Anbershieu repeatedly emphasized that this item was not worth the price, and the expedited delivery required a special teleportation array capable of transferring living creatures, which further added to the cost.
Though a tiny vial could dissolve millions of gold coins and store them in a unique form within such a small bottle, it was truly an unwise choice.
Yet, Brother Headless remained firm, generously adding more money.
Anbershieu could find no excuse to refuse and had no choice but to make another trip to the Alchemist City. There, he purchased a genuine vial of live mercury solution under the astonished gaze of the shop assistant.
Upon inspecting the product, Anbershieu confirmed it was indeed authentic.
He then returned to the castle to set up the teleportation magic circle, spending half a day transporting the item to Brother Headless. In the end, he earned a mere twenty thousand gold coins with teary eyes.
It was not greed on his part. As the price of the product had risen, it was only reasonable for his intermediary fee to increase proportionally. It wouldn't make sense to earn three thousand gold coins on a deal worth ten thousand, yet earn the same on one worth one hundred thousand.
Additionally, the price of the teleportation array was not cheap—materials were affordable, but the technique was costly!
Considering that a legendary mage had set up the teleportation magic array, the twenty thousand gold coins earned, after deducting the intermediary fee, was a fair price. Anbershieu could proudly claim that there was no necromancer in the entire continent who offered such reasonable rates.
Looking at the pile of glittering gold coins before him, Anbershieu felt his soul deeply satisfied. Satisfying his obsession was the only way a lich could truly experience joy.
Of course, it was even more satisfying to mutter a few curses about the Silvermoon Court's bunch of bean sprouts while counting the gold coins.
One day, Anbershieu would make those little elves understand that inflating potion prices would come with consequences!
With Brother Headless's transaction concluded, it was time to focus on the orders for the Withering Rose.
It was no small feat to breach the walls of the capital of the Ryan Empire with a high-level necromancer, and even a rough sketch of the design would require significant time for research. Moreover, because two counterfeit vials of live mercury solution had been included, Anbershieu didn't want to waste them and considered using the live mercury for new designs.
With the support of funds, Anbershieu could be more daring in his experiments.
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Far to the West, in the dimly lit tombs that spanned across vast oceans, the glow of the teleportation array slowly faded.
A burly knight reached out with two fingers and pinched the glass vial containing the live mercury.
The headless figure before him was terrifyingly tall. If Anbershieu had stood before this knight, he would have been no taller than his knees.
The knight wore heavy black armor, with intricate magical patterns glowing mysteriously, and a cape embroidered with a soaring bone dragon.
This was the son-in-law of the Bone Dragon family, the legendary headless knight—Gareth Arcanos.
The surname was adopted after marriage; the former Gareth had been just an ordinary human knight who died on the battlefield. Betrayed by his comrades, he was decapitated instead of becoming a war hero.
After Gareth's death, over a hundred years passed, and more than two hundred heads were hung at the place where he had been executed.
Those who had betrayed him returned as war heroes, became nobles, and expanded their families for over a century. But after a hundred years, Gareth sent every member of that family to the executioner's block.
This massacre made Gareth the most wanted man in the Ryan Empire, prompting the human empire's strongest knights to form an entire holy warrior legion to pursue him.
Gareth fought his way from the Ryan Empire to the Golden Kingdom of Shadowerm, covering three thousand miles in five years. He narrowly escaped the hands of over a thousand holy warriors and decapitated over a hundred of them. In the face of impossible odds, Gareth ascended to the legendary level, causing the Ryan Empire to suffer its greatest loss since its founding.
At that time, the emperor of Ryan nearly called upon the ancient dragon warriors to use powers beyond legendary status to kill Gareth.
But then, this legendary headless knight suddenly vanished, leaving even the Ryan Empire unable to track him down. The once-feared warrior had now become a mere son-in-law.
Fortunately, few knew about this. Even the members of the Mourning Poets' Society were unaware that Brother Headless in their chat group was the very same man who had forced the Ryan emperor to lead an army personally. Otherwise, the Ryan Empire would be furious.
The same man who had once wielded a giant sword to decapitate a thousand holy warriors was now crouching like a timid servant, holding the vial of live mercury and stealthily moving toward the wall.
He tapped a few spots on the wall, and magical runes lit up immediately. With a deep breath and rhythmic thumping from his chest, the stone wall slowly cracked open, revealing a spatial portal.
The simple motions involved unlocking the code, magical energy, and voice recognition, all with triple layers of protection. If even the smallest mistake were made during any of these steps, the portal would not open to a teleportation gate, but instead to a room full of love letters.
Should his wife discover them, these letters would serve as a romantic twist to help him escape danger.
Gareth had transformed from a ruthless headhunter to a cunning married man. If the Ryan emperor ever found out, he would surely have quite the reaction.
Gareth stepped through the portal, his focus intense, only to find himself in another room filled with love letters.
Indeed, this was his backup plan—two rooms of love letters, just in case.
Even if his wife found the teleportation portal, she'd still have to unlock another hidden door to find his true treasure vault.
After a series of twists and turns, Gareth finally reached the real vault, where a mountain of gold coins awaited.
Anbershieu's hours of haggling over discounts with the alchemist shop assistant were but trivial amounts to Gareth.
He opened the glass vial and placed it before the mountain of gold.
Then, extending his hand, Gareth released a torrent of dark magic, turning the mountain of gold black. With a grunt from his chest, he lifted the entire hundred-ton pile of gold with a single hand.
The coins scattered, swirling into a tornado of gold.
With a clink, the gold coins fell, landing precisely inside the small vial.
Golden coins vanished as they entered the vial, seemingly swallowed by magic. In a matter of moments, the enormous mountain of gold was completely gone, leaving only the vial of live mercury. The gold had been stored in a unique energy state, one that even magic detecting treasure hunters could not perceive.
Gareth carefully sealed the vial, then sighed in satisfaction: "Indeed, you get what you pay for. Diga is a man of his word. I'll gladly do business with him again."
Just as he turned to leave, a semi-transparent specter appeared before him.
It was a beautiful, ethereal figure with horns on her head—a dragon soul, known as the Dragon Spirit.
She crossed her arms and sneered at Gareth. "You say you're going to do business with whom?"
With a loud *crack*, the glass vial slipped from Gareth's hand, spilling live mercury all over the floor.
"Dearest... how did you...?" Gareth stammered, utterly shocked to find that, despite all his precautions, he had still been caught by his wife.
The Dragon Spirit pulled out a necromantic tome, quickly writing something on the last page.
**Pale Skeleton**: "Thank you for the reminder, Sister Rose. I'll invite you for tea at the Dragon Tomb next time."
**Withering Rose**: "No need for thanks. The two bone dragons you gave me last time are my return gift."
**Pale Skeleton**: "I don't expect the Headless Knight's crown to be returned any time soon, so no need to worry."
**Diga Ultraman**: "???"
End of Chapter