Chapter 143: High Race

Cassian focused on the SSS-Grade Arachnid, bringing up its status panel.

?[Special Undead]

?Classification: Special Undead Troop

Race: Undead Arachnid (High)

Grade: Common

Potential: SSS-Grade

?Description: An alien entity originally belonging to an external civilization. Through the dark mechanization and experimentation of a Lord, it has been transformed into a higher lifeform, granting it extraordinary capabilities beyond the natural limits of its species. Following its death and resurrection as an Undead, it has retained the core characteristics of its former life while undergoing a fundamental racial evolution.

?Skills:

?[Silk Work (Standard)]: Allows the creation of specialized silk infused with mana. The physical properties of the silk depend on the user’s mana output and structural control.

?[Sharp Silk (Standard)]: Allows the user to sharpen its created silk, transforming soft threads into razor-sharp filaments capable of slicing through dense armor.

?[Silk Sense (Standard)]: Allows the user to perceive its surroundings through its web network. Any physical vibration or mana displacement touching the silk is instantly detected, granting omnidirectional sensory awareness.

?[Silk Dominion]: Allows the user to construct an enclosed matrix of mana-infused silk, trapping targets within a lethal domain. The threads can be dynamically manipulated to restrict movement and sever escape routes.

?Racial Expression:

[Danger Sense]: Heightens the user’s instinctual perception, allowing it to detect incoming threats and calculate environmental danger before it physically manifests.

?Cassian stared at the system interface for several seconds.

?’Just as I suspected.’

?The panel confirmed that these resurrected Arachnids were fundamentally different from the native undead he had summoned through the Lord’s Domain.

?The first major distinction lay in their classification.

?When his ordinary undead troops reached S-Grade potential, they typically evolved into the Elite category.

Further advancement would lead to Commanders and, under the right conditions, even higher military ranks.

?Yet this Arachnid had achieved SSS-Grade potential without shifting into an Elite, let alone a Commander.

?Its classification remained strictly Special Undead Troop.

?However, something far more vital had evolved.

?Its race.

?Undead Arachnid (High).

?Cassian’s blue eyes narrowed as he focused on the exact phrasing. The system had officially recognized the synthesized creature as a High Race.

?More importantly, it had awakened a Racial Expression: [Danger Sense].

?Unlike its four active skills, which were bound to its biological origin and previous combat habits, the Racial Expression served as a defining trait of its new racial tier.

?That meant the synthesis had not merely expanded its potential ceiling.

?It had forcibly elevated the species itself.

?Cassian’s eyes narrowed slightly, a calculating, thoughtful expression settling over his face.

Cassian was no stranger to the concept of a High Race.

?In the vast cosmos, a civilization’s species underwent a fundamental transformation once their empire achieved Transcendence and reached at least Tier VII.

This monumental evolution marked the peak of a civilization’s development, elevating its inhabitants beyond the biological limitations of ordinary lifeforms.

?It was the Lord’s Domain’s ultimate reward for achieving such a milestone.

?The transformation blessed the entire species, granting its members an elevated level of existence and a unique characteristic known as a Racial Expression.

Unlike the powers acquired through Evolution Serums or the abilities wielded by Lords, a Racial Expression was an innate, passive racial trait.

One didn’t need to become an Evolver or awaken as a Lord to possess it; it was simply a natural power shared by every member of the race.

?Before a civilization achieved Transcendence, its inhabitants belonged to Normal Races.

No matter how absurdly powerful an individual became, their personal strength alone could never elevate their entire species to a higher classification.

?At least, that was how the universe was supposed to work.

?The Sovereign Lord who had obliterated the Astral Dominion in Cassian’s previous life belonged to a High Race.

His civilization had achieved the required level of Transcendence, and the Lord’s Domain had rewarded them accordingly.

?Cassian remembered that fact with absolute clarity.

?Which was precisely why he found himself staring at the status panel in growing disbelief.

?He had just created a High Race out of thin air.

?This was an event that should only occur after a civilization reached Tier VII and commanded a territory spanning thousands of star systems.

Yet his newly raised undead Arachnid had accomplished it without an empire, without a territory, and without a civilization.

?All Cassian had done was resurrect a corpse and fuse it with a thousand others.

’?Wait a minute...’

?His expression rapidly shifted as the staggering implications began to sink in.

?If he could forge High Races through [Fusion] or manifest them directly through [Undead Summoning], he had just stumbled upon a game-changing path to power.

?The strategic possibilities were overwhelming.

?Every High Race possessed a distinct Racial Expression. That meant every High-Race undead he created could potentially grant him access to another unique racial trait.

?One species might possess heightened sensory perception. Another could manipulate an element naturally, while a third might grant spatial or physical traits.

The potential was limited only by the variety of alien species available to him and his capacity to synthesize them.

?And if he accumulated enough of these traits before achieving Transcendence himself, what would happen when his own human race advanced?

?Cassian’s breathing steadily calmed as he carried the logic to its ultimate conclusion.

?When a civilization reached Tier VII Transcendence, its racial expressions underwent an evolution alongside the species itself.

If his hypothesis held true, the accumulated racial traits he harvested might eventually evolve when he reached Sovereign Lord status and his human race achieved its corresponding advancement.

?Rather than inheriting a single racial expression, he could potentially advance multiple expressions into something completely unprecedented.

?Something that had never existed in the history of the Lord’s Domain.

?Something the cosmos had never witnessed.

?Of course, he still needed to verify whether his undead legion’s racial expressions would carry over or integrate when his own species evolved.

The system hadn’t provided enough explicit data to confirm that assumption just yet.

?But the sheer possibility alone was enough to ignite his blood.

?A cold bead of sweat trickled down Cassian’s temple.

’?This changes everything.’

?His original plan had been straightforward: build an army strong enough to protect his family and prevent the destruction of the Astral Dominion.

He would hoard resources, empower his summons, conquer territories, and steadily climb the hierarchy of the Lord’s Domain.

?Now, he had uncovered an exploit that could rewrite the very foundation of his growth.

?He could cultivate an army composed entirely of High Races, harvest their Racial Expressions, and eventually use those stacked traits to forge an unmatchable existence.

?A subtle smile slowly spread across his face.

?Then it widened.

?And widened some more.

?Before long, Cassian was grinning like a man who had just discovered that the trash ticket in his pocket was worth the entire global treasury.

’?What an absolute gold mine!’

?He almost burst out laughing right then and there.

?His fortune had truly exploded past all expectations. He had stopped a planetary catastrophe, stabilized a Worldbreaker Core, and gained two incredible skills as a reward.

Now, he had stumbled onto a discovery that might prove vastly more valuable than all of those combined.

?Cassian turned his attention back to the High-Race Arachnid, his eyes gleaming with intense, predatory interest.

?He needed to test this phenomenon thoroughly. If his theory proved correct, the creature standing before him was merely the first of many High-Race undead he would forge.

?And he had zero intention of stopping at one.

?Nyxara stood quietly to the side, watching Cassian’s expression shift by the second.

?First, he had looked deeply analytical.

?Then astonished.

?Then he had developed the exact kind of terrifying, unhinged smile that made her wonder if her Lord had finally lost his mind.

?Now, he was staring at the alien Arachnid as if it were the most precious artifact in the entire universe.

?Nyxara tilted her head slightly.

?She had seen Cassian smile before. She had even heard him laugh casually.

?But this?

?This was completely unhinged.

?Nyxara let out a quiet, internal sigh.

’What a strange man...’

?And yet, as her violet eyes lingered on his sharp features, her thoughts took an entirely unbidden turn.

?His golden-blond hair caught the faint cerulean glow radiating from the fading magic circles, while the unbridled excitement in his blue eyes made him look more radiant and alive than usual.

There was something undeniably captivating about the way his mind operated, constantly seeking out extraordinary possibilities that others would never dream of conceiving.

?Even when he looked like a lunatic.

?Especially when he looked like a lunatic.

?A faint, warm flush crept onto Nyxara’s pale cheeks.

’?So handsome...’

?She quickly turned her head away before he could catch her staring.

?Unfortunately for her, the soft, affectionate smile lingering on her lips betrayed her completely.