Mystery: The Undead Don't Die from Linking the Fire

Chapter 227 I've always wanted to see that expression on your face, that jealous look on your face.

Above the gray mist, at the head of the mottled bronze table, Klein quietly examined the embers in his palm, lost in thought.

Ember, an item unique to Dark Souls 3.

The embers of fire still burning within the heroes.

These are items that the Ashes Without Fire cannot obtain.

That's why I'm attracted to it.

The descriptions of the items are quite concise, but precisely because of this, they lack detail. For example, these heroes who possess lingering flames within them actually have another name—

King of Cinder

Yes, the heroes whose bodies still burn with embers are the Lords of Cinder!

The reason the Unburnt Ashes crave the Ember is that they crave the power of fire. When they wield the Ember, they become the new Lords of Cinder!

Of course, they are less like firewood kings and more like firewood—firewood forced to burn itself to add fuel to the embers!

Lulu to death, the Farron Undead Legion, Yhorm the Giant King, and Aldridge—they are Lords of Cinder who have already been burned once.

Gundyr and the two princes were Cinder Lords who were supposed to fulfill the mission of linking the fire.

The other 'heroes' who still possess embers within them are burning Lords of Cinder—

When the fire was about to go out, the whole world was forced to burn itself to add fuel to the fire.

Therefore, in the third generation, most bosses have embers inside them, so when they are killed, they will automatically transform into the "Lord of Cinder" state. Even Gwyn's eldest son, the Nameless Headmaster, is no exception.

The item "Ember," unique to the third generation, also existed in the first and second generations.

The essence of the first generation's "humanity" and the second generation's "human image" is actually the same.

Even just looking at them, you can tell that the three are not exactly the same, but rather completely identical.

Because the embers are, in themselves, the burning of humanity!

In the first generation, it was still necessary for the Undead to light the fire, casting humanity into the campfire. But in the third generation, all "humanity" is forced to burn, regardless of whether it is cast into the campfire or not.

However, in the item descriptions of the first generation, humanity is undoubtedly unique to humankind:

Small black sperm can occasionally be found on corpses.

Although this kind of dark semen is also called human nature.

But what it actually is is unclear.

If the soul is the source of all life...

Then what does humanity, a quality possessed only by humans, represent?

In theory, only humans possess humanity.

In fact, not only humans, but also many other species of creatures possess humanity.

The daughter of Chaos possesses humanity, the Tomb King Nitto possesses humanity, the four kings of Londo possess willfulness, the lifeless steel golem of the ancient city of Thane possesses humanity, the two gay men of the city of Anor Londo, Smo and Ornstein, possess humanity, and even the soulless white dragon Seath possesses humanity!

Undoubtedly, within a generation, humanity has already transcended its own definition and is no longer unique to humankind.

Whether it's the daughter of Chaos, Nitto the Tomb King (one of the original four kings), the two keles who are gods, or Heath the White Dragon who is an ancient dragon, they all possessed humanity, which should belong only to humans, for some unknown reason.

From a purely racial perspective, these races with human characteristics are all different and seem to follow no pattern.

But in fact, there are some patterns among them—

These beings with human nature are the inevitable trials that the Undead must undergo on their path to linking the fire!

This was undoubtedly another move by Gwyn before linking the fire, placing humanity within these creatures of different races. Perhaps it was also to guide the undead to link the fire, or to guide the undead to hunt these creatures with humanity!

Because whether they like it or not, those who possess humanity within them will become targets for the immortals.

To avoid accidental harm, bosses who are not part of the trials on the path to linking the fire will not possess humanity, such as Gwyndolin.

The emergence of humanity in other races is undoubtedly Gwyn's doing.

The origin of the embers is even more mysterious.

This could be yet another of Gwyn's schemes, or perhaps it's the First Flame's self-preservation mechanism—

As it was about to extinguish itself, the First Flame began to burn everything in the world, adding fuel to its own fire.

For Ember, this is a question worth pondering.

But for Klein, he simply went through the relevant settings in his mind and then deduced from these known settings the answer that Ember would give the ember to the Fool.

"It's definitely not just as simple as divination."

Klein instinctively raised his hand to rub his temples, only to feel an intense headache.

Ember clearly had high expectations for Mr. Fool, thinking that even if he didn't say anything, Mr. Fool would understand. But this Mr. Fool really didn't understand!

The only uses he can think of right now, besides using the embers to divine the current state of the embers, are to squeeze the embers to save his own life.

The second possibility is unlikely. Firstly, Klein doesn't want to become the "Lord of Cinder" yet, and he certainly doesn't want to be burned. Secondly, if he extinguishes the Ember and fails to utilize its true power, there's a high probability that the Ember will kill him on the spot.

"never mind."

Klein sighed. Since he couldn't figure it out, he decided to stop thinking about it for now and try divination first.

We need to determine the condition of the embers first.

Klein placed the embers on the table and conjured a parchment, on which he wrote down the specific divination phrases:

"The location of the embers."

After silently repeating it seven times, he took the parchment and the embers and leaned back in his chair.

A few seconds later, Klein's eyes darkened, turning from brown to black, as he entered a meditative state. His eyelids drooped, and he "saw" a hazy, illusory dream.

He saw a town in the wilderness, and in that town, a towering castle. Then, his gaze zoomed in, rapidly moving from the sky to the castle's window.

He saw what was happening inside the house—

Ember was squatting on the ground, reaching out his hand to the silver-haired little girl curled up in the corner in front of him.

Standing nearby were two other women. One of them was a silver-haired maid who appeared to be the mother of the silver-haired girl. She looked somewhat uneasy, as if she was afraid that Ember might do something to the silver-haired girl.

The other was a charming young girl with dazzling blonde hair, who was looking at the silver-haired little girl with hostile eyes.

"this……"

Klein snapped out of the dream, his eye twitching.

Judging from Ember's actions just now, anyone who didn't know better would have thought he was trying to abduct a little girl. But what he was holding wasn't a lollipop, but a beating, blood-red heart!

Klein paused for two seconds, then began to organize and analyze the images he had just seen:

"That heart must have extraordinary characteristics, but I don't know which path it is... Hmm, it should be the 'Pharmacist' path. The girl's eyes are red, that's the mark of a vampire."

"However, judging from the silver-haired maid next to her who is suspected to be her mother, she is probably not a born vampire. Rather, she is the offspring of a vampire and a human, and probably only inherited the red eyes without inheriting any extraordinary characteristics."

"So, the reason Ember took out that heart was probably to promise to help the other party become an Extraordinary..."

Klein's eye twitched. Wasn't that still abducting a little girl?

Although it's not a lollipop, its extraordinary features are far more appealing than a lollipop!

How much does a lollipop cost? At most, it's less than a penny.

An extraordinary trait, even a Sequence 9 extraordinary trait, is worth 400 pounds, enough to buy at least 100,000 lollipops!

Klein clicked his tongue, scoffing at this act of abducting a young girl.

But after all, she has white hair and red eyes, and what Chinese person could resist a little loli with white hair and red eyes?

"Let's leave aside who the silver-haired loli is for now, but I do have a vague recollection of that blonde girl..."

Klein's eyes flickered slightly. The last time the Embers disappeared, it was to the Forsaken Lands—

Go to the Eastern Continent, before the Great Cataclysm, when giants, dragons, and other extraordinary creatures ruled the world.

This transcends not only space, but also time.

Klein clearly remembered that when he last divined the whereabouts of Ember, there was a blonde girl beside Ember. And that blonde girl and the blonde girl now appearing beside Ember didn't look exactly alike; they were practically identical!

The only difference is their clothing, but it's normal for women to have many outfits.

If we rule out the possibility that these two people are twins, then the person appearing next to Yu Jin must be the same person.

"So, does this count as rekindling a past relationship?"

Klein's expression was somewhat strange; he even suspected that Ember's "time travel" was related to this blonde girl. After all, both "time travels" happened to coincide with her, which couldn't be explained by mere coincidence—

The world is so big, why did she appear around you twice? Could it be because of love?

"However, something still feels off to me..."

Klein frowned, as if he had overlooked something, and tried to recall the scene he had just witnessed.

There seemed to be nothing missing; the scene was simply a room in a monotonous castle, with rather 'simple' furniture and nothing superfluous...

"What exactly did I overlook?"

Klein frowned and stared for a while, then suddenly a flash of inspiration struck him. Comparing the images from the previous divination, he immediately saw the problem—

It's about mindset!

Klein took a deep breath. They looked exactly alike, but their mindsets were completely different!

In the first divination session, the blonde girl was noticeably more confident. She wore a constant smile and maintained control throughout, and her relationship with Ember was also much closer.

In the current scene, she is noticeably more reserved, and unlike her dominant role the first time, this time she seems more like Ember's servant and vassal, and even gets jealous when Ember kidnaps a little girl.

"this……"

Klein frowned slightly, somewhat puzzled.

Why would the same person undergo such a drastic change?

Are they really twins? Or did Ember do something to her to turn her into this?

"Never mind, it's none of my business anyway."

Klein shook his head, no longer thinking about these things that were none of his business.

Human joys and sorrows are not shared, and he cannot comprehend the pleasure of this chaotic battlefield; let Yu Jin worry about it himself.

"There are still too few images to accurately determine the current location of the embers..."

Klein thought for two seconds and decided to do one more divination.

But not now.

Although he still has plenty of spiritual insight, there isn't enough time, since the previous tarot session had already taken up a lot of time.

Moreover, continuous divination is not very useful, since what he wants is not to monitor Ember's every move, but to determine Ember's location through the divination images.

Multiple divinations within a short period of time will likely result in the embers remaining in the same place, and the repetitive images will have no meaning each day.

Therefore, it is more effective to wait a while before performing a divination.

"but……"

Klein subconsciously looked at the first seat on the left, which was Miss Justice's seat.

Miss Justice would definitely be interested in the current state of Ember, and she had already made this request. However, The Fool couldn't do something as undignified as performing divination in public, so he could only brush it off for the time being.

But now...

Klein's expression turned somewhat amused. He suddenly felt that Miss Justice should find out about the current situation of Ember.

Do it if you want to!

Klein immediately materialized the scene he had just witnessed and then, without hesitation, cast it into Miss Justice's crimson star.

After doing all this, Klein suddenly felt an urge to do some divination on Miss Justice—

He wanted to see Miss Justice's reaction when she saw those images.

But this impulse came and went quickly, and Klein soon decisively gave up the idea.

Firstly, Miss Justice is, after all, a master of facial expression management for the audience, so she is unlikely to show any expression.

Secondly, this is indeed inappropriate.

-

On the train to Backlund, Audrey was enjoying delicate snacks in her luxury compartment, while opposite her, Karula was lounging on the sofa, revealing her beautiful and alluring body.

Although the other person called herself the Witch of Envy, Audrey felt that "Witch of Lust" suited her better. The other person's codename on the Psycho-Alchemist Council wasn't given lightly; it was practically tailor-made for her, perfectly fitting...

Audrey sipped her black tea elegantly, silently making a couple of complaints in her mind.

Although she knew this would most likely not escape Karula's notice—after all, Karula was a demigod of the 'spectator' pathway, capable of directly spying on her thoughts from the depths of her subconscious—Audrey didn't care.

Since there's no way to hide it anyway, I might as well not hide it at all.

In the words of Emperor Roselle, this is called "open-card all-in"!

Just then, Audrey, whose mind was racing, paused slightly as a hazy gray mist filled her vision, followed by a scene...

Seeing the familiar figure in the scene, Audrey felt a surge of joy, because she knew that Mr. Fool had confirmed the condition of the embers, and that he seemed to be doing quite well, even enjoying himself... For some reason, Audrey felt a strange emotion welling up in her heart.

"That's really interesting."

Karula's lips curled up slightly, and she suddenly chuckled softly.

Audrey was startled awake, suddenly seized by a strange intuition, and subconsciously asked:

"Can you see?"

"certainly."

Carula smiled and said, "I've said it before, I'm the Witch of Envy. I can see any emotion related to jealousy."

(End of this chapter)