The necromancer just wants to plant trees.

Chapter 192 Lost Lantern and Prophecy Dice
……

"You know me?"

Matthew looked at Fan Zijue with some vigilance.

This guy gave Matthew a very subtle feeling. His entire body was shrouded in a cloak, and the cloak itself seemed to blend into the night.

He was clearly standing there.

But if you don't perceive it in detail, people tend to ignore his existence.

It's not even a matter of perception being high or low.

Matthew speculated that he probably had some kind of spell or ability that was constant enough for people to ignore him subconsciously.

Therefore, it will also give people a very unnatural feeling when talking to him.

as if...

Talking to the air.

Fan Zijue laughed and took a step forward.

That moment.

Only then did Matthew truly perceive his existence.

It was as if he had suddenly transformed from air into a real living creature!

"I want to talk about cooperation with you."

Fan Zijue cut to the chase.

Matthew frowned:

"But I don't know you at all."

Fan Zijue smiled lowly:
"This does not prevent us from establishing a cooperative relationship. I bet you will be very willing to cooperate with me after listening to what I said about the cooperation."

Matthew showed an expression of wanting to hear more.

Fan Zijue's voice is full of confidence:
"You should have heard my name, I have a little influence in Ravenloft Demon Realm."

"But as an envoy of the underworld, it is always inconvenient for me to enter the main material world, so when I need to carry out activities in the main material world, I have to find some suitable partners."

"I believe you have guessed it, you are not the first partner I am looking for, nor will you be the last."

Matthew pursed his lips subconsciously.

Small forces?
Ravenloft Demon Realm is the biggest force in the underworld, and Fan Zijue's "Spirit Touch Hall" is the undisputed overlord of Ravenloft Demon Realm. If he has only a little power, then there are not many organizations in this world that can be called big.

Before entering the field of necrosis, Matthew had heard of Viscount Fan's name.

After that, he crammed a lot of knowledge about the underworld.

I also have some general understanding of the current situation in the underworld——

Long before Tianlun Palace ascended to the palace.

Because of the conflict with the natural disaster mage, the god of death was beaten into a strange state of being about to die.

Correspondingly, the kingdom of the god of death has also become precarious, and has been in a state of collapse for many years.

The underworld, as the kingdom of death in a broad sense, has also been greatly affected, and many laws have fallen apart.

Hundreds of years later.

Death's eldest son, Udyr, inherited his bronze city of the underworld, and managed to balance the gods and demons through his skillful means, barely stabilizing the order of the city of the underworld and the underworld.

But this situation is actually not stable.

According to the information found by Matthew, in order to repair the loopholes in the "Bronze Nether City" and stabilize the cracks caused by the collapse of the god of death, Udyr and the pain girl and sisters of desire in Tianlun Palace, as well as the dusk creation Gailan and the evil queen Powerful existences such as Babasha have signed harsh contracts.

This severely affected the authority of the Bronze Nether City.

Udyr, the eldest son of the god of death, is the most envoys of the underworld entrusted by the god of death in the early years.

Fan Zijue is one of them.

These underworld messengers are similar to the separatist princes. Most of them operate the laws of the underworld on their own territory, completely ignoring the orders of the bronze city of the underworld.

Fortunately, the laws of the underworld are relatively perfect, and the dead are easier to manage than the living.

Therefore, although the interior of the underworld has always been in a relatively loose state, there have not been many major disturbances over the years.

And in the process of consulting relevant information.

Matthew also learned the whereabouts of the other two of the three sons of Death——

McBalon, the second son of Death God, sealed himself in his fief "Eternal Death Zone" in a nearly half-mad state after he failed in his attempt to integrate the two domains of nature and death, and has not had any communication with the outside world so far;
The third son, Tres, is the most powerful one. He firmly believes that Death is not really dead.

So while Tres organized believers in the human world to continue to promote the belief in the God of Death and maintain his fire in the material world, he continued to go deep into the star realm, looking for the location where the collapsed form of the God of Death was projected in the star realm, and actively sought a way to rescue him.

However, in this case, he didn't have the energy to help his elder brother Udyr rectify the phenomenon that the messengers of the underworld were full of mountains.

There are hundreds of "domains" in the underworld itself.

Among them, "Ravenloft Demon Realm" was a prison used to detain the spirits of heinous people.

The spirit body suppressed in the prison was at least a ruthless person who started as a legend.

From this, it is not difficult to guess Fan Zijue's strength.

After all, the Ravenloft Demon Realm under his rule has never heard of a powerful prisoner escaping from prison.

The above thoughts flashed through Matthew's mind quickly.

He watched Fan Zijue calmly:
"I don't reject working with people from the underworld, but I heard that one of your collaborators has a notorious existence, which inevitably makes me a little apprehensive."

Naturally, what Matthew was referring to was "Crimson Hunter Sener".

The legendary wanderer who has been proven to be the maker of the "Bender City Massacre", and the "Baiyang Village Massacre" in Jade Cangting also has a close relationship with Sener.

Furthermore, Sener is also the mentor of "Sitrenk", who is suspected of being a thousand changers.

All kinds of coincidences made Matthew full of doubts.

Fan Zijue thought for a while and replied:
"If your concern is that thief named Sener, I can only say sorry."

"But I'm not a living person. I can't use your living person's values ​​or concept of good and evil to measure a thing or a person."

"All I care about is the order of the underworld, and my cooperation with Sener is limited to this. I am not interested in the tragedies he caused in the material world. That is something that should be dealt with between you living people, and me, a dead person in the underworld. It doesn't matter."

Matthew instinctively frowned.

Fan Zijue's words can only be said to be sincere.

Matthew asked:
"Is there no basic good and evil in the underworld?"

Fan Zijue replied without hesitation:

"Yes, but it is not my job to judge the good and evil in life."

"As you can see, I just want to do my job."

"My understanding of this world is very simple. As long as everyone can perform their duties and don't overstep, the world will not be too bad."

Matthew nodded imperceptibly.

It's not that he agrees with Fan Zijue's ideas, it's just that he can barely understand the other party's way of looking at things from the standpoint of the messenger of the underworld.

"So, you asked me to cooperate with the same content as Sener?"

Matthew asked.

Fan Zijue nodded:
"I want you to help me fight against the increasingly rampant "soul theft" or "soul retention" in the Prime Material. "

"Soul theft?"

Matthew was a little surprised.

This thing sounds like a necromancer's professional counterpart, but if you have to say it, isn't the necromancer the biggest soul thief?
After all, ghosts need to be transformed by spirit bodies.

He looked at Fan Zijue puzzled.

The latter explained:

"I know you may be surprised, but soul theft is not what you imagined.

We know that the underworld is the destination of all living beings after death.

Under normal circumstances, the soul after death must cross the river Styx under the attraction of the underworld and arrive at the city of the underworld.

Except for three cases.

The first type is devout believers who are blessed by the gods.

The souls of these believers have a certain chance of entering the kingdom of the gods after death.

They will be transformed into "petitioners".

In fact, becoming a petitioner may not be much better than returning to the underworld, but this is a contract between the God of Death and the gods in the Age of Enlightenment, and it is not convenient for me to make further comments.

The second type is the guy who signed a contract with creatures such as devils, demons, and evil spirits during his lifetime.

The most typical example is the warlock.

After their death, their souls will not go to the underworld, but will be taken away by their suzerain.

The fate of such souls will be worse than that of the "petitioners" of the gods.

If the petitioners are lucky, they can live a good life in the kingdom of the gods for a few years. If they are gods who are not warlike, their self-awareness can even last for thousands of years.

But once the soul is in the hands of the demons, it will only quickly become delicious food.

Of course, the underworld rarely asks for souls from these people, for reasons similar to those of the gods.

The third is to be transformed into ghosts by your necromancers.

Theoretically, we need to ask you for this kind of spirit body on a regular basis.

But considering that the number of necromancers is actually not many, the underworld has been turning a blind eye.

The "soul theft" behavior I'm talking about refers to the more rampant, private restraint behavior of the soul that appears in the main material world and does not conform to the laws of the underworld in addition to the above three situations.

According to my observation.

In the past hundred years, only one-tenth of the expected souls in the southern land should enter the underworld.

Behind this phenomenon means that someone is maliciously preventing the soul from entering the underworld! "

Matthew frowned:
"You hope that I can find the mastermind behind the theft of souls from the underworld?"

Fan Zijue shook his head:
"If possible, that would be the best, but the other party is very cunning. We at the Spirit Touch Synagogue have been tracking for decades but have not found a specific candidate. We only vaguely confirm that the mastermind behind the scenes is related to the "Death Sect" that has risen on the east coast in recent years. . "

"The Cult of the Underworld has quite a large scale in various strongholds in the south. A few years ago, they held an evil ceremony to completely cut off the call of the spirit from the underworld."

"Originally, after a person dies, the soul will naturally return to the underworld, but now it is not the case. A large number of souls cannot feel the call of the underworld. They are forced to stay in the material world. Couldn't stay."

"If things continue like this, there will definitely be big problems with the order of the underworld."

"What I want you to help at the moment is to guide the lost spirits back to the underworld on a regular basis."

talking room.

He looked at the army of corpses behind Matthew and said:
"For example, the spirits of the dead behind you were brought back by me a few days ago."

"They are actually very pitiful. If I hadn't happened to come here, their imprints would have drifted in the material world in vain, and there would be no chance of reincarnation ever since."

Matthew's heart moved:
"Is there really reincarnation in this world?"

Fan Zijue smiled:

"There should be, but I'm just an emissary from the underworld, and I won't know more about "River without Root" than you. "

The rootless river is also called the mother river.

Legend has it that it is the origin of all things. After all "brands" are washed in the underworld, the final destination is the rootless river.

It is the end of death and the beginning of life.

There are fewer existences in this world who can find a rootless river than the sea of ​​trees in ten thousand realms.

Legend has it that the god of death found a part of the rootless river back then, and only then did he have the divine power and domain in the future.

Fan Zijue said again:
"My request is not too much, you can keep some spirit bodies that you want to make into ghosts or other undead, as long as the number is not too exaggerated, I can accept it."

"As for the remaining spirits, I hope you can return them to the underworld."

"It's good for you too."

Matthew hesitated:
"I'm just a little necromancer, how can I guide the soul back to the underworld?"

Fan Zijue took out a green lantern emitting a quiet radiance from behind.

He let go.

The lantern automatically flew in front of Matthew.

"The guiding light emitted by this lantern will automatically attract souls to come closer. All you need to do is walk around with the lantern regularly at night."

"Every time a certain number of souls are collected, I will guide you to send them to the underworld. After that, I will give you a certain reward according to the number of souls."

"And the lantern itself is also a good magic item. In the era when the god of death was still alive and the laws of the underworld were still perfect, underworld walkers carried such lanterns to walk in the material world, guiding confused souls to the underworld."

"Unfortunately, today is different from the past."

Fan Zijue said with some emotion.

Matthew heard some implication, but he didn't intend to ask in detail, but just curiously said:

"And this gives me the lantern?"

"Are you sure I will cooperate with you?"

Fan Zijue smiled:

"of course."

"Aside from the fact that this matter is beneficial to you and harmless, I still have a bigger card to play."

Matthew looked directly at him.

Fan Zijue whispered:

"Death's second son McBalon, you should have heard of his name."

"Before he sealed himself in the Eternal Death Realm, Maibalon once wrote his entire life's knowledge on a stone tablet. The content on that stone tablet was considered to be nonsense because it was too absurd, and it was finally collected by me."

"I think, you should also be interested in the content on the slate?"

His voice was full of slyness.

Matthew said nothing.

But he was really interested.

McBalon tried to merge the two realms of nature and death, and finally fell into madness due to failure.

Of course, Matthew wanted to see what road the second son of Death had traveled.

obviously.

Fan Zijue had already done enough homework before coming here.

"How do I get that tablet?"

he asked directly.

Fan Zijue chuckled and said:
"Extradite a thousand souls, and I will show you the contents of the slate. As for the slate itself, sorry, I am a collector, so I can't give up."

Matthew is not hypocritical:

"make a deal."

"But I declare in advance that our cooperative relationship is limited to the normal extradition of souls and may be terminated at any time."

Fan Zijue spread out his hands and made a gesture of embracing the void:

"Just to my liking."

"To be honest, I don't like to have too much involvement with you living people."

"I don't like the way you smell."

"I don't think you need me to tell you how to use this lantern, so goodbye!"

talking.

His figure disappeared into the night without any surprise.

It was as if he had never been there.

Matthew watched the lantern silently.

on the data bar.

……

"Hint: You have obtained the "Lost Lantern".

You have reached a preliminary cooperation intention with Fan Zijue (Ravenloft).

Power favorability (spiritual touch synagogue) +1;

Regional popularity (Ravenloft Demon Realm) +0.5;

Lost Lantern: A lamp that guides the dead back to the underworld.

Effect 1: Guiding light (the light emitted naturally by the lantern will guide the dead and spirits in the direction, and they will follow the direction of the lantern subconsciously)
Effect 2: Shelter (Lost Lantern can make up to 2000 souls dwell here)
Effect 3: Alliance of Ravenloft (holding a lost lantern is regarded as a friendly partner of Ravenloft, so any two people holding lanterns cannot harm each other)

Effect 4: Twilight Wing (you can summon a "Twilight Wing" from the lantern to serve you, it is the best mount in the underworld)"

……

Fan Zijue was right.

The Lantern of the Misguided is an effective magic item in its own right, and its natural ability to attract the dead is something a necromancer could only dream of.

Just look at this ability.

Matthew is willing to work for the messenger of the underworld.

Not to mention that he still has the experience written by the second son of the god of death in his hand.

The only thing that worries him is.

Is the relationship between Fan Zijue and Sener really as light as he said.

But his own situation should not allow a legendary rogue and the overlord of Ravenloft to jointly calculate.

Matthew thought about it.

If you think you have a chance, you should go to Suriel. Whether it is under the guise of paying back the money or paying tribute, you have to let her take a look.

Be careful sailing for thousands of years.

"It would be great if Teacher Isabel would pay attention to me..."

Matthew gave a wry smile.

After all, Suriel's place cost money, and it cost a lot of money, so he was really reluctant.

The good news is that the days are counting and Lyra will be back soon.

She should have a large sum of money in her hand, plus the underwater breathing potion brought from Kordo City.

After the goods are cashed out.

Matthew's money will be much more generous.

Suriel there.

It’s not completely unaffordable either!
At that moment, he was carrying a lantern and riding a Pegasus, and slowly moved forward according to the established route.

in the dark.

The army of the dead marched silently.

Matthew originally planned to take away the dead in the seven villages overnight, but the team was too large, and if they continued to procrastinate, they might not be able to finish it tonight.

When the sun comes out, the dead will all lie on the ground.

If you happen to be lying near the South Trading Post, you'll be in trouble.

So he could only take the more than 1000 corpses in Honghe Town and rush forward.

Fortunately, the lost lantern played a role.

This prop itself has the effect of returning home on a cold night, which greatly relieves Matthew's pressure.

Finally before sunrise.

Matthew sent the corpses to the cemetery.

And in the burial area of ​​the cemetery.

Matthew finds the mother of the coolies, Miao Saqi, and asks her to help direct the zombies to dig holes in the ground, so that the dead can get a temporary rest.

under the influence of negative energy.

These dead people will have a certain chance of becoming zombies naturally and will not decompose as quickly as ordinary corpses.

They are the most reliable backup force in the cemetery.

When Matthew needs it.

He can transform them into undead at any time.

As long as there is enough space in the cemetery to bury the dead.

Matthew's undead army will have a steady stream of vitality.

This is the scariest thing about necromancers!

Mouszachi agreed wholeheartedly.

Matthew asked Ali, the ghost leader, to assist him.

After a busy night, he yawned and went back to sleep.

Results the next morning.

He was soon awakened by Rhaegar's voice—

This guy is instructing Sif to use the Guilty Grail to complete the Awakening.

It's just that the actions of the father and daughter are mysterious.

The whole process was conducted in a stone house.

Matthew couldn't even hear Sif's voice.

All I could hear was Rhaegar's yelling.

During lunch.

Matthew just saw Sif.

Her complexion was indeed much better than before.

According to Rega.

It's all going well.

According to the current progress.

Sif will complete her final awakening in two weeks, and she has the potential to master many incredible abilities.

Rhaegar was extremely excited when describing this.

He vividly described how he awakened back then, and what powerful abilities he awakened.

However, according to Matthew's observation.

Sif herself doesn't seem to care much about the power after awakening.

She even looked repelled.

Also.

I don't know if it was Matthew's illusion.

Sif's lips seemed to have darkened a bit.

It turns out to be a very healthy red color.

During illness, it is somewhat whitish.

It's been kind of dark purple lately.

"Did you change your lipstick?"

Matthew felt strange.

The change in lip color added a touch of coldness to Sif.

Matthew could not help but look a few more times.

Then he left under Rhaegar's sensitive gaze.

In the oak forest.

After planting the tree, Matthew thought about where to find an animal to have a heart-to-heart talk.

But at this time.

Suddenly there was a whisper in his ears.

"Here...it seems that there was no such hole before?"

Matthew found an unremarkable hole in the ground.

There are weeds growing outside the cave.

These weeds are also born under the action of the sanctuary of life.

Matthew has no plans to curb the weeds just yet.

However, according to Obest's suggestion, if the weed continues to expand, it must still be restrained.

The whispers heard earlier came from the entrance of the cave.

Matthew followed the sound and walked over.

It seems that the conversation was between a man and a woman.

"Can I start work today?"

The female voice urged.

"The sun hasn't set yet! Let me get more sleep."

The man said lazily.

"Sleep, sleep, sleep. I'm hungry, and so is the child! Can't you go and get something to eat?"

The woman looks annoyed.

The man said in astonishment:
"Isn't the child still in the egg? How can he be hungry?"

The woman immediately said:
"I don't care! He was born by me, can I know if he is hungry or not?"

"Hurry up and find something to eat, or you'll be snatched up by that nasty grouse if you're late!"

The man said reluctantly:

"Okay, then I'll go out and have a look..."

The voice fell.

A little guy poking his head appeared at the entrance of the cave.

Seeing Matthew's curious eyes.

The little guy got in immediately, and shouted as he got in:

"Mom!"

"My wife is perverted outside!"

Matthew bent down curiously and looked inside the cave.

He found that the hole was actually not very deep, only about forty or fifty centimeters.

At the bottom of the cave, two burrowing owls were shivering.

There are a few eggs next to it.

"Hello, I'm not a pervert, I'm a human being."

Matthew said hello to the two little animals in a friendly way.

Who would have thought that they seemed even more frightened——

"Mom!"

"There are humans outside my wife!"

The male burrowing owl yelled.

Matthew hurriedly stated his position:
"I am the master of this forest, and I have no malice towards you, so you can rest assured."

"I won't hurt you."

The female burrowing owl looked at Matthew suspiciously:

"You are the owner of this oak forest?"

Matthew nodded.

The female burrowing owl asks:

"Then you are the father of the oak tree?"

Matthew thought about it:
"You can also understand it this way. In short, I am a peace-loving human being. For the residents of this forest, I always maintain a high degree of goodwill."

The female Burrowing Owl nodded half-understanding:

"Then you are here to collect the rent today, right?
I have heard this word in the human world, and it is said that human beings will inevitably suffer from this wherever they go.

Useless things, don't hold my feet and shake, go and give the things we found in the field to Father Oak! "

At the urging of a female burrowing owl.

The slightly larger male burrowing owl reluctantly dawdled at the bottom of the cave for a while, and then came to the entrance of the cave with several small things in its mouth.

Then he quickly dodged back.

Matthew looked curiously at the small particles on the ground.

Most of them are onyx.

And mixed with agate.

There is actually a six-sided dice!
……

"Hint: You have obtained the Die of Prophecy.

Die of Prophecy: Before using a prophecy spell, you can judge the success rate of the prophecy spell by throwing this object.

Throwing results——

1: very low success rate
2: Lower success rate
3: General success rate
4: Higher success rate
5: Extremely high success rate
6: Don't predict, it will shorten your life! ! ! "

……

Matthew picked up the dice, thinking it was fun, and just wanted to try the probability of his divination spell.

But at this time.

Suddenly a picture fragment flashed before his eyes.

A piece of red blood rolled back.

As if it was about to slap him!
on the data bar.

……

"Reminder: Your ability "World Events" is in effect.

You have received a message from a private channel!

Private: Your friend Margaret and Queen Lutitia of the Blood Flag Kingdom had a decisive battle at the Front Tooth Castle. In the end, both were injured and Margaret fell into the river of blood! "

……

(End of this chapter)