064 Intelligence

After Karen had subdued the group led by the Wraith, he immediately took them back to the cemetery. At this point, Karen made no effort to hide anything from the masked woman. In fact, when he decided to move against the Wraith and his companions, he was already prepared for his necromantic identity to be exposed, so now he saw no reason to conceal it further.

However, the masked woman's reaction surprised him. As soon as Karen captured the Wraith's group, she simply turned and left, showing no interest in Karen's secret or in how he would deal with the captives. Karen hesitated for a moment but ultimately did not try to stop her. After watching her leave, he used Corpse Manipulation to bring the dozens of bodies and his prisoners back to the cemetery.

To Karen, these were not merely captives—they were invaluable sources of information. He was eager to extract the knowledge he sought from them. Yet, upon returning to his domain, Karen did not begin the interrogation immediately. His attention was caught by Alice, who hovered above the flower field.

He saw her floating in the garden, her body half-ethereal, and beneath her a small patch of ground was barren; most notably, the field of the rare "Whispers of the Dead" was gone. Karen had a vague idea of what had transpired.

Beside him, Little Green noticed Karen's gaze fixed on Alice. The flames in her eyes flickered, and she tilted her little head, wondering how best to plead for Alice. But to her surprise, Karen soon averted his gaze and turned to interrogate the prisoners instead.

The reason Karen dismissed the incident so lightly was, in fact, Alice. But this time, it wasn't because of her beauty—it was because of the changes in her attribute panel. When Karen saw Alice, his Eye of Insight activated, giving him new understanding of her condition.

Alice's strength had increased, rising directly from First Rank – Excellent to Second Rank – Ordinary. What delighted Karen even more was that after consuming the "Whispers of the Dead," Alice had gained a new skill.

Accelerated Growth (Plant) Lv1: A special passive skill that increases the growth rate of all plants within a hundred meters by five percent.

One excellent "Whispers of the Dead" had given Alice such an upgrade and granted her a passive aura-like skill. It was well worth the loss.

Shifting his focus away from Alice, Karen began to interrogate the group captured from the Wraith. He had far too many questions for them. Owing to his territory and status, Karen's access to information had always been limited. Even after joining the Rangers, he saw only what Old Jack wanted him to see.

To Karen, these people represented a new window through which to understand the world and the intelligence surrounding him. He looked forward to learning from them the things he needed to know, and uncovering intelligence he had not yet grasped.

Most importantly, Karen had to find out why these people had come into the Goblin Forest. Were they hiding from pursuit by the City of Moon Worship? Or had they settled in the forest? And how did they learn of his existence? Beyond these, there were many other questions he hoped they could answer.

As for the interrogation, Karen had some experience—he had previously questioned Little Green’s original self, and the goblin chieftain whose tribe he had destroyed. He was not exactly an expert, but he was no novice either.

He did not rush into questioning, but first separated the five captives, including Pucks, to be guarded individually. This was to amplify their fear and further break down their psychological defenses.

With the prisoners isolated, Karen began interrogating them one by one.

Under ordinary circumstances, these members of the Wraith Thieves' Guild were seasoned enough not to be easily intimidated. Nevertheless, in such a terrifying environment and with Karen's reputation as a necromancer looming over them, all but their leader Pucks quickly lost their nerve.

After three hours of repeated questioning and confirmation, Karen finally obtained some of the information he desired.

The Wraith Thieves' Guild was indeed headquartered in the Goblin Forest, specifically in a goblin tribe that Karen had already heard of: the Black Iron Mine Tribe. According to the four thieves, the reason they were allowed to settle there was that the Wraith had fully allied themselves with the goblins, and it was through the goblins’ help that they had moved into the forest.

If all went as expected, they planned to develop the Black Iron Mine Tribe into a frontier trading market, much like how the City of Moon Worship used Dole Village.

This information would be of great value to Old Jack and his associates, but Karen himself cared little for it. What interested him more was the strength of the Wraith and, in particular, the power of the Black Iron Mine Tribe, about which he had always wanted to know.

On this point, the captives made no attempt at deception and told Karen everything. They had only recently moved into the Black Iron Mine Tribe and did not know its strength in detail, but they estimated it housed about eight thousand goblins, of which over eighty percent were first rank. There were fewer second-rank goblins, perhaps several hundred, and there might even be some of the third rank.

As for the Wraith, their total numbers exceeded five hundred, with over four hundred at first rank, and the remainder at second rank. Opinions varied about their leader’s strength: some said third rank, others second, and still others claimed he might be stronger than third rank.

Although there was no firm answer, the Wraith's known power was already at least equal to Karen’s own, perhaps even greater. This troubled Karen greatly.

While Karen was interrogating the Wraith's members, news of the attack on Dole Village had already reached the City of Moon Worship. Upon receiving the report, Old Jack hurried to Dole Village at once, arriving just as dawn broke the following day…