Volume 5 Chapter 15: Resurrection

“Only a one-third chance of resurrection?” Qin Lun felt a bit disappointed, but he still firmly chose to resurrect Frank.

Qin Lun rarely did things he wasn’t sure about. Before entering the Nals World, he had actually already tried resurrecting Frank. But after gathering some information on the subject, he realized he had been a bit too naive.

Resurrecting comrades wasn’t uncommon among Apostle teams. In every Quest World, many Apostles would fall. There were always Apostles trying to resurrect their companions, friends, wives, or brothers.

Once a Law Body collapsed, at any Apostle level, their Apostle Soul Mark would basically shatter. The Apostle Soul Mark was different from a normal Soul; it was a unique container the Shattered Starry Sky used to store Apostle Souls. Once shattered, unless specific special “components” from higher beings were used, even the Shattered Starry Sky couldn’t preserve the Apostle’s Soul and could only watch it dissipate and vanish.

Excluding the special Souls of Apostles, if someone like Qin Lun brought an ordinary Soul from a Quest World and wanted to resurrect them in the Shattered Starry Sky, two conditions had to be met. One was that the Soul had the ability to travel through space and time. The other was finding a suitable flesh body.

Qin Lun had considered buying a native human of the Shattered Starry Sky, turning them into a vegetable or a soulless walking corpse, then attaching Frank’s Soul. According to intelligence obtained from the Mercenary Guild, many Apostles had obviously tried this method. But so far, the most successful cases involved the attached Soul barely keeping the body alive for a few months before both body and Soul decayed together.

Among all intelligence concerning Apostle resurrection, only two slightly more reliable rumors existed.

One was hunting a higher being. Using their nearly infinite energy flesh body to slow this decay, basically using bodily energy to supplement Soul energy, achieving some sort of balance. However, higher beings were incredibly powerful and scarce even in High-Magic Worlds. This wasn’t a solution within Qin Lun’s capabilities.

The other method was life for life. Shatter the Soul Mark of one Apostle without destroying the Law Body, then inserting Frank’s Soul. This method was also highly difficult and had a low success rate.

Actually, if it hadn’t been for the appearance of the Guardian, Qin Lun’s intended target had been Sas.

“Apostle 70053, you have confirmed integrating a human Soul into the Law remains of Apostle 49031. Apostle 49031’s Law Body begins reshaping… Does Apostle 70053 wish to pay for this reshaping? You may choose to pay via deferred mode, settling together upon return. Any insufficient part will be offset by Apostle Equipment…”

Qin Lun remained silent. Finally, he had no choice but to accept the Shattered Starry Sky’s extortion and started infusing blood into this corpse.

“Apostle 49031’s Law Body has lost its Apostle Soul Mark. Original fused skills vanished… Original combat profession erased…”

“…The original bloodline of the Law Body has decayed. Due to the influence of the undead laws of the Nals World, the current Necro bloodline is preserved…”

“…Detected that the newly incorporated Soul has high proficiency with hand axes. The Law Body’s proficiency in long-handled weapons (Intermediate Technique) transforms into Axe Mastery (Intermediate Technique). Foundation in Primary Shield (Primary Technique)…”

“…Law Body reshaping complete. 80% Health Points and 30% Mana Value preserved. 65% of original base attributes preserved…”

“…Human Soul successfully converted into a new Apostle Soul Mark. According to the servant clause of the Apostle Covenant, Apostle 70053 must share 50 points of Soul Life Limit with it. Current Soul Life is 50/50…”

“Notification: New Apostle Number remains 49031. Reshaping cost: 32,000 Shattered Crystals. Its individual properties are as follows:

Name: Frank Stan; Apostle Number: 49031

Bloodline: Primary Necro; Title: None; Soul Life: 50/50

HP 780, Energy 225, Explosive Power 35, Agility 12, Constitution 30, Perception 7

Bloodline Abilities: Cold Will, Zombie Body

Techniques: Axe Mastery (Intermediate Technique), Foundation in Primary Shield (Primary Technique); Skills: None

New Apostle Trial Mission: Source of Power (same as Master)”

“The cost was a bit steep!” Qin Lun softly let out a breath as he looked at the information in the Death Notice.

These Apostle remains could originally have provided him with either a Bloodline Item or two Skill Scrolls. Combined with the Law Body reshaping fee, he had spent resources worth over 130,000 Shattered Crystals, roughly equivalent to two Inferno Hounds.

Looking at his own Soul Life Limit of 50/65, Qin Lun gave a bitter smile. The Shattered Crystals were a minor matter; the Soul Life Limit was difficult to increase. If he hadn’t just gained 10 points of Soul Life Limit, he would have almost only 55 left. Fail one mission, and it would be dust to dust.

Now Qin Lun was starting to understand the function of Soul Life Limit. From resurrecting Frank, he had a new guess about it.

High-Rank Apostles probably had to pay Soul Life Limit when taking Apostle servants too. The higher the Apostle rank, the greater the mission difficulty, and the more Soul Life Limit one might have to pay.

Luckily, he was still a second-tier Apostle. Missions he took basically deducted 50 points of Soul Life. If his Apostle rank reached the third tier, resurrecting Frank would likely require sharing over a hundred points of Soul Life Limit.

Although the cost was beyond imagination, Qin Lun felt a weight lifted off his heart. He had finally successfully resurrected Frank.

“Oh…” The “Apostle corpse” lying on the ground took a deep breath, stiffly sat up, and looked around blankly.

“Frank!” Qin Lun smiled and hugged the stinking body. He looked up at Hill and the others. “Friends, give me five minutes!”

“Of course!” Aware of the situation, Hill and the others tactfully retreated a distance, giving Qin Lun privacy with the newly resurrected Frank.

“Where… is this? I…” Frank looked at Qin Lun bewildered.

“Frank, what do you remember?” Qin Lun carefully observed his former servant, wanting to confirm if he still held memories from before.

“Frank? I am… Frank! I remember…” Frank tore off the Necro mask on his face and clutched his head, thinking hard.

“Young… Young Master Wellington!” Frank suddenly scrambled up from the ground in panic, looking around frantically. “Young Master Wellington…”

“Frank, it’s me, Wellington!” A hint of relief flickered in Qin Lun’s eyes. He stood up and took hold of Frank. “Listen to me. Frank…”

After over ten minutes, Frank finally calmed down. He reached out his hand to touch Qin Lun’s face, his gaze tinged with doubt. “You don’t look like… Young Master Wellington!”

“Frank, the body is just a vessel. The Soul is the essence. I am Wellington Stan, your brother.” A sharp glint flashed in Qin Lun’s eyes. “Look into the lake. You don’t look like the old Frank anymore!”

“…Who is this? I…” Frank obediently crouched by the lake. The water reflected a stiff, bloodless, pale face. Parts of the skin on the cheeks sagged and peeled, revealing withered muscles like rotten wood. Regardless, this wasn’t his former appearance.

“Frank, think about what I told you. Some things are details only you and I know, aren’t they?” Qin Lun squatted beside Frank, gently guiding him.

“So, you really are Young Master Wellington!” Frank lifted his head, his gaze slowly focusing on Qin Lun’s face. “Young Master, that Witch… Have we… died?”

“Yes. In a way, the old us are dead!” Qin Lun smiled and patted Frank’s shoulder. “Let’s go. I’ll tell you other things later!”

As Qin Lun and Frank walked towards the group, Hill and Hansen exchanged a glance. A light almost impossible to catch flickered deep in their pupils. To Hill and Hansen, Qin Lun resurrecting a loyal servant meant he had once again pulled ahead. This felt even more unsettling than him acquiring several pieces of Dark Gold Equipment.

“Congratulations, Qin Lun! What do we do now?” Cora asked with a smile.

“We don’t need to do anything. We’ll wait here!” Qin Lun pondered briefly before replying. “Our current Main Quest is unclear; we need some kind of quest environment to appear. However, I believe that by passing through the Teleportation Array, we triggered signals to the Nals Inner World. Perhaps someone will come looking for us soon!”

“Do you think… it might be dangerous?” Sas asked worriedly.

“It shouldn’t be life-threatening!” Hill cut in with a smile. “If the Plot Character who sealed the Teleportation Array wanted to completely close off the Inner World, they wouldn’t have set up that sacrifice requirement.”

“Hill’s right. But we should also prepare now. The Mage who set such a sacrifice requirement probably isn’t a pious soul either!” Hansen added with a cold laugh.

“Oh, Qin Lun, there’s something about the previous Guidance Mission I still don’t understand!” Cora frowned. “Our current mission progress is 65%. We get 10% for each child we find after this. That totals only 95% completion. Does this mean we still weren’t perfect earlier?”

“Hah, Madam Cora, your expectations are quite high!” Qin Lun chuckled helplessly. “Nothing can ever be truly perfect! As for that remaining 5% progress in the Guidance Mission, I believe it must be related to that Troll Fink! We failed to find out why it lingered in the Crystal Lake Campground. That one’s on me. If I’d searched its underground lair more thoroughly back then, I might have discovered the reason!”

“I overthought it!” Cora gave a bitter smile. Back then, everyone was on high alert, and accidents kept happening one after another. Asking Qin Lun to calmly stay and search the underground lair would have been too much.

“Hey, guys, look east! Seems like whoever was looking for us has arrived!” Just as everyone was discussing this, Hansen, who had the sharpest vigilance, suddenly spoke up to alert them.