Chapter 271: Milne's Underground Organization
The scent of blood spread through the Salia Jungle. This was a phenomenon unique to supernatural existences; the death of any figure at the Hero level or above would leave a trace.
It was now the spring of Magic Calendar Year 13, in the castle of the Reflection World.
Ace had completed his observation of the “Positive Energy” trajectory. He finally confirmed that Positive Energy, relative to Negative Energy, was the life-creating power that permeated everywhere in the world.
Negative Energy, on the other hand, was the power of death and destruction. Ace had applied this Positive Energy long ago; it was the cornerstone Rune necessary for Activation magic—the Life Rune.
‘As long as it is a truly living thing, it cannot do without Positive Energy, which is life energy.
‘In my current observations of the Material Plane, Positive Energy trajectories exist in every living thing. At the same time, Negative Energy trajectories slowly breed as life declines. When a creature’s Positive Energy is exhausted and Negative Energy reaches its peak, life reaches its end.’
Ace recorded his observations, then suddenly stopped his pen.
‘There is an unexplainable phenomenon here— the Undead. The Undead possess only Negative Energy, yet they exist like living things, which is truly baffling. What is going on with these existences that should be dead but are not?’
Thinking of this, Ace almost wanted to scratch his scalp open. This phenomenon was simply a subversion of the Material Plane. According to Ace’s experiments over the past four months, once any creature—including a Hero—was drained of all life energy, death energy would rise rapidly, eventually turning them into a corpse.
He created a new spatial pocket specifically to store the experimental results of his recent research. Of course, the spatially expanded pocket would shatter the moment a spatial jump occurred, so Ace would toss the pocket aside or hide it in advance during combat.
“Life, Death.” Like a movement as clear as spring water, Ace constructed two Level 1 Runes in the air, with Life above and Death below.
“And Earth, Fire, Wind, Water.” As Ace spoke each word, the four basic elements appeared in sequence, hovering between Life and Death.
“Then, the Runes related to each attribute.” Like a silver jar bursting and water rushing out, Runes filed out one by one. Under Ace’s precise micromanipulation, they gradually formed a stable octahedral three-dimensional Spell Model.
“This Spell Model represents my understanding of the reality of the current world.”
Ace examined this colorful octahedral Spell Model, a trace of intoxication in his eyes.
“Dreams, soul illusions, simulated truths, and elemental reality. A very harmonious combination. Each is an independent 2-Ring Spell Model, but through the fusion interface of dreams, they can become a complete Spell Model. It is truly wonderful.”
Ace watched with great pride as the four Spell Models in the air merged into a composite Spell Model under the traction of dreams. This was the foundation of the path he had spent nearly two years creating. It was so perfect, a union of the virtual and the real.
As time passed slowly, Ace’s feeling changed. He felt that this Spell Model wasn’t that perfect; it seemed to have some flaws. Ace carefully modified the details of the Spell Model, correcting it bit by bit.
A week later, the Spell Model had indeed lost some flaws, but that sense of incongruity still lingered in Ace’s heart. Ace decided not to replicate this composite 2-Ring Spell Model into his Soul Sanctuary for the time being.
Ace left the Reflection World, leaving the castle to his contracted Undead, Skeleton Experiment Subject No. 1.
This Undead was unique. Under Ace’s observation, it seemed to have recalled parts of its past life’s memories. Using the gray fire in its skull, it transformed white bones into a crude bone shield and a short bone sword, gradually becoming dominant in the sandy land.
Ace instilled some knowledge into it and left the place.
…
Night, Milne City-State.
Under the cover of night, Ace’s Shadow Raven transformed into a shadow and quietly approached the city. The city-wide curfew from last year had ended. Three days ago, the city had just celebrated the triumph of the Punishers organization in destroying the Torch-Stealers headquarters, and a lively atmosphere still remained.
The Shadow Raven easily entered the most prosperous city of the Northern City-States. Ace then used the Shadow Raven Blink spell and entered Milne City.
He had long since changed into the attire of a Milne Freeman. Gray clothes draped naturally over his body, and wearing straw sandals, he walked into a Freeman’s home.
Using charm and forgetfulness spells, Ace found an elderly Freeman couple. Their son had gone out to make a living in his early years and never returned. Ace used dreams to modify their memories, making them believe that Ace was their son.
Just like that, Ace obtained a place to stay and a legal identity.
Ace came to Milne City to understand the current status of the Magic Council branch. Under the brutal suppression of the Punishers, any supernatural organization that dared to show its head would suffer a devastating blow here.
One of the most important principles of the Magic Council branch was single-line, one-way contact.
Except for the President and Vice-President, who maintained single-line, two-way contact, everyone else maintained single-line, one-way contact. Each person only contacted their superior.
This made it very difficult to completely destroy the overall organization of the Magic Council branch. Even if the President and Vice-President were caught, one would need to trace the vine from top to bottom, expending a great deal of energy to potentially root out the Magic Council branch.
However, under these circumstances, it was also difficult for Ace himself to find all the Magic Council members. They all used mana concealment. Due to the intensification of the struggle in recent years, research into camouflage and concealment had advanced by leaps and bounds.
Since Ace published the runes regarding secrecy and concealment, even those with mana sensitivity found it hard to locate Advanced Wizard Apprentices.
Of course, Ace wasn’t foolish enough to use the Perception Spell in such a place. One had to know that many Divine Descendants here were proficient in perception and possessed strong sensitivity. Using perception would likely lead to discovery.
Ace had a better choice. His spirit entered the Soul Sanctuary, gently touching the “mezzanine” of chaos at the top, allowing the true spirit to descend and merge with his spirit.
The True Spirit giant opened its eyes, resonating with the clone in the Wizards’ Collective Subconscious Sea. He gently plucked invisible threads. The invisible threads vibrated slightly, and two of them pointed to a certain location in Milne City.
These were Ace’s Covenant threads with every Advanced Wizard Apprentice. With the help of the Subconscious Sea, he easily found the location of that Advanced Apprentice.
Warren, who was in the third district of Milne, suddenly felt a palpitation. Wearing the loose robe of a standard Citizen, his appearance different from before, he walked quickly back to his residence and activated his magical defense.
The cawing of a shadow raven sounded, and shadows surged.
Warren was bewildered and uncertain. Tentatively, he spoke the secret code.
“Betty’s red dress!”
Ace certainly didn’t know their secret code. The flock of ravens flew past, turning into shadows that easily extinguished the magical defense of Warren’s residence. Ace’s figure emerged from the shadows.
His true spirit gently plucked the Covenant thread, and accompanying Warren’s palpitation, he said, “Committee Member Warren, long time no see.”
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