"Ahh! What an ugly monster. It’s even uglier than those skeletons."

The Velsra backed away from Reiji, staring at him like it had just seen the most disgusting thing in the world.

The veins on Reiji’s head bulged as he gritted his teeth.

"Like you’re one to talk, you ugly goblin."

"What! Who the hell are you calling a goblin?"

The creature puffed out its chest. Its face looked somewhat like a cat’s, but with a slightly humanoid touch. It actually looked kind of cute.

"Who else, dumbass?"

"Why you...!"

Both of them leaned forward, glaring at each other through gritted teeth.

The Velsra suddenly jumped back and took a strange fighting stance while bouncing from side to side. "Come on then, you disgusting pile of crap."

That was it.

Reiji’s face instantly turned cold as he summoned the Soul Torture Blade from his inventory.

"Uhm... sorry." The Velsra’s entire demeanor did a complete 180 after sensing danger. "You said you were here for...? Or would you perhaps like a tour around the place?"

It now acted like the personal attendant of a big boss of a company.

Reiji suppressed his anger and returned the Soul Torture Blade to his inventory. At the same time, he was trying hard not to laugh.

’I guess he really does know when to shut up.’

"Alright. A tour would be nice."

Reiji decided to play along as the Velsra quickly began escorting him deeper into the palace.

"And over there is the sleeping area."

Reiji looked toward a corner filled with messy blankets, empty bottles, and bones scattered everywhere.

"...You’re disgusting."

"Thank you."

"...That wasn’t a compliment."

The Velsra ignored him and continued walking proudly.

"Here we have the inside waterfall. It is the..."

The Velsra stopped itself from continuing.

"It is the what?"

Reiji narrowed his eyes dangerously as he stared at it. He had a feeling that this waterfall held something more than just looking beautiful.

"Uhm... That’s, ehm..."

The Velsra hesitated.

Reiji pulled out the Soul Torture Blade from his inventory and calmly walked toward it.

"F-FINE! I’LL TALK!"

It said quickly as it backed away a few inches from Reiji.

"Go on then."

"T-There’s an underground tunnel behind the waterfall. It is the place where Anderite stones are used."

"Lead the way."

The Velsra immediately rushed forward and went to the side of the waterfall and tapped on the wall.

Slowly, the waterfall began to open like a veil.

"This way, Your Grace."

Reiji followed the creature down a tunnel behind the waterfall and walked down about twenty steps before arriving at a door.

It opened the door, and when Reiji entered, he froze in shock and surprise.

Several torches on each side of the room cast a glow over the century-old furnace at the center of the room.

And he could see bones sticking out.

They didn’t look like the bones of undead, but of several different creatures.

"T-This is where the Undead Legion is made," the Velsra said.

"Tell me, how does that happen?" Reiji asked calmly.

But inwardly, he was dying to know.

’Isn’t an undead just the skeleton of a dead creature or something?’

The Velsra stepped forward proudly and started explaining.

"This furnace is used for cremating the corpses of people or creatures."

It moved over to another table where something like ashes lay on top of it.

"Here we keep the ashes of the creatures..."

It took out a bottle, not the one it had used earlier, but another white one.

The liquid slowly flowed out of the bottle, and the Velsra only allowed a single drop to fall onto the ashes.

"Here’s where the magic begins."

It said enthusiastically and rushed over to grab an Anderite stone.

The clear orange crystal glowed brightly as the creature crushed it.

It packed the ashes that had the drop of liquid and the crushed Anderite stone into what looked like a bowl-shaped jar.

It closed the pot and shook it for about thirty seconds.

Reiji quietly watched.

If this was a sham to buy time for a trap or something, he was going to kill the creature.

He took out the Soul Torture Blade from his inventory and held it at his side.

The Velsra saw this and swallowed hard.

It thought Reiji was getting angry because it was being slow.

So it shook the container even faster, then rushed over to the side of the room and threw it into a pit covered in cold white mist.

"So what is supposed to happen?"

"T-The Anderite stone would take effect on the crushed bones and semen from the Moltralis Tribe. It would use..."

Reiji cut it off.

"You said what?"

"Semen... sperm... nuts..." The Velsra tilted its head, looking at Reiji in confusion. Didn’t he know what sperm was? "Is it the Moltralis Tribe? Well, they’re like you, but more beautiful. No offense, Boss."

Reiji’s mouth opened to say something, but the words never left. He sighed. "Just continue with your explanation."

The Velsra cleared its throat and puffed out its chest proudly.

"Like I said, Anderite is a very special material. It possesses the ability to reanimate the dead."

Reiji raised an eyebrow. "Then why all this extra nonsense?"

The Velsra pointed toward several containers filled with ash.

"Because these aren’t the remains of a single creature."

It grabbed a handful of gray ash and let it slip through its fingers.

"Thousands of corpses have been cremated here over the years. Their ashes are all mixed together."

Reiji immediately understood. "So Anderite doesn’t know what it’s supposed to revive."

"Exactly!" The Velsra nodded excitedly.

"Without guidance, Anderite would attempt to reconstruct every creature at once. The result would be a malformed pile of bones." It held up the small bottle. "That’s where the essence of the Moltralis Tribe comes in."

Reiji’s face twitched. "Of course it does."

The Velsra continued "The essence contains the complete skeletal blueprint of a Moltralis. When mixed with the ashes and Anderite, it provides a template."

"The Anderite then uses the cremated remains as raw material and reconstructs a proper skeleton based on that blueprint. No soul. No memories. No spirit. Only an obedient undead skeleton."

Reiji was blown off his feet. He didn’t expect an undead to be formed in that manner.

BUBBLES!

"Here comes the undead."

The Velsra awkwardly scratched its head.

"And one last thing..."

"I can’t determine its rank. It could be anywhere from F-Rank to E-Rank... or maybe even C-Rank."

Reiji narrowed his eyes as he stared at the Velsra.

"How the hell would you not know? Is this some kind of plan?"

"No, no, no! I promise you this isn’t a plan."

"It’s just that I can’t control the strength of the undead, even with the Anderite stone. The strength depends on the cremated bones of the creatures."

"What does that mean?"

"It means the strongest creature among the remains that were cremated would determine the strength of the undead skeleton that is about to come out."

"So if the strongest creature was B-Rank, the undead skeleton that is coming out would be B-Rank as well?"

"Yes, but I doubt that would happen."

Reiji glared at the creature but turned to face the bubbling pit.

[Undead Skeleton (D)]

"Wind Cutter."

The undead that was slowly rising from the pit was suddenly cut down by a powerful wind blade.

Ding!

[Host has killed a D-Rank Undead Skeleton.]

[+5 EXP]

Cold sweat ran down the back of the Velsra.

’Thank goodness. I didn’t provoke him further, or I would be nothing more than a pile of bones and might be turned into an emotionless undead!’

The Velsra was even more afraid of becoming an undead than dying.

Reiji turned his gaze toward the Velsra and smiled warmly at it.

But to the Velsra, it looked as if Reiji was telling it that if it messed up, he would slice it up just like the undead skeleton.

"Let’s head up. There’s another thing I would like to show you."

The Velsra said while pointing Reiji toward the door.

Reiji walked forward, and the Velsra walked in front, leading the way.

Soon, they arrived back up.

The Velsra quickly went to the side of the waterfall and tapped the wall.

The waterfall flowed normally once again.

"You can come out now. There’s no need to hide."

Reiji said while staring at the mountain of Anderite stones.

"There’s nobody here."

The creature said to Reiji, looking confused.

"Hahaha. Interesting. I never thought a human like you had such keen senses."

A giant undead king skeleton stepped out from behind the massive pile of Anderite stones.

"What... Your Majesty!" The Velsra screamed and immediately kowtowed before the Undead King.