Chapter 15: Discovery
Despite the loud noise and the strong scent of blood caused by the death of the undead, the other undead in the same room showed no sign of waking up.
His ears and nostrils twitched as they detected the sounds and the smell, yet their bodies remained motionless.
Soon, the undead met the same fate as their fallen companion. They were easily slaughtered by the goblins and then impaled on their spears before being dragged downstairs.
The goblins, numbering over twenty, quickly dispatched about ten undead, lifting them up and heading back down the street they had arrived from.
Upon witnessing this, Leon realized the purpose behind the goblins' noisy behavior during the day. They were clearly searching for undead. As for what they did after killing them…
Leon's guess was that they probably consumed them.
Goblins were omnivores from the Spirit Realm, consuming anything from grass and roots to corpses. They even ate their own kin, let alone these undead.
Though the undead lacked intelligence, they were not infected with any viruses; they simply lost their consciousness due to the destruction of their spiritual essence. In the goblins' eyes, these undead were probably just moving meat—ready to be butchered.
Leon stood on the upper floor, watching the goblins drag the undead bodies further away, until they were out of sight.
"Hahaha!"
Unable to contain his excitement any longer, Leon burst into laughter. After being so constrained in the Spirit Realm for so long, his mood was now lifted.
These daytime undead were like sitting ducks—this goblin demonstration was a great opportunity for him.
Potential points, here I come!!
He quickly set his bag down and grabbed his spear and fire axe before descending the stairs.
Activating his spiritual power, he pinpointed a building with undead inside and started ascending the stairs.
Entering a room, two undead stood motionless in the dim corner.
It was one thing to know that undead wouldn't move during the day, but facing them up close was another matter entirely.
Leon assessed their appearance. They looked almost like humans, though there were clear differences. Their skin was unnaturally pale, probably due to their lack of sunlight, and there was a significant amount of grime on their bodies.
The two undead in front of him were male, and it was even possible to see their prominent physical features—these undead were likely second-generation undead.
In other words, they were undead that were born through reproduction among other undead. While these undead lacked intelligence, their instinctual drive to reproduce allowed their kind to continue to grow.
Though they didn't have much chance of eating, they could still grow through the magic in the air, though their bodies were typically withered and frail.
Leon's mind briefly wandered through these thoughts, but then he refocused on the task at hand.
He formed a rune and summoned a White Fang of Bone spell, but he didn't release it immediately. Instead, he let it hover in the air as a precaution. If anything went wrong, he'd need a countermeasure.
With that done, he gripped his spear tightly and drove it into the undead's chest with all his strength.
The undead shrieked in pain as it jerked awake, its hands flailing with sharp claws attempting to strike Leon.
However, the spear's length was enough to keep the undead at bay, while Leon remained alert to the other undead's movements.
Seeing that the second undead remained still, Leon allowed himself to relax.
The spear lodged deep in the undead's heart, and it soon died, no longer able to move.
After waiting for a moment, Leon saw no light or energy points appear. His face fell slightly, disappointed.
But he quickly regained his composure and focused on the task again, picking up his spear and eliminating the second undead.
Unfortunately, as with the first, no potential points appeared.
Leon was no stranger to this now. He moved on to the next few undead in the building.
Luckily, two more of the undead produced light points, granting him another point of potential.
Leon smiled at the result, his excitement growing. He looked at the other buildings around him, his hunger for points making him feel like a wolf eyeing a flock of sheep.
With each undead killed, Leon began to notice a pattern.
He had encountered male, female, and even elderly undead, but today, he saw something new.
For the first time, he encountered a juvenile undead.
Unlike the adult undead, this juvenile still had some hair—though it was dry and brittle. Leon imagined that, in a short time, it would shed its hair like the adults and become bald.
He initially considered sparing it but then thought about whether juvenile undead might yield more consistent potential points. In the end, he decided to eliminate it.
Sadly, the juvenile undead proved no different from the adults in terms of potential points—they didn't reliably yield any.
…
After nearly two hours of battle, Leon had slaughtered over thirty undead in the vicinity, gaining a decent amount of rewards.
Name: Leon Grant
Bloodline: Human
Tier: Tier 0 Apprentice
…
Mana: 21/21
Skills: The Breath of Darkness Meditation Method
Zero-Tier Spells: White Fang of Bone
Potential Points: 7.5
He had killed nearly forty undead in total, yet he had only gained seven potential points. The yield was far below his expectations.
To this day, he still couldn't figure out how the potential points system worked.
Sometimes, strong undead would yield potential points, while sometimes the frail ones did, with no rhyme or reason.
But rather than overthinking it, Leon decided not to waste any more time on it. He grabbed his backpack and, with the sun still high, moved to a new hiding place.
He had noticed that these buildings, which were frequented by both undead and goblins, were no place to stay for long. If he lingered, he might end up trapped inside one day, and that would be disastrous.
He moved quickly, trying to make as little noise as possible, and after over an hour, he found a more suitable location.
This place appeared to be a small residential complex surrounded by a wall. When Leon reached the main gate, he noticed some characters etched above the door.
It seemed like it might be a form of human writing from this city.
He briefly glanced at it, but didn't pay it much mind—he couldn't read it anyway.
To understand the language of the creatures from the Spirit Realm, the easiest method was to learn it or use the Black Iron Spell: Language Comprehension.
When cast, this spell allowed the user to understand the spoken language of the creatures for a set period.
This spell could not only be cast by mages but could also be transcribed into scrolls and used by other adventurers—very convenient.