Bro, I'm not an Undead!

As Skullius rested, waiting for the soul damage he had sustained to recede, he saw an interesting guidance field notification flicking before his eyes. It immediately explained why the soul damage was slowly receding instead of becoming a persistent nuisance or worse.

[Soul damage has been transferred to the remnants of 'Sila' within you]

"Hmm?" Skullius hummed as he let the information he had just seen sink in.

'That's right! When I devoured Sila's soul, it said something about a part of him being engraved into me! What does that mean exactly? Is it that what remains of him is the one that's taking damage in my stead? Maybe it's only limited to soul damage.'

Even though Skullius was deeply curious, he was also quite happy that he didn't have to be nagged by that electric pain any more than he had had to.

This also made him mark [Basic Evil Invasion] as a skill he wouldn't use on a whim. This was already an established thing as Skullius couldn't use it on any strong opponents anymore.

It started to dawn on him that these skills he had been getting would probably not be as effective as they were in the Labyrinth when he used them outside, at least until his comprehension and strength increased in [Just Light] and [Evil Darkness], when he noticed how effective they were even against stronger opponents.

This issue with the individuals in the hall had shed some more light on that.

That notification he had received about 'pre-existing conditions' had been the first blatant  hint.

Skullius sighed.

The pain he felt throughout his soul finally subsided.

He took the time to inspect the other skills he had gotten after looking into the seal of [Evil Darkness] that was imprinted within Eldris.

~~~

[Basic Evil Weaving | Lv.1]

Shape 'Evil Darkness' into simple or useless constructs.

Mana Requirements: None

Duration: None

Cooldown: None

---

[Basic Evil Sanction (Special) | Lv.1]

Assert control over the 'Evil' within a small area.

Mana Requirements: 500 Mana Points

Duration: None

Cooldown: 72 hours

~~~

"The first seems to be a skill that's used like [Basic Mana Manipulation]. So I can use it to learn how to make [Evil Darkness] into what I want. But useless though, bro? I guess I'll need to work on that. It will be a handy one soon!" Skullius exclaimed. "But that one though..."

The second skill sounded a little more grand but with almost the exact same lack of description as the first one.

Furthermore, it was a special skill which made Skullius frown.

This concept was something he was yet to truly grasp as it actually made him more wary of the cores of his opponents. That said, he wasn't able to see what kind of cores of the monsters within the hall had.

This was true for even when he invaded Eldris.

In that particular case, it had been more about him actually being unable to tell the colour because of how bright and powerful it was than being unable to determine through other means as he was very short on time.

He knew one thing for certain though, it wasn't blue.

'Alright. I don't feel much pain anymore. It's time to get moving. I really wonder if this key works in the way that I think it does. The bad thing is, if it doesn't work that way, I'll have to keep searching which will entail meeting stronger opponents. The worse thing is, if does work, I'll probably be walking into a trap or something,' Skullius thought.

But he didn't have a choice.

He needed to do it anyway.

He held onto the key firmly.

How it worked was stated on the guidance field but Skullius wasn't sure how exactly he had to do it.

There wouldn't happen to be a mini information packet for using the key would there?

Left without a choice, Skullius went for the easier approach.

"Take me to the legacy of Fulgardt," he said without a shred of belief that it would work.

Surprisingly, mana gathered with a sudden rush, bellowing as space began to distort, creating a small portal in the shape of a door with a keyhole.

Its purple hue and constantly trembling image was a marvel for Skullius who couldn't believe it actually worked!

"I don't know if I should be happy about this but... here goes nothing..."

The Discount Human looked at his key, his eyes looking towards the keyhole on the door and inserted it reflexively. Skullius was immediately pulled in with a strong force!

His vision darkened for a few moments only to see... more darkness.

The only consolation was that this darkness was littered with golden white spots of light that moved around like fireflies.

As Skullius exited from the portal, it vanished, leaving him alone with within this strange place.

"It doesn't look all that much like a place you would keep a legacy," he said as he looked around.

The lights didn't illuminate the specifics of the place that he was in, but only showed their ability to not be swallowed into [Evil Darkness].

The mix of dark and light was quite beautiful if one took a moment to take it all in. The seamless harmony that existed between the two elements unlike with other opposites like fire and water, darkness and light made one want to see just how this was even possible and Skullius wasn't exempt from feeling this way.

"I can't see anything. I wonder if I can use [Just Light] to light up the surroundings. I do have some understanding in it after all, right? Or so the guidance field says."

Skullius immediately decided to give it a try. Unlike with [Evil Darkness] he had truly been neglecting [Just Light], not even giving it a try after getting more used to it counterpart since the beginning.

How different would it be?

He stretched out his hand, focusing on the blobs of light that raced within the surrounding darkness.

His affinity to the lights created a light connection that felt kind of prickly yet warm.

When he felt like he had gotten a bit of a hang of it, he moved his hand, watching as the blob of light followed his movement.

Skullius grinned.

He decided to take it a step further, focusing on multiple blobs of lights at once and pulling them together.

The process was slow but Skullius didn't mind. The thrill of learning to use something new made it worthwhile. He couldn't wait to see what he would obtain from this light that was given the prefix of Just.

The lights finally reached each other and began to converge, creating a larger, head-sized ball of light.

Immediately, the surroundings darkness within a small range was pushed away, making way for the bright light!

Skullius began to use his higher affinity towards the [Evil Darkness], spreading apart the darkness while having light make everything clearer!

An old floor appeared, looking to have miniature square tiles of gold and black that were now cracked and unsightly.

As the darkness receded further, Skullius saw something that leaned against the wall on his left.

As his big light shifted to illuminate the spot where he saw a glimpse of this peculiarity, Skullius raised a brow as the view of an armoured skeleton appeared.

It looked dusty and aged with even the colour of its bone becoming a rather unhealthy shade of pale.

Skullius shuddered at this blasphemy.

Had his bones ever been this trash before?

Beside that matter, Skullius was surprised to see this. Was his inference before correct?

'So there really were some people who managed to reach this place, assuming it really is where the legacy is. Now that I think about it, I hadn't see any skeletons or corpses since I came in here.'

Skullius reached down to touch the armour but as his hand ran over its design, some parts of it were brittle, breaking easily while others made it painfully clear that this barely counted as an antique.

Skullius moved his light along the wall where found a cluster of other skeletons with burns, decapitated bodies, ravished armours, violent fractures that left the skeletons torn among other forms of mutilation.

The floor began to show signs of being relentlessly broken down, craters and cracks being more frequent the more Skullius moved forward.

'Just what the flesh happened here?' Skullius  thought as a bad feeling began to assault him.

The something that befell these warriors could potentially befall him too.

The anxiety that stemmed from that singular scenario made him quiver a bit.

The validity of this feeling became apparent when he suddenly sensed a vast power that came from the direction that he was heading to.

Skullius stopped.

He sent the light over in the direction of the terrifying power he felt and as it went, not only did the number of bodies as well as damage to the floors show, but also how big this place was revealed to Skullius.

Calling it a room would be an injustice.

Furthermore, the word 'room' wouldn't have been fitting to say when the figure that released the horrendous amount of energy was revealed.

It sat upon a wide yet small staircase, while hanging its head.

...!

Skullius remembered the feeling that this monster gave him!

It was definitely alike and there was no doubt about it!

This was...