Kali leaned back on the plush couch in my room, her dark braid draped over one shoulder as she regarded with that particular expression she reserved for people about to do sothing colossally stupid.
"What sort of information could you sell for that much?" she asked, her curiosity as sharp as the edge of a blade. Her onyx eyes, glinting like coal, bored into .
I shrugged, leaning casually against the desk. "It was a chance for the Raven Network to jump to the next tier of influence," I said simply. "The kind of information that can reshape power dynamics."
Her brow furrowed as she sat up straighter. "And they just handed over billions? That doesn't happen unless they think it's a golden goose... or a poisoned one."
"Sotis the two aren't mutually exclusive," I replied with a small smirk. "Anyway, I need more help from you."
She let out a sigh that carried the weight of a thousand reluctant favors. "Even more? What now?"
"I need a brokerage account manager," I said, my voice steady. "Soone discreet. Soone who can cover my tracks."
"Cover your tracks?" Her eyebrows shot up as she stared at . "Arthur, you're planning sothing big. And if you need soone to 'cover your tracks,' it's also sothing dangerous."
"Perhaps," I said, my tone calm but deliberate. I'd learned that calm unnerved Kali more than anything else. Predictably, her dark eyes narrowed, assessing like I was a particularly volatile investnt.
Then, her gaze dropped lower, as if drawn to sothing she hadn't noticed before. Her eyes widened, and a low, incredulous murmur escaped her lips. "You… ford a Black Star."
I smiled faintly, touching a finger to my lips. "Secret," I said lightly. "But yes, and it's to your benefit too, you know."
She leaned back again, crossing her arms. "Fine. Alright. You're full of surprises today. I'll get you soone I trust for investing. Slatemark Empire?"
"Slatemark," I confird. "I need soone reliable. I'll be moving a lot of money, and it has to look… unremarkable."
"Unremarkable," she muttered, tapping her fingers against the couch's armrest. "You're planning to invest billions. That's the opposite of unremarkable. But fine, I'll make it happen." She waved a hand dismissively, though her gaze never left mine. "But you owe details. What's this grand plan of yours?"
"I'm just making a Lich," I said, my tone as casual as if I were discussing baking bread.
Kali blinked. Then she tilted her head, studying like I'd spoken in a foreign language. "Ah, sorry, I must've misheard. You ant a skeletal mage, right? Good project. Ambitious, but achievable. Although you definitely don't need this much money for that."
"I said Lich, Kali," I repeated, smiling faintly.
She froze, the words clearly lodging themselves in her brain like an arrow shot out of nowhere. Slowly, almost chanically, she leaned forward, her elbows on her knees, staring at as though I'd just declared myself Emperor of the Galaxy.
"You crazy… fucker," she whispered, and for once, I was the one caught off guard. "A Lich? You're actually making a Lich?"
Her voice rose, panic and exasperation battling for dominance. "Hey! Fucker! You might be talented, but there are limits!" She stood up now, pacing the room, her words spilling out like a faucet soone forgot to turn off. "A Lich? A LICH??? Are you dying? Are you insane? Do you have a death wish? Do you—"
"I already have the Source," I interjected, "and the Skull. I'll have the Skeleton soon."
She stopped pacing, turning to face with a mix of disbelief and resignation. "What the hell has the world co to? A fifteen-year-old boy making a Lich."
"I am using a cheat thod," I said, shrugging lightly. "It's not as impossible as it sounds."
"Even then! It's insane!" She gestured wildly as if trying to physically push away the sheer audacity of my words. "Do you even hear yourself? A Lich, Arthur! A creature so powerful it could single-handedly take on armies. And you're casually talking about making one like you're assembling IKEA furniture."
"You're exaggerating," I said, barely holding back a chuckle.
She pointed a finger at , her expression deadly serious. "If this doesn't kill you, I'll kill you myself. For being so reckless."
"Kali," I said, stepping closer to her, "I'm not reckless. I'm prepared."
She stared at for a long mont, her exasperation finally giving way to sothing softer—perhaps reluctant respect, or perhaps she'd just accepted that I was a lost cause. "You're insane," she said again, shaking her head. But this ti, her voice was quieter, almost fond.
"Maybe," I admitted. "But you like that about , don't you?"
"Shut up," she muttered, flopping back onto the couch. "Fine. I'll get you your brokerage manager. And if this works… I'll pretend you're a genius instead of a lunatic."
"That's all I ask," I replied with a grin.
"Anyway, tell more," Kali said, leaning forward with the curious intensity of soone on the verge of unearthing forbidden knowledge. Her eyes glead with the kind of excitent you might expect from a child presented with an unopened treasure chest—or, in this case, a necromancer with a fascination for the absurd.
Although Kali leaned more toward combat with dark mana rather than summoning, her roots in the Western continent—the epicenter of necromancy—ant she had a natural appreciation for this kind of thing. And, well, it wasn't every day soone casually announced they were making a Lich.
"Sure," I said, indulging her curiosity. Unlike Rachel, who I trusted wholeheartedly, my trust in Kali was more... conditional. The mana oath bound her to , ensuring she'd play along. For now, at least.
I rubbed a finger against my spatial ring, letting my mana flow into it. Two objects materialized on the desk between us, emanating an aura so potent the air seed to thrum with it. The first was a glimring skull, its surface etched with runes so ancient they practically whispered arcane secrets. The second was a pulsating heart, its surface veined with dark green energy that seed almost alive.
Kali froze. Her braid slipped over her shoulder as she leaned forward, staring at the two materials like she'd just been presented with the crown jewels—and perhaps sothing far more dangerous.
"Holy..." Her voice trailed off as she shivered, visibly shaken. "That's your Source and Skull? You absolute fucker, that's overkill for a Lich!"
"Well, I'm aiming for an Arch Lich," I admitted, scratching the back of my head like it was no big deal.
Her gaze snapped to , wide-eyed, her lips parting as if to deliver a monologue on the virtues of sanity before she stopped herself. Instead, she pressed her fingers to her temples. "Being around you is like watching my common sense die a slow, painful death. I an, sure, cheat thod or not, this is insane!"
"Thanks," I said with a grin. "Anyway, this"—I gestured to the skull—"is the Skull of an Arch Lich, which I'll use for the Mind aspect. And this"—my hand shifted to the heart—"is a Basilisk Heart, for the Soul aspect."
Her mouth fell open, then closed again, as if words had failed her entirely. Finally, she muttered, "Wait... Arch Lich? You don't an... you don't an the one from 2035, do you?"
I nodded.
Her hands dropped to her sides, and she stared at as though I'd just told her I'd stolen a dragon's egg for breakfast. "You're telling that's the skull of the Arch Lich from the 2035 incident? The one that nearly beca a Lich King? The one that wiped out an entire city and was on the verge of turning the Northern continent into a graveyard?"
"The very sa," I confird.
"And the heart," she continued, her voice growing shriller, "is from a Basilisk? A mythical creature, one of the highest tier dark mana beings in existence?"
I smiled and shrugged. "I have my thods."
Kali threw her hands in the air and began pacing, her boots clicking sharply against the floor. "How—no, why—do you keep finding ways to break the universe, Arthur? This is the kind of stuff necromancers dream about. Do you realize people have gone entire lifetis without even seeing materials like these, and you just... have them?"
I leaned back in my chair, enjoying her dramatics. "What kind of skeleton do you think I should use?" I asked, steering the conversation back on track.
She stopped mid-step and turned to , arms folded. "Knowing you? Sothing ridiculous. A Dragon Skeleton, maybe? Or, oh, I don't know, the corpse of the First Calamity, the Heavenly Demon? That would be on-brand for you."
I chuckled. "I wish. It's an eight-star Blood Wyvern skeleton."
Her eyes widened again, though less dramatically this ti. "A Blood Wyvern... That's still absurdly high-end, but I guess it's a step down from outright lunacy." She tilted her head, considering. "Wait, a Blood Wyvern—was it one of the ones that crossed over from the Western continent?"
"Exactly," I said. "It was hunted by a Gold-grade guild here in the Central continent."
Kali whistled, low and impressed. "A Blood Wyvern's skeleton is still going to be perfect for what you're making. Dark mana affinity, strong structural integrity—it checks all the boxes. But it'll need adjustnts, obviously. You can't just slap these pieces together like Lego blocks and call it a day."
I nodded, already knowing what she ant. Adjusting a skeleton to fit the rest of the Lich components wasn't a matter of simple alignnt; it was an intricate process requiring both magical and physical alteration. Every bone would need to be carefully reworked, re-etched with runes, and reinforced to harmonize with the Source and the Skull. And that kind of precision work didn't co cheap.
Kali shook her head, her dark braid swaying as she sat back down. "You know, adjusting a skeleton like that is going to drive the costs way up, right? You're basically asking for custom craftsmanship from the best necromancers and alchemists in the world."
"I figured as much," I said, unfazed. "It's not like I expected to assemble it myself."
"Good. Because if you even thought about trying that, I'd have to stop you out of sheer self-preservation." She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "But seriously, Arthur. A Lich of this caliber... You're going to be unstoppable if you pull this off."
"That's the plan," I replied, my voice steady but laced with determination. "It's not just about power, though. This is a foundation. For everything that cos next."
Kali studied for a long mont, then sighed, shaking her head. "Fine. But if this backfires and you accidentally raise an army of the undead that tries to eat the world, I'm holding you personally responsible."
"Deal," I said with a smirk. "I'll even put it in writing if that helps."
"Shut up," she muttered, though her lips twitched into a reluctant smile. "You're impossible, you know that?"
"Impossible just ans I'm doing it right," I shot back.
Kali rolled her eyes but didn't argue. And that, more than anything, was proof that she believed in —even if she thought I was insane.
Reviews
All reviews (0)