"The staff had all been accounted for but we don't recognize this body." The guard said and one of the mages added that he had seen blue flames before, but never green flames he couldn't douse.

"These aren't normal flames. These are the nether flames - Soul Devouring nether flames!"

Byron did a grabbing motion with his hand and the flames started flickering. With a bit more exertion, he forcefully dispersed the flames.

The last time I saw th-"

"You can't come in here!"

He heard a ruckus and stopped mid-sentence. He turned and saw a man with badly burned injuries forcing his way toward him. He motioned his men to let the man through.

This must be the survivor. I recognize him, Tombstone, a low-life thug leading the black market in the lower districts.

Tombstone limped his way to the captain, pointed at the still burning body and said he knew who that was. Byron glanced at the body, then turned to the guards behind Tombstone and asked where Eliot was.

"He is outside, raising a commotion about the insurance on his burned mansion and something about his wealth…"

"The two of you go and fetch him for me - forcefully if you have to." Byron ordered and turned to Tombstone. "Now tell me, tell me everything! What the fuck happened here?"

Tombstone recounted the events of the evening, starting from when the assailant crashed through the window while avoiding details about the meeting between the three of them. There were lots of holes in his story as he was busy fighting off Murdok during most of the attack, but he pointed out that something changed at some point during their fight. His opponent became stronger, more aggressive and he remembered feeling chills down his spine when he looked into the opponent’s eyes.

"They were demonic! Under the hood, two green dots looked at me as if I wasn't there. I realized the fight was meaningless and tactically retreated out of the office. It was in the hallway where I saw him and Iam on the ground floor."

Byron nodded and asked him to wait a moment. The guards just came back dragging Eliot with them.

"What is the meaning of this? Do you know who I am? Byron, is this how you treat all the victims?"

Byron ignored the merchant and issued the guards with a next set of orders. "I want you to return to town and strengthen the patrols. Form teams in a group of five and search the town for the culprit - you're looking for a corrupted human or an undead, low level by my estimation but don't engage if possible before reporting back."

While Byron was busy giving orders, Eliot stealthy approached Tombstone and whispered.

"Tombs, not a word about the core to anyone! When Byron asks, Iam came to us with something he wanted to sell and we were in the middle of the negotiation when the robber crashed in. We have no idea what Iam wanted to sell, are we clear?"

"Sure, we're not going after the core?"

"Are you mad? It's not worth the effort."

"Though someone will probably come looking for both Iam and the core. I've no doubt the Bandit King already knows about the stolen core." Tombstone expressed his worry.

"Don't worry about him. Even he wouldn't dare clash directly with the Merchant's Guild. In the first place, the information about the core was most likely leaked by someone in a high position within the Guild. What we should do is redirect the attention on that monster."

"You two ladies having a nice chat?" Byron approached smirking. Tombstone didn't respond but Eliot felt insulted. "How dare you? I'll have you-"

"I'll have you accompany me outside for a talk." Byron interjected, grabbed Eliot by the arm and dragged him outside. The whole town was bustling with activity that night. The guards even started patrolling the perimeter five hundred meters around the estate. Rumors about the fire quickly spread and early morning, not even two kilometers away from the estate, Bones woke up lying on the forest floor, covered by a thin layer of snow.

The scenery looked serene, peaceful, but within Bones, it was anything but. He had a pounding headache, followed by constant ringing in his head and scrambled senses. He stayed lying, looking through the tree canopy at the clear blue sky. He felt something in his right hand and pushed himself upright into a sitting position.

Hm? What is this?

Bones looked down and saw a translucent object the shape of a polyhedron with twenty symmetrical faces in his hand. Each side had faint markings of what Bones guessed were inscribed runes.

It looks like some kind of a core. It's not mana core, they are oval in shape. Whatever it is, it looks like it's already spent. Is this what Iam stole?

"Iam? What happened last night?" Bones murmured.

The last thing I remember is Iam running away and I…

"I used the new skill, Haunting Touch - the rest is blank. Where am I?"

Bones picked himself up and started walking until he walked out of the forest some two hundred meters away. He saw a town in the distance and smoke above the tree line some way to the side of the town.

"That must be the estate. Burned down?" Bones said in confusion. He didn't have any fire related skills so he wondered how the mansion caught fire. He tried to remember what happened again but came up empty. His clothes were stained red with blood but they could be considered clean compared to the equipment on his golems. Skully and Murdok quietly followed after Bones, leaving red footprints behind.

"Skully you mind sharing what happened last night?" Bones asked but as usual, received the silent treatment. "Murdok you? Did you have fun last night?"

The hefty orc also kept quiet, but to Bones’ surprise, the golem responded by throwing the broken handle of his greataxe to the ground.

A reaction? This is the first! Did he actually understand me? If he did, does that mean Skully can too? Wait.. if he can understand me, doesn't that mean…

"Nooo… Skully don't tell me you… this whole time you understood me, but choose to ignore me?"

Skully remained quiet but Bones saw him avert his eyes.

"Just great! One is the silent type and the other is throwing a tantrum!" Bones exclaimed and started cackling. If anything, he got a good laugh out of it.

He stored the unidentified core in his inventory and had Skully and Murdok clean their equipment with snow while he also changed into new clothing. When they were done, Bones looked at the town in the distance one last time before heading in the opposite direction.

Shame, I wanted to brea…I mean - visit the Adventurer's Guild private library and see what the literature is like in the restricted section, but it would be too risky exposing myself after last night. For all I know, someone might be searching for me and Silva was enough of an encounter for me for now…

Shortly after finding the road, Bones met a trader with a wagon going the same route. He asked to hitch a ride and offered to provide protection from the bandits. Common folk like that were trusting of adventurers and the trader gladly accepted his proposal. Bones sat comfortably in the back and asked what's new in town. The trader wasn't a talkative sort and in short sentences said the Greed's family mansion went up in flames last night, many people died and that he thinks it was the family's head plot to collect the insurance money.

With a last name Greed, it sounds plausible.

"Thank you for the info my good man. I'll shut my eyes for a bit. Could I ask you to wake me up when we arrive? Your destination is Chaepstow right?"

"Yes, I can't compete with the prices in Arbington so I'm setting up a shop there. Go ahead and rest, I'll wake you up when we get there. And you'll definitely hear me if there's an emergency!" The trader said with a chuckle. Bones planned to fake sleep to avoid meaningless chatter but unexpectedly, really fell asleep. For the first time as an undead, Bones dreamt. Not of cherished aspiration, ambition or ideal. It was a nightmare that haunted his dream, sparked by his actions last night.

In the nightmare he was back in the mansion, in the main hall and all alone. It was dark, dusty and cobwebs decorated every corner and passage in the mansion. A sort of music could be heard coming from the first floor. Faint, barely audible, but loud enough to bring Bones' attention. He approached the stairs and headed upstairs, the creaking following his every footstep.

The music seemed to be coming from the office. Bones knew the way and headed directly toward the source of the sound but when he neared the office, the music stopped. Nevertheless, he approached the door, turned the knob and before fully opening the doors - a hand grabbed his ankle. He looked down and saw a body without skin, burnt flesh and no eyelids looking at him. The face had an agonizing expression and wide open mouth but no sound came out.

"Be gone." Bones yelled and shook the hand off his leg. He barged into the office and was immediately swarmed by dozens of badly burnt bodies, just like the one outside. Bones pushed, clawed and tried to cast spells to no avail. He couldn't feel the mana. No magic, no golems, no chance.

Overwhelmed, he crawled his way out of the mob and barely gained his footing outside the office. When he looked back, his attackers were gone and instead, a figure sat at the office desk, shrouded in something indiscernible and Bones felt as if he was looking at a shadow instead of a real person.

"Is it my time yet?" Bones heard a whisper coming from behind. He spun around but there was no one there. When he looked back, the shrouded figure stood in front of him, looking down at him. Bones stood there in a daze, looking up at the dense, smoke-like figure in front of him, without being able to look away.

"Guess not. You still have a long way to go." The figure said before its body dispersed, engulfing Bones in black smoke. When the smoke cleared, Bones jolted awake and realized he must have fallen asleep.

What is the meaning of this? I dream now? Who was that - what's happening to me?

Bones held his head. He had questions and no one to answer them.

"Are we there yet?" He asked the driver.

"You're awake! I can see the town from here. Another ten minutes perhaps." Trader Marek replied.

"How long was I out for?"

"Around an hour and a half. Good dreams?"

"Terrific dreams!" Bones said sarcastically. Things seem to be going in a weird direction for him and he wasn't sure what to think of it. He still hadn't fully grasped the concept of the system, classes and skills, and now even more questions piled up. Bones blamed everything happening to him on Silva.

It must be his fault for what he did, bringing us into that inner world! Curse his dead body! No! Curse his soul! The man didn't care much for his body… or bodies?

"We're here Mr. Jones. Anything else I can do for you? Perhaps I can interest you in some fine quality materials? There's no reason you can't look good while adventuring! Or perhaps you'd like mana crystals for home utilities?"

"Goodbye Marek! Thanks for the ride and good luck with the shop." Bones ignored the offer and said goodbye. Chaepstow was just one of the stops on route to his first bounty. Bones took out the contract that read its content once again.

Viper Ridley, the man of notorious reputation for using poisons and has proficiency with using daggers and throwing weapons. The bounty on his head is six hundred gold or equivalent in mana stones, a bit less than what I got for Barret and Garrison. The man moves around a lot but always around the same area and with less than twenty people. This should be an easy win. The two at the border though… I'll work out the details on how to handle them when the time is right.

Bones stopped at the alchemy shop and bought two dozen mana potions before leaving town out of the east gate and continuing east. Like before, Bones aimed to strike at night, given he was able to find his target by then. He had hours of daylight left so he took it up slowly and walked instead of running.