Chapter 187 (1/2)
Chapter 187: The Thousand-Year-Old Lich
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Link took out the letter and examined the crude map drawn on it. At a glance Link realized that he was very familiar with all the landmarks in it. After closer inspection, it turned out that the map was of the area around Scorched Ridge.
There was a red line on the map that extended southeast from the Scorched Ridge and ended at a place called Shark Bay, where on the map a line of words was written.
I can help you transform the climate in the Ferde Wilderness, but you must come alone. Are you brave enough?
Link couldn’t help but smile cynically as he read those words.
Hmmm…Is this a trick to trap me or is it someone who can’t be seen? Link wondered.
The person who’d sent him this map had used an intricate Malfoy runic lock, which meant that the sender was a Magician and judging by the quality of the runes and the level of the spell used, probably a Level-5 or higher Magician at that.
Such a Magician wouldn’t waste his time pulling a prank on Link.
Besides, Shark Bay wasn’t that far from Scorched Ridge anyway, only about 5 miles on the road, so Link decided he would go there and see what was up.
There was a possibility that he might encounter some dangers there, of course. But he had mastered the spell Dimensional Jump and still had two more chances to use the power of the Prophetic White Stone, he even had 200 Omni Points now, so even if someone had set up a trap and ambushed him, he was confident that no one in this world could kill him easily.
Another possibility was finding someone who really could transform the climate of Ferde Wilderness. Achieving that would mean that a huge chunk of problem Link was facing now would be solved!
With this in mind, Link thought there really was no reason for him not to go and find this mysterious person at all.
It was midday at the time, and the weather was pleasant. Link greeted his clerk Joshua then promptly left the campgrounds alone.
Once he was outside the camp, Link summoned the Fenrir Wolf and almost flew straight to Shark Bay. With the speed of the Fenrir Wolf, he covered the distance of five miles in only about six minutes.
As he approached Shark Bay, a cliff emerged into view. Link hopped down from the Fenrir Wolf and ran up to it. He discovered a ring-shaped beach around the cliff, but there was no one there save for a few seagulls.
Link walked along the cliff but still couldn’t find anyone there. Just as he was starting to get suspicious, he sensed a Mana fluctuation. He quickly turned around and noticed an almost transparent figure emerging from a crack in the cliff stone.
Link understood why this mysterious figure had wanted him to come alone the moment he saw him. Had any normal folk caught a glimpse of this figure, they would’ve been frightened to death by the figure’s appearance.
This figure was a Lich, a pure Lich, whose body was now completely skeletons without an ounce of flesh on it. The bones looked strangely beautiful, though, just like jade stones. In his eye sockets, there were bluish flames from which extraordinary spiritual energy and Mana emanated. From this Link could gauge that he must be at least at Level-7 and was as strong and powerful as Anthony, the dean of the East Cove Academy.
This strength wasn’t enough to intimidate Link, of course. He calmly canceled the Wind Fenrir and walked towards the Lich.
“May I know your name?” asked Link when he was about thirty feet away from the Lich.
Lichs were creatures of darkness, most of them were evil in nature and regarded other lives as their own playthings. Still, Link sensed something special from this Lich. The dark energy he sensed from him was, in fact, pure and serene, just like the tranquility of midnight, and there was not a hint of evil in him at all, completely unlike the aura he sensed from the Necromancer Shade and Bale who had transformed into a Lich previously. Hence, Link decided to stay his hand and approached the Lich.
“I’m Vance,” answered the Lich.
“Huh?” Link thought he had heard of the name somewhere before. He tried to recall it carefully; then something jumped out in his memory. “Are you the person who founded the studies of Battle Aura?”
Was that possible? According to the historical record, the Lich would have to be about a thousand years old to be the founder of Battle Aura studies! Yet this Lich was only a Level-7 Magician, so how could it be possible for him to live so long?
Even Legendary-level figures couldn’t live this long. The king of underground organization Morpheus himself was less than 500 years old, and he was always making sacrifices to the demon god. Why? Because he knew that he would soon expire!
To Link’s surprise, Vance nodded.
“I didn’t expect you to know me,” said the Lich. “What an honor. You must be wondering how I manage to live this long. I’m afraid I can’t explain it to you in detail right here, and now, all I can say is that I made a deal with a demon god in the Sea of Void after committing a deplorable sin and was locked up inside the Azura Tower for the last 400 years.
Demon god was the collective name of low-level gods of darkness, they were usually low-level Demi-Gods, and there were hordes and hordes of them. There were at least a hundred different real names of these demon gods that were known in the dark corners of Firuman. As long as one knew one real name of these demon gods one could summon them through a special ritual and make a deal with them.
These deals were usually sinister and bloody in nature, which meant that Vance’s past wasn’t as clean as his calm aura might suggest.
This was no surprise to Link, though. History had recorded how Vance had tried to study Battle Art and Battle Aura by conducting horrific experiments on live Warriors. He might have been the founder of Battle Art studies, but that didn’t necessarily mean that the method he used to achieve it was acceptable. According to legends he mysteriously disappeared without a trace in the end. Now Link knew that he had actually made a deal with a demon god and transformed into a Lich.
To put it simply, Vance was a mad genius who had committed some questionable deeds but wasn’t purely evil in nature.
Link didn’t mind such a figure, although he was still hesitant to associate himself with him. Still, the Lich had promised to help solve an urgent problem for him in the letter, and he didn’t want to turn him down before at least getting to know him first. After a few seconds of silent contemplation, Link decided not to waste any time beating around the bush here.
“Did you say you can solve the climate problem for me?” Link asked.
Vance chuckled in a hoarse voice when he heard Link.
“I met an interesting young woman in Girvent Forest after escaping from the Azura Tower,” said Vance. “She told me that you are an open-minded young mind who wouldn’t turn me out the moment you see me, that’s why I decided to come here. Apparently, she was right about you.”
“Is that woman called Eleanor?” Link asked. He was considerably alarmed by this revelation. “You didn’t hurt her, did you?” Eleanor had been a good friend to him and had helped him a great deal many times before. Link didn’t want any harm to ever come to her.
Vance shook his head in reply.
“Am I such an evil person in your eyes?” he asked Link. “No, you’ve misjudged me. All I ever desired was to learn the truth. Yes, I may have used barbaric techniques to achieve my goals, but wasn’t it all worth it in the end?”