Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton

At the sound of hooves, some skeleton zombies poked their heads out from the open graves, their glinting eyes staring at the carriage speeding by. From the carriage’s perspective, it appeared as though a myriad of glowing eyeballs was staring at it.

Of course, the Great Sage had become accustomed to such scenes, not bothering to slow down and brushing past them at high speed.

Entering the rift, there were skeleton zombies peering down from both sides of the cliff walls.

The carriage made a swift U-turn, drifted for a few yards and came to a sudden halt. The Great Sage hopped off the carriage and quickly floated towards a large cave deep within the rift.

As he entered the cave, he instantly saw a cluster of sacred light simmering away.

Startled, the Great Sage exclaimed, “Power of Holy Light? Servants of Light, prepare to meet your doom!”

The hand holding the holy light gently closed, snuffing out the radiance. And then Harvey’s voice sounded, “It’s me….”

“Harvey?” The Great Sage immediately conjured a sphere of energy emitting spiritual fluctuations. The sphere radiated spiritual waves in all directions, reflecting off objects and bouncing back.

Undead beings observe the outside world via souls, and the spirit fluctuation sphere could illuminate their world, functioning like a flare.

Undead beings can actively emit spiritual fluctuations to observe the surroundings, but this approach easily draws others’ attention, often leading to confrontations.

So, in a world filled with undead creatures, what do you think would happen if everyone recklessly emitted spiritual fluctuations to peek here and there?

Hence, the undead living in the Undead Empire understood a rule of etiquette: if you can’t clearly see others, use a flare to light them up.

Soon, the Great Sage saw Harvey sprawling on a stone lounge chair in the darkness.

“So it really is you. What was that holy light earlier?” The Great Sage asked, puzzled.

Without even bothering to move his toes, Harvey opened his right hand to reveal a cluster of holy light blazing in his palm.

“You’ve been hurt? What happened? Were you attacked by a servant of Light?” The Great Sage exclaimed in shock.

They were currently hundreds of kilometers deep into the Land of Fallen, a region filled with undead all around for hundreds of kilometers. If a servant of Light could infiltrate this deeply to carry out an assassination on a Lord of Mourning, let alone injuring him, he wouldn’t be an ordinary servant.

“During the city siege,” Harvey drawled lazily.

“The siege? That’s not right. I watched the whole thing. When were you injured?” The Great Sage recalled the siege and asked with confusion.

“When I hit the wall, a shadow burst out and struck me, knocking off my finger,” Harvey lifted his palm. Four fingers were made of purple-gold bones, and one of light-grey bone.

However, that light-grey finger was riddled with holes from the holy light’s burning.

Harvey took a glance, found it unsightly, and plucked the finger off. He walked to the nearby cave wall and kicked at it.

The cave wall had numerous humanoid indentations, each holding a Golden Skeleton. The kick dislodged one of the Golden Skeletons.

The disoriented Golden Skeleton scratched its skull as it climbed up, looking perplexedly at Harvey.

Harvey pointed at his finger: Prattle prattle….

Without uttering a word, the Golden Skeleton raised its middle finger, grasped it with his other hand, pulled off the finger bone and handed it to Harvey before ambling out, leaving Harvey behind.

Not long after, the Golden Skeleton came back with a silvered finger bone, clearly not knowing who exactly it had taken it from.

“You really are something. You even snatch your underling’s bones, aren’t you ashamed?” said the Great Sage, looking disgusted.

Harvey shrugged, saying helplessly, “Can’t help it. The grey bone I picked up was burned like this by holy light. If I don’t replace it with a sturdier one, it will be burned down soon. I was actually hoping to get whatever bone I could find and refine it myself.”

“What kind of holy light is so overbearing that even you can’t suppress it? After all these days, it’s still burning?” The Great Sage looked closer and exclaimed in alarm:

“No way, Fire of Mass Faith!”

Harvey slumped back onto the stone lounger, giving the Great Sage a sidelong glance.

Used to Harvey’s habit of saving effort whenever possible, the Great Sage started explaining voluntarily:

“The Fire of Mass Faith is a particularly vicious flame. Essentially, it means part of a faith network is pinned on you. As long as these followers hold a devout belief in Light, their faith will continuously strengthen this flame, searing your body.”

Harvey asked, “Can it be dispelled?”

“Very difficult, because it’s formless. Furthermore, it’s something many Disciples of Light dream of having. The Fire of Mass Faith is the seed of godhood. Those who possess it can gather followers’ faith and gradually grow into new deities. But if this thing is nailed to your body, that’s truly Kvada.” The Great Sage shook his head, unsure how to continue.

However, Harvey had caught an important point, “Become a god? They pinned a seed of godhood, something that could turn them into gods, onto me? The cost is too high, isn’t it?”