Chapter 506: Triv (1/2)

Zac woke up with a start, his head a chaotic mess, but he instinctively shot to his feet with his weapon at the ready. He barely had time to stop himself from bisecting a shocked Valkyrie before he remembered where he was.

”Sorry about that. How long was I out?” Zac asked with a hoarse voice.

”Around forty minutes,” Kenzie said with worry. “What’s wrong? Are you poisoned?”

“It’s nothing,” Zac said as he rubbed his temples. “I broke open a Node by force earlier because of all the energy I gained. I think I overextended myself a bit.”

“I completely forgot after seeing you zip around as usual. I’m surprised you could fight like that at all,” Ogras said, his eyes wide. “I guess that even the Heavens has finally had enough of your luck and sent some cultists in your direction. Karma always comes knocking sooner or later.”

Zac turned his sight inward, and he was a bit better than before. His pathways were still a mess, but his flesh was on the mend already. He guessed that he had fallen unconscious because he had used his pathways when he should have been resting. It was a valuable experience though, learning what kind of effect exploding a node had on his body and combat readiness.

But the node wasn't the only problem that ailed his body at the moment. He thought a second before he walked a few steps away, and shocked exclamations echoed across the hill as he stabbed himself in his arm. A large spurt of blood stained the ground, but the wound quickly scabbed over.

“Don't worry, just expelling some toxins,” Zac said as he took out his flying treasure. “I feel a lot better already. Get ready. I'll check out the situation around the pillar for threats before we deal with the realignment array.”

Zac really did feel a lot better after having exsanguinated himself. [Void Heart] had absorbed both a bunch of miasma and poisons during the fight, and having been bled a few times helped him get some of the impurities out. He still would have preferred to rest up some more, but there was still the aftermath of the invasion to deal with. He gingerly tried activating the flying treasure again, and this time it went smoothly.

He soon closed in on the azure pillar and he actually saw a familiar figure fretting back and forth some distance away from it, the ghost who had hovered right next to the Lich King earlier. It looked unsure whether to enter or not. However, the moment it spotted Zac its visage turned even ghastlier and became marred with horror, and it immediately shot toward the Nexus Hub.

The ghost wasn't all that quick though, especially not compared to a top-tier flying treasure like Zac’s. Just a second after the ghost spotted him he had been caught, held firmly in Zac’s grasp. A few Revenants were overseeing the zombies as well, but they unhesitantly jumped into the teleportation array, abandoning their colleague.

“Who are you?” Zac asked as he shook the ghost for a bit.

“Sir, I am just an attendant to Lord Ad- ah, I mean the Wretched Lich Adriel. A thousand blessings upon you for freeing me!” he hurriedly said. “Please spare this useless one, I am not a threat to you or your planet. I am just a custodian, a non-combat class ordered to come to this planet against his wishes.”

“Shameless enough,” Zac snorted. “What’s going on here?”

“We’re bringing back the children,” the ghost explained, not hesitating to spill the beans. “They will have a better future coming with us than staying here, and it will rid your planet of these walking Holy Beacons.”

Zac frowned as he looked at the zombies who mindlessly shuffled forward until they disappeared into the Incursion Pillar. Perhaps the ghost was right. The death-attunement should dissipate sooner or later, and what would become of these people?

Some might turn sapient and find themselves stuck on a planet with a hostile environment full of enemies. But most would simply be cut down by cultivators gathering Nexus Coins and Cosmic Energy. At the Undead Kingdom, they would at least have a chance to be born anew.

“…Fine, I’ll let them go. Now, tell me how to turn off the Realignment Array,” Zac said.

This was the most pressing issue now. The quest to stop the realignment still hadn't completed. He had actually noticed that the massive lines in the sky had started to fade while he hunted the cultists, but it seemingly wasn't enough. The most likely suspect was obviously the array below the surface, but he still believed that having this attendant to turn it off the safest bet.

But his hopes were quickly dashed as the ghost frantically shook his head.

“I can’t!” the ghost cried. “I would love to explain to the young master, but I can’t.”

“The first directive?” Zac asked with a frown.

“Yes, yes! You are very well-read. The first directive precludes me from helping you no matter my personal wish to assist!” the ghost nodded.

Zac frowned as his eyes bore into the squirming specter. Catheya had never really explained exactly how binding the commandments were, but they didn’t seem like complete compulsions to Zac. There should be some wriggle-room, and Zac felt he might as well do some name-dropping to see if the Draugr girl could help him one last time.

“I recently became friends with Catheya Sharva’Zi from the Empire Heartlands when I visited the Tower of Eternity. It appears she is visiting your Kingdom while her master is in secluded cultivation?” Zac said as he took out the Teleportation Token she gave him before he flashed his Tower Title. “She gave me this token, you might recognize it.”

“This! Ninth Floor! And you know that Exalted Mistress?” the ghost veritably screamed as its incorporeal eyes darted back and forth between the title and the token.

Catheya actually hadn’t given him a Token representing her force, but he was willing to bet that some random ghost wouldn’t know the difference. For all it knew, it might very well be a teleportation token leading straight to the Empire Heartlands rather than the Twilight Harbor.

“I can put in a good word for you next time I meet her, or I can do the opposite,” Zac shrugged. “I will turn off the Realignment array sooner or later even if I have to rip this whole Fortress apart. I don’t mind turning you into a pile of ghost dust first though.”

The ghost sputtered for a few seconds until it calmed down.

“Did you know that the attunement of a planet is based on its World Core? It is a magical crystal residing in the deepest core of a world. Some believe that a world core is essentially alive, and the planet’s attunement a result of its cultivation where it absorbs the energy of The Cosmos. What do you think would happen if such a core was flooded with Death while it was sealed off from the cosmos?” the ghost said before it dimmed as though it was wounded.

Zac’s eyes widened as he looked at the wretched appearance of the ghost. Was it actually wounded from divulging some information like that? However, it still hadn’t answered his question, at least not straight out. Most of what it said was just general information and theories, and nothing that he wouldn’t be able to piece together himself.

However, Zac obviously understood the implied meaning behind the ghost's words.