Chapter 260: Chapter 241: The Making of the Legendary Undead Chapter 260: Chapter 241: The Making of the Legendary Undead Many people think that everything about a legend, from hair to toenails, is legendary.

But in reality, that’s not the case. Scraping some bone dust from Amberser won’t cure all diseases, and feeding it to a dog as bone mud won’t make the dog evolve into a high-order undead. At most, it could only poison the dog and make it rot very quickly.

It’s the same with the undead of other professions.

Back in his adventuring days, Amberser had heard a joke from the old-timers: A legendary warrior got drunk and was taken by a Drow Wanderer to be sold to an ogre. The ogre said, what’s so special about the loins of a legendary being when they aren’t even as chewy as those from a common man he had eaten.

The authenticity is unclear, but the story serves as a warning to all adventurers not to rely on high levels alone, as there are countless ways to die in this world.

To get back to the point, a legendary undead’s body doesn’t need to match up with a legendary soul. The real focus is on the strength of the soul and the “spells” that the soul masters.

Amberser’s pseudo-souls could be prepared with corresponding spells in advance, like the shapeshifting of the Mercury Avatar, which was inserted by Amberser during the soul crafting, becoming an instinct of this creature.

There are many types of undead, such as zombies and skeletons that may require combat abilities, like acceleration spells and aura of fear; all these can be customized.

The specific requirements must be determined after seeing the body of the manufactured undead, what Amberser could do now was to prepare as quickly as possible, like making preparations for the soul strength.

The soul strength of an ordinary human is roughly between eighty to one hundred and thirty. This unit was set by Amberser himself, with a strength of one hundred compared to having a hundred attribute points, whether to add to reflexes, willpower, multitasking focus, or on spell casting abilities; after all, attributes can only be so many, strengthening one part would weaken another.

The material cost for an ordinary human soul is about forty to fifty copper coins, and Withered Rose’s undead puppet is probably geared towards close combat, so the soul’s attributes should also be strengthened in the direction of a warrior.

Of course, one cannot truly fool a client with an ordinary soul, especially since it’s meant for battle. Any issue could cause Withered Rose to come seeking vengeance in minutes.

So, Amberser’s idea was to craft a soul with a strength of about ten thousand, which would be enough to control the body even if it were a bone dragon.

Such high-strength souls can’t simply be made by multiplying the material cost by a hundred, the manufacturing cost rises exponentially. Amberser had quoted ten million, of which one million gold coins were for materials and the remaining nine million for labor.

Now that the labor fee had gone up to nineteen million, Amberser had to provide an even better product.

Amberser took out a bunch of materials from his personal space, sorted them out, with magical plants, metal ores, and many large and small gemstones among them.

These things were originally unrelated to the soul, but when Amberser picked up a ruby, the hard gemstone turned into rainbow-like fragments, which Amberser then kneaded into a shimmering thin thread.

Gemstones, ores, magical plants, all kinds of materials were transformed by Amberser into such rainbow threads, which he then wove together, slowly forming a jellyfish floating in mid-air.

Those tiny tentacles are actually unfinished threads, swaying in the air like that.

The foundation of the pseudo-soul was now complete, but from this moment on, this was an “undead,” with dark magical forces beginning to gather.

Unlike the Mercury Avatar, whose soul is “alive” and doesn’t contain dark magical powers.

If Amberser wanted to create an even stronger “living” soul, then quoting ten million would be selling at a loss.

The remaining threads are reserved for the soul’s attribute points, as well as defining a personality for the soul. All high-order undead have their own individuality; those mindless zombies that only roar and eat flesh are the lowest level in the undead hierarchy.

If you want an undead skilled in combat, you must endow it with a combat-related personality, not just a few simple commands, as that would be very rigid. Only by gaining self-awareness can the soul evolve continuously in its corresponding profession.

Amberser’s little ones are the same; one should not limit their learning and thinking abilities, and an independent personality is closely related to thinking.

This detail needed to be discussed with Withered Rose; Amberser couldn’t just go by his own preferences.

Luckily, Withered Rose didn’t make Amberser wait long.

Withered Rose had already visited once before, and the teleportation circle was still in the castle, making this trip a matter of minutes.

The Undead Queen exhibited no changes, still the prepossessingly elegant beauty. However, this time Withered Rose wasn’t the only visitor, accompanied by a dozen Drow Elves carrying a mass of flesh so disgusting it defied description.

This mass of flesh seemed about as tall as Gareth, approximately four to five meters, but entirely unhuman in shape, resembling a meat egg constructed from countless flesh and bones.

A sheath of sinew and white bones formed the outer shell of the meat egg, with purple-red blood constantly seeping through the sutured wounds. On closer inspection, one could find many blood vessels extending from the meat egg, connecting to those expressionless Drow Elves, seemingly drawing their blood continuously.

The evil aura emanating from the meat egg threatened to contaminate the entire castle.

Amberser hastily expanded the barrier to envelop the horrifying meat egg within it, lest the rest of the materials inside his castle became contaminated.

This was the inconvenience of the Undead, as the dark forces would constantly corrode everything around them.

Amberser always had to be careful to control the dark magic power from leaking out, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to conduct any experiments.

Amberser was surprised by the meat egg, but Withered Rose let out a sigh of admiration while looking at the floating jellyfish, “Your ability truly is astounding.”

Turning lifeless matter into souls, even if they’re only Undead, sounded like a power only possessed by a deity.

“It’s nothing compared to your abilities, Lady Rose, just a little trick to get by,” he said.

Amberser’s words were not entirely modest, as Withered Rose’s Legendary Grace was Gaze of Death, which was useless against the Undead but outrageous against the living. No matter the race, if it was alive, it would be transformed into Undead under her gaze.

Ignoring shields, ignoring resistances, and this Gaze of Death wasn’t referring to actual sight, since Undead don’t rely on vision to perceive everything. So, it’s actually Withered Rose’s perception, any living being locked by her senses would be continuously converted into Undead.

Last time, Laine’s Supreme Decree had to turn himself into a gas to temporarily exempt himself from Withered Rose’s transformation, and the magic equipment he carried was of no use whatsoever.

Amberser guessed that if the Silvermoon Knight couldn’t kill Withered Rose with a single strike, he would undoubtedly lose, as his old body couldn’t stand Gaze of Death for a few seconds, and perhaps Withered Rose could dispose of the old man with a preemptive strike, albeit at a great risk.

Legendary Graces weren’t impressive by their quantity; Amberser had many Legendary Graces, but the ones he could use in actual combat were only the Golden Throne; the other abilities were more like assists.

Withered Rose gave Amberser a slight smile, then said, “Let’s not stand on ceremony with each other, I’ll tell you my thoughts first…”

The two Legendary Liches began discussing a very sinister plan for creating Undead in the laboratory.

According to Withered Rose, inside the meat egg were three Legendary Orc corpses. Amberser didn’t inquire about how she obtained them but instead asked about the particular features of the three bodies very seriously.

A barbarian, a champion warrior, and a martial monk.

Orcs indeed favored these tall and sturdy professions; the barbarian was self-explanatory, the most fitting for Orcs; the champion warrior was an advanced soldier profession, truly a brute force type who wielded a huge sword to dominate the battlefield; the last one, the martial monk, was from the Combat Sect, emphasizing physical combat.

As a discerning individual, Amberser spoke to Withered Rose, “These are fine specimens. These three Legendary professions, the real essence lies in the bodies themselves. Turned into Abominations, they could easily reach the Legendary Rank.”

But Withered Rose shook her head, “No, not Abominations. If possible, I hope he becomes a Death Knight.”

This request left Amberser puzzled.

“Lady Rose, as someone experienced in creating Undead, you should know that these two types of Undead are completely different, right? Abominations can be pieced together from any corpse, but a Death Knight evolves from a single body. They’re completely different. Even if I help you make the body humanoid, that would only be a humanoid Abomination, not a Death Knight,” he said.

The types of Undead might seem chaotic, but they actually each have their unique characteristics.

For example, Abominations, patchwork monsters of corpses, come with an innate devouring ability, allowing them to repair themselves by slapping on flesh and blood from other bodies when damaged. Death Knights, on the other hand, don’t have this skill, but they do possess the ability to summon mounts from a different plane, which Abominations cannot learn.

Abilities are unrelated to appearance; even if a Death Knight got fat and resembled an Abomination, it wouldn’t be able to acquire the abilities of an Abomination. Just as other Undead cannot create a Life Casket, this tactic is unique to Liches, and other Legendary Undead can’t learn it.

“I know it’s difficult, but you don’t need to worry about the body, only handle the soul,” Withered Rose asserted firmly.

After giving it some thought, Amberser asked, “Lady Rose, you want a powerful subordinate who has high mobility and can carry out tasks alone, correct?”

Withered Rose smiled and replied, “Indeed, you do understand me well, guessing right away.”

Amberser thought to himself, it wasn’t understanding; if there was any clear advantage that Death Knights had over Abominations, it was their mobility.

“Then, do you have any requirements for his personality?” Amberser inquired.

“As long as loyalty is assured, any personality will do.”

“Then I’ll preserve the most basic sentience. As for his personality, Lady Rose, you can cultivate that yourself. Don’t worry, it won’t take long; in about three to five days, they will be influenced by the outside world and start forming their own personality,” Amberser said.

“Good, let’s decide on that.”

Withered Rose was indifferent to these details; no matter Amberser’s arrangements, it was just a subordinate meant to be used against enemies, so the personality mattered little.