Chapter 28

Holding the three hundred magic crystals in his hand, one-third of which were blue, Ang suddenly wondered if he should return to the Sanctuary Palace.

Ang had never thought about this question before. He wanted the magic crystals because they could activate the teleportation array, allowing him to return to the farm in the Sanctuary Palace. The fields in the farm were ready for planting again, and as a skeleton who grew vegetables, it was only natural for him to return and tend to them.

Originally, this question wasn't a problem for Ang. If he were still the simple little skeleton he used to be, it wouldn't have been an issue. However, now that he had the magic crystals and could return at any time, the question suddenly made him hesitate. Should he go back to the Sanctuary Palace?

Looking around at the glowing moss and the white holy mushrooms, and seeing the noisy little zombies, Ang thought about the luminescent moss fields and the soon-to-be-cultivated pit planting area. He made his decision in just two seconds: he wouldn't go back.

This was a decision that went beyond Ang's instincts. It wasn't a big decision, but it was particularly significant.

Since he had decided not to go back, Ang put the magic crystals away. But when he realized he didn't have a pocket, he thought, "Forget it, I'll just dig a hole and bury them."

Just as he was about to dig a hole, Negris finally couldn't stand it anymore: "Don't you have a magic rune accessory? It's called a Dimensional Space Positioning Transfer Bracelet, or simply a Positioning Bracelet. As long as you give it a little energy, it can transfer objects of corresponding mass. Magic crystals are very light, so you can just put them in."

"Put them in?" Ang tilted his head.

Following the reverse steps of transferring food, he actually managed to put the magic crystals inside. Because they were so light, the energy required to store three hundred magic crystals was less than that needed to transfer a tenth of a bag of food.

If the mass was the determining factor, storing valuable items would indeed be very convenient. As long as the bracelet was still on, there was no risk of losing them.

After storing the magic crystals, Ang called the little zombie and the bull skull, and led the angel skull, preparing to move to the pit planting area.

Negris didn't go down and said, "Why don't you just imprint a soul mark on that skeleton? Given the difference in soul strength between you, it would be very easy to succeed. There's no need to tie it up anymore."

The angel skull's appearance was very misleading. It was small, like a cute little girl, but being tied up like that was hard to bear for anyone with a heart, except for Ang, who was heartless.

"Soul mark?" Ang tilted his head. "I don't know how."

"Yes, yes, I know you don't know. I'll teach you. I'm almost your nanny," Negris said irritably.

A soul mark is a skill that almost all high-ranking undead creatures know. It involves forcibly imprinting one's own mark on the soul of a lower undead creature, thus controlling them completely.

However, Ang was not a normal high-ranking undead creature. He had already condensed a soul core and reached the Gold Skull level, but he only had one minion with a soul connection, the little zombie. Most Gold Skull Kings had thousands or even tens of thousands of minions.

Even the little zombie, his only minion, was connected to Ang through a soul network, not a soul mark. This is why Ang didn't know what a soul mark was.

After receiving the method of using a soul mark from Negris, Ang grabbed the angel skull and directed his will towards its soul.

One was a high-ranking undead creature with a soul core, and the other was a newborn skeleton. Despite its body being that of a celestial angel, it was fundamentally a newborn skeleton and had no means of resistance.

However, it didn't seem to resist. It struggled a bit when Ang first grabbed it, but once it saw Ang, it stopped resisting. The mark was easily imprinted on its soul.

A soul-level connection was established between Ang and the angel skull. This connection was no different from the one with the little zombie. Ang could still sense its emotions and impose some restrictions on it.

"Don't hit people," Ang commanded, then untied the rope that bound it. He had tied it up because it was too rowdy, but with a soul mark to control it, there was no need for the rope.

However, the angel skull touched its now empty neck, realized it was no longer bound, and immediately spread its wings, flying towards the little zombie.

"No hitting people!" Ang said in its soul. With a thought, the angel skull, which had been charging forward, stiffened and fell to the ground, unable to move a single finger.

This was the advantage of soul control. With just a thought, Ang could make it lose even the ability to think.

This is also why, despite the existence of faith-gathering places like the Undead Temple, the Undead King paid little attention to them. The King had more efficient control methods, and the soul network was far more efficient than faith energy.

'Not a person...' Ang actually sensed this meaning from the angel skull's emotions.

That made sense. The little zombie wasn't a 'person,' so it could be hit...

"Don't..." Ang was about to address this loophole, but the little zombie moved, punching the angel skull's cheek, leaving a fist mark on its clean, white face.

For the first time, Ang felt a sense of frustration. He released the restrictions on the angel skull and watched as the two fought. He didn't intervene.

A newborn lich and a newborn skeleton, one with thick skin and the other with flesh, one fast and the other agile, neither could overpower the other. Halfway through the fight, they saw Ang leaving and immediately stopped, chasing after him.

The bull skull looked on in confusion for a moment before following them.

The minotaur family quickly picked up their water buckets and followed. The holy mushrooms around the temple needed a large amount of purified holy water to grow, and the minotaur family was responsible for bringing back the water Ang purified daily.

Holy water was crucial for growing holy mushrooms. Without purified water, the holy mushrooms would quickly wither.

At that moment, the goblin Crag was watching helplessly as the holy mushrooms he had worked hard to obtain gradually withered and decayed, with no way to stop it.

As the most skilled goblin in the underground city, Crag naturally didn't want to miss out on such a high-value crop. He had asked Phyll to get him a live holy mushroom, but after watering it twice, it had withered.

"Not all money is easy to earn. If it were that easy, it wouldn't be so expensive," Crag scratched his head.

He had thought it was easy when he saw Ang produce ten pounds of holy mushroom powder in half a month, but now he had to admit that it was easy for some and impossible for others.

"We need to find a way to get more from Lord Phyll. This is a divine substance for treating basic diseases. With it, minor illnesses can be treated early, preventing them from becoming serious and causing painful deaths. Sigh," Crag sighed and looked back at a box in the corner, which contained his son's bones.

Just as the minotaur family hung the skulls of their ancestors on the walls of their homes, it was normal in the underground city, where the undead faith was prevalent, to keep the remains of loved ones at home. Crag's son had died from a small cold that developed into pneumonia.

If they had had holy mushroom powder at the time, the cold would have been cleared up and wouldn't have developed into pneumonia.

Thinking this, Crag opened a parchment and started writing, then handed it to Phyll to approve.

Thirty magic crystals per pound was expensive, but he didn't care. Raising money was Phyll and Esk's job; he just needed to be able to buy the holy mushroom powder.

Unaware that he was being schemed against, Esk sneezed and rubbed his nose, asking Ang, "Would you like a lighting array?"

A lighting magic array was a necessary tool for the planting area. The light underground was too low, and while the glowing moss provided some light, a high-power lighting array could still provide additional light during critical periods, such as the grain-filling stage.

Ang was interested in all things related to planting and nodded. Since Phyll wasn't around to translate, he put on a scarecrow hat and transformed into a human form, asking, "How much?"

Seeing the skeleton suddenly transform into a lifelike human male, Esk rubbed his eyes, looking incredulous. "Is... is this an illusion? How can it be so clear? I... I..."

Esk instinctively raised his hands, wanting to use various spells to dispel the illusion, but quickly restrained himself.

After calming down, Esk said, "Money isn't necessary. It's a simple array. The main issue is that it needs to be infused with magic to function. Setting it up isn't too troublesome..."

At this point, Esk remembered Phyll's instructions and quickly added, "Uh... equivalent exchange, equivalent exchange. Let me calculate... how about thirty pounds of food? Is that okay?"

Thirty pounds of food to have a mid-level mage inscribe a magic array would be a bargain in the human world, but Esk felt a bit embarrassed, thinking he was asking for too much. After all, this wasn't the human world but an underground city where food was scarce.

Thirty pounds? He couldn't make change. A bag of food was twenty pounds, so two bags would be forty: "Forty, then." He took out two bags of food.

Was he raising the price? As a manager of the underground city, Esk wasn't starving, but more food meant more security, especially given the current situation, with Phyll preparing for a necrotic disaster.

But after some thought, he asked, "Does the lord have any beets? If so, can I exchange these for the equivalent amount of beets?"