Allen picked one of the rats with him. He opened one of the glass walls. The ghost woman immediately rushed in.

All his skeleton minions were attacking her with their martial magic, but those attacks were passing through her body.

As for Allen, he sneaked past the skeleton minions and got out of the center. He closed the glass wall and trapped the ghost woman.

Even though the skeleton minions attacked her, her attention fixed at Allen.

“Weird. The ghost doesn’t attack them. I am her target. Whatever. Now, let’s check her prison.”

Allen entered the ghost’s prison before the center. In the corner of the room, he found a scroll.

“As I thought.”

Allen read the scroll: “Ghost Controlling Technique Part 1 of 4. There are three prisons more. I guess I have to check it all.”

Allen opened the glass wall to the center. The ghost woman rushed at him as usual.

“Renegade Ghost Rush!”

The renegade ghost passed through the ghost and she stunned. Allen calmly walked into the center and closed the glass wall again. He opened the second glass wall and repeated the process.

After some hours, Allen had collected four scrolls of the Ghost Controlling Technique. He spent time reading them and didn’t forget to record it just in case.

“I see. According to the first scroll, I have to weaken them first; I have to use a soul technique, so they can be attacked by a physical attack. So, this is the weakness of the ghost.”

Allen shook his head. “Easy your face. Luckily, I have mastered Renegade Ghost Rush that can attack the soul and psychic. No, the smiling man said all clues were here. If I remember correctly, one skeleton minion can use a soul attack. Ah, their prisons! I will check it later.

“According to the second scroll, controlling the ghost is similar to hijacking psychic undead. The only different thing is the ghost has a spirit. I have to subdue it.

“The third scroll contains the technique to subdue spirit. I have noted it, but I won’t use it. I can just drive the spirit away and use my renegade spirit. As for the fourth scroll….”

Allen nodded in contempt. “I am ready. Three hours left.”

Allen opened one of the glass walls. This time, he took the initiative to charge at her.

“Renegade Ghost Rush!”

She stunned. Allen shot several chains to her body. It passed through, but this time the injured parts were turning into mist. “It works. I should have known it. This test is easy for me.”

Allen extracted the renegade spirit from an undead rat and planted it inside the ghost.

A purple orb came out of her body. Allen caught it before it could escape.

“Wow, it’s real spirit. The Renegade spirit is black. The fourth scroll contains a way to control spirit and create a ghost, but my renegade spirit is superior.”

Allen surrounded the purple spirit with black vortex and put it inside his soul cage.

The woman landed before Allen and prostrated. “This is what I mean superior. Their necromancy is like creating a doll. Their undead behavior was simple and doll-like. Now, she gives the sign of intelligence.”

The ghost woman floated around him. Allen opened three glass walls at once. No more guerilla tactic. It’s a blitz time.”

The countdown showed one hour left, but Allen had completed the task. A portal appeared in the middle of the center.

“My mana is nearly depleted. I will rest until the time limit is over. As for you….” Allen looked at his skeleton minions. “Bring me something. Search in every prison.”

Allen closed his eyes and revolved his spiritual sea. He decided to release the spirits inside his soul cage.

There were cries of freedom as the spirits were released. Allen turned the remaining life force into mana and filled his spiritual sea.

As he opened his eyes, nearly one hour had passed. The skeleton minions had come back with many sacks.

Allen smiled as he looked at each of them. The undead minions had various cultivation. The highest of them was the peak of acolyte.

“They were hard to subdue, but I had done it. As my undead, their intelligence has improved.”

He looked at the four ghosts. “Even though they are only early-stage acolytes, they are harder to deal with. Now, I have a way to create a different ghost than renegade ghosts. I will call them vengeful ghosts.”

Allen made sure his minions entered the portal before him. As he passed through it, there was a voice coming to his head.

“How’s necromancy to you?”

Allen pondered. Maybe the voice meant their version of necromancy. He replied honestly, “Easy but weak and simple. You rely on a number to overpower foes.”

The voice was silent for a bit and said, “You have passed the test.”

Allen moved to another test floor.

……

Mircalla got out of the portal. There was no injury in her body. Her clothes seemed fine too. But, she looked exhausted. The first test was difficult.

She looked around. This place was like a cave with stalactites hung above. She leaned and sat.

After a while, a portal appeared out of nowhere. Reymond jumped out from it and rolled on the ground.

Mircalla immediately got up and supported him. “Reymond, are you okay?”

“Cally? It’s a relief. It seems you are my companion at the second test. How’s your first test?”

“Difficult. I faced myself. She had the same power and ability as me. When I thought I had to surpass myself, she progressed at the same speed. After a long battle, I passed the test when I gave up. I admitted that surpassing her was just fantasy. After I discussed something with her, the portal suddenly appeared.”

“That’s just stupid. Did you gain anything?”

“No.”

“This whole test is a scam,” Reymond complained.

“What about you, Reymond?”

“They tested me if I had the potential to advance to the next realm. After passing a long-ass test, a portal appeared.”

“We act as a pair in the second test. I wonder who will pair with who. I wonder everyone is okay.”

Reymond put a serious face. “The numbers are odd. One of us has to pass the test alone.”

“That must be Allen. Reymond, who is his real identity? He has a top tier mana absorption technique. He is a necromancer.”

“I have told anything about him to you, Cally. I first met him in a narrow alley….”

Reymond remembered the time when he ran to a narrow alley, crying. He was in despair after his ex-lover cheated on him.

Allen was a disgusting kid. His body was full of scars and smell rotten. Even as they looked at each other, the kid only put an apathetic face.

Reymond was just a frail teenager. He ranted his problems to a kid he just met to relieve his heart. After that, he felt bad and took care of him.

Reymond bathed him, gave him food, and a place to stay for a week. Kid Allen was smart and easy-going. He got attached to him.

Reymond taught him to hunt and fight. After several years, Allen showed great results as a hunter; he was already a seventeen-year-old teenager.

“That’s the story of us. Then, I got a quest to travel to the empire. There’s where I met you, Cally. You were thirteen years old at that time.”

“That was nostalgic.” Mircalla smiled. “That’s not it. I want to know how Allen got to be a magus.”

Reymond shrugged. “That’s not our business, Cally. Maybe he encountered some fortunes. Say, Cally, what do you think of him?”

“He was a good servant. As long as he serves me faithfully, I will treat him nicely.”

“I see. How about your real feeling?”

“What do you mean? Are you afraid that I will see him romantically? I don’t have a plan to have a lover before I get my revenge against the church.”

“That’s a relief. You may consider being my wife after your revenge is done.”

Seeing Mircalla got nervous, Reymond laughed. Then, he sat beside her and stared at the cave stalactites.

“I love him as a family. I was an orphan too. That was why I could relate to him. However, he had one particular problem even as a kid.

“There was a time we got close to a woman. She was my previous lover. We hunted together and became almost like a family. Allen was close to her and referred her as an elder sister.

“I was assured of his genuine feeling toward her. He seemed happy with her. I didn’t mind it. We were happy. They were happy. I was happy.

“That time we encountered a rank three magical beast. We didn’t expect that event because we hunted in a relatively safe place. It ate her alive.

“I already prepared myself to die with her. Then, Allen pulled my hand. We escaped. That was the first time I hated him. I hated how he abandoned her crying for help. I asked why he did that.

“His answer was rational to save both of us. However, he didn’t show any sympathy for her death. His face was indifferent. It shocked me.

“He was so close to her. It was like he couldn’t feel sad at all. I realized I never saw him expressing sadness. He felt inhuman.”

Mircalla felt sad for Reymond. “I am sorry to hear about your lover.”

“Thank you, Mircalla. I love you too whether as a romantic target or a family.”

Mircalla blushed and averted her eyes. “I thought of you as a family too.” She muttered in her heart, Father.

“Reymond, why do you still love Allen?”

“Mircalla, as you grow up, you have to learn acceptance. Even though he was like that, he saved me. He was one of a few people to have a deep bond with me.”

“Acceptance, huh? I wonder if I haven’t grown up at all.”

“That’s wrong. I have witnessed you grow up.”

Mircalla thought, Acceptance, huh. Should I accept their deaths in the hand of the church, in Johan’s hand? Mother, my friends.

Suddenly, the ground shook. There was a roar coming from outside of the cave.

Mircalla gave Reymond a sign to follow behind her. She peeked outside.

Below the cave was a canyon. A horned beast stood on two feet. Its furry was thick. Its size was so gigantic that the river water could only reach its thighs.

The most important thing was it was a rank four magical beast, equal to early-stage magic foundation magus.

The beast faced against a horde of black goblins on boats.

“Oh, it’s rare to watch a rank four beast in action. It will annihilate the goblin force.”

She was assured the beast would win. However, one goblin that wore a crown walked forward and jumped to the beast. He spun around and cut the beast’s neck. Blood spurted to the river.

At the same time, the voice entered her head. “The second task. Annihilate the goblin horde.”