The rumors were indeed true—liches are evil creatures!
So incredibly wicked!
Blushing, Isabel hurried out of Amber's study. Were it any other human lord, rumors of dubious nature would surely circulate.
However, within the dark, eerie castle, such trivial matters were of no concern.
A group of uneasy villagers gathered in the central hall of the castle's first floor. Each had their own thoughts as they fixed their gaze on Isabel ascending the stairs.
The announcement of the pioneering plan was imminent. For them, this was a life-changing moment.
Isabel had never stood before so many people to speak. Despite her efforts to gather courage, her words came out stumbling.
"Um… Lord Lich said we can start the pioneering today... As for the specifics, we will allocate based on the number of young and able-bodied individuals…"
Before she could finish, someone impatiently interjected.
"Then what about our previous land? I had two acres and a house back in my former territory!"
"Right, I have an acre too."
"I even had a cow!"
"Didn't they say everything would be better here? If we have to start over, we'll be left with nothing!"
...
The crowd erupted into a cacophony, drowning out Isabel's voice.
The young girl had never faced such chaos, and was immediately struck pale with fear, sitting down on the stairs.
As the crowd became more agitated, Isabel grew anxious. They were closing in on her, as if to trap her.
Everything had seemed fine before, but now, as they were on the cusp of a new beginning, these desperate refugees had turned terrifying.
Just as Isabel was about to flee in panic, a sharp scraping sound pierced the air, akin to a blade scraping across stone.
The crowd turned toward the sound, seeing Raul standing coldly in the middle of the hall.
In his right hand, he wielded a large iron hammer; beside him stood an oddly shaped skeleton. The dreadful noise had come from the skeleton's scythe-like arms scraping against the ground.
This was the grotesque skeleton, Kazik-1, created by Amber. Many present had witnessed its prowess. When they were fleeing, the lord's soldiers had pursued them, but it was this bizarre skeleton that had turned the tide and forced the pursuit to retreat.
The skeleton, strange in appearance, possessed the strength to overwhelm an entire militia unit.
Raul, bearing the hammer, stepped forward, moving steadily toward the crowd.
The once-impassioned crowd, eager for rebellion, now fell silent. They instinctively parted to make way for him.
Raul walked without uttering a word, the strange skeleton silently following. Their footsteps and the eerie scrape of bones echoed through the castle, louder than the prior commotion.
Raul reached Isabel's side and spoke sternly, "Get up, Isabel. Do not disgrace Lord Lich."
Isabel hurriedly stood, apologizing, "I'm sorry, I…"
Raul interrupted, "This is not the time for apologies. Have you completed the task Lord Lich entrusted to you?"
Isabel was taken aback. His words sounded as though he were a loyal servant to Amber.
Raul helped her up and then turned to face the anxious refugees. "Do you have any objections to Lord Lich's arrangements?"
All eyes turned to the grotesque skeleton, and the crowd, now subdued, remembered that their lord was a lich.
From deep within the castle, Amber watched the scene unfold through a magical projection. It was his plan for Raul to assist Isabel in stabilizing the situation, and now, he was relieved to see that it was no longer necessary for him to intervene.
Amber was pleased with Raul's transformation. Once one has experienced the slaughter of their kin, even the meekest lamb may begin to turn into a predator.
He dismissed the magical surveillance with a wave and turned his attention back to his studies.
He had already skimmed through *Research on Spectral Reproduction*, and while he hadn't fully grasped all the experimental details, he had thoroughly understood the fundamental principles.
Master Morgan had drawn inspiration from human reproduction.
Humans, after ten months of pregnancy, give birth to children, and these newborns inherently possess souls. Ignoring the body, from a purely spiritual perspective, it is as if two independent souls have combined to create a new one.
Similarly, all soul-bearing races have a method of increasing their soul count.
However, these newly born souls have not undergone physical death, and thus, they do not belong to the undead.
If one could replicate this process of soul multiplication through magic, the newly born souls could be shaped into spiritual effigies, creating a special undead warrior immune to light magic.
Though it seemed simple, achieving soul reproduction without the aid of a physical body was far more difficult than becoming a legendary mortal.
Master Morgan had spent a millennium developing a special ritual magic capable of soul reproduction, which he named "Soul Embryo."
The entire book *Research on Spectral Reproduction* was dedicated to explaining this ritual magic, thoroughly detailing the principles behind it.
Creating was hard, but replicating was far easier.
Amber was confident he could reproduce this ritual magic, but the only problem was the cost: nearly fifty thousand gold coins for a single successful ritual.
This covered only the cost of creating a new soul. After that, a suitable body would need to be created to house the fragile soul, or it would soon "die" due to lack of sustenance.
This death was not the dispersal of the soul, but rather the inability to maintain the "living" state, leading it to transform quickly into an undead. Only specially crafted effigies could keep a soul active and provide the flexibility that undead warriors require.
Creating the body of the effigy would also cost a large sum, and if one desired combat effectiveness, the cost would skyrocket.
To create an effigy comparable to a high-tier undead, the cost could conservatively reach two hundred thousand gold coins.
Amber muttered to himself, "Two hundred thousand gold coins for an effigy with the combat strength of a high-tier undead? I'd rather spend that on hiring high-tier human adventurers to serve me. No wonder this stuff hasn't caught on—the cost is astronomical, with no cost-effectiveness."
Yet Amber was not disappointed; in fact, his excitement was palpable.
He realized he could significantly reduce the cost of creating effigies.
The *Construct Soul* magic, a special magic Amber received when he ascended to legendary status, allowed him to create souls as needed. These bizarre skeletons worked flawlessly because Amber had created bespoke souls for them. Otherwise, using human souls to control multiple bone claws would have been utterly inefficient.
After reviewing Master Morgan's work, Amber believed he could replace the "Soul Embryo" ritual magic with his *Construct Soul* spell, drastically cutting costs.
As for the body of the effigy, Amber glanced at the large glass jar on the table, filled with the cheap material—living mercury. The living mercury, which possessed high magical resistance but lacked a soul, could be easily modified to perfectly match Amber's bespoke souls.
Magic research was truly fascinating. Master Morgan probably never imagined that centuries after his fall, a lich would gain the legendary *Construct Soul* magic, or that the madmen from the Alchemist's City would create living mercury, the perfect material for effigies.
Now, Amber stood on the shoulders of giants, poised to walk down a golden path toward wealth.
"Master Morgan, if you hadn't perished, I truly would have loved to converse with you," Amber mused.
Had the master survived, Amber believed the Alchemist's City could have completed the mysterious God-Creation Project. This was the power of knowledge.
With those thoughts, Amber began preparing the materials.
The first experiment to create an effigy was about to begin!
End of Chapter