Chapter 308: The White Dragon Lord's Ambition

"Lord Sinod, you'd better dispose of these bones quickly. The coordinates of the Rodoro plane have been exposed, and there's no telling if those skeletons will return."

"Alright!"

At the White Dragon Lord's reminder, Priest Sinod also worried that the skeletons might launch a sudden counterattack.

"Lord Amos, please help me keep watch."

The White Dragon Lord nodded. Priest Sinod took out a bag of white powder and scattered it around the mountain of bones.

The mountain of bones stood over six hundred meters tall, but the individual bones were quite small. Even though the White Dragon Lord and the skeleton mage had taken many of them, a massive amount remained. In his haste, Priest Sinod did not even notice that a portion was missing.

After scattering the white powder, Priest Sinod stood before the mountain of bones, raised his hands high, and chanted a spell.

A priest's spellcasting differed vastly from a Mage's. Powerful magical spells were generally quite long, and a Mage would chant them so rapidly that the words blurred together. A priest's spell was much shorter, and the cadence of their casting sounded like reciting poetry.

The White Dragon Lord listened to the incantation. Priest Sinod was indeed using divine script to praise a certain deity.

When Priest Sinod finished chanting, the ring of white powder around the bone mountain emitted a dazzling golden light. As the light washed over the mountain, the Abomination Rank bones—harder than refined iron—billowed with thick white smoke. They gradually melted and shrank until nothing remained but a pile of white bone dust.

The White Dragon Lord curiously scooped up a handful of the dust. He found that the dense negative energy originally contained within the bones had vanished completely. It was just ordinary bone dust now, entirely worthless.

Witnessing the mountain of bones turn into a useless pile of dust, Priest Sinod breathed a sigh of relief.

"Lord Amos, let's go."

The White Dragon Lord cast a spell, bringing Priest Sinod along as he returned to Nordhill.

According to their original plan, once the White Dragon Lord and Priest Sinod confirmed the bone monster's death, they would immediately begin developing the Rodoro plane. But with the Lord of Withered Bones appearing out of thin air, they had no choice but to suspend the development plans.

Nordhill.

Atop a heavily guarded Teleportation Platform somewhere in the Holy Sanctuary, the White Dragon Lord and Priest Sinod appeared.

Priest Sinod's expressionless face scared off a Legendary Rank paladin who wanted to come up and greet them. Seeing their prize slip right out from under their noses, followed by an ambush from three enemies, even the normally good-tempered Priest Sinod felt a bit angry.

"Lord Amos, I must report the matter of the Rodoro plane to the Archbishop immediately, so I will not be able to entertain you."

"Of course. Business first. I am heading to Sky City to report to the speaker."

Borrowing the Holy Sanctuary's Teleportation Platform, the White Dragon Lord teleported directly to Sky City. An Abomination Rank entity like the Lord of Withered Bones was not something White Castle could handle. An Archbishop armed with a Divine Artifact might stand a chance, but the White Dragon Lord had a better option.

The White Dragon Lord knocked on the door of the speaker's office.

"Come in."

"Lord Speaker, the plane jointly conquered by White Castle and the Holy Sanctuary has run into some trouble."

The White Dragon Lord got straight to the point as he pushed the door open.

"Just now, while Priest Sinod of the Holy Sanctuary and I were cleaning up in the Rodoro plane, three High-Tier Legendary Rank skeletons appeared out of nowhere. They claimed to be subordinates of the Lord of Withered Bones."

Hearing this, Merlin Heavenly Principle closed his eyes and communicated with the Tower Spirit. After confirming that the Rodoro plane was registered with the Council, he opened his eyes and nodded.

"I understand. The Council will handle this matter. Go back and wait for news."

"Then I shall quietly await your good news."

The White Dragon Lord turned and left immediately. Three years ago, after the lich incident ended, the White Dragon Lord and Priest Sinod had come to Sky City together to handle the relevant paperwork for the Rodoro plane.

Now that the plane was facing a foreign invasion, he could naturally seek the Council's help to resolve the issue. Relinquishing ten percent of the entire plane's profits to them was not for nothing.

As he closed the door, the White Dragon Lord shot an envious glance through the crack at Merlin Heavenly Principle, who had already gone back to processing documents.

The Merlin Heavenly Principle in the speaker's office was not his true body, but a special puppet—or rather, his clone. This clone possessed its own independent consciousness and was active twenty-four hours a day, handling the Council's various affairs. Furthermore, the clone's combat prowess was nothing to scoff at; it was also at the Abomination Rank.

A puppet that could both handle administrative work and fight so fiercely—who wouldn't want one!

The White Dragon Lord shook his head, driving the unrealistic thought from his mind.

For a puppet of that level, let alone the manufacturing technology required, the White Dragon Lord currently could not even scrape together the necessary high-grade materials. Rumor had it that this puppet's core material was a Heart of the Plane.

The White Dragon Lord did not return directly to White Castle. Instead, he teleported to Raging Blood Island.

Inside the lich Philidel's laboratory.

The White Dragon Lord saw a pile of books on the lich's experimental table. He glanced at the title of the top book—On the Life Forms of the Living and the Undead.

"Lord Philidel, how goes the research on the power of death controlled by the Withered Vine Druids?"

The lich pointed at the stack of books on the table.

"I have some clues, but I need more of the wisdom of my predecessors. The more, the better."

"Alright. Your wish will be fulfilled."

The White Dragon Lord nodded. This was not his first time gathering books and notes on life and the undead to deliver to the lich's laboratory.

Philidel spoke up tentatively.

"It would be even better if I could meet and talk with that powerful Withered Vine Druid to learn some of their knowledge directly."

The White Dragon Lord lowered his head in thought, weighing the pros and cons of a meeting between the lich and the Cat-Woman.

"That Master doesn't like the undead."

After careful consideration, the White Dragon Lord tactfully rejected the lich's proposal. The lich's existence could not be exposed. Ultimately, it was because the Cat-Woman only counted as half an ally in his heart, and he could not trust her entirely.

In the White Dragon Lord's mind, only his contracted kin, the Dragon Brother, and the Dragon Sister were people he could trust completely.

"However, Elena is also a Withered Vine Druid. Although her understanding of life and death is not as profound as Master Hajir's, she can still provide some assistance within her capabilities. How about that?"

"That works."

Though it was not the best outcome, speaking with Elena would still be beneficial to his research, so the lich nodded in agreement.

"Did Lord Amos come here personally just to ask about my research progress?"

"Of course not."

The White Dragon Lord took out a bone. The lich's eyes were instantly drawn to its pale surface, tinged with a faint crimson hue.

The lich stared intensely at the bone, the soul fire in his eyes flickering violently. Clearly, he was unable to maintain his composure.

"Th-This is?!"

"A bone from an Abomination Rank undead entity, though that Abomination was artificially created..."

The White Dragon Lord recounted the general course of the lich incident, as well as his speculations regarding the origins of the bone monster.

"Lord Philidel, what do you think of this kind of bone?"

The lich took the bone and carefully sensed its material properties and residual energy.

"Although this bone is very precious, the residual resentment is too strong. It cannot be used to create undead creatures; otherwise, they would sooner or later be affected by the resentment, and might even turn on their master."

The lich felt a bit regretful. If they had been bones from a normal Abomination Rank undead, he would have shamelessly asked the White Dragon Lord for a few to replace his own bones and increase his strength. But the residual resentment on these bones would pollute his soul, so he had to drop the idea.

"How about using these bones to build a puppet?"

"That is actually a good choice. The resentment on the bones wouldn't have much impact on an emotionless puppet."

The White Dragon Lord continued asking, "The operating principles of undead puppets..."

After consulting the lich on some knowledge related to undead puppets, the White Dragon Lord took him along and teleported back to the White Tower.

Upon returning to the White Tower, the White Dragon Lord immediately notified Elena to come over.

The doors of the White Tower were roughly pushed open.

"Oh~ my dear brother, you've brought me good news, haven't you?"

Elena was extremely excited. Purifying a necromantic plane with her own hands—what a thrilling and fulfilling task! Furthermore, the process would also help enhance her own strength.

"Unfortunately, Elena, a small accident occurred in the Rodoro plane. Your purification task will have to wait a little longer."

"Fine, I guess I get to look forward to it for a bit longer."

Elena helplessly lifted her wings. She didn't ask for a reason. If it was a complication that even the White Dragon Lord could not resolve, asking would be useless anyway. Suddenly, she caught sight of the lich behind the White Dragon Lord.

"Huh?! This lich is..."

A flash of disgust crossed Elena's eyes. Although the cultivation process of the Withered Vine Druids was somewhat special, they were still orthodox druids, and Elena likewise detested the undead for violating the laws of nature. If the lich had not been standing beside the White Dragon Lord, the young female dragon would have directly attacked and sent it back to nature.

Seeing Elena's reaction, the White Dragon Lord felt somewhat helpless. Druids were friends of nature, and the undead were enemies of life; they were naturally opposed existences. This was also one of the main reasons he had refused to let the lich meet with the Cat-Woman—he could not guarantee the lich's safety.

The lich also noticed Elena's "unfriendliness," but he didn't mind. This was a normal phenomenon. Aside from the Mage community, who could understand liches, practically all other creatures loathed the undead. Clergy members were the most extreme, and druids were second only to them.

"Greetings, Lady Elena. We meet for the first time; I am the lich, Philidel. I currently work for your brother. Lord Amos has tasked me with researching the necromantic power of the Withered Vine Druids in an attempt to find a breakthrough for your advancement to High-Tier Legend. For the sake of this research, I'd like to speak with you directly."

Elena looked at her brother in confusion. Seeing him nod, her perception of the lich improved slightly. Even though she didn't feel she needed the lich's help, she didn't want to waste her brother's painstaking efforts either.

"Alright. Thank you for your help. What do you want to ask?"

As the conversation got on track, the White Dragon Lord breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed nothing would go wrong after all.

"Elena, Lord Philidel is a rare alchemical grandmaster. With his knowledge and experience, he will definitely be of help to you."

The White Dragon Lord's subtext was to tell Elena to be polite to the lich. Elena understood; she truly hadn't expected this lich to also be a rare alchemical grandmaster.

"Pardon my rudeness. Allow me to introduce myself first: I am Elena Aldrich. Thank you for your help, Mr. Li—Mr. Philidel. I will certainly answer everything I know."

The atmosphere of the conversation immediately became harmonious. The White Dragon Lord was quite satisfied with Elena's performance and took his leave from the two of them.

Giving them space and leaving the Dragon Sister and the lich to talk alone in the hall, the White Dragon Lord went to the laboratory and opened the magical material warehouse inside.

An entire wall was densely packed with labeled drawers. The White Dragon Lord pulled out an unlabeled drawer. There was nothing inside except a black vortex.

The White Dragon Lord poured out the collected bones. With a clatter, the bones fell into the drawer and were swallowed by the black vortex.

This was the reason the White Dragon Lord called these drawers a warehouse. The storage capacity of these heavily financed spatial containers was no smaller than an ordinary warehouse, and they were specifically used for the bulk storage of precious magical materials.

Retrieving items was also simple—it just required mental energy. However, the warehouse only recognized the White Dragon Lord's mental energy. Aside from the White Dragon Lord, only the Tower Spirit controlled by the Gold Finger could open the warehouse.

After dumping all the bones inside, the White Dragon Lord slapped a label onto the drawer. The wall returned to its original state, and the White Dragon Lord carried the few bones he had deliberately kept to the experimental table.

The White Dragon Lord didn't dare dream of an Abomination Rank puppet like Merlin Heavenly Principle's clone at this stage. But with the bone monster's bones, a High-Tier Legendary Rank puppet was worth a try.

The first step to creating a puppet was to thoroughly research the bone monster's bones and analyze their properties to find the right approach.

The White Dragon Lord set the bones aside and took a small knife from his experimental toolbox. He infused magic into the blade, causing a faint white glow to appear on its edge.

The knife was a high-grade magical wondrous item engraved with a special Keen Edge, designed specifically for cutting tough magical materials. The more magic this special Keen Edge absorbed, the stronger its cutting power became.

As massive amounts of magic poured in, the white glow on the blade grew increasingly solid. It wasn't until the knife reached its limit that the White Dragon Lord stopped, feeling slightly regretful.

Abomination Rank bones were incredibly hard, and this knife was the only tool the White Dragon Lord had that might possibly cut through the bone on the table.

The White Dragon Lord picked up the knife and began to cut the bone. It was somewhat difficult, like trying to whittle a hard wooden stick with a pencil sharpener blade, but it did have some effect.

After a bout of effort, the White Dragon Lord finally severed the bone.

"Hmm... solid. No marrow."

After keeping busy for a long while, the White Dragon Lord obtained a box of thin bone slices. The next step was to soak the bone slices in various chemical solutions and place them in different environments to observe their reactions.

"Magical conductivity: top-tier!"

"Fire elemental resistance: high."

"..."

A week later.

Experimental conclusions were drawn one by one, answering many of the White Dragon Lord's questions, but new problems continuously cropped up.

Among the many problems, the one that gave the White Dragon Lord the biggest headache was the resentment lingering on the bones. The bone monster's resentment was too heavy. Even inanimate objects—like a Soul Core—would be polluted, which drastically affected the lifespan of a Soul Core.

"To build a High-Tier Legendary Rank puppet, I must first purify this residual resentment."