058 Conception of the Undead Miner

The first operation against the Wraith had failed—utterly and completely! Not only did Ryan fail to capture the Wraith, but he also fell right into the Wraith’s trap, resulting in a bloodbath that swept through several noble families of Moon Worship City. The consequences of this defeat were enormous; not only did it mean the carefully laid plan to replace the Wraith had crumbled, but the entire city was plunged into panic. Even Ryan’s position as lord of the city now hung by a thread.

It must be remembered that Ryan was a commoner by birth, having secured his current status solely through a record of distinguished military achievements. The Bourbon Kingdom appointed him to guard the southern gate of the realm, but now, after this debacle, it was hard not to question if he was truly fit to hold Moon Worship City.

Thus, after the failure, Ryan was clearly desperate. He deployed a vast array of forces to conduct a thorough investigation of the area stretching from Goblin Forest to Moon Worship City, determined to unearth the Wraith even if he had to dig three feet into the ground.

Yet for three days straight, Ryan’s efforts yielded nothing.

While Ryan was busy with his search, Old Jack was not idle either. The aftermath of the failed operation brought trouble to both sides. As a “Warden,” Old Jack’s failure to anticipate the Wraith’s actions was nothing short of a dereliction of duty—his own, and that of the Wardens as a whole.

In this predicament, both men found themselves backed into a corner; if they could not swiftly deal with the Wraith, punishment was unavoidable.

Under these circumstances, Old Jack took action himself. And it must be said, as one of the leading Wardens of the South, he lived up to his reputation—within just three days, he had results and discovered the location of the Wraith’s new base.

But as soon as Old Jack found the new hideout, he realized things had become vastly more complicated. The reason was simple: the Wraith had already moved into Goblin Forest—specifically, into a goblin tribe’s settlement.

Upon learning this, both Doyle and Old Jack felt their scalps prickle with horror.

They racked their brains, unable to fathom how the Wraith had managed to relocate his base into Goblin Forest. But now that he had, capturing him would be no easy feat. That was Goblin Forest, after all—any mishap during their operation could unleash consequences too dire to imagine!

While Old Jack and Ryan were frantically occupied with Wraith-related affairs, Kairn, on the other hand, was enjoying days of unexpected comfort.

Part of this was thanks to the three hundred “Whispers of the Dead” blossoms the Wardens had delivered to him, but even more surprising was a discovery that delighted Kairn.

A few days prior, when he destroyed that goblin tribe, Kairn had simply abandoned the zero-rank undead there. He’d assumed that, left to their own devices, those zero-rank undead would not survive more than two or three days. To his astonishment, six days passed and those undead were still lively.

Baffled, Kairn investigated the goblin encampment and found that all the zero-rank undead had hidden themselves in the mine tunnels.

The tunnels, buried deep underground and untouched by sunlight, provided a dim environment perfectly suited to the undead. The moment Kairn realized this, his eyes lit up.

He quickly noted, however, that while the mine environment allowed the zero-rank undead to survive, their strength ceased to grow—in fact, it even showed signs of slow decline. But such details mattered little. To Kairn, the mere discovery of a way to save his domain’s energy was already a tremendous boon.

Alongside this pleasant surprise, Kairn conceived a bold new idea. That very day, he appointed Ironbone, whom he’d previously tasked with tending the Whispers of the Dead, to the mines. He wanted to see if those zero-rank undead could be trained as miners.

Kairn, it seemed, was turning ever more into the sort of lord who would skin a flea for its hide—not even the zero-rank undead would be spared!

Whether the undead miners would prove a success remained to be seen, but if they did, the ramifications for the future development of Kairn’s domain would be profound.

Thus, determined to pursue this, Kairn spent all three thousand points of domain energy he’d obtained from the Wardens to create one hundred fifty “First-Rank Rubbish” goblin skeletons, sending them straight into the mines under Ironbone’s command, so Ironbone could begin their training as miners.

While Ironbone was thus promoted from esteemed gardener of the Whispers of the Dead to foreman of the mines, Kairn did not neglect the flower fields either—for they would be the main source of domain energy in the future.

To ensure the healthy growth of the flowerbeds, Kairn assigned the cleverest of his minions, Little Green, to the task. After all, Little Green was the wisest of Kairn’s undead, and for now, only he could be trusted with such important work.

It must be said, as Little Green’s strength and time in service increased, his intelligence grew by leaps and bounds. He’d become a clever little creature, and had even learned, without instruction, to negotiate with Kairn—albeit in a roundabout way, he hinted he’d only learn if Kairn petted him.

Kairn’s feelings upon hearing this were complicated, to say the least. He found himself wondering just how he’d managed to turn a creature that should have been savage, malevolent, and bloodthirsty into a “nonconformist” undead whose sole ambition seemed to be acting cute for head pats.

In the end, Kairn gave in, rubbing Little Green’s skull a few times. The little fellow immediately set to learning how to tend the Whispers of the Dead with boundless energy.

And Little Green did not disappoint; he quickly mastered the art of caring for the Whispers of the Dead. Not only that, but he performed something that left Kairn utterly speechless: after learning the skill himself, Little Green gathered all the goblin skeleton mages under Kairn’s command and taught them the techniques as well.

Then, he left the skeleton mages to tend the fields, while he himself rode about on his personal steed, the Bone Boar, wandering the grounds. Whenever Kairn appeared, Little Green would shoo away the skeleton mages, put on an air of exhaustion, and scurry over to Kairn for a pat and some comfort.

Had it not been for the new “Plant Care” skill appearing on the status pages of the goblin skeleton mages, Kairn might never have realized how long he’d been deceived!