026 The Skeleton’s Soul Seeker (An Extra Chapter for Jiangnan’s Grand Patron)

The incident with Kado had finally come to an end. For the first time, Karen had displayed a ruthless and decisive side before the merchants. This redefined Karen in the eyes of the market traders, causing those who had secretly harbored thoughts similar to Kado's to fall into line. At the same time, the merchants were quite satisfied with Karen's handling of the matter and the attitude he displayed throughout the ordeal. Karen himself gave his own performance a high score.

However, once that matter was settled, Karen’s focus shifted away from it and onto two undead creatures. One was the undead that had extracted memories from Bailey’s bodyguard, and the other was the undead transformed from that very bodyguard.

...

Skeleton Soul Seeker
Type: Bone (Soul)
Strength: Tier 4 (Common)
Intelligence: High
Description: Transformed after the death of a human expert in mental magic, it possesses powerful mental energy and can read the memories of beings one tier lower than itself.
Skills:
Memory Manipulation Lv1: (Active skill, reads the target's memories from the past three days.)
Memory Environment Lv1: (Active skill, utilizes the target's memories to create a memory illusion.)
Talent: Soul Power Lv1
Effect 1: Passively increases own mental power by 100%.
Effect 2: ???

...

Mutated Holy Zombie
Type: Special
Strength: Tier 3 (Elite)
Intelligence: Above Average
Description: A special undead transformed from a Tier 3 human corpse infused with a massive amount of Holy Water. It can use Holy Battle Qi, but each use inflicts a certain amount of damage to itself.
Skills:
Power of Light: (Active skill, activates the power of light within the body.
PS: Using this carries an extremely high probability of death, and the effects are unknown. Do not attempt lightly.)

...

The former was the one capable of manipulating memories. It was a rather unique specimen among the Tier 4 undead Karen had created. While it lacked combat skills and appeared to have no direct combat prowess, its actual ability was quite monstrous. Especially when dealing with weaker foes, it could decisively kill them instantly using its soul power.

As for the other, the Holy Zombie, it had cost Karen several times the territory energy to transform, only to result in this. While it counted as a "specialized" undead, its strength was unremarkable, and its skills seemed designed to kill it off. Its attributes successfully extinguished any desire Karen might have had to turn Bailey—who had also been fed a large quantity of Holy Water—into an undead.

Still, Karen held expectations for this Holy Zombie. Perhaps it was a lingering habit from playing too many collection games in his past life, but whenever Karen saw a unique undead, he wanted to nurture it. Especially with an undead that fused darkness and light, Karen felt that with enough care, he might raise a terrifying entity. After bringing it back, he placed it directly into the Bone Tower.

The Bone Tower was undoubtedly the most cost-effective structure under Karen’s command. Beyond its defensive capabilities, it served to nurture the undead. The Bone Tower provided its occupants with 50 experience points per hour, totaling 600 points a day. Since a Tier 1 undead needed less than 2,000 points to advance to Tier 2, Karen could cultivate a batch of 69 Tier 2 undead in just over two days by placing them in the tower. Using one of these slots for the Mutated Holy Zombie showed just how much Karen valued it. Whether he could actually successfully raise this creature, however, remained an unknown.

While Karen was settling the Mutated Holy Zombie into the territory, the Forest Rangers had already begun their work. Liu Cheng and Old Jack had always maintained a good relationship, and their cooperation was quite pleasant. After the market opened, Karen had granted the Forest Rangers many rights and benefits; they held two of the storefronts in the first phase of the commercial district construction. Since Karen had extended such goodwill, Old Jack naturally reciprocated.

The Forest Rangers did their utmost to help Karen resolve various troubles and trivial matters, including the complications caused by killing Kado. Kado was indeed the nephew of the Lord of Audo City, and while Karen had killed him with ease, Old Jack had to run his legs off to clean up the aftermath. Fortunately, despite the exhaustion, Old Jack’s connections proved sufficient to handle the issue.

Three days later, Old Jack had smoothed things over with the Lord of Audo City and had also brought Bailey’s family to the undead market. However, while Old Jack handled the first task well, the second was a complete disaster.

To be honest, Bailey was truly a piece of scum. For the sake of the benefits from "Whispers of the Dead" and "Corpse" trade, he had sold off his family property in Audo City, leaving his wife and children behind without a second thought. After the incident, his family was monitored and controlled by those with ulterior motives, suffering all sorts of abuse. Bailey had ignored it all, fearing that if he tried to rescue them, he would be caught and lose the nearly thousand gold coins he had worked so hard to earn. As it turned out, Bailey died first, and his neglect had plunged his wife and child into hell.

When the Forest Rangers finally located them, Bailey’s wife had already gone insane. His three-year-old son, while physically unharmed, had witnessed the entire process of his mother being humiliated, leaving the once bright and lively child as hollow as a puppet.

The Forest Rangers delivering such individuals to Karen’s market was effectively a failure. Ever since Karen made his declaration, the merchants had been waiting for him to keep his word, but this was clearly not the way they wanted it fulfilled. Karen had found the people, but one was insane, and the other child seemed ruined. Even if Karen supported them for a lifetime, what use would it be?

Therefore, when Karen received the news, he made his third trip to the undead market.