Arcane Academy: The Divine Extraction Legacy

"I don't know what you plan to do with the corpse you have, but I'll make sure it won't happen."

Just like that, he vanished into the shadows, trailing the carriage across the sky.

Tonight, the auction had ended. But a different kind of hunt was just beginning.

***

The night grew deeper as Vale trailed the levitating skeletal carriage past the borders of Hymn City.

As a matter of fact, there were a lot of Immortals and vessels moving in the same direction.

Because of that, Vale's movement wasn't too noticeable.

Still, Vale cloaked himself with layers of concealment. He would then use Presence Shift, Traceless Shift, and Darkness Manipulation to veil his presence whenever it was needed.

On the other hand, the undead beasts pulling the carriage failed to sense his movement as he followed silently…

Of course, sometimes he would be using Blink Spell to shift from one air current to another, evading detection.

As the city lights faded behind him, Vale activated Dragon's True Sight, his pupils narrowing into slits like that of Dragon.

"Ohh… So it was like that." Vale mused as he saw the structure of the corrupted magic around the skeletal beasts.

With the Dragon's True Sight, he was able to easily follow the dark trail snaking through the air… It was definitely from the Corpse Alchemy.

"I wonder how far this guy would go…" Vale murmured.

Still, he didn't mind even if he had to travel for long, as he was already itching for some great extractions. He had been very kind and obedient for quite some time, as he wanted to know more about this realm and follow its rules.

However, it doesn't mean that he would just let himself get picked on…

Eventually, the carriage descended.

"Just two hours, huh…" Vale muttered as he confirmed that no other Immortals were around. There were a few settlements, but they were all ordinary people with few Arcane Arts Practitioners.

It was certainly a good hideout, but also a perfect target for Vale.

Soon, the carriage passed through a veil of enchanted fog and came to a slow stop on a desolate hill surrounded by old trees and rocks.

'An illusion array? Is it a concealing formation?' Vale mused.

From a distance, it looked like nothing more than a ruined chapel, but Vale's sight peeled away the false layers.

Soon, he confirmed that the presence of dozens of overlapping formations created an illusion of decay, hiding the true structure underneath. As expected, it was a vast underground facility…

Vale remained patient and didn't act immediately.

First, he cast Reveal and found no other auras besides Arcanthus and a few dormant corpses sealed in containers beneath the ground.

"Wow… Just perfect."

With more corpses, it means that he'd also get more extraction targets!

Good. No reinforcements.

He landed silently and crept closer, slipping past detection runes using Rune Simplification, one of his Rune Arts, to rewrite key parts of the rune momentarily.

However, there was another problem… He couldn't enter quickly since he was too big and it would alarm Arcanthus.

He wanted to extract the last rune, but he was worried that it might alarm the old Immortal.

Thankfully, he recalled one of his very special Spell…

"Let's see…" Vale muttered as his body adjusted to the entrance he created using Morph!

Finally, he passed through the tree that was the core of the outer formation and reached the main entrance. It was a stone door hidden beneath a false grave.

With a faint breath, Vale manipulated his Morphed body and merged with his own shadow and slipped inside.

Then, what greeted him was a laboratory that was befitting the old man.

There was a stench of death and chemicals in the air…

Lined across the walls were dozens of glass chambers containing partial corpses, some still twitching as if clinging to life.

Some tubes pumped a purplish-black liquid into them, showing that the experiments are still in progress.

It was a sickening sight, but Vale controlled his emotions.

And at the center, Arcanthus stood before a stone altar, carving runes into the corpse he had just won.

Indeed, the runes were quite similar to the method that the Beast Arts Practitioners were using on their bodies.

Vale narrowed his eyes as he confirmed that the corpse still had traces of divine energy.

"You won't get to use that," Vale whispered, his voice was calm but it echoed throughout the laboratory.

Arcanthus flinched. His staff lit up as the old Immortal turned…

"Who dares—"

Vale stepped out of the darkness with his Arcane Armor protecting his body…

"Just a visitor…" he declared. "The one you messed with earlier."

Recognition flickered in Arcanthus' expression—followed by annoyance. "So you came to die."

He felt that Vale was only a Shadow Immortal who had recently ascended. A Lesser Immortal.

As an Earth Immortal himself with a powerful Immortal Spell from the fusion of four Perfect Realm Immortal Spells, he wasn't worried about facing a Lesser Immortal at all.

He slammed his staff into the altar, activating the Corpse Array hidden beneath the room.

"Hahaha… You fool. Coming here is your biggest mistake. This is my territory!"

As he said this, four 'breathing cadavers' stirred in the tanks. Two of them burst free and howled as they charged at Vale.

It happened so quickly….

But Vale was ready, as he already expected this much after seeing their connection to Arcanthus through his Dragon's True Sight.

Suddenly, his Chain of Souls activated… Chains manifested in front of him and started binding the cadavers in place.

In an instant, he activated Holy Smite, releasing a burning radiance that incinerated the corrupted corpses instantly.

Arcanthus howled in rage. "You can use Holy Arts?! You're not a Shadow Immortal! Who are you?!"

He was extremely shocked.

This was the Shadow Realm after all. Any Holy Arts Practitioners wouldn't survive here!

This confused him a lot… However, he soon realized something!

"You're not from this Realm! Invaders?!"

Since the Demon Realm was already invading their Shadow Realm, it seemed that some Holy Domain had also managed to enter their land!

This information was crucial, and he had to survive to spread this news!