Caelus sighed. Knowing it would be useless to keep probing a man who seemed to have turned into a human statue, he started surveying the area with his Qi Aura.
He walked outside the cave where he suddenly appeared with the old man.
Initially, he wanted to move the old man to a safe place. The old man was breathing, afterall. But seeing as he couldn't move him hastily and couldn't do anything to the body, it was better to get on with the task.
He would think how he should move the man when he had cleared the Hidden Zone.
As he controlled his Qi Aura, a deep frown slowly crept in his forehead.
The more he surveyed, the clearer he could sense the death surrounding them.
It felt like the Death Essence he discovered on the zombie virus. However, there's a difference with the Death Essence.
The Death Essence in the air isn't deadly. It wasn't like the virus that attacked Living Essence. He was pretty much safe even if he inhaled.
It felt like there was too much death around the surroundings making the environment give off the Death Essence.
He doesn't know if he was making sense, but that was what he was feeling.
Too much death was hanging in the air.
But that was the least of his concern as he continued assessing the situation. He sensed an unknown energy that was neither Qi related or living body related.
*Is this the Wandering Soul? How would I ferry them when I can't even see them? I can feel something foreign, but I can't see anything. Should I raise a banner to call them out?*
He jested as he thought of a possible solution.
*Maybe I should ask the System?*
*System, how can I ferry souls?*
Caelus winced. Not sure how to feel. Although the system did point him in a direction, it wasn't a real answer for him.
*Should I regret not borrowing GP to Hikari? Why did I have to be prideful at the wrong time?*
He let out a sigh. Of course it wasn't easy. If it was easy, then, wouldn't everyone finish the Hidden Zone without dying?
*Well, this is not too bad… I can just use this time to practice Overview.*
*Overview: Ferrying souls.*
Caelus almost smiled seeing the familiar vision of books, movies and scenes right before his eyes. It was the familiar area of his skill. A bookshelf started to shake before a book was thrown in the air. The book floated before hovering in front of him. Soon, words started to float before his eyes.
Closing his skill after gaining valuable clues, Caelus couldn't help but thank the time his skill EXP went up a lot without him knowing the reason. He realized after that he was able to use his Overview skill much easier and clearer.
It was like there was a guide downloaded in his Overview skill making it easier to use.
Now he knew that clues were given in order.
He needed to meditate, use Qi Sight, then do Burial Rites and put coins in the mouth of the Wandering Soul before calling for Charon the ferryman in the River. And because the name Charon the ferryman was brought up, he knew the reference was River of Styx.
It was the river that boundaries the living and the dead.
He wasn't sure about the comparison between books of Earth and the River of Styx. He didn't know if what was written could be considered real or there were alot of unique ideas not written in books, just like how the Zombies were very different in the books and movies.
There were many things different in the books the original Sho had read from this reality. But either way, he trusted his skill. It had saved him countless times. It even knows about the real him which he didn't know. It knew his real name which the System didn't want to tell.
It was the Overview Skill that saved him countless times.
If his skills wanted him to summon Charon to ferry the souls, then he would have to find a way to do it.
Good thing that he was hearing water sound. He bet there was a river nearby. It might not be the River of Styx, but maybe, a proxy of the river would do?
*Wait… does ferrying a soul need the right location? Maybe it's a figure of speech? Or maybe it's just the River of Styx that would be summoned along with Charon when I do the Burial Ritual?*
Only experimentation could be done in times like this. The answer might have been given by his skill, but since his Rank was low, he knew it was useless to think about it. And since information needs Rank so he won't be corrupted, he just had to take what was given to him.
It was better than being corrupted.
The image of the "monsters" he and Asahi encountered surfaced in his mind.
*Was that how monsters became one? Was it because of corruption?*
As usual, Caelus could not get the answer he wanted. So he focused on the current matter in hand.
He needed to find a way to see the Wandering Souls. He was slowly feeling cold even when he was just standing there.
He was feeling the hostility of the souls even when he didn't see them.
Out of instinct, he started to cover himself with Qi Protection.
He knew if he didn't do anything, he would slowly fall sick.
Although he had Potions that Hikari gave aside from the three Low Grade Potions that he had received as a reward in the Forest of Eternity, and he had his Qi to energize him and see if he were infected by Dead Energy, it was better to be as careful as possible.
He had limited resources and too much unknown.
Once he had activated his Qi Protection, he was shocked how easy it was to use the technique. He felt he could maintain his Qi Protection the whole day if he didn't use any other techniques, which was a shocker.
*Was this an upgrade after going through breakthrough or was this an effect after practicing Qi for more than a month without stopping? Hm… I think it's a little of the former and more of the latter. It's easy to explain.*
*Because the Qi Protection needs energy inside the cell to strengthen the body, protecting it from harm, after practicing curing the Zombie virus, I was able to know the principle of constantly encouraging Living Energy. Now, my cells have adapted and know how to strengthen itself with just a little push.*
He was extremely happy with the discovery. He had not used his other techniques aside from Qi Aura and Qi Cloak for the past month, now he was looking forward to how his other Qi techniques improved.
But more than that, he was more excited for the reward since it was a lot of GP and there's that System Upgrade.
With that GP, maybe he could buy books to help him cultivate his Qi. He wasn't adept at using his other glitch skills. But Qi was different. He felt it was natural using Qi, however, he had too little knowledge on how to use it. Or how to level it up. If this continues, he would stumble at a wall he couldn't break. Although he had to thank his dreams for guiding him, he could not always hope for the dream to answer him.
The 1000 GP was actually timely help.
*Maybe, this is luck calling again. But that aside, what is the System Upgrade? So, can people actually upgrade their System? Isn't it very beneficial for anyone to upgrade their System? If I can upgrade the System, won't the System guide me better to become stronger?*
*Is this really Sho's Luck? His own uniqueness? Which reminds me, what is the Prophet talking about? Is it Sho's root?*