This Lich is a Better Landlord Chapter 96

The carriage bumped along the road. Isabel sat inside, watching the castle draw closer, her emotions a tangled mess.

After the Paladin's visit, all the humans in the castle had been dismissed, forcing Isabel to return to her original home.

The lord who had once oppressed her was dead, and the territory had been swallowed up by the Porcupine Knight. So, upon receiving Ambrose's order, the Porcupine Knight quickly located Isabel and her brother, then sent them back to the castle by carriage.

Sitting beside Isabel, Raul seemed a bit too excited. He kept rubbing the skeletal controller in his hand. Even though the Aberrant Skeleton connected to it had been destroyed, Raul couldn't bear to throw away the useless device.

It was proof that he had once been someone of status, his first taste of the benefits power could bring.

So, returning to that castle, returning to serve that master... Raul was incredibly eager, practically desperate to work for Lord Lich again.

Unlike her brother, Isabel wasn't so keen on returning to this place.

True, Lord Lich seemed more benevolent than other lords, but for a human following an undead, surely the ultimate result would be getting turned into a zombie or a skeleton?

Even if the transformation happened after dying of old age, it was still a sentence of eternal servitude.

Could such an outcome really be considered a good thing?

Isabel had worked so hard to become an alchemist because, deep down, she wasn't content with the status quo. She didn't want to be like other girls her age—marrying some random man, ruining her body with heavy labor, popping out a few kids, and then closing her eyes forever after just a few years.

She didn't want to be buried in a grave by thirty or forty. She wanted a different kind of life.

Fortunately, Raul supported her, giving Isabel some spare time to learn to read and "steal" knowledge from wherever she could. She finally became an alchemy apprentice, thinking she could change her life through hard work, only to find that after several years, her teacher hadn't taught her a thing.

Alchemy was supreme knowledge; hard work alone was far from enough to pay the tuition.

originally, being an apprentice for life wouldn't have been so bad. The money was better than farming, and it wasn't as exhausting. Maybe she could have lived past fifty.

Who could have predicted the cascade of accidents? Tax hikes, persecution, fleeing, and then becoming a servant to a Lich.

Memories of everything she experienced in the castle kept surfacing in Isabel's mind. Was she going to spend the rest of her life in there?

Isabel felt utterly lost. She was just a girl who grew up in the countryside; becoming an alchemy apprentice was already the peak of her life. Her wisdom and vision were insufficient to answer such complex questions.

But deep down, there was a lingering unwillingness to give in.

If she had a good teacher, would her life have been different?

Speaking of teachers, the image that popped into Isabel's mind wasn't the stern, bald old man, but the young ghost she had seen a few times in the castle.

That teacher had only instructed her a handful of times, yet she had learned more from him than in all the previous years combined.

"That's right. Since Lord Lich is fine, the teacher should still be safely in the castle. Maybe I can ask for his guidance next time we meet."

Thinking of that generous teacher, Isabel felt much more at ease.

After all, she was still young. There was plenty of time before she turned into an undead.

The wheels rolled on, arriving in front of the castle.

It still had that familiar, gloomy atmosphere. Even on a sunny day, the castle seemed to be shrouded in shadows.

Walking into the castle, Isabel saw the imposing Lord Lich. That skeletal frame was as terrifying as ever.

Upon seeing Isabel and Raul, Ambrose had no intention of exchanging pleasantries. He tossed a new controller directly to Raul and ordered, "The Paladin made a mess of the castle. Raul, here are some construction skeletons. You are responsible for restoring it to its original state."

Raul held the new undead controller with both hands, trembling with excitement.

As for Isabel, Ambrose took the girl directly to a new laboratory and used Mage Hand to bring over a pile of heavy documents.

"You have one night to finish reading these materials. Starting tomorrow, the assembly of the Aberrant Skeletons is up to you. This is my design for the Aberrant Skeleton production line. You are responsible for assembling this small-scale production line."

Ambrose's words left Isabel completely bewildered.

What Aberrant Skeletons? What production line? What did she only have one night for?

But Ambrose had absolutely no intention of explaining. He threw a small notebook at her and said, "This is the index."

Leaving that final sentence, Ambrose exited the laboratory, leaving Isabel alone to stare blankly into space.

No warm reunion, no concern for her hardships, and no blame for her running away. This crisp, business-like attitude was exactly the same as before.

In the eyes of this Lord Lich, she was just a tool possessing intelligence.

Isabel resignedly picked up the small notebook called the index. Opening it to read closely, she found it contained brand-new alchemical knowledge.

Moments later, Isabel was engrossed.

Creating undead should fall under the category of necromancy; one couldn't say it was unrelated to alchemy, but it was fundamentally different. Isabel had no spellcasting ability; her alchemy was still stuck at the level of mixing various materials to get a result. Therefore, it was impossible for Isabel to cast *Animate Dead* to turn bones into undead.

But Ambrose had modified the manufacturing method of the Aberrant Skeletons. Isabel didn't need to directly create actual undead; her job was more like preparing materials in bulk.

After processing the bones according to Ambrose's requirements, they would be sent into a furnace filled with dark magical power. These bones would then automatically transform into undead, becoming qualified puppets.

It sounded simple, but the actual operation was far from easy.

Even though Isabel was just an executor, she was stunned by the complex formulas and principles involved. This little notebook was just a simple summary; the real execution details were in that thick stack of documents.

It was hard to imagine how much effort this Lord Lich had spent to dismantle complex necromancy and remodel it into an assembly line technology that mortals could operate.

If the core dark magic furnace could be solved, then any minor lord of a territory could produce their own undead army.

Isabel admired Lord Lich's capability immensely. Setting aside race, he was a respectable, erudite scholar who would not be out of place even in a gathering of geniuses like the City of Alchemy.

She just wondered why she hadn't heard his name before.

Isabel put away her previous apprehensive mood. Now was not the time to think about the future; she had to complete Lord Lich's task first, or she might very well become one of the materials for the task herself.

On the other side, Raul was also working hard.

Ambrose had prepared several specially shaped skeletons for him, putting him in charge of repairing the damaged parts of the castle. The Paladins had wrecked the castle while digging for the phylactery, leaving many potholes and damaged areas that hadn't been filled in time. Raul's workload was quite heavy. Although these shaped skeletal laborers were obedient, they weren't as flexible as humans when working. He couldn't help but think that if Lord Lich assigned him a few dozen humans as subordinates, the work would be much easier.

But Raul didn't dare make demands of Lord Lich. Accustomed to working under lords, Raul knew his place very well: finish the tasks assigned by the lord first, and only then earn the qualification to make suggestions.

With both siblings working hard, Ambrose returned to his personal laboratory with peace of mind.

He couldn't stop thinking about that pair of magic-absorbing shortswords from the elves. He felt there was some special secret there.

The enchantment effect on the shortswords wasn't complicated. Based on Ambrose's understanding, it felt like a reference to the special abilities of a creature called the Phaerimm. This monster looked like a long cloth sack with claws, but the mouth of the sack was filled with sharp teeth, looking extremely ferocious and terrifying.

It looked like it relied on claws and teeth to attack, but in reality, the Phaerimm was a monster highly skilled in spellcasting. Even more ridiculous was that it possessed powerful magic resistance, and at the same time, the Phaerimm had mastered a unique spell that could destroy the effects of most magic.

These traits combined made this monster the bane of spellcasters. A great magical civilization had once been plagued to destruction by these monsters.

The enchantment effect on these shortswords was somewhat similar.

Upon hitting a target, it would destroy the magical effects existing on the target, while absorbing and converting the mana, injecting it into the user's body.

Simply put, this shortsword was practically a mage killer. Ambrose had almost fallen for it himself.

But as ingenious as it was, there was a major problem Ambrose couldn't figure out. Logically speaking, anyone using this weapon would have crippled themselves the first time they absorbed mana. What was up with these elves?

Did the elves grow new magical organs that could neutralize this mana? Or had they received a new divine blessing?

"Ah, I really want to dissect a few to see."

Discovering a subject of interest, Ambrose felt his bones itching. If those elves couldn't be sold for a good price, he really wanted to put them on the operating table right now and take them apart piece by piece for study.

But dissection didn't guarantee results. If he dissected them and found nothing, wouldn't that be a waste of money?

In the end, the expectation of ransom suppressed the pursuit of knowledge.

However, although he couldn't perform dissections, Ambrose wouldn't just ignore it.

The High Elves were about to invade in force. This kind of spell-breaking weapon was surely possessed by more than just Cicero. If he didn't want to die by assassination from such a weapon, Ambrose needed to research a way to counter it.

After thinking for a long time, Ambrose felt he could start from the research direction of the Quicksilver Effigy.

Ambrose stroked his chin, falling into deep thought.

Now that the City of Alchemy had turned into a chaotic war zone, he didn't need to buy those mines; he could just rob them. The mass breeding of Quicksilver Effigies should be put on the agenda.

"No, no, how can I have such thoughts? Lady Rose and I agreed on money to buy the mines; how can I use such an uncivilized method as robbing? I should get the money from Lady Rose first, then negotiate the price with those mine owners. How much I can drive the price down is up to my own ability."

Ambrose made up his mind and took out the Codex of the Undead to message Withered Rose: [Lady Rose, regarding the breeding plan for the Quicksilver Effigies, I think we can start. About the plan to purchase the mines discussed earlier, shouldn't that be put on the schedule as well?]