Years later, facing the old gods, the Soul Hall Wizards would always recall that afternoon when they visited the birthplace of the Soul Hall—a completely unremarkable basement.
"Mr. Ivan, this is the basement you wanted."
The academy's warehouse administrator—One-Eyed Peter—coughed violently a few times, clearly choked by the stirred-up dust.
He laboriously lifted a dim yellow kerosene lamp. The pungent smell of burning kerosene spread, barely illuminating the space.
Ivan looked in the direction One-Eyed Peter was pointing.
To be fair, this basement, located deep within the academy's abandoned underground warehouse, aside from being cramped and dirty, could actually be considered spacious. The air was filled with a stale, musty smell.
One-Eyed Wizard Peter is the administrator of Horton Wizard Academy responsible for warehouse and dormitory management, a stingy and old-fashioned old man.
To rent this abandoned underground warehouse, Ivan paid him a "huge sum" of ten gold pounds per month. This expense made Ivan's already not-so-generous wallet even tighter.
All for the sake of verifying a hypothesis of Ivan's.
Hopefully, this simple basement can be recognized as a "Sect Headquarters" by the game panel...
"Mr. Ivan, I don't care what strange experiments you plan to do renting this basement," One-Eyed Peter said before leaving, staring intently at Ivan with his cloudy single eye, full of warning.
"But after your rental period ends, you must restore this place to its original state, and the monthly rent must not be delayed even by half a cent... Even if you are expelled from the academy, you won't be short of a single penny of this money!"
Ivan was noncommittal about this.
After One-Eyed Peter disappeared into the darkness, Ivan put away the basement key, looked at the dusty, dirty basement floor, and opened the 【Sect Construction】 feature in his game panel.
【Please confirm and scan your Sect Headquarters to build the Soul Hall's first territory】
Ivan took a deep breath, trying to slowly extend his mental power like tentacles, carefully covering the empty basement.
It worked!
On the game panel, a sudden three-dimensional projection of the basement appeared, showing every detail with extreme precision.
This basement was now bound to the panel, becoming the "Soul Hall's" first Sect Headquarters.
A task completion prompt suddenly popped up before Ivan's eyes.
【Prologue Task One Completed: Gained Demonic Path Points × 1, Gained Myriad Soul Banner Fragment × 1】
【Myriad Soul Banner Fragment: Current collection progress 1/4. After collecting enough fragments, you can synthesize the Magic Treasure - Ten Thousand Souls Banner】
Ivan first found the Myriad Soul Banner Fragment in the item warehouse. Unfortunately, this Ten Thousand Souls Banner actually required four fragments to synthesize a complete Magic Treasure, so he could only leave it in the warehouse to gather dust for now.
Next, Ivan opened the 【Magic Cave Bazaar】 to see what rewards the task's Demonic Path Points could be exchanged for.
【Magic Cave Bazaar】
【List of items sold in the Bazaar has been updated】
【Slot One: Small Evil Pill, can slightly enhance the character's soul, requires 1 Demonic Path Point】
【Note: An evil medicinal pill from Medicine Master Valley, refined from who knows how many wicked deeds and karma. One can faintly hear the mad laughter of "refining pills, refining people, and even refining the heavens" from within. Medicine Master Valley is truly a bunch of evil lunatics】
【Slot Two: Raising Corpse Records, allows learning the method of refining Zombies, requires 1 Demonic Path Point】
【Note: The foundational cultivation method from the Corpse Raising Sect, capable of refining Zombies. It is said that by cultivating Zombies deeply, one can even refine a peerless great demon like a Drought Demon. However, for some unknown reason, there are always rumors in the world that the Corpse Raising Sect's demonic cultivators fear spiritual plants. The Corpse Raising Sect strongly condemns this, claiming it is all slander】
【Slot Three: Joyful Compendium, can enhance the character's mental fortitude and willpower, can increase others' favorability, requires 1 Demonic Path Point】
【Note: A missionary illustrated book from the Temple of Joy. Who knows how much effort and sweat from how many people it contains. The masters are truly too playful...】
I always feel like the art style of some rewards is off... This game panel, it couldn't have actually installed a righteous heroine defeat mod, right?
There are a total of three slots in the 【Magic Cave Bazaar】, which automatically refresh every seven days. Ivan can also choose to spend 1 Demonic Path Point to manually refresh.
It's just that Ivan currently only has 1 Demonic Path Point, which is barely enough and cannot withstand such waste.
Ivan quickly made a decision among the three options.
【Raising Corpse Records, successfully exchanged, remaining Demonic Path Points: 0】
Suddenly, a massive amount of memories and knowledge flooded into Ivan's mind like a tide.
Raising Corpse Records is not a pure cultivation method; it is an encyclopedia of the Corpse Path, combining extensive experience in selecting corpses, refining corpses, and raising corpses.
For a moment, countless images flashed through Ivan's mind: corpse selection, corpse refining techniques, control skills... damp morgues, emaciated corpses, corpse refiners with missing limbs... It was as if he had once transformed into a corpse refiner and personally refined thousands of Zombies.
After the tide of memories receded, a line 【Raising Corpse Records Lv.1】 suddenly appeared on Ivan's personal panel.
As the exchange was completed, lines of task text appeared before his eyes again.
【Prologue Task Two: The sect's tinder has been sown anew, and the Soul Hall's past demonic might has returned to the world! Looking at your dilapidated sect entrance, you start to wonder... Should you recruit a demonic cultivator disciple to serve as a handyman and consumable?】
【Reward: Demonic Path Points × 2, Myriad Soul Banner Fragment × 2】
Recruit a demonic cultivator disciple?
Ivan pondered silently. The criteria for completing the demonic cultivator panel tasks seemed very broad, which gave Ivan a lot of room for maneuver... These tasks, it seemed, could be completed through clever means?
For example, this task of recruiting a demonic cultivator disciple... would it be considered complete as long as one person acknowledges being Ivan's disciple or student?
If that's the case, there happens to be a very good opportunity right now.
In another day or two, it will be Horton Wizard Academy's annual school recruitment day. At that time, new Wizard Apprentices will naturally be admitted into the Necromancy School.
A One-Ring Wizard like Ivan can currently only provide basic Wizard knowledge instruction to Wizard Apprentices.
Only by advancing to Two-Ring Wizard and simultaneously obtaining the title of "Associate Professor" does one gain the right to tutor Wizard Apprentices one-on-one and take on students.
However, One-Ring Wizards often take on some apprentices privately, making them their research assistants, thereby having a helper they can exploit freely.
In previous years, there were even scandals of official Wizards coercing female apprentices into becoming assistants and forcing apprentices onto promotion devices.
Ivan plans to wait until recruitment day arrives, find a Wizard Apprentice, make him his research assistant, and try to complete the task this way.
As for whether the game panel will recognize this method of task completion, he can only know by trying...
...
Several hours later.
Ivan stepped into the Necromancy School office. A mix of stale ink smell and a faint smell of corpses assailed him.
He saw two other One-Ring Wizards from the Necromancy School, each engrossed in their own affairs, busy with who knows what.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Ivan."
A cheerful female voice rang out. A lady in a black lace dress smiled and greeted Ivan.
That was a One-Ring Necromancer specializing in the field of "Spirit Communication," Diana the Medium. Her relationship with Ivan was quite good.
The other person remained silent. He had a pair of lifeless red eyes, like those of a dead person, and was currently staring coldly at Ivan, his gaze full of undisguised hostility.
Ivan only needed to briefly recall his memories to immediately understand the source of this hostility.
Corpse Eye John, a One-Ring Necromancer who joined Horton Wizard Academy at the same time as him, and also a Wizard specializing in the field of "Animated Corpses."
The two were temporary workers competing for the same position, so their relationship was naturally extremely strained.
However, Ivan had no intention of getting entangled with this guy at all.
For one, he came to the office to move all his spell books, experimental equipment, casting materials, etc., to the basement. The most pressing matter was to seize the time to research the Raising Corpse Records.
For another, this Corpse Eye John, like himself, had achieved nothing since joining the job. He probably also received Dean Roosevelt's ultimatum, just like him...
At this critical juncture, a guy still busy with internal struggles at the bottom level is either stupid or exceptionally stupid.
Ivan politely exchanged pleasantries with Diana and inquired about some information.
"Has the Necromancy School acquired any good quality corpses recently?"
Diana the Medium blinked, her gaze shifting between Ivan and Corpse Eye John.
"You've come at just the right time. There's a young girl who died of a heart condition. Her parents sold her body to the academy, and it should be stored in the warehouse now."
"That's a spell material with an intact body, very suitable for experiments. If you had come a few days later, I'm afraid that guy John would have beaten you to it."
Lecturers of the Necromancy School can apply to the academy for a certain amount of resources such as corpses and spell materials every month.
And Ivan just happened to have one quota for a corpse that hadn't been used yet.
Now the materials needed for the Raising Corpse Records are available.
Just as Ivan finished packing his things and was preparing to push the cart out of the office, Corpse Eye John blocked his path.
This colleague with red eyes stared at Ivan, his expression stiff, his tone overbearing.
"Ivan, that corpse... I've been eyeing it for a long time. According to the rules, I was here first. As compensation, I can offer you ten gold pounds to buy it..."
Corpse Eye John was a little anxious.
He also had his eye on that fresh corpse of the young girl who died of a sudden heart attack.
It's just that his corpse exchange quota for this month was already used up, and he had originally planned to apply to the academy again in a few days.
He was also being forced by Dean Roosevelt to sign that extremely harsh "indentured servitude contract," which was causing him a lot of trouble.
A high-quality experimental material might become a breakthrough for his research, allowing him to legitimately overcome the difficulties.
Therefore, he had to swallow his pride and humbly negotiate with Ivan.
Ivan heard Corpse Eye John's words and just shook his head.
"Mr. John, I also need this corpse for my experiment. What's more, how can something ownerless have a 'first come, first served' rule?"
Ivan didn't want to get entangled with Corpse Eye John, but that didn't mean Ivan would back down in the face of his own interests.
Corpse Eye John's face instantly turned dark and ugly. He stared intently at Ivan.
Just as Ivan thought he was about to explode, he saw this Necromancer sneer twice, then sit back down in his seat without saying a word.
He was indeed a strange person.
As Ivan's footsteps gradually faded away, Corpse Eye John finally couldn't control his anger. He slammed his fist onto the desk and cursed in a low voice.
"A... piece of trash from the streets! What does he know about Wizard research?"
"The academy is really blind to recruit such low-class people who crawled out of the Poor neighborhood. Giving a corpse to such trash is also a waste..."
Diana the Medium, who was nearby, heard these curses, frowned, and hesitated to speak.
Actually, she also didn't think Ivan could achieve any decent results in Wizard research. "Reclusive Ivan" was actually a good person, but coming from the streets, he couldn't even understand some of the more obscure spell books...
However, today, Diana had an ineffable feeling. As a Necromancer specializing in the field of "Spirit Communication," Diana's intuition had always been sharp.
Mr. Ivan, it seems... is a little different.
