The wizard era begins with the alchemist wizard

Chapter 891 Two parallel lines
The tremors in the upper layers did not have a significant impact on the lower layers—at least not on Ulises.

While the Federal Conference was in session, Ulises continued his investigation of the chamber of commerce.

After several months of investigation, he had figured out the complex structure of this chamber of commerce.

This Flourishing Chamber of Commerce is a relatively new organization that has emerged in recent years. The origins of this organization, Ulises, are still unclear, but there is no doubt that he is a high-ranking member of one of the five races.

And they are the upper echelons with extremely powerful influence.

Although the Natural Federation is a simple organization for the five clan leaders, it is a behemoth for the middle and lower levels.

Every aspect of the Natural Federation has been divided up by the middle-level members of the five races. Behind every merchant guild and every factory, there can be a corresponding world lord.

However, the number of subordinate organizations of the prosperous Chamber of Commerce is ridiculously large.

Aside from the Tide Spirit Merchant Guild, which Richard already knew about, its subordinate organizations included the five races of the Natural Federation.

This clearly indicates that a very influential figure is supporting them.

But what intrigued Ulysses was what this important figure was up to.
……

In the tavern, the tree spirit avatar controlled by Ulysses ordered a strong drink. Meanwhile, he reported his recent investigation to Richard.

“I don’t understand what this guy is trying to do.” Ulises’ tone was tinged with doubt.

"This guy's business guild covers everything from food and clothing to housing and transportation. But it just doesn't seem to be developing upwards. All the managers I've investigated over the years are only at the third level of life form."

This is really bizarre.

"It covers everything from clothing, food, shelter, and transportation?"

Richard's voice sounded somewhat puzzled; Ulises's investigation had left him completely baffled.

After a moment of silence, Richard's voice rang in Ulysses' ears again.

"Perhaps he intends to take the grassroots approach. You know, the Natural Federation is still a traditional civilization, and their world ruler doesn't pay enough attention to the grassroots."

If enough of the lower classes are infected, then corrupting a world is a matter of minutes. In comparison, corrupting the world's ruler is a much higher-risk operation.

Ulysses, hiding in the canopy of the tree spirit, nodded slightly.

"Possibly. I've noticed that most of these chambers of commerce are very basic, and they represent all five races, which means they can go to any world they want."

If they really intend to take the path of low-level pollution, then this chamber of commerce can indeed be useful.

"Hmm. Be careful lately. The Federation's second meeting has already been held, and I will be entering the mother world of the Youha Clan in a few days."

If nothing unexpected happens, these guys should also take action.

Ulises was slightly startled upon hearing this.

"You've already laid everything out on the table? No wonder there's been so much business going to the Youhai Clan lately."

"Be careful when you investigate. I suspect that some Overlords have already defected. Your disguise is still detectable to an Overlord."

Ulises revealed a confident smile: "Gah, don't worry, I haven't left a trace these past few days. Those guys don't even know I exist, so why would a ruler come looking for me?"

After that, the communication ended.

The avatar in the forest finished the glass of strong liquor, his gaze intentionally or unintentionally falling on a mechanical creature in the corner who was drinking heartily.

While strong liquor doesn't have a numbing effect on the mechanical race, it's sufficient as fuel. Some specially formulated liquors even possess lubricating properties, making them quite popular among the mechanical race.

Ulisses stared at the machine race with a sharp gaze, like a hunter searching for its prey.

"Let me see what surprises you have in store for me."

……

The timing of the Ghost Festival is not fixed.

The Ghost Festival is related to a natural phenomenon in the Ghost World called Ghost Night Walk.

The essence of this phenomenon is the accumulation of negative energy, which in turn leads to an element storm formed by the attraction of negative energy to elements.

But in the eyes of the ancient Haunted Creatures, this was the image of the great ghost that created them walking in the world. Even though they had figured out the true nature of this so-called great ghost, it did not stop them from gathering together to perform rituals.

According to the calculations of the Ghost Clan priests, the Ghost Festival was held in the second month after the Second Federal Conference.

Richard's clone and the Great World Tree were invited to go—this did not attract the attention of the Haunted Clan.

It's normal for the Overlord to participate in the Ghost Festival; it would have been abnormal if he hadn't participated in previous years.

The fact that the Great World Tree has rejoined can only mean that the internal conflicts within the Federation have eased.

"Wow, I really didn't expect that the Youha Clan would originate from a small world."

Upon entering the mother world of the Haunted race through the dimensional gate, Richard immediately determined that it was a small world based on the energy concentration and spatial resilience.

"Yes, a civilization that originated from a small civilization is a unique existence among previous civilizations," the Great World Tree replied.

"However, for the little ones below, the mother world of the Youha Clan is another medium-sized world."

In terms of conditions, that world is better than this one in almost every way, except that it cannot support the Haunted Race.

Sensing the arrival of the Great World Tree, the Netherworld Overlord quickly appeared before the two.

"Since you're here, take a look around," the Netherworld Lord said calmly. "Let me see how those things are polluting my world right under my nose."

Richard's clone simply smiled at the obviously provocative words.

"If not, then you should be even more careful. There's a saying: 'It's not the thief you should fear, but the one who's eyeing you.' You can catch a thief for a thousand days, but you can't guard against one for a thousand days."

The Lord of the Underworld remained unmoved, merely gesturing for them to proceed.

The Great World Tree looked at Richard. Although he had the ability to detect the power of civilization devourers, he had to hide this ability.

He had to stay hidden until the mole was discovered.

Richard calmly said, "Your Excellency World Tree, since the Lord of the Underworld has said we can wander around as we please, then I will wander around as I please."

……

"Damn, this place is a complete dead end."

Feeling the pervasive negative energy eroding the Dark World, Ulysses felt as if he had fallen into a cesspool.

Negative energy can also become death energy, which can erode the bodies of the living and even objects possessing positive energy. Prolonged exposure to such an environment can even turn normal organisms into living corpses.

For a world ruler like Ulysses, this energy would not cause any harm to their body.

However, due to its strong vitality, staying in such an environment for a long time will inevitably give rise to a feeling of disgust and revulsion.

If it weren't for investigating a case, Ulises would never have come to a place like this in his life.

Beneath his feet, a group of Haunted Creepers were installing an extremely complex device. They had installed thousands of such devices in recent days.

These devices are ostensibly designed to detect the movements of the Great Ghost and ensure it doesn't harm innocent people. But since Ulysses has traced them back to them, these things are clearly not as simple as they appear.

According to Ulises's speculation, this thing should be the base of some kind of array. And the range of this array covers a large part of the Netherworld.

"Richard, these are the locations of the array bases. I'm going to follow these guys and leave this world."

After saying this, Ulises watched as the Dark Horde completed setting up the array base, and then silently followed them onto the caravan's transport train.

On the other side, Richard looked at the information transmitted by Ulysses using divine magic and felt a slight chill in his heart.

Ulises could only make out the general idea of ​​this, but the ruler could tell at a glance that it was an auxiliary formation.

The function of this formation should be to gather energy and spread power; it can be considered a kind of man-made domain.

"How could their methods be so ruthless?" Richard thought to himself.

Thinking about it, he suddenly sent a mental message to the Great World Tree. Upon receiving Richard's message, a look of surprise flashed in the Great World Tree's eyes, and it immediately said, "I'll go keep an eye on that guy from the Underworld, lest he do something bad. You can wander around as you like."

Richard nodded slightly, then flew toward an important node of the formation.

In the gloomy world, there is no daytime, only eternal night.

The negative energy formed dark clouds that drifted with the wind, resembling giant, ferocious beasts circling in the sky.

On the vast plains of ashes, ordinary ghostly creatures graze the undead. These undead come from all races, most of them missing limbs, as if they had been salvaged from the battlefield.

Among these dead, the flame of their souls would occasionally be extinguished completely.

Their bones gradually crumbled under the trampling of the undead, eventually turning into fine ashes that became part of the plain.

Richard wandered across the plains, silently observing everything, and incidentally destroyed a formation node without making a sound.

After destroying the node, Richard looked into the distance and saw a huge, magnificent Gothic cathedral standing on the plain on the horizon.

It's hard to imagine that a church dedicated to God could exist on a plain where the spirits of the dead roam.

Richard flew toward the church when suddenly a voice rang in his ears.

"Halt, outsider."

Richard stopped and asked, "Wraith Overlord, what are you going to do?"

The Youhai Clan has two rulers: in addition to Youming, the clan leader, there is also Yougui, whom he personally trained.

“This church is the patriarch’s residence; it is not a place you are allowed to set foot in.”

Richard raised an eyebrow, a hint of surprise flashing across his face.

"This is actually Lord Youming's church?"

"Yes."

"But Lord Youming did not say that I cannot enter his residence."

"Outsider, do you intend to become an enemy of my people?"

The voice of the Ghost Lord suddenly turned sharp, and within that voice, a chilling killing intent was like countless sharp knives, threatening to tear Richard to pieces.

But Richard responded with a laugh.

A mocking laugh.

"Ha, who are you trying to scare?"

Richard strode toward the church, while in the distance, the aura of the underworld rapidly approached.

But by this time he had returned rather late.

Boom!
Accompanied by a heart-pounding sound like a war drum, a massive formation suddenly appeared on the ground, and at its core—

This was the Church of the Underworld that Richard was about to visit.

(End of this chapter)