Chapter Twenty-One: Overbearing

Being stared down by Felipe's gaze, Lucian felt a chill run through him as a thought struck him.

Both Viscount Carrandiad and Felipe were convinced that he had come to sabotage the Pale Hand's plans. If he did nothing and simply watched until the end, it would likely arouse Felipe's extreme suspicion. If Felipe couldn't resist the urge to test him, he would be dead for sure—possibly even refined into some grotesque undead creature.

Even if Felipe chose not to act directly but instead tailed him quietly, Lucian lacked the ability to shake off a knight of his caliber. Things would become exceptionally troublesome. After all, a knight who tracked by sensation and traces couldn't match the diverse and wondrous methods of a mage or priest of the same level.

Arcane Magic and Divine Arts might not always match the offensive and defensive power of bloodline abilities of the same rank, but they far surpassed them in mystery and unpredictability. The *Book of Stars and Elements*, for instance, contained a great number of tracking and scrying spells.

"Should I take a risk and 'sabotage' something?" Lucian had already abandoned any thought of quietly waiting for things to end. "But the degree of sabotage has to be carefully calibrated. If I completely enrage Felipe, that's suicide. But if the method is too simple or superficial, it'll arouse suspicion just the same. The best outcome would be for Felipe to struggle to counter my 'sabotage' and then end the Banquet of Death as a hard-won victor."

"But how do I go about it? How do I calibrate it?"

Lucian increasingly felt like he had woven his own cocoon and gotten tangled in it. Having grown accustomed to reaping rewards through risk-taking, he had finally landed himself in an extraordinarily troublesome situation.

This was a lesson and a experience worth summarizing—if he survived.

While Lucian was preoccupied with thinking through methods of "sabotage" and had no attention to spare for Felipe's gaze, Cessei—the most powerful mage in the former Wilfred territory—had no choice but to steel himself and continue addressing Felipe: "Mr. Felipe, since the contract from our task cannot be refused, I'm afraid the matter of traveling to the Continental Magic Parliament headquarters can only depend on each person's own willingness."

At this point, he noticed that Thess, Sydney, Quentin, and the other necromancers were all nodding in agreement, while a faint cold smile played at the corners of Felipe's mouth. He hurriedly added: "Of course, I am personally willing to follow you to the Parliament headquarters and join the Pale Hand. But before that, I'd like to ask one thing—in the nations near the Parliament, is it possible to openly collect corpses?"

Felipe showed a satisfied smile toward Cessei, the first to express agreement: "Mr. Cessei, according to the accord reached between the Parliament and several kingdoms, you cannot directly destroy graveyards or kill ordinary people to obtain corpses. You can only use money and inducements to sign agreements with them for unrestricted disposal of bodies after death. Naturally, the corpses of enemies, magical creatures, beasts, and so on that you kill belong to you."

"If that's the case, our experiments are likely to become rather difficult—unless the Pale Hand can provide an adequate supply of corpses," Cessei said, frowning. High-ranking mages and others capable of traveling to extraplanar spaces naturally didn't need to worry about local "human resources," but a mid-level mage with aspirations of becoming someone of consequence relied heavily on various rituals to advance.

Thess, Quentin, and the others looked down at the mages and apprentices below, sensing emotions much the same as those of their companions. Without corpses, without prematurely dead humans or powerful magical creatures, these inheritors of ancient magic saw not the slightest possibility of progress!

Seeing all the necromancers and apprentices growing hesitant, and seeing that Lucian still maintained his enigmatic silence, Felipe grew somewhat agitated and cried out in a slightly manic tone:

"You can never imagine the progress that Arcane and Magic have made over these past few hundred years! Just as you cannot imagine how, without prematurely dead humans, without pure death and life force, one could conduct rituals and achieve growth in power!"

"Allow me to tell you—since His Excellency Vicente Miranda, the 'Overlord of Lost Souls,' unlocked the mysteries of the soul, methods have been found to purify ordinary death and life force. Prematurely dead humans are no longer needed."

"Moreover, through centuries of collision between the 'Spiritual Wave Theory' and the 'Spiritual Particle Theory,' increasingly efficient high-level meditation methods have appeared one after another, and their requirements have been lowered in short order. The vast majority of meditation methods recorded in your spellbooks are already outdated!"

Lucian listened attentively. The words "wave" and "particle" were deeply familiar to him, and he had developed an immense interest in the latest research achievements in necromancy.

In the stunned silence filling the hall, Felipe continued to shout:

"Can you imagine that meditation methods which a hundred years ago could only be studied by high-ranking mages can now be learned by formal mages?"

"Can you imagine that new spells are born every single month?"

"Can you imagine a mid-level mage at twenty years of age?"

"Can you imagine a high-ranking mage at thirty?"

"Can you imagine a Grand Magus at fifty, and a Legendary Mage at eighty?!"

"Only at the Continental Magic Parliament headquarters will you learn just how far Arcane and Magic have progressed—how vibrant and full of vitality they truly are!"

"Perhaps while you spend nearly a hundred years here becoming a high-ranking mage, your companions who went to the Parliament headquarters are already Grand Magi. And their chances of success are no less than your chances of becoming high-ranking mages."