When A Mage Revolts

The way the System said it was news to Benjamin’s ears.

Even it felt fear? Did the word "fear" really exist in the System’s dictionary?

However, the shell in which the System resided in….. may be referring to the oddities exhibited in the elemental plane. Although it had now become a herd of emoticons, based on its origins, it should still be emulating the state of the elemental plane.

As this came to mind, Benjamin gazed at the small tube in his hands; a gleeful gleam shone in his eyes.

For fear to be felt from something of the elemental plane… this tube of ooze was no simple object. The secret of the Revenant World may very well be locked away in this thing.

"What did you find from the residue?" Benjamin then asked.

"I didn’t have time to check, do you think I’m God?" The elder shook his head and said, "From what I know so far, the corrosion property of this is fairly high. It’s best not get any on our skins; its corrosive effect is no different than that of stomach acid.

Benjamin nodded.

Of course, he wouldn’t be foolish enough to drip some of it onto himself.

"Have you guys conducted experiments on animal carcasses before? Get one quickly, the fresher the condition, the better." He thought for a while before instructing, "Let us test this thing and see whether or not it can bring the dead back to ‘life’."

The mages by the side listened and, without any objections, turned to begin preparations.

The elder, however, expressed his disagreement.

"What’s wrong? Is this way not alright?" Benjamin asked curiously.

"...Nothing, test it as you wish, though I must say I feel that the possibility of success is non-existent." The elder said casually, "I may have never deciphered the mystery of life and death, but to raise the dead most definitely requires complex elemental structures. The properties found in this tube of residue, however, contains only fragments, not even partially formed structures can be found."

"..."

Benjamin couldn’t quite fathom these expert explanations. As such, he paid no mind to it, only shrugging his shoulders and saying, "Well, there’s no harm in trying it out".

However, the end result was precisely what the elder had predicted. The mages brought over a pig carcass, Benjamin dripped a drop of the processed purple-black residue onto it, and following the sizzling the sound from the acid, they watched as the residue corroded a large hole into it.

The elder huffed at the result, his face showing signs of victory.

Benjamin couldn’t help but furrow his brows.

Since this was a liquid extracted from the revenant remains, it should have come with some special powers belonging to the revenant, not just properties of a common acid.

"Return it to me." The elder said, "It took great effort in filtering out this bit of residue, I need to research it further, please don’t waste it on meaningless experiments."

"Very well..."

Benjamin handed over the small tube to the elder, it’s not like he would get anything from keeping hold of it right now. He could only rely on the remaining researchers and wait and see if they could find out anything new.

But, what the System had said earlier on was still bothering him.

Pure terror, huh...

Usually, wouldn’t this be used to describe one’s nemesis? The System’s shell originated from the elemental plane, then who or what would be its nemesis? Would the revenants then be the nemesis of the elemental plane?

Too many questions boggled his mind, and he couldn’t quite figure them out. When he turned to the System for answers, he found that it was equally as clueless. He sighed aloud in exasperation.

In the end, Benjamin left the laboratory.

Any matters regarding the research were left to the experts, it was best for him not to fuss about it. His objective at the moment was to maintain control of information, so that word of the Revenant World did not spread.

Following the recent progress of the Academy’s secret department, the investigation this time around should be extra discreet, there shouldn’t be any repetition of the past incident in which research secrets were leaked.

However, upon leaving the laboratory, the elder pestered him.

"If you really want our research to speed up, you should hurry on and catch a few live revenants for us."

Benjamin wasn’t particularly against the idea.

His first venture into the Revenant World was a rushed effort from the start; he had already made the decision to go back soon when he was leaving. But this time, he wouldn’t be alone, he will definitely recruit people specialized in light and dark magic, along with a few who possess psychic powers.

But then he realized that the final semester examinations were a month away. Once the holidays start, there would be more free time; it was then that they would officially begin their investigations of the Revenant World.

Though Benjamin was filled with curiosity, he couldn’t really do anything about it, he could only return to his chambers and rest for a few days.

Three days later.

"The setup needed for the containment of revenants have been completed." Morris stumbled into the room, the pouch still held in his hand as he said proudly, "Sound dampening lumber, pearls which accumulates dark elements and expels light elements, a spiritual energy barrier in the form of a glass container... And just in case, I prepared several other things, all in here."

Benjamin couldn’t help but whistle in amazement.

Already?

It seemed he was not alone, it seemed that the other mages in the Academy had a great interest in the revenants. Morris dragging himself over in his wheelchair certainly proved this point.

"Very well then." Benjamin withdrew the parasite-infected bird and said, "After so long, the magic which is preserving its life had reached its limits. It’s about time the revenant leaves this body."

He and Morris walked to the department building specializing in the research of revenants, now the most well-hidden laboratory in the Academy. Under Morris’s guidance, Benjamin setup each magical tool carefully.

A few minutes later, a huge glass container lay in the center of the laboratory. Each of its four corners contained a block of lumber, creating a sound dampening zone. A pitch-black pearl was placed in the center of the container, emitting pulses of light elemental energy whilst simultaneously sucking in dark elemental energy.

"The convergence rate of elemental energies is slightly slow, but nothing can be done about it - this is our current limit." Morris shook his head at the sight, "It’s best if we get a few mages specializing in dark elements to come over and have them help accelerate this process."

Benjamin nodded in agreement.

The kind of concentrated dark elemental energies from the depths of the Abyss was beyond anyone’s imagination. Judging by the rate at which this pearl was performing, it would take around ten days to maybe half a month even for the process to finish.

Benjamin recruited a few trustworthy dark elemental mages over and Morris withdrew a few pre-prepared pearls before setting them in each corner of the laboratory for the mages to work on. At last, under everyone’s efforts, some shadow-like dark elemental abnormalities finally appeared in the glass container.

"Though it can’t be compared to the depths of the Abyss, but... revenants should be able to survive within it," after examining it, the System announced.

Benjamin took in a deep breath, and, through the use of water vapor, he transferred the bird into the glass container.