"Learnable skill detected: "Soul Echo", costs 1000 experience, do you want to learn?"

After calming down according to Zaix's instructions, Mu Yan received such a prompt.

"Yes."

He meditated in his heart.

"After learning the 'Soul Echoes', it is classified as a school of necromancy."

"The Recorder has been detected to be about to leave Lokan and head to Heru, and the system is temporarily dormant......"

Eh?? What's the situation? What the hell is dormant, and where is Heru? Hey——

Mu Yan didn't have time to think about it, and he felt dizzy, as if his soul was swept into a drum washing machine, no, it should be said that it was like a flush toilet, because the dizziness was accompanied by a foul smell.

Fortunately, this terrible experience did not last long, he was squeezed, and then "bang", like a cannonball, was sent over a strange world.

Although he had never seen the sky, it was similar to the description in "Song of Dusk".

"Begging for the indifferent gods

"Cry to the dark sky

"Cower in sorrow and listen to this song of twilight, the song of darkness and death—"

Here's what it says inside.

The sky was dark, cold, tumbling with a sea of black clouds, without a single ray of sunlight.

Under his feet was the desolate earth, everything was shrouded in a heavy fog, and the air was filled with the smell of foul smell and decay, even if it slowly fell in a soul state, Mu Yan felt all kinds of discomfort.

I don't know how long later, he landed on a vast sea.

"Where is this 'Styx', this is simply the Styx, okay?" He complained wildly in his heart.

The dead sea was murky, and the chaotic sky in the distance was intertwined, indistinguishable from each other. On the other side, you could barely see the shore, but Zayx had stressed many times that you should never go ashore, because it was inhabited by creatures of unknown origin, full of resentment towards the living, far from being as harmless as the souls in the river.

Mu Yan silently recited the system a few times, and sure enough, as she said, she fell into a temporary hibernation and did not respond.

So he had no choice but to burrow into the sea.

There was no resistance, no pressure, no soul breathing, and he looked curiously at everything underneath.

Unlike the desolation described by Zayx, there is a whole new world beneath this sea.

He had seen footage uploaded by other players of the Aegean Sea southeast of Turing, where Zaix had obtained the Golden Apple, and further southeast of where a magical ocean world was hidden beneath the water.

There are seaweeds and caves, and the sea tribes live in houses made of coral and reefs, especially the crystal palace built by the sea lord Sisos for his daughter Princess Encore, which is the envy of countless girls. According to the statistics of architects, the decorations such as shells and conches inlaid on it may not be able to be taken down tens of millions in the real world, let alone pearls that the sea tribe does not take seriously at all - to them it is about the same as our glass.

Then there is the Dark Reef mentioned in the description of the dagger "Silent Ripper" on the summer solstice, which is the famous prison in the Morgan Sea. It was heavily guarded, and there was no light except for the sea giant's Leviathan's bulb-like eyes. It is said that players who go there to complete the mission will also have to go through the "Deep Sea Fear Test", which is specially prepared by the authorities, and if they fail the test, they will be denied passage.

And here, under the so-called "Styx" (let's call it the Styx), it is not at all like an underwater world, but no different from the ordinary human world......

The houses are built on layers of shale rock, row upon row and uneven. Except that the materials are mainly coral and reef, and the junction is tightened with seaweed, there is no difference from the architectural style of the mountain. However, despite the presence of so many houses, the bottom of the sea, which should be very lively, fell silent.

"Is there no one living in it or is no one willing to go out?"

Mu Yan, who couldn't figure out the situation, decided to knock on the door and ask.

Zaix tells him that most of the souls in the River Styx are muddy, and if you meet one or two clear-minded ones, don't let them go. This kind of person was either strong or strong-willed before his life, and he was by no means an ordinary person in any case, so he must cherish it. He also said that it was very important not to speak here, because that would reach the ears of the "scavenger" and never return.

No one knows what a scavenger is, the ban was handed down by Ward, the founder of the Necronomicon, and everyone who tried to challenge it died.

Therefore, it is said to be fishing, in fact, there is a feeling of robbing the people's daughter, and the one who catches the eye and runs away.

Of course, this is not the case in the game, which is like gacha, entering a text adventure game with illustrations, where the player chooses the location of the river, the distance to advance, etc., and then observes the different souls before making a choice, and finally deducts blood to trade and return to the real world to see the results. It's just that this kind of blood deduction will force a decrease in the blood limit for a week, so that necromancer players will not be addicted to fishing.

……

Mu Yan came to the door of a house, put his head on the window, and found that the house was dim and he couldn't see anything clearly.

"Knock knock—"

No one answered, so he moved on to the next house.

"Knock knock—"

Still not.

……

After about half an hour, he was sure that the street was full of empty houses.

"No wonder Zaix said it was an aimless search." He thought. "It's really clueless."

Suddenly, a low drum beat came from afar, each of which made people shudder.

"This rhythm...... It seems to be the marching drum of the city-state of Salin? ”

The city-state of Salin was a seaside city-state before the unification of the Plain of Horses, located in the area of what is now Manarola, and as a player whose spawn point is in that area, Mu Yan is very familiar with its history and culture.

So he hurriedly hid.

Sure enough, the drums beat from far and near, and it wasn't long before a group of soldiers in thick armor appeared at the end of the street.

They floated slowly, rusty spears and shields in their hands, their armor covered in seaweed, their faces hidden behind their helmets.

"It's too far away, otherwise I'll know what era the soldier is by looking at the pattern on the armor......" he thought regretfully.

And so the wish was granted.

Covered in a beige glow, he looked like a large light bulb in the dim waters, and the two soldiers at the head of the line broke away from the line and walked straight towards him.

"Shocked! How did they find out about me?? ”

Someone hasn't realized it yet.

"[Kragon] Soul Snatcher?" A soldier utters a slurred vocabulary and spits out a string of bubbles.

"Where is there such a stupid soul snatcher [in Samika] hiding in the back of the house like this?" Another soldier replied.

"Oh my God, how do you communicate when you don't speak the language?" Mu Yan was powerless to complain.

Kragon was spoken in the city-state more than 1,400 years ago, and is completely different from the current lingua franca. Fortunately, Samika, once the official language of Morningstar, belongs to the predecessor of the lingua franca.

"[G] don't care, take him back, the sage has explained, not a single soul can be missed."

As he spoke, the soldier threw out a ball of fishy seaweed, Mu Yan didn't have time to dodge, and was tightly entangled.

"In Styx, as long as you don't speak, it's safe, and no soul can do anything to you. And this is your first time in the water, just put a mark, don't try to come back with your soul, you are still too weak to really lose your life. ”

Zayx's admonition is fresh in my mind.

You big fart [harmony] eyes!! Mu Yan was speechless for a while, where is this safe?

But he could see the patterns on the other party's armor - in fact, he could tell from the language. One is more than 1,400 years ago and the other is more than 700 years ago.

And not only that, Mu Yan also saw their faces—translucent soul-like creatures like him, but they didn't glow.

That's right! I glow...... Sluggish, he finally figured out why he was discovered.

He relied on the fact that he could return at any time, and his curiosity drove him back into the queue with the soldiers.

The others turned a blind eye to the glowing guest and spoke to themselves.

"[Kragon] The weather is so good, the moon is obscured again."

"[Salin] yes, every time Nioudra comes out."

"[Samika] Let's end the patrol and go back early, I really want to hear the story of the sage......"

……

After listening quietly for a long time, Mu Yan became more and more curious about the "sage" in their mouths.

Not to mention how this group of seemingly clear-headed souls talked, Mu Yan found a particularly strange situation from their conversations: their dialogues were repetitive, coming and going just a few words.

It's like an NPC with pre-programmed dialogue, mechanically repeating its own lines, not so much dialogue as a recording that plays back in time.

On the contrary, it was the two guys who grabbed themselves and stayed at the front of the line who were the most sober. It's just that the two of them have never said a word along the way.

With the sound of drums, they crossed a total of three blocks, and found not a single living person.

"Turn back the way you came." The Kragon soldier who threw him with seaweed shouted.

So the people turned around mechanically and went back the way they came.

"The weather is so nice, the moon is obscured again."

"yes, it's like that every time Nioudra comes out."

……

The repeated dialogue continued, and Mu Yan had to wait patiently.

Zayx said that it was best not to go down the river for more than twelve hours for the first time, and he estimated that it was already half the time, and at this rate he did not know if he would be able to meet what they called "sages".

I don't know if they were in a hurry or what, the speed of this group of people when they returned was obviously much faster, and even the speed of speech with their fragmented thoughts was also much faster, like pressing the fast-forward button. During this time, the two soldiers also had a brief exchange.

"What if I don't go back before Nioudra comes out?"

"Bring so many spirit maids out and feed them."

"What about the Soul Grabber?"

"Feed him first."

"Looking at his expression, he probably understood what we were saying, right?"

Mu Yan hurriedly pretended to be at a loss.

"You're thinking too much."

……

So, who is Niudra?