This was the first time Michael had ever encountered an Epic-grade creature so weak.
Normally, a creature's grade reflected the strength of its race, bloodline, abilities, and potential. Even a newly born Epic-grade creature should possess a considerable advantage over ordinary beings that had to start from the bottom.
Yet this skeleton was still only Level Forty-Nine. She had not even crossed into Rank Three.
More astonishingly, she was a Three-Star Epic creature. Was this skeleton perhaps in a weakened state?
Until now, the only Three-Star Epic creatures Michael had personally seen were those under his mand. Wisdom. Jester. And soon, Lucky.
Two of them possessed terrifying strength and extraordinary abilities that separated them from ordinary creatures of the same rank. Yet the skeleton before him was different. Her aura was impressive pared to the rest of the settlement, but it was nowhere near what Michael expected from a Three-Star Epic existence.
His eyes narrowed.
"There has to be a reason."
Whatever the explanation was, one thing had bee certain. She was special. Far more special than Michael had initially assumed.
A Three-Star Epic undead with human-level intelligence, possibly also from another world, and the ability to partially resist Death's Heir. There was no chance he would simply leave her behind.
Michael's gaze lingered on the violet soul flames within her skull. At first, he had only intended to obtain information from her. Now, his plans had changed.
He wanted her. Not merely her memories. Her entire existence.
Once he had extracted everything useful from her, he would ensure that she became part of his legion. A creature with this much potential was too valuable to abandon in a settlement filled with mon-grade skeletons.
Michael's lips curved into a faint smile.
"You continue to surprise me."
The Skeleton Chief's soul flames flickered. She could clearly sense that something about his gaze had changed.
Michael allowed the silence to linger for a moment before returning to the question she had avoided.
"Are you an outsider?"
The Skeleton Chief's violet soul flames flickered. Her resistance had already been crushed beneath the authority of Death's Heir. Even if she wanted to remain silent, her soul could no longer reject a direct mand from him. More importantly, she could not lie. This was the extent of Michael's absolute authority.
The chief lowered her skull slightly.
"Yes."
Michael's eyes sharpened.
"As expected."
The answer confirmed his suspicions, but it was far too vague to satisfy him.
The Skeleton Chief remained silent for a brief moment before continuing.
"I was not born in this world. But I have bee part of it."
Michael frowned. The answer was technically clear, yet somehow tasteless. It gave him almost nothing.
"Elaborate."
The mand carried a faint trace of his will.
"In the material world, I was betrayed by someone close to me."
Her voice remained calm, but Michael sensed the faint disturbance spreading through her soul flame. It seemed that even after everything that had happened, the memory still affected her.
"I had reached the final stage before advancement with my law. My soul was plete. My understanding was sufficient. I only needed to take the final step."
That immediately caught Michael's attention. Advancement with a law meant at least an ascension to Rank Three, and based on how she phrased it, it was most likely exactly that.
"Unfortunately, before the final step, I was betrayed," the skeleton chief added, causing a solemn expression to appear on Michael's face.
Ascension was never safe, even if it only involved the first stage of laws. The moment an individual attempted to truly grasp a Law recognized by the universe into their existence, the smallest disturbance could bee fatal.
Whether it was a lapse in concentration, an unstable soul, or an external attack, even an incorrect realization at the final moment could cause the entire process to collapse. Of course, moments like this weren't mon, but the possibility of them happening wasn't zero.
Michael said nothing. He could imagine the scene.
At the critical moment of advancement, when she possessed almost no awareness of her surroundings, someone she trusted had attacked her. There would have been no time to defend herself. Once the process collapsed, the backlash alone would have been enough to destroy both body and soul.
The fact that she still existed meant something extraordinary had happened.
As expected, the chief shed more light on the situation.
"Though my soul perished, one fragment remained. A sliver."
Michael studied the violet flames within her skull. The answer explained much. Her unusual intelligence. Her memories of another world. Perhaps even her strange grade.
"How did it reach the Netherworld?"
"I do not know."
The response came immediately, without deception.
"One moment, I was dying."
"The next, the fragment of my soul was drifting through darkness. Then I felt this world. Perhaps it had something to do with the law I had prehended, but the Netherworld pulled at what remained of me. Or perhaps I reached for it. I cannot remember which. I've been here for more than half a century."
Michael's gaze became thoughtful. A soul on the verge of plete collapse had somehow crossed the boundary between the material world and the Netherworld. Whether the realm had naturally attracted her or she had instinctively found a path here remained unclear. Either possibility was remarkable.
"After I arrived, I was too weak to survive alone. My soul was falling apart. Every moment, another fragment disappeared. Fortunately, I found a vessel. A weak skeleton. Hidden within its soul fire, I could survive, feed myself, and grow."
Michael wasn't surprised and could already guess the series of events that followed.
"Can you separate yourself from the skeleton now?"
"No."
That explained her earlier statement. She had not originated in the Netherworld, but she had bee part of it.
Michael continued examining her. As for her claim of not being able to separate her soul, he believed it was her own incapacity and not an absolute fact.
In any case, this was a steal. However, he was curious about one last thing before he got back to his business.
"What race was your origin body, and what realm did you e from?"
"I'm from the human race, and my realm is called Aurora, at the time of my departure."
"Sorry, did you just say Aurora?"
Michael was a bit confused and felt his high-spec body might have misheard. What sort of coincidence was this? Was this Jester's doing again?
Michael's heart raced and he couldn't stop himself from asking questions.
"In this Aurora, does the term Federation ring a bell to you?"
"Ahh,"
Though it was odd for an undead, especially a skeleton, to be very expressive, Michael could hear the surprise in her voice.
Surely this is all a coincidence, right?
"Ahh yes, there indeed exists a Federation."
"What is this Federation to your Aurora?"
"Somewhat of a national ruler in the grand scheme of things."
"What year did you die according to your realm's calendar?"
"New Age year 178."
It was indeed half a century ago, since in Aurora it was currently the year 229 of the Federation, which had taken the reins to lead the realm on a unified front many years after the apocalypse. To be more exact, year 178 was 51 years ago.
However, it wasn't the history of Aurora that made Michael's heart feel hot, but the timing that matched.
At this point, he was absolutely sure that the undead in front of him was from the same realm.
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