After killing, or rather severing the connection of the Skeletons from their Mortal Vessels, I made my way deeper into the enemy base. I expected an atrocity waiting for me as I walked, true viciousness as one would expect from a practitioner who uses corpses to summon death.

Even that cat had the gall to carve out a corpse and take out its skeleton before trapping the souls. The cat was entertaining and vicious despite how it looked. In the words of the Demonic Cult: respect is earned with flowing blood.

But all I arrived at was a ruin. The remnants of a collapsed civilization, and in the middle was a worn castle surrounded by death mana as I headed on to its gates, I passed hundreds of humanoid and beastly skeletons.

After killing the undead, the castle became more palatable to the eyes, 'This Castle needs work, but I already gained workers to clean it up.'

Those Orcs weren't such a bad investment after all.

I opened the Castle Doors to a throne room with prostrating undead, and sitting on its throne was another skeleton, garbed in luxurious rotting robes, wearing a golden crown, "Who are you to stop the celebration of my name?"

"My name's not important, but I like this place, so choose, leave or die?"

Its pawns reared their heads, growled, and with one exchange, perished. Another batch took the front and me the same fate. By the end, he moved the frontlines and managed to entrap me with chains made of shadow and with what looked like three formation keystones stacked together, a flickering flame roused to roar.

"HELLFIRE, CANNON!"

The Undead exploded with power, and I met it head-on/.

'He's actively using an attack formation? To use the keystones like that! To create such a thing in mid-combat, amazing!' Give credit where credit is due. That was a fantastic technique, and again, I was shown how this world deferred. I could break the chains, but I chose not to. These flames might be able to hurt!

COME ON! SURPASS THE HEAVENS! SHOW ME! THAT THIS WORLD CAN ENTERTAIN ME!

But, it was all a dream. In a single attack, he was already tired, and by the time he noticed that I had survived, he was already on his knees. He begged for his life… and his end came after his skull was turned to dust.

"For causing so much trouble, he was weak." His death left behind a bronze wisp, 'What's this?'

[Lich of Tortul's Soul Fragments (Bronze): What do you want to do? Assimilate or Keep the Fragment]

"Elaborate."

[Answer: The Soul of the Lich of Tortul has been transformed into a Fragmented Soul due to its weak strength. When a strong existence perishes, they leave behind a part of themselves in the Mana Ocean, the skill you [Assimilator] and [Soul Creation] gathers the mark they leave behind into [Soul Fragments]. (Note, only those you killed personally can leave behind a Soul Fragment.)]

Soul Ranking: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond, Platinum, Obsidian.

Assimilator [Unique Skill]: the ability to assimilate and absorb either the soul's information or the intrinsic skill they carry.

Note 1: Only one could be assimilated in the case of multiple intrinsic Skills. Trying to assimilate more than one is possible, but it is not advisable as it may destroy the previously acquired skill. The lower the Rank of the Soul, the lower the

Note 2: Information extracted from a Soul Fragment may be corrupted and often unusable in the lower rankings. Information Extraction. Please note that information that's already known will appear in memories even if it is unwanted.

Soul Creation [Unique Skill]: this skill uses fragmented souls and gathers them together to create new creatures. The created animals will have a soul connection to you and will obey your commands.

Forge of Creation: an auxiliary ability born from Soul Creation. This ability allows the user to mold the souls into randomized creations. The Forge can be used at any time, but the 5 Soul Fragment minimum needs to be met.

Note 1: adding materials to the Forge could result in having an effect on the new creatures born from the Soul Forge.

Note 2: The age of those created from the Forge varies..]

'...will these creatures have a will of their own?'

[Answer: Yes. They will not be enslaved but more loyal companions or servants depending on how you look at it.]

Oh, that's okay then, "The Fragment of this creature is not that good in terms of its rank. I have enough skills, and I don't want anything to do with raising the dead. I can do that using the Forge anyway."

[Response: Understood - Soul Fragment of the Lick of Toltus has been kept in the Inventory.]

It was weightless.

But, it felt weird knowing I have another Soul inside of me.

An annoying one at that.

That ended my takeover of the castle. It was as uneventful as the Rotting man's arrogant, 'Now, I have nothing to do again. The entrance was destroyed because of the skeleton's lighter, but I managed to keep this place's integrity, so the secret passages should be safe. I should find them sooner or later bef-'

[Report: the secret paths around you have been detected.]

'Oh, that's useful. Good job, Ghost.'

[Thank you.]

Secret Paths = Loot!

I hope there's Gold.

"I really want some Gold."

[Your Greed is showing.]

"Who cares? I really want the Gold. Who likes being penniless? I don't."

[Response: Sigh.]

"Oh, shut up."

ElevatedShrimp

Thanks for reading