Ed finally couldn't help but curse, the torch in his hand almost falling to the ground in his fright. He stumbled back, nearly smashing his face into the wall behind him. The sudden shock made his heart feel like it was jumping out of his throat, and his whole body turned as cold as if he had entered an ice house. If not for his youthful body, he might have had a heart attack on the spot.
"Calm down! Calm down! Is this the adult level of difficulty? Are the adults in this world so powerful? That can't be right. I just dealt with an adult yesterday, and I am an adult myself. How can everyone be so powerful?"
The corpse, or rather, the skeleton that had lain on the ground for who knows how many years, had actually stood up the moment he took out the cursed coin, scaring Ed half to death.
In a panic, Ed hurriedly passed the torch to his left hand and drew the machete from his inventory. But then he paused, thinking something was wrong, and immediately swapped the machete for a short shovel. The shovel was much longer; it was a better weapon.
Ed had retreated completely to the edge of the cave. If the skeleton rushed over, he would immediately slide down the rope. However, the skeleton did not move at all after standing up; it just stared at him with its empty eye sockets, where dim green flames flickered without any logic.
Gulp!
Ed swallowed a mouthful of saliva. The sound of his heavy breathing echoed throughout the cave. Yet, nothing happened. The skeleton just stood in place, staring at him with its green fire. If it had a face, Ed might have tried to decipher its thoughts from its expression, but as it was, he could do nothing but panic.
"Hello?"
As time passed, Ed's fear began to decrease. After a few minutes, he finally couldn't hold back and spoke while waving his hand.
Hearing his voice, the motionless skeleton suddenly stirred, and its right arm slowly raised.
"Haah!"
Ed shouted, his body trembling as he raised the shovel in front of him to make himself look bigger. Of course, if the skeleton really rushed toward him, he would definitely throw the shovel away in fright and jump down from the cave using the rope.
There was no way a weak-hearted, powerless guy like him would fight an undead. His love had just confessed her feelings to him, and he had no intention of dying anytime soon and leaving her to cry over his memory.
The skeleton, however, did not attack. Instead, it spread its five bony fingers, and then there was no more movement. Suddenly, as if it had run out of energy, the skeleton collapsed directly, all its bones falling apart into a pile. The cursed coin, which had been held tightly in Ed's hand, automatically flew from his grasp and landed on the pile of bones.
The moment the cursed coin left him, Ed instantly felt something was different with his body, a sensation of comfort and relaxation, something he had not felt since crossing over. It felt as if his whole body was much healthier, as if a minor illness that had been slowly affecting him had finally vanished.
"The 'curse' disappeared? Just like that? Well, at least the special effect was quite awesome. Whatever set it, 10 points from me. That guy definitely knows how to win people over."
Ed muttered with a surprised expression and couldn't help but pick up the torch and walk forward again. When he came near the bone pile, he picked up the shovel and poked it twice. After confirming that it was only bones and there would be no more surprises, he bravely stepped closer.
The pile of bones remained still. Still worried, Ed used the shovel to sweep through the entire pile. Only after ensuring there was no movement did he finally feel relieved, wiping the sweat from his forehead. As for his shirt, now completely soaked, he could do nothing about it.
Ed squatted down and carefully examined the bones, thinking he might find some magical enchantment like the wizards in novels use to create skeleton soldiers. If so, he could become a wizard too. But sadly, he found nothing. However, he was now 100% certain that this world had supernatural power, along with gods, and even ordinary people could get their hands on it. After all, no god would bother setting up such a special effect for some nobodies.
It wasn't just a curse that could kill you. Just now, extraordinary power had truly appeared before his eyes, and he had witnessed it. Although Raila had previously said that her ex-husband's soul was burned to ashes by the Stone Mother in front of everyone, it had been hard to believe for someone who wasn't a devoted follower of that particular god. But now, having seen a living undead, Ed couldn't help but feel excited.
At that moment, his eyes suddenly fell on the skeleton's left-hand ring finger, where a ring rested.
"Excuse me, don't be offended. I will definitely bury you properly in the future... if I get the chance," Ed muttered as he squatted down and took the ring off the bony finger.
The ring had turned a little black and yellow and was clearly made of silver. It was about one centimeter wide. After blowing the dust off it, it looked familiar. He held it close to the torch and observed it carefully. There were small words engraved on the inner circle of the ring:
"Given to my beloved Lisha Monk-Sivers Darkmore."
Memories rushed crazily into his brain upon seeing those two names, as if some critical mechanism had been triggered. These were the names of the original owner of Ed's current body's mother and father. And this skeleton...