Chapter 288: Arrival
Witte left Ace’s room in a daze, Ace’s words echoing in his mind.
“Irreversible weakening will slowly consume your soul and body. This weakening has penetrated deep into your soul. If it were just the fire of pain, it would be easy to remove. But after you neutralized it with Negative Energy, the two forces have intertwined and can no longer be removed.”
Witte did not fear death, but he couldn’t die. Misha told him to live on, and Mr. Turtledove asked him to see the future of the magic path. He carried the hopes of both of them; he couldn’t lose this life!
Moreover, only by living did he have a chance to find a way to resurrect them.
Another sentence from Ace also lingered in his ears.
“I am currently conducting an experiment, a Lich transformation experiment. I believe the True Spirit is the reason we are us; the True Spirit is the true self. Even if you become undead, as long as the True Spirit remains, you are still you, just in a different form of existence.
“And retaining the Soul Sanctuary is the key for us to remain Wizards and continue to increase our strength after becoming undead. If you are interested, you can come to me.
“But I must tell you, this experiment is not mature. If you come to try it, you will be the first test subject, which means the experiment is not guaranteed to succeed.”
The Magic Ship sped along, approaching the High Tower Territory day by day. Witte tried various methods, but was powerless to stop the weakening of his body and soul.
After about ten days, Witte felt that he was likely going to die.
On the other side, Ace took out the black, shiny octahedron and studied it carefully.
Ace told the truth. Even he couldn’t help Witte extract the two intertwined forces. It wasn’t that he couldn’t confront them, but that he didn’t have the ability to remove such complex intertwined forces while ensuring the integrity of Witte’s soul and body.
Witte’s soul and body were too fragile.
The vitality sealed within the black, shiny octahedron was dormant, but every time Ace touched it, he felt his True Spirit stirring. It was an attraction!
After considering for a long time, Ace decided to place the black, shiny octahedron on his forehead. Following this attraction, his True Spirit instantly vanished from Ace’s soul and appeared above the Shadow of the True Spirit inside the octahedron.
The entire octahedron shook violently. The vitality seemed to be awakened, and both soul and body seemed to be growing. However, the activity and strength of the vitality were insufficient, and ultimately nothing happened.
Ace’s True Spirit dared not leave the main body for long and quickly returned. He discovered that this movement of the True Spirit was a spatial leap that left no trail.
“The strange infant generated using the flesh and blood power transformed from my appendix is, in a sense, my clone.
“This Phylactery doesn’t have the ability to manipulate soul fire. It is densely packed with vitality and preserves the Soul Sanctuary at the level of the weakest 1-Ring Wizard. When the True Spirit enters it, I feel the possibility of rebirth. Why can’t rebirth be realized?
“Is the vitality insufficient, or is the vitality activity not enough? Or is there some other reason?”
Ace pondered. He had kept a finger segment of Heracles. If he could decipher the secret of regeneration within it after returning to the High Tower, perhaps he could really create a resurrection trump card.
As the Magic Ship slowly approached Port Hope, the entire port town was like a festival. Welcoming newcomers to the High Tower every three years had become an emerging festival in the port town.
Witte was in no mood to participate in the lively celebration. He felt no novelty or joy towards the roaring steam machinery, the well-arranged buildings, the self-acting animated statues, or the magic carpets and broomsticks flying to and fro.
On the contrary, the magic carpets reminded him of Mr. Turtledove, and he sadly hugged the head in his bundle tighter.
“Is this the magic society? How wonderful it would be if everyone could come here.”
Witte slowly made up his mind. He found Ace that day, preparing to serve as the test subject for the Lich transformation ritual.
Ace took Witte to the West Tower, had his Rational Clone settle him down to rest first, and then convened all the Magic Council committee members. He announced the launch of the “Warlock Project,” fully developing the Incompetents among the Divine Descendants into Warlock Apprentices in the regional Magic Councils of the seven city-states of the Salia Peninsula, digging out the foundation of the Divine Descendants from the very bottom.
After the meeting ended, Ace privately met with Bayen and his apprentice, the Advanced Warlock Apprentice Haren.
After encouraging Haren with a few words, Ace left Bayen alone.
“Lord Ace, I am ashamed. Even with your help, I still failed to advance to Formal Wizard. I am already 78 years old this year. The Youth Potion helped me extend my lifespan by about twenty years, so I only have about forty years left. Today, I want to bid you farewell and go to the Old Continent to spread magic and seek opportunities.”
Before Ace could speak, Bayen voiced his thoughts first. Staying in the High Tower offered no hope of advancing to Formal Wizard, so Bayen decided to go out and take a gamble while he could still move.
Ace asked Bayen to sit down and then said:
“I don’t object to you going out to seek opportunities. The Collective Mana Ritual can only be held once. Since you didn’t break through, perhaps you can find other ways in the outside world to raise your Mental Power to 10 units.
“However, I suggest you wait a bit. Perhaps a research project of mine here will make a breakthrough.”
Bayen tugged at his short black-and-white beard and asked somewhat excitedly, “Could it be a new method for advancing to Formal Wizard?”
Ace shook his head and, looking at Bayen’s slightly disappointed expression, said, “It’s an alternative method for immortality.”
“Alternative immortality?” Bayen pondered carefully. He wasn’t tempted but instead questioned doubtfully:
“This sounds tempting, but as far as I know, only existences above Demigods can be truly immortal. Even Epic Heroes with solidified power can only live for ten or twenty thousand years. Immortality achievable at the Advanced Wizard Apprentice stage? Such immortality might have significant flaws!”
“I am very happy that you think this way. Independent thinking and skepticism are the source of our Wizards’ power. having the power of thought makes us the measure of all things!”
Ace felt genuinely happy. If Bayen blindly trusted him, he would be disappointed; such a Wizard would likely have no great future.
“This kind of immortality can indeed be achieved at the Advanced Wizard Apprentice stage, but it also has extremely serious flaws. While researching Negative Energy, I accidentally discovered the Undead transformation method. As long as the soul fire is not extinguished, the Undead can live forever…”
Under Ace’s description, Bayen gradually understood what the Undead were.
“Lord Ace, the Undead can only be considered the remains of the living. Even if transformed into Undead after death, having lost the True Spirit, they cannot be considered the self. They are not the same person at all and cannot be considered immortal.”
Bayen stated his view without hesitation.
“Then what if you can retain your True Spirit? What if you can retain your Soul Sanctuary? Your True Spirit, your consciousness, your memories still exist. Does this count as immortality?”
Ace countered.
“If I can retain my True Spirit, my memories, and consciousness, even if my form changes, it can still be said to be me. Do you want me to transform into a Lich?”
Bayen answered.
“No, someone else will conduct the Lich transformation experiment. I brought back a dying Advanced Wizard Apprentice. His current condition is certain death. Let’s see if he can be transformed into a Lich and achieve alternative immortality.
“If this path is feasible, you can take the relevant experimental data and materials on your journey. In case you don’t find an opportunity to advance to Formal Wizard, transforming into a Lich would be a way to continue your existence.”
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