Brand New Life Online: Rise Of The Goddess Of Harvest

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“The Bone Reinforcing Ritual Formula is simple enough…”

Elayne studied the Bone Reinforcing Ritual Method from the book, one of the many techniques the Undead had stolen from the city they had fled.

“To reinforce my bones, I must gather Nether Essence from my Nether Core and spread it evenly across every bone. I need to cover each one, no matter how many there are. Once every bone is coated, let the essence rotate around it for ten consecutive hours,” Elayne murmured, nodding slowly. “Why require a Nether Core? For the essence itself? Well, I have plenty from the air, and the colony of Nether Plants growing inside my body…”

It was more than that, however. As she spread her Nether Essence through each bone, she discovered she was producing abundant energy from her Spiritual Heart and even her Nature Soul. She had unknowingly forged her own substitutes for a Nether Core.

The process was exhausting.

Refining every one of her countless bones proved draining and deeply stressful, yet Elayne pressed on with grim determination. From the rest of the day through to the morning of the next, she persisted until the final bone was complete. Then…

FLASH!

“Whoa!”

She had performed a full hundred rotations per bone, strengthening them as she drew the energies back. The improvement was faint, almost imperceptible. She would need weeks, perhaps months, of relentless effort to achieve meaningful results.

But it was a start.

“It’s only the beginning. I’ll improve with time…”

She opened her eyes and turned to the next cultivation method she wished to prioritize: the Rotten Flesh Strengthening Method, designed specifically for zombie-type Undead who still clung to their decaying flesh.

There were also mummies, whose flesh was not rotting but desiccated and dry, hardened like stone. They could practice this method too, though with diminished results.

“I wonder how I would look as a mummy…”

For a moment, Elayne pictured herself as a withered, ancient figure, skin flaking away into ashes. The image filled her with dread. She felt profoundly lucky to be a zombie rather than a skeleton or ghost; for them, gaining power would be far more difficult.

Among the Undead, zombies were considered among the strongest because they could pursue all three major paths: ghostly cultivation of the soul, bone cultivation like skeletons, and their own rotten flesh cultivation.

Skeletons could not cultivate flesh at all, but they compensated by channeling all their power into bones alone, becoming extraordinarily resilient. It was far easier for skeletons to grow larger and more powerful by absorbing additional bones. Zombies struggled with this, as their flesh resisted such changes.

Stitching new parts onto their bodies was possible, creating Frankenstein-like forms, but it demanded specialized cultivation methods. Attempting it carelessly led to failure and weakened combat ability.

For Elayne to stitch new body parts from other zombies into herself, she would need to advance her Rotten Flesh Cultivation and master Flesh Stitching and Flesh Transfiguration—complex techniques rumored to drive practitioners to utter madness.

Still, she could not help imagining multiple arms, extra heads, or even wings. Each could prove invaluable, granting greater strength. Her desperation for power had grown so intense that she seriously considered harvesting swift legs from a Nether beast, replacing her bones with larger and tougher ones, or attaching wings from a flying creature, among other possibilities.

“But for now, it’s better to focus on the fundamentals before attempting anything so advanced…”

The Rotten Flesh Strengthening Method required allowing her remaining flesh, skin, muscles, cartilage, and organs to absorb both Nether and Ghostly Energy. The process resembled the Bone Reinforcing Ritual but felt simpler.

It bore strong similarities to the Living World’s body strengthening methods, almost like a direct adaptation tailored for Undead. By drawing ever more power of death into the body, an Undead could grow stronger.

Though Nether caused living things to decay and Ghostly Energy could devour souls, scattering them into phantasmal fragments, both proved remarkably effective at empowering Undead and the Noble Races.

The mightier an Undead became, the greater the volumes of Nether in its body and Ghostly Energy in its soul. A zombie’s path to strength lay in absorbing these essences—the very components of death—and fusing them into its flesh.

Zombies possessed no inner warmth. No blood coursed through their veins, and their organs served no function. Yet their brains still sheltered thoughts and consciousness to some degree. As cultivation deepened, even this vulnerability diminished.

Their chief priority was preventing total decay, preserving the body while steadily reinforcing it through Nether infusion.

Undead could never grow physically stronger through training. Their bones would not harden, their muscles would not build, no matter the effort.

That gift belonged to the living. Beings of the Living Realm could push their limits repeatedly, recovering and gaining strength from each exertion.

Thus, a frail, slender person could transform into a towering, muscular warrior through dedication and time. For Undead, no such path existed. Exercise changed nothing.

The sole route to power was absorbing Nether and consuming the flesh, bones, and souls of others—be they Netherworld beasts, Noble Races, or living beings from the World of the Living.

Yet Elayne and the Demon Tree Religious Order rejected these instinctive practices common to most Undead. They loathed such acts and vowed never to devour another’s soul.

Instead, they communed with nature, nurtured their souls, and drew spiritual energy directly from the world around them.

“I will never eat souls,” Elayne declared firmly. “I might consume beast flesh and blood, but I will not hunt intelligent beings. So I must rely solely on my internal essence. It’s slow, but I’m enduring.”

After another ten hours of intense meditation and cultivation, Elayne completed the first stage of the initial rank of the Rotten Flesh Strengthening Method. Her body felt noticeably stronger, heavier, and tougher.

“Both methods complement each other. I believe I can cultivate them simultaneously. All right, let’s try.”

Elayne didn’t really need to eat as a Zombie if she had consumed a lot of energy already, so she stayed alone in her room for the rest of the day. Having previously told everyone she was going to seclude herself for a couple of days to further strengthen her foundation, she was left alone without being bothered.

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