The cellar was quiet.
Xiya La was observing the newly-born skeleton.
Heine was listening to the interrogation of the two.
Teacher Xia, "Hey dude, which district are you from?"
Zhuo Yang, "Friend, did you also transmigrate from 'AGE'?"
"Transmigrate? What are you joking about..."
The new skeleton turned its head blankly, raised its hand to look, then turned its gaze toward Heine.
"Are you talking to me? Why are you human, and I'm a skeleton? Where can I get this skin? Is this some kind of prank show by the production team? Wait, where's my system? Where's the log? Damn, where's my logout button?"
Teacher Xia, "Don't panic, dude, don't move anymore, we are unconsciously skeletons right now, don't expose ourselves!!!"
"What???"
Zhuo Yang, "Can you imagine a refrigerator throwing out expired food on its own? We are now refrigerators, so pretend to be not so intelligent for now, trust me, we are both veteran players!"
Both tried their best to persuade, but the new skeleton obviously didn't take the advice.
Heine quickly tightened the binding to prevent it from moving erratically.
Yet its unconscious actions still made Xiya La frown.
"Heine, I have reservations about your judgement. Although its Soulfire is also very calm, its behavior is clearly uncontrollable, which is very dangerous!"
"It's because I didn't tighten the binding just now..."
"That's what's most important!" Xiya La looked at him seriously: "If the undead only behaves under your binding, then it's a failure as an undead. Has no one ever pointed this out to you before?"
Heine responded helplessly, "Alright."
No one had indeed pointed this out to him before, because he scored zero in his summoning class.
"...Sorry, I might have been too harsh." Xiya La's hand was placed on Heine's shoulder.
"I know you've always cared about this in the past, and although things have improved now, I don't want you to be clouded by excitement... You must protect yourself, okay?"
"Okay, Teacher Xiya La."
Heine smiled, "The summoning is over, let's go up and have a chat."
"Yeah."
The two of them left the cellar with the three skeletons.
Xiya La prepared dinner, and although Heine wasn't hungry, he had to act hungry at times like these.
Three undead were on guard in the yard, while Heine chatted with Xiya La, listening to the conversation in the yard.
The new skeleton had accepted its transmigrated fate under the persuasion of Brother Yang and Teacher Xia, and was now recounting its origins.
"I am a Hunter player from the Asia district, named 'Sanatos'."
Teacher Xia, "Sanatos? Isn't that the name of the God of the Underworld? Are you also Director Sa?"
Director Sa smiled awkwardly:
"Yes, friends also call me that. I got an internal test account before and knew some plot details, so I registered this ID after the game launched."
Zhuo Yang interjected, "I remember when we were pioneering the Dilapidated Palace, there was a dude named Bedivere, who just showed his face and was instantly killed by the mad king, targeted due to his name as the first 'enemy'."
Director Sa laughed bitterly, "That's right, I just stepped into the Netherworld battle zone and was instantly killed by the Mourning Lady. 'Divine punishment from the Netherworld' I heard, and the voice easter egg went 'What an ant daring to share a name with my Lord', damn I'm a Hunter, I died before my loyal guard triggered..."
Teacher Xia, surprised, "You were killed just as you entered the battle zone? But I remember everyone was teleported in at the same time, weren't you the second wave?"
"What second wave, I was the vanguard."
Teacher Xia, "Had the main force crossed the Desecration River when you were killed?"
"How could that be, we just reached the Wraith Wilderness. The Desecration River would take at least four days to reach, wouldn't it?"
Zhuo Yang also exclaimed, "But we died on the battlefield on the fourth day... we were the first to cross the river, we killed Eris, and were going through the Mourning Lady's scene when killed by her unreasonable wail that's part of the plot..."
"Ah???"
The three fell silent, and Heine, who was eating, also pondered.
Something interesting had happened...
Although four days had passed here, the undead he summoned came from that world four days ago??
Moving forward on one side, and going backward on the other, were the two worlds starting to converge?
But that was just a game, huh...
The three double-checked the time again, which matched up with Heine's conjecture.
Teacher Xia, "If we go by this timeline, moving forward on one side and backward on the other, will Heine in the future summon newcomers who died at the hands of wild monsters at the start of the server... "
Zhuo Yang, "I'm more curious about the middle node, after the convergence in both directions, could the two worlds possibly become interconnected?"
"What are you thinking about? It's just a game, with modeling, invisible walls, and censorship. NPCs aren't as real as this world."
"True."
The mysterious topic once again left the three in silence until Director Sa broke the quiet.
"So, what do we do now? When do you plan to make a move?"
"Make a move? Make what move?"
"Obviously to take him down and divide the loot. We can't just be ghostly servants for someone else forever, can we?"
…
Heine's hand clenched the spoon suddenly stiffened.
"What's wrong? Tired?" Xiya La asked with concern.
"I was just thinking about the stuff that happened this afternoon, I almost didn't get to see you again."
Xiya La pursed her lips and smiled, a ripple in her eyes.
…
Teacher Xia: "It's good he can't hear what we're talking about, or you would've been turned into bone powder by now."
Director Sa was startled, "You all don't think this too?"
"Let's analyze this rationally, shall we? There are several issues here," Zhuo Yang responded. "First of all, we're currently in the opening plot, and this place is about to be cleansed by Holy Light soon. Without him, we're basically dead meat, wanted by everyone. If we encounter someone like Gao Wen who just needs to put one foot down and his 'Consecration' would roast all three of us…"
(Note: 'Consecration' is a Paladin's continuous area-of-effect damage skill)
"Then, there's the issue of our existence.
"We're not sure what we are, shades? Wandering Souls? Heroic Spirits? If we're shades, fine, we could just switch to becoming liches. But if we're one of the latter two, then once we kill our summoner, we'd get called back by the Netherworld. What if it's not the game sending us back but the actual Netherworld?"
The two suddenly remembered various things about the Netherworld.
The soul of the ferryman at Desecration River, the tormented souls hanging on trees as street lamps, and those banqueted upon by Eris as treats...
Even as Heroic Spirits, they had their wills twisted and were forced to fight against those they once protected.
That was the true visage of purgatory.
The Netherworld was rejected by the Shadow Temple precisely because it violated the cycle of life and death, enslaving the dead to maintain its own system.
"Lastly, and this is what I personally care about. Currently, Heine, whether it's insight, ability, or talent, surpasses ordinary NPCs by far. It's not just at the beginning of the game; even later on, I've hardly seen any like him. I strongly suspect he's a 'Child of Destiny'."
Director Sa: "What? A Child of Destiny?"
"Yes." Zhuo Yang grinned, "You two don't seem like the type to care about the plot, let me explain. I was thinking, from the start of the game to the Ghostly Expedition, the midpoint of this stretch of plot coincides exactly with Seng Weng being sealed by the four major factions and humanity being firmly hitched to the chariot of the gods. Don't you think that's subtle?"
Not just the two of them, even Heine began to find it subtle.
Although he didn't know much about the higher powers of this world, he knew of Seng Weng.
The world-saving sage, Sebitiga.
Even the children of Wumu Town knew that Sebitiga had stolen extraordinary powers like elements, shadow, and Holy Light for humanity.
Heine had originally thought this Prometheus-like character was just fictional, but he actually existed...
And he was to be targeted by the gods later?
That indeed sounded intimidating.
But he also felt uneasy, because he knew he was no Child of Destiny...
He was a transmigrator too!
He just got lucky and ended up in a person.
Much of the insight he displayed came from eavesdropping on their plot discussions... Anyone could cheat on a test!
Teacher Xia: "Now that you mention it, it is quite subtle. Maybe he really is the savior designated by Seng Weng, and we crossed over to help him develop an if-route."
"Something like that. So I believe sticking with him will offer better prospects. Even if you want to turn traitor, now's not the best time."
"But Brother Yang, look."
Director Sa also started calling him Brother Yang.
"Is it possible that everyone we players accompany is doomed?
"Our starting zone, the Makala Mountains, doomed.
"Then with the suspected protagonist, Son of Wind Element, doomed.
"After that, with Princess Renee of the Elves, doomed, and half of Cui Yeting went down with her.
"Later on, it was Archbishop Ignacio of Eternal Dawn, doomed, and half of Eternal Dawn broke apart.
"Lastly, there's Seng Weng, the most tragic. Just after receiving the buffs, he was doomed.
"It seems like whoever we're with meets their end…"