Chapter 122- The New Branch...of Soul Forging??

Chapter 122: Chapter 122- The New Branch...of Soul Forging??

Leo stared down at his notification panel, then glanced back up at the guardian spirit, who was watching him with a faint smile.

The system, it turned out, wasn’t finished with him yet.

[Ding~]

[Existing Soul Forging Branch has acquired sufficient knowledge.]

[Soul Forging Branch Evolution Requirement — Satisfied.]

The next notification made his eyes go wide as saucers.

[Ding~]

[Initiating Evolution...]

[...]

[Soul Forging has evolved.]

Leo’s heart skipped at the sight of it. He quickly told Elly not to broadcast his class information to the rest of the group, and she nodded in agreement — though it left the others visibly disappointed, since it meant they’d no longer get to watch whatever was unfolding in real time.

Leo, for his part, stayed completely absorbed in his panel.

[New Evolution of Existing Branch Identified.]

[Soul Forging Branch has evolved into Undead Forging class.]

[Undead Forging Class— Expanded.]

His expression remained locked in shock. He looked over at the guardian spirit, who seemed to already know exactly what was happening.

The system kept going.

[Undead Forging class detected...]

Huh? Leo genuinely had no idea what was happening at this point.

[Player already possesses highest-level class. Undead Forging class cannot be equipped.]

[Error...]

[Discarding lower-level class: Undead Forging.]

[....]

Then Leo felt a strange shift somewhere inside his own head — a faint stirring, as though something crown-shaped had just moved within him.

Whatever it was, it reached out forcefully and seized the entity that had been resisting, refusing to settle peacefully within his body, and simply devoured it whole.

[Ding~]

[Undead Forging has been assimilated as an expanded branch of the existing Eternal Forge class, building on the previously existing Soul Forging branch.]

Leo finally let out a breath of relief. For a moment there, he’d genuinely thought the system was about to discard everything he’d just spent the last several minutes absorbing.

In fact, it likely would have done exactly that — if not for whatever presence the crown carried within him, which had apparently made the impossible possible, folding the new knowledge seamlessly into his existing class branch instead of rejecting it outright.

It wasn’t an entirely new forging skill, and it certainly wasn’t a necromancer class in the traditional sense. But it had opened up an entirely new range of possibilities within his forging.

A class branch had evolved into a separate class and detached form the original class only to then be assimilated by the original class as class branch once again.

[Ding~]

[Six Fundamental Disciplines/ Passive skills — Unlocked.]

Six separate panels unfolded in front of him.

[1. Soul Refinement]

[Purpose: Prepare a Soul for further processing.]

[Functions:]

The foremost step, and the beginning of all soul processing. Allows the removal of foreign energy as well as accumulated corruption. Separates harmful influences from the fundamental structure of the soul itself. Also used to recover usable portions of otherwise damaged souls, stabilizing them before any further processing can begin.

[Restriction: Completely erased Soul components cannot be restored through Refinement.]

Leo read through it carefully. The guardian, noticing his focus, spoke up. "This is your first step. The foundation everything else will be built upon."

[2. Soul Tempering]

[Purpose: Strengthen and stabilize a Soul without altering its Identity.]

[Functions:]

The step that follows Refinement. Tempering improves overall soul stability, builds resistance against soul-damaging attacks, strengthens resistance to Death Mana pressure, and protects against memory degradation during the forging process.

[Warning: Excessive Tempering may destabilize the Soul.]

Leo frowned at that. Memory loss? From tempering?

He read it over twice, still left with more questions than answers. Instinctively, he compared it to tempering steel — the underlying purpose seemed similar enough on the surface, though he suspected the actual process was worlds apart.

"Interesting," Leo muttered under his breath, before his eyes drifted down to the third panel.

[3. Soul Memory]

[Purpose: Preserve and process the experiences contained within a Soul.]

[Memory Layers:]

— Surface Memory — Deep Memory — Instinctive Memory

[Functions:]

Allows the reading and preservation of memory during the forging process, ensuring that the soul’s accumulated experiences, knowledge, techniques, and instincts remain intact and are properly integrated into a suitable vessel.

[Restriction: Extracted Memory remains bound to the target Soul and cannot be transferred directly into the forger.]

I could technically already do something like this, to a limited degree, Leo thought, but this is on a completely different level.

Now I just want to go find the soul and remains of some powerful figure as soon as possible.

I wonder if I could directly inherit someone’s combat experience this way. That alone would save me an enormous amount of time.

He moved on to the fourth panel.

[4. Soul Will]

[Purpose: Preserve independent consciousness and choice.]

[Functions:]

Preserves independent consciousness, personality, judgment, decision-making, and the capacity for independent thought. Allows a soul-forged undead to naturally align with its creator’s will through genuine recognition, rather than forced control.

No contracts. No mental control interfaces. Simply the creator’s explicit will, becoming the undead’s own highest priority by choice.

Leo genuinely liked the sound of this one. He’d spent a fair amount of time chasing the idea of a truly independent, thinking artificial intelligence — and now, apparently, he had something functionally similar sitting right in front of him. Another panel followed.

[Command System: None.]

[Soul Contract: None.]

[Mental Control Interface: None.]

The system kept elaborating.

[Soul-Forged Undead retain independent consciousness and Will.]

[A Soul-Forged Undead naturally follows the Will of its creator through recognition and alignment.]

[Forced mental control is not required.]

[When no explicit instruction is given, a Soul-Forged Undead may independently determine how best to fulfill the creator’s Will.]

Leo finally tore his eyes away from the steady rain of notifications and glanced back up — just in time to see the guardian now standing directly in front of Rook, frowning at him for some reason.

Shaking his head, Leo turned back to the fifth panel.

[5. Soul Binding — Expanded]

[Purpose: Establish a stable connection between Soul and Vessel.]

[Compatible Vessel Types:]

[Flesh] [Bone] [Metal] [Stone] [Construct] [Weapon] [Armor] [Other compatible vessels]

More lines followed after that.

[Soul-Vessel Compatibility — Dynamic.]

[Compatibility influences stability, performance, consciousness retention, memory preservation, and long-term existence. A successful binding does not erase the soul’s original identity.]

Leo read through it carefully. So just having a soul isn’t nearly enough on its own. I need some kind of vessel to actually place it in. The guardian, he recalled, had already touched on something like this earlier.

He nodded to himself and finally moved on to the sixth and final panel.

[6. Soul Vessel Forging]

[Purpose: Create a vessel specifically designed to house a Soul.]

[Functions:]

• Custom Vessel Creation

• Vessel Structure Optimization

• Soul Memory Integration

• Soul Potential Compatibility

• Death Mana Integration

• Soul-Vessel Compatibility Optimization

Leo stared at the final panel for a long moment. Once he’d finished reading through it, he waited a while longer, half-expecting another wave of notifications to follow.

When nothing else came, he finally let all the newly absorbed knowledge settle properly into his mind.

The system, it seemed, had somehow shaped this entire class specifically around him. It felt almost as though the Death Sovereign had handed him the underlying concepts of undeath and soul work, while the Eternal Forge itself had quietly filled in every gap, answering the questions he hadn’t even known to ask yet.

One final, smaller notification appeared.

[Ding~]

[Core Principle]

[Soul ≠ Vessel] [Vessel ≠ Undead] [Soul ≠ Undead]

[Undead = Soul + Vessel + Successful Forging Process]

Leo nodded slowly to himself as he read it over. So undead isn’t just a reanimated corpse, then.

I always assumed the undead were soulless — just empty husks moving on borrowed magic. But now that I actually understand it, they have both a soul and a body, same as anyone else. So what exactly makes them different from ordinary living people? The question lingered in his mind, unresolved.

Elly gathered up every notification Leo had received and ran them through a thorough analysis of her own. Eventually she arrived at a conclusion: Leo could indeed resurrect the dead, but not through any method a traditional necromancer would recognize — not through summoning, and certainly not through raw passion or willpower alone. This was something entirely new. He would have to forge an undead being, much the same way he forged a new piece of armor.

What Leo really wanted to know, though, was whether whatever he created would be permanent or merely temporary — would these beings eventually burn out and fade away, or could they sustain their own existence indefinitely?

He frowned, scanning back through the panels, but found nothing directly addressing that particular question.

Then, almost as if in direct answer to his unspoken thought, a new notification appeared.

[Ding~]

[Undead forged by the player Leo Stone will exist permanently as an independent entity — separate and distinct from their creator, yet bound to follow Leo’s instructions and will.]

Permanent? Leo blinked, genuinely surprised. Then couldn’t I build an entire army of undead, given enough time? The thought struck him with the force of sudden revelation.

And if I had undead blacksmiths, I could even teach them Undead Forging themselves — the system did say they’re capable of learning new things. I could have them raise an army of their own. Some could hunt and help me level up, while others focus entirely on forging.

His eyes practically lit up at the sheer scope of possibility opening in front of him.

As if to punctuate the moment, one final system chime rang out.

[Ding~]

[You have awakened the Hall of Undead.]