Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 484 - 446 Guests

"Is Mr. Shiny all right?" Kevin stood not far from the three of them, and he saw Lyle talking to the ring in his hand, guessing it was some sort of contact method, a magic ring.

"Nothing much, Shiny just lost his way on the other side," Lyle shouted back, trying to reassure Kevin and reduce the guilt from his talent causing misfortune to others.

After all, what’s dismemberment to Liches?

The bright lenses of the Plague Doctor’s mask were covered with a layer of mist, a product of his own breath and the cold wind of the cemetery. This didn’t greatly affect Lyle’s perception, but to the other two Liches colleagues, the blurred vision seemed to reflect Mr. Plague Doctor’s tainted spirit.

"Shiny shattered, and if he hasn’t done any private skeletal modifications, we should be able to find 206 pieces of ’him’ at Andrei Academy."

"Guys, what’s your choice?"

Helping Mr. Shiny reassemble himself would certainly be a daunting task. Time-consuming and tedious.

What do you get for collecting 206 pieces? Gratitude? No, a Lich that never stops talking.

So Kevin received the regrettable news of Shiny’s temporary exit from Lyle.

In Lyle’s exaggerated sighs that seemed like those of a third-rate actor, manipulative and adaptable gazes locked directly onto the Skeleton Gate.

"Record the data, this is the Skeleton Gate that can dismember users."

"Yes, maybe we can use it later to create a trap or a prank prop."

"We still need lots of data to determine the maximum output of the space-time rift. Maybe we should look for test subjects with higher body density."

"How about humans; we have some readily available."

"Not so good, a disguised Shiny and a human are not much different. We should go look for members of the Demon Race or Stone Monsters."

"Makes sense, but how do we throw them in? Disguise the Skeleton Gate as the finish line of an infernal speed race? Or set it up in a cave, waiting for a big-eyed simpleton to fall for it?"

The dark aura, like mistletoe entwining around the two Liches, drew Kevin’s attention as well, and he was amazed at their ability to so distinctly affect their surroundings with their own aura, thinking it was exclusive to Mr. Ralph.

Kevin’s face was somewhat pale, his curly hair’s golden sheen turning into a rough texture like gold leaf paper in the white light from the Skeleton Gate, mixed with droplets of water. Lyle wasn’t sure if this was from spending too much time in the cemetery or the trace of madness left by Ralph.

Time to find something to distract him.

"There’s a problem with the Skeleton Gate, Kevin. Go and rearrange the Bone Fragments again, see if there’s a more stable state," said Lyle.

As Kevin approached, the two note-takers of manipulation immediately stepped aside. They clearly understood Kevin’s "luck" as mentioned by Lyle and were curious about the unfolding events.

Without any prior planning, and without following any of the casting rules taught by the academy, Kevin even paused for a few seconds to feel the warm, squishy Bone Fragments after roughly dismantling them, eventually sticking them back together.

Those sensitive, fragile, and precise instruments, in the clumsy palms of Kevin, who handled them like a gruff man capable of lifting cauldrons, were not problematic at all, and then miraculously continued to operate when stuffed into another position.

White light shone again, and a new Skeleton Gate formed in front of Kevin.

"There, that should do it." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Flexibility became the second experimenter.

Under Kevin’s curious gaze, Flexibility’s hand reached into the Teleportation Array, and the circle of milky energy rippled upon touch, sucking Flexibility in like jelly.

The black figures composed a moving forest, silent under the illumination of the blood moon.

Until a bolt of lightning drew a shimmering ring in the sky, a pure white figure descended in the center of the robed figures, in front of Mr. Faceless, the manager of Andrey’s teleportation array.

All eyes converged on this entirely white figure. Oh, but not entirely, for in his white core, there was a blemish, a twitching piece of flesh lodged in the center of his sternum.

The skeleton glanced at its own body, then shifted its gaze to Mr. Faceless’s mask.

"If it were not for the application I received for the Skeleton Gate from Flexibility, I might have thought that you had joined Mr. Scarlet’s primitive sect," it said.

The Skeleton Gate had stripped away nearly all of Flexibility’s false flesh, leaving him naked and standing in the center.

"A step closer to success, that should be the case, right?"

In the long rectangular box at Mr. Faceless’s feet, Flexibility saw Mr. Shiny’s skull and one of his fingers; he pulled off the last piece of flesh on his body to seal Mr. Shiny’s constantly screaming skull, then removed the ring from his finger bone and contacted Lyle.

"How are things?"

"Not perfect, but it’s a success. Just stripped off a layer of clothes."

Over at Cassandra Cemetery, Lyle raised the ring in his hand above his head.

"Stripped of clothes, that’s what he said."

Kevin breathed a sigh of relief, though embarrassment still tinged his face. It was just a loss of face; that shouldn’t be a problem. His pale face reflected his turmoil inside.

The third trial of the Skeleton Gate was making quick progress, and Kevin had already found a bit of the feel, so he completed the adjustments in one go.

The gentle glow of the Skeleton Gate cast a joyful light on Kevin’s face as he waved his arms, signaling to Lyle.

"Hurry over, I have an intuition that this time, the portal will definitely not have any problems!"

In Lyle’s eyes, the glowing Skeleton Gate seemed like the softly radiant lakes of Naslan Secret Realm, indeed refreshing to behold at first glance, but like the lakes of Naslan, the Skeleton Gate wasn’t dangerous; the danger lay in what was on its other side.

Lyle’s influence at Andrei Academy was not bad. After Mr. Shiny and Flexibility had appeared twice, the liches already knew that Plague Doctor was experimenting with the Skeleton Gate. The class schedule for White Bone Spirit Summoning Studies was public at the academy, and the Necromancer Figure Club’s advanced progress soon attracted many liches. They lingered near the teleportation array, holding their breath in anticipation of the developments and planning to congratulate the Plague Doctor the moment he succeeded.

If Kevin crossed over, facing the continuous cold gaze could hardly ensure what kind of commotion he would cause at Andrei. More crucially, there was Kevin himself; heaven knows what impact it would have when Kevin’s luck was forcefully suppressed.

A bright light appeared on the Teleportation Array, a dazzling spot traced a circle, and the space inside the circle turned into a murky substance like water ripples. Under the eager gaze of the liches, a foot stepped out.

Upon seeing who arrived, the liches of Andrei began to grumble.

"What is it, just a Manipulator..."

The one who emerged from the Skeleton Gate was a solitary, intact Manipulator.

The indifferent Manipulator reached his hand back into the aura of the Skeleton Gate and when he withdrew it again, he held a native bone slice in his grip. On the other side, at Cassandra Cemetery, the Skeleton Gate lost its core and started to collapse, the wormhole imploding.

"I knew you wouldn’t have anything nice to say, but the successful completion of the Skeleton Gate has put me in a good mood," he remarked.

"Where’s the Plague Doctor?"

"He and his friend returned to the Cup of Luxury; they’ll use the portal there as a relay to get back to Naslan Secret Realm. As a rendezvous for hosting special guests."

Lyle finally gave up the idea of bringing Kevin to visit Andrei and instead chose the relatively safer Naslan Secret Realm, Alianna’s family castle, maybe.