After burying the witch, Bai Shi took the opportunity to stroll through the cetery.
First was the room they were in, located in the deepest part of the tomb.
After killing the Ulcerated Tree Spirit, its body gradually turned to dust and dissipated.
Among the dust, Bai Shi found a Golden Seed.
The number of Sacred Flask charges could be increased by one more. A joyous occasion.
In the sa room, Bai Shi found several spirit ashes residing by the roots of the golden tree.
Roderika went forward and communicated with the souls on the ashes.
Bai Shi listened quietly from the side.
Although he had gained the ability to communicate with spirits after obtaining the Spirit Calling Bell, his communication was not as effective as Roderika's, who was a Spirit Tuner.
If Bai Shi were to directly communicate with these untuned ashes, it would be like having a bad signal; he could only receive a vague and unclear sense of their consciousness.
Only an exceptionally powerful being from his past life, like the Ancient King, could communicate with Bai Shi without issue through a dium like the Spirit Calling Bell.
For any others to communicate more smoothly, they had to undergo spirit tuning by a Spirit Tuner to make their souls whole, allowing for a mutual connection.
It wasn't just about communication. Through this process, the spirits and their master would continually attune to one another, allowing the spirits to gradually exhibit strength close to what they had in life.
Of course, if the spirit ashes and the master had excellent affinity, they could unleash great power imdiately, even without tuning.
Roderika had a natural gift for communicating with spirits and had also learned the skills of a Spirit Tuner.
Her communication with spirits was as easy as a normal conversation between people.
Roderika told Bai Shi that these were the ashes of Storm Knights.
Among them was a particularly powerful one, an ash that still retained its na.
These were the ashes of Banished Knight Oleg.
In the past, Oleg was renowned as one of the Stormhawk King's two wings, a trendously valiant general.
After the war between the Stormhawk King's forces and those of the Erdtree ended, the defeated Storm Knights continued their resistance, which ultimately provoked the wrath of the Erdtree, nearly leading to their complete execution.
Commander O'Niel, at the cost of one of his legs, pleaded for these knights and saved their lives.
In the end, so knights chose to follow Commander O'Niel, swearing fealty to Godwyn the Golden and stationing themselves in Castle Sol in the distant snowy mountaintops.
The remaining knights who were unwilling to follow were all exiled to the fringe.
The Stormhawk King's two wings, Oleg and Engvall, were among those who chose to co to the fringe.
After guarding the border for countless years, the Shattering erupted.
The On King, seeing the strength of the Storm Knights, extended an invitation to them at the fringe.
Engvall refused the On King's invitation, continuing to guard a kingless castle.
Oleg, however, accepted the On King's invitation and served him from then on.
Ultimately, Oleg beca a sharp blade in Morgott's hand, hunting down countless traitors. For this, he was rewarded with the honor of an Erdtree Burial, as a hero.
Unfortunately, the system of returning to the Erdtree had collapsed with Godwyn's death. No one could return to the Erdtree anymore.
Unable to return to the Erdtree after their deaths, Oleg and the Storm Knights who had chosen to follow him could only turn to ash within this tomb.
Just as Bai Shi rembered from the ga, Oleg's ashes were in this very tomb.
However, there were a few extra unnad Storm Knights here, which was different from the ga.
Oleg expressed imnse gratitude to Bai Shi for retaking Stormveil and was willing to serve him in his spiritual form.
Bai Shi agreed. Though he might not use him often in the future, he could still be of great use.
In this world, one was not limited to summoning a single spirit from ashes.
As long as the dium and magic allowed, one could summon many at once.
A typical Spirit Calling Bell could usually summon the spirits of one to two ashes.
A more powerful dium, like the one used by the Commander in the ga, could summon an entire troop of soldiers.
If Bai Shi found a more powerful dium in the future, playing the role of a summoner would be a great option.
After all, the spirits didn't need to eat or drink, nor did he have to worry about casualties. They only required a bit of Bai Shi's magic, making them the most ideal soldiers.
Bai Shi had Roderika choose one of the Storm Knight's ashes to carry for her own protection.
While the Spirit Calling Bell was rare in the Lands Between, it wasn't so scarce that only a few existed.
They could occasionally be seen in the trading area of the Roundtable Hold, and Roderika had already purchased one for herself.
The group continued to explore the tomb, picking up the Grave Gloveworts along the way.
This tomb had quite a few Grave Gloveworts, mostly growing in the decorative niches on either side of the path.
Perhaps those growing in the middle of the road had long been crushed by the chariot.
The number of these Grave Gloveworts was relatively small, but their quality was quite good. Most of them were Ghost Gloveworts.
Grave Gloveworts needed the aura of souls to grow, and those that had relatively complete souls nestled beside them would beco Ghost Gloveworts.
This was the Fringefolk Hero's Grave. Not many were qualified to receive an Erdtree Burial here, and in terms of their strength and status in life, they were naturally higher than those in ordinary tombs.
Thus, the souls they left behind after death were more complete, giving rise to many Ghost Gloveworts.
These Ghost Gloveworts mostly had a fair number of flower buds, equivalent to levels 3 to 6 in the ga.
However, because there were fewer souls, the quantity of gloveworts was also limited.
In a common cetery that served a public function, one might even find a sea of gloveworts.
Following the path of the tomb, the group made their way upward.
At the end of the tomb's path, there was the spirit of a Dragon Communion Storm Knight.
Upon seeing Bai Shi, the spectral Storm Knight sensed that he was the master it should serve and imdiately reached into its own body.
He pulled out a crimson seal and offered it to Bai Shi.
Bai Shi reached out to accept it, and the seal floated into his body and disappeared.
Bai Shi looked down at his hand and saw that the seal was now imprinted on the back of it, forming a mark.
The mark on the back of his hand was sowhat reminiscent of a Command Seal from an ani IP from his past life that had been running for who knows how many years.
Of course, this mark wasn't really a Command Seal; it was the Dragon Communion Seal.
It was generated within the bodies of those who practiced Dragon Communion and could enhance the power of Dragon Communion incantations.
It was perfect, as Bai Shi had already used the Great Rune to analyze Agheel's dragon heart, and he could now use all the Dragon Communion incantations he was supposed to know.
But a question suddenly occurred to Bai Shi:
This seal was illusory, without a physical form. So if he wanted to upgrade it in the future, how would he do it?
Smithing stones were all physical objects. It wasn't possible to use them to upgrade this ethereal seal, was it?
--
At this point, nearly everything that could be searched on the main path of this catacomb had been collected.
But Bai Shi knew there were other things hidden here.
He had the others take what they had collected and return the way they ca, while he found the path to the hidden area along one of the passages.
Bai Shi jumped down from a ledge on the road. The mont he landed, several stone imps pounced at him.
These imps, unlike the Storm Knights, couldn't sense that Bai Shi was their master.
Their minds contained only the programs and commands left from before, which was to kill any and all intruders in the tomb.
Bai Shi summoned a storm, blowing the imps half to death, leaving them paralyzed and unable to move on the ground.
The catacombs were not maintained, so the imps were created with a weak self-healing ability from the start.
This was to prevent them from suffering severe damage from the wear and tear of ti while guarding the catacombs long-term.
Ignoring the imps, Bai Shi headed towards a downward passage.
As Bai Shi approached the passage, a stone pillar across from it, carved with the likeness of an imp, spewed forth raging flas.
Bai Shi condensed magic at his fingertips and flicked a small wind bullet.
The wind bullet struck the stone pillar, and the impact triggered its chanism, causing it to quickly stop the flas and retract into the ground.
There was another imp in the passage. Bai Shi used the sa trick again, leaving it paralyzed.
Passing through the passage and moving straight ahead, he ca to a small path just wide enough for two or three people to walk abreast, with a bottomless abyss on either side.
Across was a small platform.
On the platform stood a huge statue, and at its feet was a stone coffin covered by a red cloth.
On either side of the platform were nurous wooden benches and candelabras; it was unclear what this platform was once used for.
As Bai Shi reached the middle of the narrow path, two Grafted Scions dropped down, one in front and one behind, surrounding him.
Facing the Grafted Scions that had him surrounded, Bai Shi drew two greatswords, one in each hand.
After being repaired by Hewg, these two greatswords had regained their original sharpness—no, they were even sharper than before.
Now, these two weapons had been upgraded to
12 respectively.
It wasn't that Bai Shi didn't want him to upgrade them further; there were quite a lot of smithing stones piled in Stormveil's storeroom.
Unfortunately, the highest-grade smithing stones in the storeroom were only rank 4.
Higher-grade smithing stones could only be mined on the Altus Plateau and the mountaintops, which was part of the reason why the armies there were stronger.
Last ti, the Grafted Scion in Stormveil was dealt with by Erlisa. Now, it was finally his turn to take revenge with his own hands.
The two Grafted Scions let out a sharp shriek, and four straight swords lunged at Bai Shi in succession.
Bai Shi sidestepped, and at the sa ti, his entire body spun like a top, the greatswords in his hands extending into blades of wind.
The swordstorm tore at the bodies of the Grafted Scions.
The exposed limbs holding the straight swords were torn to shreds by the storm and sword blades; only the bodies behind the greatshields received so protection.
The Grafted Scions halted their assault, held their greatshields before them, and retreated out of Bai Shi's attack range.
Bai Shi stopped the swordstorm.
"What's wrong? If you're not coming over, then I'm coming to you."
Bai Shi charged at one of the Grafted Scions. Planting the tips of his two greatswords on the ground, he vaulted high into the air, sorsaulting.
The Grafted Scion raised its shield, attempting to block the attack.
But the Lion's Claw, descending from the sky, split the Grafted Scion's heavy greatshield into three pieces from top to bottom.
After landing, Bai Shi executed a crisscrossing slash with both swords, each strike taking off several of the Grafted Scion's limbs.
It was the Lightning Whirlwind Slash he hadn't used in a long ti.
The Grafted Scion had a lot of arms and legs. By the ti Bai Shi finished his combo, the ground was littered with all sorts of limbs.
All that remained was the rod-like corpse of the Grafted Scion's main body lying on the ground.
Bai Shi swung his swords back, blocking two blades that ca from behind.
While Bai Shi was dismbering its companion, the other Grafted Scion had stealthily crept up behind him, attempting a sneak attack.
Unfortunately for it, Bai Shi was quick to react and spotted it instantly.
This Grafted Scion was even weaker than the other, its combat experience severely lacking.
Its sneak attack failed, and instead, Bai Shi found an opening and, with a single slash, cut its head in half.
Bai Shi picked up their Ornantal Straight Swords and Golden Greatshields.
These items were no longer of much use to him, but perhaps soone in Stormveil Castle would want or be able to use them.
Bai Shi walked to the coffin under the statue, where a corpse was lying on the ground.
Searching it, he soon found a talisman on the body. It was called Erdtree's Favor.
In the distant golden age of the Erdtree, it was said that this talisman was personally bestowed by Queen Marika.
This talisman could enhance the wearer's physical abilities, including vitality, stamina, and equip load.
Bai Shi tucked it into his talisman pouch, and soon felt a sense of lightness in his body.
Bai Shi now had three talisman pouches. The previous two held Radagon's Soreseal and the Haligdrake Talisman respectively.
Now that he had filled the last empty pouch, it was no longer going to waste.
Bai Shi hadn't forgotten the grand goal he'd set for himself earlier.
That was to craft a vest made entirely of talisman pouches and stuff it full of every defensive talisman.
It would be the Lands Between's version of a bulletproof vest.
Bai Shi walked over to the stone coffin under the statue.
This coffin was very special and must have held soone extraordinary to be placed in such a distinct location.
Bai Shi had no intention of opening the coffin, however curious he was.
Though he had casually cleared out the materials in the tomb, actively prying open soone's coffin was a different matter entirely.
With no more enemies, the entire tomb was open to him. Bai Shi soon plundered it completely.
He took a lift up to the main path above, jumped down, and returned to the main road.
He continued along the main road and rendezvoused with the others at the poison pool near the tomb's entrance.
Seeing Bai Shi erge, Erlisa released the freeze on the statuesque chariot, allowing it to resu its patrol of the tomb, deterring any potential intruders.
Bai Shi and his group exited the tomb. After one last look at the massive statue above the Fringefolk Hero's Grave, the entire convoy slowly made its way back to Stormveil.
Burying the witch was the main purpose of this trip. The rare items and materials obtained in the tomb were a bonus, making the journey a complete success.
Next, Bai Shi would return to Stormveil to visit Sorcerer Thops.
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