Chapter 550: Thoughts on [White Bone]
If everything Muramasa Hyōshō said was true, then this was indeed a major problem that needed to be resolved immediately. Kazumi once again mapped the thoughts in her mind onto her notes. Looking at the line connecting [Spiny Cold] to [White Bone] and finally to her own name, Kazumi sighed again. She repeatedly thickened the connecting line with a water-based pen until it became a conspicuous bold black line.
“I should have realized it earlier; I was too overconfident in my own abilities.”
There was no denying that the young girl was right. In fact, among the courses Kazumi had studied, there was a chapter on “The Hierarchy and Counter-relationships Between Abilities.” It covered topics such as the hierarchy between ice and water abilities, lava and fire abilities, the counter-relationship of water abilities against fire, and earth abilities against lightning.
While these hierarchical and counter-relationships could be reversed with increased ability strength, objectively speaking, at equal levels of power, these relationships indeed existed.
Because her own abilities originated from the territory granted by the system, Kazumi, as a transmigator, had too proudly distinguished her abilities from the ordinary abilities of these “natives.”
But looking back now, this groundless arrogance was precisely the reason she found herself in her current predicament with no solution.
Long ago, Kazumi had realized that, apart from the varying conditions for sacrificial offerings, the death energy of the sacrificed was the most abundant within her own body’s accumulated death energy. This was especially true for corpses whose death day had just reached the point of decay, which was why the girl had always craved these types of resources.
Other things like tombstones, coffins, and rotted soil did contain death energy, but compared to the corpses themselves, they were meager. This was also why, after the initial creation, she had never spent time excavating graves or their soil.
But now, if she stepped outside her own special circumstances, there truly was something that possessed far richer death energy than corpse resources.
Herself, or rather, abilities leaning towards death/undead. Taking Kazumi herself as an example, her half-undead body was naturally a death energy storage field. Not to mention being immersed in an environment of death energy for a long time, her own body would undoubtedly be the finest sacrificial offering and corpse material.
“So that’s why [White Bone] has been hunting ability users.”
Kazumi stated this conclusion with absolute certainty. She also belatedly realized that since she had come into contact with the [Dark] organization, she hadn’t encountered any ability user whose abilities were even slightly similar to her own. At first, the girl had thought this was the treatment afforded to her as a protagonist and a transmigator.
Now, she realized how ridiculous that thought was. It was simply because the stronger ones had already been killed by [White Bone], and the remaining lackeys were not noteworthy enough to catch Kazumi’s attention.
“And this ability certainly lives up to the title of Great General.”
The old, worn documents were placed on the upper left corner of the notes. Their content, however, differed from the information Kazumi had seen at the base before. This was the intel that Muramasa Hyōshō had promised to provide her. It described in detail the abilities of the Great General [White Bone], who had lived in the last century. Just being able to control the corpses of the deceased and unleash some of their abilities from life was enough for Kazumi to completely abandon this plan and prepare to flee.
Honestly, this ability was very classic, a standard for undead mages in anime and manga, but also classically powerful. From Kazumi’s perspective as a similar type of ability user, if she possessed such means, even the accumulated power beneath would be terrifying. She could simply excavate the corpses of these powerful ability users and stand at the pinnacle of this world.
“So even someone like that was defeated by the Heroes Association? What kind of monster was young Hamano?”
Unable to stop herself from exclaiming, Kazumi suddenly thought of something and quickly grabbed her mobile phone to search. The information that popped up on her phone validated the girl’s thoughts at that moment.
“As expected, a targeted method was devised long ago.”
Looking at the official Heroes Association page that had posted about the cremation of hero corpses years ago, Kazumi knew without a doubt that it was a countermeasure against [White Bone]. This way, apart from ancient families with strong inherited traditions who could protect their fallen members’ corpses, ability users nowadays all opted for cremation after death.
This made Kazumi harbor even more hatred for the Great General [White Bone], whom she had never met. This guy not only wanted to take what was hers but also, as her predecessor, blocked the path she could have originally taken. Kazumi had previously thought that once her abilities reached a certain level, she could try to secretly scavenge the corpses of the deceased. This would snowball and allow her abilities to grow at an incredibly fast rate. But now, there was no place to implement it. Fortunately, Kazumi’s own territory could unlock the splicing function, meaning she theoretically wouldn’t lack complete corpses of powerful ability users.
“So this is indeed [White Bone]’s weakest moment. The accumulated undead have all been depleted, otherwise he wouldn’t have been sealed. Of course, I need to be wary of any contingency he left behind, but this is my greatest opportunity.”
“However, I still need to confirm the authenticity of Muramasa Hyōshō’s information. I’ll have to wait for Uncle Fukada’s news for that.”
Kazumi did not lose her ability to think despite receiving news that threatened her life. Having experienced so many movies and novels in her previous life, she knew that one shouldn’t approach matters too simplistically. After all, she had seen many plots with twists and turns. What if, what if Muramasa Hyōshō’s hatred for [White Bone] wasn’t as great as she imagined? They were both Great Generals from the same era; what could cause such hatred that he would hide for so many years after an enemy was sealed?
What if Muramasa Hyōshō’s so-called ability that could kill the opponent was actually a healing technique for [White Bone]? Perhaps the goal was to allow him to absorb her abilities after his revival and thus break the seal.
The young girl would not easily gamble with her life. Therefore, even if she could confirm Muramasa Hyōshō’s true intentions, Kazumi would not act. She would simply make all the necessary plans beforehand, which had always been her habit.
With this thought in mind, Kazumi finally put down her pen. The general direction of her thoughts had been deduced. The rest depended on how events unfolded.
She stretched out with a long yawn, stretching her stiff body. Kazumi looked up at the clock’s hands that had overlapped. She picked up her mobile phone, skillfully opened the chat software, and with a slight smile, clicked on the small flame icon that was at the top of her contacts list, emitting a red dot.
