Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 482 - 444 Skeleton Gate

Kevin gasped for breath as he shook off the "gift" that Nia had given him from his body and pried it out of his mouth. Although the black mucus had no disgusting taste, Kevin, the young master, did not enjoy the sticky feeling on his skin.

"Is Lyle nearby, Nia?"

"Yes, yes." Nia’s tentacles wrapped around the bottom of the grate, lifting her body as her nails gently poked Matt, who lay on the ground, creating sparks from the friction between bone shards and armor.

"Kevin, who is this, a gift for Nia?"

Simple words, such a big fright. Kevin, neglecting the slime on his body, sprang from the ground and jogged to Nia, clutching her arm and moving her away from Matt, "No, Matt is my friend, or more precisely, my servant."

Nia tilted her head thirty degrees, her big yellow eyes squinting into a vertical line as if in thought, her tentacles rubbing her chin, making a gurgling sound.

"So, can’t I eat it?"

"No, you can’t!"

Tentacles enveloped Nia’s body, like a disappointed child wrapping tightly in a blanket.

"Then~okay~fine~"

Kevin consoled Nia with the promise of another barbecue party and steered the conversation towards Lyle.

"Take me to Lyle, Nia, I have urgent business with him."

"Okay... is it okay?" Nia hugged her head as if in turmoil, then looked at Kevin with uncertainty, "Kevin, right now, Lyle is with friends from ’that side.’ Do you want to go to him now? It could be... it could be dangerous."

Lyle’s friends from the other side? Dangerous? Could there be other necromancers?

Although he was interested in mysterious powers, it might not be good to disturb Lyle.

"What are Lyle and the others doing deep in the cemetery?"

"Homework."

Kevin’s worries dissipated.

"Let’s go! Nia! Take me there! What do I have to fear from a homework disturbance! I want to go and learn!"

"Alright then!" Nia, who was already tired of thinking, was ready to accept Kevin’s suggestion right away.

But Kevin interrupted her.

"Wait, what about Matt? Should we take him with us?"

Nia squinted her eyes, staring at the unconscious knight.

"Bury him?"

"No way."

"...Then let’s just leave him here, the ghosts will protect him." Perhaps fearing Kevin would pose more questions, Nia hastily sketched an array next to Matt and then, grabbing Kevin, dashed towards the depths of the cemetery.

"I never imagined that a mausoleum would be hidden here."

Kevin admired Andrei’s Mausoleum that was embedded in the shadows, as he stood in front of the half-collapsed mausoleum, where a few figures cloaked in black were manipulating some eerie things that floated in mid-air with a green glow.

After leaving the bushes, Nia’s blunt approach had caught the attention of those people.

The leading plague doctor turned his head, about to greet them, when he saw the decorations on Nia’s tentacles.

"Kevin! What are you doing here!"

"Long time no see, Lyle!" Kevin, gingerly set down on the ground, gave Lyle a hug, his radiant smile as a young noble lighting up even the graveyard.

Watching the plague doctor get cozy with a stranger, Shiny, Manipulation, and Adaptation exchanged glances and whispered among themselves, "Boss Plague Doctor, who is he...?" 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"Kevin, my friend, an outside friend."

The three members of the Necromancer Figure Club formed a small circle and murmured among themselves.

"A human, right?"

"Human, yes, an actual living human."

"Experimental subjects of the Plague Doctor? Is ’friend’ a deceitful title?"

"Who cares, it’s not illegal to keep humans captive, is it?"

"It’s illegal, according to the Andrei Wisdom Life Protection Law, which prohibits any confinement and harmful acts towards the human race. But whatever, no one will know as long as we don’t talk about it."

"The real question is, what kind of stance should we take?"

"That’s easy, we’ll just do whatever the Plague Doctor does."

Meanwhile, Lyle and Kevin were also whispering to each other.

"How did you get here, Kevin? They... my companions, are very dangerous for you. They... they’re all treacherous, murderous maniacs."

"Oh, that’s really cool, I’ll be careful when dealing with them."

You still want to deal with them! "You... even though you’re ’lucky’, you still need to be careful. By the way, why aren’t you worried about me? I’ve been dealing with these desperados all along."

"Lyle, I heard just now that you became their boss, isn’t that telling enough?"

"...You’re right. Still, be careful yourself."

The secret conversations ended.

The five of them gathered together.

"Hahaha, Andrey, sir, we’re companions of the Plague Doctor, and since you’re a friend of the Plague Doctor, you’re our friend too. Welcome! I’m Shiny/Adaptable/Manipulator."

"Hahaha, hello, I’m Kevin, it’s a pleasure to meet you all!"

Under Nia’s puzzled gaze, Kevin and the three from the Necromancer Figure Club became superficial friends.

"This is so cool, what are you studying here?" Kevin’s eyes were fixed on the things floating in the air and emitting a green glow. When he moved closer, he discovered they were bones, all sorts of bones.

"Skeleton Gate, we’re studying a new spell. It’s a transportation spell from the White Bone Sect of Spirit Summoning Studies."

It sounded like a grand name, that was the only thought in Kevin’s mind, much more interesting than listening to girls primping their life experiences.

"When we’ve finished constructing it, theoretically, the Skeleton Gate will open a space-time passage between Cassandra Cemetery and Andrei Academy, allowing for long-distance quick travel, just like a mage’s portal."

"I get it, that’s why you chose to conduct secret experiments here, the miasma of the cemetery helps with your casting," Kevin mustered his thoughts, reaching for the necromancy terms he had read in the bizarre novels, both to pretend he was knowledgeable and to verify the authenticity of those authors’ purported experiences.

Manipulator nodded.

"You could say that, the atmosphere of the cemetery does indeed make us happy, and it’s quiet enough to minimize disturbances. But the main reason is that there already exists a portal connecting the two places, making it easier for us to capture and explore those space-time traces. Even if we fail, we won’t be stuck unable to return to the academy."

Shiny took over the conversation from Manipulator.

"Plus, it’s convenient, this is a cemetery, so if we’re discovered, we can just bury it on the spot."

"Bury what?"

"Bury..."

Lyle cut off Shiny with a violent cough and, faced with Kevin’s gaze, Lyle had to answer quickly.

"Bury... burying the experimental traces, yes, that’s right. Our experiments leave a lot of materials, and if they’re discovered, just bury them in the ground. This is a cemetery after all, people certainly wouldn’t disturb the dead recklessly."

The other three immediately chimed in.

"Ahahaha, it’s exactly as the Plague Doctor, the boss, said."

"Of course, we’re burying experimental data. How could we possibly use a cemetery to bury anything else unrelated? Their lives are much more precious than experimental data, hahaha."

Lyle shifted the topic to the crafting of Skeleton Gate, explaining that the main ingredient required was the bones of a magical beast called the Eternal Hound, which naturally resonate with time-space forces, could deceive space, and use the bones as part of space-time, rationalizing the formation of wormholes.

Kevin grew interested in those bones, even coming up with the idea of building his own Skeleton Gate, as it all seemed fairly straightforward.

"So, how do you make a Skeleton Gate?"

"Bone Grafting Mutation Technique."

"?" It felt like you had just grasped the basics of addition and subtraction, and the teacher started teaching calculus.