The Book of Hibernation

After returning to the mansion, Winter Thistle has been observing Aldin's men.They took March to a guest room in another area instead of the dungeon, and Winter Thistle was finally relieved.

Thinking of Aldin's statement that he would "have a good chat" at noon tomorrow, Dong Ji's mood, which had just relaxed a little, became tense again.

Although it was dangerous today, nothing major happened.The dead hunters had escaped, March was safe, the priest didn't suspect them, and Aldin didn't seem to be very angry... Winter Thistle couldn't figure out why she was so nervous.

He tossed and turned that night and didn't sleep well at all.

The next day, Winter Thistle was invited to lunch with Aldin.

While Winter Thistle was sitting there thinking about it, Aldin took the initiative to speak and recounted what happened before.Including how March trades with Winter Thistle, how to wait for a carriage, how to meet a dead hunter, and even some things that Winter Thistle doesn't know much about, such as the process of March being targeted by hunters while traveling and so on.

"You...know everything?" Dongji kept holding the water glass, not in the mood to pick up the tableware.

Aldin said: "I basically know everything. I want to communicate with you, not to interrogate you. Why are you so nervous?"

"Did March tell you?"

"Yes, Kanai talked to her in the morning," Aldin said, seeing Winter Thistle's expression became more tense, he continued to explain, "Don't worry, Kanai is much more elegant than me, he is more suitable Talk to the lady. He had breakfast with the female mage, and they seemed to have a good chat. Kanai also told me that despite the thinness of the woman, she ate a lot. I guess she suffered a lot along the way. bitter."

Winter Thistle said: "I'm sorry, Lord Arden, I accidentally caused you such trouble..."

"Is it 'accidental'? You voluntarily helped her, which is clearly intentional."

Dong Ji froze for a moment, not daring to answer.

Aldin was not in a hurry to continue. He ate the baked oysters in the spoon, chewed and took a sip of the light juice, and then continued: "You helped her out of sympathy. It's not your fault. Winter thistle, that girl Deliberately withholding some of the details."

Winter Thistle asked: "She really didn't say that there were hunters chasing her at the beginning..."

"It's not just that," Aldine said. "She told you that she brought the dead bodies of her relatives back to her hometown, so she wanted to wake up the dead bodies. Do you think she succeeded?"

Winter Thistle recalled what happened last night.When they left the cemetery, the three bodies were still in their respective tombs.

"She probably didn't succeed," said Winter Thistle, "if she used the spell 'Raise the Dead', after the spell was cast, the corpses would immediately stand up and follow the caster, as if pulled by an invisible rope. When we left yesterday, the body did not appear to have left the tomb. So, she must have failed to finish casting the spell."

Aldin shook his head lightly: "You are a refiner. Judging by the materials she uses, can you judge that she can only cast the spell 'Awakening the Dead'?"

Winter Thistle said: "I only gave her the key ingredients, and she must have some things she has prepared herself. But no matter what else, since she needs black scopolamine cream, shrike heart powder, and blood amber stored in France, she'd better The one that could be cast is 'raise the dead.' There are other possibilities, but those spells either don't use corpses, or don't work with human corpses, so it's certainly not what she wants."

Aldin asked: "Can I understand it this way-if she casts Raise the Dead, but the corpse doesn't stand up immediately, it means she failed?"

"Yes."

"After the failure, is the body unchanged and still lying in the tomb?"

"Yes."

Aldin put down the cup, and the tin cup made a crisp sound of collision with the stone table.

"But the body was gone," Ardine said.

Winter Thistle was taken aback.Aldin continued: "Just now, I just received the news. In the early morning, the people of the temple found that three tombs had collapsed abnormally, and one of the corpses was missing."

Winter Thistle's eyes widened.Of course he knew the three graves.

Aldin said that last night the pastors only discovered that Old Tal's tomb had been dug up, so they simply covered it up and planned to carry out follow-up repairs during the next day.Early in the morning, two deacons took the workers to the cemetery, and found that the traces of yesterday's burial had been disturbed again. The coffin under the loose soil was completely shattered, and the corpse inside had disappeared.

In addition, there are two other tombs in the cemetery that have been dug and covered with loose soil, but the corpses are still there.After inspection, not only the strong atmosphere of necromancy remained at the scene, but also some traces of force field spells.

The Patriarch and the knights analyzed it and thought that someone first used force field spells to dig the grave silently, then cast necromancy spells, and then used force field spells to cover the soil again.

This necromancy spell is by no means "raising the dead". The effect of "raise the dead" will not be delayed, and the corpse will not lie quietly until dawn before leaving.

Also, the tomb of Old Tal collapsed in a very unusual way: it was not excavated from the outside, nor was it drilled from the inside. It was more like something in the tomb struggled and burst open, directly destroying the covering soil, causing the coffin to collapse. Broken, the soil layer collapsed.

It is said that this accident happened after midnight and before dawn, but no one in the temple heard any movement.

"What kind of magic trace do you think this is?" Aldin asked.

Winter Ji lowered her head: "What does the temple say?"

Aldin wiped his hands and threw away the napkin: "It doesn't matter what the temple says. How do you judge?"

Winter Thistle was silent, and Aldin did not rush, but just admired the ever-changing expressions on his face.

After a while, Dongji asked, "March...is she alright?"

Hearing Winter Thistle's question, Aldin thought, this half-elf must have thought of something.

Aldean replied: "She has been getting more and more unwell since she had breakfast, and she is sleeping in the guest room now."

Winter Thistle nodded: "She was fine last night, and now... is she gradually becoming weak? I guess, she should be pale, dizzy, and cold. If a doctor checks, she should find that Her symptoms were similar to massive blood loss, but there was no trauma on her body that could cause the blood loss, and... it was not because of a female-specific reason."

"Indeed." At this moment, Kanai's voice came from the corridor.

Kanai walked into the small meeting room, pulled a chair casually and sat down, looking at Winter Thistle with complicated eyes: "The necromancer told me the spell she used just now. She only said the name and didn't explain it. Look She was too weak to speak, so I let her rest first. It seems that you also guessed the spell?"

Winter Thistle nodded: "Blood refinement..."

Kanai and Aldin looked at each other.When March said spells, her accent was different, but it was almost the same word.

"What exactly does it do?" Aldine asked.

Winter Thistle explained that he had only read about this spell in books, and in reality, this was the first time he saw someone suspected of using it.

Blood refining is very ancient, and it is a kind of "witch ritual spell" that has almost been lost. "Witch Ritual Spell" originated in ancient times, and it is said to be related to the plane of purgatory. It is not the same as the current arcane system. Compared with casting spells, it is more like a large or small sacrifice.

The effects of witchcraft spells are almost all attacks and curses, with absolutely no type that provides protection or applies elements.Because of its limited scope of application and difficulty in casting it, it gradually disappeared into the history of spellcasters.

To this day, the schools of necromancy and otherworldly schools are still inextricably linked with witchcraft, but the methods and effects of casting spells have changed a lot, and they cannot be equated with witchcraft.

There are also a small number of witchcraft spells that have been handed down to this day. They are sealed in unknown hidden towers. The Arcane Federation does not allow others to learn them, and no mage with a normal mind wants to learn them.

And blood refining is one of the witchcraft's spells that has been handed down to this day.It can create specific undead creatures from corpses.This undead creature is called a "Ventrider".

According to records, the bones, flesh, hair, and remaining clothing of the swearers will all turn into charred black, only the eyes are blood red.Vengeancers can switch between incorporeal and solid bodies as needed, and their strength is much greater than that of humans and ordinary undead creatures. Moreover, they are not afraid of sacred objects, will not be killed by swords, and are immune to most arcane attacks. They are extremely powerful Incredible.

There are a lot of prerequisites for making the Nemesis.

First of all, the corpse cannot die of disease or accident, but must die of strife, and before death, he must have been angry with his enemies.

Secondly, the caster must have a close relationship with the corpse. There are different opinions on how close it is. It is said that blood relatives are the best, and it is possible to succeed if they have known each other for many years, but in short, they cannot be strangers.If the conditions are not met, the spell fails.

When casting a spell, in addition to the necessary various consumables, the caster will also lose a lot of blood in the body.

With the chanting of the spell, the blood borrowed from the void, rushing to all parts of the body of the corpse, burning silently under its flesh.The corpse will fill up first, then turn into charred black little by little, and finally turn into an incorporeal body and disappear on the spot.

After the corpse disappears, it will reappear after a certain period of time.The length of this period varies, at least several days, or even several months, depending on the ability of the caster and the condition of the corpse.

Before the vendetta appears, the body of the caster will become weaker and weaker, and there is even a risk of death.

If the caster dies of weakness, the spell will fail; as long as the caster can survive until he meets the Enemy, the caster's body will be restored to health.

After the two parties meet, the caster can ask the swearer three questions.The questions must be related to his life experience, and his answers must be true.

After answering the questions, the Vengeance Sworn will be officially activated. At the same time, he will also lose his human language ability and become a puppet without thinking.

He will first avenge himself, and after the death of the enemy, it will return to the caster and become an absolutely loyal bodyguard and servant.

After hearing the explanation, Aldin asked: "The woman is not very old, where did she learn this stuff?"

Kanai said: "She told me. It was the North. She went to the North to learn."

"Isn't she originally an Ord?"

"It's further north. North of the Khiva."

After hearing this, Aldin curled his lips in disgust, while Winter Thistle tightened his shoulders.

To the north of the Khiva River, that place does not belong to any country or city-state on this land, but is a cold, evil, and frosty field far from all order.There are not only barbarian aboriginals living there, but also a group of cruel necromancers.

In fact, in the eyes of a refiner like Winter Thistle, the Necromancer School is the same as other schools, and there is nothing wrong with it, but the necromancers in Frostfield are different.They are far from civilization, still keep slaves, and have created many unknown twisted monsters.

When she was a child, Winter Thistle heard her mother tell about those necromancers.My mother said, don't get involved with the people and things there, but she doesn't shy away from things involving necromantics, and there are many experiments to be done... Because of her mother's erratic attitude, the young Winter Thistle was once a little bit nervous. Confused, not knowing what to do right.

After growing up, he probably understood that after all, things are not black and white.Later, as her mother and Ryan's biological mother passed away one after another, Winter Thistle gradually understood why so many people hated Necromancy.Between life and death, after all, joys and sorrows are deep in the bones, not to mention faith and soul are involved.

Therefore, Dong Ji remained a little wary of these things, but did not completely reject them, and became a meek person with no stance.

Hearing that March was related to the necromancers in the north, he was not disgusted, but scared.It's not that he's afraid of how bad March is, but he's afraid that he will be implicated... that he will also be regarded as a necromancer, and even be hunted down by dead hunters and the Temple of Silence.

When he first heard that Sanyue was a necromancer, he wasn't so worried.Because "mage using necromancy" and "northern necromancer" are two completely different identities.This is the consensus of all countries.

The former still has room for defense, as long as he hides in a country without the Temple of Silence; while the latter has no one to forgive, and will be hostile by all countries and regions.

While Winter Thistle was thinking wildly, Aldin was still talking about other things with Kanai.

Aldin glanced at Winter Thistle, and thought it was funny to see the way his hair was lowered in a daze.He called Winter Thistle several times, but there was no response from Winter Thistle, so he came over and touched Winter Thistle's shoulder.

Dongji came back to his senses, and was even taken aback.

Aldin smiled and said, "Why, I heard that she might be a necromancer from the north. Are you afraid now? Before you ran around with a woman of unknown origin all night, you were very brave."

Winter Thistle whispered "I haven't".After finishing speaking, he himself found out that there was some ambiguity: whether he was not afraid, or whether he had some kind of intention to "run around" with the female necromancer...

Kanai looked at Winter Thistle and said softly, "Winter Thistle, don't be so worried. It's fine."

Winter Thistle shook her head: "I'm still sorry..."

Kanai said: "We didn't blame you, not at all. We allowed you to freely participate in that market. It was not your fault. Because you contacted the necromancer, we were able to know in time that there was a dead hunter. Harbor City event. I have to thank you for that."

This is a bit strange.Winter Thistle wanted to ask why, but it seemed a bit silly to ask...

Kanai didn't pretend to be mysterious, he continued directly: "In this way, we can be prepared to deal with that hunter."

Winter Thistle was surprised.He originally thought that Aldin and Kanai would be hostile to March, after all, her identity was too suspicious... It turned out that what they wanted to deal with was not March, but the dead hunter?

"Then...how are you going to deal with him?" Winter Ji asked in a low voice.

Aldin and the Kanai brothers looked at each other, as if lamenting the innocence of this half-elf.

"Of course we got rid of him," Aldin said bluntly, "Harbor City is a land of free trade, and there is no room for mad believers like mad dogs running around."