Chapter 226
Chapter 226
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 226
Chapter Title: Garjun, the Pursuer of Transcendence
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Garjun, who had pursued the path to becoming a Transcendent Being.
For him, it was a proposal he could never refuse.
"You sure know how to make a man's mouth water."
In the end, Garjun accepted Leyzon's offer.
He had taken the bait himself.
Tsking his tongue, he smacked his lips.
"I figured you'd at least ask about the effects of turning yourself into an undead, or any improvements. But no, you went way beyond expectations with something completely unforeseen."
'Uh, well, that actually was what I was most curious about.'
He'd been pretending to know more than he did and accidentally overhyped himself.
Leyzon shrugged nonchalantly.
A person couldn't live being looked down on.
He decided to act confident.
"So, how did you end up pursuing transcendence in the first place?"
The Transcendent Being he had chased even while establishing the Gray Mage Tower.
Leyzon was walking that path too, but honestly, it hadn't been intentional.
'It was just a byproduct of my skill's awakening.'
The new evolution granted to his undead.
Most undead evolutions were tied to nutrient absorption.
Syria's was blood.
Estelle's was magic stones.
Eden's was curses.
Haron's was equipment.
Paulie's was insect feed.
And for Leyzon, it was skills.
All of them evolved through the common thread of energy absorption.
'Born atop corpses as we are, we're constantly absorbing their nutrients.'
This bore striking similarities to the imperial ideal.
The Empire absorbed nutrients from Transcendent Being corpses via Pioneers.
Leyzon absorbed them via undead from those same corpses.
In a way, it meant Leyzon's methods mirrored the Empire's.
Like the Empire, Leyzon had naturally stepped onto the path to transcendence.
'Coincidence? Or just a superficial resemblance?'
He didn't know.
But Leyzon suspected this path led to a Transcendent Being.
Right then, Garjun spoke up.
"I read something intriguing in an ancient tome long ago."
Pulling his robe's hood over his head, Garjun reminisced about the distant past.
That tome had sparked his lifelong research.
"It was a fascinating theory that the roots of necromancy lay not in transcendence, but something even more curious."
In the past, he might have laughed it off as overhyping necromancers.
But it wasn't something Leyzon could dismiss lightly now.
As Garjun said, necromancers and Transcendent Beings shared many similarities.
Transcendent Beings wielded Prophets.
They created Apostles and scattered them across the earth.
This wasn't far removed from how necromancers commanded undead.
It felt eerily similar.
Leyzon had felt it even more acutely when facing the Ossuary directly.
'While raising 63 characters, I never possessed one.'
None of those 63 were necromancers.
So why had the real Leyzon possessed the 64th, and a necromancer at that?
'No matter how much I'd left it idle.'
The fact that it was a necromancer nagged at him.
"That tome captivated me. Ever since, I've wanted to bring its ideas to life."
Garjun pointed his own hand toward the sky.
"I wanted to see this world, where Transcendent Beings slumber at will, through the eyes of one myself."
Madness gleamed thickly in his eyes.
"Aren't you curious? What the end of the world a necromancer can reach looks like."
Necromancers were all mad to a one.
And Garjun was no exception.
"I don't even care if it's not me. As long as I can witness the necromancer's endpoint with my own eyes, anything goes."
Garjun gazed at Leyzon.
He was undoubtedly a deranged necromancer.
But that madness was more helpful to Leyzon now than anyone else's sanity.
"Abyss, if you can show me that world, I'll gladly help. What do you want from me? Speak."
Leyzon smiled faintly.
He'd hooked him this far.
No need to pretend anymore.
"Everything."
So Leyzon answered honestly.
Garjun blinked.
He hadn't expected "everything."
But soon, he read the intent in Leyzon's eyes.
"Hah."
An astonished reaction escaped Garjun.
"I see. You didn't even know what it truly meant to turn yourself into an undead from the start, did you?"
"Spot on."
No point hiding it now.
He'd come to Garjun for undead advice in the first place.
Garjun realized he'd been thoroughly played.
But what could he do?
He'd already seen the potential through Leyzon.
This one might actually reach the necromancer's end.
"Don't you usually hear you're reckless?"
"My proudest trait."
When you had to push, you pushed.
Better than regretting it later.
"Must be tough serving a master like that."
"What's wrong with our Lord Leyzon!"
"It ain't easy, no."
"Ahem."
Syria passionately defended Leyzon, but the other two undead cleared their throats awkwardly.
He did always move in unexpected ways.
"Fine, you knew nothing at all."
Having been so spectacularly hooked already.
Garjun instead revealed his competitive spirit and curiosity.
"I'm curious how far my knowledge will prove valuable."
He offered up his entire life—from centuries ago to now.
Garjun, former lord of the Gray Mage Tower.
He had entered the Empire alongside the Earthkeeper, amassing undead knowledge across generations.
As such, the stories he shared were far more advanced than imagined.
From undead basics to origins and processes.
Leyzon now had theoretical explanations for what he'd only sensed intuitively before.
This would prove immensely helpful when creating undead later.
'Garjun handles primal magic too, as expected.'
Primal magic, distinct from skills.
Through it, Garjun wielded high-tier undead creation.
Of course, his undead couldn't compare to Leyzon's.
Not even Garjun could create one like Syria.
Auto-Evolving Undead Creation [?EX] was in a league of its own.
But it could be viewed another way.
'Auto-Evolving Undead Creation can evolve to even higher levels.'
Skill output maxed at three stages.
Primal magic reached up to five.
'If I meet the Gravekeeper, learn Seriel's research, and reclaim my stolen talent.'
He might glimpse the next stage of Auto-Evolving Undead Creation.
"Thanks. This is way more helpful than I expected."
"I'm glad to teach. Modern necromancers tend to neglect their undead."
In Dungeon Replay, necromancers were practically warlocks.
So necromancers had broad specializations.
Undead just had lower popularity, unavoidably.
"Now, time to hear about turning yourself into an undead."
This was the real meat of it.
Leyzon straightened up, listening intently.
"The first major point for a necromancer becoming undead is the removal of lifespan limits."
Garjun had proven this himself.
But immortality didn't mean invincibility.
Undead drew power from necromancers.
A necromancer-turned-undead had no such supply.
That was the downside.
"But that hardly applies to you."
As he said, Leyzon's power consumption was minimal.
Living as one wasn't much different from his Half Dark Elf days.
"To me, you're not fully undead yet."
"Not fully undead?"
"Right. Half-undead is more accurate."
Half undead.
Totally unexpected.
"Tell me more."
"Empire-bred necromancers rely on skills for undead creation, lacking theory. You felt that in our earlier talk."
"Yeah, I definitely sensed the theoretical gaps."
"Lack of theory means burden on yourself.
Abyss, you instinctively became cautious during your self-undeadification, accounting for potential mistakes."
Leyzon had been hypersensitive during the process.
Senses heightened, total focus.
Looking back now, Garjun's words clicked.
'Undeadification was a burden on me too.'
Uncharted territory.
One slip could mean irreversible doom.
That mindset subtly influenced the skill.
Skills leaned more on instinct than theory, hence it happened.
"Not a bad thing, actually. You've got half the benefits of necromancer and undead each."
Jack-of-all-trades could mean master of some.
"Tsk, I think you should lean into that. It could birth something entirely new."
"Then I can't advise much on that front."
"Yeah, that's a shame."
It was territory Leyzon had to explore solo.
More homework.
But intriguing homework.
Delving into the unknown was thrilling.
"You plan to refine your undeadification further, right?"
"Yeah. Keep improving it."
"Then take this."
Garjun opened his ever-present satchel and pulled out a book.
"My journal from pursuing undeadification and transcendence."
Better read than told.
Leyzon snatched the book without hesitation.
No such thing as passing on this.
Thus, Leyzon and Garjun became research partners.
Knowledge had to be shared maximally.
Though only Garjun was sharing, so far.
"Hope my knowledge helps."
But Garjun would be satisfied seeing new necromantic horizons.
He was utterly obsessed with undead too.
"Think that's enough on undead."
A sinister smile crept into Garjun's eyes.
"You still have more questions for me."
"Sharp as ever. You got it."
He was a veritable treasure trove of info.
No way to pass up opening it.
"Two more things I want to ask."
Leyzon held up two fingers.
"One's about the fortune-telling commission where you tracked down the Bluebird Knight Captain."
"Bluebird Knight Captain, right. That was decades ago."
Garjun's head tilted.
"Odd, though. I can't recall who commissioned it."
As expected, even Garjun couldn't escape the Ossuary's silencing influence.
The Ossuary's silence lingered over the world even after death.
The former White Lion Knight Captain was still erased from it.
"Ossuary's doing."
"Hah, that bastard. But I haven't heard of his movements lately."
"Killed him."
Leyzon said it casually.
The Prophet, the crawling Ossuary.
At the news of his death, Garjun's eyes widened slightly, then he stroked his chin.
"The other Prophets will crawl in to replace him."
The Ossuary had said something similar about Flamehead Rackloden.
"Eh, it'll be fine."
But then he spoke nonchalantly.
"The Empire won't welcome Prophets either, minus any cooperative ones like the Ossuary. The Millennium Sorcerer will handle it."
Millennium Sorcerer.
Mentioned again, Leyzon's curiosity piqued.
"The Millennium Sorcerer—that guy's that impressive?"
Leyzon had faced him once.
The skull in the Resonance World.
That was the Millennium Sorcerer.
But that was within the Resonance World.
And even his soul had been manipulated.
Pirsiran had told him directly.
"Dangerous fellow. He wields transcendent magic."
Another ominous new threat emerged.