Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 896 - 833: Time-Space Lord

The memory of a wizard is always excellent. Even at nearly fifty, Carlos can clearly remember his father teaching him in the topmost room of that silver-white tower during his childhood.

Under the guidance of the Morocoy, Carlos grew and unleashed his youthful nature. He had flipped through his father’s variously compiled racial compendium and found the exaggerated appearances of other creatures curious and interesting. The most impressive memory was the comments written in his father’s familiar handwriting.

"Currently hostile towards us."

As a child, Carlos didn’t like such evaluations. He hoped to be popular and liked by everyone. Thus, the young arcanist came up with an idea.

[I want to build Morocoy into a city of harmonious coexistence among multiple races.]

"Without discrimination, it can’t be eliminated."

"Without hatred, it can’t be dismantled."

"As long as we respect each other and understand each other, I want arcanists to be everyone’s good friend!"

Hearing his child’s boast, Morocoy neither agreed nor disagreed. He simply listened patiently and corrected Carlos’ unrealistic errors in his plan. In the end, Carlos received a revised plan along with another page of the compendium.

"Mantis Monster?"

"Our relentless enemy. If you find their weakness, eliminate them. If not, avoid them."

At that time, Carlos was ambitious to complete his grand plan of racial harmony.

"No! Father, please believe me, there are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests. No hatred cannot be eased by time."

"There are, my child." In his memory, that ancient magic mask slowly approached, the eyes behind it as dark as an unlit sea.

"Time cannot dilute the hatred that grows over time."

"If you unfortunately encounter a Mantis Monster and are not ready, remember one thing, Carlos..."

...

"Portal Wizard! Don’t get captured by the Mantis Monster!" Carlos shouted, knowing the advice Morocoy had given was absolutely critical.

"Too late, arcanist." The forelimb of the Mantis Monster had a blade-like exoskeleton, serving as both a weapon and their best capturing organ, used to extract magical properties from the victim’s body fluids and absorb them.

A Mantis Monster discarded the wizard’s corpse, with fresh blood held in the cavity of its hand-blade, analyzed, transformed, evolved, and shared with the swarm.

Carlos watched as the enemy’s hand-blade transformed into a silver-blue hue, the familiar aura of space-time had become their power.

"Hahaha!" The Mantis Monster regarded its new weapon, casually slicing open a dimensional portal. "This disgusting power, arcanist! Now taste our pain! Run, flee to the ends of the earth! Eternal pursuit, none can escape!"

Battle was unavoidable. The Mantis Monster no longer felt environmental constraints; a mere flick of a wrist brought them flashing to the wizard’s side, cutting through their fragile bodies. Even wizards hiding in spatial seams could be tracked by the swarm infiltrating the same seams.

Here, the forces were a mixed army composed of various races. Seeing the lord, Carlos, struck down by enemies, those who had benefited from the City of Wandering decisively intervened. However, their diverse abilities and racial characteristics also aided the rapid evolution of the Mantis Monsters. Thick Skin, Agility, Sharpness, Fury, Adaptation to Adversity, and hatred-evolved magic immunity.

It was no longer about defeating the enemy but how to ensure the survival of this living force.

Carlos resisted the swarm’s offensive, his heart sinking at the surrounding carnage. Three sequential leaps carried him to an unparalleled height, and under the eyes of many, Carlos shouted.

"Kristo!"

The Crystal Blue Dragon maneuvered Liches along the frontline within the holy light, hands flailing wildly, yet remembering to use its tail to divert a branch of the magic web to Carlos. With Morocoy’s magical adaptation, he withstood the pressure of the magic web’s scouring. For a short period, Carlos became a wizard of limitless magic power, and his talent was...

[Open - Eyes of a Thousand]

Space was split into countless pieces, with folded space-time portals resembling eyes. All teleportation magic within the area was enhanced, but the spell rules behind it were confused in the chaotic temporal flow. Only Carlos could accurately pinpoint the fragmented spaces.

Mantis Monster braced against the dimensional erosion to initiate teleportation, completing the flicker only to arrive at a worse position, at the brink of a spatial rift, its body split into halves in different space-time portals. The swarm looked up, watching Carlos’ shattered figure as the light twisted.

Carlos used portals to build a labyrinth in constant flux, trapping the Mantis Monster.

"Worm Mother, they’ve escaped!"

"Don’t mind it, as long as we kill him, we can always catch those maggots. Yes, rip him apart, I have a hunch."

"All portals are usable, which means he doesn’t have the direct capability to harm us."

The Swarm Queen issued orders through the swarm network.

"Traverse all portals! Don’t miss a single one. This space may be decomposed but not nonexistent! There will always be one that leads to that arcanist’s location. As long as one kin is there, he can be killed!"

The swarm accelerated their teleportation.

Controlling this space, cold sweat beaded on Carlos’ forehead. It was no longer a matter of power confrontation, as he clearly realized. The reason for the Mantis Monster’s teleportation to incorrect locations was actually very simple; he opened another portal at the end of the ones Mantis Monster initiated, creating an endless path like his father Morocoy once did.

However, here were thousands of insects; even ignoring the magic consumption from the magic web’s power, the mental energy required to cast the spell was unavoidable, especially at the same time for thousands of instances. Though an arcanist’s mental reserves are extremely high, they do have a limit. The Mantis Monsters were evolving, accelerating, and continually adapting to new spatial environments. Carlos had no doubt that they would soon become masters of space-time teleportation, and at that time, it would be the end of his life.

"It doesn’t matter anymore, it’s not like I haven’t died before."

Carlos regretted not studying space-time modeling more diligently as a child. If he had studied more about black hole singularity and space-time paradoxes, this tactic [Open - Eyes of a Thousand] wouldn’t only have binding capabilities; indeed, he had read too few books.

As Carlos exhausted his mental energy, the Mantis Monster broke through the portal maze, twisting its hand-blade. The Swarm Queen watched Carlos with a gaze mixed with excitement. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"Your name, wizard, I will remember your name."

Carlos elegantly bowed, maintaining his poise.

"Carlos Jane Dolgette, son of Morocoy, leader of the arcanists, for now."

The gaze of the Mantis Monster shifted, revealing a human-like interest, and Carlos chuckled, discarding the absurd thought.

"Seems I’m still quite charming."

"Yes, destroying Morocoy’s creation, just the thought of it makes me so excited that I could go mad."

The Mantis Monster Queen couldn’t wait and lunged forward at a speed unreachable by human nervous systems. As Carlos’ pupils dilated, he saw in his eyes the image of the queen entering a predatory state—dangerous, yet beautiful.

Like looking in a mirror.

The mirror shattered as the Mantis Monster’s blade struck empty space, landing in another barrier.

Mr. Jing’s Mirror World.

"You must understand the situation you find yourself in by provoking an excellent magic course professor. Carlos carries the bloodline of the teacher, and we will not remain indifferent."

Numerous Mantis Monsters followed the queen into the Mirror World. They beheld the lone Lich floating in the air, surveyed the surrounding environment, uneasy at the horizonless illusion. Spitting a mouthful of vile mucus from their mouthparts, the Mantis Monster shouted, "Another contemptible barrier. You Morocoy spellcasters truly have dirty, vile, and disgusting minds!"

"Um... thanks?" replied the Lich.