Chapter 470: Legendary Necromancer: Promote Cowpox Now, Immediately!

Master Edgar went to meet His Excellency the Immortal with the thesis in hand.

Every necromancer, unless they were inadvertently recruited during their academy days, carries a tragic past. Master Edgar always remembered that before he was even ten years old, a great plague swept through the county, leaving nearly every household empty.

His gentlest mother and his most obedient, adorable sister both fell victim to that epidemic and never woke up again. The following year, his father remarried, and he was then sent to Nevis City, never to return to his hometown.

Although that epidemic was not smallpox, Edgar decided to follow in his teacher’s footsteps. Although he was not the most accomplished among the disciples of His Excellency the Immortal, being only a 12th-level mage, meeting his teacher was not too difficult.

Moreover, this thesis was written by a child who his teacher took an interest in...

“Has it arrived?”

His Excellency the Immortal, floating in the air, whisked the thesis from Edgar’s hands with a swirl of his black robe:

“Is this thesis written by little Garrett? You say it’s quite interesting?”

“Yes, teacher.” Master Edgar stood respectfully, deftly removing the bindings of the thesis. The robe, seemingly made of condensed energy, vibrated, and the pages of the thesis spread out and hovered as if stuck to an invisible whiteboard.

“Hmmmm…”

Red light glimmered eerily from the skull’s eye sockets as it scanned the thesis swiftly. Midway through, it paused, then slowly started over. After reading two pages, it seemed to recall something, and the robe vibrated again:

“Edgar, take a look at this. — Our little friend has stirred up quite a commotion.”

A scroll of parchment floated gently towards him. Just as it approached, it suddenly sank. Edgar, flustered, caught it and unrolled it, pulling it down continuously...

This scroll seemed inexhaustible, and Edgar, though not concerned with this, was captivated by the information on it:

As Garrett’s thesis on infrared and ultraviolet light was published, the council had manipulated its distribution into territories controlled by the Radiant Church.

In the Kingdom of Carolin, the Kingdom of Rhein, and territories directly governed by the Church. The major and minor churches, the manor houses of lords, all received the newspaper that morning. Opening the second page, they would see the headline printed in large letters—

After sunlight is split into seven colors, two more types of light are found!

The report from across the Strait, written respectfully, stated:

"After the publication of the newspaper, the seven major churches guarding the Holsea Strait rang their bells, with white light undying for three days;"

"In the Kingdom of Rhein, Archbishop of Kolanna reportedly fell seriously ill, missing the next day’s ceremony. Archbishop of Trier declared a retreat;"

"The Radiant Holy City urgently held a purification ceremony, calling together all clerics and above, praying day and night..."

Master Edgar read and chuckled. The seven major churches along the Holsea Strait formed an indestructible array with their interconnections. Without external threats, the sudden use of stored holy power indicated significant trouble;

The Kingdom of Rhein based its governance on the Radiant Church’s doctrine of the seven holy lights, with the Golden Decree affirming the election of kings by the seven major lords. Among these lords, three were archbishops, now suddenly reduced by two;

As for the Radiant Holy City, heh, although the purification ceremony could unify people and greatly increase the clerics’ devotion, it was also a heavy drain.

After the ceremony, the Radiant Holy City would be unable to undertake significant actions for at least a month or two.

To give them a severe setback, even if the council had to urgently withdraw some agents, the remaining ones would need to remain inactive for several years. Overall, it was still a profit.

“It seems, the one itching to experiment wasn’t the only one, eh?” Master Edgar looked up from the report. Fortunately, the experiments in the thesis were very simple, mostly doable by anyone (except perhaps the wavelength measurements). He scoffed:

“I wonder if the Radiant Church will continue to revise their doctrine... The last time they redefined elements, they had to amend their texts...”

“It’s said that they are already revising it.” His Excellency the Immortal replied with a stern face—though his skeletal face, whether stern or not, made little difference. However, the two red lights in his eyes flickered rapidly:

“Our spies within the Church report that the latest version of the doctrine states that beyond the seven colors of sunlight, the invisible light signifies the indomitable power of the Lord of Radiance, unknown and mysterious. The visible light belongs to the mortal realm, while the invisible light belongs to the

heavens and the netherworld.”

Master Edgar wanted to say, they had worked hard. Tracking the council’s research daily, reviewing papers, repeating experiments—this workload was larger than most of the council’s mages!

Facing particularly critical research that could shake the foundation of their doctrine, they had to rack their brains to make the new doctrine seem plausible.

Tch, this was too difficult. Unlike us, who could simply revise textbooks, at worst acknowledging past mistakes and presenting new findings...

The holy, divine-willed doctrine being revised today, tomorrow, and three times in ten years, would anyone still believe them? Moreover, revised based on the studies of mages...

“By the way, if you have time, make more visits to little Garrett.” His Excellency the Immortal suddenly instructed:

“Once the paper is published in ’Arcane,’ those guys over at the Radiant Church will definitely want to get rid of Garrett. He doesn’t like staying in the Mage Tower, and there aren’t any powerful figures at the research institute... Visit him more, if something happens, you could at least buy some time.”

Master Edgar was tearful. Is my value just to buy some time? Teacher, after all, I am a high-ranking mage! Don’t you expect me to counterattack, to take down the intruding enemy?

Despite his internal complaints, he respectfully agreed. Watching His Excellency the Immortal finish reading the thesis, he cautiously inquired:

“Teacher, about Mage Nordmark’s thesis... If he applies to the review committee for widespread implementation, should we support it?”

“Support?” The skull “whooshed” close to his face, the two red lights glaring into his eyes:

“No, we do not merely support. We must advocate for it! — Edgar, you must understand, a weapon that can be wielded and retracted at will is truly in our hands!”

He then drifted back. A big spin, his robe swirling high, its edges dissolving into mist, filling most of the study:

“Vaccinate everyone with cowpox! Let every person in the kingdom be unafraid of smallpox! As long as one plague can be resisted by mankind, their ‘Angel of Plague’ doomsday prophecy will be self-defeating! What nonsense about plagues being divine punishment, huh!”

As for the eradication of smallpox posing any danger to the necromantic faction...

Does the school of necromancy lack plagues?

Naturally occurring, non-magical plagues, about seventeen or eighteen kinds; non-naturally occurring, cultivated by magic, seventy to eighty kinds. Infecting humans, infecting animals, both...

Regrettably, the magically cultivated plagues, whether in terms of cost, transmission, or lethality, still could not compete with the naturally occurring ones. For instance, the Black Death or cholera, these major killers that leave nearly every household empty, the imitations made by the Black Crow Swamp could never be cost-effective.

Otherwise, His Excellency the Immortal would have led a group of necromancers to attack the Church to avenge his teacher!

There was only a little hope recently. After little Garrett created the “Plague Seed,” at least five or six high-ranking mages, along with their disciples, were twisting magic around these seeds. From this point, Garrett Nordmark was truly born a necromancer...

His Excellency the Immortal was both excited and regretful. Even though his body had turned into a skeleton, he couldn’t help but sigh:

“Edgar, tell me, why won’t this kid agree to enter the Black Crow Swamp? If he would, I guarantee he’d become a legend within fifty years, and the title of ‘Lord of Plague’ was meant for him!”

Master Edgar silently bowed his head. Regarding the issue of plagues, the Radiant Lord’s Church and the Black Crow Swamp had been at odds for more than seven or eight hundred years—

The Black Crow Swamp asserted that plagues were the weapons of necromancers; the Radiant Lord’s Church claimed that plagues were the divine power to punish humanity, accusing the Black Crow Swamp of stealing the divine authority...

Ah, by the way, on this issue, all mages were united against their common foe. According to the doctrine of the Radiant Lord’s Church, every mage had stolen divine power.

For instance, the energy-shaping faction; the power of thunder and lightning had always been a symbolic divine punishment. Thus, the Lord of Thunder was also a thorn in the side of the Radiant Church, ranking second only to the chairman of the council on their purification list...

His Excellency the Immortal zipped around the study. Whatever he thought of, his speed increased, his robe spreading into a ghostly shadow—

It was only because he was half-lichified, with just a skull and a small section of spine remaining, that he could dart about like this. After darting for a while,

he suddenly zoomed back to Master Edgar:

“You! Go find Grom! Tell the review committee to hurry up! Get this, what’s it called, cowpox, spread around! As soon as possible!”

“This…”

“What?”

“Should we inform Lord Thunder? After all, he is his disciple...”

The skull came to an abrupt halt. After being motionless for a while, the robe shook, rolling up every spread-out paper, and whooshed out. Moments later, it whooshed back in:

“What are you staring at? Follow me!”

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