Academic gathering with Lich colleagues

"A pure maid's heart." Brandy smiled sweetly, her false eyelashes made of lizard scales gently closing. "We train to have the most perfect bodies so that we can provide our guests with the most comfortable service. If we can't even control the power contained within these bodies, then our efforts are meaningless. Uncontrolled power only brings harm, while we are pure maids who bring love and happiness!" At this point, Mrs. Brandy raised her arms high, clasping her hands above her head, her muscles surging with passion.

"This is it! Our pure maid's way!!!"

The oversized maid outfit once again couldn't bear the weight and exploded into pieces of cloth in front of Brandy's surging, volcanic muscles.

Brandy's clothes suddenly ripped off, and shredded pieces of fabric floated down in the air like feathers scattered by angels, and beneath the feathers...

It was a bronze-colored, muscular physique that even demons would be ashamed of! Every muscle on Brandy's body had been honed to its limit, a beauty more breathtaking than any artistic sculpture.

The powerful aesthetic born from extreme strength had a strong impact on Veraliz, who retained her animal instincts. The black cat was stunned, then let out a shriek and covered her eyes with her front paws.

Vera Liz's scream jolted Brandy out of his self-absorbed reverie. Feeling his body free again, Brandy bowed deeply in embarrassment. "Ahaha, sorry, I neglected my guest. I've never been able to shake this bad habit of self-indulgence; I'll definitely control this impulse in the future."

"Is there anything else?" The petite cat sat in the pillow, facing the tall Brandy.

Brandy thought she had misheard. "What?"

Veraliz quietly lowered her claws, her pupils contracted to their maximum size, and smoke was rising from her head.

"Are there any muscles left? Give me more, I like to see them."

Shock, emotion, and a complex mix of feelings welled up in Brandy's chest, just like his throbbing pectoral muscles!

“My esteemed guest! Lady Veraliz!! How could a mere maid refuse your request!!!”

"Woleland! Sandra! Grizabottos!"

Three burly men dressed as maids stood around the black cat, Veraliz.

"Yes, Head Maid!!!"

"Let's show our passion to Lady Veraliz!!!"

"Yes!!" Her clothes ripped apart, fragments scattered, and Veraliz was surrounded by pectoral muscles.

"Ah!!!" A scream, a mixture of shyness and surprise, squeezed out from between the muscles.

Right outside the Pure Maid Experience Shop, the gentleman stood at the corner of the store, picked up the ring in his hand, and emphasized his arrangements one last time.

"Please, Mr. Chef, make sure it arrives on time."

The gentleman ended the call, took a few steps, and pushed open the door of the Pure Maid Shop.

Then you see four nearly naked, muscular men posing in various ways to show off their muscles next to the black cat.

What happened here?

"Avan Ritter! Mr. Brandy... No! Mrs. Brandy and her friends are amazing!!! Is this the perfect male creature? Wild flesh and a tender heart!!! Wow!!! I don't know what's wrong with me, I feel like I'm on fire, I feel like I'm going to faint! Come help me up, Avan Ritter!!!"

The gentleman held the mud-like Veraliz in his arms, a funny expression appearing on his fleshy disguise.

“That’s lust, Veraliz. You’ve entered maturity.”

"Avenrett, let me see your muscles! Do you have a body as strong as theirs that can burst through clothes? Let me touch your muscles!"

The gentleman pinched Vera Liz on the back of the neck and explained with a smile.

“I am a lich now, my dear Veraliz. The only thing on my body that could possibly pierce my clothes is a herniated disc, maybe. Although flesh disguise can indeed instantly create water-injected muscles, that's probably not the healthy physique you want.” The gentleman stroked his chin. “So Veraliz likes muscles… But muscles are rare things for liches and death witches, and I'm afraid she hasn't had much contact with them.”

Let's satisfy her today.

The gentleman stepped onto the table using a chair, his combined height barely exceeding that of the robust, plain maid. He held Vera Liz in his hands, and with his other hand inside his clothes, he began to scatter coins.

"Hey! Maids!!! My friends, Vera Liz is very interested in your bodies! This place is all mine today!! Let your mistress, Miss Vera, take a good look at you!! Maids! Let's party!!"

The gentleman's rousing voice, accompanied by the clinking of gold coins, echoed throughout the maid shop.

Joyful roars and the sound of tearing fabric echoed throughout the space.

"Muscle Liberation!!!"

In an instant, a jungle of muscles rose from the ground, and throughout the revelry, Vera Liz's laughter never ceased.

Andre Academy, Holy Light Culinary Club.

The head chef accepted the gentleman's request, turned around, and looked at the tall figure sitting in the center with admiration.

"Lord Raymond." Today, the god of the Culinary Club has actually descended upon us, a rare occurrence.

"Are you in a hurry? To cook."

"No rush, Lord Raymond. It's just a simple request from a gentleman of the Literary Society."

The familiar words "literary society" and "gentlemen" piqued the interest of the Holy Light Disaster.

"Gentleman, what request did that gentleman make to you?"

"A birthday cake request."

"Birthday cake? Whose birthday cake?"

The cook tried hard to recall the request; the gentleman's requirements were somewhat vague, but he still reported them to Raymond word for word.

"The gentleman commissioned me to make a most exquisite holy light cake that is harmless to shadows before sunset today, saying it would be a surprise."

A birthday cake prepared for the Shadow Power user, a gentlemanly and approachable person.

Raymond had a sudden inspiration, clapped his hands, and a familiar figure appeared in his mind.

"It's George!"

Mr. Darkness, an ethereal being, a powerful shadow, a gentlemanly boss—all the conditions are met.

"Is today George's birthday? I don't remember it being today." Raymond interpreted the discrepancy in his memory as his neglect of his brother. The darkness and his post-death self had been at odds for many years, and the long-term hostility and fighting must have caused his impression of the former Angel of Fire to become somewhat distorted.

Raymond felt a little ashamed and knew he needed to do something.

Attending George's surprise birthday party was Raymond's first thought, but it was quickly rejected. Given George's hostility towards him, attending would almost certainly lead to a fight, but if Raymond couldn't be there, how could he express his blessings? Speaking of which, where had George gone? He'd searched the entire Andrea since leaving the Church of Holy Light but couldn't find a trace of him.

"Lord Raymond, is there a problem with this birthday cake?"

Raymond stared at the cooking and nodded.

"You don't need to make it, I'll make this birthday cake."

"Yes."

Raymond came to the kitchen table, intending to use this birthday cake, filled with blessings, to awaken the darkness and the brotherhood he once shared, and to cleanse his fallen self.

"Let that bastard remember the joy of being an angel."

“Add a little Holy Light… add a tiny bit more Holy Light… add a tiny bit more Holy Light… add a tiny bit more…” Raymond saw the cook standing to the side, “Don’t worry, this Holy Light won’t harm the Shadow.”

"Lord Raymond, I just want to learn your skills. As for whether anyone dies or not, I don't care. At worst, we can celebrate birthdays and death anniversaries together."

"..."

The streets of the city center of Wandering City have seen many new facilities and buildings thanks to the high-profile return of the Dorgit royal family and the smooth progress of post-disaster reconstruction.

The gentleman held the black cat in one arm and touched his head with the other, his expression a little strange.

"It's alright," Veraliz whispered reassuringly.

The gentleman sighed helplessly, "Easy for you to say. It's not you whose skull gets crushed by pectoral muscles."

The cat chuckled, "Shadow Beasts can actually be damaged by physical attacks? What an idiot, Evan Ritter."

"Let bygones be bygones." The gentleman looked around, searching for his target. "Trouble. The surrounding buildings have changed a lot since the reconstruction. It's a bit of a hassle to find my way again."

What's the next event?

"The Beast Druid's circus performances, since the Wandering City lost its ability to move randomly after being hit, have seen many touring circuses bring the Wandering City back into their performance venues. Turning shapeshifting into an art form should be a bit of fun for us."

The gentleman finally found his way again, in the third branch of the black wreckage.

It was a new building created after the City of Wanderings suffered the turmoil caused by the evil god. It was a byproduct of the Ominous Giant's use of his flesh-creating abilities to save the city, and at the scholar's suggestion, it became a new landmark. Walking beneath its twisted, forked branches instilled a sense of disorientation and fear in all living beings. Under the management of the arcane masters, it became a three-dimensional, terrifying labyrinth. Its original purpose was to enhance the citizens' resistance to the evil god's corruption.

“Evil gods truly exist in our lives, and after that disaster, we cherish each other’s existence even more.”

"Emotion and strength sustain us, preventing us from losing our way in this madness."

The gentleman had found his target, and as he smiled and prepared to continue chatting with Vera Liz about the dazzling performances, the black cat tugged at his sleeve.

Veraliz's gaze was drawn to another building.

The Royal Library of Dorgit, a repository of the wisdom and power of a family of magicians, is open to all.

“Evan Ritter, the circus…you’ll be there tomorrow too, right…” The gentleman had made careful preparations for this birthday date, but in Veraliz’s heart, knowledge was far more interesting than a circus performance, though she felt a little apologetic to her friend.

The gentleman changed course, even letting out a sigh of relief. "Of course, the circus performance can be scheduled for the next event. Veraliz, your proactive participation has certainly made things easier for me, and coincidentally, the scholar's bookshelf happens to have some things I'd like to read."

The Royal Library of Dorgit houses the knowledge of a magician family. However, in reality, over eighty percent of it comprises the scholar's research papers. Half of it is knowledge from his lifetime, and the other half is from after his death. The remainder consists of other books collected by the City of Wanderings.

The gentleman and Veraliz arrived at the restricted book section simultaneously, the location where restricted and forbidden books were stored. Restricted and forbidden books, as the name suggests, are books that would be forbidden under certain conditions.

Restricted and banned books are permitted for free reading within the library, but copying or taking them out is strictly prohibited. This is because the content is considered potentially dangerous. Furthermore, when borrowing a book from the librarian, they will explain why it is classified as restricted or banned.

Veraliz and the gentleman arrived at the library almost simultaneously. Veraliz's cat tail was wrapped around a large wad of yellowed pages from a journal, and her expression suggested she was in a good mood. The book in the gentleman's hand, however, was far more sinister and terrifying just from its cover. It featured a shattered, still-moving skull, and the frenzied graffiti and distorted hieroglyphics made it look like a cult classic.

"Can you believe it! Evan Ritter! I actually found them!" Veraliz untied the notebook, revealing some clear manuscripts. The smell of ink had been washed away by time into a faint musty smell, but Veraliz couldn't put down the dizzying symbols on it.

What does this say?

"There is some knowledge that can help me become more powerful. The administrator told me that the knowledge here is enough to be taboo, but what's funny is that because it is so profound, many people can't understand it, so the danger level has actually decreased. It took me a long time to learn and understand even a little bit of it. Mr. Tianqi's public teaching has helped me a lot, and these notes were recommended to me by him, but I didn't expect them to actually exist."

"Mr. Apocalypse?" The gentleman seemed to have heard something that gave him a headache. "What have you been researching lately, Veraliz?"

"Magical Quantum Mechanics. The precursor and foundation of advanced magical research, a doctrine established by Mr. Irian Dorgit. Mr. Apocalypse told me that this was an introductory text."

In the eyes of a gentleman, the petite figure of Vera Liz suddenly seemed much larger, even somewhat beyond his reach.

"Is this related to increasing strength?"

"Of course it's related. The activity of microscopic particles affects every bit of magic and the use of shadows, and they can help us become stronger."

The gentleman quickly shook his head at Vera Liz's invitation.

“I’m not interested in those things; I’m more interested in poetry and music scores now.”

The two shadow beasts have different interests.

"So, Veraliz, do you want to become a new professor of advanced magical research, or a quantum-entangled cat like in Mr. Delusion's novels?"

“I am a Shadow Beast, your kin, Mr. Avenrett. If you may, please use your brilliant imagination elsewhere.” The cat flicked its tail, its gaze shifting to the thick book in the gentleman’s hands. “And what is that in your hands? It looks like it was also taken from the restricted book section.”

"Andrei's Fairy Tales, children's books, are restricted and banned because... well... because widespread dissemination would harm society. However, the entire text is written in Emor, so only liches can understand it. But it would be dangerous for liches not to read this book. Therefore, it is restricted and banned."

"The author is Spohr J., also known as Mr. Journalist."