White Bone Fortress

Su Ming froze. Even though he had been single since birth, it suddenly struck him that what White Bone had said sounded like a confession.

Above the hall, the White Bone Mark, which had been protected by several layers of barriers, suddenly vanished from its place.

The next moment, it appeared in Su Ming's hand.

"Miss White Bone?" Su Ming asked, puzzled.

"The White Bone Mark is an extremely powerful aggregate of runic techniques, created by Galio's teacher, Russell. They used it to restrict, control, and amplify me.

"I hid a few things from you before. I can only reach the speed I told you about once the restrictions on me are removed. Even changing into my ship form requires the White Bone Mark's cooperation. I have to choose someone to hold it and release my full power. Only then might we be able to escape from here.

"I grew tired of struggling to survive with no end in sight, and I was simply waiting quietly for my life to end. Mr. Su Ming, what you showed me suddenly made me feel that it would be nice to see more.

"So please, accept it!"

The barriers around the shadowy White Bone Mark in his hand vanished one layer at a time. Without hesitation, Su Ming nodded and gripped it tightly.

A dark flash passed, followed by a burst of light, and Su Ming found himself in the middle of a wilderness.

It was a battlefield where the fighting had only just ended. As far as he could see, there was scorched red earth and severed limbs, some human and others belonging to unrecognizable creatures. Tattered banners lay everywhere, and things that might once have been war machines were now nothing but black embers.

The sunlight was blocked. Su Ming looked up and saw a huge white bone dragon sweeping low overhead. Dense magic flowed over its white jade-like skeleton.

The air currents swept up clouds of dust and debris, carrying them from behind him toward the front. A splinter of wood passed out through his chest and drifted away in the turbulent wind, like a carefree butterfly.

Su Ming looked down and saw that the hem of his clothes had not stirred. The debris picked up by the wind passed straight through him; he was only a phantom.

"Don't be nervous." A vaguely familiar female voice rang out. Su Ming looked up and saw that a purple-haired girl in white had appeared beside him, standing just as rock-steady amid the flying debris.

This time, they were no longer communicating through Mind Synchronization, but speaking aloud. It was also the first time Su Ming had heard White Bone's voice.

"What's in front of us is a memory left in the White Bone Mark," White Bone explained to Su Ming. "It's replaying images of what happened in the past."

Su Ming opened his mouth to ask a question, but White Bone stopped him and gestured for him to watch first.

Not far away, the bone dragon circled back and landed. Vast numbers of runes scattered like dust, drifting freely in every direction.

The runes surged with waves of shadowy light. Through gaps that appeared in a flash, Su Ming also glimpsed wisps of brilliant color. Somewhat surprised, he glanced at White Bone.

The next moment, time froze, and a forbidden-curse-level technique activated.

Creaking sounded from every corner of the battlefield as all the bones began separating from the corpses, whether human or magical beast, whether newly dead or the remains of those who had fallen in this wasteland over the years. Under a power that defied the laws of life, countless bones broke free of flesh and blood, rising into the air until they blotted out the sun.

Then the bones converged on the bone dragon, gradually building a huge spherical structure in midair.

"White Bone Fortress," White Bone suddenly said.

"You mean the name of that building?" Su Ming asked.

"My name." The girl glanced at the fortress growing taller before her. "I miss it-when I was born."

Su Ming looked at the increasingly towering structure ahead. "...You were much bigger back then than you are now."

Beside them, a human skeleton crawled out of a corpse and flew toward the White Bone Fortress, becoming one of its countless wall struts.

"Of course. This place is called the Plain of Despair. It's a long, narrow stretch of plains between the Odu Mountains and the Poli Sea," White Bone told Su Ming. "Because it was a vital route connecting north and south, wars were fought here frequently over the years."

The girl crouched down and reached out a hand. She scooped up some sand and soil, which broke apart into specks of light and scattered in the air.

"The losers were buried, and the winners were soon defeated by new winners. Over time, even the soil turned brown, and the resentment of the dead continued to gather. Twenty-seven years ago, the holy magister Russell cast forbidden-curse-level creation magic on the battlefield of the Bloody Wasteland. I made a deal with the dead here, exchanging wishes for their power. That was how I was born!"

"What did they want? Resentment, revenge, or...?"

"Hardly any wanted revenge. There was some resentment, but more of it was simply confusion and unwillingness to accept their fate," White Bone answered. "The vast majority of the dead here were ordinary people. They were forced onto the battlefield and then died here without knowing why. Many of them didn't even know whom to hate."

"Their will had already been extinguished, and their hatred had been blown away by the wind and sand. All that remained was their obsession with existing," White Bone continued. "I promised to travel and pass through places with them, to leave a mark on this world that would draw attention, and so those obsessions accepted me."

Su Ming recalled the strange confession in the hall earlier. So that had been her promise to the undead.

"I understand," Su Ming said to White Bone. "I'll help fulfill those promises."

"Mm."

The structure gradually took shape, the flying bone fragments grew sparse, and the waves of magic began to subside. Sunlight returned to where the two stood, and everything was growing peaceful.

"All right. Next, Russell and Galio will weave the White Bone Mark and put shackles on me. It's a rather embarrassing sight, so let's not watch," White Bone said.

Su Ming nodded, and the two left the illusion.

Under White Bone's guidance, Su Ming manifested the White Bone Mark. The mark was beautiful when unfolded, its mirror-like darkness flecked with golden dots. As lovely as a star chart, it floated in the air around Su Ming, encircling him.

"The gray ones are the restrictions and shackles. Undo them all," White Bone told him.

Su Ming nodded and lit up the entire star chart, one point at a time.

A halo flashed, and the figure of a girl with purple eyes and hair appeared beside him, standing in midair with her robes fluttering. She stretched, scattering starry flecks of light with the movement.

"I can finally use this form," White Bone said. Her voice was lovely, just as it had sounded in the illusion.

The language-comprehension technique had been active for three days, and Su Ming could now understand the language of the other world.

He tried speaking. "Hello?" The words came smoothly, without any awkwardness.

"Not bad. You'll gain the ability to read and write later, too. Use it as much as you can to reinforce it," White Bone advised. "Also, with so much material, the common tongue shouldn't be the only language passed on to you."