Chapter 542 - 218: What an Overbearing Contract

’I have to use my Spiritual Transformation talent to change my Origin Power’s data every two hours?’

Wei’en frowned. The interval wasn’t exactly short, but it meant he probably couldn’t fall into a deep sleep at night. Otherwise, who knew if someone might sneak right up on him.

With his current Spiritual Power, he could go for several days and nights without sleep, but that wasn’t a sustainable solution.

’Or maybe I can try changing my Origin Power ahead of schedule?’

’I’ll try changing it in an hour and see if that delays the Forbidden Item’s next tracking update.’

Until he was protected by the Destiny Barrier Spell, he had to do everything he could to mitigate the effects of the Forbidden Item’s tracking.

"Don’t let me find out who did this, or else—"

Wei’en sat down on the wooden chair in front of his workbench, a vicious glint in his eyes.

He could now basically rule out the Ghost Soul and Spiritual Mystery Schools. Adding the less-involved Mechanical and Blood Spirit Schools to the list meant he had eliminated four of the five major Wizard Schools.

That only left the Shadow School...

Wei’en knew the least about this school. His only encounter was seeing a Wizard from the Shadow School capturing the Dawn Church’s Heroic Saintess during the first tower gathering. Beyond that, he knew nothing.

Even the lore of the Ghost Soul School rarely mentioned the Shadow School.

Compared to the other Wizard Schools, the Shadow School kept a very low profile.

’Or were they just hidden too well?’

’What a hassle.’

After a long period of contemplation, Wei’en was still clueless. He had no idea who was using Forbidden Item 0-38, the Bell of Truth, to track him.

He was sure of one thing, though: this was most likely because of the defective Magic Runes.

’Hm? Defective runes?’

’Even the Spiritual Mystery School, the group most affected by the defective Magic Runes, only wanted to make a trade. They hadn’t resorted to more extreme measures, so the other schools had even less reason to come after me.’

’And besides the Wizard Schools, the only other people connected to the defective Magic Runes would be...’

’...the ones who created the defects in the first place?’

’That’s highly likely!’

Wei’en’s crimson eyes flickered. ’That would make sense. Do they think I’ve ruined their plan?’

’Following that line of thought, does that mean this unknown person, or group of people, is trying to weaken all the Wizard Schools?’

’Or, more ruthlessly, are they trying to use this opportunity to sever the Wizards’ legacy, to pave the way for their annihilation one day in the future?’

’If that’s really the case... tsk, tsk... they must have spent a very long time setting this all up, right?’

’Just like how the Dusk Sect spent three epochs setting up their array to harvest killing intent across the entire sea?’

At the same time, he could easily deduce that this unknown entity’s power was surely on par with the Dusk Sect...

’Being targeted by such a behemoth... it’s truly unsettling!’

Regardless, he was determined to obtain the Spiritual Mystery School’s knowledge of destiny divination and the Destiny Barrier Spell!

At this thought, Wei’en took a deep breath, pushing aside the chaotic thoughts. He took out the materials Teresa had teleported to him and began to look through them.

After spending points to upgrade his Heart of Flesh and Blood, his Survival Points had once again dropped to the low thousands. Forget about leveling up other Magic; he was hard-pressed to even afford learning new Magic Runes.

Therefore, until he could acquire a large number of Survival Points, the only thing he could do was learn as much about Wizardry as possible.

"Undead Creature Modification, also known as the modification and enhancement of the bodies of Undead Creatures..."

"Traditional modification methods for skeleton-type Undead Creatures, for example, focus mostly on enhancing bone strength to increase their defense and physical power. For a Skeleton Mage, however, powerful Rune Arrays must be inscribed upon it to perfect its magical structure, thereby increasing its combat effectiveness."

"The most cutting-edge research in Undead Creature modification, however, involves stitching together and fusing different types of Undead Creatures to create a more perfect undead being..."

After reviewing the basics of Undead Creature modification, Wei’en had a general idea of the process.

The Ghost Soul School’s greatest achievement in this field was a Sewn Corpse that had reached a Legendary level of power.

According to the research report, the Sewn Corpse’s body was composed of several parts. Its skeleton was taken from a Hand of the Kingdom-grade Skeleton Warrior, its flesh was stitched together from a Grand Commander-grade Abyssal Creature, and the gaps were patched with the flesh of zombies.

The most crucial component was its core. It was based on the core of a Great Mage-grade Undead Knight, which was then fused with the cores of three other Great Mage-grade Undead Creatures, artificially boosting its combat power to the threshold of the Legendary grade.

’Four Great Mage-grade cores, plus all the other materials, just to create one Legendary-grade modified undead creature...’

Wei’en stroked his chin. He couldn’t quite make sense of the trade-off.

In terms of results, a Legendary-grade Undead Creature was certainly far more powerful than four Great Mage-grade ones combined. However, when factoring in the skeleton, flesh, various Rune Arrays, precious materials, and everything else, the total cost exceeded two million gold pounds.

’Spending that much gold just to churn out a single Legendary-grade creature... isn’t that a bit of a loss?’

A modified undead creature reaching Legendary-grade combat power didn’t mean its actual grade was Legendary. It only meant it could fight against Legendary-grade Extraordinaries.

But there was still a considerable gap between its abilities and those of a true Legendary.

According to the summaries of several research reports, modified undead creatures always had certain deficiencies compared to genuine beings of the same grade.

’It doesn’t seem very cost-effective...’

Wei’en couldn’t articulate it more clearly, but from his perspective, if the whole point was to stitch together lower-grade Undead Creatures to create a higher-grade combatant, shouldn’t cost-effectiveness at least be a consideration?