Chapter 8 : The City of Ghosts

The Soul Regeneration Technique was sent out, and from the mouth of the pot a huge mauve-coloured vortex suddenly appeared, with a powerful suction that drew the countless shadows in front towards the mouth of the pot at a rapid pace.

 The ghosts let out a miserable scream, falling into the jug one after another, and the ghosts in the distance tried to escape, but they were all sucked to the point that they couldn't stand up.

 I walked forward triumphantly under Audrey's surprised gaze.

 In front of me were the crumbling walls and gates of the Phantom City, just by looking at these boulders, if it wasn't for the map indication, I really couldn't figure out that these stones were the defence facilities of this huge metropolis back in the day.

 As I approached, I pondered, how could I rebuild it? Should I use these boulders to build the city walls myself? However, with my level, how could I possibly build what I did back then? Besides, I would have to be able to move it.

 I turned my head and asked Audrey, "You've been here for so long, do you have any insights on rebuilding the Phantom City?"

 Audrey turned her head away and grunted, "You're so good, do this task all by yourself, ask me what to do."

 What a nuisance, if this one in front of me was a male how nice, even if it's only level 0 and can't do anything, it's still better than this witch, at least, it won't affect my mood.

 I forced down my anger and patiently said, "Miss Audrey, we're doing the same quest now, of course we have to focus our wisdom to think of a solution. Two people are always better than one."

 Audrey's voice suddenly became muffled, and she couldn't hear it clearly without being careful, "I've been fighting monsters for the past half a month, how do I have time to think."

 I then understood, if I stayed here for half a month and didn't find any clues, I'm afraid I would be as embarrassed to say it as she was.

 I wondered, "Your baggage is quite big, the materials you brought can last for half a month."

 Audrey hummed: "I am picking up the skeletons on the ground to cast spells, don't you see that there is not a single bone here?"

 I chilled, it's pretty creepy to think of a girl grabbing a handful of skeletons every day mouthing some unknown language.

 We walked towards the centre of the city as shown on the map, continuing to collect those ghosts in the city along the way, feeling that with the reduction of ghosts, the sky also became less gloomy.

 I wondered, "Could it be that the Spectral City is losing its ability to repair itself because it is shrouded in ghostly grievances? If that's the case, the masters of the past generations should have a way to be able to fix it."

 Audrey was less likely to talk back to me now, and said seriously, "Yes, the high-level Taoist priests, sorcerers, monks, and priests all have methods to destroy ghosts."

 The buildings of the ghost city, basically destroyed, I don't know how fierce the battle was back then, I'm afraid, it would take more than a few ultimate magic to cause so much damage.

 Not being able to find a clue for the time being, I started to look for treasures in the ruins, a task that so many high achievers couldn't accomplish, there's no way I could make it, right? I can't come here for nothing, in the ancient city, just find something, even if it's not good equipment, how can it be considered an antique?

 Audrey followed behind me for a while and kept stabbing me in the back with her BS gaze, making me so uncomfortable. I turned my head and coughed, "What are you stupidly following me for, you also help rummage through it, see if there are any clues that can help us recover the Phantom City."

 Audrey hummed and said in a sarcastic tone, "Alright, these places, you know to rummage, but others don't? Don't you know that the first batch sent by the king back then had a few thousand people, and they had already rummaged through this place."

 I blushed and said, "We can't let go of the mission clues, maybe they accidentally missed something."

 Audrey turned around and walked away, "Then take your time to rummage around, I'm going to practice my formation arts. By the way, I forgot to tell you, the 'Treasure Eating Beasts' infest the entire Phantom City, even if the treasure is buried thousands of metres underground, they can still drill down and eat it."

 My mind was revealed, my face turned red, luckily I wasn't seen. However, a bit disbelieving, waiting for Audrey to walk away, I took out the same spare golden sword and placed it in the ground.

 The ruins of the whole city suddenly appeared at the same time, and then, from the ground, from under the boulders, leapt out countless gopher-like small things, their bodies flashed with various colours of light, some like metal, some like precious stones, I only a moment of dumbfounded, my ears heard the dreadful sound of clicking and giggling, and looked down, hundreds of "treasure-eating beasts" had already bitten my golden sword to the point that there was nothing left. I was so shocked that I ran away.

 I was horrified to run, however, the treasure-eating beasts obviously will not take the initiative to attack human beings, also will not bite the equipment on the human body, soon, the treasure-eating beasts disappeared together, like nothing happened around me.

 I let out a long breath, look around, it seems that the treasure hunting plan also fell through, or study how to do this task. After a few days of research, Audrey probably trained her formation art to expert level, so she could go out.

 In the next few days, I went around looking for the ghosts that had slipped through the net and put them into the pot one by one. However, contrary to what I thought, I thought that since these ghosts were "subdued", they should be able to listen to my call, and I would be able to build an army of ghosts. It seems that such a good thing is not possible.

 I've tried fighting a weak-looking ghost, which also has various attributes such as level and HP, and its attacks are equivalent to dark magic. However, my physical attacks and most magic are ineffective against it, and only fireballs and priest magic can scare it off.

 With the ghosts basically nowhere to be found, I began to use archaeology, focusing on unearthing the buildings I was most interested in according to the map of the Phantom City. Such as the governor's mansion, library, magic academy, and temple.

 There were still quite a few rewards, although most of the ancient books were weathered, I still learnt quite a few skills and crafting methods from the stone carvings and parchment books, which were a lot different from the modern ones and benefited me a lot. Also, there are quite a few books out there that, with my archaeological skills combined with the omni-meter, I still can't read, so I pocketed them.

 There's nothing more to play with, so let's see how Audrey's formation art practice is going.

 Audrey has been in the field to set up the formation, these days we haven't been talking, meeting her she doesn't raise her eyes, it seems, it's quite attentive.

 I called out to her from afar, "Great Witch, how is your formation technique."

 Audrey's body shook and called out towards me, "Don't you come over! Be careful ... careful my formation will take your life!"

 I stopped in a hurry, my heart was a little strange, although Audrey still had that tone, not gentle at all, but her voice seemed to be a little soft, not the same as before.

 Probably tired, all day long drilling formations like this, the spirit must have lost a lot of it.

 I smiled, "Great sorcerer, take a rest if you're tired, I'll cook you a few dishes, and also, this wire bed will be put here, you sleep a little."

 Audrey coldly said, "Don't you care."

 Her voice is still a bit breathless, I can't bear to top her, smiling a bit, I put the wire bed on the ground, "How much longer do you have to practice to expert level?"

 Audrey still coldly said, "Do you think it's still as easy as a beginner to intermediate level? I've only risen from Extra First Class to Second Class in the past few days, to get to Expert Class, let's wait for another half a month."

 It turns out that it's so hard to practice with higher skills, I can't afford to wait, my Friendship Town doesn't know what it's become without me.

 The town's losses alone can already drain the town's funds in a few days, I can't keep letting Marshall bestow wealth to help me fill it.

 The prize shaking event, without my Fire God's Eye making an appearance, wouldn't be able to be opened at all, and the other people's items, which are at most Treasure Grade, don't have much appeal now. Not to mention, the Marshall Brothers had already offloaded several Treasure Grade items the other day.

 Anxious in my heart, I went back to the city and paced troublesomely, when suddenly, a flash of light flashed through my mind, "Teleportation Array!"

 Haha, with the teleportation array, and me being the head of a town, I can directly open a teleportation between Friendship Town and Psi City! Great, I'm really a genius!

 Excitedly, I took out the materials and wanted to start building, but I was prompted by the system, "You can't build a teleportation array here."

 Strange, the original building can't be repaired, and neither can the new building, what's the reason?

 I tried other buildings again, none of them could be built, and suddenly, I jumped up, "City Building Stone!"

 Could it be that the city building stone of the Spectre City is gone? Was it snatched by the Demon God? Was it stolen by the people in the city? It's ...

 Oh no, it's not the "Treasure Eater", is it?

 I looked at the map and searched for the temple where the stone was placed. The stone belongs to the secret, the map is not marked, but for people like me who know what they're doing, it's not a problem, because above the temple, it must be a mound, and there are rules about the orientation, if it is the temple where the stone is placed, it can't be too far away from the centre of the city.

 Soon, I found the place, under the ruins of the city's bell tower.

 I used my Excavation Technique to dig open the secret passage, and then used the Thief's Disassembling Technique to dismantle the mechanisms on the way. Fortunately, it wasn't too difficult because it was too old and the key parts of the mechanisms were eaten by the Treasure Eating Beasts.

 Finally, I entered the interior of the temple. The style of this temple was slightly different from the modern one, but it was obviously more effective. I didn't bother to observe and pushed open the main temple door.

 The murals inside the Weapon Temple were all historical stories of the Ancient Psi-City, the characters were lifelike, and the scenery was just like the real thing that came to life. I stayed for half a day before I came to my senses, this is not the time to learn painting, not to mention that my painting skill has been upgraded.

 My eyes fell on the god platform in the centre, the place where the city building stone should have been placed was empty.

 A squeaking sound came, I looked towards the direction of the sound, a smaller than the other treasure-eating beasts lying in the corner, although this little guy's head is not even comparable to a baby's fist, however, its stomach, but it is high up, as big as a watermelon! Looking at it, it looked as if it was very hard and weak.

 There was a very small hole in the wall of the temple, just enough for its head to drill through, but with such a big tummy, of course, it couldn't do anything about it.

 Hahaha, I immediately reacted, my judgement wasn't wrong ah, it's this Treasure Eating Beast that swallowed the City Building Stone!

 I drew my longsword and staff and threw out a detection spell first: "Taotie, level 60 BOSS, rest of attributes unknown."

 My hand shook, I'm glad I detected it, a level 60 BOSS, although it's not easy to move right now, I'm afraid I won't be able to carry it with just one spell.

 It's better to get Audrey here, two people together is more stable, moreover, if I were to complete this quest alone, wouldn't she have stayed here for more than half a month for nothing?

 I darted out of the city and called out loudly towards Audrey, "I've found a way, quick, come with me!"

 Audrey's head seemed to lift for a moment, and immediately dropped, as if she had said something, which I did not hear.

 Approaching strangely, bypassing the formation on the ground, I realised that she was indeed out of sorts.

 Taking a few more steps closer and carefully pushing her, Audrey's body fell limply.

 I was appalled, what was wrong with this girl.

 Audrey's low voice came, finally heard, "You ... you go away ah ..., I ... I'm sick ..."

 My heart was tight, the legend came to the ghost city of the people, later will be infected with a violent disease and die, is it, is it Audrey also contracted!

 I rushed up and touched her forehead, my hand was bounced and I could only lift her veil.

 Under the veil was a face as terrible as if it had been burnt by fire, and only above the eyes was smooth and beautiful. My heart fluttered, not expecting her face at all.

 Audrey raised her hand weakly, as if to cover the veil, and I busied myself in covering it for her, but, having seen it clearly, her face was pale, and she was indeed ill.

 I was busy casting a healing spell on her, and touched out some advanced medicines for her to take, my previous experience of being sick was still fresh in my mind.

 Audrey's weak voice came out, "It's useless, my life profession is a healer and alchemist, from the first day I came here, I've been healing myself, and today, it's finally not working ..."

 Looking at her, listening to her soft voice, the loathing that I have always felt towards her seems to have been forgotten, I only felt a pain in my heart, like a very good friend is about to leave herself.

 I forced to smile, "Fortunately, you hung up, just go back outside, prepare new materials, don't use mine ..."

 Audrey softly said, "Don't you know? When a player enters this place, the resurrection point is automatically set to Phantom City, otherwise I would have died out long ago ..."