This Lich is a Better Landlord Chapter 87

Too many gods is sometimes a good thing for mortals.

With many choices, one doesn't get tortured by a singular deity. You can believe in whomever you want. As long as you don't jump ship casually like a scumbag, gods generally won't mistreat their believers—except for a few particularly perverted ones.

And precisely because there are numerous gods, one doesn't have to worry that whatever a certain god says is absolute law.

There are rules among gods too. For example, even though the Lord of Dawn knows that Withered Rose is spending her entire life trying to destroy the Ryan Empire, he can't just slap Withered Rose to death and scatter her ashes.

If the Lord of Dawn really did that, Velsharoon, the God of Liches, would directly dismantle the capital of the Ryan Empire. Although Velsharoon is at the level where he gets pinned to the ground and hammered by the Lord of Dawn, bullying mortals is still very easy for him.

Among gods, the biggest taboo is shouting: "Come on! Let's hurt each other!"

Especially the gods of the Lawful and Neutral alignments; they won't act against mortals unless it's absolutely necessary. They set the rules. If they violate them first, the Chaotic Evil gods will cause trouble unscrupulously, and mortals will suffer even greater damage.

This was why Ambrose dared to negotiate conditions with his teacher.

He was bullying these law-abiding gods. If they had the guts, they could crush him, and then all the gods would enter the fray and scatter this entire Material Plane to the winds.

Of course, the premise was that Ambrose carried enough weight.

He possessed not only the usage rights to the Wish spell but, more importantly, the understanding of this Wish ritual.

It could be said that if anyone on this continent could recreate this Wish ritual, it would definitely be Ambrose.

Once the Lawful gods prepared to kill him, his soul would immediately be protected by the Chaotic Evil gods. Then Ambrose would likely become the Chosen of the Chaotic Evil gods and start mass-producing Wish Engines in the mortal world—preferably giving one to each of the Nine Great Kingdoms—just to see what kind of tricks mortals could play.

This was the leverage Ambrose held, and the reason he dared to haggle with his teacher.

Perhaps the appearance of the God of Alchemy was also because the Lawful gods knew Ambrose's importance and prepared to play the emotional card, which was why they let the God of Alchemy step forward.

Having figured this out, Ambrose began to haggle without hesitation.

"First of all, I don't need to calculate for you the value of an artifact that can use Wish an unlimited number of times. Taking this thing away, you probably also want me to keep my mouth shut and not share the technology with anyone. Therefore, I not only want the usage right of this Wish, but I also want you to help me obtain powerful Divine Power capable of pinning the Elven gods to the ground and hammering them. This condition isn't excessive, right?"

The God of Alchemy looked at Ambrose expressionlessly and said, "Do you know what you are saying? If the Elven gods hear this, even I can't protect you."

"Oh, they aren't eavesdropping. Then can you perform mass sterilization on the High Elves? I can accept that too."

The God of Alchemy even put away the teapot and said to Ambrose, "You can try making that wish with the Wish spell and see if the Elven gods beat you to death."

"Tch, you Lawful alignment types have no sincerity at all."

The God of Alchemy said in a stern tone, "Don't be too greedy. You know we are discussing this with you because we value credibility. But once you agree, it equates to offending that group of Chaotic Evil gods. We still have to bear their hatred for you. Don't act like you're so aggrieved; you haven't lost anything from start to finish, have you?"

"Isn't not earning what I was supposed to earn considered a loss? Besides, I am a Lich. To make me betray my alignment, shouldn't you give me a bit more?"

"You aren't a believer of Velsharoon! Do you think Velsharoon will definitely acknowledge you just because you're a Lich? Besides, Velsharoon is remaining neutral this time; don't think about dragging him into the water."

The reunion of master and apprentice after hundreds of years involved no catching up, only a lively argument.

Ambrose was very dissatisfied. He originally wanted to wish for ascension to godhood, preferably directly gaining the ability to arm-wrestle with the Lord of Dawn. But the God of Alchemy told him directly to stop dreaming; even giving him a hundred Wish chances wouldn't allow him to reach the heavens in a single step.

Ambrose settled for the next best thing, asking to become a god directly, even a weaker one, but the result was still a no.

It wasn't that the God of Alchemy was deliberately making things difficult. The Wish spell was just a god helping you realize a desire; there was no such thing as a god helping you become a god. The price to pay for that would be too great—it would require cutting off a portion of their own divine power to give to someone else, equivalent to a mortal cutting off their own flesh.

If you want to become a god, work hard yourself. Maybe one day you'll catch the eye of the Supreme God and ride directly on the Lord of Dawn's head.

The God of Alchemy proposed a condition: he could give Ambrose a new Legendary Boon to make up for his situation of being at the bottom of the Legendary rank.

"Can I design a Legendary Boon myself?" Ambrose asked.

The God of Alchemy refused decisively, "No. I can only give you a chance to re-ascend to Legend. What kind of power you obtain depends on yourself."

"One is not enough. I want two." Ambrose haggled again.

"This chance to re-choose isn't given by me, but as your teacher, I can give you a little more benefit."

The God of Alchemy extended his right hand. Countless grains of gold sand condensed in his palm, then smelted into a coin with a unique pattern.

"Take this coin. It can copy the Legendary Boon of any Legendary Alchemist. However, you can only select one Legendary Boon ability. Once copied, it cannot be changed."

"Unlimited usage?" Ambrose asked.

"This is power that doesn't belong to you. Therefore, every time you use this coin, you must pay a corresponding price."

"What price?" Ambrose asked.

"Gold. To wield the power of a Legendary Boon that isn't yours, you must pay the corresponding amount of gold. As for how much, that depends on your choice." The God of Alchemy placed the coin in front of Ambrose.

Ambrose knew very well that this coin was an artifact, handmade by a god, capable of unleashing miraculous power.

However, being able to only copy an Alchemist's Legendary Boon... the scope of application was a bit too narrow.

Even the Guild Master's Legendary Boon didn't seem that great. As for someone like Dippel, whose Legendary Boon was repairing electrical appliances, it was the trash among trash, even more useless than Ambrose's own Fabricated Soul.

But thinking about it carefully, adding this coin and the chance to re-ascend to Legend, Ambrose could master three Legendary Boons. No matter how useless the abilities were, adding them together should lead to a qualitative change, right?

In the end, Ambrose could still obtain the usage right of this Wish spell. However, after he made the wish, the City of Alchemy would completely vanish, sent into another dimension that mortals could not touch.

In other words, after Gareth Watts tried every means to break through the boundary between mortals and gods, he could ultimately only satisfy one wish for Ambrose before being sealed away forever.

Ambrose lamented for the poor Guild Master for a few seconds, then asked again, "Throwing away the whole city immediately after the wish? Can't stay at all?"

"Correct. There is danger in staying even a moment longer. You said it yourself; it's not just us staring at this place. Other gods are also itching to move. Time is running out. If you still refuse..." The God of Alchemy didn't say more. The benefits offered were already very sincere. If Ambrose continued to be greedy, the gods behind him wouldn't be polite with Ambrose anymore.

Even Lawful Good gods couldn't tolerate a lion opening its mouth wide again and again.

Ambrose also understood he couldn't fleece the gods' wool anymore, or he would become a lamb to the slaughter.

"Alright, let's do it like this."

Ambrose had no choice but to nod in agreement.

The God of Alchemy's body slowly dissipated. Before leaving, he said to Ambrose, "Although we will block the wrath of other gods for you, the believers of those gods will also trouble you. You must be careful; you have offended quite a few gods today."

These words made Ambrose a bit nervous, but seeking wealth amidst danger—such a harvest was worth it.

When the God of Alchemy completely disappeared, the effect of Time Stop also dissipated. Everything in the City of Alchemy returned to normal, and no one noticed anything amiss. Even the two sides fighting above didn't detect this change.

Only the Guild Master, who had already ascended to the realm of a deity, showed a confused expression in his large eye, seemingly sensing something was wrong.

Ambrose didn't tell him the cruel truth about to arrive. He only said to him, "Alright, it's been discussed. Grant my wish."

Gareth Watts didn't understand why. He only knew that the God of Alchemy had disappeared, and he thought Ambrose had really used some special method to drive this god away.

"Although I hate the God of Alchemy, he was right. You are too smart. It seems you are the one laughing last every time."

Ambrose didn't gloat. Instead, he said with deep emotion, "You have no idea what price I paid. He is my teacher, but I've had a falling out with him."

Gareth Watts didn't doubt the truth of Ambrose's words. The master and apprentice had argued fiercely in front of him earlier; it didn't look like acting at all. Perhaps Ambrose really had paid a price ordinary people couldn't understand to drive the God of Alchemy away.

"State your wish. I will use everything in the City of Alchemy to realize it for you," Gareth Watts said.

Ambrose made his wish very seriously, "I want you to create a special space, send all valuable things in the City of Alchemy into it to be properly sealed, and then give me the control rights to this space."

Since the God of Alchemy only wanted to seal Gareth Watts, the other wealth in the City of Alchemy was useless to him, right? It was perfect to pocket it directly. Ambrose hadn't missed the thought of being a bit greedier, such as asking for all the gold in the world to become his. But doing so would probably be intolerable for gods of any alignment. Their believers needed to eat too! If Ambrose took all the gold, would they all go bankrupt?

At that time, with a mixed doubles beating from good and evil, Ambrose would be dead for sure.

Only the City of Alchemy, a city destined to be sealed, was ownerless property. Ambrose settled for the next best thing and packed up the valuable items of this city to take away.

No matter how poor the City of Alchemy was now, it used to be the wealthiest city on the continent. Those precious potions, various confidential recipes, and blueprints... getting his hands on this would be worth at least tens of billions. In the situation where he couldn't wish to become a god, asking for money directly was the best choice.

Gareth Watts responded, "According to my calculations, you will obtain wealth worth six million."

Wait, how much?!

Six million?!

"How is it only six million? How much kickback did you take?!" Ambrose said in astonishment.

"The activation of the Wish spell also requires consuming a large amount of matter as energy. After calculation, only wealth worth six million remains."

Ambrose was about to change his words to ask for ten billion gold coins, but he suddenly remembered another Prophecy Fragment. In it, he was standing in front of a mountain of gold, and the amount of gold coins looked to be at least a million.

At least... a million...

Dog shit prophecy! So it had already calculated this for me here.

If six million gold coins were the upper limit he could get his hands on, then he wouldn't wish for cash.

"Proceed as planned. Seal the remaining valuable things in a special space for me. However, regarding this space, I have a few tiny little requirements."

A real Wish spell wouldn't let Ambrose haggle like this, but Gareth Watts was currently on his side. Ambrose could probe his limits bit by bit.