Chapter 192 The Lost Lantern and the Prophecy Dice
…
"You know me?"
Matthew looked at Viscount Fan warily.
This guy gave Matthew a very subtle feeling. His entire body was shrouded in a cloak, and the cloak itself seemed to blend into the night.
He was clearly standing there.
But if they don't perceive it in detail, people tend to ignore his existence.
It's not even a question of high or low perception.
Matthew speculated that he probably had some kind of constant spell or ability that made people subconsciously ignore him.
Therefore, it also gives people a very unnatural feeling when talking to him.
It's like...
Talking to the air.
Fan Zijue laughed and took a step forward.
That moment.
Only then did Matthew truly feel his existence.
It was as if he suddenly transformed from air into a real living creature!
"I want to discuss cooperation with you."
Fan Zijue got straight to the point.
Matthew frowned:
"But I don't understand you at all."
Fan Zijue smiled lowly:
"This does not prevent us from establishing a cooperative relationship. I bet that after you hear me talk about the content of cooperation, you will be very willing to cooperate with me."
Matthew showed an expression of willingness to hear the details.
Fan Zijue's voice was full of confidence:
"You should have heard of my name. I have a small influence in the Demonic Realm of Ravenloft."
"But as a messenger from the underworld, it is always inconvenient for me to enter the main material world. Therefore, when I need to carry out activities in the main material world, I have to find some suitable partners."
"I believe you have guessed that you are not the first partner I am looking for, nor will you be the last."
Matthew pursed his lips subconsciously.
A small force?
The Demon Realm of Ravenloft is the largest force in the underworld, and Viscount Fan's "Spirit Touched Hall" is the unequivocal overlord of the Demonic Realm of Ravenloft. If he only has a small power, then there are not many organizations in the world that can be said to be big.
Matthew had heard of Viscount Fan's name before when he entered the realm of eclipse.
After that, he crammed in a lot of knowledge about the underworld.
I also have some general understanding of the current situation in the underworld——
Long before Tianlun Palace ascended to the palace.
The God of Death had a conflict with the Scourge Mage, and was beaten into a strange state where he was about to die.
Correspondingly, the kingdom of Death has also become precarious, and has been in a state of collapse for many years.
The underworld, as the kingdom of death in a broad sense, has also been greatly affected, and many laws have fallen apart.
Hundreds of years later.
Udyr, the eldest son of the God of Death, inherited his bronze city of the underworld. He managed to maintain the order of the city and the underworld by using long-sleeved dance skills to balance the gods and demons.
But this situation is actually not stable.
According to the information found by Matthew, in order to repair the internal loopholes and stability of the "Bronze Hades City" caused by the collapse of the God of Death, Udyr teamed up with the Maidens of Pain, Sisters of Desire, Dusk Creation Gailan, and the Evil Queen from Tianlun Palace
Powerful beings such as Babasha have signed harsh contracts.
This seriously affected the authority of Bronze Hades City.
The most disrespectful thing about Udyr, the eldest son of the God of Death, is the envoys of the underworld who were entrusted by the God of Death in the early years.
Fan Zijue is one of them.
These messengers from the underworld are similar to the separatist princes. Most of them manage the laws of the underworld in their own territories and completely ignore the orders of the Bronze Underworld City.
Fortunately, the laws of the underworld are relatively perfect, and the dead are easier to manage than the living.
Therefore, although the underworld has always been in a relatively loose state, there have been few major disturbances over the years.
And in the process of checking relevant information.
Matthew also learned the whereabouts of the other two of the three sons of Death——
After Maibalon, the second son of the God of Death, failed in his attempt to merge the two realms of nature and death, he sealed himself in his fiefdom "Eternal Death Realm" in an almost half-crazy state, and has not yet communicated with the outside world;
The third son, Tres, is the most powerful one. He firmly believes that the God of Death is not really dead.
So while Tres organized believers in the human world to continue to promote the faith of Death and maintain his fire in the material world, he continued to go deep into the star realm, looking for the location where Death's collapsed form was projected in the star realm, and actively sought a way to rescue him.
However, in this case, he no longer had the energy to help his elder brother Udyr rectify the phenomenon of underworld messengers standing on the mountain.
There are hundreds of "domains" within the underworld itself.
Among them, "Ravenloft Demon Realm" was a prison used to imprison the spirits of heinous people.
The spirit suppressed in the prison was at least a ruthless person who started out as a legend.
From this it is not difficult to speculate on Fan Zijue's strength.
After all, in the Demonic Territory of Ravenloft under his rule, no powerful prisoner has ever been heard of escaping from prison.
The above thoughts flashed through Matthew's mind quickly.
He looked at Fan Zijue calmly:
"I don't object to cooperation with people from the underworld, but I heard that one of your collaborators has a notorious existence, which inevitably makes me a little worried."
Matthew is naturally referring to "The Scarlet Letter Slayer".
The legendary rogue who has been confirmed to be the creator of the "Bander City Massacre", and the "White Poplar Village Massacre" in Jade Cangting are also closely related to Sen'er.
Furthermore, Sener is also the mentor of "Selrunk" who is suspected of being a Thousand Changer.
All kinds of coincidences filled Matthew with doubts.
Fan Zijue thought for a moment and replied:
"If your concern is about the thief named Sener, I can only say sorry."
"But I'm not a living person. I can't use your living people's values or concepts of good and evil to measure something or a person."
"The only thing I care about is the order of the underworld, and my cooperation with Sen'er is limited to this. I am not interested in the tragedies he caused in the material world. That is something that should be dealt with between you living people, and me, a dead person in the underworld.
It doesn’t matter.”
Matthew frowned instinctively.
Fan Zijue's words can only be said to be quite sincere.
Matthew asked:
"Is there no basic good and evil in the underworld?"
Fan Zijue replied without hesitation:
"Yes, but it is not my job to judge the good and evil in life."
"As you can see, I just want to complete my duties."
"My understanding of the world is very simple. As long as everyone can perform their duties and do not exceed their limits, the world will not be too bad."
Matthew nodded imperceptibly.
It's not that he agrees with Fan Zijue's philosophy, but he can barely understand the other person's way of looking at things from the perspective of an emissary from the underworld.
"So, the content of your cooperation with me is the same as Sener's?"
Matthew asked.
Fan Zijue nodded:
"I hope you can help me combat the increasingly rampant phenomenon of "soul theft" or "soul retention" in the material world."
"Soul theft?"
Matthew was a little surprised.
This thing sounds like the professional counterpart of the Necromancer, but if you insist on speaking, isn't the Necromancer the biggest soul thief?
After all, ghosts need spiritual transformation.
He looked at Fan Zijue in confusion.
The latter explained:
"I know you may be surprised, but soul stealing is not what you think.
We know that the underworld is the destination of all living beings after death.
Under normal circumstances, the soul after death will be attracted by the underworld and cross the River Styx to reach the city of Hades.
Except for three situations.
The first type is a devout believer who is blessed by gods.
The souls of these believers have a certain chance of entering the kingdom of the gods after death.
They will be transformed into "Petitioners".
In fact, becoming a petitioner may not be much better than returning to the underworld, but this is a contract made by the God of Death and the gods in the Age of Enlightenment, and it is not convenient for me to make further comments.
The second type is those who signed a contract with devils, devils, evil spirits and other creatures before their death.
The most typical example is the warlock.
Their souls will not go to the underworld after death, but will be collected by their sect master.
The fate of this type of soul will be even more miserable than that of the "petitioners" of the gods.
If the petitioners are lucky, they can live a good life in the kingdom of gods for a few years. If they are gods who are not warlike, their self-awareness can even last for thousands of years.
But once the soul is in the hands of evil spirits, it will quickly become delicious food.
Of course, the underworld rarely asks for souls from these people, for reasons similar to those of the gods.
The third type is to be transformed into a ghost by your necromancer.
Theoretically, we need to ask for this type of spirit entity from you on a regular basis.
But considering that there are actually not many necromancers, the underworld has always turned a blind eye.
The "soul theft" behavior I am talking about refers to the private restraint of souls that occurs in the main material world in addition to the above three situations and is relatively rampant and does not comply with the laws of the underworld.
According to my observation.
In the past hundred years, only one-tenth of the expected number of souls in the southern land should enter the underworld.
Behind this phenomenon, it means that someone is maliciously preventing souls from entering the underworld!"
Matthew frowned:
"You hope I can find the person behind the theft of souls from the underworld?"
Fan Zijue shook his head:
"It would be best if possible, but the other party is very cunning. We at the Spirit Touch Synagogue have been tracking for decades but have not found a specific candidate. We are only vaguely sure that the person behind the scenes is related to the "Pthon Cult" that has risen on the east coast in recent years.
.”
"The Cult of Hades has a large scale in various strongholds in the south. A few years ago, they held an evil ceremony that completely cut off the call of spirits from the underworld."
"Originally, after death, the soul will naturally return to the underworld, but now it is no longer the case. A large number of souls cannot feel the call of the underworld. They are forced to stay in the material world. Some are transformed into ghosts, and some disperse out of thin air without even being branded.
Couldn’t stay.”
"If things continue like this, there will definitely be big problems with the order of the underworld."
"What I hope you can help with now is to guide lost spirits back to the underworld on a regular basis."
During the conversation.
He looked at the army of corpses behind Matthew and said:
"For example, the spirits of the deceased behind you were brought back by me myself a few days ago."
"They are actually very pitiful. If I hadn't happened to come over, their marks would have been in vain in the material world, and they would never have the chance to be reincarnated."
Matthew's heart moved:
"Is there really reincarnation in this world?"
Fan Zijue smiled:
"There should be, but I'm just a messenger from the underworld, and I don't know more about the "Rootless River" than you do."
The rootless river is also called the mother river.
Legend has it that it is the origin of all things. After all the "brands" are cleaned in the underworld, their final destination is the rootless river.
It is the end of death and the beginning of life.
There are fewer rootless rivers in this world than there are seas of trees in the world.
Legend has it that the God of Death found a part of the Rootless River and gained his future divine power and domain.
Fan Zijue said again:
"My request is not excessive. You can keep some spirits that you want to make into ghosts or other undead. As long as the number is not too exaggerated, I can accept it."
"As for the remaining spirits, I hope you can return them to the underworld."
"It'll be good for you, too."
Matthew hesitated and said:
"I'm just a little necromancer, how can I guide souls back to the underworld?"
Fan Zijue took out a green lantern from his back that exuded a quiet light.
He let go.
The lantern automatically flew to Matthew.
"The guiding light emitted by this lantern will automatically attract souls to come closer. All you need to do is walk around with the lantern regularly at night."
"Every time I collect a certain number of souls, I will guide you to send them to the underworld. After that, I will give you a certain reward based on the number of souls."
"And the lantern itself is also a good magic item. In the era when the God of Death was still there and the laws of the underworld were still perfect, underworld walkers would carry such lanterns and walk in the material world to guide confused souls to the underworld."
"Unfortunately, today is different from the past."
Fan Zijue said with some emotion.
Matthew heard some hidden meanings, but he didn't intend to ask in detail, just curious:
"Give me the lantern now?"
"Are you sure I will cooperate with you?"
Fan Zijue smiled:
"certainly."
"Apart from the fact that this matter will be of great benefit to you, I still have a bigger card to play."
Matthew looked directly at him.
Fan Zijue whispered:
"Mabaron, the second son of the God of Death, you should have heard of his name."
"Before he sealed himself in the Eternal Death Realm, Maibaron once wrote his entire life's knowledge on a stone tablet. The content on that stone tablet was considered to be nonsense because it was too absurd, so it was finally collected by me."
"I think you are also interested in the content on the slate, right?"
His voice was full of cunning.
Matthew said nothing.
But he was really interested.
Maibaron once tried to merge the two realms of nature and death, but ultimately failed and fell into madness.
Of course Matthew wanted to see what path the second son of Death had traveled in those years.
obviously.
Fan Zijue had done enough homework before coming.
"How can I get that slate?"
He asked directly.
Fan Zijue chuckled and said:
"Extradite a thousand souls, and I will show you the contents of the slate. As for the slate itself, I'm sorry, I have a collecting habit, so I can't part with it."
Matthew is not pretentious either:
"make a deal."
"But I declare in advance that the cooperative relationship between us is limited to the normal extradition of souls and may be terminated at any time."
Fan Zijue spread his hands and made a hug gesture:
"Just what I wanted."
"To be honest, I don't like to have too much involvement with you living people."
"I don't like the smell of you."
"I think you don't need me to introduce you how to use this lantern, so, goodbye!"
Said.
His figure disappeared into the night without any surprise.
It's like he never appeared.
Matthew stared at the lantern silently.
on the data column.
…
"Hint: You got the "Lost Lantern".
You have reached a preliminary cooperation intention with Fan Zijue (Ravenloft Demon Realm).
Influence favorability (Spirit Touch Hall) +1;
Regional legend (Ravenloft Demon Realm) +0.5;
Lost Lantern: A lamp that guides the dead back to the underworld.
Effect 1: Guiding light (the light naturally emitted by the lantern will give direction guidance to the deceased and the spirit body, and they will subconsciously follow the direction of the lantern)
Effect 2: Shelter (the Lost Lantern can make up to 2,000 souls live here)
Effect 3: Alliance of Ravenloft (Those who carry the Lost Lantern are regarded as friendly collaborators in the Demonic Realm of Ravenloft, therefore, any two people carrying the lantern cannot harm each other)
Effect 4: Dusk Wing (you can summon a "Twilight Wing" from the lantern to serve you, it is the best mount in the underworld)"
…
Fan Zijue is right.
The Lost Lantern itself is a very effective magical item, and its natural ability to attract the dead is a dream for necromancers.
Just look at this ability.
Matthew is willing to work for this messenger from the underworld.
Not to mention that he still had the experience written by the second son of the God of Death in his hand.
The only thing that worried him was...
Is the relationship between Viscount Fan and Sen Er really as light as he said?
But my situation shouldn't be such that a legendary rogue and the overlord of Ravenloft would join forces to plot against him.
Matthew thought for a while.
If you think you have a chance, you should go to Suriel. Whether it is under the guise of paying back money or paying tribute, you have to let her take a look.
Be careful when sailing a thousand-year-old ship.
"It would be great if Teacher Isabel would pay attention to me..."
Matthew smiled bitterly.
After all, Suriel's place would cost money, and it would cost a lot of money, so he was really reluctant to part with it.
The good news is that Laila will be back soon.
She should have a large sum of money in hand plus the underwater breathing potion she brought from Cordo City.
After this batch of goods is cashed.
Matthew will have much more money.
Suril's place.
It’s not completely unaffordable!
At the moment, he held a lantern, rode a Pegasus, and advanced slowly along the established route.
In the night.
The army of the dead marches silently.
Matthew originally planned to take away the dead from seven villages overnight, but the team was too large and if he continued to delay, he might not be able to finish the journey tonight.
When the sun comes up, all these dead people will be lying on the ground.
It would be troublesome if it happened to be lying near the South Trading Post.
So he could only carry the more than a thousand corpses in Honghe Town and head on.
Fortunately, the lost lantern worked.
This prop itself has the effect of returning home on a cold night, which greatly relieves Matthew's pressure.
Finally before sunrise.
Matthew sent the corpses to the cemetery.
And in the burial area of the cemetery.
Matthew found the mother of coolies, Miaosaki, and asked her to help direct the zombies to dig holes in the ground so that the dead could find temporary rest.
Under the influence of negative energy.
These dead people will have a certain chance of becoming zombies naturally and will not decompose as quickly as ordinary corpses.
They are the most reliable backup force in the cemetery.
When Matthew needs it.
He can transform them into immortals at any time.
As long as there is enough space in the cemetery to bury the dead.
Matthew's undead army will have a steady stream of living power.
This is the most terrifying thing about the Necromancer!
Miaosaqi agreed wholeheartedly.
Matthew asked the ghost leader Ali to assist him.
After a busy night, he yawned and went back to his room to sleep.
The result was the next morning.
He was soon awakened by Rhaegar's voice——
This guy is instructing Sif to use the Holy Grail of Sin to complete her awakening.
It's just that the actions of the father and daughter are mysterious.
The whole process was conducted in the stone house.
Matthew couldn't even hear Sif's voice.
All I could hear was Rhaegar yelling.
During lunch.
Matthew just met Sif.
Her face did look much better than before.
According to Rhaegar.
That everything goes smoothly.
According to the current progress.
Sif will complete her final awakening within two weeks, and she may master many incredible abilities.
Rhaegar seemed extremely excited when describing this.
He vividly told how he had awakened and what powerful abilities he had awakened.
However, according to Matthew's observation.
Sif herself doesn't seem to care much about the power after awakening.
She even looked a little repelled.
also.
I don’t know if it’s Matthew’s illusion.
Sif's lip color seemed to have become darker.
It turns out to be a very healthy red color.
During illness, it becomes a bit whiter.
It's been a bit dark and purple lately.
"Did you change your lipstick?"
Matthew felt strange.
The change in lip color adds a touch of coolness to Sif.
Matthew couldn't help but look at it a few more times.
Then he left quietly under Rhaegar's sensitive gaze.
In the oak forest.
After planting the tree, Ma Xiu was thinking about where to find an animal to talk to.
But at this moment.
Suddenly there was a whisper in his ears.
"Here...it seems like there wasn't this hole before?"
Matthew found an inconspicuous hole in the ground.
There are weeds growing outside the cave entrance.
These weeds are also born under the influence of the Sanctuary of Life.
Matthew has no plans to curb the weeds just yet.
However, according to Obest's advice, if the weeds continue to expand, they must still be restrained.
The whispers I heard before came from the entrance of the cave.
Matthew followed the sound and walked over.
The people who noticed the conversation seemed to be a man and a woman.
"Can we start work today?"
The female voice urged.
"The sun hasn't set yet! Let me sleep a little longer."
The man said lazily.
"Sleep, sleep, just sleep. I'm hungry, and so are the kids! Can't you go get some food and come back?"
The woman looked very angry.
The man said in shock:
"Isn't the child still in the egg? How can he be hungry?"
The woman immediately said:
"I don't care! I gave birth to him, how can I not know if he is hungry?"
"Hurry and find something to eat. If you're late, that nasty grouse will eat it all!"
The man said reluctantly:
"Okay, then I'll go out and take a look..."
The voice fell.
A little guy appeared at the entrance of the cave, probing his head.
Saw Matthew's curious eyes.
The little guy immediately got in, shouting as he did so:
"Oh my god!"
"My wife is a pervert outside!"
Matthew bent down curiously and looked inside the cave.
He found that the hole was actually not very deep, only about forty or fifty centimeters.
There were two burrowing owls shivering at the bottom of the cave.
There are a few eggs next to it.
"Hello, I'm not a pervert, I'm a human being."
Matthew gave a friendly greeting to the two little animals.
Unexpectedly, they seemed even more frightened——
"Oh my god!"
"My wife, there are humans outside!"
The male burrowing owl yelled.
Matthew quickly expressed his position:
"I am the owner of this forest and I have no ill intentions towards you. You can rest assured."
"I won't hurt you."
The female burrowing owl looked at Matthew doubtfully:
"Are you the owner of this oak forest?"
Matthew nodded.
Female Burrowing Owl asks:
"Then you are the father of the oak tree?"
Matthew thought for a while:
"You can understand it this way. In short, I am a peace-loving human being. I always maintain a high degree of goodwill towards the residents of this forest."
The female burrowing owl nodded in understanding:
"Then you are here to collect the rent today, right?
I have heard this term in the human world. It is said that humans are bound to suffer from this wherever they go.
Useless things, stop holding my feet and trembling, go and give the things we found in the fields to the Oak Father!"
At the urging of the female burrowing owl.
The slightly larger male Burrowing Owl lingered unwillingly at the bottom of the cave for a while, and then came to the entrance of the cave with several small objects in its mouth.
Then he quickly hid again.
Matthew looked at the small particles on the ground curiously.
Most of them are agate.
And mixed in the agate.
There is actually a six-sided die!
…
"Hint: You have obtained the Dice of Prophecy.
Divination Dice: Before using a prophecy spell, you can roll this object to determine the success rate of the prophecy spell.
Throwing result——
1: Very low success rate
2: Lower success rate
3: General success rate
4:Higher success rate
5: Extremely high success rate
6: Don’t predict, it will shorten your life!!!”
…
Matthew picked up the dice and thought it was fun. He just wanted to try the probability of his prediction spell.
But at this moment.
Suddenly a picture fragment flashed before his eyes.
A piece of red blood rolled back.
It seemed like it was going to slap him!
on the data column.
…
"Tip: Your ability "World Events" is in effect.
You received a message from a private channel!
Private: Your friend Margaret and Queen Lutitia of the Blood Banner Kingdom had a decisive battle at the Front Tooth Castle. In the end, both of them were injured, and Margaret fell into the river of blood!"