The Rise of the Black Plain - Chapter 2677: Acting Before It's Too Late

Days later, the group could no longer see the strip of sea at night and were now traveling through an area covered by a light layer of light fog.

The atmospheric humidity was high and the mid-afternoon heat was making the weakest of the crew sweat like animals before the slaughter.

Even though they were powerful cultivators, no one could use their special characteristics to calm the stifling heat. The luckier ones, free of responsibility, climbed up to the bow, where the light, almost non-existent sea breeze could soothe the heat from their bodies. But those on duty could only hold out for an hour, continuing their states of observation and focus.

The days were getting stranger and stranger. Waves of sudden heat and cold, sunny, or totally cloudy days had been alternating amid intense sightings of sea creatures.

Luckily, the group had faced no battles in recent days, but they had come close to combat with sea creatures, given the proximity of several organisms sailing close to them.

In the difficult-to-tolerate heat of that afternoon, Minos, Abby, and Tiolos were in the lower compartment of the ship, in front of two closed coffins.

At the door of this enclosure, two men, Generals of Armhands, each at level 114, stood guard. But not only that, they were prepared to have their strength drained for the sake of what Minos was about to begin.

Minos looked at Tiolos and Abby, each of them at a different end of the room, prepared for the start of what they intended to do. He said, “It would be better if we did this in a quieter place, but I’m sensing that we’re approaching trouble. This is the time to look for opportunities.”

Ruth was taking care of the consumable resources collected earlier alongside a trio of specialists, while Gloria was with her group dealing with the maps and books collected by Minos. It would be a while before the two made progress on their work, which wasn’t the best scenario for today’s test, but it was what they had.

“Abby, be sharp. We don’t know what might happen, so be prepared to back off.” Minos looked seriously at his wife, before seeing her nod and him turn his eyes to Tiolos. “Be prepared for my signal. If it goes wrong, we’ll act simultaneously.”

“I’m ready.” The level 116 Supreme nodded to him, positioning himself defensively on Minos’ left side.

Minos then moved his innate ability, connecting with the auras of the two guards in front of the entrance to this room. By temporarily bringing their cultivation under his control, he raised his strength to the absolute peak of level 114, while transforming Abby into a stronger version of herself, at level 112.

Ready for the next step, he moved in, unlocking the hinges on the lid of one of the coffins, before using an energy dragon claw against the lid’s side lever.

The coffin was firmly closed, but with some of Minos’ strength, which was currently no less than that of a level 115 Supreme, he slowly lifted the thick, large metal lid.

Dust apparently poured out of the coffin into the surrounding area, causing a small yellowish layer to draw itself out of the long-locked enclosure.

Tiolos prepared to move, while special barriers appeared in the airways of each of them, a necessary precaution in the face of the unknown.

But after a second of standing still, seeing that nothing but the strange dust seemed to come out of the coffin, Minos finished revealing what was inside the white urn.

With it completely open, the three in the room saw a skeleton dressed in female armor, hands resting on top of each other at navel level, with a golden spear running from its feet to its neck, lying on top of it.

Nothing else could be seen on that padded urn, apart from a lot of dust between her clothes and the area around where it was resting.

Minos looked at Abby, showing for his wife to proceed with the attempt to wake the person up.

They had previously believed that opening the coffin could trigger some kind of reaction and create a new ghost. But from what Tiolos and Minos were feeling now, it didn’t look like that was going to happen.

One grade less worried, the two remained vigilant as Abby brought her two hands together and bluish energy covered the body of the skeleton resting in the white urn.

Suddenly, a cold, supernatural wind blew from outside the room, past the guards stationed there and all the way to the coffin.

Minos and Tiolos watched the yellow skeleton vibrate subtly, before a bluish glow covered one of the humanoid creature’s neck bones.

One interesting thing about the body transformation ability was that one could die in the body form they preferred. That is, if before dying a cultivating dolphin was in its humanoid form and intended to leave behind a human body, then its skeleton would not differ from that of a human. Of course, there would be signs, such as a remaining aura, an unusual structural quality for humans, etc.

Just because that skeleton was human-shaped and wearing female armor didn’t mean that it was actually human.

That didn’t matter so much to the group and when the skeleton trembled, with apparently living tissue emerging from its bones, forming muscles and organs, the two saw that the creature’s soul was still available to them.

‘If we can control it, this will be the way to get a really experienced navigator capable of helping us with future challenges!’ Minos thought as he watched the body look less and less like a skeleton and more like the form of a human woman.

Hair grew on her head, while silky, jade-white skin finished forming, transforming her into a version as vivid to the eye as the three watching her.

Her aura, previously contained in her skeleton, weakened in a way that would make it difficult for anyone to understand her real level in life, rose to the heavens, passing through the beginning of the 10th stage, reaching the cultivation of a Sovereign and then challenging the beginning of the Supreme stage!

At this point, the aura of the short-haired green female corpse stopped rising, stabilizing at level 115!