Chapter 393

For these wandering bandits, bread, grain, and dried meat weren't problems, since they could be stored for a long time, but vegetables were not—they would dehydrate, wither, or rot within two or three days of being picked.

Sometimes, after roaming for long stretches, they could go a month or two without eating any vegetables; without vegetables or fruit, people's skin would dry out, their gums would bleed, sores would form in their mouths and tongues, they'd suffer constipation and bloody urine, and even develop scurvy.

When pushed to desperation, they'd even pluck tender tree leaves and chew them for juice, let alone this newly sprouted, juicy, crisp fast-growing vegetable.

True, these vegetables weren't mature yet, but there was a whole patch—if they pulled them all up, it would be enough for their dozen or so men.

The bandits enthusiastically plucked the vegetable leaves, yanking them out by the roots and biting straight into the stems and leaves; the fast-growing vegetables were juicy and crisp, one of the few vegetables delicious raw.

But they had no idea what kind of trouble this act would provoke.

A skeleton leapt up from the sand, its hands clasping empty air as it conjured a scythe of death, charging toward them.

By the time they tried to counterattack, they sensed an endless surge of magical energy emanating from the skeleton—and the sand beneath their feet turned soft as a swamp's surface, sinking under every step, making it impossible to stand firm.

"Bad! It's a Gold Skeleton!"

"Bad! This skeleton uses magic!"

"Bad!..."

After a few startled cries, the dozen or so bandits were neatly reaped like wheat.

"I knew it." Nagelis tightly closed its pages, refusing to look; actually, picking Ang's vegetables wouldn't cause trouble, because this guy's obsession was: things are grown to be eaten.

But they shouldn't have, and absolutely shouldn't have, picked the seedlings—just a finger's length of new growth, plucked right off.

In Ang's eyes, destroying seedlings was second only to burning fields in sin.

Destroying seedlings meant death once; burning fields meant death many times over, like that Tulus and those poor demons Ang mistakenly thought were Tulus.

Albert struggled to his feet from the soil, staring in shock at the scene, his mind buzzing: Is the Holy Spirit this terrifying? I once complained about him—oh gods, will he hold a grudge?

Over these past few days, Ang had only tended his vegetables, giving Albert the false impression he was harmless; he never expected the Holy Spirit could be so brutal when cutting people down.

Stepping over the corpses, the earth-splitting spell trembled, sinking quickly into the soil beside the field—next year, these farmlands would be even more fertile.

Turning to Albert, Nagelis asked: "You just said the Desert Town was robbed?"

"Yes, yes, yes." Albert snapped out of his shock and hurriedly said: "The Desert Town was raided—these bandits came from who-knows-where, suddenly appeared, stormed into the town killing anyone they saw, then began searching the surrounding area. I feared being discovered, so I ran back; I didn't expect they'd search this far."

Walking from here to Desert Town takes over an hour, but on horseback it might take only twenty minutes.

From the skeleton guards at the town gate, it's clear Desert Town isn't undefended; in such remote wilderness, no force could have built it without strength—not just bandits and mercenaries, but even beasts and monsters could destroy many villages.

Albert shook his head: "I don't know. I saw from afar—I couldn't tell how many there were." He added, worried:

"I don't know if those children are alright—I went to where they live and didn't find them; I don't know if they went into town or ran away."

Hearing about the children, Ang remembered the little girl who'd brought him grave grass—he now understood why she'd brought him grave grass.

This is a world where living beings and the undead coexist in harmony, saturated with death energy, which has spawned countless wraiths.

At night, these wraiths swarm everywhere, chattering noisily and driving people mad; undead creatures are especially susceptible to wraith influence—grave grass not only calms the spirit and soothes the soul, but also repels wraiths, making it extremely useful.

Of course, Ang didn't need it—he actually hoped for more wraiths, since they were soul energy.

But wraith soul energy contained vast amounts of obsession; undead beings absorbing too much risked mental fragmentation or depression.

As the Undead God, these things had no effect on Ang—the obsession in wraiths was weaker than that in his soul-flame.

"Worrying won't help. Stay here and hide. I'll clean up these bandits' traces so their comrades don't notice their disappearance and follow the hoofprints here." Nagelis said.

Following the bandits' hoofprints, Ang ran toward Desert Town; as he ran, vortices formed beneath his feet, scattering the hoofprints.

Wherever he passed, shallow vortex marks remained on the sand—they'd vanish completely in no time.

Albert needed over an hour to walk to Desert Town; Ang, running, needed only minutes. Ten minutes later, two-thirds of the way, the hoofprints were erased—and the prints here made a turn.

Ang had planned to continue erasing the tracks, but Nagelis stopped him:

"Stop. The hoofprints turned here. If those bandits really follow the prints and see them vanish, they'll keep going straight—not turn toward us. Leave them—they can mislead the enemy."

"Oh." Ang replied, turning back. After walking a distance, he stopped and looked toward a nearby dune.

Walking to the dune, Ang found five trembling children and one unconscious female mage.

"Huh? Those street urchins? You ran out? Why are there only five left? Where are the others? Who is she?" Nagelis asked.

Ang recognized them too—among them was the little girl who'd brought him grave grass.

The street urchins, perhaps recognizing Ang, chattered all at once: their group had about nine kids total; four had been captured, leaving only these five.

As for the female mage, they didn't know who she was—she'd collapsed near their sleeping spot last night, briefly woke up, led them out, then fainted again here.

The five children were all too young to carry an adult, so they dragged her behind the dune to hide.

Ang grabbed the female mage by the collar of her robe and lifted her up; after a close look, Nagelis said: "A wound on her waist—not fatal. She seems to have fainted from hunger."

Grrrrrrl! At the word "hungry," the five children's stomachs growled.

Nagelis told Ang to take out three elf beans, split them in half, and give one half to each child; the remaining half was shoved into the mage's mouth.

Under Nagelis's urging, the children hesitantly ate half an elf bean—and soon felt full, their faces filled with shock.

The little girl who'd once brought Ang grave grass excitedly pulled a single elf bean from her chest and held it high for Ang to see.

"You didn't eat it? Then keep it. Eat it when you're hungry someday." Nagelis said.

"Sigh." Nagelis sighed inwardly—it understood why the girl hadn't eaten the bean. She didn't know one bean could fill a stomach, but the bean was a gift, representing someone's kindness, so she couldn't bring herself to eat it.

For children like her, others' kindness was more precious than anything.

"Come on, I'll take you to my place."

Back at the stone chamber graveyard, Albert was both relieved and alarmed—relieved the street urchins were mostly unharmed, alarmed that Ang had brought people into the stone chamber graveyard, which violated the rules.

But there was no use in panicking—Albert could only comfort himself: It was the Holy Spirit who brought them back, not my doing; the Lord will forgive me.

…

CRASH! Ji Li felt sharp pain on her face and jolted awake—before her was a skull's face. She gasped, instinctively striking back.

"Xiliduoxi…" Before she finished the incantation, the skull reached out and "took" all the elements away.

"Sss—Deprivation?! How is that possible?!" Ji Li shouted in shock.

Deprivation was a high-level mage's suppression of a low-level one—elemental energy in a given area was limited; if another's control was stronger, they could drain all elements, leaving the weaker mage unable to cast.

If you couldn't cast magic, your only option was to swing your staff like a club.

But to achieve true deprivation, the level gap between mages had to be enormous; otherwise, the struggle would result in a fifty-fifty split, or maybe seventy-thirty—never true deprivation.

Ji Li wasn't a pure mage, but she considered her magic skill decent—how could someone else deprive her of elemental control? And the caster was a skeleton? How?

"Must be because I'm too hungry, or injured," Ji Li unconsciously touched her stomach.

Huh? Her stomach was full—she didn't feel hungry, nor was she in that weak, trembling state from over-hunger; her limbs felt strong.

She touched her wound again—huh? Where was the wound? She couldn't feel it. No pain. She looked down—her wound was completely healed, as if she'd never been injured.

Who healed me? Who fed me? Two huge question marks rose in her mind—and then she realized: My wound's healed, I'm not hungry—so the deprivation happened because I'm weak?

Seeing her lost in thought, Nagelis asked: "Who are you? Why were you injured? Those bandits were chasing you, right?"

Ji Li snapped her head up, shaking it vigorously: "No, no, they weren't chasing me—I don't know those bandits!"

"Alright, I understand. Then why were those bandits chasing you?" Nagelis asked.

Ji Li froze: "Don't you understand? I said they weren't chasing me—I don't know those bandits!"

"Alright, I understand. You have nothing valuable on you, so they weren't robbing you. That means they're after you personally. Who are you? Why are they chasing you?" Nagelis asked.

Ji Li choked on her breath, held it for a long moment, then let out a long sigh, defeated: "I'm Ji Li, an alchemist of the Sorcerer Alliance. They want to capture me for the bounty."

"I knew it," Nagelis crowed triumphantly. Hard-won victory—finally, it could trick someone out of the truth. Usually, Anthony was the one who pulled this off; it was always the one being tricked.

"Where do they want to take you for the bounty?" Nagelis asked.

Ji Li glanced at it in surprise: "The Necromancer Guild, of course—where else? All Sorcerer Alliance members are on the Necromancer Guild's bounty list; capturing one earns at least fifty soul crystals. Haven't you been outside in a long time?"

"I'm telling you this only because you're the Light Holy Spirit. By the way, your Light Church is the same—just cheaper, starting at ten soul crystals."

Nagelis didn't understand local prices, so it asked: "Are fifty soul crystals a lot? How much food can you buy?"

Food was the universal currency—so long as people ate, food was hard currency; comparing it to the main plane's value gave a rough sense of the difference.

"Enough to feed a family of five for ten years," Ji Li counted on her fingers for a long while.

"I've been asleep a long time—I don't understand the current situation. Tell me about it. Oh, and I healed your wound—no need to thank me." Nagelis seized the chance.

"Which part of the situation?" Ji Li patted her stomach, relaxing.

After seeing Ang's armor and recognizing him as the Light Holy Spirit, Ji Li had relaxed.

If someone wanted to capture her for the bounty, that person definitely wouldn't be from the Light Church—because Light Church members were also on the bounty list.

Besides, this person had healed her wound and filled her stomach, showing sufficient goodwill.

After their conversation, Nagelis gathered more information about this world from Ji Li.

"The surface is now in chaos. Over two months ago, after the Star Burst Array fired a new explosion, the Undead King began attacking the Star Burst Array—all top undead beings ascended."

"The Star Burst Array has powerful defenses and the Lord of Annihilation guarding it. The Undead King can climb up easily, but coming down is hard. Now is the Necromancer Empire's weakest moment—if you want to move about, this is your best chance. For the next few decades, the Necromancer Empire won't have time to bother you."

"Hard to come down? What does that mean?" Nagelis's heart jolted, urgently asking.

"The Infinite Heat Death Domain—the Lord of Annihilation's Infinite Heat Death Domain—has trapped the Undead King and his followers. He won't break through for decades. Now it's a race: will the Undead King break the domain, or will we sorcerers find a way to annihilate him?"

"Sss—that means the world's falling into chaos?" Nagelis gasped.

Ji Li nodded: "Chaos has already begun. I came from Thunder Valley—the whole way was chaotic. Many fields weren't harvested—they were burned down along with the crops."

As she spoke, Ji Li suddenly noticed the skull before her straighten its spine—its entire aura changed.

"Heh, heh, standing too long made my waist ache," Nagelis hastily explained (and concealed).

Waist ache? You're a skeleton—what waist?

"By the way, what's tattooed on your back?" Nagelis asked finally.

Ji Li shot to her feet, glaring at Ang: "You took off my clothes!"