Chapter 139: Not Enough

Mana erupted from Cassian’s Lord Seed, flowing through his body before surging toward the Arachnid’s headless corpse.

?[Undead Summoning Activated!]

?A cerulean magic circle materialized beneath the corpse, its intricate patterns illuminating the metallic floor with a brilliant blue radiance.

Strange, ancient symbols rotated rapidly along its circumference as the circle expanded, enveloping the alien remains.

?The surrounding shadows stirred restlessly.

?Then, the corpse began to move.

?Its severed neck twitched violently before the entire body slowly rose into the air.

Dense, dark-blue mana enveloped its limbs, spreading across the damaged flesh as an invisible force worked to reconstruct what had been destroyed.

?For a brief second, the body shuddered violently against the mana currents.

?Then—

?BOOM!

?The corpse exploded into a burst of dark energy.

?Cassian raised an eyebrow as fragments of flesh and black blood scattered across the magic circle, dissolving into streams of pure power before touching the floor.

?The cerulean light flared to a blinding intensity and a new figure emerged from within the radiance.

?Unlike the basic skeletal soldiers Cassian had summoned in the past, this entity possessed an intact, pristine form.

Its pale, humanoid face retained the same arrangement of eight glossy black eyes, while serrated mandibles protruded from either side of its mouth.

Its limbs were encased in dark chitinous armor, and its fingers tapered into sharp, lethal talons.

?It was a physical replica of the First Order Elite Evolver he had just slain.

?The creature landed on one knee before Cassian, bowing its head as it spoke in a deep, resonant voice.

?"I greet my Lord."

?Cassian stared down at it for a moment.

?A pleased smile gradually spread across his face. "So, a Special summon?"

?He had already learned that the classification of his unique undead troops differed vastly from standard Lords.

?Most of his regular soldiers, laborers, and support units manifested as skeletons, regardless of the forms they had possessed in life.

Their previous physical characteristics mattered little once transformed into the foundational undead units of his army.

?Champions and Special summons, however, were an entirely different matter.

?They retained much of their original physical appearance, becoming recognizable, refined replicas of their former selves.

Their bodies, inherent abilities, and general traits reflected their previous existence, adapted seamlessly into their new status as Undead.

?This Arachnid was another prime example.

?Yet appearances could be deceiving.

?Cassian opened his [Lord Ledger] and examined the newly summoned creature’s status panel.

?[Classification: Special Summon]

?[Race: Undead]

?[Grade: Common]

?[Potential: D-Grade]

Cassian’s smile faded slightly as he read the details.

?’As expected.’

?There were several critical differences between this summon and the living Arachnid he had fought.

?First, its growth potential had been degraded to D-Grade.

?The living creature had been a First Order Elite Evolver with strength equivalent to a Tier IV Lord.

Yet this newly raised iteration inherited only a small fraction of its former potential. Even if nurtured properly, its ultimate ceiling would fall drastically short of the original’s.

?Second, its tier had been reset to Tier I.

?[Undead Summoning] had effectively returned the Arachnid to the absolute starting point of its development, stripping away the power it had accumulated over a lifetime.

It would need to level up from scratch through the Lord System to regain its former standing.

?Third, it was no longer an Evolver.

?That distinction was particularly vital. The creature had belonged to an evolutionary path in life, but death and resurrection had fundamentally altered its nature.

It was now a Common-grade undead unit bound to Cassian’s domain, its former biological path completely erased.

?Instead, its future growth would strictly follow the laws governing his necromancy.

?Cassian studied the panel for a few seconds before dismissing the interface.

?’Well, that isn’t ideal.’

?He wasn’t overly bothered by the temporary reduction in raw power, the creature was a fresh summon, and he hadn’t expected it to retain Tier IV strength right out of the gate.

?The real problem was its potential.

?D-Grade was pathetic compared to the SSS-Grade potential carried by his most valuable assets. Left as it was, the Arachnid would quickly become obsolete.

?Fortunately, Cassian held the absolute solution to that bottleneck.

?His gaze shifted toward the outer corridors.

?The complex had been crawling with elite Arachnid guards before he and Nyxara launched their breach.

Although all of them had been slaughtered, their corpses still littered the facility.

?And with his [Fusion] blessing, those remains were far more than rotting debris.

?They were high-grade materials for enhancement.

?Cassian’s blue eyes gleamed with cold calculation.

’?If I fuse enough of them into this body, I can force its potential through the roof.’

?The exact parameters would depend on the synthesis, but he had already witnessed how terrifyingly [Fusion] could transform his undead.

With sufficient sacrifices, even a Common bottom-feeder could be forged into a masterpiece.

?Why settle for a D-Grade pawn when he had an entire facility full of alien corpses ready for harvest?

?Cassian turned toward Nyxara. "Help me sweep the facility. I want every corpse brought directly to this chamber."

?Nyxara glanced at the kneeling Arachnid before offering a crisp nod. "Understood, my Lord."

?With a whisper of dark mana, she dissolved into the surrounding shadows.

?Cassian turned back to the creature kneeling before him, his voice cool and commanding.

?"Stand up."

?The Arachnid obeyed instantly, rising to its full height.

?Cassian inspected its structure, taking mental note of its chitin density, mandibles, and specialized joints.

?As Nyxara gathered the materials outside, he began preparing for the fusion process.

....

Nyxara returned several minutes later, her shadow stretching across the chamber as dozens of alien corpses emerged from the darkness and settled onto the metallic floor.

?Cassian glanced at the growing pile.

?Then he frowned.

?Three hundred and seventy-three corpses.

?He had expected more, but the Arachnids stationed throughout the complex were clearly fewer in number than he had anticipated.

Still, three hundred and seventy-three high-tier corpses wasn’t an insignificant count.

?Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough for what he wanted.

....

Author’s Note: The weekly goals are still on, but I wanted to talk to you guys real quick. I’ve been dropping 3 Chapters a day since the start of this month. I know that might not seem like much compared to full-time authors who drop 4–5, but as a student, it’s been a crazy grind. Balancing classes, endless homework, unfinished projects, and unread slides on top of writing and editing every day is a lot!

I was considering going back to 2 Chapters a day to keep up with school, BUT I’m willing to keep up the 3 Chapters a day pace if we can hit 300 Power Stones by the end of the week!

Yes, I just shared my sob story to shameless-plug for Power Stones... but hey, if you guys can make it happen, I’ll deliver! Thank you so much for reading and supporting!