Chapter 319

"Dead?" Vanter said.

"Not dead dead." Grid waved his hammer vaguely. "He is kind of a undead. He's a Lich."

"A Lich," Lauel repeated.

"His soul's a Lich. His body isn't. That guy made him a body." Grid scowled at the anvil. "With food. He cooked some dish, and the dish grew flesh for him or something. That cooking of his needs to be banned."

"What's his name?"

"...Mumud."

"And what's he like?"

"Annoying." Grid didn't even have to think about it. "I told him to teleport all of us straight into the Vatican so we could skip the walking. You know what he said? 'I cannot do that.' Just like that. Flat out. Then he started explaining for ten minutes about how his fake body would burn up in the holy energy, and how his soul would get exposed or something. BLAH BLAH BLAH." Grid jabbed the hammer at nothing.

"So Rudra tamed a Lich," Vanter said. "Cool pet."

Lauel had gone a little pale. "Vanter, nobody tames a Lich. Liches are the top of the undead. Players aren't supposed to be able to handle one at all."

"Well, this one was on our side," Grid said. "Mostly."

Lauel tapped his pen against the ranking sheet. "A Lich with that much talent should be famous. Everyone would know his name."

"Maybe he's just new," Faker said. "Freshly dead."

"Or maybe he's been dead a long time and nobody remembers him," Vanter said.

"Then why would the Staff Saint and the Dual Legend bother with him?" Lauel asked. "They're not collecting strays. They're—"

He stopped.

His pen stopped too.

"The world message," he said slowly. "The one before the Magic Saint. Do you remember it?"

Vanter scratched his head. "Something about... somebody coming back to life?"

"'An unknown person with infinite potential has defied the laws of life and death and has been reborn.'" Lauel recited it without looking at his notes. He had read it a hundred times. "Right before 'A Magic Saint has been born for the first time.' Everyone thought it was some holy miracle. A priest brought back from the dead. A saint raised by the Church."

"It wasn't?" Vanter asked.

"Who defies the laws of life and death?" Lauel's voice had gone quiet. "Someone who's already dead. And who's reborn? Someone who gets a real body back."

Faker's eyes narrowed. "A Lich who stopped being a Lich."

"A Lich so talented that the Staff Saint and the Dual Legend keep him close. And the very next message says a Magic Saint was born."

Nobody spoke.

"...Huh?" said Grid.

"Grid," Lauel said patiently. "Your annoying Lich is the Magic Saint."

Grid stared at him. Then the memory hit him. Standing right here at this anvil, golden letters in the air, grumbling about some lucky bastard who'd had a Legendary class dropped in his lap.

"...No."

"Yes."

"NO!" Grid slammed both hands on the anvil. "Him?! The guy who said 'I cannot do that' to my face?! I called him a lucky bastard! Out loud! In my own smithy!"

"You did," Khan said gently. "I was here."

"Khan!"

"And now you owe a Saint a free item," Khan added, not unkindly. "So make it a good one."

Grid made a strangled noise and dropped his forehead onto the cool edge of the anvil.

"Three Legends," Vanter breathed. "In one guild."

Lauel lifted his right hand and spread it over half his face. "The black flame dragon in my arm was right to stir. A storm is coming." Then he lowered his hand, and his eyes were all business. "Which means we can't lose our only Legend."

He opened his inventory and took out a roll of old, yellowed parchment tied with a red cord.

"I bought this a month ago, when I first started tracking Genesis. I've been waiting for the right moment to give it to you." He held it out. "This is the moment."

Grid lifted his head warily. "What is it?"

"Read the listing I bought it from."

Lauel turned his auction history around. The item title had obviously been written by someone who had a screw loose.

SURPRISE VACATION SCROLL!!! Might be a beach. Might be a dragon's mouth. Might be your ex's house. No refunds. Cry about it.

Vanter burst out laughing. Even Faker's mouth twitched.

"The seller is an idiot," Lauel said. "The item isn't."

The item window opened in front of Grid.

[Scroll of Unbound Passage]

[Rating: Ancient]

[An old scroll holding a fragment of forgotten spatial magic. It opens a path that no wall, seal, or barrier can hold shut.

- Teleports the user to a random location.

- Can be used in sealed or closed spaces where other teleportation and escape items cannot.

- The destination cannot be chosen or known before use.

- Single use.]

"Emergencies only," Lauel said. "If you're ever trapped somewhere with no other way out. Not because you're bored. Not because you think there's loot on the other side." He leaned in. "Promise me."

"...Fine. I promise."

Grid put the scroll in his inventory. Lauel nodded, then picked up the ranking sheets again.

"Now. Your level. Two hundred and eighty-five, against a guild with three Legends. You need three hundred. You need new gear for the members. You need to stop making hoes and—"

"Lauel—"

"—and starting tomorrow, the hunting grounds east of the city, and the weapons for the second division, and—"

Grid stared at the wall.

His hand drifted, very slowly, toward his inventory.