Skill Extraction: Exploring Dungeons-Chapter 550 - 493 Village of the Dead

The sky emits a dazzling golden light.

This golden light makes one feel warm, just like sunlight, yet different, as if bathed in holy light.

Not only does the body feel comfortable, but even the spirit becomes clearer.

It makes one instinctively feel at ease and formed a fondness.

Such a feeling seems familiar.

The reason for this sense of déjà vu is that the dazzling golden light in the sky is not from the sun.

It is the scene that shocked Kane the first time he encountered the dungeon.

A semi-transparent golden bridge spans the sky.

And the sun has vanished without a trace.

The golden bridge replaced the sun, nourishing all things.

This scene is so familiar.

Now, Kane finally understands why they were made to be the first and only explorers in these 10 years.

So this is the origin.

If someone says there’s no connection between this dungeon and the giant wood forest he once cleared, Kane absolutely wouldn’t believe it.

This golden bridge spanning the sky is, after all, too distinctive.

But compared to the golden bridge felt in the giant wood forest, this one radiates a more authentic brilliance, and the enhancement and power it provides are much stronger.

It seemed as though the first dungeon he cleared was nothing but an illusion, while this golden bridge is the true reality.

Kane withdrew his gaze and continued to follow the elder ahead.

He fell slightly behind, lowered his voice, and communicated with Kreya and the others through the ruby lapel pin on his collar.

"Hey, can you hear me?"

Kane’s voice was transmitted to Kreya and the others through the ruby lapel pin.

"Yes, I can hear you, buddy."

Longbei’s voice responded from the ruby lapel pin.

Lilulu’s voice also came through: "I can hear you, I can hear you."

Then two knocking sounds followed.

These two knocks should be from Kreya and Meizike.

Indicating that they can receive Kane’s conversation, but are not convenient to respond.

"Are you all safe now? Are you together?"

"No, I’m alone, still relatively safe in a cave, and you wouldn’t believe it, I actually crawled out from a coffin."

"Lilulu is also safe, but Lilulu is in an enclosed forest, which is Qidan’s hidden home, Qidan is taking me to his home, and Lilulu also crawled out from a coffin."

Hearing the two of them, it seems not just himself, but his teammates also crawled out from coffins.

And they should now be scattered in various places.

However, with the ruby lapel pin and the guild hall, they can communicate and determine each other’s positions, so even if they are separated, it’s not too much of a problem.

Kane thought for a moment and said, "Alright, let’s leave it at that. Stay safe, everyone. Once we’re secure, we’ll exchange information in the guild hall."

"No problem."

"Okay."

After ending the call, Kane quickly moved forward.

He came to the side of the old man.

"Sir, how do I address you?" Kane asked.

Upon hearing Kane’s question, the old man didn’t turn his head but continued to pull his cart of wood forward.

"Death took away some of my memories. I forgot my name. Just call me the old man who transports coffins like everyone else does."

Kane nodded.

He could already see the village not far ahead.

Located at the bottom of the slope they were on, with the maple forest they had just been in on a hill.

As they got closer to the village, the old man started to introduce the situation in the village to Kane.

"Our village is composed of resurrected dead, situated within King Hong’s territory, but King Hong does not acknowledge us as his subjects, nor does he expel us."

"Once you enter the village, you’re one of them. If you don’t like it, you can leave, but don’t inquire about people’s past lives; it might cause them unbearable pain."

The old man told Kane about some important things to note about the gathering place ahead.

Kane nodded and said, "Don’t worry, I’ll remember."

Remembering these details is essential for obtaining more information.

Thus, the two chatted leisurely and soon reached the village entrance.

When Kane reached the village, he smelled the pervasive scent of decay throughout.

But at least it’s not the stench of rotting corpses, much better than Kane anticipated.

He had mentally prepared for the village to be full of the smell of rotting bodies, and the current situation actually made him feel better.

Still, he used an origin skill to create a transparent air plug for his nose to filter out the decaying smell.

The village entrance was unguarded, and the entire village lacked protective wooden walls or fences.

The villagers had somewhat dim and muddy eyes, wearing clothes that resembled burial garments, showing signs of former elegance but now grey and worn.

Some parts of the villagers’ bodies showed signs of shriveling, likely indicating their undead nature.

Watching the elder drag in a cart full of coffins alongside a stranger,

People glanced over but soon withdrew their gaze.

New faces in the village seemed not to be of any surprise.

The elder brought Kane to a building.

"This can be considered the village’s tavern; you can stay here for a while before building your own cabin. Until then, free lodging is provided."

After speaking, the old man waved to Kane, dragging a wooden cart as he continued heading into the village.

Kane watched the old man leave.

He finally turned his head to look at the building in front of him, which was similar to the surrounding buildings, all made of pure wood.

From these details, it could be seen that the building had been constructed a long time ago, as some of the wood was already decayed and tattered.

Kane pushed open the wooden door and walked in.

Inside, though there were tables and chairs, besides a few people in the corner, no other guests could be seen. The whole tavern was very quiet, with only subtle sounds of chewing.

And those people in the corner were not chewing on chunks of meat, but biting on a dark red plant.

Kane arrived at the bar counter, behind which was a thin man with withered short yellow hair.

His left eye socket had no eyeball but was dry, revealing a deeply sunken hollow.

The boss used his only remaining right eye to stare at Kane: "A new face I haven’t seen before."

"Did you just crawl out of a grave?"

Kane nodded and said: "I crawled out from a coffin carried by an old man."

Upon hearing Kane’s words, the boss seemed to have an epiphany, nodding in understanding.

"So you crawled out from the coffin of the old coffin man; his coffin occasionally spits out some dead people."

Then he patted his chest and said: "I’m different. I crawled myself out directly from a grave."

After speaking, he took out a dark red plant from the wine cabinet behind him, seemingly a root of some plant.

Even though this was called a tavern, his wine cabinet had nothing but these dark red plant roots.

He handed the root in his hand to Kane, asking: "Wanna try one?"

Kane waved his hand to refuse.

"You might not know since you just crawled out; we’ve lost the taste sensation of the living. Eating dirt or food tastes the same. You won’t die if you don’t eat, but..."

He waved the dark red root in his hand and took a bite, a red droplet slipping past his lips.

He chewed twice, his expression a bit enjoying, and said: "This at least allows us to taste something. Not very tasty, but at least we feel some flavor, right?"

"I’m offering you one this time; if you refuse, it’ll cost you next time."

Kane eventually took it but didn’t eat, just held it in his hand.

Seeing this, the boss said nothing, thinking Kane was probably not yet accustomed to his identity as a dead person.

He might not eat now, but with time he’ll get used to it.

"You just crawled out and don’t have your own house. If you want to stay in the village, you’ll have to build a house yourself; meanwhile, you can choose a room to rest in the back."

"There’s only you as the new dead one this month; the rooms at the back are all empty."

"Thanks."

"There’s no need to thank; we’re all dead anyway. Now we can be considered kin."

Kane expressed his gratitude and then asked: "I still don’t know how to address you."

"Haha, I only remember my name had a ’Ke’ character when I was alive. You can call me Ke or the tavern keeper."

"Then Ke, my name is Kane."

"You can still clearly remember your name. That’s nice."

Ke’s tone carried a hint of envy.

Kane smiled, pointing outside: "I just crawled out; I don’t know the current situation outside..."

"Haha, nothing uncommon, since everyone died at different times. Let me tell you about the current situation."

Finally, he looked at Kane and asked: "Which era did you live in? The Solar Era? The Platinum Era? Or this broken era now?"

Kane shook his head.

"Besides my name, I’ve forgotten most common knowledge."

"Ah? All forgotten, your situation is worse than mine."

Ke’s voice was a bit surprised; the previous envy was now gone.

"Ahem!" Ke cleared his throat.

"Let me tell you about the current situation then, I’m pretty good at this, and I know quite a lot."

Seeing Ke seemed ready to explain thoroughly.

But at this moment, calls were heard from outside the tavern door.

"Ke, come out for a moment. I need your help. Come quickly, come quickly."

The voice from outside was somewhat rough.

Ke promptly responded loudly: "Coming, coming, don’t rush, here I come."

Then he said to Kane: "Wait for me; I’ll be back soon, and we’ll continue our talk."

With that, he jumped out from behind the bar and quickly ran outside.

At this moment, Kane’s ruby lapel pin transmitted Kreya’s voice.

"Just now, there were Dungeon beings around, making it hard to talk. I’m gathering intelligence now. Let’s discuss at the Guild Hall later."

"Alright."

"No problem."

Everyone agreed to Kreya’s proposal, indicating they were somewhat settled now.

Kane also agreed, as he needed to learn the general situation of the Dungeon from Ke’s mouth.

Then exchange intelligence with Kreya and the others to know the Dungeon’s situation as much as possible, to prepare for future actions.

Kane thought about this.

Behind him, Ke’s voice came again.

"Sorry for the wait, new goods have arrived; let’s continue the previous topic."

With that, Ke flipped over again, jumping back into the bar.

"Ahem, let’s begin then."