Promotion to Second Tier

"Wait, why do I look like this too?!"

Bob belatedly looked down at his hands and feet, now nothing but bone.

Their memories ended at the moment of their deaths. They still needed time to come to terms with being skeletons.

His gaze fell on Ling Chu beside Titch. The bond he felt in his soul told him that the powerful force keeping him moving came from her.

"My captain, did you bring me and the captain back to life?"

Bob dropped to one knee before her and bowed his head respectfully. "I swear to serve you until death."

"You don't have to call me your captain. I'm your new captain now."

Ling Chu still had both hands resting on the Iron Shovel, looking as though she preferred to let her work speak for itself.

"Bob, how did you all end up buried here?" Titch wanted to know what had happened to them.

"It was Lucas! After the victory feast that day, we all drank too much. When we woke up, we were tied up tight with ropes. Lucas threw us into a pit on this Uninhabited Island and buried us alive. He took the ship, too."

Bob recounted what Lucas had done, seething with anger. Titch was not surprised to hear Lucas's name.

"You weren't drunk. Lucas put sleeping pills in the wine."

Realization dawned on Bob. "I knew it! I can drink a thousand cups without falling over. I only had three cups of Wheat Wine that day. How could I have passed out?"

From their conversation, Ling Chu learned that Lucas had been Titch's second-in-command. He had betrayed them, drugged and buried them alive, then sailed off with the ship.

Why he had done it was still unclear. Perhaps he wanted all the money for himself, or perhaps he and Titch had been at odds for some time. Who knew? Ling Chu had no interest in getting tangled up in the NPCs' grudges.

She only had eyes for the pit full of bones.

These weren't just bones. They were her path to advancing as a Ghost Pirate!

If she revived ten skeletons, she could reach second tier. Where else would she find so many bones in one place?

Bob was about to ask Ling Chu to revive his companions too, but before he could work out how to say it, he saw her digging away with the Iron Shovel. When she noticed that they had finally stopped talking, she pulled an Iron Pickaxe from her Ring and tossed it to Bob.

"Catch up later. Get to work and dig out your friends first!"

Bob's voice caught with emotion. "Captain... no, Captain, you're such a kind, upright, loyal pirate."

Ling Chu scratched her head. Why did that sound so strange?

With three people digging, the work went much faster.

One by one, they unearthed Joseph, Gale, Aldrich, Blair, Edmund...

Bone Revival cost 100 Magic Energy per skeleton. Her Magic Energy recovered slowly, at just one point per minute, so it would take an hour and forty minutes to refill her Mana Value.

Ling Chu did not want to wait for it to recover on its own. She took out a Primary Mana Potion and downed it.

There was still a bounty on her head, and she had no idea when the person who had accepted it might show up. She needed to keep some Magic Energy in reserve.

After she had downed five Mana Potions, the small pit suddenly grew lively.

Ling Chu found their Western-style names too hard to remember, so she gave them new names based on their features: Big Gold Tooth, Round Head, Flat Head, Lefty, and Big Toe.

Bob also received an adorable new name: Little Hook.

She was already used to calling Titch by his name, so she could not be bothered to change it.

"Captain, how did you know my old nickname was Big Gold Tooth?"

One skeleton grinned, showing off a gleaming gold front tooth.

Joseph's old nickname really had been Big Gold Tooth. As a skeleton, that gold tooth stood out even more.

"Heh, my mother used to say I had a round head too."

A skeleton beside him rubbed his skull sheepishly.

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Luckily, all her new underlings liked their names.

Ling Chu had not wanted to take their names away, but they all looked alike. Pair that with names she could barely remember, and she would never match them up. Nicknames were much easier.

With more hands at work, the digging went faster still.

By the time only four skeletons remained in the pit, Ling Chu had nearly used up the ten Mana Potions Lingering Wind and Fading Moon had given her.

She had no choice but to send Lingering Wind and Fading Moon a message.

"Do you have any more Mana Potions? I'm almost out."

Lingering Wind and Fading Moon replied almost at once. "? Ten bottles in one day? Are you drinking potions like water?"

"Something urgent came up," Ling Chu said.

Bone Revival just consumed too much Magic Energy.

"I only have five bottles left."

Lingering Wind and Fading Moon traded her every Mana Potion she had left.

"When can you finish making the rest?"

"Half a day at the earliest."

"All right. Send them over as soon as they're ready."

Ling Chu closed the private chat. By then, Titch and the others had dug up another skeleton, but no matter how they searched, they could not find its skull.

She tried using Bone Revival on it, but the system informed her, "This skeleton is less than 80% complete. The skill cannot be used."

They set the skeleton aside and kept digging deeper.

At last, she revived the ninth skeleton.

[Your Ghost Pirate class has advanced to second tier.]

[You have gained new class skills: Soul Perception, Ghost Revival, and Soul Mark.]

[Soul Perception (passive skill): You can see souls.]

[Ghost Revival: Revive a soul in ghost form. No skeleton is required. Costs 100 Magic Energy. (Once revived in ghost form, a soul cannot be revived in skeleton form, and vice versa.)]

[Soul Mark: Place a Soul Mark on someone's forehead and, with their consent, form a fair Soul Contract. Whoever breaks the agreement will have their soul dissipate immediately. Costs 10 Magic Energy.]

Her Ghost Pirate class had reached second tier! She had gained three new skills, too.

Ling Chu checked her character panel. Reaching third tier would require her to revive fifty skeletons or ghosts.

The moment Ling Chu saw the number fifty, her head began to ache. This class should not be called Ghost Pirate. It should be called Ghost Gravedigger. She would have to search the world for graves, dig them up, then revive whoever was inside. When a skeleton stood before her afterward, it probably would not know whether to curse her or thank her.

Ling Chu closed the panel and noticed two Skeleton Henchmen whispering beside the headless skeleton. A pale blue, translucent ghost hovered above them.

One Skeleton Henchman said, "These bones must be Hemlock's."

The ghost snapped, "Of course they are. Who else could it be? You two ungrateful brats don't even recognize my bones?"

The other Skeleton Henchman said, "Lucas cut his head off. He took it with him."

"Oh, yes. Damned Lucas. His blade was quick, though. It didn't feel like much—just hurt a little."

The ghost tried to touch his neck, but his insubstantial fingers passed straight through his body.

The two skeletons kept whispering while the ghost butted into their conversation. They could not hear him at all. The ghost seemed to realize it too. After talking to himself for a while, he grew bored, drifted back to the ground, and crouched in a corner, tracing circles in the dirt.

"You never listened to me when I was first mate. Now that I'm a ghost, you can't even see me. I guess I was always destined to be forgotten..."

The ghost poked dejectedly at the dusty ground.

"Hemlock."

A woman's voice, cool and clear, reached him.

The ghost jerked his head up. Who? Who had called him?

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