Chapter 368

The Spirit Net could be used to pinpoint locations.

As long as someone actively connected to the Spirit Net and used it to cast spells, the mythallar would inevitably be able to locate them.

In that respect, it was the same as the Weave.

Simply borrowing the Spirit Net to cast spells wouldn't allow the mythallar to detect any private information. But once someone became a member, the Spirit Net Mark would quickly obtain their basic information.

The process amounted to "passive consent."

Sakkors couldn't forcibly brand a Spirit Net Mark onto someone. Applying for membership was essentially equivalent to signing a temporary magical contract, agreeing to this mutually beneficial arrangement.

At its core, it was a take-it-or-leave-it clause. If you wanted to become a member and enjoy higher-level services, you had to agree.

'The tables have turned.' Anser's eyes gleamed.

Before, he hadn't had an intelligence network of his own. Information had been hard to come by, and there were many things he could only learn about after the fact.

That was also the reality for most ordinary people. By the time you heard some supposedly explosive piece of news, it was usually already old news.

Information bubbles were everywhere.

But things were different now. Anything that happened across Faerûn would be posted on the Spirit Net almost immediately, while certain people and events were also under Sakkors's surveillance.

The Spirit Net Mark had limited capabilities. It couldn't tell what someone was thinking or doing, but identity verification and location tracking alone were already extremely powerful.

"Where's Emmanuel?" Anser asked.

"He's on the Emerald Plain of Abeir. I just approved membership applications from several kobolds and dragonborn in that area, and I've confirmed that it's where the Green Dragon Queen's lair is located..."

There were a few unusually talented individuals even among kobolds, but like the dragonborn, they had received little education and had virtually no awareness of information security. With the slightest prompting, they spilled everything.

They thought there was nothing wrong with mentioning things all their companions already knew, much less anything that could rise to the level of betrayal. In reality, they had already exposed the details of their own side bit by bit.

"What about the Thayan lich?"

"The Viheral dungeon beneath the Wood of Sharp Teeth."

"He's actually still there." Anser rubbed his chin, finding it strange.

Back then, multiple factions had fought over the Artifacts. In the end, he'd snatched the prize right out from under them and escaped with two Artifacts and two Legendary items.

The lich hadn't pursued him, so he'd assumed the Thayans had withdrawn long ago. He hadn't expected them to still be holding their ground there.

"The other end of the Ring of Viheral only leads to an underground temple. Could there be something else hidden there? Or does Thay want to seize that teleportation array?"

The thought immediately put him on alert.

The Ring of Viheral was an extremely advanced teleportation array. If they modified it and used it to transport large numbers of Thayan undead over, things would get seriously ugly.

The Federation's current military strength was nowhere near enough to contend with Thay.

"I'm going there!"

Anser couldn't sit still any longer. After letting Iris know, he cast Teleport.

When he reappeared, he was standing amid the ruins of Moonscar Basin, with the glowing crater only a few hundred meters away.

Scattered tents dotted the surrounding area, all belonging to adventurers who still refused to give up.

Anser slipped into the Ethereal Plane to avoid being seen. After observing the adventurers for a moment, he quietly entered the mushroom forest.

Movement through the Ethereal Plane was considerably slower, but its concealment more than made up for it.

"That lich has gotten into an argument with someone on the Spirit Net..." Sakkors reported on the Thayan lich's activities.

Maybe the old undead bastard had been bored for far too long. Ever since becoming a member, he'd practically never logged off—reading news, scrolling through comments, adding friends, and generally having the time of his unlife.

Then he'd insulted Anser under the news announcing the establishment of the Holrewen Federation, only to get "dogpiled" by a swarm of users, triggering a flame war that kept growing larger and larger.

Anser had plenty of supporters, but he had plenty of enemies too. Those people hated him, yet none of them dared confront him directly.

Once someone else took the lead, they switched straight into online-troll mode.

Unfortunately for them, the Spirit Net wasn't beyond the reach of the law!

Just as the battle was becoming increasingly heated, the Spirit Net moderators stepped in and muted the Thayan lich and a whole crowd of haters for one day.

The stated reason was "to maintain a healthy Spirit Net environment and protect members' individual rights"!

None of the replies the Thayan lich had prepared could be posted. All he could do was sit there with the "Muted" tag hanging over him while everyone else mocked him to the best of their ability. He was so furious he nearly coughed up blood, yet stubbornly refused to log off.

Before long, the moderators also deleted certain comments containing insulting language, leaving him with no choice but to watch his opponents strut around triumphantly.

A number of members defending Anser were muted as well, but they had overwhelming numbers. Muting a few of them made practically no difference.

Anser couldn't help laughing when he saw the whole spectacle.

This lich was actually pretty entertaining. His adaptability was incredible—he'd barely arrived and had already stirred up a huge mess.

Come to think of it, ever since the Spirit Net appeared, there had been no shortage of entertainment.

Regional hate, class hate, racial hate, religious hate—it was all already beginning to emerge, while every imaginable shitty meme spread like wildfire.

"Has anyone tried divining the Spirit Net today?" A thought suddenly occurred to him.

"Yes. More and more people are trying. For now, we're still safe." A trace of confidence entered Sakkors's voice.

Both the mythallar and Holrewen had protections against divination. On top of that, Sakkors was progressing extremely quickly and continuously upgrading the mythallar and Holrewen's Celestial Ritual Arrays. Their current defenses against tracking and divination were exceptionally strong.

There was another secret behind all this, one that no one except Anser knew: the foundation of the Spirit Net was the twenty-sided die in his mind that had once devoured divinity!

Tracing the Spirit Net back to its source wouldn't be easy even if a deity personally intervened.

Even so, neither Anser nor Sakkors let down their guard. No one knew what methods the gods might possess.

All the man and the spirit could do was keep advancing, striving to gain enough power to protect themselves before trouble finally erupted.

Before long, Anser passed through the dungeon ruins and entered the white castle at the city's center, its great doors tightly shut.

The moment he entered, he saw large numbers of undead constantly patrolling the place: Wights, skeletons, zombies, Flameskulls, and Will-o'-Wisps. They had transformed the once clean and orderly castle into a gloomy, deathly place, completely changing its atmosphere.

'Don't tell me I actually guessed right.' Anser had a bad feeling.

He moved through the hazy Ethereal Plane and soon reached the Ring of Viheral.

Its distinctive curved slabs of white stone formed an intermittent ring-shaped wonder. Intricate patterns covered their surfaces, but they were dark and lifeless.

The array only activated on nights of the full moon.

Anser swept his gaze around. There were plenty of undead guards surrounding the array, but the lich was nowhere to be seen.

He closed his eyes, and the dazzling Spirit Net emerged within his perception like an endless river of stars—vast and awe-inspiring.

Tens of thousands of twinkling stars filled it. Each was a Spirit Net Mark, and each represented a member.

He narrowed his focus to the Wood of Sharp Teeth—Moonscar Basin—dungeon, locking onto the sole Spirit Net Mark there.

'At the top of the castle.'

Anser slowly floated upward, passing through one empty room after another until he reached an attic near the top.

He turned his head. On a rooftop platform several dozen meters away, the Thayan lich stood facing a Red Wizard.

The lich's mouth was moving a mile a minute, and the atmosphere between them didn't exactly look harmonious.

'Is this lich addicted to arguing?'

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