Every mage would set up numerous magical traps throughout their territory—some lethal, some non-lethal—usually meant to guard against thieves.
After all, every mage stored a wealth of valuable magical ingredients, along with precious notes and grimoires. These items were typically compact yet extraordinarily valuable, making them prime targets for thieves.
Setting and disarming traps was a contest that had endured for thousands of years, one neither mage nor thief could escape. Yet the intruders this time hardly seemed like opportunistic rogues, for they had failed to bypass even the most basic perimeter alarm traps around the ancient castle.
When Anbaixiu donned his full-length robe and emerged outside the castle, he saw only a young man and woman, both clad in rags. The man already lay in a pool of blood, his thigh pierced through by several spikes and practically ruined. The young woman was desperately trying to drag him away, but she could not budge his weight at all.
Seeing Anbaixiu appear, the girl let out a terrified shriek.
Anbaixiu flicked a finger, sending out a Sleep spell that silenced her instantly, sending her slumping into slumber.
Then Anbaixiu slowly walked over to the man and asked, "Why break into my estate? Didn't you see the sign at the entrance that says, 'No Trespassing: Magical Traps Inside'?"
The man trembled violently. Few ordinary mortals could look upon a lich without terror; a legendary lich possessed an inherent Fear Aura—not quite as potent as a Nightmare Knight's, but still more than any mortal could endure.
Pressed by Anbaixiu, the man gritted his teeth through the searing pain and stammered, "I... I can't read."
Anbaixiu: "..."
"Even if you're illiterate, didn't your lord ever tell you that this is the domain of a lich?" Anbaixiu asked again.
Drained of blood, the man was already fading, but he forced out his last ounce of strength: "Lord Lich, I will give you my life and soul, but please spare my sister. We were running for our lives and had no choice but to stumble into your estate. We truly didn't mean any offense."
"Are you runaway slaves?"
Only fleeing slaves would be so frantic as to trespass into a lich's domain, likely thinking the tales of a lich were merely ghost stories invented by the lord to frighten them, and hoping to hide inside the castle.
To his surprise, the man protested agitatedly, "No, we are freemen! The lord suddenly raised taxes. Our family had already paid in full, but then he suddenly doubled it! We couldn't pay, so he wanted to sell my sister to a brothel!"
"A sudden tax hike? Did you offend the lord?" Anbaixiu asked.
The man continued, "It isn't just us. The entire county—even the neighboring counties—they're all raising taxes drastically! Plenty of freemen have already been sold into slavery."
Anbaixiu was surprised. The Alchemists' Council should never have permitted something like this. Could it be that they were on the verge of bankruptcy themselves?
Quite likely. With their plan to create a new species a failure, they had probably squandered the bulk of the wealth accumulated by the City of Alchemy. The elves of the Silvermoon High Court had seized the chance to kick them while they were down, hiking the prices of potion ingredients across the board. The City of Alchemy was likely unable to fulfill many of its daily orders, and the breach-of-contract penalties would only deepen its losses.
Those alchemists, who spent their days staring into flasks and jars, had probably made an impulsive decision to raise taxes across the board, hoping to rely on tax revenues to weather the crisis. Naturally, the petty lords beneath them followed the Council's cue, shifting the crushing tax burden onto the lower classes.
"Have many freemen fled already?" Anbaixiu asked.
"A great deal. Just among the people I know, more than a dozen..." Before he could finish, the man passed out. Severe blood loss had brought him to death's door. Left alone, he would provide Anbaixiu with another fresh batch of experimental material. But hearing that large numbers of freemen were fleeing gave Anbaixiu a new idea.
Magical energy sparked at his fingertips as a Healing spell fell upon the man.
The punctured thigh began to knit rapidly. The spikes were forced out by the regrowing flesh, and the lost blood was replenished under the spell's power.
A moment later, the man regained consciousness.
Seeing his fully healed wound, he hastily dropped to his knees before Anbaixiu. "Thank you, merciful Lord Lich!"
Anbaixiu let out an eerie, grating cackle. "Saying 'thank you' to a lich? It seems your mind isn't clear yet. Did you think I would simply let you go? If you dare intrude upon a lich's domain, be prepared to leave behind your soul and your corpse."
"No, my lord, please..." the man begged desperately, prostrated on the ground.
Growing impatient, Anbaixiu cast a Silence spell on him, shutting his mouth completely.
"No need to panic. I will give you a chance to live, provided you complete the task I give you."
Anbaixiu snapped his fingers, and two grotesque skeletons materialized. Calling them skeletons was because they were composed entirely of bone, yet calling them grotesque was because they were far from humanoid. They looked like skeletal hounds, except where a skull should have been, there was an arm with only three fingers.
What manner of bizarre creature could have left such a skeleton in life?
The two bizarre skeletal hounds scooped up the sleeping woman, laid her across their backs, and followed behind Anbaixiu.
Watching Anbaixiu's back and his sister being carried away, the man had no choice but to brace himself and follow. He did not possess a shred of courage to resist, dreading that he would turn into a corpse the very next second. At least the Lord Lich had healed his wound and seemed reasonably open to talk; perhaps there really was a chance to survive.
Clinging to this glimmer of hope, the man followed Anbaixiu into the ancient castle.
Anbaixiu led them straight to his laboratory and commanded, "Stand aside. Do not speak unless spoken to."
With that, he paid the man no further mind and returned to his workbench.
Anbaixiu took out a memory crystal and suspended it high within the laboratory. It was a common magical tool used to record audio and visual images. Activating the crystal with mana, Anbaixiu spoke: "Undead Exterior Modification Experiment, Trial 176.
"For ages, we have habitually shaped skeletons into bipedal forms. Two hundred and six bones comprise a complete humanoid skeleton, but lacking the connective network of muscles and fascia, every single bone requires soul energy to bind together tightly.
"A single toe alone has two joints. To enable a skeleton to stand upright on two feet, the soul must expend vast amounts of energy on real-time calculations, constantly balancing front, back, left, and right. In my view, these are entirely unnecessary burdens..."
Beginning from the assembly of the bones, the memory crystal recorded Anbaixiu's every step in vivid detail.
Chapter 3