This Lich Requests More Remuneration
Chapter 378 - 351 The Next Plan

He had truly left behind all his life’s learning for him.

Unable to restrain himself, Harvey asked, "Teacher, you’re most skilled at creating souls, so couldn’t you use this fragment to resurrect Mr. Misfortune?"

Amberser looked at the glass jar containing the soul fragment and said helplessly, "Resurrect him? How can that be done? This piece of the soul has completely lost its original will, and right now I am merely ensuring that the fragment does not dissipate on its own. I could indeed use my abilities to complete this fragment, and with my impression and memories of Uradimir, create a soul somewhat like his.

"That’s quite simple and poses no problem, but you and I both know that it would just be a fake, based on my impression of him. The fake I can create would not have the abilities of a diviner mage, would lack the memories of centuries spent racking his brains for the Kingdom of Impure Hymns, and would not possess the will to sacrifice himself for the kingdom.

"Producing such a fake would be an insult to him."

Previously, Captain Aige of the Silent Night Pirate Group had asked Amberser to resurrect her father, but Amberser was powerless to do so; at most, he could create a fake based on his memory, which would be meaningless and nothing but self-deception.

Still not giving up, Harvey said, "Then, what about asking the President of Alchemy City for help? Teacher, you said that he can use the Wishing Spell without limit."

Without lifting his head, Amberser said, "Leaving aside whether the Wishing Spell could bring back a diviner mage who has just changed the world, even if it could, Garey Woz would definitely not do so."

"Why, is it a matter of the cost?"

Amberser shook his head and said, "No, it’s because he doesn’t want Uradimir to live. Uradimir sacrificed himself for the Kingdom of Impure Hymns, and if resurrected, he would surely have to enter the Chaos Space again to continue protecting those Tiflins. What Garey Woz wants is the faith of the Tiflins. If a great hero who saved the kingdom and sacrificed himself suddenly appeared, whose faith would that be?

"Human hearts cannot be controlled; as long as Uradimir is alive, those Tiflins would unconsciously worship him. The result would be that Garey Woz could not obtain much power of faith and would have to spend time eliminating Uradimir’s influence. This process would surely lead to enmity between them.

"In the previous trade, I didn’t articulate it to Garey Woz, but we all knew it well; these Tiflins are exchanging their faith for survival. If they cannot provide this, Garey Woz would abandon them without hesitation... no, given Garey Woz’s character, he would undoubtedly turn those Tiflins into his alchemical materials without a second thought; he is more ruthless than the undead."

Amberser never doubted Garey Woz’s ruthlessness; the old fellow was using the entire Alchemy City as his material for deification, during which process countless people had died, not to mention his cruel and venomous treatment of his own kin. In Amberser’s eyes, he was the most cold-blooded person he had ever met.

However, Garey Woz also had one characteristic: absolute rationality.

This ten million Tiflins and an entire kingdom’s territory were the foundations of his formal deification. He would not give up and would not be stingy in caring for the Tiflins; alchemists always have their lab rats well-fed and in perfect health.

Yet, Harvey seemed still not to lose heart and asked, "Then what about the power of the Time Dragon?"

Amberser, puzzled, said to Harvey, "If I had known him for hundreds of years and we were close, that would be one thing, but you only met him once. Where does this strong wish to resurrect Uradimir come from?"

After thinking, Harvey explained, "I don’t know, I guess I simply admire the elder. When I read books, what I dislike the most is when heroes sacrifice themselves; I prefer stories that, even if they lack logic, have a happy ending for all."

"Personal preference then," replied Amberser without any judgment and continued explaining, "Time is a powerful force; it seems simple to travel back into the past, but there are limitations. I taught you before that the power of destiny is like dominos falling, one after the other. This is reality taking place. To reverse time is to stand those fallen dominos back up again, so the energy consumed is vastly different.

"This time, Uradimir has knocked over far too many dominos. The severed strands of destiny from the Kingdom of Impure Hymns would bind to Uradimir in another form. Even the Magic Dragon Tyrant reborn wouldn’t be able to use the power of time reversal to save Uradimir—there are too many intertwined causes and effects. Moreover, the Goddess of Fate would not allow Uradimir to exile a kingdom to the land of chaos without a price.

"The fact that only the body and soul of a legendary diviner mage were used as the price was already quite generous from the Goddess of Fate. To think of resurrection too, do you really think the Goddess of Fate is some whore to be taken advantage of for free? Those who think so would only find themselves with broken legs from a sweep of her foot, followed by their heads crushed under her high heels."

Harvey felt a phantom ache in his head and quickly changed the subject, "Alright, I won’t ask anymore. So, Teacher, what do we do now? The Kingdom of Impure Hymns has disappeared, and as you just mentioned, the Dragon Race is going to return to the continent; surely we can’t continue with business as usual?"

Leaning back in his chair, with arms folded across his chest, Amberser replied in the most matter-of-fact tone, "Why not? Doing business has always been my most important enterprise. Next, we should expand the business. Do you know what’s selling for the highest price on the continent right now?"

Harvey was stunned for a moment before he seriously considered and said, "If we don’t take war into account, with the Kingdom of Impure Hymns gone, I remember their specialty was spices and weapons armor?"

Amberser nodded: "Correct, you’re showing improvement. The blacksmiths of Tiflin are renowned around the world. Unlike the standard products of Alchemy City, they specialize in custom-making exquisite magical armor and weapons; in this aspect, Alchemy City’s technologies are no match for Tiflin’s. As for the spices, that’s entirely due to Tiflin’s geographical features. Spices produced elsewhere just can’t match up in quality."

Harvey asked, "So, teacher, are you considering growing spices and starting a boutique magic equipment factory?"

However, Amberser scolded: "Foolish or not, how many years would it take to start harvesting spices now? Without Tiflin, where would I find those highly skilled blacksmiths? Just when I thought you were improving, this is your idea, why should we produce them ourselves when we can be middlemen?"

After being reminded by Amberser, Harvey suddenly realized and exclaimed in shock, "Teacher, can you still communicate with the Kingdom of Impure Hymns in the Land of Chaos?"

"Of course." Amberser said proudly: "My teacher gave me such a useful divine artifact, how could I not help him promote it. I sent a magic mirror to Garey Woz, an artifact that uses the divine realm of the God of Alchemy as a relay, capable of cross-plane communication. With this magic mirror, we can perform small-scale transfers across planes. The volume of spices is too large, and there are substitutes, so we won’t get into that business. Instead, we’ll take all the orders for Tiflin’s original boutique equipment."

"Moreover, the business is not just about dealing with other kingdoms. There must be demands among those exiled Tiflins, right? The Land of Chaos is so desolate, there must be places that Garey Woz can’t look after, right? In that place, where everything is topsy-turvy, they would certainly lack long-range attack weapons if they were to fight others. Magic conduction cannons, magic-guide rifles, flying backpacks – we can sell all of these to them."

"Exclusive business, tough not to make money."

After listening, Harvey couldn’t help but ask: "Teacher, I have an impolite question. Aren’t you intentionally setting up your fellow disciple? You must have thought about turning this kingdom into your own backyard, right?"

"What are you thinking?" Amberser said disdainfully: "Do you really think your teacher is a deity, that I could predict everything? If I were that powerful, I wouldn’t have to worry about the Lord of the Dawn at all. This is just making the best out of waste. After all, much of that kingdom’s land is mine, I can’t just take a loss."

The contracts sold to Amberser by those impures were still valid. These were rightful and legal land ownerships signed in black and white, which had to be squeezed for some profit.

Amberser told Harvey the number of the Land of Chaos’s magic mirror, and left the matter to him to handle.

Amberser had grown accustomed to setting the general direction, leaving the rest for Harvey to manage.

Harvey looked distressed and said to Amberser, "Teacher, I’m already too busy by myself. Now that the business on the desert side has stabilized, there’s so much to do every day. Now I have to manage another trade route, and it’s really too much for me. When will I have time to study the notes you gave me?"

"Then go hire some help, do I need to teach you something so trivial? Even your junior sister Isabel knows to find someone to help manage the castle, how come you..." Amberser paused, then continued, "Ah, right, let those Drow Elves help you. They’re even sharper in business than you are. Also, get the airship transport route fixed, with priority to the Dwarf Kingdom and Silvermoon Tribunal."

"It’s also time to give the Elf Tribe a bit of hope, lest the Elven God-King Corellon draws his sword against me."

The Drow Elves operating airship transportation was an empty promise Amberser had previously made to Katherine; it had been just talk, but now it was almost time to put it into practice.

As for whether those Drow Elves could be trusted, Amberser wasn’t too concerned—if worst came to worst, a few elves might die. They could be trained while being used.

Harvey noted down everything Amberser instructed, then realized that by speaking up, he had just increased his own workload, with the transport routes alone enough to cause him to lose a lot of hair.

No, he had to get help. Harvey decided to put out a notice to hire as soon as possible. With the reputation of their "Alchemy God’s Choice" brand, they should be able to attract plenty of talents.

"Alright, you’ve written everything down, right? I’ll leave this place to you then." Amberser said.

Harvey asked curiously, "Teacher, are you going out again?"

Amberser replied, "You said the return of the Dragon Race was a major event, how could I not be prepared? I’m going to the outer seas to visit my good brother Gareth, and to find out what’s really going on with the Dragon Race."