Chapter 98 - Opposite
Garan and the other mages were sitting in the tent. He was holding a book that looked very strange. It wasn't an ordinary book. The paper was made of sheepskin and the cover was made of metal that shined silver white. Other than that, the book didn't seem that important. It wasn't very thick, appearing to have only a total of five pages.
Seeing this book, Green and Meirin both exclaimed, "The Iron Book?"
Except for Zhao, everyone else felt surprised when they heard what Green and Meirin said. They had a look of shock as they stared at the book in Garan's hands.
Zhao didn't know what this book was, but from everyone's reactions, he knew that it was important, so he quickly asked, "Grandpa Green, what is the Iron Book?"
Green recovered from his shock, but his eyes still lighted up when he looked at that book. "This book was created by a master alchemist. He spent nearly two decades making it out of special magical materials. These materials are so precious that even if you knew the method to make this book, it would be very difficult. Each of the pages of this book could be used to seal a magic spell. Once a magic spell is sealed in this book, you just need a little bit of magical energy to activate it, regardless of what rank it is."
Zhao was surprised, but he understood at once what this could mean. This book was equivalent to a cannon with unlimited ammo. You just needed to press the button to launch it. As long as you had the strength to press a button, you would never run out of firepower.
Once Green finished, Meirin gave a wry smile. "It seems like this time we will have to face something big. We don't know what level of magic is sealed in that book. If the level is high, then it would be trouble for us. We have to grab that book and gain its power for ourselves."
Zhao nodded, then he turned to Shift and said, "Shift, wait until evening to go to war. First, we have to deal with Garan. Be sure to kill him. Remember that this guy is very cautious. You must be careful, there might be traps that he's come up with."
Shift bowed, then said, "Yes, Master."
Zhao then turned to Green and said, "Grandpa Green, our primary goal is Garan. Make sure that he can't run. Since he has the Iron Book, he must be an important figure in the organization. We might find clues on his body."
Green nodded. "Rest assured, Master, he will not escape."
Zhao then looked at Meg, who was staring enviously at the Iron Book on the screen. "Meg, if you can get this Iron Book, it will belong to you."
Meg was surprised for a moment, then happiness formed on her face. "Really? You're not lying?"
Zhao laughed. "I'm not lying to you. You are a sixth level mage, and you don't even have a magic staff. For now the Iron Book will be yours to use. That is until we have the opportunity to get you a magic staff."
Meg grinned. "Well, I'll wait. But Master, if you're going to get me a magic staff, at least get me one like your ghost staff. It's beautiful and easy to use."
Zhao laughed again. "When I get the chance, I will give you a handy magic staff."
Zhao felt happy. If he didn't find these people, then their attack against him might have succeeded. But he was sure, that even if these people's attack succeeded, he wouldn't suffer much of a loss, because he still has the space. Now that he had found these guys, they will not be able to run. Although their power was very strong, do not forget that their clan had wasn't that weak. It should be enough to deal with them.
Most importantly, Zhao wanted to kill them all, then get Drunk to turn them into undead. Even if they don't become high level undead, he could just toss them into the space, and their power would be upgraded. He would then have an army of strong fighting men.
Still, he hoped that there was some way to turn them into high level undead so he could find out who is behind them in the end.
With this thought, Zhao couldn't help but turn to Drunk and asked, "Drunk, is there any way for you to turn Garan into a high level undead?"
Drunk shook his head. "I can't, Master. Garan is a mage of light. Such a person could only become a low level undead at most. And he will never be able to level up. Light magic is the opposite of black magic. The undead simply can not have any properties of light."
Zhao's face was bitter. "The highest person in that army is Garan. He may know the most secrets. If we can't find anything out from him, it seems like we'll have to look for our answers somewhere else. Drunk, can you turn an ordinary warrior into a high level undead?"
Drunk told him that it was possible. Although he couldn't do it by himself, combining his power with the other black mages might be able to get it done.
Zhao then turned to Green and said, "Grandpa Green, the Jie Shi Ling twins should be two people with a lot of influence. Should we also try to turn them into high level undead?"
Before Green could answer, Drunk said, "Master, turning a person into a high level undead is not easy. Even with the strength of all eight of us, at most we could change one person every decade. It's simply impossible to turn a lot of people into high level undead."
Zhao thought about it, then said, "Then let's forget it. We'll have to find some clues another way."
Green nodded. "Ah, yes, I am upset that the enemy has looked down on us. I hope that this time we would be able to find out some clues. But Master, there is some good news. Miss Laura has sent a message through the Markey Company, saying that she will return to Casa city in three days. It is certain that she will come visit us."
Zhao had a happy look on his face. "Good, good. She is finally coming back."
Just then, they all suddenly heard a voice. "Brothers, I would like to thank you two for coming here with me to help. I heard that this black mage called Zhao has colluded with the Immortal Mercenary Group on his way to Casa city. Together, they have massacred several villages to deal with Miss Laura. Fortunately, she was rescued by a passing expert, otherwise she would have been in a lot of danger from these evil people. We must remove them as soon as possible. This is a good thing we're doing for the Continent and the people."
Green, Zhao, and everyone else looked stunned. Garan was talking nonsense, and before he even finished, Zhao exhaled and almost shouted, "Shameless! I have never seen anyone so shameless! Instead of being rescuers, we have become the ones causing harm. He must have a thick skin if he could run his mouth off like that to justify himself."
Green was also annoyed at what he heard. "These light mages are used to being smug. They're just pretending to have good morals. It's disgusting."
"That guy is so annoying," Meirin said when she heard Garan's words.
Just then, one of the Jie Shi Ling twins said, "Mister Garan is too kind. In the Continent, you are notoriously known as a slayer of evil. To help you with this small favor brings honor to us two brothers."
"Brothers, you are too kind." Garan smiled. "I have only faced the Immortal Mercenary Group once a few years ago. Back then, I was just a measly sixth level mage. Although I was able to injure them, they were able to run away. This time I'm hoping I will discover some clues on Zhao's body that will help me find the Immortal Mercenary Group."
The Jie Shi Ling twins were obviously interested in this topic. They started to ask what happened. Garan smiled and talked about how he dealt with the Immortal Mercenary Group when they first faced each other.
Zhao, however, wasn't interested, so moved the image on the screen to the advanced warrior's tent. But he was disappointed. The three advanced warriors were doing nothing but sitting there, meditating.
After a while, they still didn't do anything. Zhao wasn't able to find out anything from them. It seems like the identity of these three guys wasn't so simple.
Zhao again switched the image on the screen, but this time into the command tent of the ordinary warrior. He was surprised to see the man sitting in the tent, frowning as he looked over a map. He didn't say a word.
Zhao brought the screen closer and carefully looked over the map. As expected, it was a map of the rocky terrain around Stony Mountain.
Green also looked at the map, and sighed. He then turned to Zhao. "Master, I think it's useless to get Drunk to turn this man into an advanced undead. He is just a mercenary, not part of Garan's group."
Zhao nodded, then he brought the screen back to the three advanced warriors to see if he could find out anything at all. Carefully looking at them, he asked, "Shift, do you really think that these three men seem familiar to you?"
Shift nodded. "Yes, Master. I really feel that they're familiar."
Translator Notes: I made a huge translation mistake earlier. Zhao was talking to one of his undead about how the three advanced warriors seemed familiar. I couldn’t figure out the name, so I assumed it was one of the undead black mages. But then I remembered, didn’t Zhao turn an assassin into an undead in a previous chapter? When I remembered that, I realized that all along it was the undead assassin that felt that the three advanced warriors were familiar. So I fixed it. By the way, his name was Shift. Zhao gave him that name at the bottom of Chap 80, in case you forgot.
Translator Notes #2: Just to be clear, when Garan calls them brothers (shixiong), he is using a term of camaraderie. He is not actually related to them. However, the Jie Shi Ling twins are actual brothers. If you read enough Chinese web novels, you'll understand.
Translator Notes #3: This chapter was MTLed by Trung and edited by theno1fan. Please leave a comment if you've spotted anything that looks wrong.