Chapter 542: Terms of Cooperation

On the 33rd level of the Allyn magic tower, Lucien followed the Lord of Storm to his library.

In the empty corridor, Fernando eyed Lucien thoughtfully, "What intestine did you take out? Why were you not affected at all?"

While he was also good at Necromancy, it was a class where the knowledge of the ancient Magic Empire lingered and therefore had a completely different development from that on Earth. Regarding the inflamed and pathological organs, all that needed to be done was medical skills and magic potions. No surgeries were required at all.

In terms of dissection, the necromancers focused on the relationship between different organs and diseases to develop new magics of curses and diseases, or to lower the requirement of similar magic in the past. As a result, their categorization of internal organs was rather vague. Epityphlon and cecum were both regarded as intestines without being distinguished accurately.

"I have named it epityphlon. I discovered it when I dissected and studied Grunwell's body recently that even though this section of the intestine was cut off and his recovery ability was suppressed, there was no negative effect at all. That is to say, this part was barely of any use." Lucien offered a reason that he had decided a long time ago. After all, his teacher knew very well that he recently had a level-nine dark knight as an experiment material.

As for the influence on immunity, it was little to none for a knight.

Fernando croaked, "It is not entirely useless. At least, it can be used as the main material for the improved Life Hiding."

He showed no objection to Lucien's dissecting Grunwell but said affirmatively, "It's high time that you worked on blood powers. That's a useful supplement for soul studies. Many life-extending rituals in the future will require knowledge in that aspect as the foundation. You wouldn't want to turn into a lich, would you? Or do you want Natasha to die much earlier than you?"

"A knight cannot be transformed into a lich. They'll be scourged by negative energy even though they turn into death knights. Therefore, there are few legendary magics that can extend her life. As far as I know, there are no more than five of them with a remarkable effect of more than a thousand years. Without an excellent understanding of Necromancy, you wouldn't be able to host the rituals even if you are at the peak of legendary. You couldn't ask for Vicente's help by then, can you?"

"Isn't there still you, master? You hosted the ritual of Life Hiding just now." Lucien remembered it in his heart and complimented his teacher with his mouth.

Fernando replied impatiently, "That little girl has the potential to advance into legendary. When she needs to extend her life, chances are that I will already have perished while I am exploring the truths of the world. Also, the materials that the five legendary magics require are all extremely precious. For example, 'Blessing of Dragon', with which my life was lengthened, requires the blood and bones of a primordial dragon as the main materials for the ceremony. At that time, I worked with Hathaway and asked for Douglas' help before we finally hunted a primordial red dragon. You barely have any chance to get one."

"A legendary primordial dragon..." Lucien realized that it was terribly difficult to obtain such materials. Every dragon had horrifying physical defense in the first place, and their magic power grew with their age. A legendary primordial dragon would be as good as a legendary sorcerer in the ancient Magic Empire in terms of magic expertise.

More importantly, there were no more than seven primordial dragons that were still living. They were all important elders in the Dark Congress and certainly not counterfeits such as the Dark Dragon Lord.

Fernando ignored Lucien's shock as if he were a monster but simply went on, "Therefore, if you can't find suitable materials, you have to find a way to create a new magic ritual, which requires a profound knowledge on Necromancy. Do you think that Hathaway didn't try to extend Patrick's life? But he was too weak both physically and spiritually, and none of the existent rituals could help him greatly. Hathaway was not good at Necromancy and could not create a new ritual based on the actual circumstances... I knew no more than she did, either."

He didn't mention the Lord of the Undead, because Vicente was obviously not going to help Hathaway.

"Got it." Lucien nodded solemnly but was not too anxious. Natasha and he were still young. They should focus on improving their levels and advancing into legendary, and they could consider life extension later.

As he spoke, Lucien asked curiously, "Master, how many years of life can your 'Blessing of Dragon' give you?"

Fernando replied cockily, "Depending on the quality of materials, the host's understanding about the soul and the body, and certain unknown factors, the ritual adds two to five thousand years of life, and it can coexist with other life rituals. At that time, Hathaway and I both extended 4,700 years."

That was close to the best one could expect. No wonder he was so satisfied. Lucien thought to himself and continued asking, "What about the other legendary sorcerers? Those who are not transformed into liches?"

"I don't know much about other people because it's sort of a secret. I only know that Douglas made a deal with the Elves and used 'Nature's Gift' with the fruit of an elvish tree that yields once every ten thousand years, and that Brook hasn't extended his life with any legendary rituals yet." Fernando opened his library.

Brook was no more than two hundred years old. With his legendary expertise and the regular magic rituals, his life could already be lengthened to a thousand years, so he was not desperate to increase his longevity. Fernando, on the other hand, was different. Both Douglas and he were sorcerers who grew up in the ancient Magic Empire. They were already more than a thousand years old. Hathaway shared the ritual materials by the way because she collaborated with them.

His curiosity satisfied, Lucien smiled, "Master, I'll return to the magic tower and put the 'amulet of life' in the key area for protection."

While the amulet of life was not as critical as a lich's phylactery, and he wouldn't be killed when the item was destroyed, Lucien dare not be careless because he traded half of his possessions for it.

Fernando became solemn and hinted Lucien to walk in.

After Lucien entered in confusion, he closed the library, turned on the magic circle and said, "The Highest Council has passed the motion to cooperate with Sard. They also met him in secret yesterday and signed a magic contract with him respectively."

"Every one of them? What requests did he propose? What's his promise?" Lucien mentioned how mysterious and queer Sard was to his teacher before. He turned solemn, too.

Fernando invited Lucien in exactly because he wanted to hear Lucien's opinion. He spoke frankly, "Every member of the Highest Council signed it. As per Sard's request, we the sorcerers asked for the fairness of the Lord of Hell, and he swore to the God of Truth with his Heart of Faith, before we signed the contract."

Generally speaking, ordinary magic contracts did not work on legendary sorcerers. After all, the devils and other mysterious creatures who supervised the magic contracts risked being captured by the legendary sorcerers as experiment materials. They were highly incapable of supervising such contracts and punishing the violators. Therefore, the magic contracts of such a level were mostly supervised by the nine dukes of hell, or sworn to the Origin of Magic.

Because the Origin of Magic was unpredictable, the restraint of the latter contracts had been questioned. Some people's cognitive worlds collapsed because they violated their vows, but some were as healthy as before. Although it was accepted that they used wordplays in their vows, Sard obviously did not intend to take the risk and therefore demanded the supervision of the Lord of Hell, who was a demigod. His oath based on faith, on the other hand, was an absolutely effective restraint on the clergy.

"The Lord of Hell... Is he going to meddle in this too?" Hearing reference to the terrifying big shot, Lucien couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Fernando smiled, "If it were before, he might intervene in secret. Schemes are his favorite. However, he was just ambushed by Silver Moon Alterna recently and lost an important projection under your 'Eternal Blaze'. He might be unwilling to take the risk. The Silver Moon, on the other hand, is basically recovered and watching over us in the sky. He may be unable to defeat Douglas even if he casts a projection here."

"That great prophet and Angel King are likely to be played by Sard himself to manipulate the radical clerics and night watchers, but he never admitted it."

'Watching over us in the sky' was a common metaphor in the magic world to indicate Alterna's attention.

"What's your vow and what's Sard's promise?" Lucien asked the key question again.

Fernando nodded slowly, "The contract stipulates that, until Sard breaks his promise or attacks any sorcerer of the Congress of Magic not in self-defense, we cannot attack him. Also, until his new church jeopardizes the Congress, we cannot suppress their development. Furthermore, he will enjoy the priority preaching rights on every colony of our alternate dimension that we will obtain."

It's a reasonable summary of Sard's desire and also seems to imply his sincerity for the cooperation... Lucien thought to himself.

"The promise he made was that today one year later, he would leave the Radiance Church and let the Congress take over the massive transmission magic circles and divine power defenses inside, which is even better than him shutting down the transmission magic circles himself. Also, he will ask the Grand Cardinals of the other four churches to do the same. Those who are not enchanted by him will be ambushed by us under his cooperation." Fernando looked at Lucien and said, "With your understanding about Sard, is there a problem with this?"

Lucien shook his head. "I only know that he had been keeping my relationship with Natasha a secret to the pope, which befits his purpose right now. I don't see any loopholes yet, but none of us know what he got from the World of Souls, and we have to be prepared for other changes."

Fernando did not say anything more and simply reminded Lucien, "Forward the issue to Natasha and ask her not to mention anything about this in front of Sard. She can give connivance and cooperate in secret, but she must not leave any textual or vocal evidence, so that there will still be chances for us to make a comeback."

"Master, are you suggesting...?" Lucien was more or less surprised.

Fernando nodded solemnly, "Before you calculate your victory, you have to be prepared for an utter defeat."

The South Church was very powerful. It had 24 legendary experts and one demigod by itself. As for the countries attached to it, even without Holm and other countries beyond the Storm Strait, there were still thirteen legendary knights. It was the well-deserved greatest force. While the Congress of Magic had been flourishing, there was still a major gap between them, and competing with the Church was definitely full of dangers.

"I'm getting nervous because of you, master." Lucien breathed heavily, "Then, should we postpone the paper on the special theory of relativity for a year? We cannot afford any accidents in such a critical period."

Fernando shook his head. "Since we did not foresee that Sard would ask for cooperation so soon, we already raised Oliver's transformation formulas. Even without our guidance, considering the vogue and the progress of arcana studies, some arcanists will discover it on their own in half a year at most. So, it is unnecessary for us to keep it a secret. All we need to do is to tread more lightly."