Lao Lao Wang's Works The Butterfly that Crossed Time and Space Volume 4, Chapter 5: Fat Witch Owo (Part 1)

  "What is the end of a normal life? Is it the chill of several epochs, is it the walking dead, is it the twisted consciousness with only one thought: hunger for living things!"

  This is an ancient necromancer's exposition on the group of "undead creatures", a group that has clearly died, but due to strong obsession, through the power of magic, "lived" again. These beings, which exist in the world with tenacious willpower, have been dead yet still alive since the discovery of magic by intelligent beings, and have written a heavy stroke in the history of this world.

  Among the undead, there are also many levels, most of which are just mindless corpses, except for the strongest among the three types of undead creatures: mummies, vampires, and liches. Among them, the lich who abandoned his physical body is even more worthy of being called the king of the undead.

  To become a lich, having powerful magic is the most basic premise. After that, he also has endless time to study magic. Therefore, liches are usually first-class great mages, and due to long-term erosion by negative energy that maintains their bodies, they generally have very evil and eccentric personalities. They were once listed together with evil dragons as the two worst things in the world, and after being exaggerated through the artistic processing of bards, they eventually reached an unbelievable level.

  In distant legends, witches often hide in abandoned ancient castles, deep tombs or ice-sealed mountains and other inexplicable places, using strange means such as cooking people alive to study evil magic. At the same time, they are also making so-called dreams of ruling the world in dark, damp laboratories crawling with insects and rats, just like the murmurs of "I want to be an official" emitted by street vagrants in sewers.

  In order to turn daydreams into reality, they constantly create zombie trends, soul-eating winds and other terrifying events, occasionally bringing in large numbers of dark creatures to take the stage themselves. Strangely, all the attacks are usually just a taste, always leaving the victims with the opportunity to search the world for "justice heroes", even if it takes decades, which is really too kind to be consistent with the evil nature of witches. Moreover, they stupidly make their base location known to everyone, with a "come and beat me" attitude.

  Of course, these terrorist attacks are just a sideline for the witch, whose main job is still to play the role of the big villain. In her own lair, she constantly PKs with brave warriors who come from who-knows-where. It's strange that the powerful kingdom army or church armed forces can't handle the witch, but she often loses to a few inexperienced adventurer birds and ends up being trampled underfoot by these legendary "justice heroes", brought to those rescued villages or kingdoms, becoming an important reason for beauties to throw themselves into their arms and rich people to empty their pockets.

  But those were all old yellow calendars from very long ago!

  In this era, witches no longer need to hide in desolate and uninhabited places. Instead, they can live openly and freely in cities. They also have to work for a living, pay taxes, obey the law, be pursued by loan sharks, and if they commit crimes, they will be sent to prison just like anyone else. If they want to enter politics, they must work hard to develop their skills of persuasion, and they must disguise their unsightly skeletal appearance with transformation techniques or other means to make themselves look presentable. Otherwise, it would be impossible for them to win votes.

  The current Regent of the Nefarian Empire, Ganmelyr, is a politician-type lich who not only managed to get himself a handsome and slender vessel but also excels in debate and oratory skills, possibly even surpassing Prince Shyrek, the Liar King. Many lawyers and aspiring politicians clamor to learn from him, and he has published numerous books on speaking techniques and current events. However, being busy with his verbal sparring, writing, and handling imperial affairs leaves him no time for magical research. It's said that he has regressed to the point where he can't even cast a fireball spell.

  The fat old man in front of him had clearly lost all signs of life, but he could still speak and his mind was still relatively clear. He looked like an undead creature. Since he didn't have sharp fangs and had a somewhat human-like appearance, with red lights flashing in and out of his eyes, which were characteristic of witches, the old man's identity was easy to determine.

  "This old man is probably some wretched warlock who attaches great importance to appearances."

  Fili sat on the tile floor, staring at the ice cube with **Fat Old Man**, making his own judgment about this guy's species classification. However, he still couldn't understand how a great wizard could be trapped in his own bathtub!

  What is a great wizard? It's the king of magicians, the embodiment of wisdom and ability! Occasionally, a few stupid witches can be understood, but most likely they made a mistake during their transformation. But when it comes to great wizards, it's really hard to understand why some of them are so stupid.

  The Imperial Senate, in order to accommodate the big shots from all over the place, has lowered the standards for the Great Mages' students time and again. But no matter how much they lower the standards, they can't let idiots who freeze themselves into bathtubs get in.

  And yet, this place doesn't look like a prison for sealing away demons at all. So the fat old man in the bathtub shouldn't be some kind of dangerous prisoner either. Then why is he putting on such a ridiculous show? Is it performance art or mental illness?

  "Hey, old man, are you really the great wizard? Didn't you steal this robe?" Fili poked at the old man's chubby face with his hand and found it was soft, not dry and stiff like a corpse.

  "Desist, you impudent rascal!" The old man was visibly enraged, his jowls quivering with indignation. "You dare to suspect the great, all-powerful Archmage Ovor of being a thief? This is a serious crime, a slander against my good name, and by extension, a slander against the Council of Elders, the Empire, and the entire magical community..."

  Although the fat old man was frozen in the ice bath, he kept talking and spraying saliva for a long time, elevating Phil's words and deeds to the height of rebellion and treason, but Phil obviously only noticed the first sentence.

  "Wait, old man, what did you say your name was? Owo?"

  "Hey, kid! Don't you know it's extremely rude to interrupt your elders?! And you should address me as the Great and Powerful Wizard Owo, sir!" The fat old man who was interrupted looked very displeased, trying his best to look dignified, but unfortunately, with a towel on his head and being stuck in an ice block, he didn't quite pull it off, only reminding Fili of "The Emperor's New Clothes".

  "A shame among the great mages, a loser among the undead, and an enemy of women all over the world?" Phil's face twisted as he spat out a string of personal attacks.

  "Which artless moron gave me so many ugly nicknames, this is an insult to the great Mr. Owo! I'll sue him for libel! Sue him for invasion of personal reputation! Sue him..."

  I see, you're that shameless old man who loves taking baths so much. Phil didn't even bother with the still yelling Ovo in the ice bath and finally couldn't help but burst out laughing, laughing until his whole body went soft and weak, collapsing to the ground.

  Generally speaking, great mages are academic authorities with major innovations in magical research and also have considerable weight on the imperial political stage. These people are knowledgeable, experienced, responsible, and honorable, usually presenting a deep, majestic, and leader-like demeanor to the outside world. Even those who pretend to be something they're not strive to approach this image, sometimes even more so than real mages, otherwise it's hard to gain recognition from the citizens.

  But the forest is big, and all kinds of birds will have them. The number of great magicians has increased, and several very individualistic guys have emerged. Awo is one of the most representative ones, and the absurdity of his behavior makes even punk band members on Earth surrender.

  It turns out that Awo wasn't always so eccentric. Among the world's mages, his seniority is quite old, and he is one of the few ancient great mages who survived from the First Empire of Nasiriel. He is also a first-rate scholar of necromancy and a powerful lich. He has long been known for studying the cutting-edge technology of "life and death transformation". In the era of the First Empire, Awo looked almost the same as other dedicated great mages, focusing on his own research topics. Except for liking to use students as experimental subjects and killing many people, there was nothing unusual about him.

  In the long years from the fall of the First Empire to the establishment of the Second, Owo remained in seclusion in his secretly constructed lair, studying magical knowledge, unknown to anyone. When the Dark Soul City had just returned to the main material plane, they also inquired about his news, but to no avail. Everyone thought he was already finished when the empire fell, and gradually stopped going.

  It wasn't until the end of the First Continental War, after Emperor Tarmanat-Tanshul's death, that he suddenly reappeared and ran to the capital of the Nizari Empire, shamelessly seeking an official position. Everyone saw his seniority, high learning, and with the help of Lavok, another great wizard who survived from the First Empire era, who spoke highly of him. As a result, Owo smoothly entered the Imperial Senate, presided over magical research work, and was allocated a small floating city as his residence, which was very glorious for a time.

  But many years later, everyone including Lavok regretted the decision to take in Owo, for this fatso had lost face not only for the Great Wizard but also for the Imperial Senate and even the entire Narsel Empire!