This Lich Requests More Remuneration

Chapter 48: Chapter 48 Replacing the Future with the Dice of Destiny Chapter 48: Chapter 48 Replacing the Future with the Dice of Destiny The light of the magic array flared, and the Gold Coins on the platform began to melt away rapidly.

Countless lights and shadows sprang to life, looking like film clips from various angles of Alchemy City, along with many blurry figures that kept condensing and dissipating.

Harvey said excitedly, “Success! I’ve connected to destiny!”

Harvey had indeed improved a lot, but controlling this powerful magic array was still somewhat beyond him.

After these lights and shadows appeared, he felt as if a great mountain were pressing down on him. The immense pressure made Harvey’s heart race, and his body seemed to tremble.

Amberser immediately reminded him, “Don’t resist, you are capturing fragments of the future, not resisting destiny. Don’t you believe in fate? Death will come sooner or later, whether it’s now or not doesn’t matter!”

Harvey showed a bitter smile, accepting destiny was one thing, but being indifferent to death was another; it was easy to say, but difficult to do.

Harvey could only try his best to focus his attention, trying to pinpoint something desired from these continuously changing images.

“The secret of the sewer…”

Muttering this, the flickering images began to slow down, the cityscapes started to decrease, and the dark, damp sewers began to take up more space.

“Well done!” prised Amberser.

This kid was truly talented, and it made one wonder who his mentor was. Entry to the School of Prophecy was difficult, and it was rare to find such a clever student. Not to keep him close for proper training, but instead to let him out as a consultant for some washed-up small Lord was truly a waste of talent.

With Harvey’s effort, the images grew increasingly slower, the lights and shadows began to freeze, turning into a shard that flickered with blue light.

Harvey said excitedly, “I did it, this is destiny!”

The shard seemed like a small piece stolen from the river of time, continuously playing the same scene.

A blurry figure appeared in the sewer, holding a glowing Divine Artifact in hand. A powerful force descended from the heavens, pierced through the surface, and entered this person, as Divine Nature began to manifest. Countless Deity apparitions appeared, amidst their blessings and curses, a mortal ascended to divinity.

The scene was very detailed, except for the blurred person becoming a deity and some indecipherable properties of the divinity, all other details were very realistic, as if it would indeed happen.

Just as Harvey was about to dissipate the magic and dispel the ceremony, Amberser said, “Don’t relax, this is a false destiny.”

“False destiny?” Harvey said, surprised.

Amberser explained, “Yes, those madmen in Alchemy City have created a false destiny, misled all beings who possess the power of prophecy. Previously, I encountered a group of Druids and a Witch in the sewer, lured there by the prophecy.

“Prophecy is but a peek into a corner of destiny, and you can’t expect every voyeur to see the same scene through the same peephole unless someone deliberately forges it.”

Harvey had not expected such an argument. To create a false future and deceive all prophets? What kind of magic was this, probably surpassing even that of the Legendary rank, right?

“So what do we do now?” Harvey asked. He couldn’t tell the true from the false prophecy and had even less idea how to find the hidden truth.

“Use your power, the power of the School of Prophecy! Don’t tell me you haven’t prepared anything in these past few days. Whether for an escape or to kill me, you must have prepared numerous futures, right?” Amberser said.

Harvey felt quite embarrassed, realizing that all his little actions had been under Amberser’s observation.

Preparing the future, that was a rather mystical expression, and in reality, it was indeed mystical.

Mages of the School of Prophecy could manifest destiny through meditation, like turning it into a twenty-sided dice.

Before the future arrived, they would throw this dice, pinning down the numbers.

Then, one can use the numbers rolled with this dice to exchange the outcomes of the future. Take a high-number roll to replace a bad future with a good one, or use a low-number roll to turn a fortunate future into an unfortunate event.

What’s even more preposterous is that the Dice of Destiny can swap not only one’s own future but also that of others.

Previously, when Amberser encountered the Witch in the sewers, he employed this method to replace her randomly teleporting future, making her teleport only to nearby locations, never able to escape.

This is the power of the School of Prophecy: to edit the outcomes, akin to a Deity.

No one could clarify whether the future replaced counts as altering destiny, or if the act of exchanging is itself predestined.

Amberser had conducted many tests, which only led him to lose direction and failed to yield any answer.

And now, Amberser wanted Harvey to use his dice to alter this future.

If this was a false prophecy, then it could be shattered with the Dice of Destiny.

Harvey took a deep breath and began to gather his strength.

A series of dice, emanating starlight, materialized and began to orbit around Harvey, a manifestation of his prophetic power.

Seeing this, Amberser wasn’t too pleased, thinking discontentedly, “Tsk, just five dice… In my plan, at least seven dice would be needed to reliably shatter this false destiny.”

Harvey was unaware of Amberser’s reduced estimation of him and was wholly focused on controlling his Dice of Destiny, attempting to use their power to alter the Prophecy Shard before him.

A die was cast, falling into the shard and causing only ripples.

The vision within the shard remained the same, with the blurry figure still becoming a Deity, as if nothing had changed.

Harvey, seeing this situation, steeled his heart and smashed the remaining four Dice of Destiny at it.

This time, the false Prophecy Shard finally showed signs of change, with numerous cracks appearing, and then it exploded completely.

Amberser sighed, and dozens of Dice of Destiny materialized around him, smashing these shattered futures into even finer pieces, the laboratory as if bathed in a shower of light.

The endless light fragments collapsed and reconverged into seven tiny crystals, each reflecting a different future.

Amberser sighed, recognizing that in the end, he had to intervene.

But every use of the School of Prophecy’s power took him further from his new path, leaving him forever a second-rate Legendary.

Nevertheless, now that he had already used it, there was no time for regrets; Amberser hastily examined this new future.

On the first shard, Amberser saw a little Gold Coin mountain, a fortune of over a million gold coins appearing right in his laboratory.

Very well, quite favorable, it must be destiny’s will for me to become rich!

But what does all this have to do with the sewers?

On the second shard, there appeared a figure with noble airs but skin as pale as paper—an eerie beauty—holding Amberser’s head… just his head.

Amberser’s worst fear had materialized.

If a beneficial future is simply destiny’s will, then do I accept a harmful future as out of my control too?