So much extra work. I did so much extra work that I didn’t have to for no reason! Fack!
And of course they don’t understand. I did awesome so easily, I should be happy!
I forged that body from scratch... For nothing. I didn’t even gain a skill.
Wasted resources, wasted time, reading I didn’t have to do... I could have had corpses to sell to get more shit! I’d been eating some of them! And they didn’t have to take up space in my bank, making them easier to find, and less likely to be eaten, but no...! I had to be awesome!
...
I’d stolen so many armies... All those Ghost Soldiers I could have used to help purify the village and fight the Disciples.
-You do know it’s only awesome until someone else finds out then it’s just a gimmick, right?- I snap as they berate me for being ungrateful, greedy, and lazy. -And you’re dead! Are we just making observations?!- I snap.
Bet they wouldn’t be so happy if I wasted these resources if I didn’t have them. Would they be willing to sacrifice their Resentment on these things? Would they be willing to risk their souls to help reinforce the flesh I’d made for Little Corpse?
-If you were so bad at managing things, you wouldn’t be able to interact with us at one time,- Little Corpse points out. -You’d probably be kidnapping commoners to gather Resentment and siphon their Karma, breaking their souls, and you’d probably make me help you. The girls would be completely out of your league.-
I grunt, uninterested in hearing weak maybes or “it’s not so bad” after how energetic they were on insulting me.
-I need to figure out how to store corpses in my Ghost Pot!- I wave them off standing up and dusting off. -You want to keep looting? I’m going into my void.-
They opt to join me, Little Corpse and the girls move the occupied boxes into high alcoves before we go so that we can low-key reserve the servants for later, and then I’m in Persephone’s memorial house, lying on my back on the ground beside the bed. Hands laced behind my head as I stare up at the ceiling.
Now. What’s the keyword or image to access my physical Ghost Pot? Ghost Pot shows me spirits. Resentments? Ooh! I have access to Monk shit. I cackle. Purification is rewarded, saving people is rewarded, not being a dick is rewarded.
Holy shiz-balls, they know I’m part of a Ghost Sect. Like it’s marked as a note of known affiliations. They noted that “we”, me and the Ghost Sects, don’t get along, which is good, ‘cause I’m hoarding Ghost Sect shiz out of spite.
But there’s also a lot of other shiz I’m low-key getting linked to, mostly because of things disappearing. Stuff that I’m pretty sure isn’t my fault, but I don’t know. I need to go back to the monastery to find out if they’ve got another Reader or someone who can teach me to Scribe.
-Taking stuff out of your Inner Void Library into the physical realm is Scribing!- Little Corpse snaps, and I hear him bellowing wordlessly in the distance.
Found another one of his triggers, I guess.
Oh, wait. So I can Scribe. Neat.
And the bellowing picks up again.
Whatever. What was I doing? Tch, is he crying now? He’s being dramatic As Fack all of a sudden. Prolly bored.
-Corpses!- I point up at the ceiling before tucking my hand back under my head.
Not Ghost Pot. Not Resentments. Need to go to Monastery. What’s Ghost Flame do? Oh. I’ve got a little blue flame wooden torch, a measurement of how advanced my Ghost Flame skill is.
It isn’t. Like this is a basic wooden torch with a colored flame. Oh, shiz! Does that mean the lit path in the Hovels is like a Walk of Fame? Walk of Flame. Heh. I’m gonna go touch people’s shiz...
My Rank is Outsider. I’m going to break shit. Rude asses. Attack me, take my money, try to learn my secrets, and it’s fine because I’m an Outsider? I’m not one of you? Fine. I’m not one of you, and you keep attacking me. All your shiz? Stew pot. Dumplinged. Bet on it!
Tabs, windows, and requirements. No shit? Corpse Handlers, -- Sect Initiates, -- need to collect one Ghost Servant. That’s it. Initiates can rise through their section Rank by contributing Resentment, but they don’t have to. So what was Widow’s Sigh talking about donations for? Required donations? If I just need a Servant, why am I here?
What do they say I have. A Broken Servant. Which doesn’t count. What about the girls? Spirit Contract, which doesn’t count.
-Fuck you!- I kick and punch at the air before letting my limbs flop.
Fine. I need a servant. But where do I put the bodies?
Oh. Oh~! I’m an Outsider with their secrets. That’s why they’re not pushing so hard on punishing people who attack me! Widow’s Sigh makes a point to talk to me every time I’m wrangled. That’s what the Sponsorship is! He’s telling everyone he invited me to join, now I need to step up. And I did. Without joining.
Tch! Dumbasses! Should have told me how to join! All of the other bullshit could have been avoided! Now I’ve got vendettas against so many people --.
I pop to my inner void, racing to my library, and start asking around. Dude used Chains of Heavens and Hells on me. Twice. Did I get anything from it?
“Aren’t you looking for how to Store corpses in your Ghost Pot?” one well-fed mustachioed man snaps at me, shoving a manual into my chest before walking off while shaking his head.
Kinda aggressive for someone trying to help out. Is he one of my squatters? I narrow my eyes at him while trying to remember what Aunty said. Anyone who doesn’t contribute gets et, but I know there’s a lot of Spirits that aren’t in my Pot who are also super unwilling to be here. Unwilling and working, charged to exist, doing customer service with dumbasses for dumbasses.
-Tch,- I cringe in empathy, take the manual to a table, and sit down to read.
I shouldn’t be able to store corpses in my Pot. But I do. But I shouldn’t. Or rather, the manual writers, either my ghosts or the Disciples I’ve et, believe I can’t.
Fuck you, bank bug, I store what I want!
I shrug as I remember that I bank stuff, yes, it’s not all physical, yes, but if it is, there might be a place for it. Back to my void, I dust myself off, straighten my robes, and transfer to my Ghost Pot.
I’ve got my own stone body storage. It looks like when I tried to store all the corpses in one room, my Soak room, -- fack! I should have been sitting in the Soak! -- but with stone slabs. Halls linking rooms, with stone slabs and alcoves, and they’re all empty. Where are the souls that are supposed to be in here?
-They prefer your Inner Void. The ones marked Unwilling are ones you’re aware of. Some of them try to stay, to work, to earn positive Karma, but you kick the marked ones out when you purify or feed on them when you meditate.-
Thank you, helper fairy Little Corpse. I give Little Corpse access to this space, my Ghost Pot, so he can start stacking corpses on the slabs, ‘cause I’m far too lazy to, and then transfer back to my house for a wash and Soak.
A simple snack of chilled fruit while I get in a quick Soak, I dry off, I get dressed, and then I transfer to the shop in The Hovels. I’ll go back to the Trial later. Little Corpse and the girls immediately pop their happy asses out with me before I get to take a step to figure out where the door is.
“Who runs this shop! We demand service!” one of the girls shouts loudly, and I’m wondering what the fack her problem is.
-Rude!-
Is this because the stuff used on them came from here? Or are they actually like this? I don’t know if I want them running around cities, ruining my reputation, and embarrassing me like this. Why should I lose face for their loud asses? Could have just shouted “who runs this shop, what do you have available”, but no~.
The shop has a display alcove that’s blocked off from the rest of the store, no door on this side, but someone comes from around the side of the building rather quickly. Bowing as they come is not the person who gave me the scroll, but they are a Disciple, and they help run the stall here, this area not worth a store. Hovels equals poor people who probably can’t afford anything.
-Why were the girls here? If no one can afford it, were you really willing to sell them?- Are these people that bad at business or am I missing something.
-Well...-
They weren’t supposed to sell the girls. Ever. They were supposed to be a reward for an advanced disciple way~ the fuck in areas like the Temple Grounds, -- there’s a ghost cult with graveyards, proper grounds, and temples? -- but the more powerful Disciples just won’t stop throwing away their lives, and their money.
-So your solution was to prop them up in the poor district in the hopes that the others wouldn’t come to the slums and the people here would never be able to afford them?-
If the rich people wouldn’t come down here, who was leaving all the Resentment Stones?
-The shop workers.- one of the girls says.
-At higher levels 100 Resentment is a trivial amount, so they come down and offer us a pittance, but weren’t bold enough to sign the contract,- the other says coldly.
Ah~! Not rude asses. There’s a bunch of creeps who tried to get them to sign different contracts like they weren’t bound by flesh and magic to one already.
“So, you see, they were never supposed to be sold, and Cold Moon’s Light gained quite a few demerits by your display,” the shop worker whines.
-No one forced them to make the transaction! Stop whining and show us what’s for sale.-
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Creepy bastards trying to trick young girls, not even just any girls, these two, knowing how they were created? And they want to whine? See if we show mercy. Sorry, girls. You were right.
Dear gods, it’s literally a shack. Well a stone shed, but Shack. There’s a warded doorway with a basic curtain closing it off, then a warded counter with a wooden awning that closes off that opening. The goods? They’re stored inside the shack.
There’s a price board, the worker sullenly explaining that he can explain what the items are, their uses, and their price for those who can’t read. I don’t need Servants, I’m going to go grab the ones in my Trial, but how much are they worth?
“Well,” he says, looking at the sign himself. “You’re supposed to gain your own Servant, so there’s a convenience tax. The cost is, 80--,” he begins, pointing at a line that says Ghost Servant, Broken Ghost Servant is only 10 Resentment and on a different line. Then his finger slides down to a Ghost Soldier. “The cost is 200 Resentment per Ghost Servant, because they will let you become part of the Sect. Since you’re clearly someone worth knowing, I’ll sell you one for only 150 Resentment. What do you say?”
“Yes, you’ll have to pay the fine if you kill them, and, no, you haven’t depleted your deposit yet,” Widow’s sigh drones from behind me, arms crossed over his chest.
-So I’m still an Outsider because my Servants don’t count towards your requirements?- I snap at him, mentally telling myself he’s trying to help, but seriously?
“Did you give up on your trial?” Widow’s Sigh asks and I swear I can see the shop worker’s breath, although mine forms a general cloud around my body.
-Tch! I can do things without being part of your group, so I was learning how to Store servants when I have no use for them. I’m not even supposed to have a Ghost Pot, but I do!- I snap, turning back and trying to decide if I should kill the shop worker or not. -Do you girls want to add him to your corpse collection?-
“How many corpses are we allowed to keep?” one of the girls asks, arm crossed, one finger raised, and eyes narrowed in concentration as negotiations begin.
-Little Corpse?- I don’t know how many slots I have or how many corpses I have, but he might.
-Your capacity shouldn’t matter,- he snaps, glaring at me. -You indulge them.- He turns to glare at the girls who stare at him with pouts and large wet eyes, mournful but hopeful. “You’re limited to 5 corpses. Pick them well.”
“Each?” one of the girls perks up, more than happy with the negotiation.
“Total!” Little Father snaps. A quick glare shutting up the girls as they start whining.
-You already have 2 corpses, do you want to add this one to the collection? Remember one is half eaten and the other is almost completely intact,- I remind them. Unless they’ve been snacking with their meals, the number should be right.
-They’ve finished the first body, and they have the skeleton sitting in a chair in their room. The second is down to the shoulders,- Little Corpse updates me.
I grunt in acknowledgement, and then turn to the girls, waiting on their answer.
“We don’t want him,” one of the girls says after a pause, frowning and shaking her head.
“Can we kill him, take his soul, and add his corpse to your material pile?” the other asks, clearly remembering that cultivator corpses are always valuable. Or just knowing I’ll accept the body.
“No no no! That’s unnecessary!” the worker holds up one hand, braced to run away, but we’re literally standing at the exits. He slams a pebble the size of his thumb to the first joint, much smaller than the fist sized stones that I know are traded for currency. “As proof that all is forgiven, I’ll pay for your Servant! On the house!”
-That’s not worth 80 Resentment.- At most it might be 10. Does explain the variety of sizes and shapes of the stones though.
“Worker’s Discount!” he says, face blank, but the lie coming so easily...
“You’re almost out of credit,” Widow’s Sigh quips, rocking up on his toes then back down.
“Two servants!”
-I thought I could only have one,- at my Rank, because hunans aren’t on my level, but have Main Character syndrome despite the fact that I only count as a Heavenly Treasure. Besides. Broken Servants don’t count!
Come on. Lie to me!
“I believe in you,” he leans forward, elbow on the counter, giving me a thumbs up and a stern nod.
This bish.
I turn to walk away. I just wanted to know what things were valued at. Back to the grind. I transfer back to the loot boxes, hop back onto a closed stone casket, and wait for the others to keep checking the alcoves. I last all of ten seconds before I get bored and drum my heals on the side of the casket. Pretty quickly one of the girls comes down, flipping up the casket trapping dumbass’s Servant.
I might have been humming tonelessly while I waited.
The girls stand on the opposite side at me, one raising their knife in a threat, the other pointing at me, and then the “Basic” Servant ignores them to focus exclusively on me. I’m not sure what the hells, but the Servant does an aerial cartwheel away from me to parkour up the alcoves, kicking off into a spin before somehow ending up facing me, fist cocked back, ready to deliver divine judgement.
I transfer to my void and transfer back, the casket lid I was sitting on split. The Servant notices I’m back, dropping into a defensive crouch before slowly backing away. I do a partial shift, -- I remembered! -- scythe arms and four legs, crouch down, and wait. The Servant starts circling slowly, so I sit down and start grooming.
Wait. All those times I thought the bodies disappeared. We just went over this!
[Vengeful Ghost Sect Breathing Technique]
[3 -Resentment Gained]
[-5 Karma]
[Last Rites Successful]
[-100 HP]
[Karma +100 Gained]
[100 +Resentment Gained]
[Gost Pot -1 -Ghost]
[Ghost Pot +1 -Ghost]
[Enemy Defeated]
[Ghost Servant]
[+5 Karma]
[+10 -Resentment]
[Ghost Pot (+120/-3)]
[3 x3 -Resentment Gained]
[Karma +5 x3 Gained]
[20 x120 +Resentment Gained]
[Karma +50 x120 Gained]
[Resentment: +737140/-441897]
[Max Will: 9,579,451]
[HP: 9,579,385]
[Current Condensed Qi: 1831145/24406731]
[Current Qi: 1905395/957945100]
[Current Karma: 97626927/107275977]
Whoa, whoa, whoa! What? Why --? Oh! No incense. Wait. No. What?
I hope into my Logs because numbers no go. I... didn’t just grab up the nearby spirits with one breath? Why no do? Or was that part of the incense? So... No big peace smoke, no big grab, and... Did I get it?
I need Little Corpse or the girls to explain this to me... I thought I lost Karma for trapping spirits.
-You gain more Karma for sealing away the more aggressive ones,- one girl says and I give her a small salute as the girls start vandalizing the place. The grab the sealed caskets and fling them out of the alcoves.
-What about the Servant?- ‘Cause that’s the whole point. I watch as both girls grab Servants by the arm, a Servant in each hand, all four out at one time.
Are they going to hold them for me? Release them one at a time?
-Little Corpse is going to talk to them, so you --- one girl begins and then we’re standing in a nice open space, in bright sunlight, in the mountains.
Wake the Dead
Achievement +100
- -- should receive your promotion soon.-
“Took you long enough!” Hidden Smile snaps, arms crossed in rather modest loose robes, dark brown with bright yellow spots, loose black pants, and a black under robe. “How are you supposed to get promoted if you’re not even smart enough to grab a basic servant? Tch!” he shakes his head while glaring at me, turning away slowly before stomping away.
[Vengeful Ghost Sect Breathing Technique]
[3 -Resentment Gained]
[-5 Karma]
[Last Rites Successful]
[-100 HP]
[Karma +100 Gained]
[100 +Resentment Gained]
[Gost Pot -1 -Ghost]
[Ghost Pot +1 -Ghost]
[Enemy Defeated]
[Ghost Servant]
[+1 Con. Qi]
[+5 Karma]
[+10 -Resentment]
[Ghost Pot (+120/-3)]
[3 x3 -Resentment Gained]
[Karma +5 x3 Gained]
[20 x120 +Resentment Gained]
[Karma +50 x120 Gained]
[Resentment: +738440/-499093]
[Max Will: 9,579,451]
[HP: 9,579,392]
[Current Condensed Qi: 1831146/24429795]
[Current Qi: 1905395/957945100]
[Current Karma: 97626927/107275977]
“Oy!” Hidden Smile shouts. They’ve stopped are just looking at me with a light frown instead of irritation and rage. “You’re supposed to follow me!”
-But I’m not done yet,- I say, pointing out the last two servants. I sigh and turn to the girls. -This would have been faster if you two had done the incense thing.-
-It’s not necessary.-
-Now hurry up!-
[Vengeful Ghost Sect Breathing Technique]
[3 -Resentment Gained]
[-5 Karma]
[Last Rites Successful]
[-100 HP]
[Karma +100 Gained]
[100 +Resentment Gained]
[Gost Pot -1 -Ghost]
[Ghost Pot +1 -Ghost]
[Enemy Defeated]
[Ghost Servant]
[+1 Con. Qi]
[+5 Karma]
[+10 -Resentment]
[Ghost Pot (+120/-3)]
[3 x3 -Resentment Gained]
[Karma +5 x3 Gained]
[20 x120 +Resentment Gained]
[Karma +50 x120 Gained]
[Resentment: +757340/-503478]
[Max Will: 9,579,451]
[HP: 9,579,392]
[Current Condensed Qi: 1831147/24440378]
[Current Qi: 1905395/957945100]
[Current Karma: 97761512/107275977]
