Prophecy of the Future

The development of events had been completely beyond Amber Xiu's expectations, so he could only drag Headless Bro back to his castle.

With his mood for drinking interrupted, Headless Bro could only shift his attention to the Paladin Allen Watson, putting it nicely: "Let's see whether the new generation of Paladins has become any stronger."

Amber Xiu only had time to remind him, "Don't kill him." Then he began to busy himself.

According to Alchemy City's usual practices, after that unlucky administrator reported the news, it would take at least five hours for the members of the Alchemist Council to receive it. Then, after they discussed who would negotiate with Amber Xiu, it would probably take another one or two hours.

Amber Xiu had seven hours left. If he wanted to gain the greatest advantage in the upcoming negotiations, he needed to make preparations during that time.

A large pile of Magic Materials was brought out by Amber Xiu. Even Harvey, the Apprentice Mage locked in the dungeon, was dragged over to serve as a laborer.

Harvey, wearing a dumbfounded expression, assisted Amber Xiu as he began setting up a huge Magic Ritual.

At first, he had no idea what Amber Xiu was doing. But as the magic circle gradually took shape, Harvey recognized several of its functions.

"Sacrifice... prophecy... mana channel... manifestation..."

The more Harvey understood, the more cold sweat trickled down his forehead.

This was a unique Magic Ritual of the School of Prophecy, and Harvey had only seen it in books. Its effect was simple and direct: offer up a sacrifice, and you could predict the future to a certain extent. The more precious the sacrifice, the more specific the future you could predict.

Harvey felt his hands and feet stiffen.

What could be more precious than a life? It was obvious that he was the sacrifice about to be offered. This lich had finally run out of patience and no longer intended to let him eat, drink, and read magic books for free in the castle.

Then, should he resist?

Harvey began to hesitate.

During the few days he had been confined to the castle, Harvey had not failed to consider escaping. He had been constantly reading these past few days in order to improve his spellcasting ability as much as possible. And to be fair, Harvey's gains had been substantial.

The School of Prophecy was an obscure school among obscure schools, but Amber Xiu's library contained quite a lot of related material. Harvey had been utterly engrossed, and compared to when he had first been captured, he felt as if he had been reborn.

Then, perhaps he could struggle a little.

Every Magic Ritual was extremely precise. Any mistake could cause the ritual to fail and trigger a violent backlash. Perhaps he could take advantage of that. If he was lucky, he might even severely injure this lich.

Harvey did not expect to kill Amber Xiu. A lich would not die before his Phylactery was destroyed. He only wanted to destroy Amber Xiu's current body and escape the castle while he was regenerating.

"Calm down. I can do this. The key nodes of this Magic Ritual are... here... and if I make a slight adjustment here..."

Taking advantage of Amber Xiu's inattention, Harvey quietly altered the structure of the magic circle.

The alteration was minuscule, not enough to destroy the entire Magic Ritual. But this was only the beginning. Harvey began making all sorts of small adjustments, leaving a pile of "flaws" in the magic circle.

If Amber Xiu failed to notice and actually used this magic circle to perform the sacrifice, he would certainly suffer a violent magical backlash. Even if it could not make his body explode, it could still cause the mana within him to run wild. That would be his chance to escape.

Everything had been properly prepared. Harvey had also steeled himself mentally, just waiting for...

"Hey, what are you doing standing where the sacrifice goes? Stand where the ritual host goes," Amber Xiu said.

Harvey: "Huh?!!!"

Amber Xiu continued, "What are you 'huh'-ing about? I'm asking you to host the ritual. You've read so much material on the School of Prophecy these past few days. Don't tell me you can't even tell what this magic circle does? That would be terribly disappointing."

Harvey asked in disbelief, "Could it be... could it be that you weren't going to use me as the sacrifice?"

Amber Xiu said mockingly, "What are you thinking? Sacrifices are naturally more effective when they're more valuable. You aren't even worth ten thousand gold coins, while this magic circle cost nearly two hundred thousand. Wouldn't using you as the sacrifice be a waste? Recognize your own value, little fellow!"

Harvey: ...

Although he no longer had to die, Harvey still felt that he had suffered a little humiliation. Not much, but it was very irritating.

No, this was not the time to think about that.

He had tampered with the magic circle so many times. If he hosted the ritual himself, wouldn't he be the one to die?

Harvey suddenly felt like he had become a clown in a circus.

Amber Xiu watched Harvey dawdle until fear made his legs go weak. Only then did he sneer and say, "All right, stop pretending. You think I didn't notice your little tricks just now? Don't worry and stand up there. You won't die."

"Huh? You knew?" Harvey asked in surprise.

"Of course. Your skills are still far too lacking. I had already readjusted everything on my end when you started tampering with it."

Harvey was even more surprised. He asked curiously, "Why would you do this? It wasn't simply to make me look like a clown, was it?"

After spending this much time with him, Harvey felt that Amber Xiu was not the kind of undead with a twisted sense of humor. Every one of his actions was so... economical. If something could be avoided, he absolutely would not waste it. This Magic Ritual was so expensive that he would never let Harvey mess around merely to toy with him.

Harvey felt he had to ask for an explanation, even if doing so might anger this strange lich.

"Of course it was to test you. You're an Apprentice Mage of the School of Prophecy, right?"

Harvey admitted frankly, "I never intended to hide it. Besides, Master Ultraman, you're also a mage who walks the path of the School of Prophecy, aren't you? Your library contains so many School of Prophecy texts, and they're all unique copies that can't be found anywhere else."

Amber Xiu shook his head and said, "No. I've already given it up."

"Why?" Harvey's face was filled with confusion.

Amber Xiu did not answer. Instead, he asked, "Let me ask you this: if you divined that you would die tomorrow, what would you do?"

"This..." Harvey hesitated before saying, "I might spend my final day recording as much of the knowledge I've learned as possible."

Amber Xiu smiled and said, "See? That's the difference. I can't calmly accept fate, so I simply gave up."

Harvey pondered this, then asked, "But I'm only a prisoner. What exactly do you want me to do?"

"Work for me, of course. Your lord has clearly refused to pay your ransom, so you have to work for me to repay your debt. I'll count today's ritual as two gold coins' wages, deducted from the cost of one day's food."

Harvey: ...

Two gold coins for that hard bread? That was even more outrageous than robbery!

Amber Xiu had no intention of considering whether the price was reasonable and continued, "All right, back to the main point. I allowed you to tamper with the magic circle earlier because I wanted to see how much you understood about it. Now, I'm very satisfied."

"Harvey, you're no longer an apprentice. You're now a formal mage of the School of Prophecy."

When Harvey heard Amber Xiu's words, he could not stop himself from becoming excited. Regardless of their opposing positions, receiving recognition from Master Ultraman was absolutely something to be proud of.

Amber Xiu ordered, "All right, get to work."

With that, Amber Xiu poured a large amount of gold coins onto the altar where the sacrifice was placed, looking utterly reluctant to part with them. At least three hundred thousand gold coins clattered down, making his ribs ache. More than half of the advance payment from Withering Rose was gone just like that.

Harvey: ...

So the gold coins were the sacrifice. It did not seem quite reasonable, but seeing the way Amber Xiu's Soul Fire trembled, perhaps there really was nothing wrong with this sacrifice.

Harvey stopped getting distracted and began seriously hosting the ritual. At the same time, he asked, "Master Ultraman, what do you want to divine?"

Amber Xiu said very seriously, "The secrets beneath Alchemy City's sewers."

(The End)