บท 13: Chapter 13: Do You Believe in the Undead?_1
บรรณาธิการ: EndlessFantasy Translation
Should he say "yes" or "no"? If he were to say "no," what if Lord Observer gets annoyed because there are no believers of immortality in such a large underground city?
If he says "yes", there were indeed two temples once, but one of them has been abandoned and turned into a place to store coffins. The other one is half-dead, with only a silver skeleton lingering, and there isn't even a priest. Can it still be called a temple?
Would Lord Observer think he is not dedicated enough if he sees this situation? That he can't even hold on to the belief in undead?
This really isn't due to his lack of dedication but rather the unique characteristics of the Undead Temple. Only humans must worship it. The undead are directly branded with souls, why do they need a temple?
With the closure of the world's transit station, the Undead Empire has not been seen in this world for thousands of years. Even the strongest belief weakens as generations of people die, ultimately disappearing.
But mainly, the original Undead Temple was too laissez-faire. There were no rewards for followers, and not much punishment for those who desecrated it. As long as you didn't curse or spit at the entrance, you could even shout, 'Believing in the undead is foolish ——', and nobody would pay attention to you.
Of course, insulting the king is not allowed. Anyone who dares to criticize the Undead King who controls the spirits and immortality will be pursued even into another plane.
This laissez-faire attitude is far from that of the Demon Valley. The demons there love to entice people. You can trade anything - money, beauties, status, power – for their belief.
One thousand years ago, Feilin heard of a religion called the Church of Light. It was even more manipulative, but with the closure of the world's transit station, they also disappeared.
After a short consideration, Feilin decided to say "yes". After all, there indeed was one, though neglected, but that was not his fault. On the contrary, deceiving the Observer was a grave sin.
"Yes, there is a temple on the southeast corner." Feilin sent an address through thought intensification.
The advantage with the undead is that they communicate directly at the soul level. Some things that are hard to describe with words can be conveyed with a simple thought.
After receiving the address, Ange took Little Zombie and headed towards the northeastern corner.
Ange's location was also in the northeast but in a branching cave, where there were very few people. The northeast corner, where the Undead Temple was located, was the sloping area when first entering the underground city, a main urban area.
When Ange arrived here, all was silent and no ghosts were found, and the ground was covered with moss, making it slippery and hard to traverse.
As he proceeded towards the temple's area, he noticed all the moss and scattered items disappeared. The grounds had been swept clean, leaving traces of tidiness.
The sound of sweeping echoed from afar.
Following the sound, Ange rounded a corner and saw a silver-white skeleton sweeping. Sensing Ange's arrival, the Silver Skeleton's hollow eye sockets looked in his direction.
The Little Zombie was shocked and hastily hid behind Ange.
Honestly, this Silver Skeleton was the strongest Ange had seen in a thousand years. Its soul strength was only slightly weaker than Feilin's--enough to suppress lower-level undead creatures.
However, Ange didn't feel any pressure at all, not even when facing Feilin. Initially, he picked his grey skeleton from the Temple of Rest, not the product of an earnest exercise, so he didn't even know his level.
But since Silver Skeleton couldn't make him feel pressured, it infers that its soul isn't much stronger than his.
The Silver Skeleton looked for a moment and then lowered its head to continue sweeping. It had been repeating the same task for a thousand years and might continue for another thousand.
No broom can withstand a thousand years of friction and remain intact, unless it can repair itself. Looking at the black gas swirling around the broom each time it swept confirmed his assumption - it was the Silver Skeleton's soul armor.
Soul armor, the weapon refined by high-level undead creatures with soul energy, has its own growth characteristic and can repair itself if damaged.
That being said, Ange's scythe and hoe have also been used for over a thousand years.
Seeing that the Silver Skeleton ignored them, Ange didn't mind and continued to wander around the temple. The idea of Negris was to find an Undead Temple and try to connect to the Soul Network to understand his situation, but how to connect?
After making a round and getting no clue, Ange called for Negris again.
As soon as Negris entered Ange's soul, he couldn't help but complain, "I never expected that after getting to know my divine name, someone would treat me like a magic spirit. From now on, I will never offer my divine name as a reward again. Little skull, I'm not your magic housekeeper."
"Oh, a temple, no, a Soul Network." Ange ignored Negris' complaints.
Negris sighed. When he was the God of Knowledge as the Bronze Giant Dragon, those who were eligible to know his divine name would ask questions with caution and utmost seriousness.
The questions asked were either about researching the laws of plane operation or about solving difficult magical problems. Not like Ange, who always asked about common sense stuff, which made him feel like a magic housekeeper.
But what could he do? Even if he didn't like the rule he set himself, he still had to do it.
After looking around, Negris helplessly said, "Without believers, how can there be a Soul Network? Even the Undead Fire on the altar has been extinguished. Light the Undead Fire first, then look for devout believers."
"Oh." Ange responded.
Negris, who had already figured out Ange's habits, helplessly said, "Are you going to ask how to light the Undead Fire?"
"Yes, tomorrow." Ange was a very rule-abiding skeleton.
"Don't wait until tomorrow. I will teach you now. Are you planning to use several days to complete something tiny as dust? You have the patience, but I don't." Negris surrendered. As the splendid God of Knowledge, it was a disgrace to him to have to answer such common-sense stuff over several days.
Under Negris' guidance, Ange lit the Undead Fire on the altar.
A bit of Soul Energy was injected, and the Undead Fire rose. Almost at the moment the Undead Fire was lit, the sweeping sound in the temple stopped abruptly, and the Silver Skeleton quickly came over and knelt before the altar in the most standard posture.
The metallic skull clinked on the ground each time it worshiped, and with each worship, the Undead Fire, like a small flame, sprang up a bit.
Ange pointed to the Silver Skeleton and asked Negris, "Believer?"
"This is not a believer, consider it a priest. Your king is so stupid to make a Silver Skeleton a priest. Doesn't he know another name for a priest is swindler? Can a silly skeleton swindle people?" Negris sneered.
"Who can be a believer?" Ange asked.
"Anyone can be. It's not about who the believer is, but about 'belief'. Without pious belief, no matter how many people, it's useless. Don't look for them yourself, seeing your skeletal frame will make people guard against you. How can they possibly believe you? You should disguise yourself or ask someone else for help."
Negris had practically taught him by hand now, he had never been this active when spreading his own beliefs before.
Ange thought for a moment, put his scarecrow hat on. The scarecrow hat was a magical tool for scaring birds. It could transform into two or three things, like an eagle or a human.
Although this low-level magical tool didn't work well, and in the condition of almost identical spiritual power, one could see through it at a glance. But one advantage is that it can make a sound. Ange, who couldn't speak, now talked to Feilin through the soul.
After transforming into an ordinary-looking man, Ange left the temple. Not far away, he saw a burly minotaur aunt. Ange pointed at her, "Can she do?"
"Hehe, stubborn Minotaur, if she's willing to believe in you, I can crawl like a lizard." Negris sneered. The Minotaurs were notoriously stubborn and only believed in ancestral totems. It's harder to make them believe in the undead than reaching the sky.
Ange took out the Soul Crystal he got from Feilin as a usage fee, refined it and absorbed it into the wristband, and then transferred a bag of grain out. He brought it to the Minotaur aunt, "You, believe in the undead?"
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