In Lyle’s hands, the Lich Crown began to tremble, and Lyle even suspected it might crack open in his grasp the next instant. Lyle looked at Raymond’s solid helmet, with not the slightest extra movement; Mr. Raymond was not joking.

He was actually prepared to hand over Andrey’s Lich Crown, the Divine Artifact, to Lyle! Had Lyle known that Raymond had once casually given away his own Holy Sword Turmund, perhaps he would not have been as shocked as he was now.

"Mr. Raymond, why are you unwilling to wear the Lich Crown? Does it have some negative effect on the Power of Holy Light?"

Raymond shook his head, "It does not, Lyle. The Lich Crown is Andrey’s Crown of the Races, a power of the race that cannot be rejected by any force, and of course, it could bring me certain benefits." 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"But I cannot wear it, not for me, but for you all, for Andrey."

"For Andrey."

"The Lich Crown is Andrey’s crown of kingship. Of course, I know what its compliance means." Raymond tapped his helmet, "It means I would ascend the throne, becoming the King of the Liches of Andrey."

"What’s so bad about becoming the leader of Andrey?" Even though it meant managing Andrey’s chaos, wasn’t Mr. Raymond the very embodiment of Andrey’s greatest chaos? As for the qualifications of a king. Mr. Raymond, you are already Andrey’s Uncrowned King.

Raymond shook his head, "A king is chosen by the people, and the people of Andrey are those Liches. Those Liches who flee at the sight of me, do you think they hold any possibility of supporting me in their hearts?"

"The Dean holds the crown because the Liches have already acknowledged his leadership. The academy he painstakingly established is respected by every Lich, good or bad, for his efforts."

"But you expect them to bow down to me? That’s not as easy as disassembling their bones. A leader without recognition will only lead to the decline of the race."

"As long as I put on the Lich Crown, Andrey would gradually fall into ruin."

So Mr. Raymond was truly considering the well-being of Andrey.

"Mr. Raymond, then if you start treating the Liches kindly from now on, is it possible that one day, they would support you?’

Raymond folded his arms.

"Rather than that, I’d prefer to die, those scoundrels who I think deserve a beating ten times a day, let me personally bring Andrey to ruin bit by bit."

"..." Mr. Raymond had refused the Lich Crown, and he had ample reason.

Lyle left the Church of Holy Light with the dimly glowing Lich Crown, and the Lich Crown itself understood the reasons, knowing it wouldn’t be adorning Raymond’s head anytime soon, and became dispirited.

"Lich Crown, I might as well return you to the Dean." There was no reply, nor objection.

Returning the crown to the Dean, who already knew all this, Lyle took his leave.

The Executive Committee was recalling those original versions of Hungry Flesh, and Mr. Crimson was also asked to temporarily halt his creation. The reclaimed flesh was thrown back into the Necromancer Figure Club, awaiting Lyle’s experiments and adjustments.

Lyle returned to his department, gently pushing open the clubroom door.

In the unlit room, Lyle’s eyes widened.

Tsunami. A massive swirl of purple-red flesh, studded with protruding bones, formed a three-meter-tall, ten-meter-wide rolling tsunami of flesh that suddenly lunged toward him!

"Fuck! Nia!" Like a black snake, Nia slithered out from behind Lyle, the flesh morphing instantly into a ghastly white bony shield. Bone spikes dug into the ground, acting like reefs to block the tsunami’s assault.

"What happened? In my club?"

Fortunately, the flesh’s pounce was brief, and the minced meat piled on the ground retreated into its "shell," like a startled snail—a two-meter-diameter Nautilus giant shell grasped by Shiny and his people.

"Congratulations, boss! The research on Hungry Flesh is perfectly successful!"

So the flesh tsunami was something akin to a celebratory cannon? However, looking at the rattling laughter of those riffraffs, it wasn’t impossible that they had ideas of taking Lyle away.

"I suppose I’ll accept your congratulations for now." The Necromancer Figure Club wasn’t disrupted by the Liches disaster, and that had to do with the significant orders received from Black Abyssal Demons recently since the host of the academic conference was the club president himself. They showed little interest in new research, and getting Hungry Flesh was only a matter of time; there was no need to jostle with Liches at the conference.

"Had we known it would turn into a Lich disaster, we should have gone together!" Shiny revelled in chaos.

Lyle flexed his fingers, reviewing the production records that came in through manipulation.

"Manipulator, this part, how is there such a huge experimental expenditure? What’s outrageous is, how come these expenses even turned a profit? More than the Spine Wheel orders!!!" Lyle said in surprise, wanting to understand the process behind this phenomenon.

Mr. Versatility had the answer. "Andrey is developing, and we must advance with the times. We owe it all to your Hungry Flesh, boss, which led us to a new business opportunity. We crafted a new product and sold it to those posers."

"What did you make?"

"Dentures."

Dentures? You guys are truly talented, selling dentures to Liches! Lyle carefully considered that Liches indeed didn’t have many teeth. In life, human teeth reside in the alveolar bone, connected by gums and other tissues; after death, muscles decompose and the bony layer gradually dies, eventually causing the teeth to loosen and fall out. Hungry Flesh didn’t include teeth. That meant these Liches could only make chewing motions with the ancient, decades-old or even centuries-old teeth on their upper and lower jaws. Fitting Liches with dentures might indeed be highly profitable.

"Don’t worry, boss, during the Lich disaster, we launched several powerful functional dentures. Not just for eating, even drilling holes is a breeze! There are also many shapes to choose from, multi-layered shark teeth, spiral thread teeth, and even dynamic cone teeth! The sales numbers, countless posers were standing outside our club day and night waiting!!!"

"Necromancer Figure Club Dentures! Help you devour everything!!!"

Lyle felt a cold sweat forming on his forehead, so Andrey had been gnawed beyond recognition by posers, and it was indeed partly his club’s fault. If the Executive Committee burst through the door right now and took away everyone in this room, not a single one would be innocent.

As expected of the Necromancer Figure Club, aiming to lead the new era of Spirit Summoning Studies, it had begun to become the hidden hand behind the Lich disaster.

With a sense of guilt washing over him, Lyle touched the ton of Orichalcum coins he’d received in exchange for selling the dentures.

"I’m going to impose restrictive modifications on Hungry Flesh next, I need your help."

"And also increase the compatibility level between the dentures and Hungry Flesh."

"Since the client has paid, we must provide the most thoughtful and quality service."