Spirit Soul

His hands and feet were still locked inside the unique machine. While struggling to free himself, Kyle could only look at the Lich, who didn't move for some time.

When he realized that there was no point in struggling, he gave up.

His mind then switched to thinking about the advantages and disadvantages of being evaluated as a being that had been born less than 6 months ago.

In the end, it hardly mattered to Kyle what the undead thought of him.

But, he knew that the Lich was unable to conduct a proper evaluation of Kyle's capabilities.

If he were to be 18 years old just like his body's age, his potential would be identified as something much lower than it truly was.

However, now he faced the exact opposite scenario.

For his age that was determined to be somewhere below six months, he was overqualified!

The Lich thus, couldn't help but ask.

"So, you are a transmigrator?!"

Confusion was evident on the Lich's face, and it was exactly because of this that he had asked this question.

Yet, Kyle hadn't expected to be asked this specific question, which caused him to think for a moment.

"If I'm a transmigrator, wouldn't this body have been in existence already? It would just be my soul that transports from one place to another.

At least, if I understood the theory behind transmigration properly, this should be true."

In the end, he had reincarnated, but not as a newborn baby.

His second chance was in a rather perfect body Kyle could have visualized.

That was at least the theory behind the reincarnation and the reincarnation trials.

In fact, Kyle had almost no knowledge about the truth behind the reincarnation trials, the sentience of Shima, or how an infinitely large planet could have come into existence.

The Old Souls of the devoured Universe had even received information that Shima was still enlarging. However, he couldn't believe it.

It was simply illogical and there was not a single piece of evidence that could prove this piece of information to be correct.

Yet, the same could be said about everything else others had simply not seen.

Theories are only that until someone proves them correct or false.

After that, they either turn into myths or proven facts.

That was how it had always been.

As such, Kyle only shared his thoughts before adding,  "Please take me out of this device," a moment later.

Unfortunately, the Lich didn't hear him because it was already deep in thought.

This forced Kyle to release himself on his own.

This took him a while and he had to use his wind affinity in addition to a large amount of soul force. Using both,  he pressed a button that was hidden somewhere in the back of the device.

Fortunately, he had pressed on the correct one, otherwise, he might have been forced to face the uncomfortable examination once again.

This was something he wanted to prevent because being examined just once had been more than enough to show him how uncomfortable it was.

However, just when Kyle had freed himself, the Lich regained his senses before it added,

"Who told you that the examination was done? I want a second try to validate the first one!"

Hearing this, Kyle glared at the Lich, who ignored him, just to point at the machine.

Sighing deeply, he gave in and let the test run one more time.

Like before, the machine gave the same result.

After that, the Lich finally let him out before asking,

"Tell me something about your life that dates back to the time before the last 6 months!!"

Kyle had expected this question, but instead of using the same lie he had passed on to the Jars, he felt that it was useless with the Lich.

It was as if he knew that lying to the Lich would be a wasted effort.

Thus, Kyle had to carefully think about the words he chose.

"To be honest, I don't remember much from before I woke up in the Sadorla forest roughly six months ago, but I know that my family was chaotic…"

He had prepared a lengthy answer, but the Lich wasn't exactly probing him for more.

Thus, it was evident that the small pieces of information were already more than enough.

In the end, Kyle had done everything exactly as he had planned.

It was a simple tactic, but he had only attempted to divert the Lich's attention to the Sadorla forest.

The Lich would also realize the fact that the time of him waking up and his age was roughly the same.

Furthermore, owing to the fact that he was not lying about anything, the Lich digested the information within a moment only to mumble,

"Sadorla forest...that's quite far away…but there is nothing special...could he have reincarnated...but into the body of an adult...that's impossible. His age would be much higher in that case! It is almost as if his entire body had just been created six months ago!"

This was confusing, and even Kyle was not sure of his body's creation.

Despite being only six months old, his body was almost fully matured, leaving not much difference to an 18-year-old young man.

As such, he could completely understand the Lich's confusion.

Yet, while the entire situation was confusing, there were only three beings inside the Castle of the Undead that understood the situation clearly!

One of them was Kyle, and amongst the other two, both could change his life- for better or for worse.

Right now, the Lich was utterly dumbfounded at his findings.

But at the same time, the Lich was exhilarated to have found a way to achieve its goal.

Even if Kyle's ability would be unable to meet the requirements it had in mind before, it was worth a try.

However, what the Lich didn't know were two particular things.

One, his room was by far, not perfectly sealed. In fact, everything could be observed from a distance, which was currently happening.

Knirg, Lahan, the Banshee, another being, and the woman with silver hair and glowing crimson eyes were using a specific rune template the Lich didn't know of.

Through this, they were able to see and hear everything the Lich had been doing.

As such, they were evidently displeased with how it was managing things. In the end, everyone was trying to attain the best result for themselves.

However, at the same time, they knew that it was important to rely on each other in order to do this.

That was the reason why they had gathered inside Razkadan castle, to begin with!

Because of that, it was even more unfortunate to witness how the Lich acted in their absence.

Though they knew it would be a little reckless, hearing it openly threaten Kyle if he were to lie or be of no use to them was shocking.

It clearly showed that the Lich had never been on their side.

Only now did they realize that it was trying to fulfill all of their goals that were different.

Most of them had something or the other that they clung to desperately.

They couldn't be free of their desire and held onto their decayed bodies, ornaments, or other objects.

Incidentally, all of this held them at the Castle that allowed them to prevent becoming weaker.

Otherwise, they would devolve into existences like the other non-sentient beings whose slowly weakening souls were starting to crumble.

However, even then, the majority of them had already died.

And instead of moving to the afterlife, they were fighting against nature's laws to somehow remain inside the world that was not even meant for them.

The living world rejected them with an even stronger force the more time passed.

Thus, the Lich, who was rumored to be the oldest of them, was the most desperate. Nevertheless, the other Undeads wouldn't simply stand and watch if the Lich were to do something out of its selfishness.

At least not, if it could prevent them from achieving their common goals.

Some of the Undead powerhouses were complaining about the Lich's attitude, despite having expected its behavior. However, there were two beings that tried to remain calm because they had noticed something.

'If he truly is one of them...who sent him...and how can he be so young?!' This was the doubt of the two who realized what the age examination could indicate.

It would shock them to the deepest parts of their core.

Fortunately, they were able to retain their calm.

Not only excitement but also fear was apparent on their faces as anxiety and stress were flaring up from the depths of their bodies.

Despite being able to see and hear everything that occurred inside the Lich's abode, the young Lady of the Castle, and the others didn't do anything.

They had never held high hopes from the Lich, but that was not the reason for them to stay put.

Instead, the being that had remained in the shadows for the entire time utilized its mana.

A small crystal manifested within its hands that were entirely shrouded in black mist.

[If you're done with your examination, send the young man to the next trial. Don't waste anymore of our time! We want to know if our hope is reasonable or not!!]

Unable to tell whether the voice belonged to a male or female, Kyle only heard it resound through the Lich's abode.

Holding the crystal that was equivalent to that of the shrouded being's, the Lich couldn't help but grasp it tightly, until it broke apart as it cursed,

"This son of a bitch...Just let me finish my examination in peace!!!"

Kyle sensed distinct anger coming off from the Lich's voice.

It made him fear that the Lich would try to take it out on him.

Yet, the unknown voice that had given a command to the Lich had also provided Kyle with a lot of information that he had to digest first.

'Our hope' were the most important words he had heard from the short message.

In the end, Kyle was not sure what exactly this could mean. But it was still somewhat reassuring because the entire message gave him a specific hint.

The Lich was not in charge of everything, so his fate didn't depend on it.

At the same time, he was able to filter out that they needed him for something, by the being in charge.

Thus, he wouldn't have to be too reluctant, hold back, and accept everything the Lich did.

There were certain things the Lich could still do to him.

But now, Kyle knew that it had been exaggerating some words it had said before.

Unfortunately, the message he heard didn't really help him.

His eyes flicked to the Lich that was staring at him as his soul flames flared up.

"Don't worry brat, we have more than enough time left to answer a few questions! Nobody except me will hear them, and neither will anyone hear you crying in pain because I will reward you with unbearable pain the moment you lie to me!!

And you won't be able to die before I let you go...so choose to lie to me and die, or be truthful!

How could the Lich know just how wrong he was to believe that nobody else could hear them.

Also, he was oblivious to the fact that he had enraged the five powerhouses that saw everything, even more than they already were.

Even the being shrouded in darkness had to try hard and not do anything.

It had to remain as calm as possible while deciding something on the spot.

'I will take you, soon enough!'