan left the Graveyard through a collapsed stone gate.

Outside the Graveyard is a quiet garden path. On both sides of the path grow many wonderful flowers and plants that emit a faint glow, their buds resembling lanterns. In the slanting sunlight, one can still see fluorescent lights dancing among these flowers and plants. One can only imagine how beautiful these flowers and Book of Questions must be at night.

Once here, there were no more skeletons around, but Ivan's instincts still reminded him to be wary of the unfamiliar environment.

He carefully traversed the path and arrived at a circular square. In the center of the square was a fountain, but the fountain was now dry, and half of the sculpture on it was missing.

In addition, on a long stone bench beside the Circular Plaza, sat a girl with silver-white hair.

She was slender, thin, and petite, wearing a long blue and white dress, with her fair legs protruding from under the dress, her feet bare of any boots.

Her pointed ears twitched with her movements, a blue cloth was tied over her eyes to cover them, and a light veil covered her mouth, making her cherry-like lips appear and disappear.

She was weaving a wreath with flowers and herbs she had gathered from who-knows-where, humming a song as she did so, while next to the stone chair she was sitting, similar wreaths had already piled up as high as a small mountain.

The girl's mournful and melancholic song made Ivan unconsciously lower his guard, as if he knew her before.

"Hello."

He couldn't help but ask, "Have we met somewhere before?"

"Um?"

Upon hearing Ivan's voice, the girl stopped singing and moving. She turned to face Ivan was also looking at her. After a while, the girl's shoulders trembled, and she seemed to be sobbing.

"Oh, I see. You're awake."

In a slightly choked yet strangely melodious voice, she said to Ivan, "You're finally awake."