In the year 799 of the Zhuyuan calendar, on the day before the Red Moon Festival, a damp mist rose from the mountains and forests outside the city, and the sweltering heat made the soldiers on duty on the watchtower, who were squinting, impatiently wipe their faces.
This is Red Moon City, the location of the Temple of Radiance, a holy city in the hearts of all believers of the Lord of Radiance on the Continent of Dimensions.
Tomorrow is the Red Moon Festival, the most important annual event on the continent. Legend has it that on this day eight hundred years ago, the Radiant Lord Dilis defeated the Dark God from another dimension, bringing peace and light to the continent.
The magnificent city built against the mountain still vaguely reveals the outline of what was once a fortress. Deep beneath the towering temple lies a damp and dark burial chamber, now a dungeon imprisoning the enemies of the gods.
The Lord of Glory is the God of light and justice, and the enemies of the God are naturally unforgivable and will be publicly judged and scorched by holy fire on the day of the Red Moon Festival.
All those imprisoned in the Temple dungeons were heinous criminals beyond redemption.
They may be blasphemers, serious criminals, cult members, or even notorious figures who inspire fear and scorn...
Necromancer.
...
Deep inside the dungeon.
Rusty iron torches were embedded tightly into the rock face carved out of the mountain, their flickering light reflecting off the armor of the knights standing upright before the prison gates, casting menacing shadows across the uneven ground.
"Smack—"
The grease from the torch burst into a cluster of sparks, which landed on the cold stone floor. The flame gradually died down, leaving only a charred spot.
Just then, a thin hand emerged from the shadows and gripped the crumbling wooden prison door tightly. As the door swayed slightly, a pale, sickly face appeared through the gaps in the bars. The face was completely bloodless, like that of a resurrected dead person, except for a pair of eyes that shone excessively in the firelight, which brought a rare touch of life to the entire face.
The sickly-looking young man, his trembling, cracked lips speaking to the Templar Knights who were faithfully performing their duties not far away:
"Sir... Knight, I have a request..."
Yun Wei hadn't had water for a long time, and his throat was terribly hoarse. Seeing that the knight seemed not to hear him, he couldn't help but raise his voice, but his chest ached terribly, and a metallic smell filled the air.
The knight in the distance stood two steps further away from him, as if his voice possessed an evil magic that would bewitch anyone who heard it.
Yun Wei looked at the knight's profile, opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing more. He simply sat back down in the corner and couldn't help but cough softly.
If nothing unexpected happens, he will be the highlight of tomorrow's Red Moon Festival.
Because of him, Yun Wei—
That's the infamous necromancer from the rumors.
The story is actually quite long. He wasn't originally from this continent of Zhuyuan. He came from another world. In the tenth year after the apocalypse began, he was transported to this continent of Zhuyuan in the instant he was overwhelmed by a surging wave of zombies.
He was completely bewildered, still reeling from his near-death experience, when he found himself in another perilous situation. Before him lay a strange, floating magic book, its cover bearing only alluring and eerie words:
The Dead Speak.
At that moment, his healing abilities vanished without a trace, as if he had lost contact with someone. In order to survive, he touched that magic book...
And so, he became a necromancer.
Perhaps it was because of the awakening of his supernatural abilities in his previous life, which brought with him extremely high mental strength, that he was able to cultivate to the highest level among professionals on the continent in just five years, becoming a level seven professional, despite living in seclusion.
But what he was inseparable from day and night was a skeleton.
This was the first time he had used magic to summon an undead creature since he came into this world.
The undead, with exceptional physical attributes, sacrificed themselves to protect him under his command. After a fierce battle, although they were both covered in dust and looked disheveled, they finally managed to successfully overcome their first crisis since arriving on the Zhuyuan Continent.
Looking at the skeleton, now only half a skeleton, still gripping the broken sword in its hand, Yun Wei hesitated for a moment, but still did not dispel the soul fire burning fiercely in the empty eye sockets.
He made a contract with the skeleton and gave it a name: Ah-Dai.
Transforming a dull, low-level skeleton that could only swing a sword and occasionally fall apart into a majestic undead knight riding a ghoul warhorse required more than just time from Yun Wei.
Skeleton Ah-Dai seems to have become a part of his life.
Even though he later vaguely discovered that Ah Dai might have been a Knight of Light when he was alive, and that the Temple of Glory had already declared necromancers heretics, he still couldn't bring himself to banish the skeleton that had developed some intelligence.
It should be understood that for a necromancer to turn a knight of light into an undead creature is such a horrifying act that, in the current Church, it would be considered an extreme act of blasphemy that would warrant being burned alive by holy flames.
But when Yun Wei became a level seven beginner mage, and when he sensed the profound sorrow and yearning for rebirth conveyed by A'Dai, Yun Wei finally attempted the forbidden necromancy spell recorded on the last page of "The Dead's Tale"—
"With eternal remembrance."
Whether it was due to the passage of time and the error in the incantation, or because he was overextending himself with the power of a level 7 beginner in casting a forbidden spell, after his magic power was almost completely drained, a handsome red-haired man appeared straight in front of him.
The dead are brought back to life, but his contract with Ah-Dai vanishes into thin air.
The red-haired knight was dull and silent, staring at the nearly exhausted Yun Wei. He raised and lowered his greatsword, his expression extremely complicated, as if he could not accept the fact that he had been resurrected by a necromancer.
Fortunately, Ah-Dai didn't seize the opportunity to deliver the final blow to Yun-Wei. And this was the last time Yun-Wei called him "Ah-Dai".
But shortly after Ah-Dai left in a hurry, a group of Radiant Knights came knocking on the door.
Having fallen to the early stage of the third level, Yun Wei's magical power was almost completely depleted, leaving him utterly powerless to resist. However, the dense necromantic magic in the room was undeniable, essentially catching him red-handed.
Even though Yun Wei didn't want to believe it, he had to face the fact that he had been betrayed.
He was betrayed by Ah Dai, whom he trusted.
And so, Yun Wei was escorted to the deepest part of the temple's dungeon, where he was firmly chained to an ancient coffin, awaiting judgment at the Red Moon Festival. The coffin held the resting place of some former high-ranking knight, its dense light power repelling all other elements and making it extremely difficult for Yun Wei to even meditate and replenish his magic.
The "Tree of Magic" within him, due to his practice of necromancy, appeared corrupted and decayed, emitting a hazy gray light. If it encountered surging light elements, it would be as if it were committing suicide.
Unlike the crystal core that forms in the brain when a superpower is awakened in the previous life, magicians in the Zhuyuan Continent will condense a special magical organ in their bodies, which is like an upside-down tree with three branches, and is called the "Tree of Magic" or "Branch of Time".
Yun Wei is currently a Level 3 beginner magic user. On the third level of the tree branch, there is only one magic fork, with three small branches below, and then nine even smaller branches below that.
This means that his magic power can unleash one level 3 spell, three level 2 spells, or nine level 1 spells.
Each profession level is divided into three tiers: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. When he advances to the intermediate tier of the third level, his magic tree will grow a new branch, allowing him to use third-level magic twice. And so on, the number of times he can use lower-level magic can also be doubled.
In short, it means that the level of magic power within the body is sufficient to support the magician in casting more spells.
According to the records in "The Dead Man's Tale", there are only three level three necromancy spells: Bone Prison, Bone Shield, and Bone Arrow. None of them are enough for Yun Wei to break through the dense light element.
Although betrayed by A'Dai, Yun Wei did not want to prove that A'Dai had once been an undead creature. In fact, the moment A'Dai was resurrected, Yun Wei had already prepared for their separation.
I never expected reality to be so ironic.
He had called out to the knight on guard earlier only to ask for a drink of water. He had not drunk any water for three days, and his body, which had been suffering from long-term malnutrition, was dehydrated and on the verge of collapse.
Yun Wei sighed, enduring the dull pain in his chest, and leaned his head against the stone wall away from the coffin. Even such a small movement required a great deal of effort from him.
His heart suddenly pounded violently, as if the whole room was shaking, and he felt dizzy and disoriented. It took him a long time to recover from his extreme weakness.
Yun Wei's lips twitched upwards, forcing out a contemptuous smile, but it was only for himself.
Yunwei, do you think that just because you're far from the end times, you can give me your trust?
Ah, trust, what a luxurious and superfluous emotion...
...
The torches were replaced and replenished, and the knights on duty changed shifts twice. Even though he couldn't see the sky, Yun Wei could vaguely tell that it was evening.
Incredible, yet that's magic—mysterious and captivating. Practicing magic sharpens his senses, even though he practices necromancy, a form of magic distinct from elemental magic.
A chilling tremor seemed to come from underground.
Yun Wei keenly opened his half-closed eyes and quietly scanned the ceiling of the tomb chamber. The rustling dust was barely perceptible, yet it seemed to confirm his guess and convince him that this was not a hallucination caused by near death.
An invisible ripple extended and spread from the bottom of the coffin, like water vapor blurring an oil painting. In just a few breaths, the entire tomb was enveloped in an invisible barrier.
The knight in the distance was extremely wary of the necromancer, who was beyond his comprehension, and stood at a distance, thus failing to notice the unusual activity in the cell—
However, the barrier had already been fully deployed, so even when he turned his head, he only saw the illusion that everything was fine.
The instigator of all this was smug and proud, standing on his "spoils of war" while glancing disdainfully at the prisoner huddled in the corner, unable to move.
Only necromancers who escape capture are worth recruiting; those who are captured and powerless to resist are nothing more than insignificant ants.
As the apostle Faheris from the abyss thought this, a faint, indifferent sneer curled at the corners of his long, scarlet lips, full of condescending disdain. In the instant he lowered his head, he suddenly met a pair of clear, black-and-white eyes.
The "ants" he looked down upon were now openly scrutinizing him.
Unscrupulous and blatant.
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