’Now who the hell is spewing this bullshit...’

Reigns stood there, stupefied for a moment, a deep sense of déjà vu creeping into his mind.

His eyes quickly scanned the surroundings. He looked left and right repeatedly while tightening his grip on the scythe in his hand.

But aside from destroyed corpses, broken debris, and the Dryads standing nearby, the entire place looked utterly lifeless and decayed. A cold wind slowly drifted through the ruined street, swirling the ashes across the cracked roads.

Reigns swallowed nervously and looked toward the mingled monster corpses scattered across the ground.

Then, slowly, he raised his scythe and pointed it toward the dead monsters.

"Is it possible the voice is coming from the monsters?"

The Dryads tilted their massive heads in confusion after hearing him.

In their eyes, their master was acting very strangely right now.

Almost like an idiot.

Or maybe...

Their master was slowly going crazy.

For some reason, Reigns could vaguely discern their thoughts, and that immediately irritated him.

"Goddamned it... I am perfectly sane."

"There isn’t a single trace of insanity within me."

Reigns suddenly roared while glaring at the three Dryads.

But seeing that the Dryads still didn’t look convinced, he pinched the bridge of his nose tightly and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.

"Chill, Reigns... Take a chill pill."

"What does this group of idiots even know anyway?"

Shaking his head helplessly, he looked toward his lifespan count instead. Thinking about numbers honestly felt less stressful than listening to ghostly voices in the middle of a ruined city.

The accumulation was honestly huge.

Almost fifty thousand days of lifespan.

If divided by ten, it came out to roughly five thousand days, which was nearly fourteen years of lifespan increase.

Just thinking about that amount made Reigns feel slightly better and eased some of the irritation building inside him.

At the same time, another thought surfaced in his head.

To level up skills from Tier 1 to Tier 2 required around thirty thousand to fifty thousand lifespan, depending on the skill type.

Since the last few days, he had been continuously pondering about this issue, wondering whether he should upgrade the skills immediately or not.

Because once he reached Tier 2 himself, it seemed the skills would automatically upgrade alongside him.

Reigns silently debated the matter inside his mind for a few moments while staring at the floating screen before finally deciding to keep the lifespan points in reserve for now instead of wasting them recklessly.

After that, he slowly raised his head and looked toward the funeral home standing ahead.

The old building looked dark and eerie amidst the ruined city, while its broken walls and shattered windows gave it an unsettling appearance.

After a brief moment of thought, Reigns pointed toward it.

"Go and check it out."

"Dryad!"

One of the Dryads immediately bellowed and slammed its chest proudly, as if announcing the arrival of some legendary warrior.

Reigns’ face instantly twitched.

"The hell are you doing? I asked you to check, not announce to the whole world that we’re coming."

"We are just a bunch of brats, not some damn king."

Reigns’ reprimand immediately made the other two Dryads to let out a strange laugh at their companion while making mocking growls toward it. The scolded Dryad instantly grimaced and shot them an angry glare.

The four giant creatures immediately started a bizarre staring contest among themselves, growling and arguing silently through expressions alone like oversized children fighting over their pride.

After a few moments, one of them finally volunteered for the job and slowly walked toward the entrance of the funeral home while trying to act serious.

The large wooden door ahead was tightly locked.

Reigns narrowed his eyes slightly as he watched the Dryad approach it because, for a second, he genuinely thought the idiot was about to smash the entire entrance apart.

Instead, the Dryad suddenly extended one of its vine-like arms.

Thin roots slowly emerged from its fingers and carefully slipped through the small gap beneath the door.

Moments later...

Clink!

A metallic unlocking sound echoed softly through the silent surroundings, and the door slowly creaked open.

Reigns blinked in surprise before clapping his hands lightly.

"Now that’s a great way."

"I am honestly in awe of your intelligence, and for that, I am gonna call you Dryad Number One."

The other three Dryads instantly screeched in dissatisfaction after hearing the title, glaring at the chosen Dryad with obvious jealousy.

But Reigns completely ignored their complaints and slowly walked inside the funeral home.

SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!

Four large wooden heads slowly emerged through the entrance gap, carefully peeking inside the funeral home. Their glowing eyes swept across the empty hallway cautiously, as if checking whether something dangerous was hiding within the darkness.

The entire place was eerily silent.

Reigns frowned deeply as he stared inside because, for some reason, goosebumps slowly spread across his body and refused to disappear no matter how much he tried to calm himself.

At first glance, the entire place looked empty, but his senses kept warning him that something was terribly wrong here. Even the silence itself felt unnatural and unsettling.

"Two of you walk ahead. The other two stay behind me."

"Quick guys..."

The Dryads immediately shifted into formation. Two giant figures slowly moved to the front while the remaining two guarded Reigns from behind like loyal bodyguards protecting their master.

Maintaining the formation, Reigns slowly stepped inside the funeral home, tightening his grip on the scythe in his hand.

The interior looked completely ruined.

Broken wooden chairs were scattered throughout the hallway, while cracked portraits hung crookedly from the walls. Several coffins had been overturned across the dusty floor as if tossed aside carelessly.

Shattered flower vases and dried petals littered the ground. The ceiling above had partially collapsed in several places, and hanging wires occasionally sparked with faint crackling sounds.

Dark stains spread across the walls, and long claw marks could be seen carved deep into the wooden pillars, as though something monstrous had rampaged through this building.

The deeper they walked inside, the colder the surroundings became.

Reigns slowly made his way ahead, gripping his scythe tightly while carefully observing every corner around him.

But after a few moments, he suddenly frowned.

His footsteps were growing heavier with each step, and a strange pressure seemed to be spreading through his body.

"What’s up with this weird feeling? Am I getting tired all of a sudden?"