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Soul Forges are golems that are used to harvest the souls of monsters in dungeons, particularly those that spawn ghosts. When I read that, I couldn’t really see the thing. I cast lighting on with contempt and felt a little embarrassed. It was like really disliking a smith’s anvil. On the bright side, the nightmare accelerant was entirely functional and only doing what it was built to do. The enchantments might have only made it defend itself.

After my latest search through the database, I sat on the golem's square head and overlooked the bone pile on the ground. The treasures found were safely in my inventory, and I had already chugged a potion to restore my lost health. I debated adding the golem to my inventory until I tried to lift it and found it weighed too much.

I was putting off my decision and looking around instead of charging ahead. Moving to the next floor wasn’t ideal, but level 30s wouldn’t be enough to continue leveling at the pace I’m used to. The concept of power leveling felt like it should apply. It was one of the terms I found in the database. When a stronger adventurer helped a weaker one grow stronger rapidly. That’s not quite what happened here, but it was where my start originated.

Quick growth was what I was used to, and that couldn’t continue without some planning.

The amount of powdered skull I had would be enough to tier up my profession. Combine the tier up with my Heavenly Tribulation and I was set to really make some gains. Not to mention, after organizing my loot from this floor, I found the skill I was looking for.

Catalyze

Rank: F

Description: Remove impurities and combine ingredients for alchemic creations.

I could use this to turn seven-leaf clovers, thousand-year rainbow grass, and black rose dragon thorns into a singular ingredient focused on one purpose. When added with other catalyzed ingredients, it was possible to create hyper-specialized potions, pills, injections, and many other high-level alchemic creations. All I had to do was take up a skill slot; one of three left I wouldn’t get back until I gained a new class.

The excitement that appeared within me after gaining the skill I wanted lasted until I took a look at the early skills I absolutely needed for a successful build. There was a long list, but they boiled down to physical enhancement, movement, emitter, durability, and recovery skills. While I would get more skill slots with other classes, they also had requirements for someone going for the heavenly dragon build. My spells would have to wait at least until lvl100 because there was nothing I needed below lvl99. A knight class had much more room to maneuver because all I needed from that one was riding and armor skills. That left 3 skill slots open for wasteful profession-only skills.

My current emitter was Heavenly Tribulation, a complete and utter lottery win. It was only available in a few classes. If it failed to drop in Lightning Elementalist, then I would have to choose Storm Elementalist and maybe Cosmic Elementalist. By doing activities to gain Heavenly Tribulation instead of the other much more valuable skills, I would miss out on the other core skills, creating a downward cascading effect. Adventurers reincarnate repeatedly when they fail to get Heavenly Tribulation in the Lightning Elementalist class.

“What’s the point in doing any of this when you can’t do what you want?” Demon Hearts asked.

I rolled my eyes. “This is the best possible option against raid bosses and PVP. It's an utter cheat class, min-maxing the hell out of every possible avenue of power.” I said.

“Do you know what PVP stands for?”

“Not a clue. I’m completely ignorant of most acronyms the Adventurers use.” I said.

Talking with her was always energy-intensive and barely gave any xp for charisma gains. I decided then to experiment when dealing with her. So far, the results have been promising. While she was still negative as hell, being completely honest took most of her firepower away.

“That isn’t good; you should study more when you aren’t fighting in a dungeon. Are you going to leave? You can’t have much mana left. Then again, only big dicked badasses continue after only a minor inconvenience. You don’t look like a big dicked badass to me.”

“I have none; my recovery rate is zero. My lightning ate up all the mana in the room, and I’m out. Basically, all my options are gone. If we weren’t in this boss room, those ghosts would surely kill me.” I said.

“You don’t have to sound so happy about it. I know what you need; go out and kill some ghosts. I’m sure it will drop something nice.” Demon Hearts said.

I smirked at her words and rubbed my nose.

CHA 30

I blinked at the number and almost couldn’t believe it; my fake front and happy tone had rapidly increased my charisma from talking with my female delusion. This was amazing, incredible, so much better than walking on my hands in the rain through horse shit. I could practically feel the gains.

“Hey, Demon, I think you’re cute,” I said.

The figment of my imagination blushed and turned her head away. “Don’t say things like that, trash. Your act will break eventually, and then there will be no more resistance.”

My fake noble ass-kissing smile remained plastered on my face despite her words. It took more than that to break my façade.

“What was that purple skill shard?” Demon hearts asked.

I opened my inventory and stared at the glowing thing still debating on whether I needed to choose it or not. Fighting a boss at a higher level increased drop rarity. The drop was the rare Yellow Flash. A skill that channeled lightning through the body for quick movements. It was technically an enhancement skill, but I already had one. Tactile Telekinesis covered most of my enhancement needs but not in a way that would make Yellow Flash viable. While strength did naturally increase speed a certain amount of dexterity was needed to fully control and bring that strength to bear. Yellow flash would overshoot my dexterity.

“Triple the speed and no control; you can have it,”  I said.

“Oh, you would just give me a skill. That’s far too generous for someone with your personality profile.” She said.

That was far more information than I expected. She mentioned file which was an adventurer term used for organizing information. My thoughts went back to some of the documentaries I’ve watched from the database. While faking cheerfulness was charismatic, it didn’t work well with women.

“Hmph,” I said.

I turned my back on Demon Hearts and checked my status. That single word and giving her less attention increased my charisma gain. I compared my reaction and the articles on charisma, and something didn’t add up.

My new revelation came with a return.

“The next floor is much more dangerous than this one. You aren’t even an adventurer; there is no way you’ll beat it. Take my advice and leave for the entrance. I know you can handle it, but everyone needs a break.”

I grunted and checked the new wealth in my inventory while giving it a good organization. How had I not realized that grunting was so much more efficient in communication? Somehow, saying fewer words gave me more charisma.

My research into my class gave me a few options for my next skill. I needed something to boost my durability. Copper scales might have been a good one, but that was lost. My best bet would be something that uses HP to increase my defense. In the Lightning Mage class, I had very few options. Magna Armor would be great if I could make it to floor 5. Tesla Barrier was a good mana-based skill, but I already tapped heavily into that resource.

“I know your class and your game. It won’t work. The next floor is built to chew up mages and spit them out. Unless you have vitality comparable to your intelligence stat, you shouldn’t bother. Adventurers use parties for a reason. Training to get the stats needed is too brutal for newbie adventurers, much less a fake like you.”

“Is that so?” I said.

Moving on to the next floor held a lot of potential dangers and benefits. Ghost levels often expanded into other undead types. I could see skeletons or zombies roaming on the next floor. I didn’t know much about either type of undead, more than what they looked like. Before I left for the unknown, I needed another skill.

A skill that used HP to boost my defense wasn’t unheard of for my class. They existed; unfortunately, they were all rather terrible. Something like lightning armor was unlikely to drop under floor 10 of a dungeon.

I left the boss room and killed a few ghosts, hoping for a drop that might change things. Something like Spectral Armor could work. Twenty ghosts later, I returned to the boss room to wait for more to respawn. I needed a way to get the ghosts to spawn and walk down the hallway. The long hallway and barrier would allow me to attack many ghosts in a straight line with no chance of getting damaged.

“This isn’t exactly what I meant when I said you shouldn’t move to the next floor. Why are you even fighting the ghosts?” Demon Hearts asked.

I felt strange like I was suddenly in a situation where my words could decide my future. Somewhere in the database, I remembered an adventurer saying less was more. It was a paradox that made no sense until this moment. At this point, it felt like using my less-word strategy wasn’t the best tool for the job. What I needed was a trap. Demon Hearts had a trait I found familiar. She was a creature of pride.

My lips felt so dry at that moment I had to lick them. “I don’t think even someone as great as you could help me. I need a specific skill.” I said.

“It's bold of you to assume my capabilities. Getting you any skill that drops on this floor is as easy to me as turning my hand.” She turned her hand for emphasis. I forced the smile growing on my face to turn into a frown. “That doesn’t mean I’ll help you for free. Hand over that Yellow Flash skill, and I’ll exchange it for one on this floor.”

“Sure,” I said.

The skill was useless to me, but if it could shed some light on the nature of this creature haunting me, all the better.

When I tossed the skill shard, she caught it, and the skill vanished in motes of purple light. At that moment, everything I thought I knew about her identity was thrown out. Those motes of light weren’t anything I’ve seen before and I had no context to pin them to. I was plowing an alien filled with no clue when I would hit a rock.

…

Yellow flames danced on atop white candles, dripping with yellow wax. Meat spoiled on the sacrificial alters, bubbling with yellow pus. The ritual knife in the street urchin’s hand moved with a life of its own as an enchantment activated at the end. All was going according to Ducal Minister of War William Black’s plans. When the knife struck home in the urchin’s chest, the advisor smiled. He upturned a flask of white frothy liquid in a toast to a successful summoning. He wiped his yellow mustache clean as the King in Yellow’s royal secretary of research appeared.

She was new to the great game between the powers but wore her mantel of authority well. The yellow-furred monstrosity had been rather cryptic about the rewards from their partnership. The skill shard brain control had been an excellent boon, and more unique skills were promised. William had been left to his own devices, bereft of the opportunity to show that he deserved the skills the secretary could provide. William wanted this to be corrected that’s why he led a young man from the streets to committing grand sacrifices. More refugees were slaughtered, easing the strain on the Ducal lands with fewer mouths to feed, and even some food thieves were dealt with. The Ducal treasurer would thank him, along with the minister of Ducal justice, for tying up this loose end so spectacularly.

“I have a task for you. A high-potential child with elder blood has found refuge in the Sky Spear Republic near the town of Green Hill. He is a lightning elementalist with an alchemy profession; if you were to recruit him over to your side, it would benefit your faction greatly. I would part with some skill shards of D quality if the recruitment is successful and supply skill shards for his growth.” The abominable sheep said.

He smiled outwardly at the powerful abomination. The forces of the King in Yellow ripped through their lands and had already taken the heir of the Van Raven Queendom hostage. Laws limiting the number of landed knights with the power to do anything about it had thinned their martial potential. Duchess Vivian, a man devouring witch, gave money only to the witch covens and grants to the sorority of witches. Men who went to learn had to pay an outrageous fee. Martial teachings had been greatly limited for fear that citizens would revolt against the duchess and later the kingdom. His predecessors had advised Duchess Vivian to subsidize knightly training, and the Minister of Justice lopped off their heads. It was unfortunate witches made poor combatants and even poorer captains. They were niche specialists useful only for taking down bosses with regeneration. Without a committed martial bulwark to do the heavy lifting, they were practically useless.

Adding a Lighting Elementalist wasn’t another witch; the variety wasn’t much of an improvement. The fact that a goblin nation formed a republic was a sign of immense wealth for goblins and a growing civilization. Green Hills was in Countess Emily Ryan’s territory; she was to lead a defense against the yellow line and had drawn a line for no man’s land. Soon enough, the witches would fly over on their brooms and begin routine spell bombardments.

That part of the land would soon be overrun with wild magic from repeated battle spell casts, and wild, powerful dungeons and monsters would undoubtedly pop up.

With that in mind, why should he risk sending even a squad of the few mounted light cavalries under his command to retrieve a high-potential child from goblin clutches? He had just paid in blood to summon a powerful member of the King in Yellow’s court. Her words spoke more of an agenda on her part than any true benefits for him. His sacrifices to her were a direct benefit to the abomination.

“I will need more than that; why does his potential matter more than a brilliant potential squire. We have a tournament coming up among the refugees; the winner becomes a squire to knight Van Raven of the formerly royal line. If I rescue him, will he be able to compete as a knight instead of a spell caster?” William asked.

This smelled like something personal or a trap. Elder blood clearly meant that some great old one was the boy’s ancestor. A King was the most likely candidate, but there were other more powerful monsters. Saving the boy from the yellow line might be in fulfillment of some favor the abomination owes. The loss of resources wasn’t worth it, even if the body was a brilliant knight. He needed knights in numbers, not singularly powerful entities. Moving a group in and out of no man’s land before the bombardment would be difficult. Did he even want this rescue to succeed?

His relationship with the abomination had allowed a few wins but nothing deciding. If he was right about this situation then the boy’s survival was not in his best interest. Better yet, if the death could be pinned on her side, all the better. There were some witches corrupted already by the King in Yellow in their own court. Duchess Vivian refuses to see reason, leaving them to plot and turn more of their numbers. There were troublemakers in his own faction, those blood-hungry knights that made great combatants but terrible leaders. He could put a band of troublemakers together in a squad and send them to negotiate with the Goblin Republic. He would give them the Solars and a casket of white essence. Then, he would let the information leak to the traitorous elements. Hopefully, the two sides met and killed each other, the witches killed the boy, or his men succeeded in killing the witches and bringing the boy in. He enjoyed the situations where no matter who lost, he won the most.

“Don’t let this opportunity pass you by. This boy is a once in a thousand years talent.” The abomination said.

Wiliam scoffed on the inside but held himself together. She was like Duchess Vivian, completely blind to true talent. Only when a boy with nothing clawed his way over a mountain of bodies could they be considered talented? If that then clawed over a thousand bodies of those who also climbed over a mountain of hungry wretches, could they be considered a generational talent? An Elementalist who stands at the back of warriors could hardly match the grit of his knights.

He would do this to humor the abomination and get a feel for the situation. Letting traitors die by his knight’s hands was just a bonus.

…

Ghost Core

Rank: F

Description: A ghost’s singular organ that holds their memories, power, and potential. When a ghost consumes it, they will grow more powerful. Combine 100 to rank up to E grade Ghost Core.

I picked up a few of the cores and found even more in my inventory. The little balls radiated cold, heat, electricity, and so many other elements. They were some of the most common ghost drops in my inventory. Also, when a few were out of my inventory, ghosts spawned faster and were attracted to the cores. This, in turn, helped me farm them faster. Each fallen ghost dropped 10 copper pennies, and some of the stronger ones dropped whole stars. I was making far more money in the dungeon than I ever had making potions.

Despite giving Demon Hearts my purple-coated skill shard, she hadn’t given me anything in return yet. The truth was I couldn’t decide on what skill I wanted that was available. So, to pass the time, I farmed. A few goblins poked their head in on occasion and died from the spawning ghosts. That, in turn, allowed more ghosts to spawn, especially with the cores I had stacked on the skull shelves. I organized them by type and found that most were electrical, thanks to my class.

On occasion, a skill shard with ghost type dropped, but they were either ghost claws, spectral saber, or one phantasmal bow. Offensive skills were great; they could help unlock spells that classes might not have available. My problem was that I already had an emitter skill. For my build, I needed three completely different skills. I needed movement, durability, and recovery skills.

Intangible wouldn’t drop; it was an S-rank skill and only dropped on floor 30 in dungeons. This dungeon stopped at floor 9. I was already a third of the way through it.

“I’m sure the dungeon will make another floor; maybe floor 10 will be a demonic floor.” Demon Hearts said.

I grunted and continued looking through my ghost cores. In theory, I could make an E or D rank core and plop them into a ghost. The cores would battle it out, and when the higher rank ones won, the ghost would become significantly stronger. Unfortunately, E-rank specters could have stats up to level 249.

Atom lvl55

My level hadn’t increased in 200 ghosts. Level 35s gave too little xp to be worth killing them except to farm their ghost cores. All ghosts had them, but it seemed rank F monsters didn’t have much in the way of unique elemental affinities.

On the bright side, my experiments have been going well. When combining cores, the one the element would be either the stronger one or dependent on how the elements reacted. Wind, Lightning, and Water created a storm core 1 in 200 tries.

The cores seemed to go from F to E when they absorbed 100 cores worth of energy. While they exist out in the open they floor the floor with ghostly energy as they take in ambient MN particles. That energy spawns the ghosts. While within a ghost, the ghost uses most of that energy to sustain itself. But with so much wild ghostly energy on the floor, more ghosts spawn with random ghost cores. As the cores in my collection increase, so too does the number of ghosts spawned, but their strength is limited to the floor.

I tapped my shoulder while I stared at my research notes and gave Demon Hearts a look over. She seemed content to watch me experiment with ghost cores.

“You are such an idiot. Have you thought about adding a ghost skill? Demon Hearts asked.

Undead skills are terrible for humans. The death energy would slowly erode my natural mana and most likely kill me. Something would wake up in my body, but I would be dead, or that would be the case if I were human. My elder blood changed things; there were eldritch beings that wielded death-attuned energy. Even human necromancers wielded death energy. I didn’t have a technique to protect me, but I didn’t need it.

“I haven’t really thought about it. What kind of ghost-type skills are available?” I asked.

Demon Hearts smiled, flashing white teeth. She was in for a surprise.

“Keep a ghost core for the skill; no, even better, keep multiple. There are bound to be multiple ghost skills that can help you. The fifth floor also has ghosts on it. You aren’t very strong, but maybe you can make it if you struggle. The best ghost skill on this floor is Eidolon Amory. But there is a problem: it's greedy for ghost cores and weapons. It’s recommended that you have a lightning, metal, and fire ghost core on hand. Also, if any weapons you find have a particular element, you’ll need a ghost core for it.”

“Do I already have it?” I looked through my inventory and found Spectral Armory but no Eidolon Armory.

“No, it’s way too rare to get it from a single run, but your farming strategy should get a drop eventually. You’ve only been down here for three days. Oh, don’t advance the cores to E grade yet. You’ll want them to be around your level.”

I stared at my lightning ghost core, which had already absorbed 50 other lightning cores. The concern about the cores was fake. I was born at night, but it wasn’t last night.

My grunt made the girl roll her eyes at me.

She held her fingers to her temples and chanted, “Kill yourself.”

Her strategy was to boil me like a frog in water. Ghost cores that only absorbed ten cores would mean around a lvl33 equivalent. My current level was more than enough to resist them. Death magic was reportedly sinister in how slow but certain it assaulted the body.

More ghosts spawned, and I took them apart with my fists. After staying here for a few days I was used to fighting the ghosts. I even had a few levels in Tactile Telekinesis. Soon enough, I would gain my last level in Heavenly Tribulation and then complete the tier-up quest.

Eidolon Armor wasn’t on the skill list in my database. Unless I went to an adventurer server farm or monitor and connected through my system, I wasn’t getting more information. We were months away from all adventurers going away. That would really change the world.

I added another stack of ectoplasm to my inventory and collected more ghost cores. Metal was rather rare. I had 8 so far, and more dropped every few minutes. A water and air-fused core I mashed together was closing in on E rank, and more ghosts were popping up every hour because of it. Fortunately, when I needed rest, the boss room was a no-ghost zone. I think it was because of the deactivated Soul Forge. They must instinctively shy away from it.

My hand lashed out at a ghost sliding through a wall and crushed its head. Ectoplasm squished between my fingers, electrically charged. That meant lightning core. I added it to my inventory and finished the rest of the wave.

Atom lvl56

I pumped my arms and yelled to the heavens. Then I jumped up and down because it had been 1000 ghosts since my last level up. I had so many ghost cores and only held off from evolving one to E because the numbers would jump again. I searched through the dropped loot and saw something I hadn’t expected. There was a cauldron decorated with swirling ghostly engravings.

Spirit Cauldron

Rank F+

Description: A fancy cauldron fit for alchemy. It can smoothly be used by both the living and the dead to make every F-grade pill imaginable with ectoplasm as a base. Those with a ghost skill have a chance of making results half a grade higher.

I thought about causing a cave-in to seal off the dungeon from the goblins and making my home here for the next year. My quest wouldn’t cancel, leaving Blanca to deal with the coming yellow line. The goblin nation could fail the quest while I live a comfortable life. I’m certain I can find a bed on one of the lower floors. Dungeons have more ambient mana perfect for breaking through, and with a little work, I can rid the corruption from the mana roots.

When I thought about leaving, I couldn’t help but remember Mos’s tight green ass and smiling face. Her cute upturned fangs and tiny button nose did things to me. If not for the damned training gear, I would be balls-deep in her, and it was driving me crazy.

Red was an asshole.

I took the cauldron because I can always use an extra. When I rid myself of the corruption in my mana roots, my mana regeneration would skyrocket. Using two cauldrons would double my alchemy speed. I finished crushing the skulls into powder and added them to my inventory. Before tossing some ectoplasm in the cauldron, a fire ghost core, and some powdered kobold skull. As my ingredients began to reach the yellowing, I added some of the white fox after striking it with tribulation lightning.

This potion was heavily linked to me because I acquired the ingredients myself. My action of crushing skulls into powder held a lot of magical meaning for breaking limitations. A fire ghost core would help burn away corruption. Ectoplasm was a mystical base tying the alchemy to my mana roots. The White Fox nearly beat me; it was a hidden enemy, much like the corruption. Using Heavenly Tribulation specialized the ingredient's mystery aspect. I was, in a sense, shooting in the dark and hoping I hit something.

Combining this and a poorly understood meditation technique was bound to be loads of fun. If other people could open their mana roots with it, then so could I. This was what separated NPCs from adventurers. They had no mana roots; this was, at the low end, a massive advantage. It meant they had no need to bother with corruption and only had to focus on stats. An NPC would have to train for decades to improve their roots to match the gains from wisdom adventurers had at level 200. I had both roots and stats to use. That means if I opened my roots, my wisdom stat would naturally pull mana in for me. Once my roots opened, my natural filler organ would absorb mana and grow. That was with my intelligence stat included. In theory, this would give me 20% more mana from the beginning.

More than that, I could condense my mana with techniques, making my mana more powerful and increasing the damage from spells. Adventurers used techniques that condensed mana outside the body. By condensing it in the body and on the outside, I could greatly increase the power of my spells.

The cauldron I worked on exploded, throwing hot ectoplasm everywhere in the whitening phase. I shielded my face and waited for the fumes to die down before cleaning the cauldron with lightning and trying again.

I felt my Heavenly tribulation hit max level.

A powerful force came over me, and I opened my quest.

Heavenly Tribulation lvl9/9 Tier 1

Heavenly Tribulation Tier Quest

Strike down 1000 F-rank ghosts and 1 E-rank Spectar.

It seemed I would get my chance to see what happens when a Rank F ghost swallows a Rank E core.

Are rank E ghosts called Spectar, or are they a specific type? While I worked on my latest pill, I pondered the nature of the enemy. I could rank up a core and see what happens.

25 attempts resulted in a failure at the whitening stage and wasted tons of ingredients. They let me know I was deep in a bottleneck. Either I needed another ingredient or maybe a different cauldron. The cores may be interfering with some residual personality from the ghost. Instead of throwing a core in, I crushed it, but the process failed at the yellowing instead. Adding two fire cores burned the ingredients and adding two fire cores and one water failed it at the beginning.

Being stumped by a potion wasn’t unexpected. The dungeon’s ambient mana could be the cause; it didn’t take much to mess up a pill or potion. My alchemy level could be too low. I hadn’t finished my tier-up yet, or the recipe might not be viable. Really, all I wanted to do was supplement my attempt to rid my mana roots of the corruption clogging them.

A day after I started, I found some cave moss and tossed it in to see what would happen. On the blackening phase the moss kept the potion’s ghostly fire core in check. When the reddening began there was no mistake what the problem had been as a mix of death and light energy intermixed and left the cauldron.

The moss contained a measure of life-attuned energy, while the ghost core had death-attuned energy. That death attunement was what threw off my recipe. I boiled down the potion until it became a jelly-like film and placed some in a pill maker I borrowed. Once it dried, I inspected it.

Unnamed Pill

Rank E-

Description: A pill filled with fire energy designed to burn away corruption. The power within must be guided by the spirit of the user, or else it will cause damage.

I stared at the slightly translucent pill before taking it. Heat exploded in my chest, and I fell into the corruption expulsion technique. Behind my will, the fire energy swept through into my mana roots. Under my careful guidance, I felt the corruption burn away. Still, in my hesitation, the energy from the pill ran out long before I made much progress. More were needed before I had any hope of clearing out one of my mana roots. There were hundreds of mana roots in my body, and more would grow as my level increased.