The Holy Power Vortex cannot be restored for the time being. Unas doesn't want his heart to become a powder keg. He feels that his body has undergone subtle changes, which must be caused by the traces of Fel. The most important task now is to cleanse his entire body with Holy Light.
At the same time, we have to increase the energy feeding on the Shadowfiend, but we can't let it grow too strong, lest we drive away the tiger and raise the wolf. The balance of energy in the body must be properly maintained.
After Meditation, Unas opened his eyes and looked down at the square Phylactery in his hand. He never expected that the Purple-robed Person would hide it in the Giant Fir's brain. He must be regretting it now.
Unas still had many questions about what had happened in the Brain Pool, so he took out the piece of tree core from his pouch and asked softly, "Chuyun Fir, are you still there?"
"I'm here." Giant Fir's voice became very weak.
"Um, I'm sorry, I... I killed you."
Unas had promised to help the Giant Fir regain its body, but ended up splitting its brain in two, causing the Giant Fir to collapse. Although it was an emergency, he still felt somewhat guilty.
"It's alright. I was planning to abandon my twisted body and start over anyway, I just didn't have the time."
"Restart?"
"Yes, my body has been completely altered from the inside out by the purple-robed Lich, beyond repair. My original plan was to extract the essence of the tree after reclaiming it and create a true seed for you to take and plant elsewhere. This was my only way to be reborn."
It's truly admirable that the Giant Fir was willing to abandon its body, which had grown for thousands of years. "What a pity. So, what are your plans now? I'll do my best to help you."
"I want to go back and see. Although the tree has collapsed, perhaps I can still condense a little bit of its essence to form an incomplete seed. Can you take me back?"
"I'm afraid that won't work for now. We know nothing about the situation there. The Purple-robed Person might have abandoned it, or they might have left an ambush. We need to have our scouts find out first. But I can promise you that once we've confirmed it's safe, I'll definitely take you there to try."
"Thanks."
"It's nothing. By the way, there's something I wanted to ask you," Unas asked, getting to the heart of his mind. "How did you get 'swallowed' by the tree brain while in the Brain Pool?"
He actually had doubts about what the Dreadlord said. He wasn't entirely convinced that the black box in his hand was the Phylactery the demon had mentioned, and he needed to investigate further.
"I don't know," the Giant Fir core had only been swallowed for less than a minute and hadn't quite grasped the situation. "I thought it was the tree brain's instinctive need for my return..."
"And what about this black box? It fell out of the tree's brain along with you, which is the tree core. Do you know what it is?"
"I don't know. All I know is that it must have been a device left behind by the Purple-robed Person. Could it be Arcane Artifacts he used to control the tree brain?"
"Very likely," Unas continued, "There's another question. I killed the Purple-robed Person's clone, but I could still hear his threatening voice coming from the tree brain. Do you know what happened?"
"I think the Purple-robed Person's clone wasn't completely killed. Perhaps his soul returned to this black box. I can sense consciousness flowing within the box."
Unas had witnessed the Giant Fir's sensory abilities and could fully trust them. He became increasingly certain of his guess and whispered to the black box, "Purple-robed Person, or rather, your clone, don't eavesdrop. I know you're in there."
"Human possessed by demons, don't be so smug. Daring to oppose us, you're not far from hell." The Lich's chilling voice indeed rang out from the box. He had clearly overheard Unas and Bessarius's conversation and knew that Unas was possessed by demons.
The giant robe exclaimed excitedly, "Evil Lich! You really are here!"
"We," Unas noticed the Lich's choice of words, "You have accomplices?"
The clone seemed uninterested in answering, Unas asked a few more questions, but the clone didn't respond at all.
"Playing the profound? Just wait, you'll reveal everything about yourself to me."
After greeting the giant robe, Unas put away the tree core and the black box, intending to find Natasha. When it came to probing other people's secrets and memories, the Shadow Priest was an expert.
Bessarius suddenly spoke up, "I know who he is, Gunsel Arcanus."
Unas remembered the name. Back then, in order to control the captured Undead Mage Garon, he had once broken into the Undead Mage's mental world, but was almost defeated by a Lich's methods, and the Undead Mage was turned into an idiot.
According to the Dreadlord, the Lich was Garon's superior, named Gunsel, and was once a member of the Scourge.
Are you sure?
"Just a guess."
Bessarius had long suspected that the Purple-robed Person was the Lich Gunsel, but he had never revealed it, as he wanted to find an opportunity to secretly seek the Lich's cooperation.
Both sides had fought against the Scourge before. Although they were not in the same faction and had no real relationship, they had met a few times and could easily form a secret alliance to deal with Unas.
Now that the human Paladin was about to find the answer himself, Bessarius hurriedly revealed it to gain his trust.
Unas was completely unaware of the demon's subtle actions, and instinctively distrustful, asked, "Is the black box Phylactery or not? Why does the Lich's avatar seem so unrestrained?"
"I'm certain it's Phylactery, but as I've said before, a Phylactery can only be used as an important bargaining chip; it's not a fatal threat to a powerful Lich."
"So how much do you know about Gunsel? You two used to be colleagues."
"A powerful Lich has disappeared, and I know nothing about him except that. I've never even spoken to him."
"Snort."
Unas snorted, deciding not to ask any more questions. After all, one should always take a word for it with a grain of salt. He thought for a moment and, just to be on the safe side, called Huoye along. Blood Elves were knowledgeable and experienced; they could spot any trouble in advance and also protect Natasha.
Soon, Natasha and Huoye, having received their orders, met with the Warden in the Tent. Unas told them the best of the situation and then awaited their judgment.
Huoye picked up the black box and examined it for a long time, even using magic to probe it. Finally, he said, "I've heard that the best material for making Phylactery is the skull of some kind of deep-sea behemoth. This box should be made from that skull. Combined with the results of the magic probe, I think it is indeed Lich's Phylactery."
After examining it, Natasha said, "I've seen several Lich Phylactery before, and this one feels very similar. I agree with Mage Huoye's assessment."
Unas nodded, relieved. "The consciousness of the Purple-robed Person's avatar is also inside. I need to know all his secrets."
"Leave it to me, I have experience dealing with Phylactery." Natasha stepped forward without hesitation.
Unas said, "Miss Namelia has recently begun studying the Way of Shadow, and shadow magic is misunderstood by the world as evil magic. Huoye, you must keep this a secret."
Although Huoye was a core subordinate, the fewer people who knew Natasha's true identity, the better, so Unas did not intend to tell the Blood Elves the truth.
"I'll keep it a secret." Huoye nodded, looking at the mysterious female Priest with a hint of curiosity.
Natasha admired the Warden's ability to spout nonsense without batting an eye, and thought that Unas would definitely become a great good guy or a great villain.
She quickly transformed into a "little black man" form, then extended her spiritual tentacles into the Phylactery, searching for the soul of her clone.
To Unas and Huoye, two shadowy tentacles emerged from the Priest's body and burrowed into the black box, stirring inside as if she were catching fish.
The wait felt incredibly long. Unas on high alert, and Huoye was ready to provide support at any moment. Exploring the secrets of a Lich, no one knew what dangers might arise.
More than an hour later, a flash of black light appeared, the tentacles retracted, and Natasha rubbed her Temples, her brows furrowed in exhaustion.
Unas quickly grabbed a blanket for her to sit down and asked, "Are you alright?"
"It's alright," Natasha forced a smile. "My head is about to explode from all that chaotic information. Give me some time to sort it out."
"It's good that nothing went wrong," Unas breathed a sigh of relief. "No rush, you should rest for a bit."
Memory is a complex thing, especially for a powerful Lich. The knowledge he possessed was a heavy burden for Natasha. She couldn't understand those complicated spells and Magic Circles, as well as those meaningless trivialities of life and messy dream memories, but useful information was mixed in among them.
Natasha had to find the real thread, discarding incomprehensible and useless information as garbage, otherwise her head would have been blown apart long ago during her previous career as a secret agent, because interrogating stubborn criminals was one of the main tasks of the Shadow Priest.
After Unas and Huoye took a nap in their seats, Natasha finally managed to figure out the Purple-robed Person's origins clearly.
Gunsel Arcanus was originally an Archmage in Dalaran, with exceptional talent and a promising future, but he was unfortunately infected with the Undead Plague and transformed into Undead.
Because he was a powerful mage in life, after becoming Undead, he was transformed by the Scourge into a rare, high-level unit, the Frost Lich, and followed the prince in his campaigns.
Then came the damage to the Frozen Throne, the weakening of the Lich King, and the division and infighting within the Scourge. Like a small number of Undead, he awoke from his dazed state and broke free from Ner'zhul's control.
He did not join the Forsaken led by the Dark Lady, but instead went into hiding on his own. However, his secluded life did not last long, as he could not bear the lonely and monotonous life of the Undead.
He no longer needs to eat and has lost his sense of taste and smell. Food and pig manure are no different to him. He has lost his identity as a man and even his desire to fantasize about women.
He lost everything: family, love, friendship, career. He missed his life as a human being, the coffee and bread, the wine and his lover, to the point of near madness.
Humans can be transformed into Undead, so why can't Undead be transformed into humans?
Once the idea suddenly popped into his head, he couldn't stop it; he believed that magic could create any miracle and knowledge could change destiny.
In order to gain more knowledge for his research, he sought help from his former mage friends and mentors. Many were willing to help him but refused to contact him directly. Finally, he was recommended to a mage Merlin Firestone who shared a similar fate with him.
Merlin was a legendary mage who was wounded and dying during the Troll Wars a thousand years ago. In order to continue fighting, he used his Necromancy to resurrect himself as Undead.
At that time, there were no Scourge or plagues, and the management of Necromancy was not strict, so Merlin, even as Undead, could still integrate into the mage community.
But as people gained a deeper understanding of the evil side of Necromancy, he gradually disappeared from public view, becoming a figure somewhere between reality and legend.
Gunsel, armed with the letter of recommendation, sought out the legendary hermit in the Poison Spider Forest, eagerly expressing his lofty ambitions and hoping to gain his assistance.
Merlin took in the enthusiastic Lich not only out of sympathy for fellow sufferers, but also because Gunsel was the loyal assistant he needed— Merlin never gave up his research on reincarnation.
He imparted all his knowledge of Lich magic and provided the best spellcasting materials and Arcane Artifacts. Gunsel learned quickly and soon became a qualified assistant.
But the act of "turning death into life," which defies the laws of the world, is almost the domain of gods, and the two of them still only experienced failure after failure.
In this process, Merlin saw Gunsel's potential. The Lich often offered novel suggestions that made him feel he had made a breakthrough, while Merlin's own experience and knowledge became an obstacle.
So he decided to reveal the secret to Gunsel: he had been conducting forbidden live experiments long ago.
To transform the Undead into living beings, one must solve the problem of how to turn a skeleton or decaying corpse into a living human body, which involves the transplantation, replication, cultivation, and even regeneration of body organs and skin.
The secrets of life are not so easy to grasp; they require a great deal of experimentation. In his early years, Merlin only experimented on the corpses of animals or humans, but he was unable to break through the difficulties for a long time. In recent years, he has embarked on the irreversible path of live experimentation.
He initially recruited only dying volunteers, but gradually expanded to buying slaves from the black market. Later, his appetite grew even further, and intelligent beings of all races became his targets.
Different races, such as humans, Dwarves, and Tauren, have vastly different life indicators such as lifespan, physique, and appearance. By comparing them, it is easier to discover the key factors.
Why Elves have such long lifespans? Why do Trolls have such strong regenerative abilities? What's so special about their physical structure? These questions will gradually be answered.
Gunsel was shocked upon learning the truth. The image of Merlin as a legendary hero crumbled in his mind in an instant, but he did not dare to run away or resist, for that would only lead to death. He still wanted to live.
Then, under duress, he dissected a young human man. Perhaps his heart had turned to ice after becoming Frost Lich, because neither during the dissection nor afterward did Gunsel feel disgusted or guilty. Instead, he was more immersed in the wondrous workings of the living body, verifying Professor Merlin's knowledge of the human body.
What happened next was left to chance; coercion turned into semi-coercion, and eventually he willingly joined his mentor's evil experiments, fervently throwing himself into the cruel new world, unaware that he had already betrayed his original intention—he wanted to be transformed into a human, not a devil.