The warmth of Helgan's Keep felt foreign after his encounters in the graveyard's chill. Ulrich stepped through the threshold gate, leaving the wilderness twilight for the settlement's dim lantern glow. His clothes were tattered, and dried blood streamed along his fabric. A few residents glanced his way, then quickly looked elsewhere. Something about minding your own business in the shadow realm, he loved. It reminded him a little of Portsmouth.

  Ulrich had a couple of days before Anna and Rosaline's arrival in Helgan’s Keep, just enough time for some preparation.

  The trading post occupied a squat building near the eastern wall, its interior crowded with scavenged goods and relics pulled from various ruins. Ulrich approached the counter where an elderly woman sorted through umbra shards, the crystallized shadow essence that served as currency in this place.

  "What're you selling?" she asked without looking up.

  Ulrich placed his rucksack on the counter and began taking out various items. Bone fragments from Great Skeletons, still faintly humming with residual energy. A corroded sword, worthless for combat but valuable for its material probably. Three intact skulls, their eye sockets glowing with pale light even in death. Honestly, he had no clue if they were worth anything.

  The woman examined each piece with scrutiny and raised her fingers. "Forty shards for the lot."

  Given his enhanced senses, that momentary look in her eyes told him it was worth more than that.

  "Sixty," He countered.

  "Fifty, and I'll throw in a basic healing salve."

  He accepted right away. The shards clinked into his palm, smooth stones that pulsed with cold inner light. Fifty would cover what he needed, medicines, proper travel rations, tools for a Seer, and most importantly, a new set of clothes.

  The following days passed with his time spent on preparation.

  He purchased bandages, antiseptic tinctures, and a small vial of concentrated moonflower extract that could stave off supernatural corruption. A new set of dark clothing, practical and durable. Given that he planned to explore an area that has traits of corruption, perhaps that moonflower extract might come in handy later.

  However, Ulrich sighed at the realization of one truth:

  There is no suits!

  Besides that, he tested his new enhanced spells and talent in a cleared space behind the settlement.

  Dark arrow could manifest at speed in a mere blink. More interestingly, he could reshape its form mid flight, and even controlled it from a distance with some limit, including but not limited to draining more spirituality. He assumed that Dark Arrow no longer drain his spirituality, but Ulrich was wrong.

  In a moment of curiosity, he conjured almost thirty arrow at once and shot them in the sky. There was no doubt what that sense of weakness was. Dark Arrow as a whole drain almost no spirituality given that he was frugal with it, but thirty at once? He could feel the effect.

  As for Shadow Vision, it was no longer mere observation of turning intangible tangible. Limited manipulation was possible. And he attempted to ‘obtain’ another spell like Shadow Step into his psyche, only to fail. It seemed like there are some limit.

  Blessing of the Shadow pushed his physical attributes beyond human limits. Ulrich tested his enhanced strength by lifting stones he couldn't have budged before his Vital Rune's completion. His senses painted a three-dimensional map of his surroundings, tracking movements he shouldn't be able to detect.

  The power felt intoxicating, and he was only a Rank 1 Weaver. He wonder what spells and talent awaits him at the threshold of Rank 2.

  …

  Anna arrived on the second day as promised, stepping through the threshold gate with her characteristic silence. She wore practical armor beneath a sun-bleached cloak, and her dark eyes scanned the settlement with habitual caution. When she spotted Ulrich, something almost like relief crossed her stoic features.

  "You’re… at the threshold," she commented.

  "Yesterday," Ulrich nodded. "The nearby graveyard had more than enough lesser runes."

  Anna blinked once, then fell silent. Ulrich knew the dynamic of their relationship, and he showed no intention of making it awkward. So, they waited together in a rather comfortable quiet.

  Rosaline arrived the following afternoon, bright and loud as storming thunder. She swept through the threshold gate with a smile that seemed out of place in the Shadow Realm's perpetual darkness and gloom, her robes trailing behind her like liquid darkness adorned with glitter of stars.

  Huh. That looks… very similar to Ma’am Felanor dress. Ulrich mused, having seen this somewhere in his dream.

  "Ulrich! You look terrible, which means you've been working hard." She patted his back briefly before turning to Anna with a low whisper. "And you must be the sun worshiper he mentioned. I'm Rosaline, I’m sure you’re aware of my… identity."

  Anna inclined her head slightly. "Anna."

  "Wonderful! I've never worked alongside a Pyromancer before. This should be interesting." Rosaline's cheerfulness didn't quite mask the underlying wariness. Church politics, Ulrich knew, made strange bedfellows of Weavers, official or unofficial.

  “Ladies, shall we make it quick?” Ulrich interjected.

  The journey to Cadry Ruin took half a day, traveling northeast through the Shadow Realm's twisted landscape. Ulrich led them along paths he had memorized, avoiding areas where more dangerous creatures hunted. With Anna and Rosaline trailing him, both radiating the powers which seemed to deter nearby monsters.

  They encountered the first monsters near Cadry's outer perimeter, shambling corpses and corrupted beasts that would have put Ulrich to work. But Anna raised one hand, and flame erupted from her palm in a controlled stream. The fire consumed three undead in seconds, reducing them to ash without scorching the ground beneath.

  Reminds me of a certain priest. He chuckled at the sight.

  Rosaline gestured lazily, and shadows coiled around a corrupted wolf, crushing it before it could leap. "These are what you avoided in your report? Goddess, Ulrich, you really were desperate back then."

  He didn't argue. Indeed, the mercenaries group had avoided most of the outer monsters and didn’t directly fight them on their first expedition.

  The inner gate bridge stretched before them, the same crossing where Knight Henrik had stood. The portcullis stood open, the skeletal guardian's absence leaving the passage eerily empty. Ulrich paused at the threshold, remembering the sound of that greatsword scraping against stone.

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  "Something wrong?"

  "No," Ulrich said. "Just memories."

  They crossed into Cadry Castle's inner courtyard, looking at the collapsed buildings trailed behind a central plaza where withered trees clawed at the gray sky. The keep itself rested ahead, a massive structure with two wing towers flanking the central keep.

  "The Eastern Wing Tower," Ulrich explained, pointing to the right. "Lord William's personal study and laboratory. That's where we'll find the formulas and any remaining artifacts."

  "And the corruption you mentioned?" Rosaline's tone had shifted from cheerful to professional as she inquired.

  "The Castle Keep, central building. I believe it’s the source of all the undead in this ruin." Ulrich met their eyes. "I think it’s better if we avoid that place entirely.”

  Both women nodded.

  They moved through the courtyard cautiously despite their power advantage. Ulrich's danger sense remained quiet, detecting only minor threats easily dispatched. The Eastern Wing Tower's entrance stood half-collapsed, but the interior stairwell remained intact.

  Darkness swallowed them as they ascended. Anna conjured a flame that hovered above her palm, casting warm light against cold stone. Rosaline moved through shadows like they were old friends, occasionally stepping into one and emerging from another ahead of them.

  Ulrich couldn’t help but wondered if that spell was Shadow Step, or a variant of Shadow Leap, which he once experienced in a half-completed awakening ritual within his dream.

  The third floor held Lord William's study, a circular room lined with bookshelves and workbenches. Most of the texts had rotted beyond recovery, but Ulrich's Seer intuition pulled him toward a sealed chest beneath the main desk.

  "Here," he exhaled carefully, kneeling before the container.

  The lock had rusted through. Inside, wrapped in oiled cloth, lay three leather-bound journals and a collection of accessories, rings and amulets that pulsed with a familiar energy akin to the shadows from his Shadow Vision. Cursed items, dangerous but imbued with powerful spells or talents.

  Ulrich reached for the journals, and his danger sense exploded. The warning hit like a physical blow, driving him backward as he grasped for breath.

  Anna and Rosaline reacted instantly, flame and shadow erupting around them in defensive barriers. Strangely enough, both forces of opposing concept wrapped in harmony with one another, neither one extinguishing the other.

  The wall separating the Eastern Wing from the Castle Keep shattered.

  What emerged defied human description.

  It had been human once, perhaps nobility, judging by the remnants of fine armor still clinging to its frame. But corruption had transformed it into something else entirely. Black ichor poured from empty eye sockets, and its flesh writhed with parasitic movement. The creature's presence pressed against their minds like a physical weight, whispers of decay and dissolution.

  “Tainted Myriad Undead King!” Rosaline and Anna exclaimed, their eyes widened at this conclusion.

  "Run!" Ulrich shouted, but the creature moved faster than their reaction.

  It crossed the distance in a single stride, one clawed hand reaching for Anna. She met it with a torrent of flame hot enough to melt stone, but the fire washed over the creature without any effect. The corruption seemingly consumed the heat, swallowed the light, turning her strength into itself.

  In that moment, Rosaline's shadows lashed out, binding the creature's limbs. For a moment it held, then the taint spread along her conjured darkness like infection through blood. She severed the connection with a gasp, staggering backward.

  The creature's presence intensified, and Ulrich felt his thoughts beginning to fragment. Memories blurred, mixing with hallucinations. He saw the graveyard skeleton crushing the Soul Core, saw Knight Henrik's final moments, saw himself dying in a dozen different ways.

  "It's mental attacks!" Rosaline shouted through gritted teeth.

  Anna's flame flickered as she struggled against the mental assault. Sweat beaded on her forehead, and for the first time, Ulrich saw fear in her stoic features. Even against the Bishop of the Twilight Order, she showed dominance.

  Given that a Bishop was equivalent to a Rank 4 Weaver at the very least, how powerful was this Tainted Myriad Undead King?

  He erupted his Blessing of the Shadow, pushing the enhancement to its limits. Clarity returned fractionally, enough for thoughts to form. The creature was Tainted-Grade, going beyond Ordinary, Awakened, and Giant!

  Ulrich activated Shadow Vision and immediately regretted it. The creature's shadow was too inexplicable, a churning mass of fragmented darkness that was painful to perceive. Looking at it felt like staring into an abyss that stared back with malevolent intelligence.

  Still, within that corruption, a core remained. The shadow's anchor point, where its essence connected to the physical form. All things possessed this core.

  Anna and Rosaline responded without question. Flame and shadow alternated, not to damage but to occupy the creature's attention. It turned toward them, claws extending, crushing mental pressure focusing on the two powerful Weaver.

  Ulrich manifested a spear of pure shadow, denser and sharper than anything he had created before. He poured everything into it, his completed Vital Rune resonating with the weapon. Then he stepped into a shadow behind the creature and emerged directly beneath it.

  The spear drove upward into the corruption at the shadow's core.

  The Tainted Undead King shrieked, a sound that existed more in their minds than in physical space. Ulrich felt his consciousness fragmenting, felt madness clawing at the edges of his sanity. With all his effort, he could only created a inflict a moment of distraction to this abomination.

  Rosaline moved with desperate speed, shadows coalescing into chains that wrapped around the creature's torso. "Anna, now!"

  Anna's flame changed, transforming from red to white-gold. The temperature didn't increase, instead the fire took on a purifying quality that pushed back against corruption. Where it touched the creature, taint evaporated like morning dew.

  The combination worked. Shadow chains held the creature immobile while purifying flame burned away corruption that cover its entire being. Ulrich's spear remained embedded in its shadow core, preventing it from moving further.

  The Tainted Undead King collapsed, its form dissolving into oily smoke that dispersed with a final shriek of frustrated rage.

  Ulrich found himself on his knees, blood trickling from his nose. His thoughts felt scattered, fragments of someone else's memories mixing with his own. Anna leaned against the wall, her flame extinguished, breathing in ragged gasps. While Rosaline sat heavily on the floor, one hand pressed to her temple.

  "Everyone alive?" Rosaline asked after a long moment.

  Anna nodded, glancing at Ulrich, the weakest of the bunch.

  "Alive," Ulrich echoed, though he wasn't certain. Parts of his mind felt scorched, damaged in ways that wouldn't heal quickly.

  They remained there for several minutes, letting their psyches stabilize. Eventually, Ulrich crawled back to the chest and retrieved the journals and cursed accessories with shaking hands. Lord William's formulas, both rank 2 and 3 for the Rune of Shadow, exactly what he had come for.

  Yet, the price he paid for it was not what he had expected.

  The rest of the loot was given to Anna and Rosaline. The ladies initially expressed their interest in exploring the ruin further; however, that encounter with the Myriad Undead King had doused them in cold water.

  The journey back to Helgan's Keep passed in near silence.

  Each of them carried wounds that weren’t physically painful. Ulrich's thoughts occasionally spiraled into loops, repeating the same fragment of memory until he forced himself back to the present. Fortunately, the moonflower extract helped somewhat, if barely. It was strange, like daydreaming while being conscious, but it was so real that he couldn’t discern false from truth.

  Anna walked with her usual stoic composure, but Ulrich noticed the slight tremor in her hands, the way her eyes occasionally unfocused as she fought back whatever the corruption had shown her. No doubt, Anna was the second most affected by that mental degradation.

  Only Rosaline maintained her cheerfulness, though it felt somewhat hollow. "Well, that was educational. Next time, Ulrich, when you say avoid something, perhaps emphasize just how enthusiastically we should avoid it."

  "Noted," Ulrich smiled weakly as his voice lowered to a whisper. “I didn’t think there would be a Tainted Myriad Undead King either… That damn knight, if only I can give him a thorough beating!”

  They reached the threshold gate as twilight deepened into true dark. The guard on duty took one look at their condition and waved them through without questions.

  Ulrich clutched Lord William's journals to his chest, feeling the weight of cursed accessories in his pack. He had achieved his goal and obtained knowledge that would help him advance as a Shadowmancer. Now, all he had to do was gather the material to refine the Rank 2 Rune of Shadow.

  A joyous occasion it was, if not for the constant rambling in his ears.