When the plot-skips players into the game world

Professor Laximi sighed again.

He never imagined that one day, as a respected professor at the Spirit Summoning Tower, he would be arrested for stealing corpses...

——As a "Netherworld Walker," his professional ability was directly unusable during the promotion ceremony. Because this place was itself the Dream Realm, he couldn't gain an advantage by entering dreams.

Therefore, he could only use his basic profession, the Extraordinary Skill of a Necromancer, to fight.

As a Necromancer, what should he do?

Naturally, he would flip through some corpses...

...What else could he do? Fight with only the auxiliary abilities of the Preservation Arts and Petrification Arts?

However, this city with its quite advanced technology also had a rather complete funeral tradition.

Professor Laximi searched for a long time with his spirit-finding spell and couldn't find any wild spiritual bodies or corpses buried without a funeral.

——He probably realized that this wasn't just some fictional city.

Without any surprise, this should be the "future" of Avalon. Among human nations, only Avalon could possibly have such a density of bishops covering the land, and the language of the people on the streets also had a bit of an Avalon flavor to it.

He had no choice but to look for some fresh corpses at the hospital.

If there was one place in the city where there were sure to be fresh corpses that had not yet had a funeral, it was the hospital with the highest foot traffic.

Thus, Professor Laximi infiltrated the largest hospital in the city.

Perhaps because the city's population was so large — even larger than Leipzig's — the hospital was also full of people. After all, with the number of resident bishops in this city, the mana they recovered every day was simply not enough to heal everyone.

Professor Laximi found a large number of corpses in the morgue, immediately feeling revitalized.

Indeed, heaven never seals all paths!

He used Necromancy to extract the souls from those corpses, turning them into his spiritual body guards.

But just as Professor Laximi was working on the sixth one, he was suddenly caught.

The team that arrested him was astoundingly large——

There were at least six Arbiters of the Fourth Level alone, and from their formation, there was clearly a "Great" high-ranking official on the scene, and there was even a Cardinal in Red watching over them. Outside, there were at least twenty Legal Mages of the Fourth Level escorting him——his spellcasting abilities were completely sealed off as soon as he was sighted, and his body was covered in silver runes.

Professor Laximi didn't even resist in the slightest throughout the whole process.

His first thought was——Could this identity I'm using be that of some wanted criminal?

...All I did was steal a few ordinary people's corpses, right?

Is that violating some sacred law?

Professor Laximi could swear that among the corpses he had transformed, not a single one of them was the corpse of a Transcendent!

They were able to turn into spiritual body guards solely because he endowed them with Dusk Power.

——Even if I committed the crime of stealing corpses, isn't this scale of apprehension a bit too excessive!

He wasn't even detained at the Supervisory Bureau for interrogation.

Instead, he was directly taken to the Supervisory Court. He was transferred multiple times with heavy escort, which even made him miss several opportunities to choose.

Although he didn't know much about Avalon, Professor Laximi was still aware... The Supervisory Court was not a regular public security institution, but more like Stibnite's "chamber of secrets," belonging to a department of espionage and counter-espionage.

...How did I become a spy?

Professor Laximi was quite indignant.

But when it came time for his interrogation, he suddenly understood——

"Under the watchful eyes of the Silver-Crowned Dragon, every lie you tell will have nowhere to hide. Odvar Laximi, who instructed you to desecrate the body of the former Minister of Finance? What are you planning to do with his stolen corpse?"

The silvery Flame of Truth was already lit, and the solemn Great Guardian asked the question with a serious expression.

In that moment, Professor Laximi cracked.

"——Why is your minister an ordinary person? Why would his corpse be in the hospital?"

Are you guys crazy!

Such a high-profile person should have died in his own residence or at the Church, right?!

What use is the hospital for that sort of individual?!

"Don't answer questions with questions! Answer honestly——why did you use Necromancy to desecrate the body of the former Minister of Finance? What are you planning to do with his stolen corpse?"

"I didn't know he was there, I just wanted to prepare some necromantic defenses... and no one instructed me..."

Professor Laximi did not recognize the Flame of Truth, but he guessed the purpose of that lamp, so he honestly said, "I didn't even touch the corpses of the Transcendents, I was just planning to find a few civilian corpses... I don't even know this Finance Minister... I just couldn't find any bodies, and thought perhaps there would be some in the hospital..."

The Flame of Truth showed that everything he said was true.

In that instant, the harsh atmosphere relaxed quite a bit, and even the Great Guardian interrogating him breathed a sigh of relief, his body involuntarily leaning back and relaxing.

Clearly, stealing corpses and attempting to control the minister's body — especially the body of a Minister of Finance — are two entirely different concepts.

"You are from the Spirit Summoning Tower?"

The Great Guardian's tone softened a bit, examining Professor Laximi up and down: "A teacher from the Spirit Summoning Tower?"

...Spirit Summoning Tower?

Does Avalon also have a Spirit Summoning Tower?

Or has the Spirit Summoning Tower moved to Avalon?

"Yes, Professor."

Professor Laximi was somewhat surprised, but still emphasized: "I didn't know... that there was a minister's corpse in there. I am willing to apologize and compensate, so, can I be released first? I still have some things..."

"I'm afraid that's not possible, Professor Laximi."

The Great Guardian shook his head regretfully: "We still need to conduct a further review—judging from your accent, are you a Red Fortress man?"

...Red Fortress?

At these words, Professor Laximi paused for a moment, realizing something.

For a split second, his expression twitched. He felt the urge to laugh, but also to cry.

His features twisted like those of a clown but then gradually returned to calm.

Professor Laximi shook his head, emphasizing: "I'm a Stibnite man."

"Oh..."The Great Guardian nodded thoughtfully and gestured to the scribe beside him to jot down the words: "So you came to Avalon hoping to restore the former Star Antimony?"

"...No."

Professor Laximi fell silent for a moment: "Since Star Antimony has perished... that's it, then.

"I might be able to make a dead corpse move again, but I cannot resurrect a dead nation."

The Flame of Truth before him showed no abnormality throughout.

"I understand."

The Great Guardian nodded and then stood up: "Just to be safe, we will need to perform another test on you afterwards—we cannot allow a Blood Slave to linger within our borders long-term, please cooperate. As for the issue of the body, we will treat it as a crime of corpse theft. The penalty notice will be sent to the Spirit Summoning Tower; after Principal Lore reviews it, we'll decide whether to administer the appropriate administrative punishment to you.

"By the way, I hope you will apologize to the family afterwards."

"Of course. No problem."

Professor Laximi nodded and watched the Great Guardian leave with the Flame of Truth.

At the door, the Great Guardian turned back: "Oh, right..."

"I know that the body quota from the Spirit Summoning Tower is indeed a bit low. But please understand—there aren't many willing citizens who would donate their body after death. I understand your actions, but such acts will only make people more resistant towards Necromancers. Reputation is something one builds on their own, don't you agree?"

Having said that, the Great Guardian left through the door.

Then, one after another, everyone else left, and the last person to leave brought him a cup of warm water and placed it on the table.

Professor Laximi stared at the cup of water, silent for a long time.

Suddenly, he felt the whole world shaking—

—was it an earthquake?

No, that's not right...

He realized that it was his own Dreamland becoming thin.

His promotion ceremony was no longer stable—he was being woken from outside!

Therefore, the well-prepared Professor Laximi immediately raised his chained hands and loudly declared: "I concede, I waive my right!"

About two to three seconds later, a childish voice sounded in his ear: "Okay, I accept."

The next moment, his Dreamland finally collapsed and disintegrated.

He abruptly awoke from reality, his body tensed up.

Blood Coral was sitting by the bed, deeply stabbing a needle into the nail crevice of his little finger—an awakening method that was extremely rapid while causing minimal harm to the body.

"How is it?"

Blood Coral frowned and let go of his hand: "I hope the news from your side is not too promising—"

"Indeed, indeed..."

Professor Laximi spoke slowly, a wave of intense nausea and the urge to vomit overwhelming him.

Then came an excruciating, piercing agony!

Conceding proactively in the promotion ceremony is always better than being forcibly detached from the Dreamland. Without a special countermeasure, the latter could result in at least severe injuries, or even potential death.

However, accepting the punishment for failure was not an easy thing—

Amidst his blood-curdling screams, his skin suddenly bulged, forming one sharp, tent-like peak after another, as if invisible cones were piercing out from within!

His skin broke and oozed fresh blood, while the more delicate eyes, nostrils, and ears all started bleeding.

It was as if worms were crawling in his muscles; one could visibly see the flesh and blood in his body writhing.

At that moment, Blood Coral fed him a bottle of medicine and then forced his head back, biting his neck to administer the remedy forcibly.

Amidst the healing of the potion and the pain relief from the bite on the neck, Professor Laximi quickly calmed down.

He looked as if he had been through a serious illness, having lost at least two rounds of weight. In his eyes was visible exhaustion... but at least, he had survived.

"I've set up a Silence Barrier; it won't attract pursuers," Blood Coral soothed: "The pursuers might arrive in an hour or two, I had to wake you up—we were lucky we prepared a revival concoction. It's just a pity... such valuable resurrection medicine was wasted."

...Actually, if I could've had another two hours, maybe I would've succeeded.

That's what Professor Laximi wanted to say.

But thinking about his points, he felt it better not to boast.

—The attempt at promotion this time was very risky, because the pursuers could locate them at any moment.

But there was no choice.

Everyone was at Fourth Level; there was no way to pull ahead... not to mention the overwhelming number of the opposition. Only once one of them completed the promotion could they completely escape danger.

Luckily, Blood Coral brought along a precious revival concoction when she left, which was specifically used to treat damage to the soul caused by either awakening forcibly from a promotion ceremony or from a failed, yet not fatal, attempt.

That was from the private collection of the Red Chancellor, originally intended to be used in the sniper attack on Old Meg of Avalon, but it was unused. So it ended up here—with them on the run, of course, they took all the valuable items they had.

Although the potion could save lives during a level five to level six ceremony, it was already too late for them.

They could be caught at any time, and Professor Laximi could only attempt a forced promotion—if he didn't have enough time and had to awaken forcibly, or if he had time but was set to lose, at least the potion could preserve his life. If he succeeded, with a Fifth Power Level Transcendent among them, they could immediately turn around and counter-kill those Fourth Level Son of the Moon pursuers.

"At least it's better than being killed in your sleep, only to find out you're already dead when the promotion ceremony ends..."

Professor Laximi sighed: "Thank you, Blood Coral. You actually went through with it for me..."

"...After all, if you died, I would have to die too,"

Blood Coral replied somewhat helplessly: "The Son of the Moon can't move freely on the sea... I have to rely on you to break through their ships."

"Yes, leave it to me. You just protect our ship."

Professor Laximi nodded his head.

However, it was a pity...

"...I still wanted to see more of that future."

Professor Laximi always felt that future was of great importance.

But there was no time left...

He bit his lip and grasped Blood Coral's arm: "Listen, I might forget what happened in the dream at any moment. You get the ceremony ready, and I'll recount my memories to you, just listen..."