As Long as He Likes It

Make a lich take the blame? Was there any humanity left? Any sense of fairness? Anbaixiu was absolutely not taking the fall for this. Shar sneered smugly, "Heh, you certainly are good at quibbling, but it's meaningless. Not every deity cares for reason. Believe me, I will spread this news to every deity at top speed. It only takes one or two unreasonable ones looking for trouble with you... When that time comes, come find me. I wouldn't mind giving you a little help—as long as you pay the proper price." "Thank you for your generosity, Goddess. But let us stick to business. Are you certain you won't bring out better goods to trade? If not, then I can only apologize—these two divine portfolios cannot be offered to you." Shar hadn't expected Anbaixiu to remain so composed. She mocked, "Still wanting to talk business? You really are a money-grubbing lich to the bone." Anbaixiu said calmly, "Just as you said, when a deity wants to deal with a mortal, what difference does struggling make? I might as well focus on what I can control." Anbaixiu didn't care in the slightest about such threats. He had offended plenty of deities already; if he were going to die, he would have died long ago. As long as deities didn't intervene personally, would Anbaixiu, a lich, really fear being unable to handle it? If all else failed, he could find that senior ghoul, pick a coffin in his tomb, and bury himself for five hundred years before coming back out. By then, the war of the gods would have ended long ago. As long as liches didn't court disaster, they lived longer than many gods. Seeing that she hadn't intimidated Anbaixiu in the slightest, Shar realized that taking advantage of this mortal was impossible no matter what. She changed her tune: "I can elevate her legendary boon into a divine spell, just like the illusion you learned." Now it was Anbaixiu's turn to be astonished. How did Shar know about the illusion spell he had obtained from the Lady of Mists? Whatever happened to deities not being omniscient and omnipotent? Shar was delighted to see Anbaixiu's expression and said smugly, "Last time, you managed to fool three other goddesses and hide invisibly on the side by using Leira's True Phantasm. I am very old; I know far more than those young deities. "I can help elevate the power of her legendary boon. You can rest assured that this divine spell will not be controlled by me. It will belong entirely to her, and if she becomes a deity in the future, it might even become her divine portfolio." This condition was vastly superior. Leira's True Phantasm had been enough to fool the senses of deities, showing just how potent such unique divine spells could be. The Rose of Decay's original legendary boon was already terrifying. The effect of Death Gaze was that living beings within her perception would be forcibly transformed into undead. It bypassed resistances, ignored armor, and bypassed magical wards; its sole weakness was that it required continuous channeling. Once the Rose of Decay's attention shifted, the spell would be interrupted. Last time, James Watson had used Gaseous Form to evade it, turning himself into a cloud of gas, which was no longer a living creature. But in truth, that was hardly a solution; after assuming gaseous form, James Watson could no longer cast spells and could only drift slowly through the air. A casual gust of wind would have scattered him. It was only because the battlefield had been in complete chaos that the Rose of Decay hadn't had time to finish him off. If this ability could be further enhanced, the Rose of Decay would truly become the bane of all living things—a literal stare of instant death. The two portfolios of Corruption and Darkness were very weak; trading one for this effect was already quite a bargain. Anbaixiu consulted with the Rose of Decay. She also found the deal acceptable. All she wanted was to destroy Ryan, and strengthening her legendary boon would greatly aid her toward that goal. If the conversion speed could be accelerated, then before the Dragon Tyrant Armament could even take effect, the Rose of Decay could transform the young emperor inside into undead, making him her puppet. Now that the Rose of Decay had made up her mind, Anbaixiu stopped haggling. He looked at Shar with absolute solemnity. "You're not tricking me, are you?" "What do you think?" "Why don't you swear an oath to Ao?!" "Lich, you go too far!" ... After bickering for a long while, Shar was ultimately forced by the situation to swear an oath in the name of Ao that she would play no petty tricks on the Rose of Decay and lay no traps. With that, Anbaixiu was satisfied. As long as Shar didn't want to end up like Lolth the Spider Queen, she wouldn't dare act recklessly. Ao wouldn't necessarily care about how strictly an oath was worded; if Shar wanted to play word games, she would have to consider the Overgod's will. Shar ultimately chose the divine portfolio of Corruption; it seemed the portfolio of Darkness truly was useless to her. With the offering presented, Shar proceeded to conduct the ascension ritual for the Rose of Decay. The giant head shattered completely, turning into countless black runes that sank into the Rose of Decay's body. Even though she was a lich, the Rose of Decay let out groans of agony; evidently, this ritual was far from pleasant. The process lasted for several hours. Finally, all the dark runes on her body vanished, and she opened her eyes. Her eyes had turned a deep, rose crimson, exuding a powerful pressure that even Anbaixiu could feel. "Did it work?" Anbaixiu asked. The Rose of Decay smiled and nodded. "It succeeded. The effect of my legendary boon has grown stronger." "In what way? Has the conversion speed gotten faster?" Anbaixiu asked. That would have been the greatest improvement. If a single glance could instantly turn a target into undead without giving them any chance to save themselves, the Rose of Decay would only need to sweep her gaze across the people of Ryan, and entire cities would become domains of the undead. However, the Rose of Decay shook her head. "Although the conversion speed improved slightly, it isn't very noticeable. The real enhancement lies in the targeting method. Now, when I activate the ability, I don't need full perception of the target. With just a drop of blood or a single strand of hair, I can trigger my ability—even across thousands of kilometers, it will take effect just the same." Anbaixiu's jaw dropped in astonishment. This was far more terrifying than merely increasing the speed! If she could get her hands on a strand of the Ryan Emperor's hair, wouldn't she be able to hide underground and turn the emperor into an undead puppet? As if guessing Anbaixiu's thoughts, the Rose of Decay said to him, "Indeed. As long as I can obtain a single strand of hair from the Ryan Emperor, I won't have to face the Dragon Tyrant Armament at all. I can kill him right from home." "Incredible. Truly incredible!" Anbaixiu was genuinely envious. This was no ordinary curse; this undead conversion was something even the Holy Light couldn't cure. It could only buy time, never grant immunity. While Anbaixiu was still pondering the potential uses of this ability, the Rose of Decay pulled him into a tight embrace. She said gratefully to him, "Thank you. Without you, it would have been impossible for me to fulfill my wish." Anbaixiu hadn't expected the Rose of Decay to be so emotional. It didn't fit her usual aloof queen persona in the slightest. Perhaps the incident with the Dragon Tyrant Armament had shaken her deeply. Believing she would never be able to fulfill her wish was devastating news enough to shatter a lich's soul. If Anbaixiu ever learned he could never make money for the rest of his life and was doomed to remain a pauper forever, his soul would probably shatter like glass as well. Yet on closer thought, he and the Rose of Decay made quite a good match. He could help the queen take care of Ryan, while the queen could guarantee he would never lack for gold. Such a partnership was simply flawless! With that in mind, Anbaixiu patted the Rose of Decay on the back and comforted her, "Don't worry, Ryan is definitely finished. Trust me. As for the Dragon Tyrant Armament, I'll probe that old fellow James Watson for information. Wait for my word." The Rose of Decay said nothing, holding Anbaixiu tightly for quite a while before finally letting him go. "Alright. I'll wait for your word." Anbaixiu was quite pleased. He had sold off another divine portfolio. Even though he wasn't the direct beneficiary, a generous client had benefited, which he could treat as a long-term investment. Now, only the divine portfolio of Darkness remained. Anbaixiu needed to figure out what price he could fetch for it. The Rose of Decay watched Anbaixiu leave. The moment the lich exited her range of perception, she swiftly returned to her aloof, noble demeanor. She waved her hand to summon Melina over and instructed, "Go pick another twenty beautiful drow elf maidens for your father. Select the most attractive ones." Melina asked in bewilderment, "Mother, isn't this a bit strange? Why are you sending Father beautiful women?" The Rose of Decay replied offhandedly, "Because he likes them. As long as he likes something, I will do everything I can to satisfy him. Oh, and bring along gold as well. I recall there's still ten or twenty million in cash in the treasury—send it all to him." There was plenty of gold in the Underdark, but most of it was unsmelted gold ore. Only this modest amount had been minted into coins, as there was rarely any use for them ordinarily. The Rose of Decay thought this was fine; had she known earlier, she would have smelted the ore long ago and turned it all into gold coins to give him. Though Melina didn't quite understand her parents' dynamic, what Mother said was bound to be right. Once Melina took her leave, the Rose of Decay took out her Necrotic Codex and sent a message to her best friend, the Bone Dragon Eldest Miss: [I'm beginning to understand the feeling you spoke of.]