Chapter 133: Is the Heart-Space Equivalent to the Death-Space?

As an innate talent of Lando, the Mindscape requires the power of his internal furnace to function. When battling in the outside world, setting aside its myriad transformative abilities, the power Lando can exert is strictly limited by the furnace’s output efficiency.

However, once he expands the Mindscape, its total energy capacity and structural stability exceed his own baseline by over a hundredfold.

After mastering the knowledge of Necromancy, Lando—though having no intention of pursuing that path—conceived a bold idea: if he could imprint the Necrotic Contract spell directly into the Mindscape, he could leverage its vast power to easily bind even Legendary-tier undead. Given the Mindscape’s capacity, it would be entirely possible to contract more than ten Legendary undead creatures, thereby resolving the predicament Lando currently faced in one fell swoop.

Yet, this presented a dilemma. The most vital attribute of the Mindscape is its infinite versatility; imprinting such a spell might solidify its nature and diminish its future potential. This was the reason for Lando’s hesitation.

The present or the future?

Of course, Lando did not intend to dwell on this indefinitely. He set his deadline for the decision at the moment he entered the Necrotic Grotto, as there would be no better place to reap the rewards of such a modification.

Lando had now made up his mind. Rather than waiting for an uncertain future, he chose to seize the present and extract the greatest possible benefit.

Stepping out of his magic tower, Lando shifted his focus. The vibrant, kaleidoscopic Mindscape suddenly turned somber, with the vast majority of its energy shifting toward the essence of death.

Runes appeared in the sky, gradually weaving themselves into the Necrotic Contract spell. The moment the spell template solidified, it shuddered slightly and sank into the depths of the Mindscape. An inexplicable transformation began to unfold silently within.

Lando sensed this change, but he felt no need to remove the spell to see if the process would halt; that would be meaningless. He turned his attention to the first purple-tier talent he had acquired, which had been gathering dust in his system until now.

[Nurture the Dead (Purple): Undead creatures awakened or summoned by you can break the shackles of their own race and continuously improve their strength.]

The term "Necrotic" was merely the nomenclature of the Dead Corner clan; in essence, these were simply undead, and their practitioners were no different from Necromancers.

"Since I’ve decided to develop in this direction for now, there is no room for hesitation," Lando muttered to himself. He spent his Soul Essence to manifest the talent.

The number of manifestable talents in his system dropped from two to one. In an instant, a strange aura emerged within Lando. Perhaps because there were no targets, it remained dormant and still.

With a thought, Lando summoned his Bone Beast. The Necrotic Contract spell emerged within the Mindscape, and he bound the creature with ease. Sensing the connection clearly, Lando shattered the binding ring he had previously used on the beast; it was no longer necessary.

The nurturing power from the [Nurture the Dead] talent flowed through the contract and into the Bone Beast. Originally, the beast’s potential was limited, and it had only reached its current strength thanks to Lando’s runic inscriptions. Now, however, Lando could clearly feel the beast’s very essence undergoing rapid enhancement under the influence of the nurturing power. So long as it consumed enough souls, its strength would immediately rise.

Lando wore a satisfied expression. He ignored the Bone Beast, which was fawning at his feet with its intelligence now further improved, and exited the Mindscape. He intended to sweep through the Necrotic Grotto and find more undead with high strength or potential.

The exploration period for the Necrotic Grotto was one month. If a student did not return within that time, the Central Academy would send powerful individuals to search for the fools who had lost their way; those who could not be found were simply considered dead.

Rumors had been circulating among the students that Skeleton Generals—powerful undead at least at the Fourth Rank—had appeared on the first and second levels. Many students suspected that the sealing arrays were failing or that new, unsealed passages had opened, a phenomenon that had occurred in the past.

Consequently, many lower-year students left the grotto early. While the instructors at the Central Academy found this regrettable, there was nothing to be done. According to regulations, the experts from the Imperial Court would only perform maintenance after all students had departed. The only silver lining was that this had little impact on the senior students.

Lando had naturally received this news, so he decided to accelerate his exploration; it would be too conspicuous if he were the only lower-year student left at the end. He set his deadline at fifteen days.

Five days later, having deployed most of his Sentry Golems to scout, his progress through the grotto was rapid. He was already on the fourth level, and he had even discovered the entrance to the fifth.

His harvest was substantial. Beyond the Bone Beast, he had acquired five more undead creatures in his Mindscape, each with potential far exceeding that of the Bone Beast.

Among them was a Lich. Unfortunately, due to its low strength during the conversion process, it was only a Fourth Rank and had not inherited its original wisdom, possessing only the instincts of an undead. However, because it could still cast certain spells from its former life, it became the first spellcasting unit under Lando’s command. Moreover, Liches possessed a unique trait: once they reached the Seventh Rank, they regained human-level intelligence, making it a subordinate well worth nurturing.

Most undead on the fourth level were at the Sixth Rank, with the occasional Seventh Rank appearing. For those he found lacking, Lando simply killed a portion to let his Bone Beast consume their souls and increase its strength.

After a brief rest, Lando prepared to enter the fifth level. Curiously, while he had "seen" most of the seniors by now, he had not found a single trace of Rorell. Logically, given Rorell’s strength, it should have been impossible for him to venture as deep as the fifth level. Although Rorell had been concealing his aura, Lando had vaguely sensed back at the academy that the man’s strength was around the Fifth Rank, certainly no higher than the sixth.

Lando suspected that Rorell possessed some treasure that prevented undead from attacking him, which only made him more interested in the secrets hidden deep within the Necrotic Grotto.