Target Graveyard

Before his two summoned creatures vanished, Donald, under the protection of the infantryman Clinton, successfully hunted two rank-two magical beasts and five rank-one magical beasts. By now, it was already late afternoon, and as the sky began to darken, Donald prepared to head home immediately.

Even with the protection of a powerful warrior like Clinton—who, when fully armored, could go head-to-head with a rank-three magical beast equivalent to a high-level Black Iron—Donald dared not spend the night in this perilous forest. He knew well that whether in his past life or this one, most wild animals, especially carnivores, were primarily active at night.

Retracing his steps, Donald hurried back to the old manor in town just before nightfall, where Steward Code, who had been worried all day, immediately rushed to greet him.

"Young Master, you've finally returned!"

Donald offered a few comforting words with a smile before pointing to the infantryman following behind him.

"This is Clinton, a Knight Attendant I recruited on the road. Code, go prepare a room for him; from today on, Clinton is a retainer of our house!"

Although the steward could not discern a warrior's true strength, the man before him was encased in at least three hundred Gold Sol worth of steel armor, yet moved with such ease that his strength could not be anything but formidable.

His only concern was the man's loyalty. However, since the Young Master seemed so confident in him, he felt it improper to object and decided to observe him for a time. After all, the House Merlinar was currently too weak; having such a powerful warrior at the front would serve to deter those with malicious intent.

Nevertheless, Code still pulled Clinton aside to carefully question his background. Yet, Clinton was a being created by Donald's own hand; while he was essentially indistinguishable from a human born in this world—even capable of marrying and having children with local women—the difference lay in his soul. From the moment of his birth, he held the utmost loyalty toward Donald and would not blink even if ordered to die for his master. When the Book of Truth created him, it only imbued him with basic life skills and powerful combat instincts; it certainly wouldn't waste energy on anything else.

Consequently, Clinton appeared somewhat dull in conversation, showing almost no interest in anything other than his master and combat.

Code questioned him for a long time without getting any clear answers, and it was only after Donald personally vouched for him that the steward set aside his doubts to prepare dinner.

Donald had no intention of revealing the secrets of the Book of Truth, not even to someone as close as Code. After all, a secret remains a secret only as long as no one else knows it; the more people who know, the greater the risk, with no benefit to be gained.

As a Knight Attendant, Clinton was technically qualified to dine with his master, especially given his capabilities. Following Donald's command, Clinton sat at the dining table and consumed his food in a rigid, mechanical fashion.

Even when Donald tried to make conversation, Clinton would only respond with phrases like "Yes" or "As you command." Dining with such a person was entirely devoid of pleasure, and Donald soon finished his meal.

As the steward came to clear the dishes, two chimes rang out from the town outside.

"Night has fallen, Young Master. Please rest well; I shall go prepare your bathwater!"

"Go ahead! You should rest well too, Code; tomorrow you'll need to sell the magical beasts we hunted!"

Donald nodded, knowing these were the chimes of the night watchman at the town cemetery, signaling to the residents that night had arrived and they should not wander outside the town walls. In this world, the wilderness at night was often dangerous, especially for a town like Red Maple Town, which sat near the outskirts of the Green Cloak Forest. Thus, most towns and villages employed warning bells to alert the populace.

Thinking of the night watchman, and then the cemetery outside the town, Donald suddenly clapped his hands in excitement.

"The cemetery? Right! Why didn't I think of that!"

Like his past life, this world did not practice cremation; instead, they hoped the deceased would be laid to rest in the earth, their souls returning to the Kingdom of the Dead.

Therefore, whenever someone in town passed away, the town's only priest would be invited to offer prayers and blessings before the deceased was buried in the communal cemetery outside the town. This created a situation where corpses in the graveyard were easily eroded by negative energy, leading to the emergence of undead and spectral creatures.

Under normal circumstances, the local lord would annually fund a church priest to preside over rituals at the cemetery, pacifying the spirits and purifying the grounds to prevent the rise of mutated undead that could harm the populace.

The Shrine in Red Maple Town was staffed by only a single elderly, low-level priest, who was responsible for preaching to the people of the town and two surrounding villages, as well as presiding over funeral rites and healing the sick.

The church institutions in this world were divided into Temples and Shrines. Except for the main Temples, which were usually built on the sacred sites where the gods first descended, other large and small Temples were distributed throughout the towns and cities of each diocese, funded by local donations or the lords.

Shrines, which were subordinate to Temples, were altars engraved with the Holy Symbol or statues of a deity. They were simple to build, inexpensive, and possessed some of the functions of a Temple, which is why they were typically found in small towns and villages.

As a territory on the edge of North Shire, Red Maple Town, despite its decent development, only had a Shrine. The cost of building a Temple was too high—even a small one cost five times more than the construction of the Red Maple Town lord's manor—a price the two generations of stingy Barons of Red Maple would never pay. According to Donald's knowledge, that merchant noble didn't even worship a true god, but rather the great Gold Sol!

For this reason, both the Temple in Giant Stone City and the old priest in town were quite dissatisfied with the merchant noble. The former looked down on the Baron's attitude toward the church, while the latter was disgruntled at being relegated to a place with no profit and a miserly lord.

"I recall the last purification of the cemetery was before the autumn harvest festival last year. Given old Clifford's attitude toward the Baron, I doubt the purification was very thorough. With nearly a full year having passed, there should be some changes in the graveyard. I must go inside and take a look!"

It wasn't that Donald cared about the safety of the cemetery; his goal wasn't to purify the undead, but to harvest their Soul Fire. Eliminating them was merely a secondary benefit.

He quietly gave a few instructions to Clinton, and once the Silver Moon rose high into the sky and most of the townspeople were asleep, the two of them slipped out of the old manor, climbed over the wooden wall, and headed toward the cemetery outside the town, unbeknownst to Steward Code.

Human fear of the dead was the same in every world. The vast Red Maple Town cemetery was guarded by only a single elderly night watchman, so with Clinton's help, Donald easily bypassed the gatehouse and snuck inside.

The atmosphere in the cemetery was quiet and eerie, giving Donald the same feeling he had experienced in the wasteland where he encountered the undead in the forest.

"It seems the possibility of undead existing here is quite high. Clinton, we are heading over there. If we encounter any undead, you are to focus solely on defense; try not to attack unless necessary!"

"Yes, Master!"

With the infantryman in tow, Donald cautiously walked toward the older section of the cemetery.

The Red Maple Town had been established for over fifty years under two generations of lords, making it a relatively young territory. However, its history could be traced back a hundred years, when it was merely a small village. Even so, the number of graves in the cemetery was countless; many commoners had no tombstones, simply being buried in earthen pits, and most had long since decayed with the passage of time.

Relying on the Book of Truth's sensitivity to energy, Donald located an area with the most concentrated negative energy. It was a small patch of broken tombstones, resembling a mass grave, and was the oldest part of the cemetery.

"This is the place!"

Donald took out a rank-one Magic Core and opened the summoning list of the Book of Truth.

"Come forth! Sand Worm!"

A two-foot-long, earth-yellow creature appeared at Donald's feet.

The creature was covered in a layer of soft yet tough leather armor, with a ferocious head and a body like an earthworm—a cross between a cobra and an earthworm.

This was the Dune Worm, a wild creature that had appeared in the magical beast data files, often referred to as the "killing worm." This creature, which lived in desert regions, could be considered a type of magical beast; it could spit sand and stone to attack. While its offensive power wasn't outstanding, it possessed powerful digging and burrowing abilities, making it an excellent expert at lurking and ambushing.

Donald had summoned it specifically for its digging capabilities.

He couldn't very well dig up graves himself to test if there were undead present, could he?

Watching the Sand Worm drill in and out of the old graveyard, occasionally tossing up a piece of decayed bone, Donald silently chanted in his heart:

"No offense, no offense. You have all been dead for so long that your souls should have returned to the Kingdom of the Dead; perhaps you have already been reincarnated. Surely you won't mind these bones!"

And indeed, after the Sand Worm's commotion, it actually flushed out an undead creature.

However, this undead creature looked far too pathetic. The skeleton, consisting of only a half-body frame, had barely crawled out of the dirt before two of its ribs fell off, leaving it nearly falling apart.

Under Donald's pitying gaze, Clinton stepped forward and dismantled the skeleton in a few swift motions, leaving only the skull containing the Soul Fire for his master to collect.

Having collected this broken skeleton with only twenty units of soul power, no matter how much the Sand Worm thrashed about, there was no more movement in this graveyard. Donald had no choice but to leave in resignation.

"Forget it, I didn't hold much hope to begin with. Tomorrow we'll head to the large cemetery outside Giant Stone City; the resources there are bound to be much richer than this!"

He voluntarily dissipated the Sand Worm, allowing the Book of Truth to reclaim the remaining energy, and then Donald set off with Clinton, intending to return home.

As they passed by a recently constructed tomb, a dark and chilling aura suddenly rushed toward them. The attacker was fast, but Clinton, who had been maintaining his guard, was not slow to react, slashing his sword toward the shadow. If it had been a normal creature, it likely would have been cleaved in two by Clinton, but after taking the hit, the shadow split in two, merged back together without a scratch, and continued its assault toward the target.

This unexpected turn left Donald with no way to dodge; he only managed to avoid a direct hit before the opponent passed right through his left shoulder.

"Damn it!"

Only after being struck did Donald see the enemy's true form: a blurry figure floating in mid-air, poised for another strike.

"It's a Ghost!"

Unexpectedly, things took a turn for the better; while the search for undead had not yielded the expected results, a Ghost had appeared out of nowhere.

Ghosts, also known as spirits or phantoms, all refer to roughly the same thing. They are undead, not to be confused with the undead creatures.

Although both undead creatures and undead spirits contain the word "undead" and belong to the same faction, they are fundamentally different.

Unlike physical undead creatures like skeletons and zombies—where the original soul has returned to the underworld and the residual soul imprint in the body has mutated under the stimulation of negative energy—a Ghost is an undead spirit that remained in the main world after death due to lingering resentment or unwillingness, becoming a collective of negative energy. Lacking a physical form and physical attack power, they hate the living and can drain life force from biological bodies through negative energy. Powerful spirits even possess bizarre abilities that non-magical Professionals cannot resist.

Fortunately, this was just an ordinary Ghost. After being struck, Donald felt a chill permeate his entire body, and half his arm went numb. However, his summoning ability did not require the casting gestures that mages needed, otherwise, he would surely have been restrained by the Ghost's surprise attack and left with no power to fight back.

"Summon Undead Banshee!"

As Donald's words fell, a figure very similar to the Ghost appeared before him, blocking the Ghost's follow-up attack.

The figure appeared as an illusory light, surrounded by swirling, dark, and cold energy. Her once-beautiful elven face was twisted as if enduring endless agony; it was the undead Tier 2 spellcasting unit, the Banshee.

Banshees were once beautiful female elves who were cruelly slaughtered by Demons when the Kalimdor Continent fell. Because they suffered inhuman torture, these souls, unable to rest in peace, remained silently in this world, wailing in pain and resentment.

Their terrifying voices, which sounded incomparably miserable to the living, were known as the wails of death. Later, Banshees became warriors of the undead legion, using the power generated by their shrill cries to attack enemies on the battlefield. Their bone-chilling, evil screams could be heard from miles away.

Seeing the Banshee open her mouth to attack the incoming Ghost, Donald hurriedly shouted:

"Don't attack, control it!"

The Banshee obeyed, immediately unleashing her innate ability: Possession. The Ghost's figure froze instantly.

Whether it is a living creature or an undead spirit, excluding alchemy puppets and mechanical units, any non-magic-immune enemy unit can be controlled by this skill. When used, the target unit is rendered immobile for a few seconds, during which the Banshee takes extra damage. Then, the Banshee disappears and occupies the target's shell without causing it any harm. Of course, Possession is not invincible; it is largely ineffective against Tier 5 creatures and heroes—that is, Silver-rank and above powerhouses in this world. For targets below Bronze-rank, the success rate depends on the opponent's willpower and soul strength.

Donald feared that any offensive means would damage the Ghost and cause its energy to dissipate, so using a Banshee—who was herself a spirit—to deal with her own kind was the most appropriate choice.

The Ghost, controlled by the Banshee's Possession skill, struggled to break free. Donald summoned the Book of Truth and said to it in a sympathetic tone:

"Give up! No matter what you encountered in life, or what regrets and resentment you hold, you cannot fulfill them in this state. Even if I don't act, you won't escape the Priest's purification. It is better to turn into energy and be used by me!"

With that, the Ghost, along with the Banshee, turned into black streams of light and were absorbed by the Book of Truth.

Then, communicating with the artifact to check his recent gains, Donald couldn't help but beam with joy:

"Fantastic! A single Ghost actually contains over three hundred units of soul power—ten times the energy of a low-level skeleton's Soul Fire. This is much better than killing skeletons!"

With the gains from this one Ghost alone, Donald's trip had already been worth the price of admission.

It was a pity that the Book of Truth was not a container specifically designed for storing souls, so it could not absorb the residual soul power in the graveyard. Otherwise, even if no undead or undead creatures appeared, he would still have had a great harvest.

Faced with this situation, the Book of Truth suggested that he could exchange for the sub-artifact Soul Orb to specifically absorb souls. It could not only absorb the soul power of living creatures and dead spirits but also largely absorb and utilize the faint soul power lingering in the space.

If he had that, he would only need to find a place where many creatures had died, such as an ancient battlefield or a large cemetery, and take a walk there to gather a massive amount of residual soul power, without having to go through such thankless effort to easily obtain the soul power needed to create creatures.

Not to mention that the exchange conditions for a sub-artifact were currently far beyond his reach, even if the Soul Orb—this special piece of equipment—could be split into ten Soul Orb fragments as in the game's plot, each fragment was still at the level of low-tier legendary magical equipment, which was simply not something he could exchange for right now, let alone the fact that creating a complete sub-artifact also required the infusion of divinity.

After dealing with the Ghost, Donald refused to give up and circled the graveyard several more times until he found nothing else, at which point he and his subordinate left under the cover of night.

As for the fact that the undead and the Ghost in the cemetery had been wiped out, no one would know unless he spoke of it. They would likely just assume that after the annual purification, no anomalies had occurred.

As for the old Priest who was the only one likely to discover any traces, Donald was basically not worried!

Most of those sent to remote areas were low-level Priests who were not valued by the church, and naturally, they wouldn't put much effort into fulfilling their duties. Especially since that particular Priest didn't get along well with the local lord.

So, even if Clifford knew that Donald had done what he was supposed to do, the old Priest would only thank the Goddess for making his life easier and likely wouldn't raise any suspicions.