This Lich Requests More Remuneration
Chapter 703 - 601 The Differences of Alchemy_2

Chapter 703: Chapter 601 The Differences of Alchemy_2

Amberser pondered for a moment, then said, "Then I’ll talk to Bayer, we’ll leave this place unblocked for now."

"What do you plan to do?" Parurier asked.

"I have a creation that is quite suitable for this environment, perhaps they can help with exploring."

What Amberser referred to was naturally the Mercury Avatar, but the current state of the Mercury Avatar was no longer the same as before. The Evil Silver Gradient had been nurtured within the Divine Realm of the God of Alchemy, becoming plump and sleek, and its divine power was increasing at an almost unbelievably fast rate.

Continuing this way, it could easily get out of control. The God of Alchemy even considered whether to dismantle the Hell Engine from the Evil Silver Gradient, but Amberser noticed that this fellow was only growing in strength, with no changes to its soul and its personality unaffected. Thus, he suggested the God of Alchemy observe for a while longer.

After all, this little one had spent a long time with him, and the reverse operation was likely to kill the Evil Silver Gradient.

Eventually, the God of Alchemy agreed with Amberser’s suggestion. Both master and apprentice were not the kind of mad scientists who obliterate humanity, and they both understood one thing.

Alchemy is destined to create beings more powerful than oneself.

Other deities’ creations are always weaker than themselves because those creatures are divisions of their own power, and lending out one’s own power naturally cannot make them stronger than the original.

But alchemy is different, much like how humans forge swords—swords are stronger than fists and teeth. Humans create Magipuppet Automatons—machines inherently possess more power than people.

Alchemy embodies this concept, using material, magic, and all the elements of the world to compensate for its own flaws and to accomplish tasks that are otherwise impossible.

If you are afraid that your creations might surpass you, then you should never be an alchemist, because such an alchemist will never achieve much in their lifetime.

Since the Evil Silver Gradient was not out of control, it should continue to be nurtured.

However, what Amberser was referring to was not this increasingly powerful creation, but another batch.

The Evil Silver Gradient had reproduced several times in the Divine Realm, and the split descendants indeed displayed a significant degeneration in abilities. After three to four generations of continuous division, the number of Mercury Avatars in the Alchemy Divine Country had already reached thousands, and the abilities of the latest generation of Mercury Avatars had essentially solidified.

To put it in professional terms, their genetic stability was essentially assured, and continued reproduction would not result in significant changes.

The power of this kind of Mercury Avatar was also diluted to the extent that they were allowed to leave the Divine Realm and enter the Prime Material Plane.

Since a Mercury Pool had just been opened here, and he needed to explore the Underground Abyss, why not let these little ones exert some effort?

Although their power is far inferior to the Evil Silver Gradient, that comparison is with a "Deity." This new generation of Mercury Avatars retained a small amount of the attributes.

They can still devour various magical items to enhance themselves, but can only maintain it for a duration, and after they digest the effects disappear. Furthermore, their resistance cannot infinitely accumulate, but they can also reach an almost magic-immune state by eating a massive amount in a short time, and maintain it for a while.

And the last point, which is the greatest strength of this contingent of Mercury Avatars—they possess inherited wisdom, somewhat smarter than most humans.

Humans need a lot of time to grow from infants to adults and also require postnatal learning to acquire knowledge and wisdom. These asexually reproducing creatures can directly copy memories during division.

This enables the Mercury Avatars to swiftly enter a "mature" state, saving a significant amount of learning time.

But it’s not without drawbacks. The Mercury Avatar’s ancestor, after all, was a Pseudo-Soul crafted by Amberser, who had initially worked with cost-saving in mind, so it wasn’t perfect.

Thus, the fifth-generation of Mercury Avatars faced the issue of lifespan. This generation of Mercury Avatars could only reproduce two generations of offspring before the soul rapidly deteriorated until death.

Amberser had tested this using time acceleration. The fifth-generation Mercury Avatars had a lifespan of only five to seven years, with deliberate breeding restrictions, none lived longer than ten years.

This characteristic was actually a good thing, at least to some extent it limited the number of Mercury Avatars; otherwise, Amberser truly wouldn’t dare to release them.

And the most suitable living environment for the Mercury Avatars was none other than the environment before him.

Letting them explore that unknown space passage was perfect.

Just, how to get a large number of Mercury Avatars into Hell was a problem. These little ones had just been born and couldn’t be considered sinners, if they died they wouldn’t go to Hell, and even if Amberser ordered them to commit suicide, they would just end up transformed into various devils after arriving in Hell and couldn’t retain their original Race.

Unless, like Melina, he directly used the Divine Artifact given by Zariel to open the Gates of Hell.

But while it was one thing for Melina to enter Hell alone, Amberser needed to bring an entire Race in, and a Gates of Hell cut merely from a sword didn’t suffice.

Hell was no paradise, but it wasn’t a place one could simply decide to visit at will.

Either he needed Zariel’s consent to open a passageway directly, or he had to find another way. Back at Amberser’s home, there were a few books about Hell that could be worth consulting.

Amberser hadn’t initially expected Zariel to agree, or he had prepared to be severely exploited by them.

However, when Amberser appeared before Zariel with the idea of giving it a try, the fallen angel showed him a puzzling smile.

As Amberser stated his request, Zariel almost immediately agreed, saying, "Don’t worry, I’ve already spoken to Bayer about Melina’s issue. Your Magic Mirror is now one of the most crucial combat resources in Hell, and the small trouble Melina has caused doesn’t count for much. Demons from The Abyss have tried breaking the spatial blockade more than once, we’ve too often seen such things, it’s trivial. As for your Mercury Avatars, I’ll give you a scroll of the Gates of Hell, you can set the position of the Gates freely."

Amberser looked at the scroll Zariel handed over, hesitant to take it.

This was unreasonable. When had Zariel become so easy to speak with?

"Hircine, is it you?" Amberser asked gravely.

He had just reinforced his defenses, and that damn Prince of Lies had breached them this quickly, creating illusions again?

Zariel furrowed his brows and said, "Hircine? What are you talking about?"

Amberser hesitated, this time there was no shattering of the Illusion Realm; was it Hircine playing a double bluff, or had he mistaken something?

Amberser simply confessed, "It’s nothing, it’s just that your reaction today seems too unrealistic, Duke Zariel. Although our relationship is cooperative, today you seem overly agreeable."

"Hahahaha." Zariel laughed loudly, "Using such malignant thoughts to assess others, you too have been assimilated by Hell, quite fitting for a devil."

Amberser shook his head, "You’re thinking too much; I was like this even before descending into Hell."

Amberser didn’t say the latter part aloud, Zariel’s recent laughter seemed to divert the discussion, surely hiding something. This scroll of the Gates of Hell, could there be a problem with it?

But Amberser couldn’t see any reason for Zariel to tamper here; it wasn’t as if he wanted a free ride, they could simply negotiate a price slowly, what was this plot and intrigue all about?

Yet Zariel seemed disinclined to explain, tossing the scroll to Amberser and then, regardless of Amberser’s agreement, throwing out the Magic Mirror as well.

Only after Amberser had disappeared inside the palace did Zariel wipe the sweat from his forehead.

He had been too eager, raising suspicions. But there was no help for it, Heaven Mountain was in sight, and right now Zariel could almost wish to sprout several more wings to fly back, with no heart for bargaining terms with Amberser.

Besides, just maintaining his current state was proving difficult; Zariel dared not chat with Amberser too long, fearful he might see through the changes in his body.

"Now is not the time, but I’m almost ready to revert to the form of an Angel, then I will confront him, asking him to help contact the Lord of the Dawn."

Zariel knelt on the ground, praying fervently, "Oh Aeo above, grant me a little more time, this is my last chance, even if it means utter obliteration, I will no longer stay in Hell!"