Chapter 789
Lich Grunewald
“I’ve read the letter of introduction you brought…”
Mathias’s voice was hollow and slow. If his tone hadn’t been friendly, it would have sounded incredibly eerie and terrifying right now. “You know Cyril?”
“He’s sort of like an elder to me,” Alistair replied frankly. “He taught someone very important to me a High-Tier Divine Art, so he’s indebted to me.”
“Pope Eivass?” Mathias immediately guessed who Alistair was referring to.
“…You seem to be quite well-informed,” Alistair said with some helplessness.
She’d heard that those on the Twilight Path were all aliens. How did the First Black Phase know about her and Eivass the moment he came out of seclusion?
“I just pay more attention to Cyril’s affairs,” the skeleton clad in simple black robes shook its head slightly and said no more. The joints in its neck creaked audibly.
Alistair’s interest was piqued. “Speaking of which… I remember Cyril mentioning you were friends… Principal, have you known each other since the Imperial era?”
“…Is that how he described me?” Mathias didn’t answer, instead posing a question back with an echoing, ethereal tone.
Alistair looked a bit confused. “What’s wrong?”
“Before I embarked on this path, Cyril and I were indeed friends.”
*Were*.
Alistair reacted. “So, that means…”
“Back then, he wasn’t a Cardinal yet, and I hadn’t entered the Spirit Tower. But the moment I decided to walk this path, we parted ways. Because back then, he couldn’t accept a friend on the Twilight Path, and I had to take this path.”
Mathias’s voice was ethereal and drawn-out, like a pastoral flute on the plains. “We haven’t been in contact since. The fact that he could write you a letter of introduction… shows he cares a lot about your matter. So, I will help.”
*—Back in the day, we were friends.*
*—He might give me some face. Maybe.*
Cardinal Cyril’s past words and complex expression flashed through Alistair’s mind.
*…So that’s what he meant by that.*
Only now did Alistair fully understand the hidden subtext in Cardinal Cyril’s words.
“Sealing Aethelred’s residual consciousness… I should be able to do it, but it will take some time to prepare,” Mathias said slowly. “If you’re not in a hurry, you can wait a couple of years. I’m cultivating a Sixth Tier undead… Once I’m done with him, both Star Antinomy’s current chaos and Aethelred’s problem can be resolved.”
Despite being only Fifth Tier, “Principal” Mathias didn’t seem to take Aethelred lightly at all. To him, a Heavenly Envoy wasn’t an unattainable existence.
*—For anyone else, Alistair would think they simply didn’t understand the capabilities of a Heavenly Envoy. But coming from Mathias, Alistair felt this might be true.*
Even though Alistair had already overestimated the strength of the First Black Phase to a considerable extent, Mathias still exceeded her expectations.
“…Is this ‘Lich’?” Alistair murmured softly.
“You actually know about this profession?” This time, it was Mathias’s turn to express surprise.
The skeleton was silent for a long time before slowly floating over, emitting a hollow voice. “I thought I was the first Lich in the world… I’ve kept this secret for so long. Now it seems, one really shouldn’t be too complacent.”
*—Not at all, you really are the first Lich in the world.*
*Even the requirement to have Fifth Tier Path Adaptation to become a Lich was likely copied from you.* Alistair added in her mind.
“…Lich?” The current Black Phase, Adolf, didn’t even know this. “This is the first time I’ve known your Extraordinary Profession, Mentor. I always thought you were an Amber Artisan… after all, everyone knows your artistic skill is quite high.”
“Artistic skill?” Leviathan questioned with a sharp yet young voice.
The Sea Monster could actually speak—this slightly stunned both Fifth Tier Necromancers. But they were experienced after all, and Adolf naturally explained, “The Principal is also Fifth Tier on The Path of Beauty—he was quite a famous painter back in the day.”
“I obtained this profession purely by chance. Because this profession is too dangerous and almost impossible to learn…” Lich Mathias sighed softly, his voice hollow and echoing. “I originally intended to switch to Amber Artisan.”
Among the eight advancement professions on the Twilight Path, Lich was the most difficult advanced profession.
For example, “Ghoul Shepherd” was the simplest advancement profession. It only required a minor in the Path of Devotion, nothing else.
“Calamity Stitcher” and “Amber Artisan” both required two levels of the Path of Balance, the former requiring one not to be too old, and the latter not to be too young; “Underworld Walker” required three levels of the Transcendent Path and the experience of resurrection to achieve balance between the two realms of transcendence and twilight…
The other seven advancement routes, although with different requirements… at least required a minor in a lower-tier profession.
Only “Lich” was different—
“May I say it, Lord Mathias?” Alistair politely sought the opinion of the First Black Phase.
“Go ahead, I’m curious too… how I obtained this profession. Based on my observations, many Extraordinary beings with Path Adaptation have also walked the Twilight Path, but they haven’t gained the power of ‘Lich’.”
Mathias gnawed on his bones with a clatter, his skull emitting a hollow echo. “Actually, I still don’t know the exact requirements for this profession…
“All I know is that before entering the Spirit Tower, I was a ‘Withered Bloom Scholar’—an advanced profession of ‘Physician’. In the pre-Avalon era, the Church of the Nine Pillar Gods wasn’t as widespread among humans. Back then, Apothecaries weren’t called Apothecaries yet… they hadn’t degenerated to merely prescribing medicine, but were the most mainstream healers among humans. I’ve treated countless people and also caused countless deaths, and have come to terms with life and death.
“In addition, I was also a ‘Mysterious Painter’—I originally just wanted to minor in a few levels of the Twilight Path to advance my Painter profession to Mysterious Painter. But I got engrossed in researching Necromancy and Preservation Techniques…”
The old Lich’s voice was hollow and uncertain, making it impossible to tell if his words held sarcasm, relief, or regret. “Who would have thought that my third Path would be the one I traveled the furthest on?”
“Mysterious Painter” was the upper-tier profession corresponding to “Master Artisan.” The former required a minor in the Twilight Path, while the latter required a minor in the Path of Balance.
This meant Mathias was a supreme expert of Fifth Tier on the Twilight, Beauty, and Adaptation Paths!
Yet, even such a powerful being had taken the wrong path. After living for most of his life, he finally found his true talent.
This was also the reason why the Extraordinary knowledge of this World was vague and often flawed.
Although compared to the Xuanxue-filled Path of Inheritance, the systematic Path of Professions was already quite friendly.
But even so, people didn’t have attribute panels, couldn’t even see the specific effects of their Path Traits, let alone the mastery of skills, attributes, and other rituals.
And each person’s experience was different. Even when trying to summarize their experiences, they would often subconsciously ignore many details, and the summarized experiences might not be useful… Path Power would inevitably affect the mind, causing most Extraordinary beings to pay less and less attention to leaving behind legacies.
Only the prerequisite profession of “Dream Traveling Monk,” “Naturalist,” actively collected this information. Because Naturalists had a degree of knowledge-sharing ability among themselves. For every new piece of Extraordinary knowledge recorded, they would receive power feedback from the Path of Wisdom.
But Naturalists and Dream Traveling Monks wouldn’t easily reveal the knowledge they recorded—after all, wisdom came from mystery.
For others to inherit a niche profession, they basically had to rely on luck. Before people truly embarked on this path, they had no idea if their talent for it was good or bad, nor could they easily obtain the profession that best suited them. They could only imitate “idols” who had already become Corresponding Professionals, then repeatedly remove the “unnecessary” parts to gradually streamline it.
For example, Demon Scholars were streamlined to only requiring mastery of “Demon Contract” and “Demonology,” while Ceremoniarchs emphasized not mastering “Demonology”; the core of a Priest’s abilities was to learn “Illuminate Spell” and “Praying Spell.”
Advancement professions were the same—for example, many Avalon Extraordinary beings now knew that Arbitrators, compared to Supervisors, required a deeper understanding of legal clauses, a trusting relationship with at least one important figure, and had personally executed criminals they had arrested; Priests needed to establish a complete connection with a Pillar God, Alchemists needed a household-name invention, and Sky Knights needed to wait for their Gryphon partners to enter a metamorphosis period…
In the past, these requirements had to be figured out one by one. This was precisely the advantage of popular professions. The more popular the profession, the more unnecessary rituals could be eliminated; the more niche the profession, the more complex and difficult the advancement ritual became.
Alistair recalled and easily replied in detail, “‘Lich’ requires the Ascender to first master Fifth Tier Path Adaptation, and then discard their physical body during the Ascension Ritual, transforming it into undead. Afterward, they must complete the advancement from Third Tier to Fourth Tier on the Twilight Path and regain the ability to dream.
“If this Ascension Ritual fails, the Ascender will become a normal undead upon exiting the ritual, permanently losing the ability to dream. This means the Ascender only has one chance. Failure means permanent failure.”
That was back in the era before “Warriors” appeared. Those with Adaptation were considered cowardly individuals afraid of death.
For a Fifth Tier Adapter to risk death for the static Twilight Path, and to complete an advancement with only one chance, was actually quite unrealistic.
Therefore, the difficulty in obtaining this profession was among the most difficult in Eivass’s memory… Although for players, these were actually quite easy requirements.
This profession appeared later than Sin Scholar and was worthy of its late-game strength—after all, if new professions weren’t strong or cool enough, it would be difficult for players to abandon their accustomed professions and re-level.
“…I see.” Adolf looked somewhat regretful and somewhat fortunate. “I was originally planning to follow the Principal’s example and undergo undead transformation myself. Fortunately, I learned this secret in time… I had intended to pass this position to young Fernando. But now, no one else has grown up. It seems I have to stay for a few more years.”
Alistair’s eyes widened slightly.
She understood.
Black Phase Adolf’s implication was—even knowing he couldn’t become a Lich, even knowing that undead transformation was the wrong path, he still intended to undergo undead transformation.
Now he was just planning to postpone it slightly, at least to give the new generation of students some time to develop.
This was probably the source of Adolf’s and Mathias’s “leisurely feeling.”
