Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 328 Reversal Ritual
Harvey took out the silver skull emblem he had obtained after graduating from the Undead Academy from his arms and pinned it on the right chest of his wizard robe. Then he shook the robe and stepped into the stone gate.

The site of the rumored mysterious and dark lich transformation ceremony was not as evil and bloody as he had imagined. In an underground cave that was obviously opened up temporarily, a circular stone platform more than one meter high was piled up on the ground. The stone altar was densely painted with countless dark red magic ritual runes, which were flickering like breathing with the low chanting of the spell.

In the center of the altar stood a two-person-high bone pillar, which looked like the spine of some ancient large monster creature, and its surface was also engraved with a large number of inscriptions.

A middle-aged man, completely naked except for a piece of dirty animal skin wrapped around his lower body, was half-lying on the bony spine, his eyes closed as if he was in deep meditation.

The noise of the seal outside the ritual cave being broken obviously alarmed everyone present. When Harvey stepped in, more than a dozen necromancers wearing gray-black robes and funny pointed hats on their heads, who looked a little old, gathered around and blocked him directly at the entrance of the cave.

The white-bearded old man, who had met Harvey before at the camp, was stunned for a moment and said angrily, "What do you mean, sir? Even if you are a guest invited by Ash, entering the ceremony without permission is an absolute offense to us!"

Harvey looked around and found that the faces of the spellcasters present were somewhat gray and dejected. It seemed that they had exhausted all their minds and energy during the long ceremony and looked quite embarrassed.

He chuckled and said calmly, "Please forgive my intrusion, but... I'm only here to look for my friend, Mr. Ash Lambert. If I see him in person, I will leave immediately and will not disturb you any further."

The white-bearded old man flicked his long sleeves and snorted coldly, "Ash needs to participate in an important part of the ceremony, so I can't reminisce with you now. We can forgive you for destroying the sealed projection outside without authorization, but please leave as soon as possible!"

The other members of the Undead Cult and the Lambert family present all stared at Harvey in silence, but they all knew in their hearts that the projection seal of the Undead Temple could not be easily broken by a mere mid- to low-level spellcaster, not to mention that the other party was alone without any help.

If Harvey didn't have the skull emblem on his chest, representing his identity as a necromancer, everyone would probably mistake him for a high-level wizard from the orthodox spellcasting faction sent by the Union or the Wizarding Council to cause trouble.

"Ash can't reminisce with me now?" Harvey chuckled twice, his expression turning slightly grim. "Then I'm afraid we won't be able to reminisce after the ceremony. Sir, do you plan to hand over his corpse to me later so I can refine it into a zombie puppet and then communicate with him?"

Facing more than a dozen mid- and high-level necromancers alone, Harvey was not completely fearless. It was just that he was a soul puppet. Even if he was attacked by fatal spells, the most he could do was to destroy his body, and it would not cause any damage to the main body.

He had also fully thought of the worst-case scenario - if negotiations failed and he was forced to take action, he would use the positioning marks of the magic network at the moment his body was targeted by fire, and destroy all the gathered spellcasters with energy beam attacks as quickly as possible, regardless of whether they were Ash's family members or not. He would save them first.

"Everyone, your transformation ritual is already on the verge of failure. I believe it is completely unnecessary to waste the life of another colleague in a meaningless struggle."

Based on the principle of not taking action if negotiations can be avoided, Harvey still tried his best to dissuade them.

The white-bearded old man snorted and was about to scold the other party for not understanding anything when a middle-aged black-haired wizard came up from behind him and said in a deep voice, "Do you know the ancient lich transformation ritual?"

"Extracting life essence, crafting a soul vessel, mixing it with the blood of ancient divine creatures... Finally, through a complex and lengthy ritual, sacrificing one's entire soul and flesh, completing the twisted cycle of life, death, and resurrection."

Harvey deadpanned as he recounted the secret knowledge he'd learned from the spellcaster forum. He ended with a faint remark from Mr. Inner Demon, "You couldn't possibly obtain the blood of some ancient divine creature, did you? Did you use some other substance instead? This is most likely the reason for your failure."

Upon hearing this, all the necromancers were horrified and began to discuss in low voices with their heads down.

The middle-aged wizard was silent for a moment, then spoke, "Since you've revealed the secrets and key points of the ritual, you should understand... Even if the transformation fails, we can't afford to lose Ash, the Speaker of the Esoteric Cult who has already ascended to a high rank... He must shoulder the responsibility of preserving the family's strength. This is a necessary sacrifice." Harvey shook his head. "It's an unnecessary sacrifice. If I can abort the ritual and rescue the failed Speaker from his alienated state... can you release my friend?"

Abort the ceremony?

The white-bearded old man and the middle-aged wizard exchanged glances and denied it in unison: "Once the ritual is terminated, the Speaker's body will immediately and irreversibly collapse and disintegrate. We have tried every possible method, but there is no way to achieve it."

"If failure is inevitable, why not let me try?" Harvey took two steps forward, assuming a condescending and aggressive attitude.

The middle-aged mage recalled the other party's actions in breaking the sealed projection, closed his eyes helplessly, and sighed, "Forget it... Considering your identity as one of us, I agree to let you try to stop the ritual."

"Senator Prall! No!"

"If his reckless actions cause the ritual to fail, it will be too late for us to perform the blood sacrifice!"

"Your Excellency, the clan leader...his body...look!"

Everyone turned their eyes to the altar and found that Chief Lambert was wrapped in animal skin and slumped beside the skeletal spine. A large amount of black and white dust-like substance slowly seeped out from his arms. As soon as the substance came into contact with the magic circle on the altar, it was immediately absorbed and assimilated rapidly, and merged into the flickering ritual runes.

Harvey frowned and said, "Look, the life essence has been extracted uncontrollably. Even if you perform the blood sacrifice ritual right now, it will be impossible to reverse the situation. In the end, you will only get a completely decayed half-lich body."

Everyone fell silent, and the crowd automatically parted to make a path leading to the altar. Councillor Prall and the white-bearded old man looked at the ground with pale faces, expressing an attitude of acquiescence.

Harvey nodded to the crowd and slowly walked to the altar. He silently communicated with his inner demon, "Mr. Inner Demon, I'm going to trouble you now. Please quickly extract the life essence from Patriarch Lambert's body. I will also be responsible for extracting his soul core."

The inner demon whispered in his mind, "No problem, but I have a small proposal. I will take some of the human desires contained in this extracted life essence as a commission for your help. How do you think?"

Harvey was speechless. He knew that asking this guy for help would cause some trouble. He would extract some of his desires...

"You're not going to just take away his desire for magic, are you? Even if you save him, the Lambert family will only gain two useless father and son with no ambition. It would be better for them to die."

The inner demon chuckled, "Since you mentioned it, I won't take that part. How about taking his family affection? It seems that his longing and guilt for his deceased children are so strong that they are almost insoluble... It's a good collection of desires."

It’s a good choice… Harvey thought silently. Anyway, Ash and the Lambert patriarch don’t seem to have a good relationship like a loving father and a filial son.

With Harvey's permission, the inner demon immediately condensed and summoned a projection of reality. Several dark red twisted tentacles emerged from Harvey's eyes, mouth and nose, and quickly rolled towards the man slumped on the altar, and began to compete with the ritual runes on the altar for the life essence that seeped out of the other's body.

(End of this chapter)