“Is there anything else I need to know about this place?” After regaining my strength, I spoke up.

We couldn’t wait around in this cave forever. I decided to see if I could retrieve anything from the withered corpses that were already inhabiting this place before us.

“Other than the need for fire… I can’t think of anything else,” Jameson replied. “This is one of the Ruins that people are hesitant to enter due to its nature.”

“Do you think a guild could be here?” Sophia asked.

“Maybe.” Jameson nodded. “As far as I know, unknown ruin events like this one seem to occur with people inside. Since we know the ruin we’re in, maybe there are people around just like us… hopefully.”

I focused on a nearby corpse as the two of them continued speaking and a few broken memories appeared in my mind. The corpses were a group that ended up being chased after running into what seemed to be a Brood Mother. A towering spider with the vague appearance of a woman. Their injuries were too severe and this cave became their last resting place. The key details were all a distorted in my mind and I guessed my true gift wasn’t able to piece together everything else. Though, I didn’t really need to see everything. A few images and memories of the terrain would be quite useful to me.

I absorbed the remnant souls, they were drastically weakened but I needed everything I could get.

“I’ll go scout it out,” I said as an excuse.

It sounded much better than I’m going to deposit the souls of the dead into a book of death.

“Huh?” Jameson was a bit taken aback by my sudden declaration but nodded in approval. He knew it would be bad if enemies suddenly appeared and forced us into a fight with our back against the wall. I wasn’t too worried as I still hadn’t used the Demon Brand affixed to the back of my hand.

“Wait… Casper…” Sophia called out to me but seemed to be holding something back. “About Emma… she…-”

“She’ll tell you herself, Casper.” Jameson interrupted her.

It seemed that he didn’t want me to feel sorrow at the possibility of some unspoken last message... I just gave a dry smile and nodded as I left the cave.

“Oh shit!” As soon as I stepped out I was face to face with a skeleton that simply stood without an order. “Holy hell, you son of a...!”

I sighed as I was about to unsummon the thing but quickly realized that it would be a good distraction if it came down to it.

“Just stay here then.” I moved past the clambering pile of bones and didn’t stop until I was an adequate distance from the shallow cave. I surveyed my surroundings and made sure I wasn’t followed before I dropped down and crossed my legs, bringing out the book after I did so.

Current Amount Of Souls: 750

I wasn’t too happy to see the number of souls I had gained since I had only dealt with the lowest rung of enemies. There were still many more lurking somewhere within the forest and I doubt they would die so easily in my current state.

I carefully planned out my next move as a single wrong decision might spell my end. For one, I had one skill remaining on the Death Bring Path and that was Shadow Of Death.

Shadow Of Death (Unique): Those who step within Death’s shadow will escape without punishment. Choose one target and lock them in place for a short duration. (Warning, targets with powerful souls will not be affected at the current level of this ability.)

Price: 100

Cost To Upgrade: 150

I figured that this skill would help my problem of dealing with an extremely skilled enemy, but that wasn’t necessary for this place.

The general knowledge which only had Corpse Puppet left wasn’t much help either, so I decided to advance what I had into the non-path skills. I had already put 15 souls toward it, so 235 souls drained in an instant.

There have been many to explore every aspect of death, to purchase the fruit of their labor, you must have the required amount of souls.

Cursed Blood: Should an enemy spill your blood, let them understand the price that comes with it.

Price: (Purchased)

Blood Arrow: Use your own blood or the blood of another to fire a poisonous projectile.

Price: (Purchased)

Corpse Puppet (Basic): Raise an unintelligent undead servant.

Price: 30

Cost of Upgrade: 50

Skeleton Soldier(Basic): Raise a skeletal warrior to defend you.

Price: (Purchased)

Cost of Upgrade: 50

Demon Pact: Enhance your body’s physical strength, increase your intelligence, or gain a fortune, by making a pact with a demon. When a pact is made, the demon will receive a portion of all of your souls for the duration of the pact. (Warning, not many demons can be trusted, show caution when dealing with them.)

Cost: (Purchased)

Second Layer Of Knowledge:

Sanguine Palm: If you’re going to spill so much blood, why let it go to waste? Let it heal you. Let it nourish you. (Any poison, diseases, or curses will not affect you through absorption of blood.)

Price: 100

Spirit Sight: Look between the veil of living and dead and nothing shall remain hidden.

Price: 150

Hellfire Bolt: Summon the flames of the demon world to burn away any who oppose you.

Price: 200

Haunting Wisps: Summon a flurry of spirits to disrupt and confuse your enemies.

Price: 150

Corpse Explosion: The bodies of the dead are weapons, use them well.

Price: 150

To further explore the knowledge within this book, more souls are needed.

Current Amount: 0/1,000

With 515 souls, I had to make my purchases meaningful since I had no idea when I’d get another chance to.

Spirit Sight would help alleviate the worry of a sneak attack. Sanguine Palm would restore my energy and speed up my regeneration by the looks of it. Hellfire Bolt would be immediately useful because of the arachnids seemed to be weak to fire. Corpse Explosion was extremely useful since I had a surplus of corpses, but that made Corpse Puppet more viable now. I didn’t even spend a second thinking about Haunting Wisps since it was useless in this situation.

My first choice was Sanguine Palm, followed by Spirit Sight, and finally Corpse Explosion. I had 115 souls left, but Hellfire Bolt was still too much. I brought Corpse Puppet for 30 souls and quickly upgraded it for an additional 50.

I had gone from a few hundred souls to only 35, but I hardly cared. I was more concerned with seeing the result of the upgrade. The runic lettering quickly shifted and I was met with a new description.

Corpse Puppet (Intermediate): Raise three undead servants with limited intelligence and non-fighting physical capability.

Cost Of Upgrade: 250

After I finished my purchases, I returned the book to its ring form and digested all the knowledge I received. Sanguine Palm only required a simple touch. Spirit Sight required conscious use of the ability and Corpse Explosion was the same. By now, I had a good grasp on how to use a gift.

I activated Spirit Sight and felt a numbing sensation in my eyes followed by a shift in the scenery. Everything became covered in a layer of dark grey, but white outlines of unknown beings could be seen moving far off in the distance.

“That’s probably not good.”

As I continued observing, my eyes began to feel as if electricity was running through them. After a few seconds, I was forced to cancel the ability and close my eyes. I suddenly had a thought and began to make it a reality.

I knelt down and sent out a crow, focusing on its perspective before attempting to active Spirit Sight. From my own perspective, I could the crow luminescent white eyes before I guided it further into the distance. It hadn’t gone far, but the connection caused a searing pain in my mind and eye the longer I maintained it so I was forced to cut it short. I recalled crow soon after and gave myself time to recover before trying the last test.

I shifted into a flock and attempted to use Spirit Sight, but I only was able to use it for a few seconds before my eyes felt like they were set on fire. I reformed and crashed onto the ground before letting out a few painful groans. I could feel warm liquid slowly pouring out of my eyes and I knew it wasn't tears trailing down my cheeks. I had pushed past the limits of my new ability and suffered as a result. For a moment, I could barely see two feet in front of me, but Flesh Mending quickly repaired whatever was wrong. Maybe I damaged optic nerves to a dangerous extent?

I shook off the residual pain and headed back to the cave with our next move in mind.