Your Manuscript Does Not Meet Requirements

A gloomy ancient castle, candlelight dim.

Amber Xiu opened the envelope with his skeletal fingers. The crimson wax seal was broken, making a crisp sound, and the magic seal on the envelope shattered along with it.

Unfolding the sheepskin letter inside, the blue ghost fire in Amber Xiu's eye sockets flickered a few times.

"Dear Master Amber Xiu, your submitted paper, 'Research on the Non-Humanoid Form Modification of Undead Creatures', after review by the editors of our Legendary Spell publishing house, has been deemed unsuitable for publication in the Legendary Spell monthly. We recommend submitting to a magical academic journal with lower review requirements."

A cluster of ghostly blue flames erupted from Amber Xiu's fingertips, burning the rejection letter to ashes. He then said with great reluctance, "My paper has detailed data and novel viewpoints; how could it not meet the standard! Isn't this just discrimination against liches, discrimination against necromancy?!"

Legendary Spell is the highest-tier magical monthly in the Nine Kingdoms, jointly founded by thirteen legendary mages. Spellcasters of any race or nationality can publish their magical theories there.

Since its inception, Legendary Spell has made significant contributions to the development of magic worldwide, with the foundational theories of over twenty Legendary Spells appearing in this monthly.

All spellcasters take pride in having their papers published in Legendary Spell. Even court mages in the Nine Kingdoms use the number of published papers as a criterion; fewer than three papers means not even qualifying for an interview.

Yet Amber Xiu, a renowned scholar who had successfully submitted multiple times, had been rejected three times in a row over the past two years.

Amber Xiu believed the reason was simple: he had recently reincarnated as a lich. And the new editor-in-chief of Legendary Spell was a staunch light cleric who held extreme prejudice against undead creatures.

"There are so many ways to achieve immortality; what's wrong with reincarnating as a lich?"

Amber Xiu waved his hand dismissively, sweeping the ashes on the table to the floor. A strangely shaped skeleton crawled over and quickly swept the ashes away.

This skeleton's appearance was quite bizarre. Only the upper body was in the form of normal human bones, while the lower body consisted of eight spider-like bone legs. It moved with extreme speed when crawling, but its arms seemed to be fixed at the joints, allowing only limited movement. It looked stiff, yet its sweeping actions were precise and swift.

Its low profile allowed it to climb walls and crawl under tables. It was clearly a "specialized" skeleton designed specifically for cleaning.

This was Amber Xiu's "Non-Humanoid Form Modification of Undead Creatures." A specialized alien skeleton was much more useful than a clumsy humanoid one learning to walk.

However, such modifications were not cheap. The preliminary experimental costs alone had emptied his wallet. Amber Xiu was starting to regret reincarnating as a lich.

But the Youth Potion was simply too expensive, and recently the Silver Moon High Court had banned the export of two of its main ingredients, driving the price of the Youth Potion to outrageous levels.

Even legendary mages didn't have surplus funds. Furthermore, Amber Xiu's legendary boon upon advancing to legendary status was "Mimic Soul," which allowed him to create soul-like entities with simple materials. They looked similar and functioned almost the same.

With such a talent, it would be a waste not to become a lich.

Therefore, when the Youth Potion's price soared to five hundred thousand gold coins per bottle, Amber Xiu decisively chose to reincarnate as a lich.

To hell with his elven goddess and the Silver Moon High Court! Those elves, relying on their longevity, monopolized life extension. Amber Xiu swore that once he had money, he would short the Youth Potion market and bankrupt those bean sprouts.

But now, the problem was the rejection. As a reclusive legendary mage who rarely left his home, Amber Xiu's income mostly came from the manuscript fees from Legendary Spell. After continuous rejections, he was starting to run out of money.

Although liches didn't need to eat or drink, necromancy experiments cost money, maintaining this ancient castle cost money, and even the maintenance of his phylactery was expensive!

Amber Xiu needed to find a way to make some money, otherwise, he would truly be so poor that his mage robe would have holes and he wouldn't have money to replace it.

"How can I make money?"

Amber Xiu fell into deep thought. Ordinary mages could find nobles to act as magical consultants and receive substantial salaries. But at the legendary level, one had to apply to the royal court. Ordinary nobles couldn't afford legendary mages, and legendary liches were no exception.

However, only two of the Nine Kingdoms were willing to accept liches, and they were far from Amber Xiu. As a newly reincarnated lich and a seasoned legendary mage, Amber Xiu deeply understood that the gap between legends could sometimes be greater than the gap between mortals and legends.

His mastery of necromancy was mediocre, so his application might not succeed. If he failed, the cost of the continental teleportation gate would be a huge loss. Damn Silver Moon High Court! The cost of continental teleportation gates was driven up by those bean sprout elves!

Furthermore, being far from his homeland not only meant the problem of travel expenses but also the risk of losing himself. Even a weak legend was still a legend; no one would refuse to enslave a legendary lich.

Amber Xiu had also considered selling his "Mimic Souls," but his peers said, "A human slave only costs a few copper coins, and it's a genuine soul. Why would anyone pay three times the price for your fake?"

This left Amber Xiu speechless, increasingly feeling that his "Mimic Soul" legendary boon was a useless skill.

"I need to consult some ways for liches to make money."

Amber Xiu waved his finger, and a thick magic book flew out from beside the desk. The cover was inlaid with an exquisite skull relief. This was the Necronomicon sent by the Mourning Poetry Society after Amber Xiu reincarnated as a lich. It contained much basic knowledge for liches, including the most important 'One Hundred Taboos After Reincarnating as a Lich'.

Reminders like not habitually opening the curtains immediately after waking up, not habitually using the Daylight spell as a candle, and not keeping dogs were indeed very helpful to Amber Xiu.

But Amber Xiu wasn't checking common knowledge now. He flipped to the last page, condensed magical energy at his fingertips, and wrote: "Friends, may your soul fire burn eternal. I've been a bit short on money lately. Could you please advise on how liches actually make money?"

The magical text remained condensed, shimmering on the page like light waves.

After a moment, a line of new text appeared.

[Withering Rose: Didn't you have a lot of manuscript fees? You should be saving more money after reincarnating as a lich. Undead experiments are the cheapest.]

This signature, Withering Rose, belonged to a senior lich and a core member of the Mourning Poetry Society.

The Mourning Poetry Society was very mysterious. Every newly reincarnated lich would receive a Necronomicon from the mysterious society leader. Amber Xiu still didn't know who the leader was, and at the time, he couldn't sense who had placed the Necronomicon beside his remains.

The reincarnation ritual was the most vulnerable time for a lich. If this leader had harbored any ill will towards him, Amber Xiu would have become his puppet long ago.

The Mourning Poetry Society didn't have many members. They usually communicated through this Necronomicon, and everyone used codenames to address each other.

Amber Xiu's nickname in the Mourning Poetry Society was Tiga Ultraman.

[Tiga Ultraman: "Don't mention it. The new editor of Legendary Spell has rejected me three times. This racist bastard has pushed me to the brink of bankruptcy. Ms. Rose, how do you usually make money? Please introduce some avenues."]

[Withering Rose: Oh, I heard their new editor is a light cleric. So they're already openly discriminating against the undead? How excessive of humans. In the Underdark, I usually extract some benefits from drow elves. They are the best gold mines, whether it's the spiders they raise, their collections, or their corpses.]

Amber Xiu replied helplessly, "Ms. Rose, although my kingdom is a mix of races with occasional conflicts, the Alchemist Council will not allow me to capture other races on a large scale for experimental materials."

Before Withering Rose could offer new suggestions, another member of the Mourning Poetry Society appeared on the page.

[Crown of the Headless Knight: Brother Tiga, I urgently need a bottle of Living Mercury Solution. If you can help me get one from Alchemy City, I'll pay a high price for it.]

(End of Chapter)