This necromancer is going to seduce the beautiful girls who are already dead.

"Abyss is such a bad woman." Leona, who was now back with Rebecca, watched the situation through mind sharing and sighed deeply. "She managed to swindle an old man out of his money. Ten thousand gold coins could buy quite a lot of things."

“See? When it comes to being the worst, Abyss is still the worst among us,” Rebecca teased with a laugh.

Flora was both amused and exasperated. She naturally disapproved of swindling money from people, but since the target was a lecherous and somewhat mentally disturbed necromancer, she couldn't really voice her objections.

“I feel like some of the professionals in our sorority are only at Abyss’s level,” Sophia said, marveling. “How did he learn all this? He seems like just an ordinary, handsome guy, though he is quite charming.”

“Sophia, you let Abyss hear you again. I’d better teach you how to only talk in the girls’ channel.”

"what??"

……

After deceiving Bodil, Abyss did not return to his residence. Besides Bodil, Abyss had arranged to meet several other people, and having already calculated the time, he was now in just enough time to meet one of them.

He did manage to swindle a considerable amount of money this time, but that wasn't enough. Abyss planned to swindle even more money from the Council of the Dead, from those self-proclaimed clever necromancers who might genuinely be infatuated with him or perhaps had ulterior motives.

Since Abis has further plans, the more start-up capital the better.

Chapter 308 The Abyss's Thousand Layers of Tricks

Abyss's behavior at Bodil's house was just the beginning of her day. While the girls were still thinking that a woman could only be as bad as Abyss, Abyss showed them what it truly meant to be full of evil.

Later, the Abyss met with three different necromancers, each with a different personality and a different purpose in approaching the Abyss.

One necromancer had no intention of developing a sweet love story with the Abyss; he just wanted to have sex with her. Another necromancer was genuinely interested in the Abyss's knowledge and wanted to learn some ecological research on shadow demons from her. Yet another necromancer was a complete pervert who just wanted the Abyss to see him naked.

Abyss used different methods to deal with the three men. To the first, who only wanted a quick fling, Abyss deliberately seduced him, making him believe he could succeed that day, thus intoxicating him. Then, he started playing strip poker with him—whoever lost had to remove an item of clothing. The lecherous man, hearing of this opportunity, immediately agreed. Little did he know that Abyss was actually a poker master. He would occasionally lose a round, removing a few innocuous yet suggestive pieces of clothing, before ruthlessly crushing the man who thought he was a good poker player.

Finally, Abyss's words, "You only have your underwear left, and it seems like you have nothing else to take off. How about this, if you lose, you give me some money; if I lose, I take my clothes off, how about that?" completely ignited the old lecher's fighting spirit. After a fierce battle, the lecher successfully lost all his remaining 20,000 gold coins to Abyss. Although Abyss did take off a few pieces of clothing after the old lecher was completely broke, it was all insignificant, and he gained nothing.

The old lecher wanted to take out a loan to gamble, but Abyss had no interest in continuing to play with this gambling addict. After saying goodbye to him, he went to another person's place.

The Abyss found it much easier to deal with the necromancer who had no worldly desires and only wanted the Abyss's knowledge of the Shadow Demons. He simply sold him one of his "unpublished secret research findings" and even took him to test it on a group of Shadow Demons—who had actually already been bribed.

The spell Abyss had previously used to exchange souls with his followers had been improved, and now it didn't have such a long cooldown. After understanding the necromancer's true purpose, Abyss disemboweled himself, letting Rebecca negotiate the price in his place. He then used Rebecca's body to find a group of shadow demon leaders nearby, instructing them to perform according to the "habits" described in Abyss's false theory at a specific time.

The deal was quite successful. Abyss also tricked the necromancer, who thought he had bought something good, out of the same investment as Bodil, earning him another 10,000 gold.

Finally, there's that one complete pervert.

Dealing with a complete psychopath can be difficult or easy, depending on how you look at it. Abyss first watched the guy's striptease for a while, and with the help of the diary thief Leona, figured out the guy's thought process. Then, she actually started to subtly try to sell him on the belief in the god of nature.

Yes, on the continent, the most skilled at going naked are actually the Druid mages. These mages, in order to better perceive nature, directly contact it with their skin. Take Maggie, for example; while she doesn't have a penchant for being completely naked, she usually wears only very short shorts and a short sleeveless top. At Druid gatherings, you'll rarely see a Druid wearing robes; if you do, they've likely come from elsewhere on the continent to pay homage to the Sacred Tree.

So, exhibitionists like this can actually have faith in a nature god.

The Abyss took this pervert to experience nature and told him about the many benefits of believing in the God of Nature. Surprisingly, he actually became a devout believer in the God of Nature, having completely disrespected the nine gods of Hay-Tver. He even carved an image of the God of Nature under the guidance of the Abyss and placed it in his home for worship.

In other words, the god of nature has no temper, otherwise he would definitely have summoned the Abyss to the realm of the gods and given him a good scolding.

After doing all this, Abyss tricked him into donating all his possessions—his savings—and pocketing more than ten thousand gold coins.

After completing all this, Abyss had over 50,000 gold coins, which was no small sum in the Council of the Dead. A previous high-ranking councilor had only spent a little over 1,000 gold coins to buy materials for a large-scale ritual spell.

The speed at which Abyss made money was simply astonishing. After carefully observing how this con artist made his money, the girls all said that it was a blessing for the entire continent that he had become a necromancer instead of a charlatan.

After doing all this, Abyss returned to his lodgings. By then, night had just fallen. Abyss had deceived four people in just half a day after the meeting ended, which was quite efficient.

Sheila was shocked to hear that the Abyss had managed to swindle so much money. She had initially thought the Abyss, who adhered to the necromancer's code, was a stubborn person, but it turned out he was quite adept at doing bad things. After listening to other girls recount how the Abyss and Sophia had "scammed" people in the Shadowfall these past few days, her perceptions had been completely overturned.

"I finally understand!"

These were Sheila's exact words, spoken with joy. Although everyone knew that Sheila had now gained a new understanding of the world and her own life through her own experiences, they still felt that her approach was not quite right. Flora even cautiously tested Sheila again to make sure that Sheila hadn't been corrupted by the Abyss.

"Abyss, what are you planning to do with all this money you've swindled?" Leona asked curiously. "The things sold in the Council of the Dead's exchange, can't they also be made in Nightfall City? This money doesn't mean anything to you, does it?"

"Have you forgotten what Rebecca and you guys have been doing in the Shadowfall these past few days?" Abyss asked with a smile.

"Huh? We've just been walking around the Shadowfall in circles, following a certain route?" Leona had indeed been a bit confused these past few days. She had been following Rebecca around the Shadowfall like she was strolling through a shopping mall, eating and drinking her fill and having a great time, completely oblivious to what Rebecca was doing.

“Moreover, there are things in the exchange that the City of Eternal Night doesn’t have—those people who are enslaved,” Abyss said. “I plan to use this money to buy some slaves.”

Chapter 309 The Big Client Who Buys Slaves

"You want a slave with second-tier magical abilities?"

The exchange staff looked at Abis and said with some surprise.

He wasn't surprised by the slaves Abyss had bought, but rather by the fact that this woman, who had entered as an apprentice alongside her master just a few days ago, was now a mid-level councilor. And she seemed quite wealthy.

Abyss is currently with Sophia, buying slaves at the exchange they visited before.

Hollik didn't come with them. Yesterday, after Hollik returned, Sophia comforted him, who was angry because his apprentice had outshone him, successfully turning the old man from seven orifices of rage to nine orifices of rage. So today, when Abis took Sophia out, he had no intention of accompanying the two of them.

The exchange had been damaged in the previous chaos, but the Council of the Dead was indeed efficient. When they arrived today, everything was in perfect condition. The damaged walls and facilities were all repaired as if they had never been damaged.

“Yes, I want a few slaves who can perform second-tier magic. I have a very important experiment that requires magical subjects to participate,” Abyss said calmly. “Money is not a problem. How many can you provide me right now?”

“Uh… I’ve never seen anyone buy slaves on such a large scale as you.” The staff member sighed, but selling slaves was good for him because he could get a commission from it, so he thought for a moment and asked, “How many do you want?”

“Twenty,” Abis said. “At least twenty.”

"Twenty is a bit too many. The exchange can't provide that many. Right now, the exchange only has three such slaves. I can sell them all to you, though."

"What about the rest? If I don't have enough manpower, the experiment might not go very smoothly." Abyss shook his head helplessly. "Can't you get some more?"

"Then you'll just have to wait a bit," the staff member said. "It's not that the council can't provide a sufficient number of slaves, but the quantity is quite large, and we'll need to allocate some from facilities specifically for specially trained slaves. If you can pay in advance, I can apply to transfer twenty slaves with second-tier magical abilities over for you."

“Oh, no need to trouble you, I can go by myself,” Abyss said, pretending not to know anything.

“Sigh, you’ve just been promoted to mid-level councilor, you don’t understand. This isn’t something I can handle entirely. I don’t even know where the facility holding the special slaves is. I can only tell the person in charge of transporting slaves next time and ask him to send more next time.” The staff member waved his hand. “You want to go yourself? Forget about it. A mid-level councilor isn’t qualified for that kind of place. Besides, to avoid the slaves getting to know each other, the slaves that are delivered each time are transferred from different facilities.”

"Not enough permissions? Never mind then." Abyss shrugged indifferently.

Sophia, on the other hand, put on a very surprised expression: "So, you just need to say one sentence to the person in charge of delivering slaves, and he will transfer all the slaves in the Shadowfall to you?"

"Hehe, of course. Although I don't have much power, I can still do this." The staff member became smug after Abyss said that. "After all, my master is a high-ranking senator, very powerful. My words carry weight. That's right, these slaves are sent from various ranches throughout the Shadowlands. It is said that there are fourteen such high-ranking slave ranches across the continent. I only need to say a word, and the slaves from these fourteen ranches will have to be sent over."

"Impressive, impressive," Sophia complimented from the side.

"Hehe, it's just so-so." The staff member became even more smug.

“Then I’ll pay first. How much do you want?” Abyss said.

"The standard price for a second-tier mage slave is 800 gold. The price may vary depending on the specific characteristics. However, if you are making a reservation, we will charge the standard price." The staff member thought for a moment and said, "Do you have any requirements regarding the gender or other characteristics of the slave? If so, please let us know now."

“No, Tier 2 is fine.” Abyss shook his head. “It’s 16,000 gold in total, right? I can pay in full.”

"It may be impolite, but I still want to ask, you've just become a mid-level councilor, how do you have so much money?" the staff member suddenly asked.

Abis rolled his eyes: "Everyone invests in me, and I'll do the experiments."

“Yes, yes, we’re doing a big experiment right now. If it succeeds, I, who participated in the experiment, can also become a mid-level councilor,” Sophia said from the side.

"Oh, everyone's chipping in, no wonder." The staff member, who had been somewhat skeptical, understood immediately upon hearing this.

While most of the necromancers in the Council of the Dead are rather selfish, there are instances of cooperation. Although the staff had never heard of such a thing—raising funds to have someone experiment on her—it wasn't entirely incomprehensible.

"So, those slaves will be delivered to your residence around four o'clock tomorrow afternoon, is that alright?" the staff member said. "We are quite efficient."

"No need to send it to my residence, I don't conduct experiments there." Abis took out a piece of paper with a location marked on it. "Send it here."

"Okay, then you wait here and go to the window over there to pay." The staff member nodded and agreed immediately.

……

The day passed quickly, especially after Abyss and Sophia returned to their lodgings and saw old Hollick jumping around in jealousy, having a wonderful time.

The next day, Abyss and Sophia pretended to bring a bunch of equipment and potions that looked like they were for an experiment, and left their residence for the agreed-upon place.

Because it was a big deal, the people in charge of transporting the slaves arrived on time, around 4 a.m. at the location marked on the map by Abyss.

These slaves were transported in a cage that could be carried along in flight, and the entire journey was conducted using magic invisibility to prevent unauthorized necromancers from discovering the slaves' origin. The transport crew only brought the large cage with them when preparing for landing.

The man transporting the slaves also wore masks, making him appear very mysterious. He landed, saw Abyss and Sophia, and compared them with the characteristics described by the staff who had contacted him earlier. He nodded, walked up, pointed to the twenty young slaves, both men and women, in the cages behind him, and said, "Your slaves have arrived."

"Thank you for your hard work. Please leave them here; our experiment is about to begin," Sophia said solicitously.

Meanwhile, Abyss contacted Rebecca through mind sharing: "Alright, Rebecca, give me your data, I'm about to begin."

Chapter 310 Rebecca's Work

While Abyss and Sophia received the slaves, Rebecca led the other girls to complete their last task.

Rebecca took a few steps forward, each step the same distance, and then threw something she was holding on the ground.

What she threw to the ground was a swarm of ants huddled together. Upon contact with the ground, they quickly scattered from their spherical shape and disappeared in no time.

“Very good, mission accomplished.” Rebecca smiled with satisfaction and said to Leona beside her, “Now you know what we’ve been doing these past few days, right?”

"So that's why you've been throwing Agnes's ants on the ground!" Leona, who was following Rebecca, looked surprised. "I thought you were just measuring the geology of the Shadowfall!"

Rebecca reached out and patted Leona's head. Then, she took a piece of paper from her pocket, held it in front of her eyes, and transmitted the drawing on the paper to the Abyss through mind sharing.

“Alright, I was busy setting up the last area, so I didn’t respond to you right away,” Rebecca said to Abyss. “But it shouldn’t affect you. Here’s the map I drew. You can find the origin of those slaves by following the markings on it.”

“Thank you for your hard work, Rebecca, Agnes, you two did a fantastic job. Oh, and of course, everyone else too, thank you for your hard work these past few days. Without you, I'm afraid I would have had to spend a lot more time slowly searching for the locations of the Council of the Dead’s facilities,” Abyss said with a smile.

The map Rebecca sent to the Abyss was a map of the Shadowlands, but this map was no ordinary one. Rebecca had divided the map into a dense grid of lines, each grid bearing a unique number. On this not-so-large landmass, these grids divided all the regions into rather small areas, each roughly one or two square kilometers.

The ants that Rebecca placed were positioned according to the grid. These ants, raised by Agnes, would automatically crawl within a certain range, releasing a unique pheromone from their bodies.

Each time Rebecca releases ants, they possess a different pheromone, spreading to every corner of a specific area and exhibiting considerable penetrating power. Because it's not magic, nor is any potion used, it goes unnoticed by anyone.

In this way, the entire Shadowfall was scientifically divided into different areas.

Abyss and Rebecca had already discussed how to obtain the locations of the Council of the Dead's various facilities. They would first divide the Shadowfall into areas, then use these special ants to mark these areas. Once Abyss could identify these marks, he could determine which area a person on this continent came from.

This is what Rebecca and her team were doing while the Abyss was in action. They weren't just sightseeing; they were doing something crucial.

Rebecca has now marked the land, and the ants Agnes has bred have swarmed every corner of the continent. While the black mud found throughout the Shadowfall does have a corrosive effect, and the ants will eventually die, that's enough. The Abyss has no intention of waging a protracted war against the Council of the Dead.

……

The people who transported the slaves had left, leaving behind only the large cage and the twenty magical slaves inside.