The mottled stone walls gradually grew smooth and clean again. In the cellar, the rotten, blackened grains returned one by one to their plump, rounded forms, while the impurities in the murky wastewater settled and vanished, leaving it clear once more.
Klauthsura remained crouched in the corner, operating her psionics equipment. Her fingertips tapped rapidly across several crystal panels, seemingly trying to record changes in the data.
Leaning against the wall, Renato opened his eyes, his right hand instinctively tightening around the hilt of the Black Sword beside his knee.
During his "meditation," Renato's connection to all things had further sharpened his already keen senses. As everything restored itself, he could clearly feel the negative energy on the Surface receding rapidly like an ebbing tide, transforming in an instant into gentle, vibrant life energy.
At the moment dawn arrived, the malicious undead became sane, ordinary living people, and the weathered, collapsed houses all returned to their original places...
This "meditation" left Renato even more certain that the changes in Nittel Royal City were no trick of the eye or illusion, but a genuine "transformation between life and death."
The daytime residents and the nighttime undead were the same people, their bodies alternating between two utterly different states. The power behind this operated on a level far beyond any magic he had encountered before.
The night had passed without incident. Klauthsura's plan had been simple and sensible. By sealing themselves underground and suppressing all sound, the two had successfully escaped the notice of every undead monster.
Throughout the night, they had heard only occasional heavy footsteps and low, hoarse growls overhead. Those sounds had passed above the cellar's brick ceiling, but never lingered near the inn for long.
The Mind Flayer had prepared numerous psionics traps and spells designed to counter