Mummies

The herds of cattle, sheep, and horses being driven along; the dark-skinned Men wearing felt hats and thick Robe in blue or red; the local women wearing multi-layered robes and skirts in a variety of brightly colored garments; the various kinds of corn-based foods; the numerous white buildings; and the shops selling Leather goods kept Franca and Jenna's eyes busy. Everything was new and interesting.

In the biting cold wind, Franca moved aside a four-wheeled wooden cart pulled by a long-haired ox, turned to Lumian and Jenna, and said, "Why aren't you saying anything? Why don't you exchange some local customs and traditions?"

What's the point of just walking around aimlessly?

Lumian paused for a second before saying, "I don't know."

Jenna was then overcome with shame:

"I don't know either."

She had heard the Love legends of the Pharaoh's Queen and the stories of adventurers discovering treasures in the Rainforest.

"Uh..." Franca waved her right hand and said, "I don't know much about it either."

"Not much? "Lumian didn't ask further, and led his two companions into the shop called "Highland Secret Potions".

Salent Npaia, the Boss Intis, who was wearing a blue jacket with gold trim, recognized Lumian at a glance. After all, his hair color and appearance were both impressive, and it had only Past a few days since they last met.

Salent glanced at Franca and Jenna a few times, then gave Lumian a warm smile:

What do you want this time?

Suffering from a headache due to excessive spiritual depletion, Lumian stated bluntly, "Real Mummy Ashes! I want to see the Mummy!"

Salent's Eyes flickered slightly, but he didn't ask why:

"Okay, I'll take you to see it."

As a long-time seller of Mummy Ashes, he knew very well that these things didn't enhance any particular ability; they were all mixed with some truly effective secret medicines. But since the other party hadn't asked whether real Mummy Ashes were useful, he was happy not to mention it.

Besides, he suspected that the man and two women wanted to buy the Mummy directly and resell it for profit, which would be a big business.

Salent temporarily closed the shop's doors and led Lumian, Franca, and Jenna into the back warehouse where common Herbs were stored. They descended the narrow stairs to the entrance to the Basement.

He turned around, looked at Lumian and the others, and asked as if to confirm, "Do you really want to see?"

This doesn't sound like a guilty conscience; it's more like a warning.

"Of course," Lumian answered without hesitation.

As he spoke, his gaze fell on the Pitch-Black Wooden Door to the Basement.

Several Distortion and mysterious symbols were outlined there using a mixture of somber green and Pale White.

Some of them resemble simplified skulls, others look like Entanglement arms and Vines, and still others are composed of inverted Triangle.

Surrounding these symbols are thin lines of the same color that extend in all directions, penetrating the walls, floors, and ceilings.

As Salent took out a Key that looked like it was made of gold and stepped forward to open the door, Franca whispered to Lumian and Jenna, "Those Mysticism symbols seem to belong to the Death Domain."

"What's the point of them?" Jenna asked, puzzled.

Franca shook her head:

"I don't know. Normally, this should be part of some kind of Ritual Magic, but Ritual Magic without Source of power cannot function indefinitely."

"As far as I know, most of the large Church in the Church of the Orthodox God have similar arrangements to some extent. What keeps the Ritual Magic running is the believers who go to pray every day. Each of them may not give much spiritual energy individually, but when they accumulate, it is enough."

"Perhaps there's some power here to sustain the Ritual Magic," Lumian smiled and said to Franca. "You should be happy; from this angle, there might really be Mummy here."

Franca breathed a sigh of relief and said, "The counterfeit goods here shouldn't be as rampant as in Trier."

She asked with some doubt, "Why did you insist on dragging us to see a real Mummy? I can directly Divination the Mummy Ashes are real."

"Let me see it," Lumian replied confidently.

Before Franca could swear, he added, "I'd just ask for Mummy Ashes. He'll most likely give me fakes. Then, after you do Divination on the spot and find out the result, should I kick over his cabinet or beat him up? Fighting is no good."

Lumian used a phrase that Aurora often said.

Of course, what he didn't mention was that there were also negative effects from the three Contract: "Abscessed Severed Hand" made him always want to snap his target's neck, "Man-Faced Mantis" made him hate those humans who slandered the innocent more than ever before, Armored Wraith " made him sometimes feel Imprisonment by life, and he had the urge to break free of his constraints by wandering around.

Perhaps it was thanks to Mr. The Fool's testimony, or perhaps it was the benefits brought by the "Bribery," but all three were quite minor, negative effects that Lumian could control with a focused mind. However, their combination still occasionally gave him the idea to act impulsively.

Franca and Jenna both uttered disdainful sounds.

Only Hunter truly love fighting and killing!

At this moment, after fiddling with the lock for a while, turning it left and right, Salent finally opened the pitch -Pitch-Black Wooden Door depicting mysterious symbols.

Lumian then noticed Oil Lamps embedded in the Passageway of the Basement corridor, which seemed to have never been extinguished.

The firelight, tinged with a faint green, flickered gently as Franca and the others followed Salent, the Boss the secret medicine shop, into the passageway behind the door.

Even though there was light here, it gave them the illusion that they were gradually sinking deeper into darkness.

The already cold temperature seemed to drop several degrees Celsius even further.

Salent walked forward seven or eight meters, passing through a series of tightly closed Gray-White stone doors, and stopped in front of a room in the middle of the corridor.

These stone doors and the surrounding walls have symbols similar to those found at the entrance to the Basement.

Salent pushed open the stone door in front of him, revealing a small Tomb Chamber to Lumian and the others:

A colorful, gold-plated, anthropomorphic Stone Sarcophagus with an exotic flair sits quietly in the center of the Tomb Chamber.

"This is a Mummy from five centuries ago," Salent said, as he moved closer to the Stone Sarcophagus and pushed the lid down.

"He doesn't seem afraid that we'll just take the Mummy here..." Lumian muttered to himself.

Franca chuckled softly, "Maybe they just look down on us."

Jenna didn't join their conversation, instead casting her curious and fearful gaze inside the gold-bottomed Stone Sarcophagus.

There lay a Corpse Entanglement yellowish-brown strips of cloth, its mouth slightly open, its eyes just dark, Black Hole, and there seemed to be traces of grease that had once seeped out from its body.

Being in a foreign land, Franca had few reservations and took out a Mirror to perform Divination in front of Salent.

Salent's eyes flickered slightly, then quickly returned to normal, as if he had seen similar things far too many times before.

Not long after, an aged voice, accompanied by the sound of water, came from Franca's Mirror:

"It's a real Mummy, but not an ancient Mummy."

Franca suddenly raised her head and looked at Salent, the Boss of the secret medicine shop.

Salent smiled rather awkwardly:

"I lied just now. This isn't a five-hundred-year-old Mummy. In fact, it was only made and sent here two weeks ago. But regardless, it went through the complete and lengthy Mummy -making process. The only difference between it and those ancient Mummy is that it hasn't been in the Tomb Chamber long enough."

Lumian "ancient" Mummy was only created two weeks ago, looked at Salent and asked casually, "You Hunting living people to make Mummy?"

Salent shook his head slightly:

"There's no need for that. So many people die every day in the Southern Continent. You can buy plenty of fresh Corpse for a little money. Hiring someone to hunt them is much more expensive than that. Doing it yourself would be too time-consuming."

He unconsciously began analyzing the pros and cons of several options.

After hearing the explanation from the Boss of the secret medicine store, Jenna had a completely different feeling when she looked at the Mummy:

That was someone who hadn't been dead for many years.

His Corpse was displayed here and sold as merchandise.

Although Mummy that's only two weeks old is usable and a qualified Auxiliary Ingredient, Franca definitely hopes to get something better.

She sighed and withdrew her gaze from the fresh Mummy, then asked Salent:

Are there any older Mummy?

Salent hesitated for a few seconds before cautiously asking, "Would Last Year's be okay?"

This is the oldest Mummy in the Basement.

Franca sighed helplessly:

"Alright."

Somewhat disappointed, Salent led the three into another Tomb Chamber.

He had initially assumed Lumian and his companions intended to buy the entire Mummy, which was why he had shown them the best-preserved one. However, it now seemed that they only wanted a portion of it.

The brownish-yellow Mummy from Last Year was in very poor condition; not only was the lower part of the body missing, but there were also jagged Cavern in the chest and abdomen.

After Franca's Divination confirmed its authenticity, Salent, no longer as enthusiastic as before, asked, "How much do you need?"

"50 grams." Franca planned to stock up on more.

Salent calculated for a moment and said, "500 Felkine."

Franca paid immediately, watching Salent pulled out a Hammer and a Dagger from somewhere and, with the gusto of someone mining ore, chipped and slashed off half of the Mummy's arm.

Jenna was stunned; to her, it was truly bloody and brutal.

She had witnessed Gang warfare and even killed people herself, but she had never seen anyone treat the human body as a cheap commodity.

Franca sighed inwardly, forcing herself to suppress all her emotions.

This is the cruelty of the extraordinary world and the Potion system, but compared to "Gift," it seems exceptionally beautiful.

After taking the small piece of the Mummy's arm, Franca, with Jenna in tow, silently walked out of the Tomb Chamber, with Lumian and Salent following behind side by side.

They had walked less than three meters back when all the Kerosene Lamp in the Passageway simultaneously shrank, their light dimming to an extreme.

Salent turned his head in surprise, his expression shifting between light and shadow.