The entire team watched Ash poking at the campfire, lost in thought.
None of them disturbed him, except for Jagu, who suddenly squealed after trying to climb onto Spidy's back but falling off.
Ash only glanced briefly at his two pets, but his mind remained fixated on the words written in the book that he had memorized.
'To master Necromancy, you must possess a unique lineage, a curse, or a spiritual bond. But there is another way to gain control over it.'
'You must possess an otherworldly consciousness where they reside. By focusing, you can summon spirits or send them back to their world.'
'An otherworldly consciousness can be attained by memorizing one of the symbols illustrated on this page.'
He recalled a symbol depicted in the book—a crescent moon containing an eye at its center.
'You must memorize and focus on this symbol when transitioning in and out of the phase of otherworldly consciousness.'
'While in this phase, your physical form will be highly vulnerable to dangers from the outside world.'
Suddenly, Ash stood up, startling the team members who had been dozing off.
"What's wrong, Ash?" Xion asked, his sleepy face mixed with concern. "What have you been thinking about all this time?"
"I'm going to ask for your help," Ash replied enthusiastically.
Milo, lying on her side, chimed in, "Did you find a way to get past those abominations?"
"Maybe. That's why I need your help."
Ash sat back down, crossing his legs, and began speaking to the now fully awake team, who were eager to hear what he had to say next.
To them, he had become one of the most vital members of their group, and it wouldn't be long before he would likely be recognized as one of the strongest in The Unveilers.
"Yesterday, when we defeated the Thieves, I found a book containing forbidden magic. The System prohibited me from keeping it for too long, so I quickly memorized its contents," Ash explained.
"Okay," Milo interrupted, "And what does that have to do with the abominations?"
Ash took a deep breath, looking at Milo before continuing, "In that book, there was a method to perform Necromancy."
"What's Necromancy?" Mia asked, her face filled with curiosity. Having grown up in the world of Finding Objects, the term was entirely new to her.
Hank, who came from the real world, answered Mia's question, "Necromancy is a forbidden branch of magic. This magic can bring the dead back to life."
Mia squinted her eyes upon hearing the explanation, but Hank quickly added, "Yes. What we faced earlier this morning were the dead."
Luca, who was also born in the world of Finding Objects, chimed in, "You mean, those abominations were actually the dead?"
"Yep," Hank replied.
Milo interrupted them, "Let's hear Ash's plan first, shall we?"
They turned their attention back to Ash, silently urging him to explain his plan further.
He cleared his throat and continued, "I'm going to try the method from the book, but I'll be vulnerable while doing it. So, I'm asking all of you to guard my body."
He looked at each of them before adding, "I need to practice it just once before I use it on the abominations. I think there will be corpses here as well, so I'll try it around this area."
Dwayne, who had been quiet the entire time, finally spoke up, "When are you planning to try it? And will it require a high magic stat?"
"I will do it now. And I don't know if it will use my magic stat or not, but my current magic stat is 230. It might have dropped a bit since I used a summon earlier, and Spidy is still out," Ash replied as he stood up.
"230?!" The entire team exclaimed almost in unison.
"That's incredibly high. Most of us only have an average of 20, and the highest I've ever heard of is 100," Milo said while staring at Ash in astonishment.
He casually shrugged, "I'm just lucky."
As he walked away, he glanced back at his teammates, who were busy chatting among themselves about his exceptionally high magic stat. "I'm starting now," he called out.
The entire team stood, their curiosity piqued as they wondered what Ash was about to do.
He positioned himself in front of the small shrine and gestured to Spidy and Jagu, who were about to run toward him, signaling them to stay put and not disturb him.
Then, he began to concentrate.
He closed his eyes and centered his focus on the symbol etched in his memory from the book—a crescent moon with an eye in its center.
For several minutes, nothing happened. He persisted and kept maintaining his focus and ignoring everything around him.
Gradually, the rustling of leaves in the wind and the sounds of creatures in the forest faded away.
He felt his consciousness entering an endless void and a dark, boundless space.
Suddenly, the crescent moon with the eye appeared before him in a massive and it suspended in the empty air.
Then, he sensed a profound connection as if he could see the entire world below him. He observed the area around the small shrine where they rested, but the vision appeared hazy.
What he saw clearly now was an overlapping world, blending with the one he had seen with his naked eyes.
He observed numerous spirits wandering around the shrine. They appeared as colorful shadows, each radiating a faint glow.
Their forms varied greatly, some looked like complete silhouettes of people, others were only partial bodies, and there were also shadowy shapes resembling different animals.
He observed them all, thinking to himself, 'Who would have thought that in a game like this, you'd discover a world like this.'
Remembering that he needed to master this skill quickly, he focused his mind on summoning the shadows around him.
At first, only one or two shadows stopped drifting aimlessly, turning to float toward him.
Gradually, all the shadows ceased their wandering, fixing their gazes on Ash as though they were children at play being called to attention by their teacher.
He tried commanding the spirits to rise into the physical world.
At first, they remained still, their bodiless forms all facing him silently. But soon, a few began drifting toward the ground.
Moments later, the earth they entered began to shift, and suddenly, skeletal figures wrapped in decayed, unidentifiable materials started emerging from the soil.
The entire team was stunned by the sight of the undead, immediately drawing their weapons in alarm.
Even Jagu growled ferociously at the risen corpses, his stance defensive and protective.
Before the undead could act or move further, Ash quickly refocused his mind and commanded them to return to their shadowy form.
This time, his effort succeeded swiftly, the skeletons collapsed to the ground with a clattering sound, while the shadows retreated back into the ghostly realm.
With pride, he gazed at the spirits lined up before him. For the first time, he realized he now commanded an army of ghosts.
Satisfied, he refocused on the crescent moon and eye symbol. Quickly, his spirit returned to his body.
But the moment his spirit reentered, his body weakened, and he collapsed to the ground, sitting limply.
The rest of the team rushed to his side, their faces filled with worry. "Are you okay?" one of them asked anxiously.
Ash shook his head weakly, but he couldn't find the strength to stand.
Suddenly, a blue light smoke entered his forehead. Startled, he looked up and saw Jagu running toward him, yet Spidy was nowhere to be seen.
The male team members helped Ash back into the small shrine, propping him up against one of the corners.
Milo knelt in front of him, her face filled with concern. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked.
Ash shook his head weakly and replied in a faint voice, "I'm fine, just feeling weak."
Xion retrieved a bottle from his Inventory and handed it to Milo. Milo removed the cap, revealing a purple liquid inside, and passed it to Ash.
"Here, drink this. It's one of the magic stat recovery potions we got from Drogo," he said.
Ash took the bottle and drank its contents in a few gulps.
Once he finished, the team members returned to their respective resting spots, after reminding Ash to get some rest.
Jagu curled up beside him, laying his head gently on Ash's lap.
Slowly, Ash felt his body regaining a bit of its vitality. Summoning his Stat screen, a translucent display appeared before him:
[Stats:
⇒ Strength: 105
⇒ Endurance: 95
⇒ Agility: 105
⇒ Intelligence: 95
⇒ Magic: 5]
[Extra Point: 0]
'Crazy, my magic stat is only 5,' he thought and staring at the screen in disbelief.
Slowly, he noticed his magic stat increasing, one point at a time. After watching it climb to 10, he closed the Stat screen and shut his eyes, feeling drained.
He then addressed his team with closed eyes, "Once my magic stat is back, we'll eliminate all of those abominations."