When I opened my eyes to gray trees and flat ground, I didn't how much time had passed in that space or in reality, but since there didn't seem to be any major changes I ignored it.
The first thing I noticed about my new body was that it had something that the undead never had.
"I have a heartbeat?"
To confirm, I placed my hand at my chest and felt the 'ba-dump'. I was now well aware of how difficult it was for an undead to return to life, but not only did my heartbeat return, I could also use all five senses and my skin wasn't as pale as before.
'To change me from an undead back to a living being, can all dragons do this or was that one special?'
I didn't have any yearning towards being alive again, in fact I was a little annoyed by it, especially when I remembered that this wasn't for free. My detection ability was much stronger now so I could feel the chain that seemed to be binding my soul to somewhere deep inside the forest.
'The Dragon Contract, huh? At least I don't have to worry about getting lost.'
I no longer even had the choice of escaping and it didn't help that the dragon didn't do this on purpose. A Dragon Contract was automatically formed when a dragon made a promise with another creature. Once it was made, the one who made the promise with the dragon wouldn't be allowed to die before they completed the promise or the dragon died, and could not take any actions that could be seen as renegading on the promise. Only beings as strong as or stronger than the dragons could resist the effects of this promise.
'Since I have absolutely no choice I should get things in order quickly and then depart.'
My memories were in order but this couldn't even be considered the first step to fixing my soul for it was akin to taking out your textbook before class.
The lich had stolen bodies when it was still human but the distortion of those souls couldn't compare to the state mine was in. Furthermore, without the right materials I had to take the slow method of fixing my soul. I wasn't a ticking timebomb but I couldn't help but shiver whenever I thought of the horrific image I saw.
I could no longer see the true shape of my soul, but Necromancy allowed me to sense it. It was a rather discomforting feeling, as if I was being stretched and pulled from every direction, therefore I tried not to mind it very much.
Fixing my ruined soul would take much time and careful processes so I planned on doing it on the way to meet that dragon, but there was something I had to do first.
'Before I do that I should check my status.'
[Unnamed
Race: Forest Dragon's Kin
Strength: 968
Agility: 688
Dexterity: 670
Defence: 707
Skills: Assimilation (Unique) | Curse Magic (MAX) (Rare) | Swordsmanship (level 3) (Rare) | Imbue Holy (Common) | Magic Eyes of Perception (Rare) | Fire Magic (level 4) (Rare) | Devotion (Special) | Berserk (Rare) | Hypnosis (Rare) | Forest's Blessing (Special) | Dark Magic (level 7) (Rare) | Necromancy (MAX) (Rare) | Bone Magic (level 6) (Special) | Mana Manipulation (Rare) | Barrier (Rare) | Superspeed Thought Processing (Special) | Drain Touch (Rare) | Dragon Eyes of Truth (Incomplete) (Rare) | Nature Magic (level 3) (Rare)
Titles: Heretic | Child of the Sacred Beast]
It wasn't as exaggerated as before, but I still felt satisfied looking at my stats that were all above 500. Even so, it was like a knife through the heart when I remembered what I would have to do with them.
'It's for a good cause. I need to keep telling myself that.'
Looking down at my skills, I only sighed when I saw the ones that the lich had. I hated the lich for almost taking my body but I would still use these skills properly. I didn't have the right to be picky at this stage.
The Dragon Eyes of Truth was something that tickled my childish heart, perhaps even more because it was incomplete.
[Dragon Eyes of Truth (Incomplete)
As one who shares a strong bond with a dragon, you have been granted limited access to the ability to see through all lies and deception.]
The moment I saw the skill and thought of how I could use it, a faint smile appeared on my face. One that could be called evil, but I disagree. It was only innocent joy after all. Yes, just that.
I noticed Nature Magic but there was no time to test it out so I skipped to my titles.
'It's gone huh? Well, I guess it's not too surprising...'
For some reason I felt a tiny bit sad that my very first title was gone, and what took its place didn't put a smile on my face despite how good it was.
[Child of the Sacred Beast
The sacred beast has blessed you to carry out its intent. No resident of the forest can throw the first blow at you and any creature of the forest that is weaker than you will become completely subservient.
All nature magic abilities will be ten times stronger inside the forest and five times stronger outside the forest.]
' 'Sacred Beast', huh? Just as I thought.'
Even with the lich's memories, all I knew about the sacred beast was that it was the creator and protector of this forest. According to legend, the sacred beast sought a place to rest its tired bones and picked one at random. After centuries of rest, a forest grew in its vicinity and the sacred beast continued to watch over these lands without moving. The lich didn't know why its master wanted the sacred beast, but after finding out that it was a dragon I had a few ideas.
Once I read the description of this title, I sighed once more before moving my eyes from my status. It was without a doubt a spectacular title but I felt like a spearman who was given a super strong sword that I don't know how to use.
'Ha..., I'll just have to find some time to get familiar with it.'
With my status review over with, I used Revive Shadow.
"Come, #1, magic girl, buff boy."
Shortly after, the naked figures of the three appeared before my eyes. As usual, they stood before me with dull eyes, but this would likely be the last time I would see them like this.
I raised my palms to face them and repeated the incantation that I remembered. I thought I would need to stress my brain more since I was an undead, but now that I was a living being I felt that I could use these shortcuts.
"Tie the bonds that will bind us for all eternity. Ah, su, za."
There were three things necessary for a spell to work, imagination, mana control and sufficient energy. By using this incantation, I didn't need to focus as much of my imagination on executing the spell because it would supplement what I lacked or got wrong as long as I wasn't too far off. Still, while it was possible to shorten incantations in the midst of battle it would be easier if I didn't use them.
'I almost feel sorry for those humans who need to use incantations. Then again, I was jealous of them when I first found out about incantations....Oh well.'
With Superspeed Thought Processing, I didn't need to devote my entire mind to the spell and could have idle thoughts as I watched the transformation happen. While I was being a lazy boss watching my body do all the work, I 'saw' the change that took place to their souls.
Since they were all still part of me, majority of their souls were made up of mine while the rest was the piece of their original soul that was left. I used to think that this was great since they could be disposable slaves that would never betray me, but then the lich's memories opened my eyes to the possibilities of Curse Magic and Soul Magic.
Soul Magic was a higher form of necromancy and was rarely seen in history so I didn't have to worry much about it, but once someone reached the maximum level of 5 in Curse Magic, it was possible to hold a Cursed Ritual. With this ability, as long as you had something of enough importance to the person you were targeting, you could even kill them, but only if the curse was effective. Most lethal curses had no effect on undead but now that I was a living person I couldn't be careless. It would suck if someone captured one of these three and used them to kill me.
And so, I used a spell from the lich's memories that could change people into familiars which would still be loyal to me but would no longer be completely controlled by me. This would weaken our connection enough to prevent serious injury if they were captured without being able to kill themselves.
The first step was to extract their original souls to use as the base. Since their bodies were fakes made from mine, the souls weren't bound too strongly to them so this part was easy. However, since their original soul was in tatters, I had to reshape them by adding pure soul essence. This would normally be obtained by sacrificing people, but I seemed to retain some every time I used Assimilation so I already had it on hand.
I made it sound easy but messing with souls like this was as hard as trying to write a complicated code in just binary. If it wasn't for Superspeed Thought Processing, forget doing the three of them at the same, I would probably make some mistake if I was just doing one of them.
After their souls were fit to be used, I nodded my head at the translucent figures that floated before me. I now had to remake their bodies while creating the link that would make them my familiars, which were kind of like pets. The type that fought for you and did your bidding.
'That's right. Soon you shall be reborn so that you may serve as my slaves for the rest of eternity. Muhahaha!'
While cracking a little joke to pass the time, I waited for my new and improved servants to be born.