Chapter 403: Cycle
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
When he thought of this, Lin Li began to feel somewhat cautious. According to what Adelo said, Cheyenne was already a powerful mage of the Legendary-realm, and there were few things in the world that could make him visit the Blackstone Mountains every year.
Could it be the Gloomy Dark in the cave…
It was not good news that he had his eye on the same thing as a Legendary mage…
“Oh, right. Mage Felic, I wonder what you think of the Scar of Death?” After giving a simple introduction of his teacher, Adelo did not continue, but instead changed the topic abruptly.
“The Scar of Death?” Lin Li frowned. “I think that there is a strange energy flowing through this place, it seems capable of fueling an endless supply of Undead creatures, and…”
“…And Undead creatures fueled by this energy will be stronger than ever.” Adelo smiled as he finished the sentence. “Mage Felic, you share the same thoughts with my teacher. He was here 20 years ago, and said the same thing you just did…”
“Is that so?”
“We met with two fights the other time we went into the Scar of Death. During the first fight, we had to deal with a lot of Skeletal Warriors, and barely made it out by escaping through the cave from last night. The second fight was in the cave, but unfortunately, I was already unconscious, and did not witness the fight. I only knew that I was back in Aminya City when I woke up; my teacher had brought me back. His magical wave became very weak after that, not much different from that of an Archmage…”
“Oh?” Lin Li was surprised, though he knew that it was possible. Wasn’t that just like what had happened to Ujfalusi? After the battle in Syer Town, he’d dropped from a Legendary Lich to a level-18 Archmage, but this was because of the powerful Holy Light that was used to destroy the Humerus Domain, causing Ujfalusi to drop from the Legendary-realm.
But what had happened to Cheyenne?
Lin Li was filled with questions, but he did not ask anything, merely nodding his head as he listened quietly to Adelo. He knew very well that since Adelo had started his story with this incident, he’d definitely explain everything to him later.
Truth was that Lin Li was right about that. After heaving a gentle sigh, Adelo continued, “Teacher Cheyenne did not tell me much about what happened in the cave. The only thing he told me was that he met a very powerful enemy there, the strongest he had ever met, and the fight was a really tough one. My teacher did win in the end, but it was a marginal win, almost negligible, and he realized that this opponent’s power was very strange, just as though it was linked to the Scar of Death. It could not be killed no matter what my teacher did, and in the end, he had to sacrifice his Legendary power to seal it temporarily. Even then, he has to come back every year to reinforce that seal.”
“That’s a very interesting story…” Lin Li smiled, and then asked a strange question. “Isn’t that great? Why send the advance party to the Scar of Death, then?”
“Because a few years later, my teacher found something about the Scar of Death in some of the ruins left behind by the High Elves…”
“Oh?”
“It was a diary written by a High Elf noble. Maybe because it is too old, most of the writings have become blurry… The only discernible portion was about studies on Necromagic. A large number of High Elven nobles had allegedly been swayed by the idea of a ‘living god’, and started looking for ways to pursue immortality. Hence, Necromagic appeared on their radar, and they thought that this was the only way to immortality.
“Some of those High Elven nobles set up a base in the Blackstone Mountains to conduct research. Unfortunately, they only just got started before the war broke out, and they had to devote their limited resources to the fight while putting their research on hold…” Adelo paused for bit here. “As for what happened after that, it was all written in the books. The allied army defeated the six Sky Castles and killed the High Elves’ Queen next to the Tree of Eternity, ending the dark and cruel rule of the High Elves. The research base remained hidden in the Blackstone Mountains, lost forever in the river of time…”
Lin Li listened quietly as though it had nothing to do with him. If anyone saw how calm he looked, they would never guess how emotional this young mage actually was…
Lin Li took a long breath before he finally managed to somewhat calm himself down, but Adelo’s words continued to echo in his mind.
His words immediately brought a person to Lin Li’s mind—or, should he say, a High Elf. Indeed, it was Norfeller’s previous master, the half-brother of the Highlord, the one who had turned himself into a Lich in the underground palace at the Demon Fall Valley, Giovanni!
Lin Li did not know much about Giovanni. All he knew was that he was the first one to study Necromagic amongst the High Elves, and he was the first person to treat Necromagic as the way to immortality. According to Norfeller’s memory, this was all because Giovanni had stumbled upon the grave of the Immortal King…
As for the location and the secrets hidden in the grave, Norfeller knew little of it. The existence of the Immortal King itself was a mystery that the High Elves had had yet to uncover, and even the unlucky Lin Li who was mistaken for the Immortal King twice in a row only heard something about it from Ujfalusi after he made a Soul Contract with the Lich…
The Immortal King had probably appeared somewhere between the Dark Ages and the prehistoric times, when the fights between the Dragons and the Titans had just ended and the High Elves born from the Tree of Eternity had just risen. In the tales of the High Elves, the Immortal King was said to be the strongest existence in the whole Anril, and even the High Elves Dynasty was established because they had the Immortal King’s help…
Only, for some reason, there were very few accounts about the Immortal King in the High Elves’ records. Even very important incidents had merely been sloppily recorded, and thus, scholars in the Dark Ages had debated endlessly over the origins of the Immortal King.
Some thought that the Immortal King was the last surviving Titan, while some thought that the Immortal King was the incarnation of a deity. Some even thought that the Immortal King was another persona of the Queen herself. All their views differed, but none could convince the others due to the lack of evidence.
Their debates continued for a long time, all the way until the High Elves Dynasty was destroyed, and humans occupied more than 80 percent of Anril. The Immortal King’s name also became lost in the passage of time.
Perhaps Giovanni knew something…
Of course, he could not possibly have known much, or Norfeller would not have mistaken Lin Li for the Immortal King in the underground palace at the Demon Fall Valley. The powerful soul from the Shadowglen was probably misguided just like Giovanni had been…
Lin Li always thought that this was merely a coincidence, but now, he started feeling some doubts. If this was all a coincidence, wouldn’t that be too much of a coincidence, then? They were both High Elven nobles who were looking to Necromagic to achieve immortality, and both had one of the seven pieces of debris of the stars. The Immortal King appeared here as well. It looked like he’d have to study this thoroughly…
Thoughts were running wild in Lin Li’s mind, but Adelo continued his story. “But my teacher realized that all of this has not ended. The High Elves nobles have left, but the research base continues to run.”
“What?” Lin Li was thinking of something when he heard this, and it scared him suddenly. “M-Mage Adelo, surely you’re not trying to tell me that a High Elven noble is still running that place after 1,300 years?”
“No, no, no, the one running the place is not a High Elf noble, but the altar at the center of the research base camp…”
“The altar you spoke of at the start?”
“That’s right…” Adelo nodded, and continued, “According to my teacher, the design of the altar was at the state-of-the-art level then, and would surely leave anyone in awe. The Scar of Death is covered in a strange energy because of that altar as it holds the power to turn living spirits into Undead spirits. Every time a living spirit is turned into an Undead spirit, it provides power for the altar in the form of a sacrifice, and this power allows the altar to continue working…”
This convoluted chicken and egg logic confused Lin Li to no end, and he really wanted to curse at Adelo now.
Of course, Lin Li did not do so, as he could somewhat comprehend everything Adelo had just said…
Adelo’s words were a mess, but the idea was there. To put it simply, the altar created a cycle between living and Undead spirits, a cycle that never ended