Chapter 23: Treasure in the Ruins

Xiahou Yan cast a sidelong glance at Master Laurie.

The Lord clearly remembered that when the Illusory Bracelet was successfully modified just moments ago, the very first person to run over gleefully to claim credit was none other than his own Chief Mage, an expert in yellow magic.

Yet, now that the experiment to control Dave had ended in complete success, why was this guy pulling a long face and throwing cold water on the situation?

Xiahou Yan believed that if Master Laurie were thrown into a corporate office on Earth, he would undoubtedly be the guy with the lowest emotional intelligence imaginable—the one who, right in the middle of a lively year-end party, would announce that there wouldn’t be any bonuses. He would be one hundred percent fired by his bosses and colleagues under some fabricated pretext, starring in his very own workplace drama: The Resignation of Laurie.

He wondered if there was any precedent for firing one’s own Chief Mage in this Otherworld.

Xiahou Yan fell into deep thought.

Master Victor Laurie, standing to the side and completely oblivious that his career had reached a critical juncture, smiled bitterly at the Lord.

"Based on the current situation, you can indeed use the Illusory Bracelet to control Dave. But honestly, this won’t offer any fundamental help in escorting our migration caravan out of the infected zone."

"Why not?" Xiahou Yan crossed his arms. "As long as I drive the wild zombies in the undead horde away from the caravan, wouldn’t that guarantee our absolute safety?"

Master Laurie sighed. His exasperated expression, which practically screamed that explaining things to laymen was a massive hassle, made Xiahou Yan quite furious.

He, the Lord, had received a proper magic education at Academy City, just like Victor Laurie!

Even if he hadn’t graduated.

"Lord, you must understand a certain fact." Master Laurie raised a finger and wagged it in front of the Lord. "Individual combat and legion-scale assaults are not the same. By the same logic, manipulating a single Dave with your Corpse Control Technique and making the entire undead horde avoid the caravan are two completely different matters!"

"Is..." Xiahou Yan was a bit dumbfounded. "...Is it really that different?"

"It is!" Master Laurie said decisively. "Your experimental process just now made me even more certain that what my Illusory Bracelet can simulate is merely Zombie Dave’s Magic Rhythm. Therefore, your Corpse Control Technique can actually only take effect on Dave as an isolated individual! There are tens of thousands of walking corpses in the horde. If you had to use the Illusory Bracelet to calibrate the magic fluctuation of every single zombie one by one and then issue orders to them individually, we would probably all starve to death before you could clear a path for the caravan!"

Xiahou Yan opened his mouth, entirely speechless.

To make the horde part ways for the caravan, he would actually have to micromanage the zombies one by one, telling them things like, "The fifth zombie on the left, move forward fifty meters." Mr. Xiahou could never do something so insanely stupid...

He wasn’t some micromanaging armchair general!

"But shouldn’t the Magic Rhythm of these wild zombies all be the same?" The Lord still couldn’t figure it out. "Since the Illusory Bracelet calibrated the Magic Rhythm of one zombie, the Corpse Control Technique should theoretically be effective on all of them, right?"

"The physical constitution between one corpse and another cannot be generalized," Master Laurie said helplessly. "You can imagine a Necromancer’s own Magic Rhythm as a master template. When this Necromancer resurrects dozens or hundreds of zombies, it’s equivalent to photocopying his own Magic Rhythm dozens or hundreds of times. But photocopies will always have errors. This results in all the zombies under his command having Magic Rhythms that are highly similar to his own, but with subtle differences between each individual."

"So, just calibrating the Magic Rhythm of one zombie won’t let me control all of them?" The Lord was astounded.

"Actually..." Master Laurie stroked his beard and let out a long sigh. After a moment of internal struggle, he spoke slowly. "...there should be a way for you to control all the zombies in the horde."

"What way?" Xiahou Yan asked hurriedly.

As long as he could lead his caravan out of the infected zone, he would be willing to bow and kowtow to this group of zombies right here and now.

"That is to get the ’master template’ of these zombies!" Master Laurie stared intently at the Lord, enunciating every word. "Only by thoroughly disguising yourself as their creator can you become their true master, allowing you to simultaneously control every single zombie in the entire infected zone!"

Their creator? Xiahou Yan froze for a moment before sudden realization dawned on him.

Master Laurie had mentioned just last night that this infected zone and all the zombie brethren within it originated from an experimental accident caused by a Necromancer eight hundred years ago!

Therefore, the creator of these zombies was none other than...

That Legendary Necromancer from eight hundred years ago!

"Master, it’s been eight hundred years..." Xiahou Yan said with difficulty. "...the trees on that Necromancer’s grave must be fully grown by now. How are we supposed to get his Magic Rhythm?"

"I know that Necromancer has long been dead!" Master Laurie spoke faster and faster, his eyes gradually taking on a feverish glint unique to magic enthusiasts. "But his Magic Laboratory is still there! It’s right in those city ruins to the west! And a ’Magic Laboratory...’"

"...is a Mage’s life." Xiahou Yan finished the sentence, reciting the famous quote from the renowned Mage and King of Alchemy, Kruschwitz.

Master Laurie nodded solemnly.

Xiahou Yan stared at the glittering golden Illusory Bracelet on his wrist, his mind racing.

Indeed, great Mages generally left their marks within their Magic Laboratories. If there was anywhere on this continent where one could possibly find the lingering Magic Rhythm of that Necromancer, it had to be the town ruins located in the very center of the infected zone—the one that had fallen to the undead horde eight hundred years ago!

Furthermore, the Lord quickly realized that because of his zombie-repelling constitution, he was likely the only human in the world who could wander freely through the undead horde, ignore the zombie threat, and enter the town ruins to investigate!

He also finally understood why Master Laurie was suddenly so excited.

A Magic Laboratory belonging to a Legendary Mage—one that had never been touched due to the zombie infection—was a massive treasure trove that no Mage could refuse! If they could enter the Magic Laboratory, not only might they find their predecessor’s Magic Scrolls and Magical Artifacts, but they might even find the Magic Notebooks recording his life’s research!

There had always been a proverb in the Magic Realm: One laboratory equals one magic rank!

The meaning of this proverb was that if you could explore the Magic Laboratory of a predecessor, the benefits it brought would be enough to let you advance an entire Mage rank!

Looking at Master Laurie’s expression, it was obvious that he wanted to cling to the Lord’s zombie-repelling coattails and follow him into the undead-infested town ruins. This way, while searching for the Necromancer’s Magic Rhythm, he could conveniently loot all the precious heritage within that Magic Laboratory!

It wasn’t that Master Laurie coveted any worldly wealth, but rather that as a Mage, he simply couldn’t resist the intense thirst for knowledge to view the research results of his predecessors!

Not only could they find the Magic Rhythm to help the caravan leave the infected zone, but they could also pocket the precious notebooks of a Legendary Mage!

For Master Laurie, there was no better deal in the world!

"H-How about it?" Master Laurie’s voice even trembled a little. "Don’t you think we should make a trip to those town ruins? Just think about it—as long as we find that Necromancer’s Magic Rhythm, you can control the entire infected zone!"

Xiahou Yan rolled his eyes. He reached out and drew a straight line in the air between Master Laurie and himself.

"Let’s get one thing straight first. Whatever we find in that Magic Laboratory, if the territory needs it, it belongs to the territory and will be confiscated in full! If it’s something Mages need, we split it fifty-fifty!"

"You aren’t even an official Mage..." Master Laurie muttered softly, nodding with a wronged expression.