This necromancer is going to seduce the beautiful girls who are already dead.

Since Titus didn't object, Abyss was completely relieved and returned to the basement. He had intended to take Titus with him, but Titus refused, saying he would feel bad seeing the machines being dismantled.

"Ha! You're back. How did it go? Did that coal brute agree?" Lanis laughed when she saw Abyss return. "You're really strange. A necromancer of your caliber needs to consult a gang leader before doing anything."

“I have my pride too,” Abis said with a smile, casually slicing open the iron cage, which was as thick as a baby’s arm, as if cutting butter. Many iron bars clattered to the ground. “If I secretly dismantle the machine here and then tell him I don’t intend to give it to him, wouldn’t that make me look scared?”

"Hehe, that makes sense when you think about it. A mage of your level would never stoop to doing something sneaky."

“That’s not necessarily true, but if you’re planning to do it secretly, you have to make sure you don’t get caught.” Abis chuckled leisurely and began disassembling the machine.

Lanis was the one who assembled the machine with Rebecca. Even though more than forty years have passed and her memory may have become hazy, it can still be said that no one on the continent understands the machine better than her.

With Lanis's prompting and recollections, the Abyss slowly disassembled the machine with her incredibly sharp bone blade, revealing countless parts, some in good condition and others severely worn. After removing an exceptionally heavy box made of magic-conductive metal, a cracked but still faintly glowing magical crystal appeared before the Abyss's eyes.

At first glance, this magic crystal doesn't look much different from ordinary magic crystals, but upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that it has undergone extremely fine processing. Numerous textures have been etched onto its surface using some unknown magical potion, and some areas show slight discoloration, likely due to being soaked in some kind of potion that imparts certain properties to these parts. While it may appear to be just a magic crystal, its complexity alone is enough to classify it as a machine.

“This is the core… Miss Rebecca put a lot of effort into it.” Lanis’s face showed a hint of nostalgia when she saw the core. “Back then, Miss Rebecca didn’t sleep for days and nights just to make this thing. Its workmanship is really exquisite. And the process is extremely complex. Apart from Miss Rebecca who made it by hand, no one else in the world can replicate it.”

“Put it here with me first. I have a very safe storage space.” Abyss said, summoning his magical catfish and stuffing the crystal into its mouth. “Let’s leave here first. We can’t stay in Sheep’s Eye Gang’s territory forever.”

“Perfect timing. I’m going to take you to see one of the props Miss Rebecca left behind—it’s the one she used in her experiments. She originally wanted me to destroy it along with her manuscript, but I secretly kept it.” Lanis turned around, put her hands behind her back, and walked ahead. “Let’s go to my residence. It’s my territory, and no one can break in unless I want to.”

Chapter 129 Lanis's House of Bombs

Titus is now completely determined to break ties with the Sheep's Eye Gang. The conflict between these two gangs has mostly been clandestine, with each side occasionally hiring Lanis or sending thugs to inflict minor damage on the other and seize market share. This struggle has continued for many years. Previously, the Dogfish Gang also formed a three-way rivalry with them, but in recent years the Dogfish Gang has been unable to compete with these two gangs and withdrew from the combat potions market, switching to selling luxury goods.

The Sheep's Eye Gang suffered devastating losses. Their largest factory was broken into, the foreman disappeared, and all the children who worked there as laborers vanished without a trace. Most importantly, their prized possession—the Time-Space Solvent Machine—was cut open and destroyed. If the Sheep's Eye Gang were a person, then what Titus and the Abyss did tonight in the factory was like drugging and then stealing and cutting off that person's kidneys—both at once.

There was no room to shift the blame to anyone else, because the two fiercest rivals in Lavoisier were the Goat's Eye Gang and the Black Hat Gang. Titus had used a conspiracy in conjunction with an open scheme, and he had been preparing for this for a long time, ready to face the wrath of the Goat's Eye Gang.

One can imagine that tomorrow morning, when Mr. Eugene, the leader of the Sheep's Eye Gang, wakes up to find that his largest factory has been raided by the Black Hat Gang and his money-making machines have been dismantled into parts, his expression will be quite something.

Leaving the factory and passing the Sheep-Eyes gang henchmen, who had been rendered even more docile than sheep by the Abyss's spell, Titus finally met his gang members who had successfully completed their mission. The children in the factory had been taken to safety, and even if the Sheep-Eyes gang couldn't wait to start a fight, they wouldn't be affected. After a brief announcement of their readiness to fight the Sheep-Eyes gang, the gang members showed no signs of tension, all wearing expressions of excitement—they seemed to have been putting up with the Sheep-Eyes gang for a long time.

Titus did not go to Lanis's house with Abyss and Lanis. He had more things to prepare. Thanks to Abyss's bewitching spell, none of the Sheep's Eye gang members in the vicinity had spread the news. It was late at night, and the enemy might not discover that they had been attacked until tomorrow morning. Titus had a long period of time from now until tomorrow morning, during which he could do a lot of work. He needed to minimize his own casualties and also make arrangements with the Imperial guards in the city in advance, trying to get them to take sides.

Abyss followed Lannis all the way to her residence.

Lanis wasn't dressed in fancy clothes and spoke rudely, not like someone who was rich, but she had earned a considerable amount of money through her skill in making explosives. Lanis owned a large house in the city, which had been reinforced many times and resembled a fortress.

She first activated a magic crystal in her hand, which acted as a switch, shutting down some of the magic arrays that were operating around the house. Abyss could smell the strong explosives inside from outside the walls. If anyone broke into Lanis's mansion without permission, they would probably be blown to bits within a minute.

“Come in, kid. There’s nothing that can explode in there anymore—as long as you don’t touch anything!” Lanis unlocked the mansion’s iron gate with a key and led Abyss into the house.

The house reeked of explosives, and while Lannis's mansion looked relatively tidy from the outside, the inside was charred and broken in patches from various explosives, resembling a potion factory that had been in an accident.

Before Abyss entered, he sensed that the mansion had a very deep basement. Sure enough, after Lanis entered the house, she didn't say a word and led Abyss through a trapdoor leading to the underground. Then she led Abyss down a ladder for about ten meters before they reached the bottom. They opened an extremely thick metal door, and a fully equipped laboratory was revealed.

“This is my laboratory. Half of my inventions come from here,” Lanis chuckled. “The other half I just casually come up with while sitting in the restaurant, eating.”

“This place really has everything.” Abyss looked around curiously. “I know a little bit about alchemy, and your equipment should be able to make any potion—as long as you have enough materials.”

“Of course, some of these items are very hard to find; they are Miss Rebecca’s belongings.” Lanis continued walking inside. “Don’t touch them. If you damage Miss Rebecca’s belongings, I’ll fight you to the death.”

“You and Miss Rebecca seem to have a very good relationship,” Abis said.

“Before I met Miss Rebecca, I was just a nobody alchemist who drove rats away for wealthy families. Once, while I was working, I accidentally got caught up in a gang fight. Miss Rebecca appeared just in time, single-handedly took down all the thugs present, and saved me. At that time, Miss Rebecca was still very young, but she had already shown extraordinary talent.” Lanis took a glass test tube containing a yellow oily substance from her body and walked towards a sculpture in the laboratory.

This is a sculpture of Lanière, but three times larger. It looks a bit strange to have your own statue in a laboratory.

But Abyss didn't ask Lannice anything; he already knew what had happened—Lannis also grabbed her test tube and smashed it hard against the statue.

The test tube shattered instantly, and the potion inside flowed rapidly onto the surface of the sculpture. A surge of heat distorted the surrounding air, and the potion began to bubble and explode. With each explosion, the sculpture was corroded, and large amounts of steam rose from the statue, only to be drawn away by the ventilation fans that were constantly running in the laboratory ceiling.

In just over a minute, the enormous statue had been corroded into a pile of fragments, and what was inside was revealed to the Abyss.

“Miss Rebecca not only has outstanding achievements in alchemy, but she has also been studying spatial magic.” Lanis turned to look at the Abyss, a smile playing on her lips. “You wouldn’t believe it, would you? Miss Rebecca’s device is a spatial magic artifact created using alchemy as its foundation. It was through this device that she teleported herself to another world and successfully activated the ‘Time-Space Solvent Machine.’ Spatial magic is considered a rather useless form of magic, and even mages don’t study it much. But a genius like Miss Rebecca has already put it to practical use at the young age of seventeen.”

Abyss looked at the metal archway hidden inside the sculpture and sighed inwardly once again that he had underestimated Rebecca.

Chapter 130 The Gate to a New World

Lanis then recounted Rebecca's story with the machine.

Rebecca has always been very interested in spatial magic, and she began her research on it a long time ago.

Although she only has a fifth-level magic power, which can only be called mid-level, her research on spatial magic is more in-depth than that of any other mage on the continent. When her own magic power is insufficient, she uses potions, machines, and magic circles as substitutes.

Spatial magic is a rather useless form of magic, so obscure that it's not even a school of thought for a mage. An average mage, after a month of learning spatial magic, could probably only teleport a cat stuck in a tree to the ground; a slight miscalculation might leave the cat's tail stuck in the tree. Even someone of Abyss's caliber, considered one of the continent's top spatial mages, still managed to shave the dwarf's beard while performing a short-distance teleportation.

No mad mage would dare use spatial magic to teleport themselves or their friends, because no one has yet developed truly stable spatial magic. Every casting carries immense danger and uncertainty. Furthermore, spatial magic must be cast at close range, ideally with direct contact, and its accuracy in reaching the destination is very poor. Even the Abyss could only guarantee that the dwarf was teleported to the graveyard. These mechanisms also prevent it from being used to harm enemies in combat. Using it for escape is also impossible, as spatial magic is highly susceptible to interference. Using it under interference results in the best-case scenario being a failed spell; with bad luck, you might even slice yourself cleanly in two.

This is why spatial magic is considered a "useless" magic; it's impractical in real-world situations. Mages value efficiency, and no one wants to waste their magic power on something that might not even be useful.

Rebecca, however, never gave up her research into spatial magic. Lanis had asked her why, but Rebecca always refused to answer, focusing instead on her own pursuits. At the age of seventeen, she finally proudly announced to Lanis that her spatial magic had been a resounding success. She had mastered the method to travel to another world and had conducted preliminary explorations of it. She had even drawn up two blueprints: one for the "World Conduit" that the Abyss had just dismantled, and the other for the archway before them, called the "Gateway to the New World," and immediately began construction.

Lanis never imagined that her mistress wasn't planning to use this spatial magic for delivery, but rather to travel to another world. She had tried to dissuade Rebecca from experimenting with such an uncertain and unstable machine, but Rebecca was adamant and ignored her advice to create the components for the two machines. Then, she created five special magic crystals.

She embedded the two crystals into the World Conduit and the New World Gate respectively. The World Conduit did not start working, but the New World Gate activated in a burst of light, revealing a luminous passage before them.

This is a technology that only exists in legendary novels on the continent of Hay-Tver, and no one has ever actually implemented it. Becca threw a bunch of various parts into the tunnel and left Lanis with this instruction.

“I discovered that there might be natural, high-quality alchemical solvent resources in that world. Once I get there, I'll activate another port of the world conduit. If all goes well, with just a little magic input, the conduit will continuously flow with alchemical solvent, which will greatly benefit my future research,” she said. “Then I will conduct further exploration of that world. But in reality, I know very little about its conditions, so I might die there. If I haven't returned within a week, announce my death. My will is already written, and you must handle my affairs according to it. Lannis, don't stop me; this is something I must do, and I absolutely must complete it.”

And so, Rebecca, carrying the remaining three magic crystals and clad in various gear, stepped into the portal and vanished amidst a flurry of unstable magical lightning. The magic crystal embedded in the gate to the new world shattered. That very night, when Lanis attempted to infuse magic into the World Conduit, it successfully released high-quality alchemical solvent. But after that, Rebecca disappeared without a trace and never returned.

Following Rebecca's instructions, Lanis announced her death and, in accordance with her will, burned all of Rebecca's manuscripts and destroyed most of her inventions. However, hoping to see Rebecca again someday, she decided to keep the New World Gate and the World Conduit for herself. Lanis first disguised the New World Gate, making it into a statue of herself. But before she could disguise the World Conduit, a group of gangsters who had learned of Rebecca's death stormed into Rebecca's research facility, stealing everything of potential value as revenge for Rebecca's constant harassment. It was then that Lanis lost an eye. When she awoke under the care of several people Rebecca had helped, the World Conduit had already vanished.

For the next thirty years, the World Conduit, a magical artifact, wandered the world. Each of its owners met a tragic end due to the jealousy of their peers. After a long period of wandering, it finally fell into the hands of the Sheep's Eye Gang—whose leader was cunning, ruthless, and had powerful backing. He kept a close watch on this treasure and used it to create immense wealth. Recently, news of the Sheep's Eye Gang possessing this treasure spread quickly, attracting the covetous eyes of various forces and rekindling Lanis's hope. There, the last potentially useful piece of magic crystal still remained.

She wanted to rescue Miss Rebecca, or at least see her body, or even just her remains—Lannis was all alone, and rather than live aimlessly like this, she felt she should risk her life.

“Let me see that portal.” Abyss glanced at Lanis. “Simply embedding the magic crystal won’t shorten its lifespan, right?”

“That’s right, do it. I’m pinning my last hope on you. You should also thank the gray elf who spoke up for you.” Lanis gritted her teeth and nodded.

Abyss took the magic crystal from the mouth of the magic catfish, and then, under Lanis's guidance, gently inserted it into a groove in the gate to the new world, and infused it with his own magic in another place.

hum-

Even after more than forty years, the portal remained in perfect condition. A multicolored light screen instantly appeared in the center of the archway, and a slight magical fluctuation emanated from it.

Just as Abyss was about to marvel at the ingenuity of the invention, he suddenly felt a slight dizziness in his head for a moment, and several scenes flashed through his mind.

A desolate land, abandoned factories, city ruins...

A vast cemetery stretching for kilometers, a magnificent altar tens of meters high...

Finally, the scene freezes on a clear spring.

A girl whose face was obscured lay quietly at the bottom of the water. She was barefoot, her white dress fluttering with the waves. Her hands were folded over her chest, and her face was hidden by the shimmering water.

In those slender, jade-white nail polished hands, a piece of paper seemed to be tightly clutched, on which was written a short ancient phrase.

"kiss Me."

Volume Two, Chapter One: Preparing to Set Off for the New World

Abyss blinked in confusion. He only knew that embedding the crystal and injecting magic would open a portal, but he didn't know that he would also obtain image data from the magical fluctuations generated by the portal.

"Hey kid, what's wrong with you? You look like you've discovered something." Lanis tilted her head at a ninety-degree angle, staring at Abyss with a hint of curiosity.

"Did you see anything when you activated this portal?" Abyss scratched his head. "Something like an image that was directly inserted into your brain... I think... I saw Rebecca."

Lannis became immediately agitated upon hearing this. She jumped high into the air, grabbed the Abyss by the collar, and clung to him, shouting, "Hey! Tell me quickly! Where is Miss Rebecca? What is she doing? Is she still alive?"

"Answer my question first." Abyss grabbed Lannis by the collar and slowly lowered her down to prevent her from falling and causing damage to the surrounding area. "Did you see any images?"

“Image? No, I didn’t see anything! I only saw a brat in front of me who knew where my mistress was but didn’t tell me!” Compared to Rebecca’s information, Lanis seemed completely unconcerned about what the Abyss had seen. She just stomped her feet impatiently and circled around the Abyss, “Tell me now!”

“Rebecca is probably dead…” Abyss shook his head at Lannis. “She lies peacefully in a spring.”

Lanis stopped abruptly, her expression instantly turning forlorn: "Ah...I see, I knew it all along...I knew it all along..."

“But I’m a necromancer, you don’t need to be so sad.” Abyss didn’t seem to care about Lanis’s feelings, but instead patted his chest. “Give me some time to prepare, and I will beautifully resurrect your mistress. Although she is dead, her body is inexplicably well-preserved, which will save me a lot of trouble.”

Lanis nodded. "I understand. Although I can't be of much help, my lab is your safest hiding place. Until you successfully resurrect Miss Rebecca, I will ensure that no member of the Sheep's Eye Gang gets near this door. If they go too far, I'll blow them all to bits."

“That’s a real help. I was planning to leave one of my companions outside, but it seems I don’t need to. I can trust you, right?” Abyss smiled gently. If Leona saw his expression now, she would definitely point her finger at him and yell that this guy was trying to win people over again.

Lanis, of course, did not disappoint Abyss's trust. She headed straight for the exit of the basement: "I'm going to set up the explosives to defend against the Sheep's Eye Gang now. If you have anything to do, go do it now. If we delay any longer, it will be dawn."

Abyss smiled slightly, then suddenly asked, "Oh, by the way, Lanis, what's the date now?"

Lanis thought for a moment: "Today is around March 18th. What's up?"

"Ha, what a coincidence!" Abyss clapped his hands. "I'll go back first and take my retinue with me. See you later."

……

As a necromancer, Abyss possessed a mutual connection with his followers, eliminating the need to contact the Black Hat Gang's henchmen. He could easily determine where Flora and Leona were resting. After leaving Lanis's mansion, he entered the Underworld, summoned his undead warhorse, and galloped wildly through the wide streets of Lavoisier. Finally, he stopped in front of a potions shop, found a secluded spot, and exited the Underworld.

Even though it was already past midnight, a disheveled-looking young man was still sitting in front of the potion shop. He was probably a gang member who wasn't wearing a black baseball cap with gang insignia.

“Hey, what’s up… Oh, the boss gave me orders to wait for a gray-haired guy.” The Black Hat Gang member quickly recognized Abyss. “Go inside, it’s full of our people. Talk to the fat guy sitting behind the counter, he’ll take you to our Black Hat Gang’s secret base.”

It turns out that Titus helped settle everyone here, which seems quite safe. Moreover, this potion shop doesn't seem to be Black Hat Gang territory on the surface, so it won't be easily targeted by the Sheep Eye Gang, thus avoiding a lot of unnecessary trouble for Gylvia and the others.

Abyss entered the potions shop, and sure enough, a chubby young man was sitting behind the counter. He looked like a night shift worker, but he was probably in charge of providing backup and guarding.

"Ah, Master, you've arrived. I'll take you to see the ladies who are resting here." The fat man stood up.

"Wait a moment, friend." Abyss didn't immediately follow the fat man inside, but instead asked, "Does your potions shop also sell alchemical materials?"

The fat man was a little surprised that the sorcerer hadn't gone straight in but had instead asked if he sold alchemy materials. However, he wasn't stunned for long, because he was not only a member of the Black Hat Gang but also a genuine employee of the shop. He immediately replied, "Yes, sir, we also sell alchemy materials. What do you need?"

“Give me a huge bunch of psychedelic roses, the kind that’s already dehydrated—preferably in good condition,” Abyss said.

Psychedelic roses are a common ingredient; adding a small amount to potions can calm the mind and enhance the effects of some psychoactive potions. Lavoisier, as the world's potions capital, boasts world-class drying technology for its materials. The portly man quickly brought out a large bunch of pink psychedelic roses from the back. Even though they had been dehydrated, the flowers retained their color and shape just like real flowers; the only difference was that they felt slightly firmer to the touch.

"Yes, thank you. I'll pay you back later." Abis nodded.

"This is free. The boss instructed us that these small expenses are a token of our gratitude for your help," the chubby guy said with a smile.

“Then I thank you even more.” Abyss took the flowers, put his hands behind his back, and smiled as he said, “Now please take me inside, I want to meet my friends.”