Following the gray-and-white shadows in front of him, Siegel made his way through the alleys of Bacon, and he could clearly feel that the route they were taking was regular, avoiding all the patrolling guards and hostile gazes. Siegel was now dressed as a half-orc, but he didn't have any clan or legion emblems - all of which were taken off at the suggestion of the Shadow. Siegel has the equivalent of having no identity badge, and if he runs into an orc from the Slaver Trap - which is common in the Wastes of Tears - he will most likely reveal his identity.

"Linko has betrayed you. The shadow said, "He has leaked your whereabouts, and now a small group of orcs has gone to the lodgings to try to arrest you, and soon the entire Bacon Town will be closed, and only entry and exit will be allowed." The reason given was to welcome General Kaka's return. ”

"How do you know?" Siegel had a hunch, but remained skeptical.

"We've been watching the whole town from the sky. Every conspiracy, every word is under our surveillance. The shadow replied, "But don't worry, we don't report to the shaman, he is our enemy." ”

Siegel's hand touched the dragon's tooth dagger, then let go again. He hadn't mastered the spell of a spirit weapon yet, and the dagger itself probably wouldn't be able to kill Shadow. Along the way, he also discovered that the shadow was completely disembodied. It can pass through an orc, and things like walls, floors, etc., will not affect his movements in any way. And apart from Siegel, no one else could detect the existence of this shadow. Many people can feel undead creatures such as ghosts, shivering and their hair standing on end when they approach. But the shadow in front of Siegel does not cause such a reaction at all, as if it only exists in the mage's own world.

The only thing that could constantly monitor the village and town in the sky was the cloud of resentful spirits, but the shadow in front of him did not have any negative emotions, nor did he feel the power of evil. Although it is not evil, it can never be called good, because kind people will make people feel close and gentle, which is not felt in the shadow. It is like a whitewashed canvas, and all the paint, whether it is joy or sorrow, or madness and greed, has faded its color, leaving only deep marks. "Why is there so much hatred in the clouds above your head, and you don't?"

"One soul that can't rest will make the room cold, ten souls that can't make the village gloomy, and a hundred souls who can't rest will be helpless even your priest, so what about a thousand, ten thousand, a hundred million?" Siegel began to get nervous, silently reciting a spell to dispel evil in his mind, ready to be activated at any moment.

The shadow flickered, and a wisp of black smoke floated up from him and dissipated into the sky, and the shadow's form returned to its original white. Siegel listened to him continue: "We have a great hatred in our hearts, but we can't resolve it ourselves. The shamans help us vent our grievances in their own way, but we don't fully agree with what they do. ”

"Can't the Temple of the Dead help you? The Grim Reaper rules over all the ghosts and spirits. If they can't, the Lord of the Dawn can purify souls as well, and while that method is similar to annihilation, it's a way out. ”

"They are not our gods. The shadow said, "Our God has been with us all the time, and there is nothing we can do." ”

Siegel continued, but the shadow stopped answering him, saying "it's not time yet." But when is the "time"? Siegel has always disliked this mysterious way, he likes to get to the bottom of the problem until he finds the answer to his question, so he prefers to be a mage rather than a priest. Of course, he has been praying to the God of Storms and the Squid Sage, but he has never been answered, and he has been denied the idea of becoming a priest.

Even without the orcs coming up for questioning, Siegel felt the tension in the town start to grow. In less than five minutes, he saw three heavily armed orc patrols. They were driving away pedestrians from the streets, especially the ragged slaves, and throwing them into the mire on the side of the street one by one. The patrol shouted, "Get out of the way for General Kaka!" and several orc guards looked in Siegel's direction, but their eyes could only catch a small piece of his robe that had disappeared around the corner. Led by a white shadow, Siegel floated through the town like a ghost, and finally stopped in front of the ruins of a house that had been destroyed by fire.

Shadow walked into the charred ruins, pointed to a collapsed cabinet next to the foundation, and said, "This is a relatively fragile projection site for spells, and there is a cellar underneath where you can hide from weapons. You are to hide inside until the first rays of sunlight appear tomorrow. ”

"I thought you were going to take me out of town instead of hiding like a rat. ”

"If Linko hadn't betrayed you, then it would be safe outside, because no orc would care about a lone half-orc. The shadow said, "But now, the orcs who hunted you have set out, and they still have wolf riders." You can't outrun them in the snow, and your magic causes fluctuations. There's only one fake witch festival inside Bacon Town, but there are a few real ones outside. They will follow the fluctuations of the spell to find where you are hiding. ”

"But I'm not in the area where the spell works? I haven't forgotten the wraiths above my head. ”

"Yes, no living creature can survive the corrupting spirits, but you can. The shadow pointed to Siegel's chest, exactly where the twenty-sided dice were: "Through it, you can transform into an undead creature so that we don't affect you." ”

"What! Can you see the dice? What is it for? Why is it on me?" Siegel looked at the dice and saw that the number 12 was shiny and ready to use. The "Undead Body", which is what the dice do, allows Siegel to turn into a skeleton or zombie, or a wider variety of undead as the user's strength increases. Siegel was shocked, he didn't know why this side was activated, he had too many questions in his mind. So he hurriedly stepped forward, and even reached out to catch the shadow, but as expected, he grabbed a void. The shadow flickered, and his voice was as calm as ever: "You are one of the four, and the dice are the key to communicating between the dead and the unborn." When you know your real name, you know everything. ”

The shadow waved her fingers, and the cabinet that had fallen to the ground slid out, revealing the secret door below. The ruins were supposed to be a tavern, and the remains of those tables and chairs and fragments of pottery plates are faintly visible. Underneath the door may be a cellar, or perhaps a secret passage, which you will have to go down to see. The Shadow finally said to Siegel, "Hide, Mage, you're safe down there. ”

"Hey, I don't understand what you're talking about, give me a detailed explanation!What is my real name?My name is Siegel-Squid!What does one of the four mean, and who are the other three?" Siegel asked one question after another, but Shadow never answered. After revealing the secret door, the shadow gradually became dim and blurred, like a puff of green smoke, and began to slowly dissipate.

"At least you have to tell me what your name is, I can't call you a wraith!"

One of the last replies came from the shadow before it vanished: "We are the Shadow of the Dead." ”

Not far away, there was the sound of hurried footsteps, and the sound of weapons crashing against armor. Siegel knew it was the noise of the orc patrols running, as loud as alarm bells for slaves and beggars — and for a "fugitive," Siegel thought to himself. If Lin Ke reported it, there would be nothing wrong with it, after all, he was indeed a member of the Mage Federation, and he was already in a hostile camp with the orcs. But what would Linko say, how would he explain why I was pretending to be a witch priest? If it were me, I would have said that the mage had killed the witch priest and forced the people in the village to listen to him, or else he would cast an evil spell. Maybe it will also blame me for not sending anyone to join the legion in the Rock Village, so that it all makes sense. Siegel didn't know how Linko would have felt when he reported his human race to the orcs, maybe his face was still human, but his blood was long gone.

Siegel thought, but his men didn't stop at all, he opened the secret door, and used the slightest magical energy to light up the finger-sized ball of light, which could illuminate the steps below the secret door. Underneath it was a wine cellar, well preserved in the fire, but with a thick layer of charcoal ash. Siegel left the raven pet outside, hiding it on the black beams of the ruins of the tavern, covering her figure with shadows. He stepped into the cellar and closed the secret door behind him. He then cast a spell on the secret door through the eyes of the raven, recovering the surrounding wreckage from the door and erasing the chain of traces from his walk into the house. The footsteps of the orc patrol approached the ruins, and after a brief glance, nothing was found. So they didn't stop at all, and disappeared into the distance with a clatter. Siegel let out a long sigh of relief and began to look at the hiding place.

In addition to large and small jars filled with ale, there are also two bags of turnip roots, a bag of barley flour, a small bag of dried apples, and a few strings of smoked sausages. However, there is nothing to ignite or illuminate here, and like the dwarves, the orcs have dark vision, and it is normal for the cellar to have no lights. Maybe the owner of the tavern died in the fire, so no one came back to clean up these things, which was cheaper for Siegel.

He brought the bag as a seat and used the light from the opening of the key space to illuminate it. Siegel has an idea, if you put your hand into the space to cast a spell, will the magic fluctuations still come out? As long as it is not a spell related to opening, folding, and expanding the space, it should not cause the key space to malfunction. He tried, and the spell still worked, but the fluctuations didn't occur at all.

This way he can use this time to make his magic weapons. First the Fire Weapon, then the Curse Weapon, at least to alleviate the embarrassment of not having a wand and spellcasting materials. The making of a magic weapon is not static, everyone adds their own understanding of the spell to it, and Siegel is no exception. Siegel isn't good at using fireballs, rockets, and fire rays, but he does have a knack for using fire energy to summon creatures. When crafting the Flame Artifact, Enhancing Elemental Shaping is the main direction of crafting.

Cursed artifacts are mainly based on the spells of blood mages, with a focus on creating fear and psychic fantasies. The Blood Mage's spell book also contains many curses on the body of enemies, such as flesh festering, organ necrosis, chokehold, and other spells. Siegel memorized spells for spells, but didn't like the style. Therefore, he did not have these spells in his curse weapon, but added the technique of illusion to form his own spell style.

Time passes quickly when attention is concentrated, and the winter sun rises and sets early, and the evening glow is already rising on the horizon. A message came from the Demon Pet that the orc general was entering the city, and many orcs were moving in the direction of the south gate. Siegel thought for a moment and ordered the raven to take a look, but be careful to hide his whereabouts.