“L-Lord, did I hear that right? You want us Necromancers to... play with Heroic Spirits?”
Good heavens, those were Heroic Spirits. Every single person who could become a Heroic Spirit was a hard-boiled warrior who dared to charge against the demons of Hell—and they were the ones at the very front, the toughest of the tough.
The fortitude of their souls and the strength of their spirits went without saying.
Even after being converted into Heroic Spirits after death, their combat power wouldn't drop by much.
They were merely limited by the constraints of being a Heroic Spirit, only able to move within the vicinity of the statue they inhabited.
Only those Heroic Spirits who were already at the mythic-tier during their lifetime could fully recover and move without restrictions.
Although Heroic Spirits were soul bodies similar to ghosts, their status was entirely different. The former were brave warriors revered by believers, while the latter were the bullies of the Land of the Undead.
If any Necromancer dared to try and capture a Heroic Spirit—to say nothing of whether they could even win—actually capturing one would bring down the endless vengeance of Heaven upon them.
Therefore, the Necromancers present were utterly shocked when they heard Chen Xu tell them to switch to the Heroic Spirit system.
“Lord Necrotic Lord, Heroic Spirits cannot...”
Wol was equally shocked. He had just started to explain when Chen Xu cut him off.
“What do you mean 'play with' them? What were you thinking? In your eyes, is a Necromancer only capable of forced control, like a slave owner?”
“Huh? Is it... not like that?”
The only response Chen Xu received was dozens of pairs of wide, innocent eyes.
Fine, it seemed he had to give these people a basic lesson first.
“A Necromancer is a mage who comprehends the mysteries of the boundary between life and death. Comprehending life and death is the Great Dao that leads directly to the source.
Summoning, curses, and bone spells are merely systems integrated by our predecessors to help newcomers get through their early pioneering phase.”
Chen Xu pointed a finger. The master's skull on the nearby offering table floated into the air. Under the influence of his mana, a large amount of bone materialized out of thin air, completing the skeleton's body.
“Undead summoning and commanding the undead are the simplest applications of death; they are also the generosity of the Lord of the Undead.”
The first Necromancers had somehow caught the eye of the Lord of the Undead, who shared the summoning rites of the Supreme Throne with them, which led to the creation of the undead summoning system.
However, moving away from those summoning rites didn't mean the summoning system itself was useless.
Because the current Lord of the Undead was Chen Xu, and he could change things however he pleased. Being unique-tier meant he could be that willful.
The original summoning rites were derived from the Supreme Throne. Because of this, Necromancers had absolute control over their summons—what people commonly referred to as enslavement.
Naturally, such terminology could not appear in the transcendent system of the Heaven faction, at least not openly.
That was why Necromancers were restricted at every turn; even summoning a skeleton required using the remains of a direct relative, and they had to sign a contract in advance to ensure it was voluntary. If it was voluntary, it wasn't considered slavery.
“However, besides Necromancers, many other transcendent systems possess summoning abilities—Beast Tamers, druids, elemental mages. They aren't restricted by Heaven.”
“But Lord, those classes you mentioned are different because their summoning targets can communicate, so they can be summoned through a contract.
How are we Necromancers supposed to communicate with our summoning targets? We can't exactly...”
“Exactly. You will communicate with Heroic Spirits and form contracts with them.”
As they spoke, Chen Xu finished remodeling Loki's remains. A final spark of mana ignited the soul fire, bringing this necrotic master back to the light of day.
“Ugh... I feel like... I've been asleep for a very, very long time. Hunter, why are you all kneeling on the ground?”
The newly awakened Loki hadn't figured out the situation yet. He subconsciously reached up to stroke his chin.
But the strange tactile sensation from his fingertips immediately made the necrotic master realize something was wrong.
He looked down and found that he had actually become a skeleton.
“You—you people! You actually summoned me as a skeleton?!
Wait, no... why don't I feel the constraints of a summoning rite?”
Loki was indeed a necrotic master, far superior to the half-baked practitioners kneeling on the ground. He immediately spotted the crucial point.
“Of course there are no constraints. You aren't a skeleton summoned by a Necromancer right now; you are a Heroic Spirit. The skeleton body is just a vessel I made for you on the fly; it can be changed at any time.”
“A Heroic Spirit? How is that possible? How could a soul like mine become a Heroic Spirit?”
Loki was incredulous. Just how long had he been dead? In this era, could even a Necromancer become a Heroic Spirit?
“For others, a soul of your quality indeed couldn't become a Heroic Spirit. But for a Necromancer who comprehends life and death, it's a simple matter.”
Chen Xu extended his index finger, and a complex formula appeared upon it.
Unlike normal undead summoning, the formula on Chen Xu's finger looked more like an equality contract.
He had used the undead summoning rite as a foundation, referenced parts of Heaven's contracts, and then integrated some soul-control techniques to create this brand-new formula.
Chen Xu called it the Heroic Spirit Formula.
“Traditional Heroic Spirits are mostly heroic and fearless warriors because only such warriors have souls strong enough to be converted into Heroic Spirits after death.
My formula, however, integrates some of a Necromancer's insights into the soul, completely eliminating that particular pain point.”
Next, Chen Xu gave a long explanation, covering everything from the definition of Heroic Spirits to their developmental background, the current state of the field, and finally, the specific solution.
He spoke eloquently, leaving the Necromancers present in a daze, their mouths hanging open as if they were listening to a lecture in a divine language.
Only Loki would occasionally sigh in admiration, and when he heard something particularly brilliant, he even applauded Chen Xu.
Chen Xu felt deeply gratified by this clever student. During the lecture, he secretly injected a large amount of pure necrotic energy from the Land of the Undead into him, boosting Loki's strength significantly and sending his realm skyrocketing to the epic-tier like a rocket.
Sensing the change in his realm, Loki applauded even more vigorously.
“In short, a Necromancer's mana, combined with the Heroic Spirit Formula, can give even ordinary warriors the chance to become Heroic Spirits. Meanwhile, the Necromancer who performs the conversion gains multiple opportunities to call upon the Heroic Spirit to fight.
It is an equal trade and does not involve forced slavery. This shouldn't violate Heaven's doctrines, should it, Lord Wol?”
After careful consideration, Wol answered slowly, “It does not violate them, Lord Necrotic Lord.”
Technically speaking, letting a Necromancer who didn't follow the faith of Heaven convert Heaven's warriors was somewhat irregular.
But the 'pie' Chen Xu was describing was too delicious for Wol to refuse. At the same time, he believed that even if Lord Alifa were present, he wouldn't refuse it either.
According to Chen Xu's description, the Heroic Spirit Formula was a massive-scale passive skill. A transcendent-tier Necromancer who mastered the Heroic Spirit Formula could cover a battlefield within a fifty-kilometer radius.
Warriors within that range would have a chance to be automatically converted into Heroic Spirits by the Heroic Spirit Formula after they fell.
Furthermore, the converted Heroic Spirits would not need offerings from believers to recover their consciousness. They could autonomously possess armor or weapons and continue fighting.
In this way, Heaven's expeditionary forces would effectively have double the military strength for free. It was impossible for Wol not to be moved.
As a battle archangel who fought on the front lines of the Heaven-Hell battlefield year-round, Wol knew exactly what doubling their military strength meant for Heaven.
If the Heroic Spirit Formula Chen Xu brought could truly achieve the effects he described—no, even if it was only half, or a tenth, or even a hundredth—it would still mean hundreds of thousands of additional transcendent combatants for Heaven.
“Lord, will the growth of the Heroic Spirit system be inferior to traditional summoning? Traditional summoning has powerful entities like the Undead Bone Dragon.”
“That's right, and there are abominations. Those big guys aren't bad either.”
“Heh.” Chen Xu was somewhat speechless. These Necromancers, who couldn't even summon a skeleton, were already dreaming about bone dragons.
However, as the first skill system Chen Xu had ever created, it naturally wouldn't just be for the early transition phase; he had also considered the strength requirements for the later stages.
“As your realm as a Necromancer improves, you can make modifications to the Heroic Spirit Formula yourselves to grant your partners additional power.
As for what that additional power is, that will depend on your imagination and your professional skills as mages.”
Unlike the completely closed undead summoning rite, Chen Xu's Heroic Spirit Formula was an open-source project. Capable Necromancers could perform their own secondary development on the source formula, allowing their Heroic Spirits to gain effects similar to Chen Xu's talent enhancements.
For example, making a Heroic Spirit faster, stronger, or solidifying some buffing spells onto them.
“Oh, right.” Chen Xu suddenly remembered something. “You should stop using traditional Necromancer artifacts. Since you're integrating into the local culture, I'll design an exclusive artifact for your Heroic Spirit system.”
Chen Xu released his mental strength to scan the surroundings for elements of Heaven's culture, and he quickly found a suitable item.
A massive amount of necrotic energy gathered in Chen Xu's hand, turning into a physical object. In the blink of an eye, a bone-white chalice appeared in his hand.
“A Holy Grail?”
The Necromancers present cried out in surprise again. Wasn't this the kind of artifact used by the priests in the church next door?
“Yes, a Holy Grail. From now on, your Heroic Spirit system will use the Holy Grail as its exclusive artifact. I've added a resonance interface specifically for the Holy Grail within the Heroic Spirit Formula. Using a Holy Grail can amplify your formula.”
After that, Chen Xu tossed the Holy Grail in his hand to Loki. “That's all. You'll be the one to lead these few. Consider this Holy Grail your payment for teaching them.”
Then, with a nod to Wol, Chen Xu vanished from the spot.
Next stop, Blue Star.
Rate on N.U.
