Mist Empire's Rise-Chapter 355: Thanks to Na's Divine Work!
Just activating the teleportation array wasn't enough—you also had to estimate the transfer ti and channel sufficient magic to maintain the connection.
The dark elf explained: "This type of rune helps us conserve magical power. When the teleportation passage is about to run out, it automatically draws magic from our bodies to maintain the connection until the transfer completes and the passage closes."
Luo Wei asked, "What if everyone's magic runs out and there's nothing left to draw?"
The dark elf was stumped. He hesitated before saying, "This teleportation array requires at least a grand archmage to activate. Anyone who can activate it shouldn't run into that problem."
After a pause, he added, "If that really happened, the teleportation passage would break and bounce them back."
Luo Wei felt even more guilty. So she was the one who'd knocked Patrick and Zachary out.
Originally, they couldn't have activated the teleportation array—the three of them combined didn't have enough magic to reach grand archmage level.
But after adding that box of magic stones, they'd hit the minimum threshold for a grand archmage's single use and entered the teleportation passage.
Then the used magic stones were spent, their magic wasn't enough, and Patrick and Zachary got bounced back.
So what about her?
Her magic was the lowest. Why could she teleport through?
A flash of insight struck Luo Wei, and she suddenly understood.
People with higher cultivation who exhausted their magic needed more magical elents to recover—they'd actually compete with the teleportation passage for power.
She was different. Precisely because she was weak, so weak she had no presence, she was like a fallen leaf. Just floating on the water's surface was enough to carry her away.
Compared to two heavy stones, of course the leaf was easier to transport.
Luo Wei thought to herself that even heaven was helping her. One coincidence after another, perfectly solving all her concerns.
You could even call it perfect timing and circumstances.
A strange feeling crept into Luo Wei's heart—that sense of fate being predetermined, of walking along a path soone else had calculated, of being pushed forward by an invisible hand.
Who was it? So god of this world, or... the world itself?
Luo Wei let out a soft breath and turned around. "It's getting late. Let's go outside."
"Bring those two as well."
She pointed at Patrick and Zachary.
"Yes, Your Highness." The dark elf nodded, first bending down to scoop up Zachary and hoist him over his shoulder, then picking up Patrick and tucking him under his arm.
After taking two steps, hearing the crisp sound of bones clattering together, the dark elf's body stiffened. He looked helplessly toward Luo Wei ahead of him.
"Your Highness..."
"What's wrong?" Luo Wei turned back.
The dark elf's eyes were panicked. "Will the undead die if he falls apart?"
Luo Wei: "Huh?"
"His head," the dark elf said in horror, lifting his left leg with his knee propping up Patrick's skull, "is about to fall off."
Luo Wei's eyelid twitched as her gaze dropped.
Patrick was tucked under his arm facing upward. The hood had fallen below his neck vertebrae. With a soft sound, the bone-white skull separated from the spine like an overripe lon dropping from the vine, rolling down his knee.
In the end, he couldn't hold it.
Luo Wei lunged forward and caught the skull before it hit the ground.
Patrick had been dead for over a thousand years. These bones were probably older than the dark elf himself.
Looking at the skull in her hands, the word "elegant" inexplicably popped into Luo Wei's mind.
She used to think "elegant to the bone" was just an exaggeration. Now she realized it was literal description.
Normal human bones exposed to air for this long would have beco thin and brittle, with yellowed and grayed coloring.
Patrick's bones were exceptionally well-preserved—smooth and glossy on the surface with a lustrous quality like mutton-fat jade. The shape was beautiful too, with symtrical bone structure and neat teeth. A work of art.
A skull like this, if put up for auction in her previous life, would probably drive bidders crazy.
She rembered there was an auction site abroad called eBay that often auctioned special items. This skull would definitely fetch an astronomical price there.
Luo Wei regretfully reattached the skull to Patrick. Without soft tissue, the bones wouldn't stay secure—it would probably fall off again after a few steps.
She simply had the dark elf put Patrick on the ground, wrapped his black robe tightly, and took a rope from her spatial ring to tie him up like a dumpling.
"Now he won't fall apart. Even if he does, it'll be inside the clothes."
Luo Wei dusted off her hands. "Let's go."
The dark elf picked up the rope around Patrick's waist and followed Luo Wei out of the basent.
Outside the passage.
Troy, who had been pacing outside the door for a while, heard approaching footsteps. He straightened up and looked toward the hidden door.
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"Creak—"
Luo Wei pushed open the door and imdiately saw the tall knight standing outside.
"Troy?"
"It's , Your Highness," Troy answered, lowering his head. "I finished what you asked to do. I saw your carriage on the road and ca here."
"Perfect timing," Luo Wei said, opening the door wider and walking out. "I'll ask about Tim later. Go help Loren with Patrick."
Who's Loren?
A question mark had just appeared over Troy's head when he suddenly felt sothing was off.
"Help Loren with Patrick"—with?
While he was puzzling over this, a dark figure erged from the passage. The person had soone slung over their shoulder and was carrying sothing in their hand.
That figure must be the "Loren" Her Highness ntioned, right?
Troy walked forward two steps. The person also happened to step out of the hidden door.
"Sir, let help..."
The words caught in his throat. Troy's eyes widened.
Why is this person so black!
The dark figure he'd seen wasn't just a silhouette—they were so black that standing in the shadows, you could barely make out their features!
"Troy," Luo Wei reminded him, "what are you standing there for? Help out. Put them both on the long benches in the main hall."
Troy's brain turned to mush. He chanically extended his hand toward the dark elf. "Sir, please give the thing."
The dark elf corrected him: "This isn't a thing. He used to be human too."
With that, he handed Troy the rope he was holding.
Troy took it and tested the weight. Sothing felt wrong. He looked down and froze in place.
Right, what had Her Highness just said?
Help... help with Patrick?
Troy: ... His hands were shaking a bit.
Had Her Highness secretly executed a high-level undead archmage?
He looked up, wanting to say sothing, when his peripheral vision caught sight of a tuft of red hair hanging from the person on the dark elf's shoulder. What little composure he'd regained flew away again.
Though emaciated beyond recognition, he could still identify him.
This person was Zachary, right?
Zachary, the slave trader and high-level mystical smith from the Northlands, right?
Had Her Highness killed Zachary too?
"Troy!" Luo Wei called loudly.
Troy snapped back to attention. "Yes, Your Highness!"
Luo Wei frowned. "What are you spacing out about? I called you several tis with no response."
"It's... it's nothing." Troy shook his head.
"Co on. Let's go to the main hall first."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Troy quickly picked up Patrick and hurried to catch up.
The dark elf glanced at Troy, looking thoughtful.
This knight Her Highness had appointed didn't seem very bright. His reactions were rather slow too.
Reaching the main hall, Luo Wei directed the two n to place Zachary and Patrick on the long benches.
She untied the rope around Patrick and straightened out his bones one by one. Only after finishing did she sit down in a nearby chair.
"Sit and rest a bit," she told Troy and the dark elf. "Once they wake up, we'll all head back to Star Luo Residence together."
Troy's expression was blank. "They're not dead?"
Luo Wei said helplessly, "Of course not. They just passed out from magical exhaustion."
Troy opened his mouth and produced a single syllable: "Oh."
He turned his rusty brain, his forest-green eyes looking toward the dark elf. "This is..."
"You must be Knight Commander Troy. Her Highness ntions you often," the dark elf volunteered to help Luo Wei maintain the story. "I'm Her Highness's Minister of Finance, Loren Hill, from the Misty Plains."
The dark elf radiated a calm, steady presence. His speech was asured and unhurried—clearly soone with extensive experience.
Troy didn't doubt his identity for a second. In fact, hearing the title "Minister of Finance" filled him with respect. "So you're Minister Hill!"
Minister of Finance ranked higher than Knight Commander. By protocol, he should address him as "Minister."
Troy felt sowhat excited. Her Highness had actually brought the Minister of Finance to the Western Continent. Did this an they'd soon be raising an army against the Church?
Seeing Troy's expression, Luo Wei spoke up: "Loren is only here temporarily to help manage finances on this side. He's very busy with affairs in the Misty Plains and won't be staying here often."
Troy understood. The Minister of Finance was one of the kingdom's most important positions. Of course he'd be busy.
As the three conversed, Patrick and Zachary woke up one after the other.
Blue flas reignited in Patrick's eye sockets, and his loose skeletal fra tightened under the connection of magical power.
He propped himself up on the bench, eting a pair of curious eyes. The flas in his sockets flickered.
Caught staring, the dark elf's face showed a hint of apology. "Sorry. I've never seen an undead before. I was curious."
Patrick nodded reservedly, straightened his posture, and turned his skull toward Luo Wei. Master?
"You ran out of magic in the teleportation passage and passed out," Luo Wei explained simply. "This is my Minister of Finance, Loren, from the Misty Plains."
Patrick faced the dark elf and nodded slightly in greeting.
He was very curious about him too—not just his unusual skin tone and pointed ears, but also his magical power.
The dark elf gave him a feeling of great strength, but he couldn't guess his exact level.
He'd just manipulated a thread of dark elent to probe the other's magic, but the mont the dark elent approached, it sank without a trace—so calm there wasn't even a splash.
Thinking of the teleportation array in the basent, Patrick vaguely guessed the other's magical level—grand archmage.
This was getting interesting. The Western Continent hadn't produced a grand archmage in years, and now suddenly one had arrived from the Misty Plains. Could the Pope and those kings still sit easy on their thrones?
Zachary woke after Patrick but didn't open his eyes. Only after hearing Luo Wei reveal the dark elf's identity did he groan and make a sound.
"Mr. Bunian, you're finally awake."
Zachary slowly sat up, eting Luo Wei's concerned gaze.
"What happened to ?" he asked, holding his head.
Luo Wei repeated what she'd told Patrick: "You ran out of magic in the teleportation passage and passed out."
Zachary looked apologetic. "Seems my magic still wasn't enough. I couldn't help you."
Luo Wei smiled. "You're too modest, Mr. Bunian. Thanks to your help, I was able to bring Loren to the Western Continent."
"Loren?" Zachary's voice was puzzled.
The dark elf spoke up at the right mont. "Hello, sir. I'm Her Highness's Minister of Finance, Loren Hill."
He sighed inwardly. Humans were such strange creatures. He'd clearly just heard the introduction, yet pretended to be unconscious until now.
But he didn't expose him. The books said humans loved to act, and if exposed they'd beco angry from embarrassnt, so it was best not to call them out.
Zachary followed the voice and saw the dark elf. His pupils imdiately contracted.
He'd kept his eyes closed the whole ti. Though he'd heard the conversation outside, he hadn't seen what the dark elf looked like.
Good thing he hadn't seen him. If he'd secretly opened his eyes and seen this, he definitely couldn't have kept up the act.
This person called Loren Hill didn't look human. His luminous dark skin was flawless, his handso face had refined and three-dinsional features, with pointed ears on either side. His voice sounded male, but his chin was so smooth you couldn't see any stubble.
While questioning his gender, Zachary introduced himself: "Hello. My na is Zachary Bunian. I'm a slave trader."
"Slave trader?" The dark elf found the word "slave" distasteful and frowned slightly. "A rchant who sells beastfolk slaves?"
Zachary hadn't expected such a strange question. He shook his head. "Beastfolk can't beco slaves."
Beastfolk were fierce-tempered and wild by nature. Who would dare capture them as slaves without fearing being bitten to death?
Besides, the Church had killed off all the beastfolk. Where would he find any?
"If not beastfolk slaves, then what slaves?" The dark elf was confused.
Zachary felt awkward. How was he supposed to answer that? Should he say "human slaves"?
That sounded weird.
Seeing the atmosphere grow tense, Luo Wei spoke gently: "Loren, this is your first ti in the Western Continent. You don't fully understand the situation here yet."
"Humans in the Western Continent divide people into many classes. The lowest class is slaves. Slaves are considered private property by slave owners and can be sold and traded as commodities."
"So poor humans, or defeated prisoners of war, lose their land and freedom, becoming slaves without human rights."
The dark elf was utterly shocked. He'd thought beastfolk had beco human slaves after their defeat. He never imagined humans were actually enslaving their own kind.
How was this different from cannibalism?
Elves loved peace. Their world had no classes or oppression because they shared a common source of life—the Tree of Life.
The Tree of Life's buds birthed flower elves, dewdrops on its leaves birthed water elves, the soil beneath it birthed stone elves, its falling leaves that spontaneously burned birthed fire elves, and the wind circling the Tree of Life beca wind elves.
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