In the dark cave... well, yes.

I and my dear fucking bad luck were walking towards our last target. The lich that was 'most probably' the last guard I would face before facing that fucker evil spirit.

"I know the lich would be tough, but what the hell, man... how can I not get an energy core when there's a certain chance of getting one after killing an undead knight and mage?! This is crazy!!"

[[ Master... I understand your anger, but it's not certain that you will get an energy core from undead creatures of high rank. It is just that there is a very high possibility because the undead's energy core is already active when they are functioning. As they already have the core when they are 'alive' after their 'death', the chances of the core remaining intact are the best.

When we think about the normal energy beast, as the great mother nature has devised, after their death, the creatures unconsciously condense all of their remaining energies, including their soul energy, into a condensed form.

But, normally, the condensation process rarely finishes, and the 'core' that 'others' use is created.

In a case like you... when the undead 'die', their cores mostly retain their form. Which didn't happen in your case.

You also didn't kill many of them on your own and they destroyed themselves... maybe it was a variable other than your luck? ]]

"I know you are a wise crow, but shut the fuck up if you don't want to increase my misery! I already know that stuff!"

[[ Y-yes master... ]]The inaugural upload of this chapter took place via N0/v3l-B1n.

"Haaa..."

Maybe he loved to talk because he knew too much? Well, my dear partner was old and totally different from his cute Celes.

"What is he doing Celes?"

[[ Fighting~! ]]

"The lizardman? Still?"

[[ Yei~! The two of them look amazing~! Master is having fuuuuuuuun~! ]]

"Damn... he's having fun while facing a strong opponent. And here I am, even after defeating hundreds of high-grade undead, not getting even a single good thing."

I was sad... I knew my dear partner's old crow was also sad too because I was sad, but, well; it wasn't his fault I was this darn unlucky. But one thing was intriguing.

"He is having fun..."

It was something amazing if I think about it.

He was having fun. My dear darling was truly having fun. And he was fighting nothing but a lizardman warrior.

There was no way this lizardman warrior was some regular lizard if he was having actual fun while sparring against him.

And it has been a few minutes since they started fighting and were still going... which meant they were going to go all the way... in that fight! Not that way!

"I know he wouldn't be interested in that lizardman. Not at least in that way! ...I hope he isn't."

It was difficult to know his thought even now, but at least I had faith that he wouldn't introduce me to his second partner someday...

He even said I would be the only one...

[[ Sister Elle...? The lizardman is an uncle. I said that, right? He. Is. An. Uncle. Why are you still worried? He isn't even an aunty... ]]

"Oh, innocent little one... it's more concerning if he is an uncle."

My heart would sink every time I thought about this scenario.

No one could ever actually understand a human mind after all. Definitely not a complex one like his...

[[ Master... I don't think master Axion... ]]

"I know that already. Why would he be interested in a lizardman uncle? But what's wrong in hoping that something that most probably won't ever happen must never happen?"

[[ Master... you have become even weirder. ]]

[[ Sister Elle is weird... but I still like sister Elle~! ]]

"See. Learn from our cute Celes~. See good in people. Everyone has their own imperfections."

[[ But I don't think- ]]

"When did I say you could talk? Shut up!"

[[ Uam...! ]]

He just shut up as soon as I ordered him. He was cute, too.

'Hehe...'

Celes returned to watching their amazing fight. I also wanted to watch it but alas... I had to face a creature that might be life-threatening.

"It's also actually a lich... ironic."

[[ Actually, right? Master Eon is fighting with a pure creature of nature, while you will face a being who had defied a law of nature and gained great power and partial immortality. It's fascinating how mages have such great desires they can even turn themselves into undead. ]]

"We still don't know if it is a pure lich or an evolved being. Don't reach your own conclusions. And... I told you to stay quiet, right? Now, until I don't ask, you won't say a word."

[[ ...ok- ]]

"What? Did I hear something?"

[[ ... ]]

"Good. So, yes. I'm freaking unlucky. Celes, can I ask him if he has something like a potion to enhance luck?"

[[ ... ]]

I asked Celes, but my dear crow also wanted to say something. I could feel him, just like how he and Celes could feel about each other, so I can tell that he wanted to add to the thing I asked her.

'He wants to say something. Definitely, something like a potion that increases luck is an absurd thing all in itself. Hehehe.'

I wouldn't take it even if it existed, though.

My dear luck... however it may be, it is special to me.

Though it doesn't work in most cases, when truly needed, it has always helped me better than the ones with natural high luck.

'It's the reason I met him. So, doing anything about it aside from mourning over it and cursing it isn't something needed.

So, yes... my luck is garbage.'

Anyway, there was a smile on my face as I moved through the now somewhat different corridor.

Celes didn't answer my last question. Maybe she was too absolutely into observing their fight?

Well, it would be fun if this lich is someone who can give me as good a fight as them.

Finishing him quickly should actually be impossible, so I was already expecting some fun things.

'Maybe I can also chat with him? Their both kinds are special, anyway.'

Yes... now I at least had some expectations.

'He will be easy to defeat if he is under a normal human's evil spirit anyway, right?'

Lich...

There were two kinds to these creatures, or more accurately, beings.

First, the evolved high-grade undead monsters.

The high-grade undead mages gain experience and self enlightened and become a lich.

These kinds of creatures don't consume many resources of their master as they are evolved and already were loyal servants of their masters. But these kinds of lich are rare. And most of them aren't purely evolved through their own understanding of the world, life, and death.

They somehow possess the innate ability of [Evolution]. And this innate ability helps them to evolve into a strong (Blue) rank creature, normally at least.

They are some of the greatest creatures who can use magic. Their magic power is far greater than their ranks.

But when they gain true self enlightened, they become some of the most formidable forces in existence. They almost reach the peak of (Purple) rank after all. Maybe sometimes beyond that... but creatures like that are only a myth.

'The second kind of lich is, as my dear wise crow said, mages who go too far with their desires.'

Humans have a finite life. Some of the shortest ones too.

But at the same time, they possess the greatest ambitions, greatest greed, and actual mad desire to achieve that goal.

And mages, the stronger humans among the innumerable population, mostly have a desire for knowledge, truth, and power.

They are the ones with the greater greed and desires.

Their goals are so important to them that their finite life becomes short for them. And then... they perform some weird ritual and turn themselves into undead.

They leave their life after the ritual, but they don't cross over to the river of death.

They stay between the boundary of life and death after sealing their soul, the main living energy, into some special object.

They gain conditional immortality at the end of their ritual. Gaining great power and a long time to pursue their goal.

Some of them even actually achieve their goal and become so strong that they could even challenge the greatest powers of the world.

One such example is one of the three archmages of the world. The master of the magic tower...

"But he's a fucking bastard. I hope this one is better."

Not that I cared. All I had to do here was kill this creature, get his things, and go to that bastard evil spirit.

That's all I had to do, and it would be good if this was wrapped up quickly.

I was already certain that I would lose to him in the competition of things collected throughout their mini-boss fights.

After not getting anything from those hundreds of undead, the chances were low that my great luck would shine and give me something good.

But at least, one thing was for certain...

"Lich has a hundred percent chance of leaving their energy core after their death. And it must also have some pretty artifacts if it is a good lich. He will also be intelligent, so exerting information from him would be a great thing. Maybe, if I can get information on the evil spirit's weakness, I will be able to get that coin~!"

Yeiiii~. That was also a thing, right?

Lich mostly were creatures with as high intelligence as humans, maybe higher in some cases, so I could talk with him~.

With a cheerful smile on my face, as I reached the open area, which looked a bit more well built than the previous ones, and saw a black hooded being standing some distance away, the torcher methods related to bones crossed my mind.

I was ready to use force to make him talk if things didn't go the way I wanted but maybe it wasn't actually needed as... without me needing to do anything, as soon as I entered the open area and saw the lich, the creature itself spoke up in an extremely surprising voice that didn't fit my view of the grand masters of magic, lich.

[ "Aikk...! Y-you! What are you...!?" ]

He spoke with [Mana speech] but his voice was extremely frightened.

His head, the skull head, was covered by the hood, but the frightened light in his eyes was something that surprised me more than the fact that... there were green plants behind the place he was standing.

I didn't understand what he was doing, what he was saying, or what he was afraid of, but from his unique reaction... a sudden thought crossed my mind.

'Is it possible to 'obtain' this lich...?'