Academic gathering with Lich colleagues

The name sounded very prestigious, that was the only thought in Kevin's mind. It was much more interesting than listening to girls recount their embellished life stories.

"When we finish constructing it, theoretically, the Bone Gate will open a spacetime passage between Cassandale Cemetery and Andre College, enabling long-distance, rapid travel, just like a mage's teleportation portal."

“I understand. This is why you chose to conduct your secret experiments here. The deathly aura of the cemetery helps your spellcasting.” Kevin tried his best to recall the necromancy terms from the bizarre novels he had read, partly to pretend he was an expert, and partly to verify the authenticity of the authors’ so-called personal experiences.

The operator nodded.

"You could say that. The atmosphere of the cemetery does make us feel good. It's quiet enough to reduce distractions, but the main reason is that there's a portal connecting the two places here, making those traces of time and space easier to detect and explore. Even if we fail, we won't be unable to return to the academy."

Shining took over the operation.

"And it's convenient, since this is a cemetery, so even if someone is found, they can be buried on the spot."

"Bury what?"

"Bury..."

Lyle interrupted Shiny with a violent cough, and faced with Kevin's gaze, Lyle could only answer quickly.

"Bury...bury those experimental traces. Yes, that's right. Our experiments leave behind a lot of experimental materials. If they are discovered, just bury them in the ground. This is a cemetery, and those people certainly won't disturb the peace of the dead."

The remaining three immediately echoed this sentiment.

"Hahaha, it's just as the Plague Doctor said."

"Of course we're burying experimental data! How could we possibly bury unrelated things in the cemetery? Their lives are far more precious than experimental data, hahaha."

Lyle steered the conversation toward the crafting process of the Bone Gate. Simply put, the material needed to create the Bone Gate is the skeleton of a magical beast called the "Eternal Hound." This skeleton is naturally compatible with the power of spacetime and can manipulate space, making the bones part of spacetime, thus making the generation of wormholes seem legitimate.

Kevin became interested in the bones and even conceived the idea of ​​building himself a skeleton gate, because it sounded quite simple.

"So, how do we create the Gate of Bones?"

"Mutation-induced bone grafting technology".

The feeling of "?" is like when you've just figured out the mysteries of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, and then the teacher starts teaching calculus.

Chapter 449 Kevin's Help

"What is that? Mutant bone grafting technology."

"A kind of advanced knowledge of bone spirit possession. Are you sure you want to hear it, Kevin? It'll waste some of your time."

“Waste of time? I have plenty of time. Look, I've come to the cemetery in the middle of the night. Oh, I'm not targeting you guys, because you're doing something important. I mean, I'm very free right now.”

Lyle, behind his bird-beak mask, smiled helplessly at Kevin's reply. He had always been like this, full of curiosity since his student days.

"Advanced Bone Conjuration Studies, simply put, is the study of skeletal deformities. The skeletons of the Eternal Hound, which possess the ability to traverse time and space, can also be considered a type of abnormal deformed skeleton. Deformed skeletons can be artificially created. Teleportation ability is one such mutagenic factor."

"Because the Eternal Hound is a rare magical beast, especially now, it should be on the verge of extinction. Or it may already be extinct in some corner of the world we don't know about. The source of our mutated skeletons is our Professor Dragon, who keeps a large pack of skeleton hounds."

Lyle took a palm-sized, crystalline bone fragment from the floating green light and placed it in Kevin's hand.

"Cartilage? Colloid?"

Lyle shrugged. “Don’t let anatomy bind your mind, Dr. Kevin. Although this bone is soft and flexible, all the skeletons of the Eternal Hound are made of this material. We suspect that the appearance of this gel-like bone is related to prolonged exposure to spacetime rifts. Disordered spacetime rifts require your body to have a certain degree of ‘elasticity’.”

“This piece in your hand, Kevin, is all the deformed bone we obtained from Professor Dragon.”

“All of them? But…” Kevin looked at the large circle of skeletons emitting a faint green glow behind Lyle, while the skeletons in his hand were just a drop in the ocean.

The Plague Doctor nodded slightly, his bird-beak mask bobbing up and down slightly, and Lyle spread his arms as if enjoying Kevin's astonished gaze.

"This is exactly the classroom assignment Professor Dragon gave us, about the replication and catalysis of deformed skeletons. We made this tiny bone fragment 'grow'."

"Growth? You're making it sound like a life..."

“Spiritualism, literally meaning the study of giving 'life' to inanimate objects.” Lyle took the bone fragment, leaned against the floating skeleton, and gestured for Kevin to come closer to examine it. The original skeleton and the induced skeleton had subtle differences in their surfaces. The original skeleton had a layer of fine, regular patterns resembling tree rings. The induced skeleton, on the other hand, had a layer of densely packed tiny bristles.

"Grafting ordinary bones and then inducing deformities by bringing them into contact with the original bones is the technique of induced bone grafting."

“Natural deformities possess powerful properties, but artificial skeletons are better suited to us. Their purpose is to adapt to the required conditions.”

The Gate of Bones is a green-glowing ring made up of numerous bone fragments, most of which are flat crescent-shaped. The huge curved bones that form the arch are completely contrary to biology; there is no creature in nature that can bend its spine 270 degrees.

These bones were mutated by Lyle and his group to create the Gate of Bones.

Kevin realized the difficulty of building the Bone Gate for his own home, and after a moment of regret.

"So, could we try the teleportation effect of the Bone Gate? You seem to have already formed a gate."

Lyle turned around and briefly exchanged glances with the three members of the Necromancer Figurine Company in the eerie green light of the Bone Gate.

“In fact, Kevin, we did complete the construction of the Bone Gate. But we are blocked by a new bottleneck. We have created the gate, but we are struggling with where to put it. The assignment given by Professor Dragon was to build the Bone Gate. I have already completed this task through my ability, Heretic Growth, which comes with the control of bones.”

"However, casting the Gate of Bones spell involves two parts: the construction of the gate and its placement."

"Only by sensing the spatial rift and placing the bone fragments of the Bone Gate in the corresponding positions can the corresponding teleportation gate be opened."

"However, our course has not yet reached that stage. Spiritualism has tools for sensing space, but we haven't mastered them yet, because that's knowledge for the next lesson. But to sense space without external help requires considerable talent, and unfortunately, none of us have the spatial perception talent like William."

So, it's stuck.

The research, which had been progressing smoothly, suddenly stalled, which was indeed quite frustrating, especially when it came to adaptability and manipulation. They were magicians who had switched to necromancy, but their excellent basic magic skills were not put to use. It was clear that they had been hanging out with the literary club for too long.

Realizing he might have inadvertently touched a nerve with some people, Kevin was momentarily at a loss for how to change the subject.

A silence fell over the room.

The sound of chewing came from the side. Nia used her tentacles to hang herself from a tree branch and gnawed on the biscuits she had brought back from Naslan Castle. Due to the wind direction, biscuit crumbs fell on the heads of the group.

Although the lich Andre didn't care about the dregs falling on her, Lyle still intended to warn Nia, because it was very impolite. Kevin was human, and his tolerance was one thing, but Nia couldn't continue to be naughty by taking advantage of her friend's pampering.

Then Lyle saw it.

Due to the wind direction, the cookie crumbs that should have fallen on Kevin were redirected in mid-air and sprayed onto the members of the Necromancer Figurine Club, including himself.

It's that damn luck again.

Wait, luck?

Lyle had a good idea. He snapped his fingers, and the bone fragments of the Bone Gate, which had been suspended in the air by magical power, fell to the ground, and the eerie green light disappeared. Lyle picked up a bone fragment and placed it in Kevin's palm.

"Kevin, want to play a puzzle?"

Kevin immediately understood what he meant through their years of playing together.

"Using my luck to find dimensional rifts, Lyle, good idea."

"It's just a habitual reliance on your luck, believing it won't let me down."

With Lyle's help, Kevin arranged the bone fragments one by one in the air and reassembled them into a ring according to his own ideas.

Shining and the others expressed their doubts, but Lyle didn't say much to his companions.

The next moment, a ghastly green light filled the four people's vision. The green light was slowly diluted, and in the center of the dazzling skeletal gate, a bottomless, dark wormhole had opened.

Click, click, click.

Lyle was certain that it was the sound of the three Shiny's jaws falling off.

An ordinary human being, holding bone fragments and casually arranging them, simply pieced them together, and the Gate of Bones and the Rift of Time and Space merged into one.

The spell of the Gate of Bones was successfully cast by a human.

Kevin laughed.

"I've opened the door, so how about we test the teleportation effect first..."

It burst out in a flash.

"Lord Kevin! How can we let you put yourself in such danger! Please let me scout ahead!"

Whether out of respect for Kevin's good fortune or simply wanting to be the first to experience the Bone Gate, Shining slipped through it.

Kevin had just finished speaking.

"...How about we test it with a stick or a twig first?"

Thirty minutes later, Lyle received a brilliant message.

"Boss, I'm at the Andre Lost and Found here. My skull and the ringed finger are here."

“There’s something wrong with that skeletal gate; it teleported ‘me’ to every corner of Andre.”

Chapter 450 Guests

"Is Mr. Shiny alright?" Kevin stood not far from the three of them. He saw Lyle talking to the ring on his hand and guessed that it was some kind of communication method—a magic ring.

“It’s nothing, Shiny just got lost, he’s on the other side,” Lyle shouted to reassure Kevin, trying to lessen the guilt he felt for causing others to suffer because of his talent.

Besides, what's the big deal for a lich if it's torn apart?

A layer of mist covered the Plague Doctor's shiny glasses, a mixture of his own breath and the cold wind from the cemetery. This didn't affect Lyle's perception much, but to his two remaining lich colleagues, the blurred vision seemed to reflect the Plague Doctor's tainted soul.

“The glitter is shattered. If he hadn’t secretly modified his skeleton, we should be able to find 206 pieces of ‘him’ in Andre.”

"Guys, what's your choice?"

Helping Mr. Shiny put himself back together must be a very difficult task. It's time-consuming and tedious.

What do you get after collecting all 206 fragments? Thanks? No, a chattering lich.

Kevin then received the unfortunate news from Lyle that Shining had to leave the event due to unforeseen circumstances.

Amid Lyle's exaggerated, third-rate actor-like sigh of regret, his manipulative and adaptable gaze was fixed directly on the Bone Gate.

“Record data, this is the gate to bones that can tear users to pieces.”

"Yes, maybe we can use this to make a trap or a prank prop in the future."

"A lot of data is still needed to determine the maximum output of the spacetime tear. Perhaps we should find some test subjects with higher body density."

"What about humans? We have them ready-made."

"Not good at all. The shiny creature in its disguise looks no different from a human. We should go find the demons or the stone goblins."

"That makes sense. So how do we get them in? Disguise the Bone Gate as the finish line of the Hellfire Race? Or just hide them in the cave and wait for those big, stupid idiots to come to them?"

A gloomy aura, like mistletoe, clung to the two liches. Kevin noticed their sinister demeanor and marveled at it.