"In order to successfully become a Level 4 (SemiGod), I'm going to go to the south to find some peace … cough — cough — I mean to go to a certain place in the south to find the Sun God's Magic Realm. So, don't wait for me to go home for dinner."
I unhesitatingly left my home after saying these rather confusing words. At the very least, I needed to find a place to calm down before the berserk Renée calmed down.
Of course, before I left, I needed to perform a magical ritual.
In the extreme Northlands, the entire sky was lit up by Holy Light. The dark clouds that covered the sky were actually a vortex of shadow elements.
The Elemental Tide surged like a storm. Every single magic tower in the Northlands could sense the rampaging elemental waves. However, no matter what kind of detection spell they used, they were unable to see through this area.
Obviously, this was a forbidden magic ritual …
"Um, what if I get exposed after making such a big fuss?"
At the center of the elemental waves, archmages who should have been chanting forbidden spells were instead drinking tea and chatting. Meanwhile, the floating city in midair was still spitting out Death Canopy and Holy Light.
Precious mana resources were being used to set off meaningless fireworks. It would have been strange if the elemental waves were normal.
"… It'll be a problem if I don't make such a big fuss."
I could understand Suana's anxiety. However, explaining this would be quite a headache.
"Miracles can't be too cheap."
That's right, it was that simple. Miracles couldn't be too cheap. If it were so easy to perform a miracle of resurrection, I would likely be torn to shreds by countless believers. Not only that, none of the Gods who believed in me would let me off the hook.
In this generation, 99.9% of the Gods believed in me. Apart from social customs, it was even more because of the Gods' teachings that "devout believers would enter the Divine Kingdom, while non-believers would fall into the River Styx."
Fear of death and the world after death was a human instinct. It was also the foundation of belief in the gods. If resurrection could be carried out at will, and humans could obtain eternal life, or if the gods used another method to prove that the world after death didn't exist, then there would be no real difference between belief and not believing in the gods. It was likely that a tremendous number of believers would instantly abandon their belief in the gods. More than half of the gods who believed in the gods would instantly perish, and the other gods would also be greatly weakened.
That was why all civilizations and individuals that sought eternal life and resurrection were suicidal. Even I, who was already used to being suicidal, wasn't directly strangled to death. That was because I had two ridiculous restrictions — "Only natural undead can resurrect after death" and "Resurrection requires a tremendous price" — that I wouldn't be hunted down by the Gods.
Of course, it was also because my life was tough enough. If it was anyone else who announced that they had the power of resurrection, even if it was a limited power of resurrection, the Gods would instantly send that person into the River Styx.
The black power of death was in his right hand, and the golden holy light was in his left. With a light pat, they turned into sparkling white light.
"Eat it and you'll be resurrected."
"So … so easy?!"
I shook my head and didn't reply.
Easy? Casting a resurrection spell would only take an instant, but researching how to resurrect would take an entire history book. How many years would it take to simultaneously master undead magic and the power of Holy Light? And as the user, not only would she have to ensure the success rate of resurrection, she would also have to surpass me in the study of souls. Perhaps my System was cheating as well.
Although "only natural undead can be resurrected" was a pure lie, the second condition I mentioned wasn't completely a lie. Resurrection indeed required a price. Casting a resurrection spell also required a "magic ingredient" — souls.
That's right, it was an equivalent exchange. In order to resurrect a dead person, one would need to pay a hundred or even a thousand times more souls.
Back when Harloys was revived, the technology wasn't perfect enough yet. She had used my Divine Sin Soul, my soul-related magical pet. Not only did it allow her to transform from an undead into a living being, it even made up for her soul's flaws … To put it in simpler terms, it cured her mental illness!
Cough, cough, let me pull the cat off my head before I continued. It was getting more and more painful. Could it be that Harloys had evolved her adamantine fangs?
The living and the undead didn't seem very different, but there was actually a foundational difference.
The undead were the remnants of the living. No matter how the undead evolved, the foundational nature of the undead's soul would only become weaker and weaker. Forcefully devouring souls to evolve would only cause the undead's soul to be mixed with too much impurities, and the undead would become completely unrecognizable.
This type of desire caused by the lack of a soul would cause the undead to become lonelier and crazier.
For the wild undead, no matter how noble their reason for becoming an undead was, if they forcefully tried to survive, they would often end up forgetting the true reason for their pursuit of eternal life after a long period of time. They would truly become the walking dead.
A strong will and desire for glory could slow down this process. It would be fine for several hundred years, but thousands or even tens of thousands of years would cause the soul's deterioration to be irreversible.
As for the living, before reaching the end of their lifespan, they would always be changing and evolving. They would be active, unpredictable, and self-sufficient. They would be on an upward curve. Knowledge and the elements would become their nourishment, helping them to continuously grow and mature. Only when they reached the end of their lifespan would they become completely fixed, and then enter a downward curve.
As for the secret art of resurrection, it actually used the principles of pure Holy Light to "purify" and "restore" the undead's soul shards as a template to restore the full appearance of the living's soul. Then, using undead magic's ability to manipulate souls, I would use high-quality soul shards from the living to make up for and reconstruct the undead's soul.
That's right, resurrection was the twin miracles of Holy Light and Death. It was a simulation of the Cycle of Reincarnation created by the Creator Goddesses. It was also a cheating method to preserve the memories of the soul. From a certain standpoint, I had stolen the authority that only the Goddesses of Order and Chaos should have.
This was a by-product of my research on the creation of the world of Hades. It was an unexpected coincidence, but from a different standpoint, it was a type of necessity. When I tried to explore the mysteries of the Cycle of Reincarnation and soul reincarnation, I would definitely obtain this knowledge.
Suana hesitated, but in the end, she swallowed the white light.
Then, for a short instant, the banshee's soul body was still that of a ghost. There was no difference at all. However, we all knew that she had come back to life.
"This …"
In Suana's eyes, the entire world had become different.
The green grass was filled with the energy of life. The blue sky was so fresh. Even the human flesh that had always been tempting to her now looked delightful.
"I'm … alive?"
Suana's expression was filled with delight. Yet, tears from her soul were unknowingly dripping down from her soul body, transforming into nothingness in the air. The world hadn't changed. The only thing that had changed was the person watching the world.
I chuckled, but didn't say anything else.
The soul sacrifice that Suana needed for her resurrection? Didn't I previously have Suana personally go to the Moon Kingdom of the Elves to do a great cleansing? The moon elf nobles were all related by blood to begin with, so they were the most suitable living sacrifices.
From a certain standpoint, if it wasn't for the rows of moon elf nobles hanging from the city walls, Suana's resurrection wouldn't have gone so smoothly.
Of course, considering Suana's personality, I didn't tell her any of this. I didn't want to give her unnecessary psychological pressure and additional annoyance.
At this stage of resurrection, Suana was only half done. The next step would naturally be to reconstruct her physical body.
Actually, this could only be accomplished with the "materials" available. Any random high-level undead mage would be able to accomplish this. If an undead mage didn't have the assistance of an undead mage and didn't care about the appearance of the physical body, it would also be possible to steal the physical body of a random moon elf. Of course, the compatibility rate would be slightly lower.
Suana's corpse from back in the day still remained. It wouldn't be too difficult to use her bloodline as a template to create a new physical body. The compatibility rate would also be 100%. However, as I was an undead mage master, wouldn't it be a waste of an opportunity if I only had this much …
"… Suana, are you certain that you don't want to install Explosive Flying Fists and Mulan Missiles? I'll disguise myself well. Normally, I'll just have a normal chest and right hand. But as long as I meet a powerful enemy, I'll just have to reach out with my hand and chest, and the enemy will explode! That's my ultimate killing secret weapon! "
"… There's no need. I appreciate your good intentions."
"How about a flamethrower at your feet? It'll allow you to fly at subsonic speeds and allow you to escape for a short period of time. "
"… There's really no need for that, Your Highness Roland. Thank you for your good intentions …"
"Tsk, you're such a picky customer. How about this, a drill! A man's romance is a drill! An adamantine drill can be used as a weapon, a mithril drill can be used to block magic, and a diamond drill can be used to dig a tunnel and escape if necessary! "
"I'm a woman …"
Unfortunately, no matter how much I tried to sell her, even if I recommended my trump cards, such as three transformations, four split fruits, and ten thousand tentacles, Suana still wouldn't agree.
In the end, I could only helplessly accept the most boring design of all and create a moon elf body that was exactly the same as Suana's.
Suana completed the fusion, and judging from the time difference, it was likely that powerful individuals would be arriving soon. So, I directly detonated this entire area to create another material for them to guess.
"Alright, I'll leave the moon elves to you."
I also said goodbye to Suana and embarked on a new journey …
"Roland, why didn't you let me chat with Suana for a bit longer? Did you do something to her body? Are you afraid of being discovered? "
"Relax. Until I press that red switch on my chest, all of her functions will remain dormant."
Harloys stared at the man before her in disbelief. This guy was playing tricks right under her nose.
"… How many did you install? All those messy designs. "
"All of them. My techniques are pretty good, aren't they? Iron Arm Princess Suana, three transformations Suana, Sky Origin Breakthrough Suana, Magical Girl Nemesis Suana … Cough, cough, I don't count the last one. Relax, you don't have to worry about my techniques. She won't use these things unless she's determined to use them. "
I paused for a moment. This time, it really wasn't because I hadn't created anything for a long time.
"Besides, her individual power level is rather weak, and she's too important. I'm really worried. If she dies again, she won't be so lucky as to become a natural undead."
"… Reputation."
"What?"
"A woman's reputation is probably even more important than her life. Who can guarantee that she won't encounter life-threatening dangers in her entire life? How will she be able to continue living if those messy things appear?"
"A woman … Heehee."
"… What else did you do?"
"I didn't do anything. I can swear on it."
"You didn't do anything?"
Harloys paused in surprise. Through our soul connection, she learned the truth. Indeed, I didn't do anything at all. All I did was keep my physical body's ability to change gender with my soul.
"Oh my, you have no idea just how many techniques it took to give a physical body the ability to change gender upon contact with water. Even I had to spend so much effort in order to achieve this … Ahhh! Don't bite me, silly cat! I didn't intend to harm her! Let me explain! This is for the sake of the entire Elven Empire! Do you really think I'd be so bored? "
"Of course! You're inhumane when you're bored! "
After a series of fights, I finally explained to the silly cat that I really wasn't doing this because I was bored.
"See, the other Superior Elves are still fine, but the moon elf royalty is basically extinct. It just so happens that the moon elf nobles are famous for being suicidal. I'm really worried … I'm not doing this for the sake of the entire elven species, am I?"
"… You're worried that another group of bastards will appear who want to split from the moon elf family, right? The moon elves also have other royalty nobles, right? I think that you only trust Suana, and you intend to have Suana's descendant become the entire moon elf royalty. With this moon elf 'Matriarch' looking after the moon elves, the entire Mist Alliance will be stabilized? "
I fell silent for a moment. I wouldn't deny it. I was truly worried that Suana wouldn't marry for the rest of her life, which would cause the trustworthy royal family to be completely destroyed.
"Marriage alliance?"
"Yep, marriage alliance."
From a certain standpoint, the evil political marriage of this generation was indeed quite meaningful. If Suana was a male, no matter how many moon elves there were, they would probably all send their princesses to her.
Suana was a female who could only marry once, while a male could marry many times. The more entangled the moon elves were, the more stable the royal authority would be. Descendants would also be born much faster. A new moon elf dynasty would be something to look forward to.
And if the moon elves, who were the most troublemakers, became stable, the entire Moon Elf Empire would become much more stable as well. My time was limited. Who would be able to handle a moon elf rebellion every few years?
As for Suana's own wishes … Oftentimes, political marriages would never consider the wishes of the moon elf. I didn't need to explain it to her. At that time, not only would many moon elves voluntarily become the bad guys, even Suana, who was the leader of the moon elves, would have the resolve to "sacrifice" herself.
"… I was having a headache about the moon elves before. This coincidence has finally given me some attention."
Harloys fell silent for a moment. Finally, she looked at me and spoke in a serious tone.
"You're such a bastard. You're going to go to Hell."
"Ha, even devils are dancing in the mortal plane. Aren't we in Hell right now?"
Scheming against the pure and innocent Suana made both of us feel terrible. However, Harloys finally broke this silence.
"… In that case, with your skills, it shouldn't be difficult for you to physically deal with Renée and that fatty, right? You're not hoping that Renée will do the same, are you? That fatty was innocently shot? "
"What? I don't understand. "
I did my best to look at the sky and heard nothing.
As for whether or not I had the skills? Back in Sulfur Mountain City, I told you that it was just a minor surgery. How difficult could it be?
"Roland, you bastard!"
"Tsk, silly cat, do you want to know how cats die? They die for talking too much! "
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