You Will Go Down in History

Experiments brought joy, and a lich was no exception. Ever since his self-detonation, Anbaixiu had wanted to reconstruct his body. Even with the Rose of Decay's help, this set of bones was still somewhat inferior to his previous one. He had simply been too busy afterward, but now that he finally had free time, he needed to make thorough preparations. Normally, the creation of undead required corpses as the base material. Dark magic flowed far more smoothly through remains, whereas in other materials the energy loss was enormous and the storage efficiency was abysmally low. Take the most basic skeleton as an example: charging it with dark magic for three minutes could keep it clattering along for ten years. If replaced with a body forged of metal, two hundred years of charging would yield barely three seconds of movement. That was why the undead could only strengthen their bodies using magical effects rather than swapping in bones of steel. The gulf in materials simply could not be bridged. Otherwise, Death Knights would have had no need to wear armor, and their broadswords would have been forged from bone instead. Yet this age-old problem had been solved by Anbaixiu. The legendary boon Attribute Bestowal was truly extraordinary; it could grant extra attributes to any material. In theory, it could even endow an object with transcendent attributes such as indestructibility or divine power. All it took was spending money. Anbaixiu had quietly tested it once, attempting to bestow an indestructible effect upon a piece of bone no larger than a fingernail. The mechanics of this legendary boon were thoroughly insidious. You selected the target, chose the attribute, and then had to start pouring in gold. It gave no indication of how much was needed to finish; only when fully charged would a prompt appear stating the ability could be cast. To make a fingernail-sized bone indestructible, he had poured in hundreds of thousands of gold coins without seeing any end in sight, forcing Anbaixiu to cut his losses decisively. Either the God of Alchemy, acting as the middleman, was raking in an exorbitant, dirty profit, or such an attribute was simply too defying of nature and impossibly expensive. Abandoning the casting was an option, but the money was non-refundable. Hundreds of thousands of gold coins had gone down the drain, leaving Anbaixiu gnashing his teeth and abandoning all notions of reaching heaven in a single bound. Evidently, gods were not so easily fooled; one could not simply whale their way into a divine physique. Still, if becoming a god was out of the question, strengthening a body shouldn't pose any problem. Gripping a legendary gold coin, Anbaixiu began spending his gold to cast the spell, imbuing all the metal components before him with the attributes of corpses before assembling them according to the blueprints. These were the schematics for an entry-level golem puppet. Even with Anbaixiu's half-baked craftsmanship, putting it together was a breeze. The mechanical puppet stood roughly two meters tall, composed entirely of metal. Anbaixiu retained its original mana power reactor; if an undead soul could be placed inside, it would possess dual power sources, which he hoped would yield a pleasant surprise. Opening his personal space, he invited out the two brothers, Dahei and Erha. Erha cradled Dahei's soul jar and approached Anbaixiu, saying with some excitement, "My Lord, you finally remembered us!" In Anbaixiu's eyes, the brothers had been dead for only a few months, but under the time acceleration of the personal space, they had been dead for decades, if not a century. Erha had it relatively easy, having already acquired a skeletal body and the ability to move freely. Dahei, on the other hand, had been kept inside a jar the entire time, like serving a prison sentence. Had Erha not kept him company with endless chatter, Dahei's soul could have been sold straight to Hell for gold—tormented souls were, after all, hard currency. Anbaixiu felt a twinge of embarrassment; once he got busy, he forgot everything else. Patting Erha on the shoulder, Anbaixiu said, "It's fine. I'll let you out for yard time more often from now on." Erha was struck speechless. Weren't they supposed to be this lich lord's subordinates? Why did that make them sound like inmates? "Alright, today is the day of your family reunion. Come, let me see how well this new undead body performs." Anbaixiu extracted Dahei's soul from the jar and placed it inside the mechanical puppet. Dahei was practically a century-old ghost by now, possessing decent soul strength, and he had waited far too long for this day. The fusion went smoothly, without the slightest rejection. The mana power reactor within the golem puppet began to rumble into operation, its mana conduits glowing as the gears in its joints turned in unison... Everything proceeded seamlessly. In utter disbelief, Dahei sat up from the examination table, carrying out various movements at Anbaixiu's command. "Looks very smooth. How does it feel?" Anbaixiu asked Dahei. Dahei, now inhabiting the golem puppet, let out muffled whines, momentarily unable to speak. He waved his fingers and pointed at his ears, as if trying to say he couldn't hear a thing. "Don't let the body limit you. A golem puppet lacks vocal and auditory mechanisms, but the undead don't need them! Think back: how did you communicate with people when you were sealed in the jar?" Anbaixiu sent the words straight into Dahei's soul using his thoughts. Dahei twisted his head nervously, taking quite a while before producing a strange tone. "Phew, that was suffocating! My Lord, it doesn't feel great. Moving around isn't a problem, but it feels so bizarre. Whenever I try to make a move, it's as if someone is pulling on my body. It feels like they're helping me exert force, but in reality, it interferes with my movements, making them very hard to control." Dahei complained that this mechanical body seemed inferior to his brother's skeleton. It felt both clumsy and excessively nimble at the same time—a strange dissonance. Performing even a few actions left him dizzy, a result of his consciousness failing to align with the body's movements. "That is because the golem puppet already has its own drive system, while the dark magic controlled by your soul acts on the frame at the same time, meaning you're applying dual force. A few days of adjustment should be enough. Aside from that, any other discomfort?" The mana power reactor's purpose was to reduce the consumption of dark magic. Metal was heavy, after all; even with the attributes of a corpse, performing the same movements would still draw heavily on energy. But adding a mana power reactor changed everything. The contraption could be recharged in numerous ways, and dual power sources would ensure far greater endurance. Anbaixiu's explanation set Dahei's mind somewhat at ease. He took a few test steps, and aside from stumbling due to poor force regulation, there were no other issues. Anbaixiu simply sent Dahei back into his personal space, waited for over half an hour, and then brought him out again. The effects of time acceleration were truly remarkable. Having trained for hundreds of hours within the personal space, Dahei reemerged with a steady gait and precise movements, completely free of any loss of physical control. "My Lord, this body feels great! It's way stronger than when I was alive," Dahei said joyfully. During those hundreds of hours inside the personal space, he had sparred with Erha several times and felt he had completely surpassed his former living self. "If it were weaker than when you were alive, I'd be ruined. Back then, your entire net worth was barely a few thousand gold coins—not even enough to buy a golem puppet, let alone the enhancements I added to it," Anbaixiu said, feeling a pinch of heartache for his purse. Converting metal to possess the attributes of a corpse had been outrageously expensive. The total cost of this body was close to six hundred thousand gold coins, and that was with Anbaixiu deliberately cutting corners. Had he chosen a more advanced chassis and rarer materials, the gold consumed during the attribute conversion would have multiplied several times over. Dahei fell silent. Anbaixiu's words were downright insulting. In the past, Dahei certainly would have lost his temper, but now... it didn't matter. He was no longer human. After that horrifying ordeal in the sewers, Dahei had shed many worldly desires, coming to understand that might makes right. If he had been a legend, how could he ever have been charmed by a hag and suffered the most painful memory of his life? Becoming an undead or a machine mattered little now; at long last, he was completely free of the miserable first half of his existence. To some degree, he was actually quite grateful to Anbaixiu. Watching with envy, Erha said to Anbaixiu, "My Lord, could I switch to a mechanical body too? Look at these bones of mine; several of them are already broken." When sparring in the personal space, Erha had initially been able to take advantage of Dahei's clumsy movements, but soon it turned into a one-sided beating. His magitech rifle lacked the firepower to harm Dahei's all-metal structure, managing only to scrape off a bit of paint. Yet a casual swipe from Dahei was enough to crack Erha's bones. The massive disparity in combat prowess was hard for Erha to swallow. "I already prepared something for you, though not in this form." Anbaixiu produced a vat of mercury and asked Erha, "What do you think of this?" Erha looked at it with a puzzled expression and said, "My Lord, I don't quite understand what you mean." "You've already seen living mercury. Their combat strength is quite formidable, far superior to a simple skeleton. However, this isn't living mercury, just ordinary mercury. I think you could give it a try." A Living Mercury Solution possessed high magic resistance and the ability to consume metal only while alive. Once granted the corpse attribute, both traits vanished. Thus, if Anbaixiu wished to create true mercury soul puppets, he would need to manufacture "souls that were not yet dead" so they could bond with living matter. Erha and Dahei were both thoroughly dead. Modifying them in that manner was impossible, so he had to settle for the next best thing and run tests using ordinary mercury. Erha had witnessed the combat prowess of living mercury; the way it shifted shapes at will seemed quite intriguing. Ever since becoming an undead, the half-elf had cared less and less about his appearance. Now, spurred on by Dahei's power, he cared only for strength. With Erha's consent, Anbaixiu promptly stuffed his soul into the modified mercury. Immediately, Erha let out a soulful wail: "My body... is so heavy!" He struggled desperately to condense the fluid into a humanoid shape, only to give up after a brief moment. "That's just how it is. Mercury doesn't have a power reactor, so driving it relies entirely on your own strength. Don't worry about maintaining a humanoid shape; a blob like a slime is the most effortless form. And don't bother trying to walk on feet—roll! Once you adapt to this form, you'll find it hardly takes any effort at all." Anbaixiu patiently instructed Erha, then shoved him back into the personal space to practice on his own. After a short while, he brought Erha out again. The fellow had resigned himself to his fate, becoming a puddle of silver slime. "How does it feel?" Anbaixiu inquired. Erha produced a peculiar sound and said, "Not bad, I suppose. Once I accepted looking like this, it didn't seem so problematic." Rolling truly saved effort, proving even easier than walking as a skeleton. Besides, undead perceived their surroundings through their souls, so having facial features made no difference. Shapeshifting was the only tricky part. Drawing a bow was out of the question for Erha now, though pulling the trigger of a magitech rifle remained manageable. Anbaixiu was delighted. Both of his top generals had adapted to their new bodies. Taking on an exceptionally solemn tone, Anbaixiu declared, "Excellent! You two brothers are the world's very first modified undead! You are epoch-making beings, stars destined to go down in history! You shoulder the responsibility of reviving the undead, and today, I entrust you with a momentous task." The two brothers felt their souls tremble. They had never imagined that swapping bodies carried such profound significance. Yet thinking about it, it made sense: who had ever heard of a mechanical puppet undead? Who had ever heard of a mercury undead? This was an entirely new race, a great achievement worthy of being recorded in the history books, and the two of them were the protagonists of the tale! This was infinitely more splendid than their living days. To go from two swindler adventurers to figures etched in history—what an immense honor! Together, the brothers said in unison, "My Lord, give the order! We shall give it our all!" Anbaixiu nodded in satisfaction. "Very good, full of spirit! Your mission is to find a paladin and see whether a Divine Smite can hack you to death." Erha fell silent. Dahei was speechless. This chance to go down in history... maybe they should pass.