Historical Hollow

"Urgh—!"

Belen's pained howl rang out as Necromantic Fire scorched his flesh and mind.

His face twisted grotesquely. Struggling against the Corpse Shell's restraint, he forcibly snapped off his own fingers—

A Magic signet ring slipped from between his fingers, hit the ground, and shattered.

His Personal Reality instantly overloaded and spiraled out of control, somehow suppressing the Necromantic Fire erupting from within him...

At the same time, gray-black livor mortis bloomed across his face, granting him strength greater than the Corpse Shell's!

He broke free and slammed open the door in panic, rushing out of the operating room—

Only to immediately crash into a shriveled corpse with unmistakably feline features.

He looked up. Another Corpse Shell standing in the doorway tilted its head at him, green flames burning in its Void eyes.

It stood there coldly, no one knowing how long it had been waiting.

Belen turned back in despair and saw Ron, his skin bluish-white like that of a corpse, strolling toward him. Nothing remained in his heart but fear and confusion.

He no longer dared put on the arrogant posture from before. His legs gave out, and he collapsed to the floor, looking up at Ron's indifferent gaze as he spoke with trembling lips.

"Magic, real Magic... You... how did you do it?"

How did he do it?

Ron glanced at the Dimensional Update Manual—

\n[Setting: Death's Blessing (Lv.2)]

[After loading this setting, you will obtain all of the Undertaker's Beyonder abilities.]

After Ron's player level rose to Lv.2, his Potion Sequence naturally advanced to Sequence 8.

He had thus become a Sequence 8 [Undertaker], possessing a physique beyond that of a Corpse Shell and resistance to the magical power of death.

Furthermore, the Sequence 8 Potion greatly strengthened the necromantic spells he had learned as a [Gravekeeper]...

It had to be said that the [Death] pathway was truly a well-balanced pathway.

At Sequence 9, as a pure spellcaster, he might have been rather fragile. At Sequence 8, he immediately gained a powerful Beyonder physique.

If not for his resistance to the magical power of death and such a powerful body, Belen's Magic might actually have injured Ron just now...

Then, who would win and who would lose might still have been uncertain.

But now...

Ron looked at Belen sprawled on the ground like a dead dog and coldly made a throat-slitting gesture.

"Finish him."

In an instant, the two Corpse Shells moved. Rather than standing there dull and stiff as before, they viciously pounced on Belen beneath his desperate gaze—

Meanwhile, Ron unhurriedly turned around, walked to the other side of the operating room, and politely knocked on the glass pane so smeared with blood that nothing could be seen through it.

"Do I need to come and invite you over, miss?"

"Mm!"

Hearing that cold yet gentlemanly voice beside her, the capable woman instinctively covered her mouth. Beads of cold sweat rolled down her forehead, and her heart hammered frantically with fear.

He had found her... He had found her!!

Damn it, Jiang Cheng, you idiot. Why did you have to play the good Samaritan?

She had even wanted to mediate and see if she could save that old man Karen...

But did he need her help?!

No wonder Karen was always spouting nonsense on the association forum, claiming he was the Ashen Church's sole heir and never entering the Ideal City Inner City—

So he really was the heir of a secret cult!

What he had used just now was genuine Magic... Magic!

In the Ideal City Inner City, that was an Authority reserved for "High Rank"—

High Rank Magic users... They were figures who had truly inherited the legacy of the Age of Gods and basked in the glory of the previous era!

Why would such a mighty figure mingle among missions taken by rookies like them, even pretending to be beneath some team leader from a corporate giant?

Bitterness filled her heart as thoughts raced through her mind, but there was no changing anything now.

She could only suppress her terror, trembling slightly as she walked toward the operating room's main entrance and forced herself to move before Ron.

Looking at the old Magic user before her, who said nothing, while listening to Belen's weakening screams and the sound of Corpse Shells tearing flesh apart beside her...

Jiang Cheng swallowed, her face pale as she squeezed every ounce of strength into forcing an innocent, harmless smile onto her face.

"Ha, haha... Hi? I didn't expect you to be here too...

"I-I was just passing by..."

What a clumsy attempt at pretending to be harmless...

Still, she really was harmless.

Ron had noticed her long ago. She had been sneaking around behind him the entire time.

Considering what she had done earlier, she had clearly wanted to lend Ron a hand and save him from Belen.

When the necromantic fog had spread just now, Ron had seen magical light flickering by the window. She had obviously intended to help then...

Only, she was too weak. Before she could act, Belen had already struck Ron with his scythe.

...But it was precisely because she bore him goodwill that Ron treated her this way.

Otherwise, he would have had the Corpse Shell he had just taken control of, wandering outside the operating room, rush over and seize her before tearing her to pieces alongside Belen...

Besides... she had other uses as well.

Ron watched Jiang Cheng's performance impassively, shook his head, and warned her in an even tone.

"There's no need to say any of that. I have no interest in killing an innocent person... but you need to keep this secret.

"What happened here—I don't want to hear a word of it from anyone after we leave. Otherwise..."

As he spoke, a cold flame suddenly ignited on Jiang Cheng's shoulder, frightening her into a trembling scream.

But Ron lightly patted her shoulder, extinguishing the eerie green flame—

"I assume you wouldn't want Necromantic Fire clinging to you and burning you into a pile of ash, would you?"

"O-of course not!!"

Jiang Cheng nodded wildly like a woodpecker. "My lips are sealed, Master Karen! Every teammate who has completed commissions with me on the forum sings my praises!

"Rest assured, your secret is my life. Even if someone tortured me, I would never utter a single word!"

That was exactly the attitude he wanted...

Ron rubbed the ring on his finger and seemingly casually said,

"Very few people know my secret. You're the only one in over a decade... Don't disappoint me.

"I'm old... I don't like making too much of a fuss or seeing too much blood."

The only one in over a decade?!

Jiang Cheng stared at Ron in astonishment. Once she knew her life was safe, a trace of longing and greed inevitably emerged in her heart.

As a Magic user, everyone pursued true "Magic."

And now, a being who truly wielded "Magic" stood before her—

How could she possibly stay calm?!

This was a High Rank! She had become the only person a High Rank Magic user had permitted to know his strength in over a decade...

Did that mean she had a chance... to go further?

After all, advancement was far, far more difficult for Magic users than for the Superpowered.

Unlike the Superpowered, who only needed to strengthen their Personal Reality and train their processing power; eventually, they would naturally advance to a new rank.

Magic users... truly required ancient inheritances.

If she could build a good relationship with Master Karen, even a casual bit of guidance during ordinary conversation might break the shackles that had trapped Jiang Cheng for so long...

As a Magic user of the Necromancer School, Jiang Cheng would never let this opportunity slip away!

She swallowed and cautiously probed,

"Master Karen... You just arrived in the Ideal City Inner City, didn't you?"

He had taken the bait.

Ron curled his lips slightly and calmly replied,

"That's right... I originally came to the Inner City to see what the City of Ideals everyone talked about on the forum was really like."

As he spoke, he sighed.

"But I'm getting old. Coming to a new place like this, sometimes I can't even find the way to where I want to go..."

"I can be your guide, Master!"

Jiang Cheng immediately seized the opening, speaking earnestly.

"My name is Jiang Cheng. I'm a teacher at Heavenly Hearing No. 1 High. I have a car and a house in District C, and I've lived in the Inner City since childhood—more than twenty years now. Wherever you want to go, I know the place like the back of my hand!"

"...Then let's add each other as forum friends."

Ron tapped the Emerald Signet Ring he had prepared beforehand, opened his brain-computer interface, and waited for Jiang Cheng to add him as a forum friend.

Watching Jiang Cheng fuss over him, get waved out with a flick of his hand, yet still look back at him every few steps with excitement in her eyes, Ron nodded in satisfaction.

Not bad... He had finally found a reasonably reliable guide among the Magic users.

After learning from Belen that no one truly believed the old Magic user possessed the Forbidden Codex, Ron's mind immediately became active.

Originally, he had planned to discard Karen's identity after completing this commission and keep his distance from the Magic community...

That way, he could avoid anyone discovering that he possessed the Forbidden Codex and attracting trouble because of it.

But now, since no one knew about the Forbidden Codex, Ron naturally had no need to flee the Magic community in such a sorry state.

These Magic users, hidden in the shadows of the Ideal City and wielding such immense influence, surely held many secrets.

The moment Ron saw the assassination commission targeting him, he understood something.

No matter how much he avoided these secrets or tried to leave behind the dangers lurking in the Ideal City's shadows...

Those dangers would not leave him alone. They wanted to catch up to him at every moment!

So he might as well cautiously join them and personally learn what exactly the Ideal City was hiding...

Perhaps... he might find plenty of useful information there.

—For example, right now.

After confirming that Jiang Cheng had gone far away, Ron controlled the Corpse Shells to hunt the mindless walking corpses wandering through the large laboratory while pulling the bloodstained notebook from his coat.

This was the notebook he had not finished reading earlier. When he was attacked, Ron had instinctively hidden it in his coat.

He was very interested in what was written inside. It reminded him of what Deng Yin had told him.

The so-called Hollows, and the monsters that appeared within them...

Could they be why the Ideal City government, despite having the ability to transform the entire planet, remained trapped in its current situation?

He opened the notebook with interest and continued reading—

\n[April 26. I succeeded... The magical power in the finger bone really can break through the Ideal City's restrictions and touch the Beyonder!

[I have to report this. Minister Alder will promote me!]\n

Seeing this, Ron could not help feeling stunned.

This fellow had actually succeeded... He had relied on nothing but a Wronged Dead's finger bone and an unknown ritual to become a Beyonder?

Remembering the terror Beyonder Loss of Control had brought him when he first became a Gravekeeper, Ron could not help admiring him.

Wasn't he afraid of losing control?

[May 7. Minister Alder sent me other magical creatures captured from the Historical Hollow...

[Although I couldn't find their names in records from the previous era, they are said to be producers of ingredients once used as main materials for [Death] pathway Potion.

[He wants me to use these magical creatures as raw materials, stitch them together with test subjects, imitate my previous method, and turn them into [Death] pathway Beyonders.

[Isn't this very simple? I will definitely succeed!]

So the so-called Void was a "Historical Hollow"... Monsters from past eras could enter the current era through Historical Hollows?

That was why the Ideal City had failed to cover the entire planet.

It felt as if Ron himself was to blame. If he had not founded the Potion Era, the Ideal City would never have suffered such an undeserved disaster.

But unknown magical creatures...

Ron's expression turned strange, and his admiration for this suicidal supervisor deepened.

A Corpse Shell's finger bone was one thing. It was, after all, a Sequence 9 main ingredient, and with enough luck, it might really offer someone a chance to become a Beyonder.

But these unknown magical creatures, which were also main ingredients of the [Death] Sequence... were definitely not Sequence 9!

At that point, luck alone could not solve anything...

These test subjects would absolutely all become monsters who had lost control!

Ron was certain of it as he continued reading.

[May 10. Failed... Why did it fail?

[They suffered severe rejection, then mutated into incomprehensible monsters!

[But when I performed the ritual on myself, there was no problem at all. I directly became a Beyonder!

[This has made me so anxious that my head hurts. I can only see whether there is anything useful inside their mutated bodies...]

[May 18. The organs extracted from their bodies are indeed far stronger than those of ordinary people. Stitching them into the bodies of the Superpowered can indeed grant power beyond imagination...

[But will this really not cause trouble? The modification Minister Alder asked me to perform on that high school student—wasn't it a little too excessive?

[He said that student was some trump card to win the company a ranking this time... But wouldn't a trump card lose control too?

[Damn it, this is making me anxious. I've even started hearing things lately. I hope he doesn't cause some huge problem at the College Entrance Exam...]

So they really had lost control... But the Beyonder organs of monsters were actually going to be stitched into a high school student's body?

Noah Pharmaceuticals' experiments were truly inhuman—and wildly reckless...

Ron frowned, his heart tightening.

Moreover, that modified trump card would definitely participate in this College Entrance Exam.

He had not expected that, if he wanted to secure a high enough ranking in the examination hall, an enemy like this would be waiting for him...

He continued reading.

[May 21. My head hurts, it hurts so much! Why do I always feel like someone is speaking in my ear? And where is the sound of this water coming from? I clearly shut off the main water valve!

[Minister Alder has asked me to perform an advancement ritual again. He wants me to make use of those monsters' corpses instead of wasting them, using them to advance some toys bred through genetic selection...

[What is the point of that? They are just flesh toys sold for others to play with. What use is modifying them?]

[June 1. Wrong, I was wrong... The previous era, everything from the previous era, cannot be touched without Authority!

[The Hollow, the Hollow is the echo of the Apocalypse...

[The Apocalypse is coming!]