Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 1339 - 125: The Unique Dance

Chapter 1339: Chapter 125: The Unique Dance

"Crackle and pop," the sounds of bursting like burning wood echoed by the Lake of Sand. Carried by the unceasing wind, countless sparks were swept into the sky, whirling above the dark surface of the lake, leaving transient reflections like shooting stars on the water. At the lakeside, a fire pit half the height of a person blazed vigorously, its bright light illuminating the mushroom forest and half of the night sky. By the fire pit, a joyous scene unfolded: more than a dozen skeletons formed a circle, holding hands and dancing merrily. It was just an ordinary day, and despite their arduous toil, these skeletons danced with abandon, eternally cheerful. It was as if they relished every day of their second life, perhaps because they had once lost it. Those who wrestled themselves from the grip of death, the Undead, might thus appreciate the preciousness of life’s delights.

"Rattle~~~~, rattle~~~~," the skeletons collided with each other’s bones, creating a rhythmic clacking sound. Their dance was very entertaining; reduced to their skeletons, no longer bound by muscles or skin, they assumed poses impossible for living beings. The skeletons twisted and turned by the bonfire, casting long, distorted shadows on the sandy ground. Bonfire, Undead, silent dance, and twisted shadows, which would usually seem a bizarre and horrifying spectacle to the living, at this moment it was not frightful but rather intriguing, compelling onlookers to applaud.

Especially when a dozen skeletons simultaneously took off their skulls and tossed them upwards, only for another Undead by their side to catch and place them back on their cervical spine, strike a few dance poses, then toss them again. The process repeated until each skull returned to its respective neck without a single error. The neat movements and exquisite coordination elicited applause from the audience—the members of the adventure team—even Little Deer couldn’t help but mimic their movements, tossing its own skull up.

"Ah, my head, Annie, help me out, where has my head been thrown?"

Understandably, the girls ignored the wails of the little dolt, raising their cups toward the dancing skeletons. The skeletons turned towards the adventure team, hopping on one foot a few times as if to reciprocate their toast, then pulled out a strange, large thigh bone secured within their ribs. Without stopping their dance moves, they gave the bone a twist and it easily split into two, revealing it to be hollow and filled with some liquid. The skeletons clacked their jaws in unison, and while still dancing, lifted their makeshift bone cups to gesture to their guests, synchronously gulping down their beverages. When they turned back, their steps were livelier than before.

Above the fire pit, Mr. Ghost showed no concern for the scorching flames, twisting his semi-transparent body over the fire. Whenever the skeletons struck an impressive pose, Mr. Ghost would let out a roar in perfect harmony with their moves. Sometimes, a few skeletons would simultaneously throw their skulls towards him, and like a clown juggling on stage, he would catch the skulls, letting them flip and fly between his hands until the next wave of skulls came, at which point he would skillfully toss them back.

A bit further away, more than a dozen skeleton mounts were carelessly spread around the outskirts of the camp, with no defensive measures taken, unbound, left freely to lie in the sand. Occasionally, they stretched their necks to nibble on a nearby large mushroom, seemingly content and at ease.

"It’s been analyzed, this is indeed a Bone Mushroom," Vivian said confidently as she held a small piece of the mushroom sample, "In theory, that’s correct, but the problem is, nobody has ever seen a Bone Mushroom of this size. It shouldn’t be possible for a Bone Mushroom to grow so huge."

"I think, since we came here, we should just throw common sense out the window," Freya said while fiddling with several delicate parts in her hands. These parts looked small and harmless, but the members of the adventure team knew all too well that with these parts, Her Royal Highness could turn them into a crystal energy gun whose muzzle was practically the size of a cannon in just two seconds. She let the parts flicker in and out of sight between her fingers, her eyes fixed on the dance next to the fire pit, and said leisurely, "Haven’t our notions of common sense been overturned enough for today? Any single one of those would cause a sensation if spread around, let alone a few Bone Mushrooms. Look, even Pannis has lost the strength to be surprised."

"No, I still have the energy to be surprised," Pannis replied, holding a cup and sniffing at the rim, occasionally sticking out his tongue to lick the surface of the water. Hearing Freya’s teasing, he decisively tilted his head back and gulped down the water in the cup, shrugged his shoulders, and said, "Acting normal now is simply because I suddenly felt no need to be surprised anymore."

"Oh? Do you have an idea already?" Catherine tried to snatch the cup from Pannis’s hands, to stop him from pouring the lake water into his mouth, but she was a step too late. All she got back was an empty cup, and she couldn’t help but knock on Pannis’s head with the cup in irritation, saying unhappily, "You dare to drink water fetched from the lake, do you want to go through the process of getting here again? I know you’re trying to determine if the water is harmful, but are you some kind of animal? Your methods of distinction are sniffing, licking, and then ingesting it."

"No, please believe me, I’m definitely not a dog," Pannis retorted quite sternly, but seeing Catherine’s increasingly unfriendly gaze and the faint concern she showed, he could only give a wry smile and said evasively, "The water is fine, it’s just that the concentration of the Energy of Death is a bit higher, um, a few hundred times perhaps, haha, just a little, really just a bit, because the concentration of life or Energy of Death in the water is originally not too high, a few hundred times won’t pose much of a problem, if only drunk occasionally for a few days, it won’t have much of an effect on the living, at most causing stomach discomfort. As for these mushrooms, they are even easier to explain."

"You mean because of the high concentration of the Energy of Death here?" Vivian nodded thoughtfully, "That does make sense."

Bone Mushrooms are a rather precious Alchemy ingredient, mostly growing from skeletons, which is why they are called Bone Mushrooms. However, this is a misconception, as the actual condition for the growth of Bone Mushrooms is not the Skeletons, but the concentration of the Energy of Death in the environment. Only in environments with a very dense concentration of the Energy of Death, Bone Mushrooms can be found, and therefore, they are often associated with the presence of the Undead.