Chapter 1015 – Collection of the Old Lich

The Old Lich was obviously attracted to Zhao Hai's computer. Besides the computer, the Lich was also thinking about the magic formations inside. Since he was dissatisfied with the amount of formations that Zhao Hai presented, the Lich snatched the laptop away from Zhao Hai's hands and looked through the contents of the document himself.

The Old Lich watched the magic formations for some time, when he wanted to see the next magic formation, he suddenly found out that there was no more left. The Old LIch recovered as he turned his head to Zhao Hai and said, "Is this it? Where are the other magic formations? I want to see them."

Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, "Of course there's more, the magic formations inside the laptop aren't all of them. If Senior is willing to join us, then I will surely make Senior take a look at those formations."

The Old Lich gawked, then his expression changed as he looked straight into Zhao Hai's eyes and said, "If I join you, can I research other things besides magic formations?"

When he heard the Old Lich, Zhao Hai couldn't help but smile, "Of course. Please rest assured that you have full freedom. We wouldn't interfere with what you are studying."

The Old Lich paused, then he turned to look at his field and said, "What about my field? I want to use all of the plants here."

Zhao Hai was still smiling when he replied, "Senior can feel relieved. I will have a supply of all of your plants here. You can have as much of them as you want."

Old Lich looked at Zhao Hai with disbelief, "Impossible. How much could you have? I've had this land for thousands of years, and I took care of the plants every day. How can you have the same?"

Zhao Hai replied, "Senior, if you don't believe me, then you can take a look for yourself. If Senior thinks that I am being anxious, then I will take my leave."

The Old Lich looked at Zhao Hai. He felt that something was wrong, but as to what it was, he had no idea. But then he remembered that he has a method to dissolve contracts. Even if Zhao Hai was scheming, it wouldn't do well, so the Old Lich shook away his worries as he nodded and said, "Alright, then I'll go and take a look."

One has to recognize that the Lich had been solitary for so long, so his mindfulness towards other people had dulled. This made him easily believe Zhao Hai's words.

Zhao Hai gave a faint smile and said, "Senior, I have a Spatial Divergent Ability. I can use it to make a spatial rift towards my place. This way, we would be able to travel quicker. What does Senior think?"

The Old Lich gawked, his two eyes shone as he looked at Zhao Hai, "You can use spatial techniques? Fantastic. Show me."

Although Zhao Hai didn't understand the Old Lich's enthusiasm, he complied, he waved his hand and a spatial rift appeared on his side. Zhao Hai turned to the Old Lich and said, "Senior, please."

The Old LIch stared at the spatial rift and muttered, "Space Magic, it's really Space Magic. Fantastic, fantastic." Then he didn't hesitate as he floated into the Space.

Zhao Hai stared as the Old Lich unhesitatingly entered the Space. At the same time, the Space issued a prompt about subjugation. Zhao Hai let out a breath of relief before he went to the Space along with Addison.

The Old Lich was waiting for Zhao Hai inside. Upon seeing Zhao Hai the Old Lich gave his greetings, "I have seen the Young Master."

Zhao Hia nodded, then he smiled and said, "Right, what is your name?"

The Old Lich replied, "Answering to the Young Master, I'm called Gimreden."[1]

Zhao Hai nodded, "Good. So what have you been researching lately?"

Gimreden replied, "I have been studying the fire inside the souls for some time. I want to try joining a fiery soul with another thing, like swords of shields."

Zhao Hai listened to the Old Lich and couldn't help but stare. Then his heart was moved. Zhao Hai was aware that fiery souls in the Underworld were the same as the soul of a person. And Gimreden's research on joining fiery souls to weapons was akin to making an artificial Artifact Spirit. This was cutting-edge research, who knows what implications it might have upon completion. Zhao Hai inquired, "So how was the research? Did you manage to get any achievements?"

Gimreden shook his head and said, "I haven't had much progress yet, my research time was too short. Moreover, I'm short of plants. The ones planted in the field just isn't enough."

Zhao Hai looked at the Lich and said, "How long have you been researching?"

Gimreden looked embarrassed as he replied, "Young Master, it's a very short time, just about less than 1500 years!"

When Zhao Hai heard this, he couldn't help but roll his eyes. Less than 1500 years was short? Then how many years would 'long' be? How many lifetimes would this take? Even people's bones would turn to dust during that period.

Zhao Hai looked at Gimreden and said, "Did you say that there's no great progress in those 1500 years?"

Gimreden shook his head and said, "There's not much progress. In those 1500 years, I've spent most of the time collecting plants. I used that time to collect and find methods to grow them properly. Because of that, I haven't made much progress."

Zhao Hai nodded and said, "I will have Cai'er send you to Wild Dragon Island in a while. After that, you can do your research in the lab. There are also other Lich who can aid you in doing research. As for the plants, I will take care of it. In the future, you just have to worry about your research. If you need anything else, don't hesitate to tell me."

Gimreden gave a nod. Then Zhao Hai said, "Cai'er, come here. Please deliver Gimreden to Wild Dragon Island and arrange for a place for him to live in. Gimreden, do you have things you need to bring with you?"

Gimreden immediately responded, "Young Master, I have a lot of beastskin scrolls back in the Underworld. I also have some bone books compiled. Those things hold a record of my research over the years. You'll have to help me bring those things into the Space."

Zhao Hai laughed and said, "Rest assured, I will help you bring them into the Space. I'll even take those things that you don't want."

Gimreden smiled and said, "Then that would be great. But Young Master, I'm also interested in that magic armor. If there's a chance, I'd like to try combining fiery souls and magic armors. I reckon it would produce a great result."

Upon hearing Gimreded, Zhao Hai gawked, then he gave a long stare at the Lich. He didn't expect the Lich to develop such an idea. Unifying fiery souls and magic armors? What will it make? Transformers? This Lich is truly crazy!

Zhao Hai took a deep breath to calm his mood, then he nodded and said, "Alright. You can research whatever you like. You can go." At this time, Cai'er came in and took Gimreden away.

After that, Zhao Hai and Addison returned to the cave in the Underworld where Gimreden used to live. Upon entering, Zhao Hai couldn't help but gawk. The inside of the cave was greatly disproportionate compared to its entrance. The cave was divided into three regions. The first region was Gimreden's laboratory. The lab was another large cave that was hundreds of square meters in floor area. Inside the laboratory were devices used for experimentation, most of them being made out of bones. However, it can be seen that Gimreden was very serious in his work, each and every apparatus was meticulously and beautifully made.

Zhao Hai took these things into the Space. Although the Space can provide Gimreden with much better glass apparatus, Zhao Hai still collected them since he didn't know whether Gimreden has any special use for them.

After taking a look at the laboratory, Zhao Hai went to the second region. This region was basically Gimreden's study. The study didn't just have one or two rooms, but instead it had five. The first room wasn't any smaller than the laboratory, it was a hundred square meters of floor space filled with bone shelves stacked with beastkin scrolls and bone books.

A bone book was another record used in the Underworld. One would have to use a knife in order to engrave their records into the books. It was a bit like bamboo strips used by the ancient Chinese. One could see how much research Gimreden did by looking at the records present in this study. Zhao Hai could see the Gimreden's records were much more formal compared to Kampala. Instead of casually storing them, Gimreden divided the records into areas. Inside the study were regions pertaining to magic, magic formations, martial arts, bone classification, and others. The way it was compiled was very detailed.

And in each region were labels describing the general content of the books. It was basically the same system used in a library.

Zhao Hai couldn't help but praise Gimreden's methods. It seems like Gimreden was more meticulous in his research compared to Kampala.

Zhao Hai took everything from the study into the Space. After that, Zhao Hai went to the cave's third region. This region was much more extraordinary, taking up 15 caves on their own. Moreover, each cave was much bigger than the study, at around a thousand square meters in floor area. They were really big.

What was most important about this region was that it was a warehouse. Zhao Hai had to recognize Gimreden's extensive years of existence and foundation. Gimreden on his own was akin to an ancient Noble family. The contents of this warehouse was much more valuable than Yuri's collection. Also, inside this region, two of the warehouses were stocked full of giant skeletons. Not only were there human-shaped skeletons, there were also piles of beast shaped skeletons. From Zhao Hai's estimates, in these two warehouses, the quantity of skeletons would reach about 2000 sets. Naturally, Zhao Hai took all of these skeletons into the Space. In addition to the ones taken in by the Space before, Zhao Hai now had 5000 large skeletons.

And besides the huge skeletons, what made Zhao Hai happy the most was the fact that he found several small beast skeletons inside, eight of them to be exact.

Although eight small beast skeletons might not look a lot, to Zhao Hai it was already a huge harvest.

Moreover, Zhao Hai hadn't seen the appearance of these small beasts before. Zhao Hai didn't know how many more forms the small beast skeletons had, but he was very happy to take them all into the Space and plant them as seeds.

1. Transliteration says 'Jim Ryden'. But fck that. xD