Archmage Edgar was at his wit’s end.


    Necromancers, especially those from the gue branch of necromancy, have always had a notorious reputation. Whenever there was an outbreak of strange diseases, gues, or unexinable deaths, the first reaction of people was:


    What mischief is the gue branch up to now?


    Whom have they cursed?


    Have they been testing new spells on living beings?


    Or did something from theirboratories leak out?


    If not for the fact that the ck Crow Swamp was genuinely formidable, especially in group battles, the ostracization they faced would have been even more severe.


    This is where young Garrett deserves praise. Ever since he published several papers on infectious diseases and gues, proving the methods of gue transmission, and provided the standard management norms for P4boratories, the necromancers found a powerful argument in their defense.


    People from the gue branch could proudly say:"Myboratory meets the standards! Myb management is strict enough! This gue/disease/death has nothing to do with me!"


    However, before peace couldst two days, the shadow of a necromantic gue curse appeared in this outbreak!


    "Is the news reliable?" he asked the mage who brought the news seriously. The informant nodded heavily:


    "It was ya who told me. She and I studied in the same Mage Tower for seven years—The Commissioner asked her to pass the message, saying both our ck Crow Swamp and the Commissioner from Light of the Stars have confirmed the existence of the curse, and told us to clean it up quickly."


    Archmage Edgar expressed his understanding. Since the necromanticmittee members had personally witnessed it, the source of the gue being a magical curse was beyond doubt. Sending the message was merely to catch a significant insider quickly, to avoid falling into others’ hands, which would look bad.


    Damn it, the gue branch had repeatedly warned, noboratories, no passing the assessment, and research should be suspended. Who dared to challenge this head-on?


    He spurred his Phantom Steed, following the messenger toward the water source. The 12 buildings where the gue outbreak urred, the water source of the water supplypany, had long been under the control of the council. The Phantom Steed galloped without any detour, climbing mountains and crossing rivers, drawing a straight line on the map. In no time, the two magical mounts stopped beside a smallke.


    "The Commissioner detected the curse’s presence here," the messenger pointed at theke water. Edgar hummed, dismounted, walked to theke’s edge, and started casting spells with swift hand movements.


    A thin ck light fell into theke. Soon, the water gently began to boil, releasing a series of bubbles. Edgar patiently waited for a while before he saw those ck and green bubbles slowly gather together, moving closer to him with his gestures.


    Edgar changed his hand gestures. This time, the bubbles coalesced, forming a small snake coiled upon itself, floating and sinking on the water waves. Edgar squinted his eyes, carefully examining the scale patterns on the snake’s body. After a while, he waved his hand and blew a whistle.


    The small snake turned around and swam towards the shore. Unfortunately, the overgrownkeside was not its home turf, nor was the dried-up creek. The green scales on its body started to diminish as if rubbing off into the bushes.


    Having traveled only about a hundred meters, the small snake’s body became ethereal, almost invisible. Edgar hummed and casually dispersed it:


    "Still a bit cunning. The source of the gue is further ahead—let’s go!"


    Though the magically formed small snake didn’tst long, it had already pointed them in the right direction. The two magicians followed the creek uphill, climbing halfway up the mountainside, carefully inspecting the water traces, constantly casting spells to find the source of the disease, and quickly found their target in the bushes.


    It was a dead wild beast. After many days, it had dposed beyond recognition, barely resembling its original form. Edgar chanted a few spells, waved his hand, and heard a buzzing sound as a swarm of flies flew out from the bushes.


    The carcass of the beast stood up. Its bones, breaking through the rotting flesh, reassembled into its living shape. Its head turned aimlessly, then lowered, its fangs scraping the soil forcefully.


    "Oh, it turns out to be a wild boar." The great mage nodded. The mystery of why the gue broke out in the city so long after the wild boar’s death was solved: the wild boar had not died in theke at the water source, but on the mountain, and the seeds of the disease were washed down by rainwater. He nced around casually:


    "Go, find all your brothers and sisters!"


    He sent a dark light into the skeletal boar. The boar turned around twice, changed direction, and


    started running towards the ridge top. The mage followed leisurely behind, even sparing magic to speed it up, but after crossing two mountain tops, his face quickly soured:


    The boar had led them to the newly demarcated public health department’s water source, supplying the entire Nevis City!


    The boar sniffed around, east and west, moving forward. Soon, it dug up a dead rat near the water source, then another, and another. After three to five dead rats appeared, Edgar was trembling with rage. He raised his hand, and a dense ck light fell:


    "Go, find them all!"


    The skeletal rats scattered. Being small and agile, they were much faster than the boar and quickly led Edgar to twenty to thirty dead rats. The two closest to the water source had died less than ten meters from the reservoir!


    Another magical test on the time of death showed that the rats had died nearly a week earlier than the boar. If they had carried the disease into the water, contaminating the reservoir, the entire city would have been in danger!


    Edgar cast a spell towards the reservoir. The same spell he used at theke fell into the reservoir, but instead of stirring up ck and green bubbles, it brought forth a lively light green aura. Looking closer, the water nts at the bottom of theke gently swayed, sterilizing, filtering, and cleaning—these were nts specially cultivated by the God of Nature’s sect to purify water bodies.


    Even if a few disease seeds entered the reservoir, these nts could eliminate most of them.


    Hundreds of storage tanks at the end, Garrett’s apprentices changing bleach bottles every three days, testing water quality every three days; the biogas pool in the slum area zing, constantly providing boiling water for free. Three lines of defense connected one after another, protecting the safety of Nevis City’s citizens.


    Fortunately, there was a centralized water supply facility, and fortunately, precautions were taken in advance... Maybe, the curser found the rats ineffective and then changed the target tounch the spell?


    Edgar let out a long sigh. He changed his gestures, casting several spells in session,nding on the skeletal boar and rats. Finally, with a forceful wave of his hand:


    "Go, to the source that cursed you!"


    The boar and rats fell silently to the ground, disintegrating into bones. From the pile of bones, dozens of bone fragments rustled, forming a few bone crows, which spread their wings and flew away.<ul><li>Your invaluable feedback and ratings mean the world to me. Please take a moment to rate this novel at <strong>Novelupdate</strong>.</li><li>If youe across any mistakes within this chapter, kindly notify me in thements below, so that I can make the necessary corrections.</li></ul>