In the end, Bi Yuan decided to not choose resurrection.

[-1 Resurrection Token]

It was tempting to achieve a human figure, but the loss of half of the levels would be too much for her. When she opened her eyes, she was once again inside the Cave Abode of the Game Master. She saw the White Ape fiddling with some candles and reading a piece of scroll.

"Kyu?"

The little bunny decided to leave the old man on his own. When she looked at the creepy magic circle that was being drawn through the bleeding tip of his index finger, she felt a compulsion to just run.

With a heart as frail as Bi Yuan's, though no matter how much of a warrior she was, this little bunny seemed to be not a fan of gloomy stuff.

~~~ 

I watched the little bunny run away which was kind of funny considering that she was one who liked roaming around my place. " Sigh... funny little furball..." I glanced at the magic circle I had drawn, and at my left hand which held a parchment about summoning. I swear, the magic circle had an 8th-grader syndrome feeling to it, but more than that, felt like something that I would see out of Western influence.

"Well, knowledge was knowledge..." I rolled the parchment and returned it to the chest where it belonged.

Knowledge about the afterlife such as the netherworld was among the few memories I had inherited with old Fu Shi. The version of the cultivation world's Nether realm however was nothing like I knew in that it was said to be a place of desolateness, ash, and void. Frankly, from the information I had referred to my Mental Library, the Nether World felt more like purgatory in Christian theological views.

"That would not really matter though..." Afterlife was Afterlife. Hell was Hell. Nether was Nether. Underworld was Underworld. I would not really have cared if not for my needs now... I moved my quintessence mentally through my system.

My bloody index finger had healed already. Below me was a magic circle with a seven-pointed star inside it. Each corner had a burning candle. With a thought, the flames turned purple. I was shocked... I did not even utter the chant that was required for the connection to become alive.

"Ahem..." I cleared my throat. "I needed someone who was open-minded. Someone who wanted to be strong. Someone who wanted a second chance in life. Bring me forth the soul of the one who would make a deal with me!" I made my demands and followed the instructions from the parchment I read. I made hand seals in a slow and steady manner as per the ritual required of me.

I waited for the magic circle to fish something as I repeated the hand seals and my words. It didn't take long for something to respond.

Finally, a translucent form appeared within the magic circle. I could not see who was it, but I saw a humanoid figure. This was the ghost of a person who had died and was someone who I could potentially turn into a player.

I introduced myself. "I was the Game Master! Would you make a deal with me?" I was straightforward. It was something the parchment suggested as ghosts were an existence that would not know how to dance with words. They would only be provoked if the summoner did something unnecessary. 

The silhouette was vague but its contours were obvious enough for me to see its hesitation. "Why would you hesitate?  I thought you'd be willing to make a deal. What would you want in return for your servitude?"

"I... I want..."

The voice of the ghost silhouette was grating to the ears, but it was audible enough for me to hear. I urged him or her to speak up. "Out with it." I was impatient since every second the ghost was here, I was bleeding quintessence points.

"I... I wanted to get rid of my virginity! I died a virgin!"

"..."

Uuumm... Sure? Yeah. Sure! Of course... It was reasonable. There was nothing wrong with wanting to get rid of one's virginity. I fixed my thought process. There was definitely nothing wrong about wanting to get rid of virginity. "I could do that. I could give you a chance for rebirth, and be born once anew with your memories still intact. I could offer you reincarnation!"

"Re-reincarnation? I... I thought it was a myth!"

A myth? What?

I just wanted to get done with it, but something interesting had popped up. The literature of this world was interesting in its own way that it seemed that knowledge of the Creation Myth of this world was suppressed and hidden. Though there were still records of the Nether World just like the one I had read from, information about the afterlife and heaven was obscured.

I almost began my interrogation with the ghost, only to be reminded by the fact that I was bleeding quintessence. "I would talk to you later, but would you accept? Would you serve me? Would you become my player? In exchange, I would give you the opportunity to get rid of your virginity. I would have you reborn in the flesh. Would you swear to me? Would you take the oath!?" I demanded in my powerful voice.

"I would! I swore to be your sword! I swore to be your servant!" The voice replied with strong resonance.

I thought I was hearing it wrong, but I felt like the voice was actually kind of old... as in ancient... I was curious... Before I sent the 'intention' to turn the other into my player, I asked out fo my curiosity. "Before we concluded this... How old were you?"

"..."

The ghostly silhouette was silent.

I was just curious, there was no need for a silent treatment.

"How old were you?" I repeated, perhaps the other just didn't hear me given the other party being a ghost.

The ghost replied with a soulful cry. "Please don't! Please! Would you not ask for my age? No!! Hu hu hu hu hu... Ask me anything but not my age..." It was pitiful to look at.

I left the mysterious sorry sage for its crying. "Fine. Fine! I was not asking anymore. Would you become my player?" I sent my intent with quintessence this time. It flowed from my system and with almost an electronic buzz, my power pricked at the silhouette.

The ghost vanished from my magic circle, and the spending of my quintessence had stopped. The ghost must have been sent into the dark world where it could begin editing a character avatar for reincarnation.

I looked at my magic circle and the burnt-out candle wax. The candles were made from the fat of a Gold Pig, a rather legendary beast. It appeared that summoning the dead from the afterlife was very expensive... not just in materials but also in quintessence... and I had to do this four more times.

I prepared for my second attempt. I gathered candles and then swept the magic circle. The blood that I used to draw the magic circle had turned to ash as all of its energy was consumed in the process. 

"Hmmm... I hoped I would not pick up a weird one..."

I bit my index finger and imbued my blood with quintessence.

-1 quintessence.

I began drawing on the floor a circle. It had to be a perfect circle or else I had to do it over again. I practiced with chalk, and that was why I was able to draw a perfect circle with a few tries. Next, I began drawing the star with ruler precision. Similar to the circle, there had to be no flaws so that there would not be any accidents.

After inputting the geometric patterns, I began writing runic characters from the corners of the geometric patterns and even on the empty space outside of the circle. I placed the candles from where they should be just like what I did before. The candles were of the same quality as the ones I had used previously.

I stood up and performed the same ritual again. "I needed someone who was open-minded. Someone who wanted to be strong. Someone who wanted a second chance in life. Bring me forth the soul of the one who would make a deal with me!" There shouldn't be any problem considering that it worked with the other guy. I just hoped it wouldn't be a weird one.

Just like before, another was summoned. Vague movement of something occurred from within the magic circle. It was transparent just like the ghost... and tall... very tall... No to be more accurate... It was very long.

"That... Was that a tentacle?"

As if answering my doubt, the tentacle attacked. It slammed me in my chest. if not for my Telekinesis and Mind's Eye, I would have been dead from that. I dodged barely just in time.

What once had been transparent became tangibly material. Dark tentacles began to burst from the magic circle.

"What the fuck!? Was that you Cthulu? You were in the wrong universe!" Even at times like this, I still had the mood to joke about. "Damn it! Get your slimy tentacles out of my cave!"