Academic gathering with Lich colleagues

Ariana made a cute onomatopoeic sound to express her surprise, and casually hugged the chubby baby to her chest.

“She’s calling my name.” Ariana excitedly boasted to Lyle as if something incredibly wonderful had happened.

"Actually, she mispronounced two words."

"She's a girl?"

"I'm not sure, maybe Rou Rou is a girl?"

"Meatball sounds awful, call her Nia. Sidonia."

Ariana gave the talent a new name, lifted her high, and laughed heartily, as if she were singing. Infected by Ariana's joy, Nia also learned to laugh.

Mr. Dragon approached Lyle with a smile.

"She's really beautiful."

Lyle looked at the giant, fleshy creature with large eyes that was waving its tentacles in the air. Although it was part of her, it was definitely not beautiful.

"Yes, she is indeed very beautiful."

“Fantastic, Plague Doctor, she’s become a living being. I’m even thinking about whether there’s a way to extract my talents. My dragon, what have I been missing?”

Mr. Dragon's monster fetish has been activated.

"We should invite her to be a member of the Cup of Luxury; she will bring us joy!"

Lyle watched as Mr. Dragon gradually went mad.

“Wait a minute, Mr. Dragon, that’s my talent. From any perspective, it can’t be considered a new member.”

"Now let's vote! Do we accept Sidonia's invitation to join the organization?"

No, she probably hasn't submitted her application to join the company yet.

"Agreed!" "Agreed!"

"Good, halfway through! Sidonia becomes the fifth member of the Cup of Extravagance!"

"Woohoo!" This is a new pronunciation that Rongrong has learned, and she cheers.

Lyle watched this dramatic scene unfold, as if it were a joke, his talent becoming the fifth member of the Cup of Extravagance.

They then held a pleasant welcome tea party for the new members.

Since Nia had no need to disguise her identity, she accepted tea and desserts without hesitation.

"Delicious!" "Delicious!" "Aww~" Cute sounds kept coming from that round body.

Her relationship with Ariana had grown much closer, and her tiny tentacles wrapped around Ariana's slender arms several times, like close friends embracing tightly.

“Plague Doctor, I would like to invite Nia to spend the night at Naslan Castle.”

A girls' pajama party is the best way to get to know each other.

Lyle nodded; Nia was a bit unruly now, and Cassandra happened to have nowhere to put her.

"Please take good care of her, Ariana."

Chapter 126 Outdoor Teaching

Almost a day had passed since Nia left his side, and Lyle had thought that without a bio-automatic humidifier in his clothes, his movements would be much easier. However, he had actually spent the entire day feeling completely out of place without his talent. There were no tentacles occasionally peeking out from his sleeves, no food mysteriously disappearing when he wasn't looking; all he felt was a sense of loss and anticipation for the coming night.

Today, almost at dusk, Lyle pressed Andrei's ring.

A tiny figure sat on the velvet chair of the luxurious cup, her two slender legs, straight as lotus roots, dangling in the air, never touching the ground. Her pink butterfly skirt resembled scattered petals, and a single ahoge (a stray hair) had somehow appeared on her neatly styled black updo, swaying with her swinging feet. She hummed a lighthearted tune, her chubby little hands gripping a silver fork, rhythmically plucking at the pastries on her plate before stuffing them into her cheeks, which were constantly chewing like a squirrel.

Her features were very beautiful. The familiar outline of her eyes and nose was similar to the little girl in the mural in Nathran's Tomb by Lyle. That was what Ariana looked like when she was a child. Her pretty face had baby fat, and it looked like you could bite into her and get some juice out.

As soon as Lyle appeared in the middle of the carved marble, the little guy dropped his fork and his two little arms and the tuft of hair on his head danced in the air.

"Gurgle!" Like a child seeing a beloved toy, she waved her hands vigorously, speaking as if in song. "Over here, over here!"

Lyle had a premonition about her identity, and his body slowed down a beat as he thought about it.

The little guy seemed to be getting impatient and braced himself against the seat with both of his little hands.

The soles of my feet touched the floor, then my knees, stomach, hands, and face.

She managed a cute, flat-ground fall, making quite a loud thud as she hit the ground.

The surrounding sounds disappeared.

She slowly raised her pretty face, propped her arms on the ground, looked at Lyle who was equally at a loss, and gave him a smile.

"Nia has forgotten how to stand up."

It's her own talent. It seems that Nia's shapeshifting ability has not only not disappeared due to the changes in her body, but has actually been enhanced.

"Come here, come here."

It patted the ground, as if it were being pampered.

Lyle slowly approached, his sapphire-like eyes meeting hers.

The palm of the hand wearing a black leather glove touched that small, flesh-pink hand.

The little girl's body rapidly deformed, like an expanding black mist. Tentacles wrapped around Lyle's body, black nodules climbed up her shoulders, slowly taking shape, and her large black eyes reopened.

Her tentacles danced in the air.

"Rua! Nia is back!"

Lyle smiled and slapped away the black tentacles that had landed on his bird-beak mask.

"Gulp, lick it."

"no!"

"Well."

"Gulu" is the name Nia gave to Lyle. It was the first sound she heard after she was born, the first sound Lyle made, and over time it became Lyle's name.

Lyle and Nia spent a short while together before leaving the Cup of Extravagance.

Tonight, we have another lesson from Mr. Dragon, and it's a rare outdoor teaching session.

Lyle pulled out the note that Mr. Dragon had left before they parted last night.

"The Bone Forest? One hundred meters east of the back garden of Andre College."

back yard.

Calling it a garden might not be entirely accurate, as the giant flowers here can reach the height of a one-story building, with thick stems comparable to the trunks of trees, and enormous leaves with serrated edges. Moreover, the plants grow so freely that there is absolutely no trace of human intervention.

Lyle didn't go inside, but instead circled the garden's perimeter. No one knew what lay deeper within. Lyle stared at the enormous felt moss before him, its red, round glands glistening with dew, like beautiful rubies. Lyle couldn't fathom what enormous insect would be attracted to such a thing. Could it be using jewels as bait to prey on people? Lyle took a small step back. The gentleman had said that eighty percent of injuries to Andrei members came from within the academy; he'd better be careful.

Just as Lyle was about to leave, Nia suddenly turned into a huge mouth and took a big bite at the red gland of the felt moss.

"Disgusting." Spitting back the red crumbs she'd barely chewed, the felt moss slowly curled up. Nia marked the felt moss as delicious, denying its value as food.

"I remember, wasn't the backyard blasted flat by Mr. Dragon's bone missiles? It's grown back so fast."

With admiration for the plants' ability to grow, Lyle walked into the dense forest, leaving behind bare felt moss swaying in the wind.

Even in the height of summer, the woods surrounding Andre College are cool and quiet, free from the chirping of insects, and the occasional breeze carries a sense of desolation and chill.

The surrounding trees were bare of leaves, their gnarled branches twisting and menacing like hideous claws. In the moonlight, these grotesque shadows fell to the ground, onto you, dragging your consciousness into terror.

But this didn't affect Lyle much. Nia was a mischievous girl; she knocked down every stick she could reach, like a lawnmower leaving a trail of broken branches.

After a period of gardening activities, Lyle's view broadened considerably, and he arrived at a new area.

The vegetation had thinned out considerably, with the few remaining plants appearing malnourished and withered. The soil texture had changed; the topsoil was completely sandy, appearing pale white under the moonlight. Stepping on it caused slight indentations, but it didn't hinder walking.

I've come to the right place. Those classmates, standing like statues on this white sand, maintain a social distance from each other as if they were enemies.

Mr. Dragon's tall mascot costume is quite easy to recognize, and the giant skeleton golem next to him is even easier to identify.

That thing was four meters tall, and the skeletal structure clearly showed traces of human bones. Bone spurs grew out of the gaps between the ribs, and its two bony arms looked like upright battering rams. Lyle imagined this war machine charging forward. Its bone spurs would first pierce you into a sieve, and the subsequent impact would squeeze your bodily fluids and organs out of the holes it had created, like squeezing water from a sponge. You would die the instant you were thrown through the air, and your wreckage would fall to the ground like a rotten orange.

Mr. Dragon climbed onto the skeleton golem and looked at the students gathered around him.

"Today, we will learn the most important lesson in spirit possession: transforming creation."

Chapter 127 Luck Summoning

"The resurrected corpses possess a certain strength, but the strength of the corpses themselves is far from sufficient. This world contains far more powers beyond our comprehension. We must continuously innovate with limited resources and improve our creations according to our needs. We must transcend the limitations of the materials themselves and create more possibilities."

"You must remember that the feasibility of modification stems from your consciousness and magic; neither can be lacking. Powerful strength combined with extraordinary imagination makes the modification of living beings possible."

"However, this also requires a certain level of knowledge to support it..."

Mr. Dragon placed his palm on the head of the skeletal golem, and the golem let out a painful roar before collapsing.

"A massive, robust structure serves as the outer shell for protection. Intricate, fragile bones are housed within for control. Flesh and blood act as the bonds and filler, forming an internal protective layer and a conduit for magical energy. Flesh and blood are more conductive than skeletal structures, making them a better vessel for the soul. I know you may have questions; a soul can indeed reside within bones, but this requires countless years and a sufficiently powerful soul. This is why there are far more undead or zombies than we are, and why they are far weaker than us..."

Mr. Dragon dismembered the skeletal golem, providing detailed annotations for each of its different parts. As the towering golem was reduced to scattered bone fragments and blood, the theoretical portion of the lesson was completed.

Lyle absorbed the knowledge and began to wonder about the practical part that followed.

Could it be that they intend to use the remains of those golems for modification? Although their bodies are indeed enormous, they still cannot meet the material needs of so many students.

"Sir, where are our materials?"

Mr. Dragon looked at the student who asked the question, but did not answer him directly.

"The Andrei family was a prominent noble family during the Roman era. After the collapse of the empire, their fertile fiefdoms were coveted by many hostile forces. The Andrei family existed for almost as long as they fought. On several particularly critical occasions, the enemy had already advanced to the territory of the Andrei family's castle..."

"And their bones will be buried here."

"Hundreds and thousands of corpses lay buried beneath the earth, and the unburied spirits spread their curses, turning this place into a desolate wasteland where no living thing could survive."

"Your practical materials are right at your feet. Although I teach you to respect the dead, this does not apply to the enemy. To maliciously alter the remains of the innocent is blasphemy... What I'm saying is right, use them freely, and I don't think you'll hold back."

"Oh, by the way, there are also some abandoned creations of later necromancers here. Perhaps you can find rare and powerful aberrant materials, which will raise your in-class assignments by several levels. Hope for good luck, gentlemen."

"To prevent disputes over the possession of materials, I'm here to demarcate your respective areas of use. Please be careful not to cross the boundaries."

The group dispersed, and Lyle was led to an area near a broken, twisted tree.