It had been over a thousand years since they met, and yet her mother had never forgotten her love for her.

Sophie"s tears dripped on the floor as she crawled her way toward her mother. She grabbed her hand and sobbed audibly, "Mother, mother, Sophie is back, Sophie is back…"

The old lady s.h.i.+vered even harder and asked hoa.r.s.ely, "Is it really you, Sophie? My little Sophie?"

"It"s me, mother… it"s me…" Sophie cried. "I"m home… little Sophie is finally home…"

The old lady shuddering raised a bony finger to touch Sophie"s soft, white cheeks, but she pulled away the second she made contact. "You"re back, but… I"ve turned into this… thing. You… need to stay away, Sophie. I"ll only dirty you…"

Sophie sobbed even harder as she grabbed her mother"s hand and pressed it to her cheek. "Sophie would never avoid you, mother. You are, and will always be, my greatest treasure…"

The warmth of Sophie"s cheeks transmitted to her palm, and the old lady smiled a little. Shockingly, a pair of tears actually flowed out of her sunken eye sockets as she murmured, "I don"t remember how long I"ve waited, but we"re reunited in the end, and that is enough. Old Man Dei was telling the truth after all…"

Suddenly, a wave of exhaustion washed over the old lady"s face. She let out a sigh and said, "I"m tired, Sophie. I"m tired…"

Sophie abruptly looked up in shock and fear. "Mother, what"s wrong?"

It was at this moment Xinran whispered to her from behind. "Her soul energy has long since depleted, Sophie…"

"What?!"

Sophie hurriedly cut open her palm and dripped her blood—the blood of a high-level undead—onto her mother"s skeleton. She kept crying while her blood flowed freely, "Mother, mother…"

Xinran bit her lips and allowed her own tears to slide down her cheeks.

……

Sha sha...

The old lady"s leg bones, ribs and more faded away and turned into dust. In the end, Sophie"s attempt to save her mother was too little, too late. Her soul flame had long been extinguished. When an undead"s flame no longer flickered, their death was true, in every sense of the word.

Sophie gripped her mother"s hand tightly, but there was nothing she could do to stop her fading.

"Mother, mother…" Sophie wailed.

However, the old lady smiled again and touched her daughter"s cheeks one last time. "I have to go, Sophie, but I"m happy… Do you know why you are the pride of my life, my little Sophie? It"s because you are an excellent warrior of the empire and a member of the Ten Heroes. It"s because you use your sword to protect everyone"s homes. I have to go, little Sophie, but know that you will always be my pride…"

At this point, even the old lady"s fingers had faded into ashes.

Sophie wailed on top of her lungs and tried to grasp at her mother"s body. There was nothing left to grasp, however.

"Mother, mother…!"

The sound of Sophie"s desperate wails beside her mother"s bed filled the room...

……

He Yi and Lin Yixin cried silently in the background. Beiming Xue and Lian Xin were sobbing audibly beside them. Even Purple Marquis had to look away and wipe a tear from the corner of his eyes.

Men are no unfeeling plants. Anyone would be moved by this selfless love.

Xinran abruptly took a step forward and opened her palm. A holy magic formation instantly appeared beneath the bed.

Swhoosh swhoosh...

Sophie"s mother"s remains scattered into rays of golden light and ascended to the sky. It was the scene of a redeemed soul ascending to the heavens.

"Mother…"

Sophie watched the sky until her mother"s remains were completely gone. A while later, she wiped away her tears before murmuring in determination, "Am I your pride, mother? Then I won"t disappoint you any more. From now on, my sword will only be swung to protect our home and those who are just as kind as you, mother. I won"t waver anymore, even in death. Please watch over me from heavens, mother. I will reunite with you one day!"

Finally, she rose back to her feet and looked at Xinran. She thanked her from the bottom of her heart, "Thank you, Wind Singer Xinran, my dearest sister!"

Xinran murmured, "Can you promise me that you won"t take another life, Sophie? There are too many kind souls who have lost those precious to them. Killing shouldn"t be the only thing for this world…"

Sophie nodded. "I know, Xinran. I won"t ever return to h.e.l.l anymore. But what should I do to atone for my sins? I know my death is the only way to make up for it all, but I wish to do something for the empire before the inevitable happens…"

"I understand," Xinran said.

Behind her, Princess Karinshan stepped out and said, "I"m sure Duke Carrance will be able to rest easy after seeing the tears of the G.o.ddess of Death. Sophie, the Purgatory Ruler, Lin Na, is an ambitious monster and a destroyer of worlds. He cannot be allowed to succeed in whatever scheme he is plotting, or the entire continent will turn into a blood-filled h.e.l.l. We need your strength, and you… are a kind daughter of Sky City. I"m sure you can help us somehow…"

Sophie answered, "Since I"ve decided to leave the Purgatory, the amount of undead troops I"ll be able to command is limited. I can contribute two dark castles and twelve ghost towers in the war against the undead, and nothing more. Also, don"t even think about asking me to partic.i.p.ate in wars among humans. I am done with the greed of humanity and the civil wars that sp.a.w.n from them."

Karinshan nodded. "I understand."

Xinran said, "If you won"t partic.i.p.ate in wars between the human empires, how about you set up a base somewhere and defend that area? You can act as a deterrent…"

Karinshan agreed. "That"s a good idea. The Night Creatures are everywhere on the continent. Sky City is constantly under the threat of the Corpse Eaters. Currently, we have two cities that could use Sophie"s presence. The first one is Fortress of the Iron Halberd of Dawn Valley. Both the wolves of the north and the Night Creatures lurking in Dragonbone Mountain Range are vying after the newly-built fortress. The second one is White Rose Fortress. This fortress has stood for over a millennium and gone through countless repairs and reconstructions. Of all the cities, it is also the one that has repelled the most undead attacks. Moreover, there are plenty of human cities and undead necropolises to the east of the fortress that we need to watch out for…"

However, Xinran looked at me and asked, "Big bro, where do you think Sophie should be stationed?"

I thought for a moment before replying, "Personally, I would choose White Rose Fortress. The Night Creatures often ambush civilians, and the major cities such as Cyan Earth City, Elephant City, Purple Grape City, Frostsword City and more are just waiting for an opportunity to claim Sky City for themselves. Someone needs to watch them…"

Xinran smiled. "Very well. Would you like to protect White Rose Fortress, Sophie?"

Sophie shot me a wary look before replying, "This boy is somewhat capable, but I can still squash him like a bug with one finger. I shouldn"t listen to him, but I will go there if that is your wish, Xinran. I won"t stay in White Rose Fortress, however. As I mentioned earlier, I will not partic.i.p.ate in the war between humans."

I nodded. "That"s fine, you can just set up your base close to White Rose Fortress or something. You can help them if an army of Night Creatures attacks the fortress."

"That"s acceptable…"

After that, Sophie looked back and forth between the distant sky and the tiny bed her mother used to sleep in. Then, she spoke as if bidding goodbye one last time, "Mother, Sophie is leaving now. I am, and will always be your pride…"

Finally, Sophie looked at Karinshan and asked her, "What do you plan to do with this monastery, princess?"

Karinshan blinked once before replying, "Nothing. There is nothing I or anyone can do except pray that these pitiful undead will be redeemed one day. It is their fate, and we are powerless to change it."

"Understood."

Sophie asked another question, "Can you preserve this building for me? When I grow… tired of life one day, I will return here and end myself."

Karinshan sucked in a deep breath. "I will do that, but you can"t die yet, Sophie. There is much for you to do…"

"I know…"

……

Ding~!

System Announcement: Congratulations to all players, the opening chapter of the Fury of the G.o.ddess of Death has been completed perfectly, and Sophie, the G.o.ddess of Death, has joined the Silver Moon Alliance. All players gain 1 Luck, and new instanced maps offering D to S Rank tasks have been added to all tier 1 main cities. Players may enter these instances to obtain experience and equipment. All items obtained in the instances are bound to character on pick-up, and thus cannot be traded!

I walked out of the small house, sucked in a deep breath and looked at the sky above my head for a moment. "Thank goodness this quest is over. I genuinely thought Sky City was going to fall when the Three-headed Giants attacked…"

Lin Yixin commented beside me, "Yeah. Also, the game finally released its dungeon system. I probably don"t need to tell you this, but you should sell your loot as soon as possible. Once people start farming higher-rank instances, the value of our current items will depreciate to literal trash…"

I nodded. "Of course. The sooner we sell everything, the better! I wonder what kind of equipment rewards the instances will give. Do you think there"ll be Immortal-grade equipment sets?"

"Hard to say…" He Yi replied, "I heard on the grapevine that each instance rank has 7 completely unique sets of equipment…"

"Er, sorry, can you explain it a bit clearer?" Purple Marquis asked.

Lin Yixin giggled. "Sister Eve is saying that each instance of the same rank—let"s say D Rank for example—has 7 sets of equipment to obtain…"

I added, "We can check the database. Now that the quest system is released, I"m sure that new information has been updated…"

I followed my own advice and checked the game database. As expected, almost everything was updated—

D Rank Instances: Poplar Forest (D1 set), Wilted Pine Forest (D2 set). Dropped sets are Level 70 Dark Steel–grade

C Rank Instances: Warbeast Valley (C1 set), Fortress of Death (C2 set). Dropped sets are Level 120 Silver-grade

B Rank Instances: Tomb of the Ancient G.o.ds (B1 set), Ocean of Ashes (B2 set). Dropped sets are Level 120~150 Gold, Purple Gold or Spirit–grade

A Rank Instances: Canyon of Fate (A1 set), Stele Forest of the G.o.d of Death (A2 set). Dropped sets are Level 150~180 Earth-grade

S Rank Instances: Dropped sets are Level 180~210 Heaven or Immortal–grade.

……

G.o.d dammit, only half of the information was provided, and the exact details of the S Rank instances were concealed! That being said, there was enough information that I could make an educated guess. The S1 set was a Heaven-grade set at the minimum, and the S7 set was most likely the legendary Immortal-grade set. Barring any exceptional circ.u.mstances, I"m sure that everyone would be working toward obtaining the S1 to S7 equipment sets.

In the future, there might be a saying like this: The player who obtains the S7 set shall conquer the world!