Chapter 789: Lich Grunewald

"I've read the letter of introduction you brought..."

Matthias's voice was hollow and slow. If it weren't for his friendly tone, it would have sounded extremely sinister and terrifying at this moment. "Do you know Cyril?"

"He is my elder, I suppose."

Aleister said frankly, "He allowed me... a very important person of mine to master advanced divine arts, so he is indebted to me."

"Pope Aiwass?"

Matthias immediately guessed who Aleister was referring to.

"...You don't seem that slow in getting the news."

Aleister felt helpless.

I heard that all the people in the Dusk Path are Martians. How come the first generation of Black Phase knew about her and Aiwass as soon as he came out of seclusion?

"It's just that I'm more concerned about Cyril's affairs."

The skeleton in the simple black robe shook his head slightly without saying anything. His neck made a crisp crackling sound.

Aleister seemed to be interested. "Come to think of it... I remember Cyril mentioned that you two were friends... Mr. Principal, have you known each other since the Imperial era?"

"...Is that how he described me?"

Matthias didn't answer, but instead asked back in a light and echoing voice.

Aleister was a little confused: "What's wrong?"

"I was indeed friends with Cyril before I embarked on this journey."

Was.

Aleister reacted: "That means..."

"He wasn't a cardinal then, and I hadn't entered the Ziggurat. But when I decided to take that path, we broke off.

"Because at that time he couldn't accept a friend on the twilight path, and I had to take this path."

Matthias' voice was ethereal and long, like a shepherd's flute on the grassland. "We haven't been in touch since then. The fact that he wrote you a letter of introduction shows that he cares deeply about your situation. So I'll help you."

——Thinking back then, we used to be friends.

——Maybe he will give me a favor. Maybe.

Cardinal Cyril's past words and complex expression flashed through Aleister's mind.

...So that's what he meant.

Only now did Aleister fully understand the hidden subtext of Cardinal Cyril's words.

"I should be able to seal the remaining consciousness of Hui Tiansi...but it will take some time to prepare."

Matthias said slowly, "If you're not in a hurry, you can wait a couple of years. I'm cultivating a sixth-level undead... Once I create him, both the current chaos in Star Antimony and the problems in the Gray Sky Division will be resolved."

Although he was only at the fifth energy level, "Principal" Matthias did not take Hui Tiansi seriously at all.

For him, Tiansi is not an unreachable existence.

If it were anyone else, Aleister would simply think they didn't understand Tianshi's abilities. But when it came to Matthias, Aleister felt this might be true.

Even though Aleister had overestimated the strength of the first generation Black Phase to a considerable extent, Matthias was still above Aleister's expectations.

"...Is this the 'Lich'?"

Aleister murmured softly.

"You actually know this profession?"

Now it was Matthias' turn to make a sound of surprise.

The skeleton was silent for a long moment before slowly drifting over and uttering a hollow voice, "I thought I was the world's first lich... and kept this secret for so long. Now it seems one shouldn't be too complacent."

——That’s not the case. You are indeed the world’s first lich.

Even the requirement of adapting to the path of Tao to be promoted to the fifth energy level should have been copied from you.

Aleister added in his mind.

"...Lich?"

Even the contemporary Dark Adolf was unaware of this knowledge: "This is the first time I've learned of your extraordinary profession, mentor. I always thought you were an amber craftsman... After all, everyone knows that your artistic skills are quite high."

"Artistic level?"

Leviathan made a sharp yet childish sound in confusion.

The fact that this sea monster could actually speak surprised the two fifth-level necromancers. But they were knowledgeable after all, and Adolf explained naturally, "The principal is also fifth-level in the Path of Beauty—he was a very famous painter back then."

"I got this profession purely by chance. Because this profession is too dangerous and almost impossible to learn..."

The lich Matthias sighed softly, his voice hollow and resonant. "I originally wanted to become an amber craftsman."

Among the eight promotion professions in the Twilight Path, Lich is the most difficult to advance.

For example, "Ghoul Herder" is the easiest profession to advance to. It only requires a level 1 Consecration Path, nothing else.

The "Misfortune Splicer" and "Amber Craftsman" require two levels of the Path of Balance and the Path of Beauty, respectively. The former requires a young age, while the latter requires a young age. The "Underworld Walker" requires three levels of the Path of Transcendence and experience in resurrection, in order to achieve a balance between the two realms of transcendence and twilight...

The other seven promotion routes, although the requirements are different... all require at least a part-time job at a lower-level profession.

Only the "Lich" is different——

"Can I speak, Master Mathias?"

Aleister politely asked the first generation Black Phase for his opinion.

"Tell me about it. I'm also curious...how I got this profession. From my observation, many transcendents who are adapted to the Tao have also embarked on the Twilight Path, but none of them have obtained the power of the 'Lich'."

Matthias bit his bones, a hollow echo echoing from his skull. "Actually, I'm still not sure what the requirements of this profession are...

"All I know is that before I entered the Spirit Tower, I was a 'Withered Scholar'—an advanced class to 'Physician.' In the pre-Avalon era, the Church of the Nine Pillars wasn't as widespread among humans. At that time, pharmacists weren't even called pharmacists... They hadn't been reduced to merely prescribing medicine, but rather were the most mainstream healers among humans. I've treated countless people, and even killed countless others with my healing, and I've become more open-minded about life and death.

"Besides that, I'm also a 'Mystic Painter'—I originally just wanted to take on a few levels of the Dusk Path profession part-time, thus upgrading from a painter to a Mystic Painter, but I ended up becoming obsessed with studying necromancy and preservation..."

The old lich's voice was hollow and unpredictable. It was impossible to discern whether his words contained sarcasm, relief, or regret. "Who could have imagined that my third path would be the furthest I'd ever traveled?"

"Mystic Painter" is a higher-level class corresponding to "Art Master." The former requires a part-time job in the Path of Dusk, while the latter requires a part-time job in the Path of Balance.

In other words, Matthias is the strongest person at the fifth level of the three paths of dusk, beauty, and adaptation!

But even such a strong person still took the wrong path. After spending most of his life, he finally found the most correct direction for his talents.

This is why the transcendental knowledge of this world is vague and often wrong.

Although compared to the "inheritance" path that is full of metaphysics, the systematic "career" path is already quite friendly.

But even so, people don't have attribute panels, and can't even see the specific effects of the path characteristics, let alone the degree of mastery of skills, attributes, and other rituals.

Everyone's experience is different. Even if one tries to summarize their experience, they often subconsciously ignore many details, and the summarized experience may not be useful... and the power of the Tao will inevitably affect the mind, causing most extraordinary people to pay less and less attention to leaving behind a legacy.

Only the Dream Monk's prerequisite class, the Naturalist, would actively collect this information. This was because Naturalists shared knowledge to a certain extent, and every time they entered a new piece of transcendental knowledge, they would receive the power of wisdom feedback.

However, naturalists and dream monks will not easily publish the knowledge they record - after all, wisdom comes from mystery.

For others seeking to inherit a niche profession, they essentially rely on chance. Before embarking on this path, they have no idea whether they have the talent for it, nor can they easily find the career that best suits them. They can only emulate established professionals in that profession, then repeatedly eliminate the unnecessary and gradually streamline their careers.

For example, the skills of a demonologist are simplified to only mastering "Demon Contract" and "Demonology", while the ritual mage emphasizes that he cannot master "Demonology"; the most important thing for a priest is to learn "Illumination" and "Prayer".

The same applies to career advancement—for example, many Avalon Transcendents now know that Arbitrators, compared to Overseers, need to have a deeper understanding of legal provisions, a trusting relationship with at least one important figure, and have personally executed a criminal they have arrested; Priests, on the other hand, need to have established a complete connection with the Pillar God, Alchemists need to have a well-known invention, and Sky Cavalry must wait for their Griffin companions to enter the transformation period...

In the past, these requirements had to be tested one by one. This is precisely the advantage of popular professions: the more popular the profession, the more unnecessary rituals can be eliminated; while the more niche the profession, the more complex and difficult the job transfer rituals become.

Aleister recalled it briefly, then easily recalled it and answered in detail: "The 'Lich' requires the ascended to first master the fifth level of the Adaptation Path. They must also abandon their physical body in the ascension ceremony and transform it into the Undead. They then complete the third to fourth level of the Twilight Path and regain the ability to dream.

"If this promotion ceremony fails, then upon exiting the ceremony, one will become an ordinary undead, permanently losing the ability to dream. This means that the promoted person only has one chance. Once failed, it means permanent failure."

That was before the days of "warriors." Adaptability was synonymous with cowardice.

It is actually quite unrealistic to ask a fifth-level adapter to risk death to complete a promotion that he only has one chance to achieve in the twilight path of yearning for stillness.

Therefore, the difficulty of finding a job in this profession is one of the most difficult in Aiwass's memory... although for players, this is actually a requirement that is quite easy to achieve.

This profession appeared later than Scholar of the Sin, and is worthy of the strength of the later professions - after all, if the new profession is not strong enough or not cool enough, it will be difficult for players to abandon the profession they are comfortable with and level up again.

“…I see.”

Adolf felt both regretful and relieved. "I was originally planning to follow the principal's example and transform myself into a spirit. Luckily, I learned this secret in time... I originally wanted to pass the position to little Fernando. But now no one else has grown up. It seems I'll have to stay for a few more years."

Aleister opened his eyes slightly.

She understood.

Dark Adolf's implication was that even though he knew he couldn't become a lich and that undead transformation was the wrong path, he still planned to transform into an undead.

Now we just plan to postpone it a little, at least to give the new generation of students some time to develop.

This is probably the source of Adolf and Matthias's "leisurely feeling".

(End of this chapter)