Necromancer, summoning 055? What the heck?

Chapter 223 The Land of Exile Divided into Three Kingdoms: The Vast Sea Lord Returns with a Full Load
Inside the hall, the luminescent stones emitted a cold white light, illuminating every subtle line and emotional fluctuation on every face with exquisite detail.

Chen Mo frowned slightly, a hint of regret on his face, seemingly feeling helpless about how things had developed to this point. He firmly pressed down on Liu Shuang beside him with his left hand, shook his head slightly, and whispered something in her ear, managing to calm the girl who was already clenching her fists and ready to turn into a raging little beast at any moment.

Despite having prepared as much as possible, I never expected the other party to be so stupid.

Slander to my face!

I might have to plead for them later, lest they actually get killed...

The Baroque city lord, seated at the head of the table, nodded.

"I understand. Since the exiles are so certain, and our General Hansen has also stated that he has not released anyone out of favoritism, then it seems there is only one possibility."

"I, Baroque, am an accomplice of this Lord Chen Mo!"

"Or, it should be called 'accomplice'!"

With a loud crash, the [Bone Crusher] mage, who had just been changing color, fell to the ground along with his chair.

Baroque, too lazy to watch the guy's clumsy performance any longer, quickly issued a series of orders.

"Notice: Starting today, we will no longer accept any professionals from the Exiles to come to Molten City for quests. All quests already in progress will be terminated."

"General Hansen, please issue a notice to Rustbone Town in your capacity as the garrison of Molten City, cutting off all communication channels between the inside and outside, allowing entry into the Exile but not exit, and ceasing all trade with the Exile."

"Furthermore, I request that the General and I jointly report this matter to the Silver Duke's Mansion, explaining the situation and requesting the Duchy to thoroughly investigate our crimes. If any are found, we will accept the punishment. However, if it is proven that we were framed..."

"A bunch of skeletons may be unruly, but in Silver, there are national laws and royal agreements!"

"Handle it however you see fit!"

Having said all that, despite the attempts of the [Bone Shatterer] group to explain, beg for mercy, and admit their mistakes, the city lord was no longer willing to listen. The group was directly expelled from the city and, under the watchful eyes of special personnel, chased all the way back.

The news instantly triggered a major earthquake throughout the Exile, causing the faction to split almost immediately.

Although [Shattered Bones] still insists on his own version of events, the other mages didn't speak up in the past because it didn't involve their own interests. Now, the Land of Exile has reached a critical juncture of life and death. How can they tolerate the culprit continuing to hold power and drag everyone into the abyss?

The high-ranking mages debated openly, colluded privately, clashed with each other, and even confronted each other head-on. After a fierce internal struggle, the factions split into three major groups and decided to find their own way out.

The first faction is the stubborn conservatives represented by [Bonebreaker]. They hold most of the political and economic legacy left by the "gravekeepers" and have nominal heirs, so they will never be willing to let the matter end.

Despite his crushing defeat in Molten City, [Bonebreaker] quickly regained his composure upon returning to the Land of Exile and embarked on a series of self-rescue actions.

Although he could no longer leave, he could still send messages.

Through the connection with Rustbone Town at the valley entrance, [Broken Bones] sent out dozens of heartfelt handwritten letters to the outside world, bearing the seal of the new "gravekeeper" of the exiled land.

They told Chen Mo that a misunderstanding had occurred during the investigation, and that Exile expressed its sincere apologies and was willing to provide the highest level of compensation.

As for Molten City, they executed all the criminals who had previously "slandered" Lord Chen Mo, just like they had offered up the head of [Red Eye] before, and offered up another batch of heads to beg for the city lord's forgiveness.

As expected of the spiritual successor to the former "gravekeeper," even the way he kills the scapegoat is exactly the same.

In addition, [Bonebreaker] mobilized relationships at all levels, seeking help from other nobles in the Silver Duchy, and even went to great lengths to deliver a tearful and heart-wrenching plea to the Silver Grand Duke.

All their demands are to overcome the current difficulties and hold onto the hard-won power they hold.

Faced with this situation, Chen Mo personally stepped forward to persuade Baroque, saying, "The Land of Exile has a long history. If its livelihood is cut off like this, it will probably cause countless troubles for the Silver Duchy."

“A slight punishment will suffice. After all… after all, they are from my lineage of necromancers, and I don’t want to see them take the path of opposing the duchy.”

Baroque hesitated several times before finally letting out a helpless sigh.

"Sigh... Brother, you're just too soft-hearted! Never mind, I know you're doing this for my own good, afraid I'll make too many enemies!"

"Okay then, tell me what you want, and I'll arrange for someone to talk to you!"

With the arrival of the Molten City Lord's negotiators, the Cooperative Faction, or what could be called the "Surrender Faction," which was the second largest faction, erupted in jubilation.

The leader of the "surrender faction" is undoubtedly [Rotten Bag].

This guy has secretly sent Chen Mo several letters already. If it weren't for his continuous supply of information and intelligence, Lord Chen's plan might not have been able to be executed so smoothly.

As a person who clearly distinguishes between rewards and punishments, Chen Mo directly entrusted the negotiator to send a generous gift to [Rotten Bag], and personally invited the [Rotten Bag] mage and his friends to go north and become "guest advisors of the Necromancers" in the Vast Sea Territory.

Incited by the [Rotten Sac], a group of high-ranking necromancers from the "Witch's Ring" will set off for that beautiful new world in the distance, accompanied by their families, vassals, and lower-ranking mages under their command.

Finally, there is the neutral faction, or rather, the centrist faction, led by [Night Whisper].

These monks usually focus more on the growth of their personal strength or the research of certain academic paths. They have limited interest in vying for power and profit, and have always opposed fabricating stories and creating trouble out of thin air without solid evidence.

At the same time, they also remembered the contributions of the former "gravekeepers" and the difficult development of the land of exile, and were using their influence to try to find a peaceful solution.

While the diehards and the surrenderers had already determined their direction, the centrists were still wavering in confusion. In the end, the entire centrist faction shattered into many smaller factions. Some remained in the valley, some decided to head north, and others were unwilling to stay in this dark and sunless valley, nor did they want to go to the legendary northern lands of "wind and frost, thunder and smoke."

Chen Mo promptly offered new suggestions.

The last of the centrist mages transferred their claims to the "Eternal Sleep Shed," a portion of the "employment rights" of undead creatures, certain academic achievements, and a large control array to Lord Chen Mo in one go for a relatively generous price.

Chen Mo obtained legal status in the Silver Kingdom for them from the Lord of Baroque City. From then on, they could leave the land of exile and live a carefree and leisurely life in the peaceful and warm south, far from the strife.

Of course, [Rotten Bag] scoffed at these people's choices.

"Too...too naive!"

"If you can't control power, you must depend on power; otherwise, what's the use of having a lot of wealth?"

"Look at the fate of dwarfs in history, what vivid examples they are! Without power, they are just wolf cubs waiting to be slaughtered; with power, they are man-eating beasts!" [Rotten Sac] reluctantly carried the last green plant in his magic tower's attached manor onto the skeletal carriage and delivered a powerful speech to his colleagues.

"They say the north is dangerous!"

"My God, what are they thinking? Isn't it dangerous if they can't make any money?"

Isn't it dangerous to leave the protection of those in power?

"They themselves are doing the most dangerous things, yet they say the places we're going are dangerous—it's utterly absurd!"

After seeing off the long convoy of transport vehicles, [Rotten Sac], as an insider currently "trusted" by Lord Chen Mo, needs to stay for a while longer.

He was to cooperate with the representative entrusted by Lord Chen Mo to handle matters and discuss a series of issues, including economic compensation for the land of exile, division of property, ownership of personnel, and technology transfer.

He's extremely good at this kind of thing.

For example, in the allocation of the "dark energy gathering array" in the valley, [Rotten Sac] chose a unique approach.

"The three gathering formations should be allocated according to the number of high-level mages. In any case, our 'Northern Expedition' faction should have one! We must dismantle this formation and take it with us!"

"The 'centrists' should own half of it. We've already paid to buy the ownership of this half of the magic array from them, and we're going to dismantle and take this half with us!"

"What? You're saying you can't use the other half? Then the half I took is unusable too! We spent a lot of money on this, and we haven't said a word about losing out so much. What are you complaining about?"

Facing the ashen face of [Bone Shatterer], [Rotten Sac] mocked without any politeness: "If it weren't for your stupidity, how could we have ended up in this situation? We mages are about to leave our homes and head north to seek a living, isn't it all thanks to you?"

"What are you pretending to be a good person for!"

"Alright then, considering we've been colleagues for so many years, I'll give you one last preferential condition: I'll reduce the compensation demanded by the Lord of Molten City by a portion, and transfer your half of the magic array to me!"

【Shattered Bones】, holding the little “gravekeeper” by the hand, his arms trembling, let out a cry of grief and indignation mixed with a hint of helplessness: “You! You took away two magic arrays. What will happen to all the undead creatures in the Exile Lands without the nourishment of dark energy?”

"Can't afford to raise it? Then give it to me!"

【Rotten Sac】 looked at the other party with an expression of utter disbelief: "You leave behind a magic circle that can nourish undead creatures, and I'll take all the rest of the burden with me, isn't that enough?"

"I'm helping you lighten your burden, and you can save energy to nourish higher-level undead. Isn't that a win-win situation?"

"..."

When Chen Mo received the final results of the negotiations, the young lord's face lit up with a long-lost smile.

After spending so much time and going through several twists and turns, we finally received feedback that was much better than the comprehensive cooperation we had previously anticipated.

They fully implemented Lord Chen Mo's intentions: they wanted mages, technology, undead, and craftsmen. In short, they didn't care about money, and could even give it to him in return, but they wanted as much of everything else as they could.

The negotiations were fraught with tension. [Fu Nang] revealed his true colors as a cunning businessman, sometimes shouting hysterically, sometimes smiling gently, sometimes glaring menacingly, and sometimes threatening subtly without making a sound.

Beside [Rotten Sac] are not only Doyle, the old fox who has been a mercenary leader for most of his life, but also Wood, who was commissioned by the Vast Sea Territory to pave the way for the Silver Duchy a long time ago.

Yes, that's the patrolman from the Vast Sea whose original name was Stone. He changed his name to Wood because of the Helan Council's guiding principle of "avoiding those who are suspected of being suspicious." Last year, he came south to the Silver Duchy and established an office. Although he didn't achieve any diplomatic results this year because he was insignificant and lacked background, he did a very thorough job of collecting intelligence and gathering information.

With the assistance of the professional team at HanHai, [FuNang] has made the most of his strengths.

The final negotiation results are as follows.

In terms of talent, Han Hai leads about two-fifths of the high-level mages, and 60% of the low-level mages, mage apprentices, repair craftsmen, and other family members.

Regarding undead creatures, the Vast Ocean Territory received 20% of high-level undead creatures, 80% of low-level undead creatures, as well as all crippled undead, abandoned undead, and damaged undead.

In terms of technology: Over two hundred research findings, experimental data, and spell models of various sizes related to necromancy are openly shared in the Exile.

Facilities include: two complete large-scale dark energy gathering arrays, multiple medium and small-sized undead creature auxiliary nourishment arrays, and a large amount of undead spellcasting materials, special tools, magical props, experimental instruments, etc.

All of these will become part of the "Return Cemetery" that Hanhailing plans to build.

Listen to this grand and profound name, which is infinitely superior to the desolation and decline of the place of exile!
【Rotten Sac】 also reported to the lord with great shame: "Your Excellency, great lord, because high-level undead creatures have always been the core of the 'Gravekeeper's' control, most of them have already established contracts with the high-level mages in the valley, so, it is very regrettable that I only obtained this little bit!"

Chen Mo's straightforward response:
"What I hope for is to give necromancers and undead creatures a new home. Low-level and high-level are the same. There is no distinction between them in my eyes."

"You did a fantastic job! When we arrive at Hanhai, I will award you a medal and recognition!"

Of course, reaching a basic framework agreement is only the first step; a lot of checking, verification, handover, and transfer work still needs to be done.

However, Chen Mo didn't have time to linger here any longer; he had to leave!

At the final banquet with the Lord of Baroque City, the two parties agreed on the frequency and method of future transactions for "Spring Rain". Chen Mo brought out a bunch of strange industrial prototypes, and the Lord of Baroque City also patted his chest and promised to collect all kinds of novel technologies and magical items for Han Hai.

The two sides parted with reluctance.

"What a pity I can't leave the city, otherwise I really wanted to visit your vast ocean!"

Chen Mo raised his hand to indicate: "There will be an opportunity!"

"I'll personally be your guide then!"

The lord and his personal bodyguard, or rather, the Valkyrie and her secret weapon, returned to the port of fusion, boarded the "Dawn," and after a long whistle, the sails billowed, the oars spun, and they embarked on their northward journey.

As the ship sailed further and further away, the magnificent outline of the distant Silver Kingdom's port gradually disappeared beneath the sea. The turbulent southern journey was coming to an end, while a new chapter for the Vast Ocean Territory was just beginning.

The afterglow of the setting sun bathed the sea, casting a golden-red glow on the hull of the "Qiming".

(End of this chapter)