Mercenary Wars

Chapter 211 Undead Awakening Potion
As the Asur River dried up, the ancient Asur people urgently built many water cellars for water storage. There were countless small water cellars, and more than one large one.

Due to the ensuing war, most of these water cellars were destroyed before they were even built, becoming ruins.

One of the destinations for Gaucano and his party was this.

It is the fourth large water cellar along the Asur River, hence it is called the "Fourth Water Cellar".

Following the map and the water cellar design provided by Aidan, Gaucano and his party successfully arrived at the location of the fourth water cellar.

A desert that looks no different from anywhere else.

Long ago, this place was one of the most prosperous towns in the Kingdom of Asur, but unfortunately, after the passage of time, the yellow sand has buried everything.

There was no trace of the above-ground portion of the water cellar.

Gaucano could only find the location of the entrance to the ruins by following the markings on the map.

The water cellar had multiple entrances, but due to collapse and burial, only two entrances were relatively easy to open.

After searching for a while, they gradually arrived at their destination, above an entrance.

“This should be it.” Gao Jiano pointed to two huge rocks in the distance and compared them with the markings on the map. “This is the pointed rock, and this is the bull’s head rock. The second eastern entrance to the water cellar site is between the two rocks.”

He then used animal communication magic to say, "Little Black, dig this up."

"Huh? Oh." The black bear didn't know why it was digging in the sand, but it still started digging anyway, completely bewildered.

Gaucano also participated in the excavation.

Neither he nor Dariss had learned any magic specifically for sand. While clay magic could work on sand, it was much less efficient, so digging was still faster.

With the combined efforts of humans and bears digging, a pitted stone gate soon appeared amidst the yellow sand.

The stone gate is inscribed with some text, including blessings, prayers, and construction information.

They were severely eroded by wind and sand, but fragments of text could still be faintly read.

“May Mosa bless Asur.” Darlis leaned closer and read the words aloud, then shrugged slightly. “I wonder how the Asur people view the drying up of the Asur River.”

After hearing her say that, Gao Jiano couldn't help but feel curious for a moment.

After all, the sudden formation of the Tidal Land and the severing of the upstream of the Asur Mother River, leading to the loss of their homeland, seemed like a “Mosa curse on Asur”. He found it hard to imagine how the Asur people would deal with the contradiction between fact and belief.

The most devout believers would probably fabricate various reasons for Mosa's "evil deeds," such as calling them "tests" or something similar.

But clearly, these reasons could not convince Gaucano, or even convince him to understand how others could be persuaded.

In Gaucano's view, this epic, dramatic event only proves that Mosa is either not omnipotent, not entirely good, or neither omnipotent nor entirely good.

He dismissed all claims that "Mosa is playing a grand game" as jokes.

“Should we write down the writing on the door and bring it to Aidan?” Daryls asked.

Gaucano thought for a moment: "Probably not. These words don't seem to contain any special information, and they're all carved on the door. Aidan has probably already seen them."

Daryls nodded, then stepped forward to try to open the stone door.

However, despite its dilapidated state, the stone gate was not something a skeleton girl could move.

"Eek—" Despite Dariss's efforts, the stone door remained unmoved.

Gao Jiano immediately stepped forward.

He first tried using one hand, but found that he couldn't move it either.

Despite applying force with both hands, the stone gate remained completely unmoved.

He couldn't help but be a little surprised.

This water cellar looks unremarkable, but the stone door is surprisingly difficult to open.

After a moment's thought, Gaucano put on his heavy-hitting gloves, activated Earth Skin, and used all his strength to push the stone door open.

When he exerted all his strength, his face turning red, the stone gate finally stirred.

Xiao Hei also came over to help.

"Rumble—" Accompanied by a heavy and awkward sound, the stone door was slowly pushed open.

After a while.

When the stone gate was wide enough for Xiao Hei to pass through, the man and the bear finally stopped.

Xiao Hei stopped first.

For some reason, it seemed to have been impatient for a long time. Seeing that the stone door was almost open, it immediately squeezed inside.

"Don't go in!" Gaucano shouted.

But he wasn't Xiao Hei's rightful owner after all.

This time, Xiao Hei didn't follow his instructions and instead said, "It's so cool here!"

Without a second thought, it darted inside the door.

Helpless, Gao Jiano had no choice but to quickly take out a bottle of medicine and drink it down.

[Item: High-Grade Darkvision Potion (Cursed)]

[Status Acquired: Ill-gotten Gains (Level 8)]

[Countermeasure of the same kind: Ill-gotten gains (Level 8)]

[No countermeasure target, curse lifted]

He bought this "Cursed Advanced Dark Vision Potion" at the Raven Town black market; there was a whole box of it, but it only cost a few dozen gold coins.

The price is so low, of course, because of the curse on the potion: "ill-gotten gains".

High-value items sometimes come with this kind of magic, and if they are acquired in an "unjust" manner, a curse will be triggered.

The presence of the curse greatly reduced the value of the goods.

Fortunately, Gaucano was not afraid of this curse, so when he found a box of cursed high-level dark vision potions in the Raven Town black market, he bought it without hesitation.

This stuff is much better than regular dark vision potions; it's not only more effective and longer-lasting, but it also has fewer side effects.

As soon as he drank the potion, the darkness inside the stone gate immediately faded in Gao Jiano's eyes, turning into a bright, almost daylight-like scene.

After finishing his drink, he entered the stone gate.

As for the other three, they do not require darkvision potions.

Undead and wild beasts are usually born with dark vision.

Needless to say, the little owl, as a raptor that is mainly active at night, is born with top-notch dark vision—even more acute than humans who have drunk advanced dark vision potions, and entering a dark environment is like coming home to it.

The four of them successively crossed the stone gate and entered the water cellar site.

As Xiao Hei said, the inside of the water cellar ruins is very cool, a stark contrast to the desert outside.

After walking around the ruins for a short while, the intense heat that the desert had imposed on Gaucano and his party vanished without a trace.

It was at this moment that they found the first corpse, a skeleton.

Unfortunately, it was an incomplete skeleton with severe skull damage, which meant it would almost certainly not become an undead; its fate was to be worn into dust over the long years.

They soon found more skeletons. These skeletons were huddled together in a corner, and judging from the tools remaining around them, they must have been workers who dug water cellars in life.

They are also unsuitable to be transformed into undead.

After all, the higher the level, the easier it is to become an undead.

The workers' social standing was clearly not very high.

that's the truth.

When Gao Jiano reached out and touched them, he immediately discovered that these skeletons were all typical commoners in life, with the highest level not exceeding level three, and most of them being level zero or level one.

They continued their search for the skeleton.

As they walked, Gaugano asked, "Does the Oracle of Sindragosa have any additional requirements for the target to be awakened?"

“No.” Darius shook her head. “As long as they are inside the water cellar ruins, it will be fine. Most of the corpses here died with a thirst for water, which is quite in line with Sindragosa’s authority—water and death.”

"The only thing we need to consider is the success rate of their awakening," she added.

Gaucano then asked, "What if we awaken evil spirits? Should we kill them? Wouldn't that affect the completion of the oracle?"

“This… I don’t know either.” Darius paused. “But they must all have a section of Sindragosa’s holy name. They shouldn’t be too evil, at least they shouldn’t be our enemies.”

Gaucano pointed and said, "There are a few skeletons over there."

They walked over.

Daryls's eyes quickly brightened.

These skeletons were clearly spellcasters in life.

After all, there were many fragments of spellcasting tools scattered on the ground nearby, and runes and patterns resembling a magic circle could still be faintly seen on a stone slab.

Gaucano reached out and touched it first.

He soon discovered that the skeletons were all around level five.

Daris then performed another spell to identify the skeleton, finally finding one: "This one is perfect!"

"Are you going to wake him up?"

Daryls nodded repeatedly and then began preparing for the ceremony.

She first took out a Patrick marble slab from her storage ring; a magic circle had already been engraved on the slab.

Place the skeleton on the stone slab and pose it in a specific way.

After a while.

Daryls took out a bottle of Undead Awakening Potion, poured it into the patterns on the marble slab, then shook her wand and began chanting a lengthy incantation.

"Sindragosa... Sindragosa..."

Sindragosa's name appears repeatedly in the spell.

As Daris chanted, the Undead Awakening Potion began to emit a pale blue light, gradually merging into the skeleton.

After a while.

When all the light faded, after a brief silence, the skeleton's body suddenly trembled slightly.

Then came a muttered voice: "Defend the water cellar...Defend Asur...Die, you heretics!"

As he spoke, he leaped up, attempting to launch an attack.

However, as a newly awakened undead, his consciousness was still somewhat chaotic, and his combat ability was naturally extremely poor.

Gao Jiano raised his hand and pressed him back down, saying, "May Mosa bless you."

The undead then realized what was happening and shook their heads: "You're not heretics?"

Gaucano said, "We are devout Mosas."

The undead let out a non-existent sigh of relief and exclaimed joyfully, "Great! We've finally received reinforcements! Have those heretics been driven away yet?"

Gao Jiano and Dalis exchanged a glance and remained silent.

"What's wrong?" the undead asked, bewildered. "Is the situation still dire? We—ahhh!"

But as he spoke, he suddenly noticed his skeletal body, and immediately began to jump and scramble, letting out hysterical screams: "Mosa, what is happening! My body! Why have I become a skeleton! Ahhh!"

Daryls comforted her, "You've become an undead, but don't be afraid, it's a good thing. At least in some way, you've regained life."

"Undead! Aaaaah!" The undead screamed, their voices filled with terror and despair. "By Mosa, how could this happen!"

He screamed for a full half minute before realizing what was happening: "I understand! You are evil necromancers! You dragged my soul from heaven back to earth and transformed it into this ugly, filthy, and shameful form!"

Darius raised an eyebrow: "Hey, you're a spellcaster too, don't you have any common sense? How can a mortal take a soul from heaven? The fact that you can be transformed into an intelligent undead and inherit all your memories from your previous life only proves that your soul has never been to heaven!"

"I—" the spirit was about to speak again when it suddenly deflated, its voice trembling slightly, "I don't think I inherited all the memories."

“Then you have even less to do with the so-called Kingdom of Heaven.” Darius rolled her eyes. “You should know that what you are called is a ‘secondary soul’! According to the Mosaic doctrine, you are born unjust and anti-Mosaic. If the Mosaic angels see you, they will only throw holy fire at you instead of greeting you!”

The spirit fell silent for a moment, then cried out, "Mosa, why have I met such a fate..."

Seeing that the deceased kept mentioning Mosa, Gao Jiano couldn't hold back any longer and immediately said, "To be honest, I suggest you recognize your identity as soon as possible. You are not a native soul, and strictly speaking, you have nothing to do with those memories from your previous life. You can't be accepted by Mosa either."

"Mo—" The spirit's words came to an abrupt halt, and then it fell silent, only weeping quietly, "Waaah."

After a while, he gradually calmed down: "Why do you want to convert me? Why do you want me to be your servant of the dead?"

“No, we are not necromancers, at least not evil necromancers,” Darius said.

"There are kind necromancers?"

"Even the dead can be benevolent, so why can't necromancers be?"

"All right……"

Darius continued, "We awakened you simply in accordance with the oracle of Sindragosa."

"Sindragosa!" the undead repeated the name, then suddenly realized, "When did I acquire His holy name?! Where is my holy name as a saint of Mosa?!"

Darius: "The moment you became undead, Sindragosa became your name caster. As for the name Mosa, do you think it's possible for the undead—especially the undead of secondary souls—to retain the name Mosa?"

The spirits remained silent for a long time.

"By the way, what's your name?"

“James,” the undead said, “so I don’t need to serve you?”

“Yes,” Daryls nodded. “You are free; you can go wherever you want.”

James the undead shook his head: "But where can I go? Nowhere will accept a dead person like me."

"You can disguise yourself."

“Even disguise could easily be detected.” The undead James shook his head again. “Besides, my spellcasting ability is far inferior to what it was in life. If anyone casts a spell detection on me, I’m doomed!”

"Who would randomly cast Magic Detection?"

The spirit James sighed, "I was like this all the time when I was alive."

(End of this chapter)