Bro, I'm not an Undead!



Skullius' face was still a bit pale from the revelation he had just heard, but Aurolio didn't stop for his convenience.

"I've had stagnating growth for a while now. The terrible thing about having a guidance field is that when calculating experience, it takes into account all your abilities, not just your level. And sadly, I happen to have a technique that guarantees that I will never lose, even if I can't always win. That makes things a bit hard for me, even when fighting powerful monsters of the world."

Aurolio's expression brightened and he sank into his seat lazily once again.

"So, for what I propose... since you had something to do with those six monsters in the city – obviously – I want them. All of them and more. Each one can help me get closer to meeting my experience limit for my levels and then... I can finally touch the Incandescent Stage. I assume they can do the same for you... if you don't die along the way. Hmph. I'm very interested in seeing if a concept like Direction even affects Null Life, Undeath and Voided Death... If there's something else beyond this race other than participating in it. For that, I need more strength."

...A pause followed.

Aurolio was considerate enough to let Skullius think.

And the Hybrid Luman needed that.

His blank eyes rapidly moved to and fro as he processed all the information he had been fed and then... he spoke.

"All this... is just to conquer worlds?" he said with a scowl.

Aurolio sighed. It seemed he had gotten too far ahead of his counterpart.

"It sounds so simple when you say it like it, doesn't it? But no. It's not about worlds. It's about Rich Worlds. The number of Rich Worlds. I don't understand what that term really means. I can't read everything in my Book of Alignment yet. However, what I understood is that Deities, Ascended Divines, have a role. It's not about being strong and lounging around for them."

"Being a Deity means that you have a DUTY to create a world. Some Deities are so strong they can make one out of nothing, while others have to use their own bodies to accomplish the same feat. At the end of the day, the mandate has to be fulfilled. I'm not sure what makes a world a Rich or what even demands Deities to do this, but Void, Undeath and Null Life seek something in these worlds. Aigas is a Rich World too apparently, and there's something to find here... but I've been in the dark about that for a long time."

...

Rich Worlds.

It wasn't about conquering worlds but about finding something within Rich Worlds?

Skullius went from furious to confused.

He remembered the higher level undead from Deadmanland talking about going to other worlds – this was the very first time he had heard the subject of traversing to other words – but... those seemed more like casual conversations, not some serious stuff like this.

Maybe those had been different missions altogether?

Here in Aigas, there were records of undead spawning in the Sacred Forests multiple times. The timelines, from what Skullius had heard, dated back to after the Second Grand War.

After Fulgardt died.

This seemed like a tangent from the subject of what Rich Worlds were, but when the Hybrid Luman coupled that information with the piece of knowledge Serenity had dumped on him back when she had manifested physically, and some of the more casual rumours from back when he discovered all about the Deities...

'There's only one Deity on Aigas right now. That's what Serenity said. And I've often heard stories from the common folk who don't believe in the Purity, that the Deities abandoned them in the olden times. I thought this was just some excuse from the non-believers, but... what if all this is...'

What if it all had to do with what a Rich World was?

The Deities left the world they had created, and after that undead began raiding it... and then what?

What was after... and frankly, bits of what happened before, were missing.

Skullius raised his head and focused on Aurolio.

"You have no interest in finding out what makes this world rich?"

"I'll figure it out when I get stronger. Eventually, I'll be able to read the entire Book of Alignment. That seems to be the whole idea behind us having the books. You can only know what's important when you're strong enough to do anything about it," Aurolio replied nonchalantly.

He then gave a sharp eye to Skullius.

"That's as much sharing as I'm willing to do about this... for now. Like I said, we can make a deal. To be honest, it's in your best interest."

Skullius breathed out his built up frustration.

"Your proposal sounded more like a threat to me."

The pale man shrugged.

"Yeah, it was but there are benefits. Unless you want to push me to do what I should, you can choose to see reason. I told you, I don't intend to kill you or even the Undeath user just for Void's sake. I have my own ambitions. And you can help me get to them. I'll even add perks. I'll teach you things you don't know, and there's plenty of those by the looks of it. Better than that, I can find out for the both of us what the endgame of all this is."

Aurolio didn't react to Skullius' words with hostility of any kind. Everything he said seemed to be based on pragmatic reasoning.

He exerted the fact that he was much stronger than Skullius to appeal to his objectives, but not without giving an offer in return.

"Won't you get stronger by... you know, hunting down stronger opponents from high ranking Clusters? Or even Incandescent Stage experts?" Skullius asked.

"When I said I can't be defeated, I meant it. Ridiculously powerful opponents usually lend me with a draw, and I can't have that if I want to get experience. Only by killing monsters with attributes like yours... that is the loophole I need," Aurolio explained with a smile.

Internally, he was finally giving the geezer or hag, whatever they were, the credit they deserved. Only moments ago, did he realise that the Divination he had gotten was for profit, not struggle, like he had imagined before!

It was all for this moment!

Opposite Aurolio, a gloom was suffocating Skullius in contrast.

He admitted to himself that he had forgotten amidst all the revelations in the short minutes they had begun talking to each other.

So this guy's technique was that he couldn't be defeated?

That certainly was convincing enough for the average Joe to take up Aurolio's offer immediately but for Skullius... this only served to make him wary.

Sure, perhaps he could learn things about the guidance field that he didn't know yet. He could even learn about how to channel and use Null Life Essence with Aurolio as his teacher... and more.

But what he had to give up...

"So all I have to do is make sure you have more Null Lifeforms to kill?" he asked.

"Yes."

'That's complicated,' Skullius thought himself.

Making them wasn't hard but creating these Null Badubs...

He had sensed their presence in the city and confirmed what they were when the Null Devil King mentioned them but...

This was not an easy thing to think about quickly.

Suddenly, a razor sharp burst of killing intent blasted against Skullius!

He was jolted to a stand when it grazed his figure, but Aurolio at his side merely looked to its origin with amusement.

Across from them, a distance away, a man seated within the same tent reserved for contenders was glaring at the two. His gaze made the mediocre battle happening on the white platform between him and the negotiating duo seem almost non-existent.

"This guy..." Skullius said with a frown.

It was Gabel, staring with his deathly eyes directly at Skullius as if he wanted to devour him.

As always, a notebook was in his hand, the inspiration he had to endlessly scribble down a mountain of death and death-related semantics seemingly inexhaustible even now.

"Oh, you are acquainted?" Aurolio asked with genuine surprise while turning to Skullius.

"Hardly," the Hybrid Luman gave a succinct answer.

"I see. That doesn't stop him from chasing you does it? He's marked you, right?"

"Marked me?" Skullius raised a brow.

"It's this weird thing he does. He writes something for you... and then he kills you."

The Hybrid Luman instantly thought back to the note the scribbling bastard had left him back at the Inn where they first met.

Well... this was turning out to be most enlightening day ever.