Chapter 101: The Sacred Tree’s Flower
Arcaiste had never been as excited as he was today.
Before him was a giant flower bud. With a diameter of a full two meters, one could only imagine the magnificent sight when it bloomed.
Even unopened, the bud was breathtakingly beautiful. Its surface was translucent like jade, faintly revealing layers of petals arranged in intricate, divinely crafted patterns.
He had been nurturing this bud with magic for a long time, ever since Abyss first sat beside the Sacred Tree chanting incantations. Back then, the bud was just an inconspicuous little sprout. Arcaiste hadn’t even believed it could grow, but clinging to a sliver of hope, he had guarded this delicate life.
Abyss, sitting beneath the tree, was using a self-created nature magic spell. This sounded absurd, of course – a Necromancer, only recently exposed to nature magic, creating his own nature spell? Yet, Abyss had done it. He had caused the Sacred Tree to grow a unique flower bud, and from the moment it appeared, an unusual flow of magic surrounded it.
Besides the magic provided by the Sacred Tree itself, vast amounts of magic poured in from all directions, frantically drilling into the bud. The flow intensified as the bud grew. Arcaiste, using his years of experience as a mage, carefully prevented excessive magic from bursting the special flower while guiding as much magic as possible into it for absorption.
Days of effort finally paid off. Today, as Abyss’s spell reached a concluding phase, the flower bud began to grow rapidly.
Baggs, inside the cavity, was feeding Abyss’s blood to the Sacred Tree’s root, while Leona, now inhabiting Abyss’s body, chanted the concluding incantations in his stead.
And the flower bud before Arcaiste pulsed powerfully, as if nurturing life within…
Yes, what Abyss was doing was resurrecting Agnes.
A few days ago, he had made a startling deduction: Agnes’s body hadn’t actually disappeared but had merged with the Sacred Tree, becoming part of it. Under the right conditions, her body could be retrieved. Even her soul was preserved within the Sacred Tree, waiting to be recalled.
The method to recall her body was to reverse what she had done.
Agnes had used her body as nourishment for the Sacred Tree, causing it to radiate extremely dense magic. Therefore, Abyss had to use magic to reduce the Sacred Tree’s current magic output, damming the magic within and drawing external magic into it. To avoid severe consequences, Abyss proceeded gently, which is why it took so much time.
Agnes had channeled the essence of her blood through a root nodule at the tree’s base, allowing others to inherit her power. Therefore, Abyss had to extract the same amount of blood from his own body and infuse it back through the root, returning it to its original owner.
And now, reality proved Abyss’s hypothesis correct.
The giant flower bud radiated boundless life force. Arcaiste knew he would soon see the person he admired most – the previous Grand Sage, Agnes.
…
“Leo… Abyss, you’re back!” Flora was delighted to see Abyss, now in Leona’s body, approach her.
Leona was still chanting. Seeing Abyss, she wanted to speak, but Abyss shook his head: “Continue the incantation, Leona. You have control of my body now, so you must finish chanting these spells for me.”
Abyss now spoke with Leona’s vocal cords, naturally using her voice. Combined with his characteristic lazy tone, it created a comical effect. Flora couldn’t help but chuckle.
Leona continued chanting resentfully. She had already repeated it over seventy times; the entire spell would be complete soon.
“I never knew your necromancy had such miraculous abilities,” Flora praised sincerely. “They definitely wouldn’t have expected you could swap bodies with your familiar.”
“My necromancy was indeed learned from my master, but they don’t know that my master taught me everything he knew by the time I was eight. The magic I learned afterwards was mostly dug up from tombs, including many lost arts,” Abyss spread his hands. “Suffice it to say, my senior martial siblings are too arrogant. They thought I only had immense magic power because of the Sage’s Blood, assuming my magical proficiency was inferior to theirs. Unfortunately for them, I’m stronger than them in every way. My necromantic link has been thoroughly optimized; how could it be so easily dominated?”
“There’s always someone better, always a higher mountain. That’s true,” Rebecca walked over with Maggie, smiling at Abyss. “If you hadn’t intended to challenge the gods and just wanted to show off in the mortal world, living as you pleased, perhaps you too would think yourself invincible now?”
“Rebecca, thank you for your hard work these past few days,” Abyss smiled and nodded. “You’re right. One must always accept challenges in life; otherwise, how would you know your limits?”
“Under certain conditions, the dead must too,” Rebecca added, walking up to Abyss. She bent down and pinched his cheek, molding the soft flesh into various shapes. Now that Abyss was in Leona’s form, Rebecca wasn’t going to miss this chance to tease him thoroughly.
“Sorry, Leona. I thought you might be unwilling to swap bodies with me, so I didn’t tell you. If you can forgive me, I’ll grant you any request,” Abyss walked over to Leona, who was still chanting, and said to her.
Leona didn’t stop chanting, but she shot Abyss a fierce glare, pouting. This expression on Abyss’s original face was quite amusing, making everyone chuckle.
“So Leona and Abyss swapped bodies! That’s amazing! I’ve never seen magic like this, not even heard legends about it!” Maggie leaned in curiously, looking at Abyss in Leona’s body, then at Leona chanting in Abyss’s body. “Leona, can you tell me what it feels like to be a boy?”
Leona couldn’t answer her, but internally, she began complaining.
A boy’s body is so troublesome! There’s always something dangling between my legs getting in the way! I really want to pull it off!
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