Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 323: The Necromancer
Lambert was so frightened that he almost sat down on the ground. In his panic, he suddenly realized that the voice seemed familiar.

He asked subconsciously: "Is it... is it Harvey? Is it Harvey?"

Harvey controlled the soul puppet, clinging to the edge of the box with his limbs somewhat stiffly, and climbed out of the "coffin" with great effort. He moved his hands and feet before he could barely stand firm.

"Yes, it was me... I'm sorry to have startled you all. I clearly explained the situation in my reply, but it seems you chose to open the gifts first before reading the letter... Haha, you're still that impatient person."

Lambert got up from the ground with a red face, shook off his robe that was covered with fine black sand, and said in disbelief: "How did you become like this? I can't even recognize you!"

Harvey laughed heartily, stepped forward and gave the stiff Lambert a big hug, explaining gently, "This is merely a puppet shell temporarily housing my consciousness and mental power... Please forgive me for not being able to elaborate on the secrets involved, but I've put a lot of effort into coming to see you in person!"

Lambert was skeptical and muttered quietly, "You...you tell me that rubbish nickname you gave me when we were in college!"

Harvey rolled his eyes and shouted, "Mr. Super ATM! ATM! Are you satisfied?"

As soon as he shouted the first half of the sentence, Lambert rushed over and covered Harvey's mouth, saying repeatedly: "Alright, alright! I believe you are Harvey, stop talking!"

……

"We've only just moved here a few months ago. If we hadn't brought in some zombies and corpse puppets by ship, I'm afraid we wouldn't even be able to set up a temporary camp right now..."

Lambert led Harvey to the depths of the island land, and kept chattering to Harvey about the situation there.

This area, called the "Dark Sea", is covered with thick fog all year round for hundreds of miles due to underground volcanoes. It is a place that merchant caravans and sailors avoid at sea. A small group of more than a thousand sea creatures live there all year round, and most of them are mixed-race.

Since the Dragon War, after the sea people signed a peace treaty with the human race and other intelligent land races, they have strictly followed the treaty agreement and no longer frequently invaded the coastal areas of the southern continent. They have also been much more tolerant of sailors who drift on the sea all year round, and tacitly allowed them to enter the waters exclusive to many tribes to pass through or fish.

Only in the "Dark Sea", even though the sea people have completely opened up the rights of ships to sail, there are very few merchant ships and fishing teams coming here. Later, this place was discovered by Lambert's family ancestors. They have been trading and providing material assistance with the small tribes here for more than a hundred years, and gradually established good cooperative relationships. In the form of leasing islands, reefs and land, they built a wonderful "safe house on the sea" for their family.

"There's no soil or vegetation on the land here. It's all covered with fine black minerals like sand... This should be what was deposited after the eruption of an underwater volcano, right?" Harvey poked the ground with his toes, bringing up a thin layer of black sand.

Lambert nodded. "Yes, it's impossible to grow magical plants here. All the daily necessities and magical materials we need during this period can only rely on the stockpiles we brought with us, as well as... the secret deliveries from the Harro Chamber of Commerce."

Harvey patted his old friend's shoulder with understanding and said soothingly, "I think you've somewhat misjudged the situation in the southern border. Although the Church did claim that the plague that broke out in the central part of the continent was caused by the necromancers, the Federation has not confirmed this accusation. There's no need for you to be so panic-stricken and scare your entire tribe into migrating over the slightest sign of danger..."

Lambert gave a wry smile, turned his head and glanced at his fellow tribesmen, White and Black, who were following behind him. He was about to explain...

Everyone turned around a huge reef in front of them, and suddenly the view behind them opened up - on a huge open plain covered with fine black sand, there was a unique spellcaster camp built scattered around.

A skull outlined in lines is sewn onto the delicate grey felt tent, with a magic ring of tiny inscriptions encircling it in the centre – the Lambert family's unique emblem of the undead.

There are several tall pointed-roof tents in the center of the camp, which seem to be used for meeting guests or holding meetings. The camp is crowded with people coming and going, and it seems that many servants are busy carrying supplies and goods, but Harvey knows clearly in his heart - those guys with gray faces and stiff movements are actually just refined zombie puppets.

A man wearing a gray-black robe and a rather funny pointed hat with a folded corner came out of the camp to greet them. "Well... you finally returned safely. It seems our apprentice didn't suffer too much loss."

The man in the pointed hat didn't bother to greet anyone. He quickly checked the undead emblems that proved the apprentices' identities one by one, and then led them into the camp to settle them down.

Lambert smiled and pointed at the other person's back and introduced: "My cousin William, William Lambert. This guy is a dull guy who is not good at socializing. He clearly saw your unfamiliar face just now, but deliberately ignored us and didn't say hello." Harvey shrugged and said generously that it didn't matter.

Then, several more people emerged from the camp and quickly approached them. The white-bearded old man in the lead wasn't wearing the ridiculous traditional necromancer robes, but rather the standard formal attire of a southern nobility. He stared at Harvey for a few seconds, then turned to Lambert with a frown and complained, "Ash, didn't I remind you not to accept any more undead spellcasters from outside our camp during this emergency... Why did you still bring them back without permission?"

Lambert scratched his head awkwardly and explained, "This is my classmate and close friend from when I was studying at Saint Valen's Undead Academy. He's not an outsider. I invited him on my own initiative. Please forgive my recklessness..."

The old man snorted softly and turned his sharp, dark gaze towards Harvey. "This won't happen again, but please don't let your classmate and close friend wander around here casually. It's best that he stay in the camp, otherwise we can't guarantee his safety..."

He paused, then added meaningfully, "Sometimes curiosity can bring unnecessary disasters to our guests."

Lambert nodded repeatedly and pulled Harvey's sleeve and went into his single felt tent.

"Wow! Ash, you're enjoying yourself even during your refuge..." Harvey looked around the spacious tent, which was about 20 to 30 square meters, and couldn't help but admire it. "Felt tent, handmade carpet, soft and comfortable bed, hmm... there's even a small sandalwood bookcase and a portable laboratory table."

Lambert smiled bitterly and said, "Don't tease me. What kind of life did I lead in the academy back then? What kind of life am I living now? How can it be compared?"

He poured two glasses of water from an exquisitely crafted long-necked crystal bottle and handed them to Harvey. "Try it! The Conch Song, a specialty of the Sea Tribe, is a unique fermented drink that has a very good effect on restoring mental strength."

Harvey took a sip and felt as if he was chewing candy through the wrapper. The taste was there, but the reaction of his taste buds was very dull - this was because the soul puppet was too far away from his physical body. Harvey could only use the alien space characteristics of the magic network and the magic pattern positioning to ensure that his consciousness was continuously connected with the puppet.

"Okay, now you should tell me why you and your family moved away from the Southern Territory in such a hurry, and... why you evaded the Federation's battlefield rotation mission."

Lambert plopped down on the bed, pinching his brows with a headache. After a moment's rest, he explained, "The church's persecution, the discrimination against orthodox spellcasters, the nobles' expulsion of us... they were all just excuses to come here."

He raised his head and looked at Harvey, saying seriously, "Remember when we were at the academy, I mentioned to you privately... the Necromancer Cult?"

Harvey was stunned for a moment, and after trying hard to recall for a while, he remembered that the cult of the dead... Lambert seemed to have mentioned it before, and asked him to keep it strictly secret.

This is a dark council of spellcasters headed by the Necromancer. In ancient times, it seems that they have always been separated from the ancient Wizard Council and were respectively called the "Light Faction" and "Dark Faction" of spellcasters. It is precisely because of this that the Undead Cult has been the target of the Church of Light's key elimination and suppression for hundreds of years.

But just before the Spellcasters' Union was formally established, the core members and the parliamentary organization of the Dark Council suddenly disappeared from everyone's sight, and there was no trace of any activities for the next hundred years.

With the deliberate concealment and weakening of the Church and the Federation, many ancient secrets of the Necromancer gradually faded from the vision of the new generation of spellcasters. When it came to Harvey and his group of academic necromancers, they rarely even heard of them.

"Actually... the Necromancer Cult has never truly died out," Lambert said solemnly. "My family's ancestors were once core members of the Dark Council. Our family has only been able to thrive to this day thanks to the cult's centuries-old legacy of the dead."

He paused, glancing at the curtain of the felt tent with a somewhat apprehensive expression. He lowered his head and whispered in Harvey's ear, "A year ago, my father... the current patriarch of the family, suddenly received news that the previous Speaker of the Esoteric Cult had unexpectedly passed away. Then... then my father was elected as the new Speaker, and immediately began the centuries-old inauguration ceremony of the Esoteric Cult..."

Harvey nodded doubtfully and asked, "Isn't that great? Congratulate Uncle Lambert for me. If I had known earlier, I would have brought him an extra gift..."

Lambert rolled his eyes and said hurriedly, "What's good about that?! Harvey, the Speaker's inauguration ceremony is the lich's transformation ceremony! Once the ceremony is over, my father will become an undead monster, completely devoid of humanity, with a twisted consciousness and gradually corroded by evil will!"

(End of this chapter)