Academic gathering with Lich colleagues

"Shining, be gentle when you're deceiving Mr. Good."

"Don't worry, boss, I won't do anything reckless in front of you."

Chapter 217 Amuwa and Revelation

After greeting the senior who seemed quite helpful, Lyle led Troy to a relatively clean spot in the attic to sit down. There was a transparent felt blanket on the floor, and a tall stand with a pillow squeezed out of the wall, standing not far from Lyle.

Troy was placed on the pillow, his weight creating a dent in the soft surface. The radiance of the Soul Stone subsided, and Troy's clear, childlike voice rang out once more.

"Ahem, the reason I snatched you away from your astonishment is... well, it's because I discovered you are all exceptionally talented individuals. I am a forbidden creation of soul studies and the control core of the Soul Tower. So you don't need to worry about your future; my knowledge surpasses that of any of the ghost mentors here." Troy established his choice of Lyle and his companions based on their outstanding qualities, but Lyle always felt that he had other motives.

But this didn't stop him from listening attentively in class.

"Soul studies is a mysterious and obscure subject. It would be too complicated to show you newcomers the essence of the soul, so we'll start from the very basics."

"How to interfere with or even harm the soul, so that you won't be helpless when you encounter dangerous spirits outside."

"Weak spirits cannot touch matter, so their methods of attack are very simple: mental attacks that interfere with your thinking and decision-making abilities, instill fear in you, and shape the pain in your soul. The most direct and simplest form of attack you can encounter is screaming. Perhaps 'ghostly howl' is a good name."

“All ghosts scream if they don’t have a cognitive impairment about their ability to speak. The ghostly scream is not just physical noise; it carries the power of the soul. For the living, this sound generates something else in their minds, usually negative emotions, fear, or madness.”

"The Soul Scream can only do so much damage to you because there are no longer any emotions in your bodies that can be aroused. But pure soul power can still tear you apart. Just like a human immune to toxins can still die from drinking too much water."

"The Soul Scream has no incantation or ritual; it's an instinct of ghosts. But other creatures can also acquire this skill through long-term contact; the environment is one of the important factors that promote biological evolution. If you were any other ghost instructor, you would already be undergoing the baptism of the Soul Scream. But I'm different; that's too inefficient."

The soulstone of Troy emitted a light, and not far away, a curtain in the pile of junk was lifted slightly, revealing four movable standing wardrobes that slid from the corner of the wall to face the four people.

Lyle's eyes scanned the corners of the wardrobe. Its dilapidated state suggested it had been there for a century; most of the redwood bark had peeled away, and ant-eaten holes marked the center, with traces of white mold at the bottom. An old wreck. As the wardrobe door swung open, a musty smell, stale for a century, wafted out. Inside the wardrobe directly in front of Lyle hung two tattered scraps of cloth, utterly worthless.

Lyle sighed and tried to take the rag hanging on the clothes rack down, when Troy spoke.

“Be gentle with your predecessors, gentlemen. Their remains have been preserved for so long that I don’t know if they would crumble at the slightest touch.”

The remains of a predecessor? These tattered clothes?

"These wardrobes were originally called Amuwa, something bound in a container. No one knows where they came from; they existed when the first ghost appeared. They can create illusions within their containers, fulfilling the desires of every creature, making them become immersed in them, turning them into the clothes inside. I don't know what other species become, I only know that ghosts become thin fabrics like these."

"Don't worry, these four wardrobes have become part of the Soul Tower. They won't satisfy your desires; instead, they will induce your inner fears and eventually infuse those fears into the howls of the ghosts, echoing around you in this enclosed space."

"This is the fastest way for you to learn the soul's scream."

Lyle had initially resisted entering the wardrobe. He was a man of strong will, and even when Troy threw him into the wardrobe and closed the door, his resolve remained unchanged.

Lyle, now confined in darkness, no longer resisted the force binding him, for he could no longer feel Troy's restraints, just as he could no longer feel the wooden planks of a wardrobe. The claustrophobic darkness seemed to expand, and Lyle felt no sense of spatial closure, as if he were deep within boundless darkness.

With a sigh of relief, Lyle stood up in the darkness, his only support the ground beneath his feet. Since it had already begun, he could only face it head-on. The fear in his heart…

As if sensing Lyle's change of heart, a faint light appeared in the surrounding darkness. Lyle could barely see his face anymore. He found himself standing in a misty depression, with nothing higher than his knees in sight, except for the occasional undulating mound. Lyle felt his legs again, so he didn't hesitate to flatten the mound. It was like a soft cake, but the filling was a strange greenish slime that stuck to his boots.

The fluttering curtain gently patted his cheek, and Lyle skillfully used the curtain to wipe his boots.

Lyle only breathed a sigh of relief when the shimmering green light had completely transferred from the sole of the boot to the curtain.

"I didn't expect this damp cloth to have such good absorbency." Lyle let go of the cloth and saw it floating in the air. It didn't fall when Lyle let go, but instead floated on and on, carrying the green light, into the distance.

Lyle finally knew what it was. The familiar touch, the perfect humidity, and the smoothness of the skin.

Those are tentacles. Tentacles made of stars, bearing the colors of the night sky.

The ground trembled, and mountains and hills rose abruptly. The starry sky reversed, and the green light, like a flying imprint, revealed the colossal figure. As it turned, a massive bone mask was revealed, its central void also dark, but unlike the numerous star-studded tendrils on its body, it was an empty void.

The Ominous Giant. He looked at Lyle.

A sense of fear crept into Lyle's heart, and he slipped and fell into a puddle beside him.

It wasn't a puddle, but a disguised deep sea, much deeper than Lyle had imagined. Lyle paid no attention to the strangeness of the surroundings; his only thought was to get away from the giant who was bending down and approaching.

Lyle dived into the sea, into the unseen darkness.

Lyle fled the light and hid in unknown waters. Annoying seaweed began to appear around him, along with some unknown fantastical creatures, corals, and bioluminescent plants that shimmered on the seabed.

Lyle finally cleared away the obstructing seaweed and looked ahead. He realized that all his actions were meaningless, and the frustration of helplessness weighed on his body. He floated in the water like a weak and powerless infant.

In the coral reefs, beneath the broken, seaweed-covered shipwreck, a colossal figure slowly rises. Its movements stir up the seabed dust, causing all life to perish in the swirling eddies. Tentacles on its body devour debris, revealing a previously concealed bony mask.

Another ominous giant.

The fear below is resurfacing, and the fear above is closing in.

Two withered, twig-like hands stretched out, clasped together, and completely buried Lyle in their palms.

Chapter 218 A Terrifying Experience

Bilibili.

Lyle awoke to a cacophony of electric shocks. He was in Amua’s closet, where Nia and Medusa had been taking turns electrocuting his spirit, causing his body to thrash about like a drunken octopus in a disco.

The boy, who had been convulsing in the electric current, finally turned his spirit eyes and looked at Medusa. "What the hell happened?!" Medusa breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that the high-frequency electric shock had not burned Lyle's brain. This was something new to her, proving that ghosts didn't have brains.

Medusa looked at Lyle, who was gleaming in the darkness, a hint of helplessness in her eyes. "It's incredible that you fell asleep in a state of extreme fear. Is this some kind of special protective mechanism of yours? Nia and I used electric shocks for a full twenty minutes to wake you up. You know, this is a rescue measure to prevent the ghost from dissipating. I hope you're mentally prepared."

"What should we prepare?"

"The soul's scream is coming."

Medusa's last words were drowned out by a desperate scream.

Lyle clutched his head, feeling as if he'd been thrown into an overloaded washing machine.

As planned, the four Amuwa wardrobes opened simultaneously at the appointed time. Lyle tumbled out of the doorway and was practically dragged along by Nia and Medusa.

His companions were just as disheveled as he was.

When the light flashed, he was crawling, on all fours like a reptile, a tail growing from his spirit like a lizard. His body was riddled with holes, becoming tall and flat, like a sheet of paper. Manipulation, manipulation, he split open, his body splitting in two from head to waist, each half becoming a separate body. One half was normal, dominating the body, the other bent like a fallen branch, dragging on the ground. Lyle himself was in no better shape; the prolonged electric shocks had blurred the lines between his spirit and the electricity, and the final cleansing experience left him like a thoroughly chewed, spat-on blue-green electric bubblegum.

Troy's voice rang out again, "Don't worry, this is a side effect of the soul being shocked. It seems that the Soul Scream has left an indelible mark on you. You will recover slowly, but I believe you should be able to learn the Scream soon."

As arranged by Troy, none of the four members of the Necromancer Figure Club stood in a row.

"Call."

"Ah~" A piercing shriek of souls came from beside Lyle, causing his body to convulse again.

His three companions were like signal towers, spreading their soul-stirring messages.

Shining, adaptable, and manipulative—these are all mastered by the soul's shriek, except by oneself.

After the sound ceased, Troy floated to Lyle's side. Lyle lowered his head like a failing student being scrutinized.

Troy wasn't disappointed; he was just puzzled. "It doesn't make sense. He's entered Amuwa and hasn't learned the Soul Scream yet..."

"Perhaps I can try again, Troy."

“No, your bodies can’t take it. You should all rest now and heal the wounds on your souls. My approach was rather radical, though effective.” Troy circled the four of them. “Soul studies need to consider your limits. If you want to remain normal, come back to class after the stinging pain subsides. Plague Doctor, you can exchange ideas with your companions; it might be helpful.”

Troy announced his dismissal, and the four left the Tower of Souls, proceeding through the corridors of Andre Castle.

Shining kept stroking his tailbone, making sure it wouldn't actually grow a tail. Because of the wounds in his soul, he constantly felt something behind him. Under this strange sensation, he shared his terror.

“I saw Mr. Dragon really turn me into a lizard, a lizard with colorful scales, and then, contrary to his usual behavior, cruelly peeled off my scales one by one. I was sure, my heart told me, that Mr. Dragon must have a grudge against me.”

“I think it’s more like your subconscious is telling you that skinning a lizard alive is a sinful act.”

“No, I can say for sure that I don’t feel guilty, so there’s no question of self-repentance.” Shining categorically denied Lyle’s seemingly correct point of view. “The Soul Scream came just as I was running away. You’ll see what happened after that.”

Next comes flexibility.

“I saw my prank in the cockpit of the Necro Gundam get discovered. On the first day of the test flight, he was thrown a distance of 1,000 meters. Then he chased after me in the Spinner, and the spikes of the Spinner were repeatedly crushed on my body.”

He grabbed his brother's shoulder.

"Your fears have become reality, my brother, for the mistakes you made."

"But manipulation, that's just an idea; I haven't started implementing it yet."

"But you won't change your mind, so I can anticipate your punishment..."

"Will I not be punished when I actually play a prank?"

"At that time, this punishment will turn into a death sentence due to the compounding effect over time."

"Hey, I've never heard of punishment having interest."

"I've never heard of your pranks ever stopping."

Next comes manipulation.

“I saw myself suddenly having my birthday, as if to celebrate my brotherhood with Biantong. On my birthday, my body split into two parts, and the independent individual became the form of Biantong.”

"Isn't that a heartwarming scene, manipulator?"

"That was my 367th birthday. When I came to my senses, I was driven crazy by more than 300 variations." The manipulator hugged his own arms. "In the end, surrounded by the army of variations, I screamed along with the shrieks of my soul."

Bian Tong was very unhappy to hear this.

"Manipulation! You're insulting me, insulting our feelings!"

"Yes, because insulting you personally has no effect whatsoever."

“I mean, you’re insulting my uniqueness. I’m your brother, the special one, and I would never share our brotherhood with anyone else. Having more than three hundred of me is indeed a terrible thing, but having more than three hundred of you might not be so bad.”

"It's rare that we agree with each other; at least I can find some scapegoats to clear my head for a while."

Lyle chose to leave halfway and returned alone to the room of the Cup of Extravagance.

"Their insights were of no help whatsoever."

Medusa climbed onto his neck. "Of course, Lyle, everyone's fears are unique, and you'd better examine yourself. So, what are your fears? You fell into a deep sleep not long after the cabinet door closed in Amua, and Nia and I have no idea what you went through."

"The lingering ominous giant."

"Is it the same one as last time?"

“Two, He multiplied, one in the sky, one in the sea. The two giants crushed me together, but I was so terrified that I couldn’t even breathe, let alone scream.”

Medusa reached out her little paws and ran her fingers through Lyle's hair. "Don't be impatient, Lyle. Perhaps it's more difficult for humans to learn about souls than for liches. You don't only have one chance. You have many more chances than they do. Perhaps multiple different experiences will accelerate your learning. After your soul heals, you can seek out those who are skilled in souls."

“For example, Ariana’s singing is a kind of soul scream.”

"The more frightening kind."