Chapter 417: Hello Again! A few more minutes passed by and soon almost an hour passed by… Liam still continued to diligently hammer away at the soul ball that was vibrating up and down as if it was going to explode at any given second. In the beginning, the process was a bit volatile but after the initial phase, he how had it under control. He felt as if he was only seconds away from sealing the soul and finishing the forging but the same was true for the last hour. No matter how much he tried he simply could not bring this single soul fully under his control. He could not see an end in sight. It was almost as if he was missing something, but he was not. He poured an endless amount of nether into it and soul absorbed it all, only to spit it out seconds later. He hammered it with nether from all angles and it refused to condense and submit. At this point, he did not know what else he could do. This was exactly how he had done every other soul forging process in his previous attempts. Now that it was a human soul, something additional was needed? Why? Was it because the soul of a human being was superior? Or maybe he was just weak at the moment? Did he perhaps need to use another essence crystal like the fire essence crystal he used during forging the imps and the two dryads? 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖 Liam mulled over the several conflicting theories and ideas in his mind but everything was too confusing, especially in the fatigued state he was. He also did not have any more essence crystals to test out that. He did not have anything soul related except for the… "Hmmm…" Liam took out the sword that he did not plan to take out until much later as it was a double edged weapon in many ways. But he also wanted to try absolutely everything that he could. If he was not going to be able to forge this guy's soul then he at least wanted to test out a few things using the soul. So Liam grabbed the black dragon sword from the inventory and surprisingly, the instant the sword popped out something unexpected happened. The soul that was tossing and turning up until now refusing to submit immediately became obedient. Liam could also feel this change as the resistance he sensed was no longer there. "NOW!" He gritted his teeth, threw the sword down onto the ground, and once again diverted his complete attention to the soul. The nether hammers thundered violently and using this small window he had gotten, Liam dealt the last and final blow. [Ding. Soul Forging Successful] [Ding. New Soul Undead Follower is summoned] [Ding. You have reached the limit of soul undeads you can currently summon] [Ding. The vengeful soul plaguing you has been removed] [Ding. Your soul is no longer being corroded] Liam blinked as a tired smile surfaced on his lips. It worked! It actually worked! He fully did not understand why but it worked. This notification was the proof of that. Also, along with that notification, a wave of energy assaulted him. All the excess energy he had used to shape the soul and keep it glued together was returned back to him. Almost instantly, his body which looked like a withered plant brightened up a little more. Liam sucked in a big breath of air as he watched the small soul orb that thrummed with energy before expanding and emitting bright rays of blinding light. And when that light died down, he saw Gorak's ghost with a dumbfounded look on his ghost face. The guy felt as if the entire world was suddenly not real. What the hell just happened? I am a ghost? Just what sort of power does this person possess? If he had only known beforehand… Liam, on the other hand, ignored his confused new ghost follower and instead, looked at the sword that laid on the ground. At first, he did not understand but now that he thought about it, he had a better idea. Soul forging was not just forging souls! It was not a technique that simply involved beating soul orbs with nether and mana. Perhaps he had to use a soul itself to forge another soul? Maybe even use his own soul to forge? It was just an incomplete thought but Liam felt as if he had gained an insight into something profound. As if to reassure this thought, another notification as well promptly popped up. [Ding. You have now acquired 50% of the Legacy] Liam stared at the notification in amazement. He was indeed right! Maybe he was struggling to forge the human soul because his own soul was weak. Once he took out the black dragon sword, everything changed because how could a mere Level 30 or so human soul hold up against several powerful dragon souls? Liam collapsed on the ground, staring at the sky, and tried to think about it more. However, he was way too tired at the moment. Also, he was risking too much by being defenseless like this in the middle of nowhere. "Luna." He mumbled, trying to call the fox back, but surprisingly the next second a small tongue licked him in the face. Huh? Liam turned his face to see that the white fox was already there by his side. In fact, all the undead souls were also standing in a row. They seemed to have been observing him all this while. They were also not looking too good. All the undead souls looked shaky and terrified. "Hmmm… should be because of the sword. Dismiss." Liam tiredly mumbled and the soul undeads disappeared, along with the newest recruit. He then tossed the black dragon sword into his inventory space as well and let out a big sigh. Working with incomplete knowledge was extremely dangerous. It had completely worn him out even if everything turned out for the best in the end. There were several instances where it was touch and go for a moment. He might have really not made it. This was a hard lesson. "The next time, I should only touch forging when I have done enough preparations." He made a mental note and dragged his body with Luna's help to land on top of her. The white fox increased her size to become a big fluffy bed for Liam to rest comfortably. "Now then, shall we leave?" Kyuuuuu! Luna shook her head. [Master, this loot] She reminded Liam about the piled up random drops that she and the group of soul undeads had collected painstakingly clearing all the beasts in the area. "Ah, right. I almost forgot." Liam nodded. Luna moved closer to the pile and started handing out the items one by one to Liam who tossed it into the inventory, not bothering to see any details. The only thing he noticed was that once again there were no herbs in the pile. "Ok, let's go to the next place," He did not feel disappointed. He had after all gained a lot more here than he expected. And since there were no herbs in this zone as well, the only thing they could do was to keep looking. The duo then rose up into the air as Luna waddled mid-air flying over to the next location. On top of her, Liam closed his eyes and rested for a while. Now that he had somewhat recovered and replenished his energy sources he felt a lot better. He also felt a lot lighter and free because the pest that had clung to his brain was no longer there. He could only imagine how much his soul would grow stronger with the next stage. He couldn't help but anticipate that growth and power. While Liam rested, the three-tailed white fox continued flying over to the next region, very smoothly and carefully so as to not disturb her master. However, as soon as they neared the zone they were interested in, suddenly Luna came to an abrupt stop. Kyuuuuu! She called out to Liam and he woke up, lazily opening only his one eye to take a look. But the next second he quickly sat up straight with a big grin. When it rains, it pours! After all the mind numbing torture he had just experienced, the heavens had given him a chance to relieve some stress. Liam's gaze wandered around the scene in front of him as he fixated on the giant death knight a few miles ahead of them. The big guy was slaughtering a bunch of earth golems. However, what caught his eye was that his death knight was none other than the same one that he had faced back at the necromancer's cave, the one that had killed him. And standing around the death knight were of course… the group of experts, Kouske, Madan, Anya, and Barret Liam grinned, his lips curling up. "Hello, again."