[You have perfectly purified the intermediate city 'Buote', where countless merchants from small towns gathered! You have acquired 2 permits to Goddess’s Secret Shop. You have acquired 100,000 Perium. Proficiency in all combat related skills increases. The ‘finding friend’s location’ function has been added. You can now track your comrades’ location should they allow you to do so.]

[You defeated every undead in the city, each with a single blow! You are powerful enough to be called the most powerful level 5, as you easily overpowered similarly leveled undead. All stats have increased by 3.]

With the experience of clearing the similarly sized Kehebe, Lee Shin-Woo knew he needn’t worry about conquering the city, and simply slaughtered every undead that came his way. Perhaps because of that, he achieved another feat, and his stats increased.

Well, he'd killed every level 5 elite undead with one hit, which must have been an unusual feat among the ranks of level 5 heroes even though Lee Shin-Woo was about to level up to level 6.

"So that's how it is. The strongest level 5..."

Lee Shin-Woo wasn't all that happy about what the title said about him. At the end of the day, he was only the strongest amongst level 5s!

However, he quickly recovered his spirits. Someone might pick a fight with him if he grew conceited or too complacent. It was important to always strive to be better; even his own parents had told him that.

"So what did your parents do for a living?"

"What's with you all of a sudden?"

In the process of conquering the city, Lee Shin-Woo had consumed all the level 5 elites’ bones he'd acquired, but the effects weren't worth writing home about. Therefore, Lee Shin-Woo investigated all of the sewers as well while he was in the city. There was nothing to be found this time, either.

There were some Anti-Skull hidden facilities, but all of them were empty, so he felt twice the disappointment. Was he getting careless after recruiting the Golems and Dryads as allies? He was angry even though it didn't really matter.

"Maybe those in these facilities were smarter than the rest and left after regaining their intellect on their own," Jin offered.

"How unfortunate."

"It's not that unfortunate, you know."

Lee Shin-Woo left the city gaining essentially nothing, and began running towards his destination with Jin once more. A few more hours passed.

Mmmm... I think I'm done with this now.

Lee Shin-Woo kept infusing mana into his weapons and maintained it before drawing the mana out to use his skills; in less than four hours of training, Lee Shin-Woo had mastered the technique. At the very least, he wouldn't make a mistake while controlling this few weapons.

I'm done checking my stats too.

Lee Shin-Woo clenched and unclenched his fist a few times, nodding to himself. He had checked his stats, his skills, and even the titles he'd acquired thus far. His self-inspection was thorough. Even if he encountered a level 6 elite monster now, he would be able to take it on without any problems.

I suppose I should rest a bit...

Of course, it was a rest in name only, as Lee Shin-Woo wasn’t one to waste his time like that. He took a metaphorical deep breath and opened his inventory to retrieve a book. It was one of the books left by the Elementalist Mellonia, who had an amicable relationship with the Dryads.

There are a total of 5 volumes... It's sorted by number.

He opened the first volume. While he had been given the ability to speak and read this world's language, he didn’t really need that with all the memories and experiences he’d absorbed from countless undeads. He could understand the language like a native, which allowed him full understanding of each and every word.

[I hope this book comes into the possession of one who loves spirits.]

The first volume started with a cliche and pretentious line, and could be considered an introduction to spirits that Mellonia herself had written. Reading it filled the gaps in Lee Shin-Woo’s knowledge on the subject, which he had gained from absorbing the Silver Ice Tiger's canine.

There was a difference between theory and actual experience. He laughed at the fact that he was able to acquire both from Mellonia. It was clear that the knowledge and experience had come from a high-ranking individual. Mellonia must have been a renowned figure when she was alive.

Even Mellonia is saying that an Elementalist can't use elemental power themselves, but instead wields it through spirits...

Based on the experiences he'd acquired from the earring, elemental power referred to elemental magic. Unlike Lee Shin-Woo, who had learned of his ability to transform his mana into said elemental power, Mellonia stated that one must form a contract with a spirit to do so.

Of course, Mellonia was wrong. Lee Shin-Woo was proof that she was wrong.

Does it mean I don't need to contract with a spirit since I can already use elemental power?

However, it didn't seem to be the case. As Mellonia said, spirits are as smart as or even smarter than humans, so they can also move independently. And the more authority the spirits have over an element, the more powerfully they can wield that element...

[Above all, they lead their contractor to immortality.]

Lee Shin-Woo’s goblin fire blazed when he got to the particular section. It was a phrase he vehemently disliked. Since entering the Underground Empire, the term 'immortality' had become a trigger for Lee Shin-Woo.

Moreover, if one could actually achieve immortality from contracting with spirits, Mellonia shouldn't have died.

[A spirit causes their contractor to slowly, very slowly become like them. These spirits do not have the physical constraints of an aging body, but are composed of magic and a soul; in theory, they possess eternal life. But as the contractor slowly starts to resemble these spirits, what would happen to them in the end?]

[The contract between a spirit and an Elementalist is akin to the relationship between trees and the Dryads who bond with them. It becomes easy to understand by comparing the Elementalist to the tree, and the Dryads to the spirits. The moment the Dryads attach to these trees, which have no ability or will of their own, the trees begin to obtain a certain spiritual power.]

[In the process, the trees become a place where Dryads are born, as well as their resting place. Ultimately, the tree would turn into a new spirit. One of the reasons I created a research facility in the Forest of the Dryads is I wanted to thoroughly observe the trees' changes.]

It seems like Mellonia hadn't come to the Forest of the Dryads with innocent intentions, contrary to what the Dryads had thought; she hadn’t been spending her days joyously strolling through the forest and breathing in the aroma of the forest. She said that she didn't want any harm to come to the Dryads, but she was clearly studying them.

[This is my supposition based on the Dryads' relationship with trees. One day, an Elementalist contracted with spirits will lose their body and become a pure astral being. If that's the case, can we even call that the next phase of evolution? Can we call that immortality?]

Lee Shin-Woo didn't think so. They wouldn't become a different species whether they had a physical body or an astral body. There would be living organisms with superior physical bodies, as well as living beings with inferior astral bodies. No one could say one was better than the other.

And if turning into an astral body was indeed considered a form of evolution, he wouldn't walk that path. Giving up one thing to gain another; he was sick and tired of those kinds of deals. He wanted the best of both worlds.

Hoo...

Lee Shin-Woo sighed inwardly. He had already read three of the five volumes. He had wanted to learn about the method to handle spirits, but the history of spirit theory was extensive, and there was a lot of knowledge on spirits and their uses which seemed to be nothing but subjective opinions.

Of course, that wasn't a bad thing, but it felt like he was licking an extremely delicious and sweet fruit rather than eating it. Or figuring out the history behind a fine painting without getting the winning bid at an auction.

What about the other two remaining volumes? ...Huh?

The fourth volume was much more clumsily put together than the previous three, yet it was the book detailing the method of contracting with spirits. That was exactly what Lee Shin-Woo was looking for!

It’s so dry.

The first three volumes talked about the spirits quite enthusiastically, while the method of contracting with spirits was written in an extremely abstract manner in this book, stating that one must find a place abundant with the energy of nature. It wasn’t very helpful, and all the statements given were discouraging.

[Spirits are living beings. Without life, there are no spirits. You must find a place most abundant with life.]

[If one can become a knight through their own efforts, and a mage is heaven sent, then an Elementalist is chosen by nature. Personal training isn't really instrumental in becoming an Elementalist. An abundance of mana is important, and above all, luck is paramount. One must be chosen by a spirit.]

[An Elementalist must try to take after nature. Spirits love the most natural mana. Moreover, the more captivating you look to the spirits, the better.]

The first half of the fourth volume seemed to be saying, 'Conquer them! Make the spirits fall for you! This is the makeup that'll make them fall for you!' And the second half sounded like something a guru cultivating in a forest would say; the disconnect really bothered him.

“As expected," Lee Shin-Woo said.

"What?"

"It was impossible to contract with spirits in this Empire, as the curse had already taken root."

"That's quite unfortunate."

Would there be spirits in dungeons? Even if there were, they wouldn't easily form a contract with him. Moreover, he would need to put on a charming appearance; the condition was impossible to fulfill without maintaining his Disguise all the time! He was a skeleton after all!

"Ah, I already knew it all, but I kept rereading it thinking that maybe it’d change... Damn it. There's only the last volume left. I should read that."

"Are you the type that can't stop reading a series even when it goes to shit?"

"Don't traumatize me."

After shushing Jin, Lee Shin-Woo started reading the fifth volume. It was Mellonia's journal, and it seemed to have been written after she had become an Elementalist. The gaps between the dates the entries were written were sporadic, but they were properly arranged in chronological order.

[His name is Silver. They say all Silver Ice Tigers are like this, but Silver's the only Silver Ice Tiger for me.]

[Silver led me to a different world. I got to meet other Elementalists as well. And I, who was once a stupid countryside girl, was able to become a Royal Elementalist and wear nice clothes. Everything feels like a dream.]

It was surprising that she hadn’t erased this section of her journal detailing her naive years. Perhaps this was the last thing Mellonia could remember. Lee Shin-Woo felt reluctant to read further, but he resolved himself and went to the next page.

[It seems like I have an aptitude for magic. Since I'm also loved by a spirit, I can become a talented Elementalist. I'm not used to getting complimented by others.]

[Someone more talented than me entered. She’s only 7 years old, yet she has been chosen by three high ranking spirits. Moreover, she's the royal princess. Is it really okay for someone to have it all?]

Lee Shin-Woo paused. If the princess was this powerful, perhaps Lee Shin-Woo would meet her later.

If that was the case, though, Lee Shin-Woo had to read further. He continued onto the next page without rest, and was able to obtain more information regarding the princess from Mellonia’s perspective. However, Mellonia's diary detailing her life in the palace ended abruptly with one sentence.

[Silver died.]

After that, the pages were filled with darkness. Her attempt to revive a spirit, the research involved, her departure from the palace, as well as her move to the Forest of the Dryads… Then…

[When I helplessly fell into despair, they found me.]

[They said they would give me all the materials I needed, so I plan to follow them.]

[I knew their resistance and treachery would end in the worst way possible, but...]

[But still, it doesn't matter. A world without Silver can go to hell for all I care.]

That page ended with that final line. Ultimately, this was clearly related to his quest to uncover the secret of the Empire, but he hadn’t been told how things would progress beforehand!

Dejected, Lee Shin-Woo wanted to burn the diary to ashes, but he suddenly saw something written in very small print on the last page.

[Does anyone have the Heaven Door's Key? At the very least, that is something that doesn't belong to either Anti-Skull or the Emperor.]

"...?"

Putting aside the fact that she knew about Anti-Skull, what's with this suspicious line...? Lee Shin-Woo tilted his head, but his train of thoughts was derailed when Jin called out to him.

"Shin-Woo, we've arrived."

Lee Shin-Woo looked up to see a completely ruined city before him. It was a lot bigger than any other city he'd seen before, but it felt desolate and empty with everything broken and destroyed.

What was most peculiar was the disorderly traces across the city left by undead that had already departed, as well as the presence of a hero who'd become an undead... The man had died alone silently within the city.

"What are you going to do?" Jin asked.

"What do you mean?"

Lee Shin-Woo shoved the five volumes of Mellonia's books into his inventory and grabbed one of the swords from the air. Pushing aside the various thoughts swirling in his head, he sharpened his focus like a blade.

He could progress the quest later. That was the appeal of quests: he would have a bunch of them at once, and eventually, he'd complete them one by one.

There was only one thing of importance right now.

"He's my senior, so I have to pay my last respects."