Shepherd Tantra

Chapter 789: Lich Grunewald
"I have read the letter of introduction you brought..."

Matthias's voice was hollow and slow. If it weren't for his friendly tone, it would have sounded extremely eerie at this moment: "Do you know Cyril?"

"He is my elder, I suppose."

Aleister said frankly: "He allowed me... a very important person of mine to master advanced divine arts, so he is indebted to me."

"Pope Aiwass?"

Matthias immediately guessed who Aleister was referring to.

"…You don't seem to be that slow in getting the news."

Aleister was a little helpless.

I heard that all the people in the Dusk Path are Martians, so how come the First Black Phase knew about her and Aiwass as soon as he came out of seclusion?
"It's just that I'm more concerned about Cyril's affairs."

The skeleton in a simple black robe shook his head slightly without saying anything more. His neck made a crisp crackling sound.

Aleister was actually a little interested: "Come to think of it... I remember Cyril mentioned that you were friends... Mr. Principal, have you known each other since the Imperial period?"

“…Is that how he described me?”

Matthias did not answer, but instead asked back with an echoing, light voice.

Aleister was a little confused: "What's wrong?"

"I was indeed friends with Cyril before I embarked on this journey."

used to be.

Aleister reacted: "That means..."

"He was not yet a cardinal, and I had not yet entered the Ziggurat. But when I decided to take that path, we broke up.

"Because at that time he couldn't accept a friend on the twilight path, and I had to take this path."

Matthias' voice was ethereal and long, like a shepherd's flute on the grassland: "We haven't been in touch since then. The fact that he can write you a letter of introduction shows that he cares about you very much. So I will help you."

——Thinking back then, we used to be friends.

——Maybe he will give me a favor. Maybe.

Cardinal Cyril's past words and complex expression flashed through Aleister's mind.

...I see, this is what he meant at the beginning.

It was not until now that Aleister fully understood the subtext of Cardinal Cyril's words.

"I should be able to seal the remaining consciousness of Gray Sky Master, but it will take some time to prepare."

Matthias said slowly, "If you are not in a hurry, you can wait for two years. I am cultivating a sixth-level undead... Once I make him, both the current chaos in Xingtan and the problems of the Gray Sky Division will be solved."

Although he was only at the fifth level, "Principal" Mathias did not take Hui Tiansi seriously at all.

For him, Tiansi is not an unreachable existence.

——If it were someone else, Aleister would just think that they didn't understand Tianshi's abilities at all. But when it came to Mathias, Aleister felt that this might be true.

Even though Aleister had overestimated the strength of the first generation Black Phase to a considerable extent, Matthias was still above Aleister's expectations.

"…Is this the 'Lich'?"

Aleister murmured softly.

"You actually know this profession?"

Now it was Matthias' turn to make a sound of surprise.

The skeleton was silent for a long time before it slowly floated over and uttered a hollow voice: "I thought I was the world's first lich... I kept this secret for so long. Now it seems that one should not be too complacent."

——That’s not the case. You are indeed the world’s first lich.

Even the requirement of adapting to the path of Tao requires the fifth energy level in order to be promoted to a lich, which should have been copied from you.

Aleister added in his mind.

"...Lich?"

Even the contemporary Black Phase Adolf was unaware of this knowledge: "This is the first time I've learned of your extraordinary profession, mentor. I always thought you were an amber craftsman... After all, everyone knows that your artistic level is quite high."

"Artistic level?"

Leviathan made a sharp but childish voice in confusion. This sea monster could actually speak - this made the two fifth-level necromancers stunned for a moment. But they were knowledgeable after all, and Adolf explained naturally: "The principal is also fifth-level in the path of beauty - he was a very famous painter in his time."

"I got this profession purely by coincidence. Because this profession is too dangerous and almost impossible to learn..."

The lich Matthias sighed softly, making a hollow and reverberating sound: "I originally wanted to change my job to become an amber craftsman."

Among the eight advanced professions in the Twilight Path, Lich is the most difficult advanced profession.

For example, "Ghoul Shepherd" is the easiest profession to advance to. It only requires a level 1 consecration path, nothing else.

The "Misfortune Splicer" and "Amber Craftsman" require two levels of the Path of Balance and the Path of Beauty respectively. The former requires a young age and the latter requires a young age. The "Underworld Walker" requires a three-level Path of Transcendence and experience in resurrection from the dead, in order to achieve a balance between the two realms of transcendence and twilight...

Although the requirements for the other seven promotion routes are different... they all at least require a part-time job in a lower-level profession.

Only the "Lich" is different——

"Can I say, Master Mathias?"

Aleister politely asked for the opinion of the first generation Black Phase.

"Tell me about it. I'm also curious... How did I get this profession? According to my observation, there are also many extraordinary people who are adapted to the Tao and have embarked on the path of dusk, but none of them have obtained the power of the 'Lich'."

Matthias bit the bones with a click, and a hollow sound echoed in his skull: "Actually, I'm still not sure what the full requirements of this profession are...

"I only know that before I entered the Spiritual Tower, I was a 'Withered Scholar' - that is the advanced profession of 'Physician'. In the pre-Avalon era, the Church of the Nine Pillars was not so popular among humans. At that time, pharmacists were not called pharmacists... They had not been reduced to the level of only being able to prescribe medicine, but were the most mainstream healers among humans. I have also treated many people, and killed many people with my healing, and I have become indifferent to life and death.

"In addition, I am also a 'mystical painter' - I originally just wanted to take a few levels of the Dusk Path profession part-time, so as to be promoted from a painter to a mystical painter, but I ended up being fascinated by studying necromancy and preservation..."

The old lich's voice was hollow and unpredictable. It was impossible to tell whether his words were ironic, grateful, or regretful. "Who would have thought that my third path would be the longest I've ever walked?"

"Mystical Painter" is a higher-level profession corresponding to "Art Master". The former requires a part-time job in the Twilight Path, while the latter requires a part-time job in the Balance Path.

In other words, Matthias is the strongest person at the fifth level of the three paths of dusk, beauty, and adaptation!
But even such a strong man still took the wrong path. After spending most of his life, he finally found the most correct direction for his talents.

This is why the extraordinary knowledge of this world is vague and often wrong.

Although compared with the "inheritance" path which is full of metaphysics, the systematic "career" path is already quite friendly.

But even so, people don't have attribute panels, and can't even see the specific effects of the path characteristics, let alone the degree of mastery of skills, attributes, and other rituals.

Everyone's experience is different. Even if one tries to summarize the experience, one will often subconsciously ignore many details, and the summarized experience may not be useful... and the power of the Tao will inevitably affect the mind, causing most extraordinary people to pay less and less attention to leaving behind a legacy.

Only the "Naturalist", the prerequisite occupation of the "Dream Monk", will actively collect this information. Because naturalists have a certain degree of knowledge sharing ability, every time they input a new extraordinary knowledge, they can get the power of wisdom feedback.

But naturalists and dream monks will not easily publish the knowledge they record - after all, wisdom comes from mystery.

Others who want to inherit a niche profession can basically only rely on luck. Before people really embark on this path, they have no idea whether their talent for this path is good or bad, and they cannot easily get the most suitable profession for themselves. They can only imitate the "idols" who have already been determined to become people in the corresponding profession, and then repeatedly eliminate the "unnecessary" parts and gradually streamline them.

For example, the skills of a demonologist have been simplified to only mastering "demon contract" and "demonology", while the ritual wizard emphasizes that he cannot master "demonology"; the most important thing for a priest is to learn "illumination" and "prayer".

The same goes for career advancement. For example, many Avalon transcendents now know that, compared to supervisors, arbitrators need to have a deeper understanding of legal provisions, have a mutually dependent and trusting relationship with at least one important person, and have personally executed criminals they have arrested. Priests need to have established a complete connection with the Pillar God, alchemists need to have a well-known invention, and air cavalry need to wait for their griffin partners to enter the transformation period...

In the past, these needs had to be tested one by one. This is also the advantage of popular professions. The more popular the profession, the more unnecessary rituals can be eliminated; and the more niche the profession, the more complicated and difficult the job transfer ritual is.

Aleister recalled it for a moment, then he easily remembered it and answered in detail: "The 'Lich' requires the promoted to master the fifth level of the adaptive path first, and also to abandon their own flesh and transform it into the undead in the promotion ceremony. Then complete the advancement of the third to fourth level of the twilight path and regain the ability to dream.

"If this promotion ceremony fails, then when you exit the promotion ceremony, you will become an ordinary undead and permanently lose the ability to dream. This means that the promoted person only has one chance. Once failed, it means permanent failure."

That was before the days of "warriors." Adaptors were cowards who feared death.

It is actually quite unrealistic to ask a fifth-level adapter to risk death for a promotion that he only has one chance to complete in the twilight path that yearns for stillness.

Therefore, the difficulty of finding a job in this profession is one of the most difficult in Aiwass's memory... although for players, this is a requirement that is quite easy to achieve.

This profession appeared later than Scholar of the Sin, and is worthy of the strength of the later professions - after all, if the new profession is not strong enough or not cool enough, it will be difficult for players to abandon the profession they are comfortable with and level up again.

"...That's it."

Adolf felt a little regretful, but also a little relieved: "I was originally planning to imitate the principal and transform myself into a dead soul. Fortunately, I learned this secret in time... I originally wanted to pass this position to little Fernando. But now no one else has grown up. It seems that I have to stay for a few more years."

Aleister opened his eyes slightly.

She understood.

What Dark Adolf meant was that even though he knew he couldn't become a lich and even though he knew undead transformation was the wrong path, he still planned to transform himself into an undead.

Now we just plan to postpone it a little, at least to give the new generation of students some time to develop.

This is probably the source of Adolf and Mathias’s “leisurely feeling”.

(End of this chapter)