"Damn it..." That eerie sound echoed in Leon's ears, making him jump back in alarm. As he retreated, a spark of fire flickered at his fingertips.
By the sudden flare of light, Leon saw that the spot he'd just occupied was now being disturbed by a skeleton clawing its way out of the earth. Its bones gleamed white, caked in black mud, and it gripped a rusted scimitar in one hand. In the empty sockets of its skull, two points of ghostly fire flickered, brightening and dimming...
"An undead creature?" Leon recoiled in shock. This was clearly the lowest tier of undead — a skeleton warrior. Was his luck really so rotten that he'd stumbled onto a Plane Path and landed in the infamous Undead Plane?
This joke is getting out of hand...
Even at the height of magical civilization, mages rarely set foot in the Undead Plane. It was simply too dangerous — no matter how powerful a mage, there was always a chance they'd meet their end here.
Endless hordes of undead, tireless and unafraid of death, fueled by inexhaustible power — that's what made the Undead Plane one of the hardest realms to conquer.
Leon once read in a journal that, throughout the entire Plane Colonization Era, only three people ever truly conquered the Undead Plane!
Think about it — the Plane Colonization Era lasted ten thousand years, with countless legendary mages rising and falling, but only three managed to subjugate the Undead Plane...
"What now?" Leon felt a chill in his heart. This was no joke; the notorious Undead Plane was not somewhere a Ninth-Rank Mage like him should be. Hell, even Grand Mages and titled magisters would be courting death here.
He had to get out, fast. If more undead were roused, he might not be able to escape at all.
At that thought, Leon uttered a spell, and the faint light at his fingertip flared into a blaze. As the incantation ended, a roaring flame shaped itself into an arrow and shot toward the skeleton warrior, illuminating the gloom. At the same time, Leon retreated rapidly, chanting spell after spell and weaving complex gestures. The magical energy around him surged wildly...
The fire arrow struck the skeleton warrior with a muffled boom, scattering embers and shards of bone through the air. Its left arm was blown apart — a wound that would cripple any ordinary fighter, but for an undead creature, it was barely an inconvenience...
The skeleton warrior, blasted by the fire arrow, only staggered back for a moment before crawling fully out of the ground, seemingly unfazed. It raised its rusted scimitar and swung it fiercely at the retreating Leon.
That's what makes undead creatures so terrifying — they're nearly impossible to truly kill. Lose an arm or a leg? For them, it's just a missing part. Aside from some awkward movement, it hardly matters at all.
Leon had expected as much. Even as the skeleton's arm was blasted apart, his chanting didn't stop. Almost at the same instant the skeleton raised its blade, Leon unleashed his second spell...
Thunder Hammer!
As Leon shouted the incantation, a massive hammer crackling with golden lightning materialized before the skeleton warrior. With unstoppable force, it crashed down onto the undead creature...
A heavy thud echoed as a deep crack split the skeleton's chest. With each brittle snap, the fissure spread, until finally, with a sharp crunch, the bone split wide open...
The skeleton warrior couldn't scream, but the ghostly flames in its eye sockets flared fiercely. Its scimitar came down with astonishing speed.
But waiting for it was a second Thunder Hammer.
Another heavy crash — this time, the Thunder Hammer shattered the skeleton warrior's skull completely. The ghostly flames snuffed out in an instant, its raised scimitar clattered to the ground, and the undead collapsed backward...
"Whew..." Only now did Leon finally exhale. He deftly rummaged through the remains of the skeleton's skull, all the while scanning his surroundings, ready to use the Plane Path to return to Northend at any moment.
Soon enough, Leon found a piece of black Necrotic Essence inside the shattered skull — the substance left behind when the soul fire of an undead is extinguished. Imbued with potent death magic, it's a prized material for enchanting weapons. Weapons enchanted with Necrotic Essence inflict death magic with every strike, causing all sorts of negative emotions in the enemy. For those with weak resistance, these feelings could easily turn the tide of battle.
A piece of Necrotic Essence like this could fetch the price of an exceptional magic item in Seaview City's markets.
"Guess my luck isn't so bad after all..." The soul fire in a skeleton warrior was usually too weak to leave behind Necrotic Essence, so Leon was fortunate to find one.
Still, luck or not, Leon couldn't shake his sour mood.
Every Plane Path meant limitless wealth and boundless opportunity. In the golden age of magical civilization, most powerful mages made their fortunes through a Plane Path, ultimately rising to the pinnacle of Northend.
Too bad this Plane Path led straight to the infamous Undead Plane.
That left Leon with no choice but to give up...
At least for a long while, Leon wouldn't be meddling with anything in this plane.
This time, luck was on Leon's side — he only ran into a skeleton warrior and even scored a piece of Necrotic Essence. But what about next time? Who could guarantee he'd be so fortunate again? What if he ran into a lich right off the bat? Those things are at least as dangerous as titled magisters, and on the Undead Plane, they're not exactly rare. In a realm where even dark dragons come in flocks, a few dozen liches barely register...
Wait a minute... Memories of the Undead Plane suddenly made Leon realize something.
Why was there only one skeleton warrior?
Legend had it the Undead Plane was teeming with endless undead. Skeleton warriors, the lowest of the lot, should be as numerous as the sea. So why, after all this time, had he only encountered one? That didn't add up...
Could this not be the Undead Plane? The thought struck Leon so abruptly that his hands started to tremble.
Whether it was or wasn't, the difference was massive. One meant endless riches and opportunity; the other, nothing but disappointment. Driven by this, Leon decided to take another risk. He abruptly halted the activation rune he'd begun to chant and switched to an incantation for Wizard's Eye.
Three Wizard's Eyes zipped into the darkness, skimming the ground at high speed under the blood-red moonlight.
Through the eyes' perspective, Leon could clearly see that the entire black wasteland was utterly devoid of undead creatures.
The discovery made Leon's breathing quicken.
Still uneasy, he muttered another spell and cast Detect Undead.
This time, Leon sensed it — there were undead on the black wasteland after all, but they were all slumbering underground. Unless disturbed, they might not wake for years.
Leon also discovered that the strongest among them was merely a Bone Demon!
For reference, a Bone Demon's fighting power barely matched a top-tier Grand Mage...
It just didn't make sense. This vast black wasteland, and the most powerful undead was only a Bone Demon? The legendary Undead Plane was supposed to be crawling with banshees and liches, where Bone Demons would be lucky to hold a scrap of territory.
At this point, Leon was almost certain — this place wasn't the Undead Plane. For one, there were too few undead; for another, their power was far too low. If Bone Demons could rule here, then those legendary mages from the golden age might as well have bashed their heads against a block of tofu.
But if it wasn't the Undead Plane, then what was this place?
Undead still roamed, the crescent moon was blood-red, and even the air was thick with death magic — just like the Undead Plane...
"Bone Plane!" With all the clues coming together, Leon slapped his forehead. Of course — this had to be the Bone Plane, a realm nearly identical to the Undead Plane but vastly weaker.
This changed everything for Leon...
In that empty, decaying library, Leon had read plenty of Plane Colonization Era records when he was bored.
The Bone Plane was discovered midway through the Colonization Era. Three young mages from the Sage's Spire stumbled on its coordinates by chance, then used them to open a new Plane Path and conquered the Bone Plane in just three months.
That's right — only three months...