As Lucas left the altar, he didn't forget his skeleton underlings.

  With a mental command, the remaining skeleton underlings followed him, leaving the dark altar and rushing out of the Canyon of the Dead.

  The zombies had all been slain.

  The crystal orb, the core of the altar, had also been taken by Lucas. The towering dark altar... was now abandoned.

  Moving swiftly,

  By the time Lucas left the Canyon of the Dead, he had split off from his skeleton underlings, heading in a different direction. Meanwhile, his skeleton underlings, led by the Elite Skeleton Swordsman who had merged with a Skeleton Warrior's body, moved toward their original path.

  While Lucas traveled alone, he remotely controlled his skeleton underlings.

  When the skeleton underlings reached the previous battlefield, they dispersed under Lucas's command, circling and maneuvering through the vast area.

  This process lasted for most of the day.

  Only when the traces left by Lucas and his skeleton underlings were completely obscured, making it impossible to track them, did Lucas order his underlings to regroup with him.

  In the Land of Buried Bones,

  On a desolate plain far from the Canyon of the Dead, Lucas reunited with his skeleton underlings.

  He took out the crystal orb again.

  Looking at the system description on the crystal orb, Lucas's mood was particularly complex.

  The reason he had spent most of the day meticulously covering his and his underlings' tracks... was this crystal orb!

  To be precise,

  It was because of a name that appeared in the crystal orb's system description!

  Rogris.

  At this point in time, the game hadn't started yet, so no one knew what this name meant. But with ten years of game experience from his past life, Lucas knew that this name represented... a legendary Calamity Mage!

  In his past life, Lucas's starting point wasn't near the Land of Buried Bones.

  He had never interacted with the Land of Buried Bones.

  He didn't know if Rogris had appeared in the Land of Buried Bones early in the game and interacted with players.

  All he knew was that by the mid-game, the name Rogris had become known to most players!

  Because by then, Rogris had emerged as an Epic-tier Necromancer, entering the players' field of vision.

  Upon his appearance, this powerful Necromancer led an undead army into human territory, destroying dozens of cities! At one point, he even threatened the human kingdom's capital!

  And the first epic-level main quest players received in this world was to resist Rogris and his undead army!

  That war ultimately ended in humanity's victory.

  However, Rogris disappeared just before the war's conclusion.

  When he reappeared, he had successfully advanced from the Epic tier to the Legendary tier!

  Later,

  In several subsequent calamity-level disasters in the game world, Rogris's shadow could be seen. And his ranking on the Calamity Leaderboard... once broke into the top ten!

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  This was Lucas's understanding of the name Rogris.

  No wonder Lucas had hurriedly left the Canyon of the Dead after seeing that name.

  The black crystal orb, the dark altar, the zombie race in the Canyon of the Dead, and the system description on the crystal orb... all of this pointed to one thing: the zombie race had been created by Rogris, the Necromancer!

  The existence of the black crystal orb and the dark altar was also Rogris's attempt to nurture a zombie capable of breaking through to the warrior tier!

  No wonder none of the zombies could be enslaved by Lucas.

  As an undead race created by Rogris, the zombie race naturally had the highest-level servant contract with the Necromancer. When two forms of enslavement conflicted, the only outcome for those zombies was to have their heads explode.

  Lucas didn't know what level of power Rogris possessed now.

  Based on his past life's experience and the fact that Rogris had created the zombie race, even if Rogris hadn't reached the Epic tier yet, he was at least at the Mentor tier (Warrior tier) or Hero tier (Lord tier).

  Far beyond what Lucas could handle at this stage.

  That's why, upon seeing the name and realizing the implications, Lucas immediately left the Canyon of the Dead with his skeleton underlings and took great care to cover his tracks.

  The only flaw...

  Perhaps was the crystal orb Lucas had taken with him.

  Yes, when leaving the Canyon of the Dead, Lucas had also taken "Rogris's Crystal Orb."

  This was a Dark Gold-tier item.

  It held immense value!

  This value wasn't just for NPCs like Rogris or future players—it was even more valuable for monsters like Lucas!

  1. The crystal orb could absorb, store, and purify death energy. Even if left alone, once the orb stored enough death energy, absorbing it would provide a significant amount of experience points and attribute boosts.

  This could be used by both Lucas and his skeleton underlings.

  2. The crystal orb could not only store death energy but also mana. During downtime, Lucas could inject his mana into the orb for storage, then draw from it during battles... Essentially, this gave Lucas an endless supply of mana!

  Just thinking about it,

  Lucas could already think of two uses he couldn't refuse.

  Not to mention, the crystal orb likely had other hidden uses waiting to be discovered!

  In Lucas's hands, this Dark Gold-tier item was even more valuable than Epic or Legendary equipment!

  Of course, if it were just for its value, Lucas wouldn't dare take such a risk.

  After all, taking the crystal orb likely meant drawing Rogris's attention. There was no telling if Rogris had left some kind of mark on the orb, allowing him to track its location at any time.

  The reason Lucas dared to take the crystal orb was that he was absolutely confident Rogris couldn't track him through it!

  Because...

  The [Erosion] talent!