“Ivan, is that a transformation by spiritual power?” Pearney was curious about his method.
“Yes, it requires substantial spiritual power, you can’t learn it yet,” Ivan nodded slightly.
Spiritual power is a force based on the energy projected from the soul—there are many marvelous aspects to it, like how he had just transformed into a young boy, adding some memory information to shape himself as he used to be during his youth.
It is similar to thought entities and consciousness entities, possessing little real combat capability.
Of course, handling ordinary people was no issue.
This was a method that could only likely be accomplished by a Level 3 Sorcerer.
“That’s too bad.” Pearney felt envious and somewhat regretful.
From Marquis Frog’s territory to Mulberry Valley, riding on the ground took at least a day. Traveling by the Lanque airship, however, they arrived in no time.
Mulberry Valley looked almost the same as she remembered, only with a few more houses, the mountains around were now covered by tall, lush mulberry wood.
“Ivan, aren’t we going down?” Justine asked.
“No, you go take a look if you want.” Ivan refused.
“I checked it out last time I returned. It’s just like that, no need this time,” Justine shook her head.
In the end, Mulberry Valley was just a remote territory, the size of a small town, with no potential for development. Since the Marichadon family had acquired other territories, their focus had shifted elsewhere.
Justine had lived in the small castle in that territory for a long time and it was here she had confirmed her love with Ivan in one night. Of course, she had some attachment to the place.
However, everyone she knew had left, and Ivan was with her, so she was not so nostalgic about Mulberry Valley anymore.
The Lanque airship paused briefly in the sky, then flew toward the Black Fog Forest on one side of the territory.
The Black Fog Forest was famous for its pervasive black mist. Compared to their last visit, the mist had thickened, enveloping the trees even during broad daylight and exuding a pungent smell of gunpowder.
Given the strength of their party, the black mist naturally wouldn’t affect them.
“Look, there’s magma below, looks like the volcano here erupted.”
The Lanque directly arrived at the forest’s center, below was a narrow crack filled with volcanic magma, with thick black smoke billowing out.
The magma churned occasionally, splashing out from the crack, especially toward the lower-lying area on the left.
Under Ivan’s lead, the group descended from the airship to the ground, standing beside the crack. The ground below was scorching, and the hot air hit their faces.
“Helen, what do you think?”
“The magma carries a familiar scent; there should also be a passage to the underworld here.”
“Perhaps, but with magma covering it year-round, the passage has probably become impassable long ago, unlike the one beneath the Ancient Tree Spine.”
Ivan was quite interested in the underground world mentioned by the treant elder; aside from other resources, the area was likely rich in metal deposits.
However, finding the correct path and overcoming the barrier of magma was a significant challenge.
The treant elder also mentioned that the path to the first layer of the underground would be blocked by a lava lord. False lords were manageable, but if it were a true lord creature, it would definitely be a foe too formidable to provoke.
“Boss, there’s a little undead creature sneaking around behind us, do you want me to fetch it?” After a while, Locke suddenly spoke. Discover more content at My Virtual Library Empire
“Invite them over, don’t scare them,” Ivan instructed.
“Huh?” Locke was somewhat puzzled. “Alright, whatever you say.”
With Locke’s strength, dealing with a creature at the apprentice level was naturally effortless.
Within two minutes, a centaur wrapped in armor was ‘invited’ over. From the style of the armor, it was not hard to tell that it was a small-statured woman.
“Helen, aren’t you going to greet someone you know?”
“Hello, Sorcerer Ivan.”
Upon hearing Ivan’s words, a hoarse and low voice came from behind the helmet mask, sounding as if it were rusted, indistinguishable as male or female.
Locke then realized that they knew each other, which explained why the boss had told him to be polite.
“Boss, you also have acquaintances here?”
“What do you think? I live in Mulberry Valley, she lives in Black Fog Forest; we are neighbors, after all, so it’s not strange that we know each other.”
“Cough cough, you call the shots.”
Although he said that, Locke couldn’t help but murmur to himself. It wasn’t a close distance, and the difference in species spanned several categories, hardly what he’d call neighbors.
However, he didn’t know that Ivan had exchanged the Tidal Treasure Tome, a Breathing Method leading directly to Level 4 Knight King, with Helen — using the repair of a natural delusional array as a bargaining chip. Thinking about it, Ivan had indeed gained quite a benefit.
“I remember you don’t like to go out, has the delusional array that enshrouds the tomb fortress malfunctioned again?” Ivan asked.
“Mm, it’s broken.” Helen spoke succinctly, seemingly reluctant to talk more.
Ivan didn’t ask any further, and after exploring both inside and outside the narrow crevice for a while, he finally gave up.
After he finished, he waved to the undead Centaur girl.
“Come on, let me show you.”
“Mm.”
The small castle was built against the mountain and wasn’t actually far from the crevice, just about two hundred steps away.
Approaching the not-so-tall peak, Ivan noticed the ground under his feet was still warm, so was the air, and he immediately guessed the problem.
It was indeed difficult for Helen, an undead creature, to live above fire.
They turned around the base of the mountain, a small castle emerged in the Black Fog, its walls originally adorned with an age-old Royal banner, now only a decayed flagpole remained.
The castle gate was left casually open, the stitched Centaur and human face flowers were nowhere to be seen, with the environment changed, these undead items could no longer be preserved.
As for the natural delusional array enveloping the exterior, only a tenth of it remained, merely decorating the castle.
“The environment has changed drastically, the array is difficult to repair, and once fully repaired, it is easily damaged and won’t last long.” Ivan assessed the situation with a few glances.
“I know,” Helen’s tone was flat without fluctuation.
“By the way, how are you doing with the basic magic I taught you before?” Ivan asked again.
Helen was originally from the Royal Family of the Tidal Empire, the Royal Family possessed Centaur King bloodline, and sorcerers once cursed the surviving Royals through the bloodline during their reign on the continent.
To escape the clan’s curse, the Royal Family stole the Meditation Method and passed it on to the newly born escapees among the race, Helen being one of them.
With a twist of fate turning her into an undead creature, Helen still practiced the Meditation Method, advancing to a 3rd Class apprentice level. However, she only had control over mental power but didn’t know how to cast spells.
Ivan, intending to repair the fog array, had stayed here for twenty days and taught Helen some basic magic casually.
Years had passed, and Helen had trained to the limit of a 3rd Class apprentice, and her next step should be to become an official sorcerer.
“I have learned it,” Helen responded thoughtfully upon his inquiry.
“Show me by casting it.”
Under Ivan’s direction, Helen cast ‘Energy Sphere’, ‘Energy Chains’, ‘Mage’s Hand’, and other spells, indeed mastering them to the extent that they seemed effortless.
She also discovered numerous methods for manipulating energy particles, like controlling Wind-type particles for acceleration and gathering Water-type particles for cleaning armor.
“Not bad.”
Ivan nodded slightly.
After all, with so many years having passed, it wasn’t surprising that she achieved this level of energy particle manipulation.
“Let me ask you another question. In your memory, or in the royal books you have read, is there any mention of where the Centaur tribe migrated to?”
“Exchange?” the undead Centaur girl hesitated for a moment and cocked her head, counter-asking.
Many around were dumbfounded upon hearing this, and Locke perspired on her behalf, guessing this might have been the first apprentice daring to make a request to a Level 3 sorcerer.
“In exchange, I can take you away from here and offer you protection,” Ivan said nonchalantly, stating the terms of the exchange. “Of course, if you have other ideas, you can bring them up, and I will consider them.”
“I also hope to become your apprentice and learn how to become a sorcerer,” Helen said, gazing blankly at the desolate, dilapidated castle and graveyard, pondering for a while before speaking.
“Alright, I agree,” Ivan looked her up and down, nodding in agreement.
This undoubtedly surprised others, wondering since when Sorcerer Ivan had become so easy-going, unless he saw this girl’s unique identity and wanted to keep her around for research.
Indeed, they guessed right, and that was one reason.
Furthermore, the last few pages of the Tidal Treasure Tome contained no text and likely held the method to become a Level 4 Knight King, which required a high purity of the Centaur King’s bloodline to unlock. Having Helen around was a precaution, and besides, he could also gain information about the Centaur tribe through her.
“Boom, boom, boom!”
Soon after, following Ivan’s orders, the swamp ant manipulated the ‘Ze King Halo’ to turn the mountain into a flow of mud, burying the Royal graveyard where Helen had spent most of her life underneath.
“Come with us.”
“Okay.”
As an undead, Helen was a new creature with old memories. From her birth until now, she had always been alone, guarding the cemetery castle.
That day, she followed Ivan’s footsteps and embarked on a new journey.