Chapter 29: A Familiar Corpse

  Around dawn, Lucien mastered five unofficial spells: "Stellar Eyes", "Frost Ray", "Light Seal", "Mage's Hand" and "Acid Splash". As for the "Uncontrolled Ring" he learned yesterday and tried to cast without incantation, Lucien stabilized the casting time at around three seconds.

  In comparison to the witch's own records, Lucien found that his ability to analyze magic, learn magic, and master magic was surprisingly fast. Excluding the "Ring of Uncontrol" which the witch didn't understand and forcibly mastered, her specialty elemental magic "Acid Splash", "Frost Ray", usually took three to four days, twenty hours, and several hundred times of magical experimentation and spell practice to analyze and master. However, Lucien was able to master "Acid Splash" in five attempts, "Frost Ray" in seven attempts, "Stellar Eye" in ten attempts, and only "Shadow Bind" took thirty attempts due to insufficient prior analysis and understanding.

  In Lucien's view, this mainly lies in the fact that the spell structure seems to be based on a mathematical model, and then integrates his own understanding of the magical construction process. The structural model of informal magic is simply a glyph diagram, equivalent to the level of elementary, middle school plane geometry such as hexagrams. After reviewing some literature in the library, most of the analysis of informal magic became very simple.

  As for the understanding of the magical construction process, Lucien also relied on past knowledge, such as understanding "acid splash" as making sulfuric acid with sulfur. However, when it came to the forbidden light technique, Lucien was unable to rely on his previous knowledge and could only roughly assume that reversing the destruction of the "fluorescent grass" structure would allow it to actively absorb light without reflecting it. The result was not bad, but not good either, and it took many attempts to master.

  This made Lucien introspect: "Can't rely too much on past knowledge, the magic of this world should have its unique place, although part of it can be combined with physics, chemistry and other knowledge, but the rest needs to be slowly deciphered by oneself. After all, the elements and rules of this world are likely to be different from those of Earth, similar yet different, such as the precious materials recorded by witches like Secret Silver and Refined Gold, or why astrology can be used to divine auspiciousness, fate and so on."

  As for the "Ring of Uncontrol", Lucien was able to shorten the casting time to its current limit so quickly because he fully understood that it was a magical effect under gravity.

  After a 10-minute quiet rest to recover his spiritual power, Lucien began to simply deal with the remaining traces, such as the corroded stone surface.

  "The power of informal magic is indeed not strong enough, the frost ray can only kill an adult directly by hitting the heart and throat, causing cardiac arrest and asphyxiation. Otherwise, it would take three hits of frost rays to be fatal. If only one hit, at most, it would cause severe freezing injuries, slowing down movements and thoughts. The acid spray also needs to hit the vital points due to its concentration and intensity issues." Lucien calmly analyzed his apprentice-level magic, not feeling much disappointment. Many magics may seem weak, but as long as they are used well in specific situations and at specific times, their effects can be astonishing.

  Having cleaned up the traces, Lucien put away the spellcasting materials in his pocket in a hidden yet accessible manner. Instead of returning to the surface, he continued to explore downwards towards the direction of the poor district's water outlet.

  This is because Lucien had considered that in order to find the black fungus, he must first find a corpse. In the cemetery, it was likely that the church would secretly monitor them, so except for the beasts and humans who died in the Mezeri Black Forest, the sewers were the only place where they might be able to find a corpse. After all, many poor people and beggars lived here, and they may not even have had a shroud to wrap their bodies in. If there was no one around to recognize them, it was possible that they could quietly die deep in the sewers without anyone knowing. As for dead animals or rotting flesh thrown into the sewers, these would be even more common.

  Moreover, the witch had also explored the sewers, initially for the black fungus and later to find out about the origins of the red-eyed rats, but she never encountered any danger, which is why Lucien dared to explore this section of the sewer first.

  …………

  His spiritual power spread out and faintly sensed his surroundings as Lucien carefully made his way through the sewer.

  In these twenty minutes, Lucien has explored several places and found three corpses, two old mice and a strange jelly-like creature, unfortunately there is no black fungus growing on their bodies.

  As he turned a corner, Lucien's eyes suddenly opened up and finally discovered the beggars living in the sewers.

  The sewer under this section is very wide, with a quiet and dark river flowing in the middle, carrying some garbage. It will flow all the way to the outlet and merge into the Beren River. On both sides of the stone viaducts, there are rows of tattered cloth, broken pots and other things on display. Several beggars with torn clothes revealing a lot of skin are gathered on one side of the viaduct, doing who-knows-what.

  Lucien saw that it was only a beggar and did not avoid him, and since he had already been discovered, he walked steadily to cross from the other side of the corridor.

  "Hey, young man, the sewers aren't a place you should be. What brings you here?" A gaunt old man with protruding ribs and an exceptionally dry appearance stood out from the group of beggars, but his voice sounded like that of a man in his forties.

  No matter how tattered, cheap and revealing of his poverty Lucien's linen shirt was, compared to those beggars it looked luxurious like that of a noble, at least it didn't rot to expose most of the skin, at least it was clean, so the old man could tell at a glance that Lucien wasn't an "indigenous" of the sewers.

  Lucien smiled and replied, "I have a friend living in the sewers, I'm here to find him." His words were confident and stylish, seemingly not taking these beggars seriously. In this lawless dark sewer, it was best to show strength to avoid triggering their greed.

  Behind the thin old man, several other beggars stood up, staring at Lucien with fierce and greedy eyes. However, Lucien showed no weakness as he glanced around at them, displaying his somewhat sturdy physique and the faintly gleaming dagger.

  This caused them to subconsciously avoid Lucien's gaze.

  As Lucien walked forward step by step, the withered old man suddenly burst out laughing: "Young man, I see you're not dressed very well, and you have a dagger in your hand. It seems like you're doing something quite improper."

  Lucien was somewhat surprised that he would talk to himself, thought for a moment, and replied coldly: "This has nothing to do with you."

  The withered old man chuckled: "No matter what, it's clear that you're having a tough time. If someone like you, who works so hard and struggles every day, can't even afford to eat white bread and beef, I think it's definitely not your fault. The True Lord's Teachings tell us that everyone is the Lord's lamb, but why can the nobles live in luxury while the devout poor, who believe in Him just as much, can't change their fate? Aren't we all born with sin?"

  "I'm not interested in what you're saying, don't talk to me again." Lucien's tone was icy.

  Although this withered old man spoke very vaguely, without giving anyone a handle, if it were someone else, they would definitely not understand. However, from his words, Lucien did catch a whiff of a familiar scent - the smell of being proselytized. And judging by his tone, what was being preached was definitely not the True God's teachings. As for whether it was another god or the devil, Lucien wasn't interested in finding out for now. Without sufficient power, recklessly making contact with these things would be a path to certain death.

  They didn't let him say too much, because the more you know, the less chance you have of leaving. Under the control of the True God Religion, spreading other sects is a crime punishable by hanging. These beggars wouldn't dare take the risk of leaking information.

  The withered old man and the beggars did not expect Lucien to refuse so bluntly and directly, and they stared at him in anger as if something precious had been desecrated.

  "Want to try my dagger?" Lucien shook the dagger in his hand and walked forward calmly and steadily.

  As they crossed the canal, Lucien noticed that in the place where they had been before, a clean black cloth was spread out with a curved horn drawn on it, shining with silver light.

  The thin old man thought back to what he had said, feeling that he hadn't revealed anything, just like a common poor person's complaint, only focusing the complaints on the nobles. At the same time, he measured Lucien's age, physical condition, and the dagger in his hand, and reluctantly sat down again.

  …………

  Leaving the beggars behind, they walked through the sewers for over ten minutes when Lucien's ears were suddenly filled with the sound of rushing water.

  "It seems we've reached the outlet, and outside should be the banks of the Beren River." Lucien saw that the dark river became slightly turbulent, flowing towards a large iron mesh-covered hole, so he walked slowly along the edge path, searching for corpses in this densest place.

  Lucien walked all the way to the barbed wire fence without finding anything, and with a slight disappointment, he prepared to return to the ground.

  Just as Lucien turned back and glanced casually at the part where the iron net touched the water, he was surprised to find that under the fluorescent light, amidst the rippling waves, the place where the iron net touched the water seemed to be non-existent.

  Out of curiosity, Lucien walked to the edge and shook it, lifted it up, and took a closer look. Sure enough, there was a fairly large hole under the iron mesh.

  Before he could even judge whether it was a natural breakdown or intentional sabotage, Lucien saw a large black object slowly rising up in front of him, seemingly due to the intense shaking of the iron mesh earlier.

  As it slowly floated to the surface, under the impact of the dark river water, hitting the iron wire mesh, Lucien only saw clearly that it was a swollen corpse, with a lot of rot on its face and body muscles, barely recognizable in outline, clothes wrapped in garbage, some with strong buoyancy.

  Lucien suppressed the nausea of seeing the corpse and carefully searched his body for any black fungus, although the hope was not great, after all, it had been soaking in water, but you never know, maybe there would be a surprise.

  As he looked, Lucien's brow furrowed, for the cause of death of this corpse was very strange. The chest had been ripped open by someone, and when he probed it with his dagger just now, he found that its heart was gone, as if it had been dug out alive.

  "Who could be so cruel?" Lucien looked up and down at the corpse, and suddenly, on the waist of the corpse, he found a wrapped purse, "How does it seem a bit familiar?"

  He picked it up with his dagger and Lucien took a closer look: "This is my purse!"

  This is the money bag that Lucien was robbed of by a gangster's thug and didn't have time to retrieve, which surprisingly appeared on a corpse with a mysterious death in the sewer.

  In his astonishment, Lucien forgot about his nausea and took a closer look at the face of the corpse:

  "André?"

  The more I think about it, the more Lucien looks like him. How could Andre from Aaron's gang die here?!