This Lich Requests More Remuneration

Chapter 109 - 109 103 The Breeding Work of the Mercury

?Chapter 109: Chapter 103: The Breeding Work of the Mercury Avatar Chapter 109: Chapter 103: The Breeding Work of the Mercury Avatar Far in the depths of the great desert, Hake Stone was lying on a massive golden throne.

This seemed to be a golden throne crafted for giants; his slightly over one-meter stature couldn’t even reach the handles of the chair.

This was a newly excavated area.

The Desert Kingdom sustained its domestic economy by grave digging and had never ceased the excavation of the underground complexes, even during years of warfare.

Hake Stone was in luck these past few days; digging downward, he had uncovered a new passage leading to a vast underground city.

It appeared to be a city inhabited by giants, as every object within was oversized, including the gold products inside.

This buried civilization must have experienced an incredibly glorious era, as these underground cities generally contained an abundance of gold items and magical artifacts.

This time, Hake Stone had struck it rich, unearthing a giant city filled with vast quantities of gold.

Just this gigantic golden throne alone was estimated to be worth millions of Gold Coins, not to mention the various gold utensils that were piled up like mountains in the storeroom.

However, as with most of the relics previously excavated, everything within the city was intact, but there was no trace of any creature’s remains.

It was as if the city’s inhabitants had suddenly vanished, and the whole civilization was buried by the desert.

Over the years, countless scholars have conducted in-depth studies on this phenomenon, but their findings have been inconclusive, with no one able to present decisive evidence.

Nonetheless, not knowing the reason did not hinder this utilitarian form of archaeology. After all, grave digging was the goal, and it was even better that the tomb’s owner wasn’t lying within.

Without a second thought, Hake Stone agreed to Amberser’s information fee of two million, a mere two million. He was now a vampire who was not short on money.

Amberser was oblivious to what was happening in the distant desert and certainly was unaware that Hake Stone was excitedly rolling around on the vast Golden Throne like a tumbling die.

Since the vampire had said he was not short on cash, Amberser directly replied, “Well then, make the payment first.”

It was merely a probe, but to Amberser’s surprise, Hake Stone really did make the payment right away. Not only that, but he had also delivered the top-tier Gargoyles previously owed, without even asking Amberser to cover the Teleportation Circle’s shipping costs.

The cost of this one-time use of the Continental Transmission Array, which could transport large magic items, already exceeded ten thousand Gold Coins.

Initially, Amberser couldn’t fathom why, but upon seeing the gold that was transported, he guessed the reason.

It wasn’t Gold Coins, but variously designed gold utensils. While the weight was not shortchanged, the exquisite ancient patterns on the utensils significantly enhanced their collectible value.

These gold utensils made Amberser realize that Hake Stone had stumbled upon a treasure trove; probably another excellent find beneath the desert had made him suddenly wealthy.

The patterns on these gold utensils looked somewhat familiar, yet after a moment of recollection, Amberser couldn’t quite place them and decided not to dwell on it. After all, the purity of the gold was indisputable, and that’s all that mattered as long as it was real gold.

“How envious I am that my estate doesn’t sit atop an ancient civilization,” Amberser lamented. He then provided Hake Stone with the information he knew: “The Elf Tribe is mass-producing Magic-Breaking Weapons; it might be part of the Elf Queen’s plan. The Magic Contract we previously discussed is likely related to the Elf Tribe’s strategic plan. Any Lord who violates the contract will end up aiding the Elf Tribe’s invasion…”
This time, Amberser didn’t conceal any intelligence he had deduced, as the Desert Dwarves were at a disadvantage. If they didn’t support their major client now, they would struggle to afford the subsequent “hiring fees.” Once the Elf Tribe completed its strategic deployment, Amberser would quickly find himself in dire straits.

At first, Hake Stone was skeptical—after all, mass-enchanting weapons seemed impractical, something that even Alchemy City hadn’t achieved. But Amberser’s reasoning was plausible, especially with the Elf Queen’s potential second ascension to Legendary status.

Hake Stone promptly relayed the news to Hoffman Ironfist, but faced with such significant information, the King’s Hand merely replied with a brief acknowledgment and went about his business without drawing Hake Stone into a discussion of countermeasures.

While Hake Stone found this response somewhat odd, he didn’t press for answers. Although the two were on friendly terms, it was still best to avoid any semblance of impropriety regarding matters of state.

Amberser didn’t inquire about how the Golden Kingdom planned to counter the Elf Tribe’s Magic-Breaking Weapons. He was busy with renovations for his castle, choosing the perfect spots to install his twenty Obsidian Gargoyles.

Strictly speaking, Gargoyles weren’t living creatures, nor could they be classified as Undead, but rather a kind of magically constructed puppet. These top-tier Obsidian Gargoyles used obsidian as the primary material, along with other high-grade materials like Mithril and Adamantine. The cost of materials alone was exceedingly high, and the exterior shape, relating to the internal Magic Array’s design, required expert sculpting.

The twenty Obsidian Gargoyles had over a dozen special effects, with the most basic yet most crucial being magic resistance.

The Obsidian Gargoyles possessed an extremely strong resistance to various spells, and spellcasters like Amberser, without utilizing the power of the Golden Throne, would have to consider fleeing from the group onslaught of five Obsidian Gargoyles.

The top-tier Obsidian Gargoyles also had a self-repairing ability; as long as the damage did not exceed thirty percent, they could fully recover after a few days in a petrified, statue-like state.

Then, there was their lack of weaknesses; the only way to destroy an Obsidian Gargoyle was to physically smash it with a hammer, with no difference in hitting the head or feet since their brains were just for show and not used to sense targets.

The remaining effects include life induction, wound tearing, flight, shadow lurking, and other auxiliary effects. Once activated, they would bite at enemies non-stop like mad dogs; ordinary people wouldn’t last more than a few moments before being torn to shreds.

The drawback, if any, is their limited range of activity.

Gargoyles are not a type of soldier that can move freely; they are defensive creatures linked to their bases. If they stray too far from their base, they quickly become statues.

Amberser’s batch of Obsidian Gargoyles could only move up to five hundred meters. They were more than adequate to cover the castle, but taking them out to bully people would be a bit difficult.

However, this was not a problem for Amberser. He placed ten Obsidian Gargoyles in each corner of the castle to serve as guards, and the remaining ten were stored in his private space.

At critical moments, he could open the portal, and these gargoyles would become his assistants.

After installing these gargoyles, Amberser was ready to get down to business. He received his first batch of mineral ore “hire payment” from Viscount Leiteman—it was just simple processed iron ore, but the quantity was rather significant, filling more than half of the castle’s storage room.

With the ores delivered, the plan to nurture the Mercury Avatars was about to commence.

After searching around the castle, Amberser found the Mercury Avatars playing with their friends in the dungeon.

Behind the silvery big blob followed a bunch of sparkling little blobs, playing hide and seek, or maybe dancing.

These little blobs were naturally the special Undead that Amberser had previously crafted from sand and glass by altering the material properties to create constructs similar to elemental creatures.

Because Amberser had not restricted their intelligence, these little ones had quite impressive imitative abilities.

Perhaps because the Mercury Avatar was the largest, the other little ones automatically acknowledged it as the leader.

The little ones seemed not to notice Amberser and were playing on their own.

The Mercury Avatar moved and grew several arms, attempting to catch those elemental Undead. The elemental Undead displayed their magic, fleeing in various ways: some dispersed their bodies and became sand on the ground, then quickly rolled away; others twisted into a rope-like shape, slithering like snakes to avoid capture; some even attempted to form arms like the Mercury Avatar to arm-wrestle with the leader but were immediately pinned and rubbed on the ground by the Mercury Avatar; and some even more outrageous ones knocked down their companions to make their escape…

The little ones were having a great time, and Amberser enjoyed watching them too. Their intelligence had improved significantly, and soon he could test their worship and prayer effects again, hoping for a quick realization of true gold freedom.

After a while, Amberser realized they had no intention of stopping, so he had to play the spoilsport parent, picking up the Mercury Avatar and taking it to the ore storage room.

Amberser patted the round little one and said, “You are now a mature Mercury Avatar, it’s time for you to learn to reproduce.”

The Mercury Avatar seemed to understand Amberser’s words and crawled onto the ores.

With a plop, the Mercury Avatar dropped a severely corroded helmet. This was one of the fake Divine Artifacts confiscated from the Paladins of the Laine Empire; after digesting it for so many days, it had only managed to consume the outer layer.

Getting rid of this indigestible thing, the Mercury Avatar turned into a silver flow, starting to devour the ores in great gulps. The pile of ores started to shrink at a rate visible to the naked eye.

The consumption of the Divine Artifact was slow, but the Mercury Avatar’s speed in devouring ordinary metals was extremely fast. In just a few minutes, the hundred tons of ore had been completely consumed, leaving behind only a pile of non-metallic slag.

However, the Mercury Avatar’s size did not change at all; it even cried out to Amberser, indicating that it was only eighty percent full, and the energy needed for reproduction was still insufficient.

Amberser was somewhat surprised; he had miscalculated—feeding the Mercury Avatar with ordinary metal ore was not easy.

He reluctantly took out some gold and fed it to the Mercury Avatar, which finally satisfied the little one. The shell of the Mercury Avatar quickly hardened, beginning the breeding process. When the silver shell cracked, two Mercury Avatars would emerge.

For the first nurturing attempt, Amberser was extra cautious, staying by the Mercury Avatar’s side the entire time, closely monitoring the little one’s life state.

A day and night passed, and finally, the outer shell began to crack.

Liquid silver flowed from the broken shell, separating upon hitting the ground into two identical blobs of mercury. Though smaller than the original Mercury Avatar, each was a complete and structured living being.

“We’ve succeeded!” Amberser exclaimed excitedly.

Maintaining vitality is only the first essential element for a lifeform; to become a full-fledged species, they needed the ability to reproduce.

The two mercury blobs crawled to Amberser’s feet, rubbing against his calves like affectionate kittens.

Amberser patted the two indistinguishable little ones and said, “Kids, you eat too much. The supply from just Viscount Leiteman is probably not enough; it’s time to visit other mines.”

The Mercury Avatar’s appetite had exceeded Amberser’s expectations. Waiting for Viscount Leiteman to deliver the second batch of ore was impractical. Better to pick a suitable target and raid directly. It was also a good time to take those elemental Undead along to test them in real combat; hunting was the best way to enhance intelligence.

Amberser recalled his last encounter and muttered to himself, “The last ones I met on the road seemed to be cultists of the Goddess of Pain… bad luck for them.”