After three months of continuous study, Ethan had nearly extracted all of Imhotep's knowledge.
Strictly speaking, at this point, Ethan already had the ability to resurrect Anck-su-namun, even if her body was incomplete. He wouldn't even need to prepare various ritual tools. With his powerful magic and precise spell control, he could bring Anck-su-namun back to life.
However, he still couldn't break free from the constraints of the Book of the Dead and couldn't complete the resurrection relying solely on his own abilities.
This meant that even if Anck-su-namun were resurrected, she would still be controlled by the Book of the Living, or rather, by the gods.
This control wasn't about being overwhelmed by sheer divine power. Rather, it was the gods arbitrarily using a 'rule' to decide your life or death, or making it so you couldn't live or die.
Thinking until his head hurt, Ethan finally cleared his mind, which had been running at high speed for some time. He sat down on the ground and zoned out for a while before feeling slightly better.
Looking up, he realized he was the only one left in the room aside from Ada, who had returned at some point. Imhotep no longer stayed by Ethan's side waiting to answer questions.
All of his knowledge had been extracted by Ethan. The remaining information about rituals, worshiping deities, and general ancient Egyptian culture was of no interest to Ethan.
After "donating" all his knowledge to Ethan and sitting in front of him for over two months, answering the occasional question, Imhotep now had more free time.
Recently, Ethan had been asking fewer and fewer questions. Sometimes, he wouldn't ask anything at all for an entire day. Most of the time, Imhotep wandered around Hamunaptra, seemingly reminiscing about his past glory.
Perhaps being thoroughly disciplined by Ethan had worn down some of the arrogance in this High Priest. At least during this period, Imhotep was polite toward Ethan's companions, and everyone got along reasonably well. Occasionally, he would even take them on strolls through Hamunaptra, explaining the purpose of each room.
Touring Hamunaptra and listening to Imhotep recount stories of the past had become one of the few sources of entertainment for the group.
Still, most people remained wary of Imhotep, so they usually stuck together in groups, giving him no chance to act out of line.
Only Ada often acted alone. This spy never liked cooperating with others, just like this time.
"You just got back from outside?"
Ada was beautiful and carried herself with excellent poise. Ethan never denied that her high appearance rating was a big reason he invited her onto the ship.
At this moment, Ada was sitting casually on a stone platform, her short boots placed beside her. She was taking off her socks and slapping the soles of her feet, probably trying to shake out the fine sand or knock off any stuck grains.
There was sand inside Hamunaptra too, but not to this extent. Only returning from outside would require such a cleanup.
Hearing Ethan's question, Ada didn't find her actions undignified at all. After confirming most of the sand was out of her socks, she picked up her boots and began digging into them carefully.
"Not all of the Guardians have left. Some are still watching nearby. I go out every day to check if their numbers have changed."
It was normal for the Guardians to remain. One of their duties was to protect Hamunaptra. Even though Imhotep, the main threat, had been resurrected, they still had to stay until their leaders made a new decision.
If the Guardians withdrew, it meant a decision had been made. Whether they would then move against Ethan's group or simply disband remained to be seen.
A sudden increase in Guardian numbers would suggest that Ethan's group had been discovered and reinforcements had arrived in preparation for an attack.
"Good to keep an eye on them. Who knows what those lunatics will do."
After digging around for a while, Ada turned the boots upside down in front of her. As she tapped their sides, a pile of sand spilled out.
"How much longer are we staying here? I feel like my skin is getting rough."
"That's definitely your imagination. The enhancement potion I gave you is enough to prevent this kind of weather from affecting you."
Ethan rested his chin in his hand, watching Ada's casual movements with interest. They had nothing to do with elegance or beauty, yet he found it amusing.
His knowledge of this woman mainly came from a few games and CG films in his past life. In those works, Ada was always beautiful no matter the setting. Scenes like this, where she was cleaning sand from her socks, never existed.
Watching Ada fiddle for a bit before putting her socks and boots back on, she instantly transformed back into the poised, stunning spy—as if the person doing those things a moment ago wasn't her.
"As for when we're leaving... it's probably time."
After all, Hamunaptra was a pyramid that had stood there for thousands of years. It wasn't exactly comfortable to live in, and even Ethan had grown tired of staying there for three months.
It wasn't that he couldn't handle hardship. When he first set sail, hadn't he endured wind, sun, and rain on a tiny boat? It was just that now, when he had the ability to live better, he didn't see the point in suffering. The only reason he hadn't found a more comfortable place this time was that Hamunaptra was secluded, and Imhotep needed to perform the resurrection here.
Now that he had learned the knowledge he wanted, and with the problem seemingly unsolvable in the short term, there was no point in wasting more time. Why continue making things uncomfortable?
"I plan to help Imhotep resurrect Anck-su-namun, then find a more comfortable environment and continue my research at a slower pace."
He had originally intended to fully revise the resurrection spell, fix all the potential issues and side effects, and use the resurrection of Anck-su-namun to test the results and determine whether further adjustments were needed, or if he could go straight to Tony.
But things were more troublesome than expected. The modifications he could make were minor and limited to peripheral areas. The core problems remained unresolved.
The biggest issue was how to avoid the Death God's surveillance, locate a soul that had already 'slept' forever in the underworld, and pull it back to the mortal world.
As of now, there was no good solution. The resurrection spell in the Book of the Dead involved making a formal request to the Death God through the book and obtaining permission. Afterward, the Death God would mark the soul.
Ethan was now considering whether those marks could be removed. If so, to some extent, the resurrected person would be truly free of side effects. The shackles placed by the Death God or other higher beings would no longer affect them.
Of course, if the Death God was petty and chose to settle the score later, there would still be follow-up problems.
Getting up from the ground, Ethan brushed the dust off his clothes and went with Ada to find Imhotep.
Imhotep was strolling through Hamunaptra with his "tour group," occasionally explaining some ancient Egyptian customs. When he saw Ethan approaching, he thought Ethan had come up with another question. Instead, he heard the sentence he had been waiting to hear for so long.
"Let's go resurrect Anck-su-namun."
This was a promise Ethan had made earlier, and he wasn't about to ignore it just because he'd fought with Imhotep before.
Always keeping his word was a line Ethan had drawn for himself, and one he would never cross.
Imhotep knew that Ethan had been trying to modify the resurrection ritual. But as a High Priest, he was more concerned about the authority of the Death God. Although he longed for the kind of resurrection Ethan described—one that could fully escape the Death God's control—after calming down, he felt it was unrealistic.
After several months, he had gradually let go of that "unrealistic" idea. Now, he just wanted to resurrect Anck-su-namun as soon as possible and live a peaceful life with his beloved.
But he hadn't dared suggest, "Don't waste time, let's just resurrect Anck-su-namun." Deep down, he still harbored a sliver of hope. If Ethan really succeeded, wouldn't that be even better?
Although it now seemed Ethan hadn't succeeded, Imhotep no longer cared about those things. Just being able to see his beloved again was enough. He immediately led Ethan to the stone chamber he had prepared long ago for the resurrection ritual.
All the necessary items had already been set up, and Anck-su-namun's body had long since been moved there. In fact, if Imhotep had access to the Book of the Dead, he could perform the resurrection at any time.
However, if Imhotep were to preside over the resurrection, a sacrifice would be needed. One life would have to be exchanged to bring Anck-su-namun's soul back.
Ethan, on the other hand, had no intention of doing that. He planned to directly summon Anck-su-namun's soul and revitalize her body using the Spring of Life and strong enough magic.
The only uncertainty was whether the Death God, as the master of the underworld, would be displeased if no life was offered in exchange.
"We should prepare a sacrifice."
Seeing that Ethan couldn't improve the resurrection spell, Imhotep suggested cautiously that a sacrifice should still be made.
But Ethan deliberately didn't want to do that. He had agreed to resurrect Anck-su-namun precisely to test various ideas and verify certain theories. On the way here, he had already decided to take a major risk based on his own approach.
For example, using his own magic to "hook" Anck-su-namun's soul directly from the underworld—without the Death God's permission.
Of course, this move carried immense risk. So before acting, Ethan gave Logan and the others a look, signaling them to stay close. If anything went wrong, he would immediately activate a teleportation magic circle and escape.
(To be continued.)
***
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