Bro, I'm not an Undead!

“Say that again,” Skullius said as he was completely confused by the question. This was an evaluation?

Wasn’t it obvious what he was?

“Can’t you tell what I am?” Skullius asked with a strange tone that clearly spelled how he felt about this whole ordeal. It was beyond weird.

“KIKIKI! Funny story. Apparently I’m terrible at differentiating human gender. For some reason, you all look too similar to me and besides I haven’t seen that many of you,” Fuwin said with what Skullius could only guess was his thoughtful look.

In truth, it would be easier if Fuwin imposed his senses on his targets but he was too polite to do so, which is why he hadn’t noticed Skullius’ core situation and his blindness.

Skullius was halfway through gobsmacked by this.

Humans looked too similar? What kind of crap was that?!

He decided not to make a big deal out of this and simply state his gender to clear everything up.

“Alright then. I’m male,” Skullius said.

‘Hmph! Barely!’ Sila scoffed from within, his comment making a thick vein throb on Skullius’ temple.

With the Discount Human’s answer, a weirdly sullen emotion flowed into him from the connection with Fuwin.

“Oh… I see. Your life must be hard then and it’s about to get worse if you truly want to enter the place those twelve left behind,” Fuwin said.

“What? What do you mean?” Skullius asked in a profound mix of confusion and apprehension.

“Well, your gender decides the treatment you will receive in that place, after all, the human supposed to inherit the legacy left behind must be female.”

Skullius narrowed his eyes.

Really?

Well it wasn’t a surprise that such was the arrangement for this place that he had yet to even glimpse at, probably because Fuwin was hiding it but… the fact that treatment was different rubbed him the wrong way.

Still, the fact that there was probably a lot of men who also journeyed here to give it a try meant that there was probably a great many things that could be salvaged other than the legacy itself.

“I understand. I still want to do it,” Skullius said firmly.

Fuwin’s body darted at an imperceptible speed within the waters, the motion strangely not generating horrible waves as one would expect.

“I see. At the end of the day, it really seems like humans enjoy challenging death,” the large dolphin said before clapping its flippers in the waters. “Very well! KIKIKIKI! Since we have cleared up your gender, I will move on to the last evaluation.”

‘That question really was an evaluation then?’ Skullius thought while sighing internally.

Without transition or warning, a flash of light greater that the dolphin’s glow sparked before him, large objects appearing in the millisecond when the light disappeared.

Twelve large objects.

They were neatly arranged in three rows of four, their forms eerily identical.

As for what they were…

“What the heck are these?” Skullius asked with a frown, his senses jabbing at the objects.

‘Ah…’ Sila expressed realisation but prevented himself from speaking much as he didn’t want the dolphin to pick on his presence.

Yet, he knew all too well what the test entailed.

Rather, he was more concerned about a hurdle inside the place he and Skullius sought, rather than this preliminary.

The twelve objects before Skullius… were hard clay figures in the likeness of women. Barely covered women.

Actually, naked women.

Whoever had done his work on these was incredibly obsessed with details as if there had been any distinguishing colour work, it would be difficult for most to instantly realise that this was not real!

The curves, the contours, the bust. It was all phenomenally refined!

And yes, this accounted for more than just the appearance as these twelve women-shaped clay figures also had mana cores, or at least something like that.

Above this oddity, the figures also emitted a powerful allure, a nigh irresistible charm that tingled on the skin, influencing the body in subtle or blatant ways depending on the person.

‘They remind of Betsy,’ Skullius thought as he felt the shapes.

(A/N: The owner of that Inn in Inhone where Skullius had stayed).

“KIKIKIKI! This is the test given to all males. Apparently, and I quote, ‘This is to ensure that vile filth doesn’t find its way into the sacred place.’ Those twelve really hated men,” Fuwin said. “Now… this is the test. If you can find the figure that is different from the rest, I will allow you into the place you seek. Oh, oh! Asides from damaging any of these, anything else goes in your attempt to find the one.”

“Oh…” Skullius was intrigued.

Given how Fuwin had talked about him being weak, the Discount Human had thought that the evaluation would be more geared towards determining his strength but it seemed that that notion was wrong.

He was actually expected to display something else.

Skullius pushed himself forward towards the twelve objects.

However, the moment he advanced a few meters closer, a strange grip tingled over his skin, giving him a peculiar feeling.

‘Hmm… these things are emitting some kind of pressure…’ Skullius thought as he focused on re-establishing his Inner Domain, his senses and [Elevated Mana Manipulation] making up a dome of over twenty meters that included most of the figures!

Ferex protectively swam around his master as he wondered what he would do.

With the constant motion of the waters, Skullius felt his senses get enhanced as the collision of water on the clay figures made him notice a bit more about them, but…

The feeling that Skullius had gotten from these clay figures grew stronger, seemingly using his senses as a way to connect to him even more.

Soon, Skullius started to experience things that weren’t actually real.

In his ears, amidst the soft sounds of water creating soothing ambience, heavy breathing started to echo in his ears, soft voices that sounded almost too weak to hear also included.

“…”

Strange.

Skullius felt his body quiver ever so slightly.

What was this weird sensation.

All of sudden, his sensitive skin felt a warm touch and soft press against him that weirdly gushed a powerful feeling into him!

Fuwin watched closely.

‘He’s starting to get affected. Is he just like those I had to expel from my Territory? I thought he was one of the good ones~,’ the dolphin said with unveiled disappointment as it watched Skullius’ blank eyes stare at the figures but his body still.

‘<Sigh>. The seductive pressure distracts the target from noticing the obvious, appealing to their hidden desires that then cloud their judgement. It’s truly a brutal evaluation.’

Fuwin thought back to the time when one of the aspiring entrants stripped before rushing to nail himself onto one of the clay figures.

In a way, he then understood why the twelve were very critical about who entered their sacred place.

A few more seconds passed with Skullius remaining in place and at this point, Fuwin had lost hope.

‘Looks like it’s another failu—”

“It’s that one!” Skullius suddenly said as he pointed at a clay figure in the second row that looked just like the rest.

…!

Fuwin paused for a bit.

His massive figure tilted its head as it watched Skullius nod as he continued to point at the specific figure.

This little man was unaffected by the charm?

His eyes brimmed with determination but it wasn’t directed toward the figures before him in a lustful way as most of the individuals of the same gender would.

It wasn’t even a matter of resisting it seemed, he just flat out ignored the effects!

“KIKIKIKI!” Fuwin clapped his flippers with great might, causing ripples that consciously avoided Skullius and Ferex to burst through the water. “Marvellous, marvellous! I was starting to doubt you there but marvellous! You noticed the obvious without sinking into desire!”

Skullius inwardly sighed in relief.

In truth, he was shocked that this test was so simple. In the time he took, he had hypothesised that this was just an undignified test granted to men as women probably had a more… formal evaluation.

The only reason he had taken so long was because he wanted to confirm if such a mundane thing was really the whole objective behind the evaluation.

A small spark of condensed mana shaped in the form of a heart, barely the size of a finger nail was what he was to look for. It was hidden just above the strange construct that gave the impression that these figures had a mana core within them to cause just a bit of confusion but it was ultimately easy for him.

All he had experienced as a distraction was nothing more than that.

A distraction.

Skullius had not been enticed by the erotic collection one bit, perhaps annoyed but not enticed.

“Do I get to enter now?” he asked.

“Of course, of course!” Fuwin said, a large ripple coursing through the waters to dispel what could be said to be an illusion that had masked the appearance of a massive structure a distance below the two!