Chapter Six

Harmony turned to Ambrosia. "What are the laws and regulations on having unbound undead?" She wouldn't have asked if she had thought her friend had come unprepared. One didn't drop this kind of bomb without having answers.

"Not much, as Hazeldown and Naewauld don't generally have issues with zombies, spirits, or ghosts. It is rare to see any this close to the city who are not fleeing the energies. But there are a few farms and ranches between the two cities. Usually, random undead are put down or hunted like wild animals. But some have managed to use them for useful purposes. There is a livestock clause, so farmers can get compensated if someone kills one they've registered.

"I am not livestock." Bea protested, showing signs of human-like distress.

"Registering does mean if she does any harm, you could be held legally responsible or forced to put them down."

"Again, I am not some livestock," Bea interjected.

Harmony groaned. "If that is the only option we have. Register her. I know that intelligent undead are excluded from sapient protections and legal rights. That was one of the reasons Adric was unable to get his stipend for so long until Maekus cut the bureaucratic tape and cleared him."

"I have come here to serve Lady White." Bea started.

Harmony turned to the spirit now that the decision on the technical and legal aspects of being here had been made. Here was a being that had no good reason to be here. "And why is that? You were relatively safe in the Deadwoods. You don't look strong enough to pass through the spirit wall and escape that caged land. Being this close to Hazeldown can't be comfortable."

"You saved my life. I owe you a life debt. The wall let me out once I relayed that I was returning to you. I can withstand the pressures of the dungeon."

She'd met that wall of wailing spirits and knew exactly what they wanted. They might not have bodies, but something in there probably had brains and enough teamwork to allow this one to escape. Would Bea appreciate being the worm at the end of a hook?

"I'm going to update my work on you. You've shown up during an inopportune time as I'll be occupied for a few months soon. This will probably be uncomfortable."

Rather than try everything at once, it was time to do this right. The body was still a bit pale. [Beautician] and [Manipulate Dead] got to work and gave her a coloring that could fake being alive. She had taken incidental scrapes and gouges, mostly on her lower half, during her journey getting here. Looked like there was even the half-moon of a goblin bite. Time to make her tougher to avoid such injuries in the future, a tough yet flexible skin with the appearance of being thin.

Increased bone density, so breaks were less likely. The movement seemed to be based around the skeleton more than the muscles for how this spirit occupied the body. The undead system was interesting. Fat was useless, blood vessels too. Most of that could be replaced with muscles, which, while not key to strength and movement, did add to it. No point in taking her breasts, that would be too aesthetically odd, and removing a potential tool to distract people from her state, replacing most of it with solid perky muscles.

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[Reinforce Construction] showed some benefits on all levels as her newest [Claimed] skill buffed everything and made note to use it on the other repairs. It would be disappointing when she eventually lost its power. The non-necromantic skill added some magical damage resistance and protection against degradation, mostly related to time.

The soul container was next. Old injuries she'd repaired had started to split open again. The goblin bite left little indentations that could potentially become a future problem. Most of what she'd used before to fix issues was based on soul strike glimpses and work on her authority-damaged system. Now she was living with an evolved container and had the experience of evaluating geists, oddities, and ghosts.

Harmony got to work with [Renew Spirit] combined and enforced with [Mend], [Manipulate Dead], and [Beautician]. There was an instinctive hunch, and beats of [Eternal Fable's Heart] let her work deeper layers of the undead spectrum with each push. Adding a story or maybe the eternal aspect? The heart skill felt the most mysterious, like it would take years to go through everything properly. She'd have to hire experts once the Ascendant Games business was done.

[Disintegrate] played a role in removing free-floating bits of debris. She also started to get a picture of the spirit as an entity and the body it inhabited as separate things. Combining the two had potential, but Harmony kept that separate and focused on another round of renewal and repair to what Bea was to the best of her abilities, even supporting enough to increase the power of a spiritual engine that kept the spirit and body filled with spiritual energy.

[Claim the Remains of Power] let her work on those broken skills. The nature of the skill made it not want a broken or useless skill, always wanting the strongest one, even if it might have undesirable effects. This let her look at the least damaged skills, and as she repaired the degrading skills to maintain them to a point where [Claim] wouldn't object if she took one. The one she'd tried to fix before was the most problematic. How she had fused the split skill had been a mistake. She had to undo the scarring and get to work. With some effort, Harmony repaired three of the body's former skills and fixed one of the spirit's fragile ones.

Work done, the rumbling of Harmony's human stomach, and the smell of food pulled her out of her intense focus.

Ambrosia was standing nearby with a tray of food. "How long was I?"

"It's an hour past lunch. I told the rest of the staff you were in some private reflection time and not to be disturbed. I've also brought your journal so you can take more notes."

"Are you done?" Bea asks, her voice a little strained and wispy.

"Yes." You get to know something once you spend hours rooting in its soul. Bea honestly believed she owed Harmony a debt, and she hadn't felt any maliciousness or traps. But if Bea were a more advanced spirit, she wouldn't have risked half the prodding she did. "Ambrosia, can you assign her away from our two new necromancer hires. Probably with Steven. One of the skills I managed to restore is related to needlework."

"As you wish. I must inform you that news came in while you were preoccupied. The queen has a new heir, and Hemlock has made his move. All Ascendant Game competitors are to meet at the colosseum tomorrow, two hours after lunch, with their bonded to start the competition."

"I'm not the heir, am I?" Harmony asked.

"Shrink your ego some, Lady White. I know you're a royal now, but you don't need to jump to conclusions."

Ambrosia had missed the fear; it's not like Harmony had told her what she'd seen. [Poise and Bearing] hid it further. No stressing over problems you can't solve, or burdening your friends with them. "And who is this heir?"

"Heir Manifest Rosaline Hightsmythe. And no, the guild is not letting her out of the Games. There is also required schooling, one of the reasons why Adric didn't want to be the heir. Heirs and similarly appointed nobles have such requirements. That's probably why she was attacked during the Deadwoods trip, some oracle-type class, and their premonitions."

They might have had their issues, but Harmony wouldn't have wished this on Rose. [Recall] replayed the state Queen Talia was in with a soul so twisted, tangled, controlled, and manipulated, a view she'd fled from. Jacob or Willow might deserve such a fate, but not Adric's sister. [Poise and Bearing] controlled Harmony features. "I'll be sure to congratulate her when I see her next."

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