In the testing ground, Jenkins and Miss Bevanna were joined by the Keeper of Secrets and his apprentices on a higher platform, along with a security force dispatched specifically to prevent any accidents.
Miss Bevanna would remain by Jenkins's side for the duration of the tests; the Church was not about to risk the life of a Saint just to uncover the secret to destroying Cursed Items.
Although the diocese clearly still had an instance of A-06-1-4408 in containnt, the tests wouldn't start with it. The first subject was an ordinary skeletal undead, which Miss Bevanna reanimated right before Jenkins's eyes through a ritual, using a corpse that had been subrged in liquid. It was supposedly discovered the previous night under the sea ice near the coast, its body appearing to have been gnawed on by humans.
Once reanimated, the creature seed rather witless. Intimidated by Chocolate perched on Jenkins's shoulder, it let out a frightened ow and even flinched in fear despite its restraints.
"Alright, my turn."
Jenkins nodded, watching as Miss Bevanna gestured, manipulating the air to lift the prone skeleton and the board it was strapped to into an upright position. At the sa ti, the Keeper of Secrets approached Jenkins's side, carrying a tray.
The tray held a miscellaneous assortnt of items, which could be roughly categorized as fruits, seeds, blades of grass, leaves, and even roots. There were dozens of varieties, all taken from different plants.
Chocolate imdiately expressed a possessive interest in a plump, red cherry on the tray, but Jenkins didn't dare let him eat any of these things.
"Then let's start with the simplest one."
With that, he picked up a dirt-caked seed and reached out, pressing it into the skeleton's eye socket. A few minutes later, green vines sprouted and completely enveloped the low-level undead from head to toe. When the restraints were removed, the vine-covered form crashed to the ground and shattered into pieces.
"As expected."
The Keeper of Secrets muttered from the side, signaling that they could proceed to the next test subject.
The tests continued like this for five rounds, progressing from artificially created undead to undead creatures linked to Cursed Items. The first special undead to be used was not a Cursed Item itself, but a derivative created by A-12-01-5588, the [Dead Person's Shroud].
This Cursed Item took the form of a blood-stained white shirt, which the Church kept contained in a box made of pure blessed silver—including the solid silver lock. Its sole property was to permanently and irreversibly transform any creature that wore it into an undead being. Moreover, the undead it created were indestructible as long as they wore the shroud.
Miss Bevanna had ntioned the story of this item's origin, explaining that it was tied to a tragic love story from the beginning of the current epoch, but Jenkins had no interest in the matter.
First, they tested destroying the special undead without the shroud, which was accomplished with ease. Then, they tested the undead while it wore the shroud. The mont Jenkins pushed his hand into the skeleton's skull, a powerful curse shot up from his palm toward his heart, and terrifying black markings surfaced on his skin. The seed in his hand turned into a strange, black substance before it could even be nourished by his spirit.
He hastily pulled his hand back and used [Breath of Healing] to treat his entire body. The strange markings didn't completely fade for a full ten minutes.
"It felt like plunging my hand into ice water. For a mont, I completely lost the sense of touch in my fingers."
He complained while shaking his wrist. The discomfort had faded with surprising speed the mont his hand left the shrouded skeleton's skull.
"It seems we were too reckless."
Miss Bevanna took Jenkins's hand to examine it. "It is a Cursed Item, after all. Perhaps we were too hasty."
"No, I think I'm alright," Jenkins insisted. "In fact, I feel fine. I think we can continue. We should at least finish testing the effect on A-06-1-4408."
"We'll decide that after we've examined you. A-12-01-5588, the [Dead Person's Shroud], is similar to C-12-1-3011, the [Corpse-Wrapping Nun's Habit]. It can permanently alter a creature's very essence. Using it as the first special test subject was far too reckless."
Miss Bevanna seed shaken, and the Keeper of Secrets standing nearby agreed with her cautious stance.
But Jenkins had already mostly recovered and was genuinely curious about his ability's effect on the undead, so he pressed on:
"It wasn't that reckless. I feel like I can still... Hmm? The Corpse-Wrapping Nun's Habit?"
It was a na that sounded quite familiar. The item itself was hidden sowhere on property Jenkins owned, and in his search for this Bestowal, he had suffered countless misfortunes in just three short months.
But to this day, he still didn't know the Bestowal's specific effects. The database behind the Gate of All Things was notoriously lacking in information on Bestowals of any kind. Even after reaching level 3 and gaining access to the library's third floor, he still hadn't found any information on the Corpse-Wrapping Nun's Habit.
"Oh, that na... I feel like I've heard it sowhere before," Jenkins mused. "In a book? No, I don't think so. In passing conversation? That doesn't seem right either."
He put on a look of confused recollection, but Miss Bevanna paid his expression no mind. She continued speaking as she directed her people to secure the shroud:
"C-12-1-3011, the [Corpse-Wrapping Nun's Habit], is only famous in certain circles. It appears as a filthy, ancient nun's habit, though it's unclear which church it originally belonged to. When worn, it allows the user to transform their body into an undead state—or more accurately, to beco undead. Removing the habit reverts them to their living form. The transformation process is entirely harmless, and simply possessing this Bestowal grants immunity to certain necromantic curses."
"Oh, I see. That must be incredibly useful for Benefactors who study necromancy. I must have read about the habit in so old book. It's so rare, the ability to transform oneself into an undead being..."
Jenkins wore an expression of soone who had just learned a fascinating new piece of information, but secretly, he was already planning to search for it again soon.
Concerned about potential accidents, they significantly lowered the intensity of the following tests. It wasn't until around four in the afternoon that A-06-1-4408, the [Curse of the Shipwrecked's Remains] that had been resealed, was finally brought into the testing ground. It was currently under deep containnt and would not harm a living person unless they made direct skin contact.
After listening to another one of Miss Bevanna's warnings, Jenkins took a tree branch and inserted it into the skeleton's eye socket.
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