“This is interesting timing,” Kellnock said.

“What is?” His words pulled me out of my concentration. In the background, Maxwell’s ominous music increased all of our focus.

“One of the stronger teams is making faster progress in its instance than expected,” Kellnock explained. “They will be able to see this before we are finished.”

“Well, we can’t stop now,” Damien said. “The moment I arrived, we got put on a timer.”

“Then if everyone is ready, let us begin,” Vito said. “I’m sure Raven will make sure they don’t try and interrupt us.”

The four of us stood in a large ritual circle. At the center of the circle was the anvil. Where we stood along the edges of the circle had separate ritual circles drawn around us that connected into the larger one. Kellnock stood in front of the mouth of the forge, his runic circle connecting him to the forge so he could more easily draw power. The rest of us were evenly spaced around the edges. Damien was possessing a skeleton made of black crystal. The creation had not been cheap according to Vito, but getting the help of the master necromancer was worth the cost.

In between the four of us lay piles of material gathered from creatures in the death marsh, most of it bones and horns. Though there was a certain amount of hide and strips of muscle along with various gems, minerals, and other reagents.

Evenly spaced around the forge was the thirteen skeletal bodies of the nephelium taken from the crypt. Kellnock’s body had come from there as well. He had once been a god I was assured by him that it would not be a problem.

The skeletal bodies had been carefully positioned and adorned with different things. In all of their eye sockets, smooth marbles of the purest black onyx sat. Next to each skull was something that looked like a human brain, but a familiar purple eldritch light came pulsing from inside of it. Carefully laid out beneath them following the major limbs and joints of the body were rods made of crystallized death mana. Finally, clasped in their hands over their chests, were death cores.

Vito had brought with him the harder to get materials, including the death cores. They were from creatures that had naturally contained them, something that was more common in Tehomal. Vito had hunted them down for this exact reason.

At the center on the anvil, Mercy stood straight up. Damien said since it was so intrinsically connected to me now, it could serve as my stand-in allowing me to help with the spell.

“So we begin,” Damien whispered. Power flowed out of Kellnock. It was a perfect mixture of death and eldritch power provided from the Forge of the Tranquil Soul.

Though Kellnock would be channeling the most power, Damien was overall in charge. Kellnock had not even argued against Damien’s supremacy. Damien had been involved in his creation after all, and Kellnock understood quite a bit about what Damien was.

Kellnock’s power built the structure of the ritual, filling all the lines, powering runes, and consuming and preparing much of the material. A minute passed, but it felt far longer to me. I was focused on building power within the circle around me.

I handled the pure eldritch magic aspect of the ritual, which is unique to each eldritch magic practitioner, so it was important I provided my own. Though the forge did provide it as well since I had also worked to create that, but it was best if it still came directly from me.

Across from me, Vito was building up death magic, that was his role. Damien pulled death energy out of cores inside of his own circle. His skill with death energy was so far beyond any of ours that it only made sense for him to be the one to work with it.

When the ritual was fully powered by Kellnock, the lines solidified. Some of them lifted into the air above us while others pushed down to the crystal floor. A cage was formed around the four of us. Kellnock’s input of power slowed and then stopped as he began to gather power for the next step. As soon as Kellnock cut off, Vito and I poured our power into the spell.

Vito’s magic focused on the materials not touched by Kellnock’s initial part, primarily the bio matter provided. He would refine the material, attuning it to death magic even more thoroughly than it already was. His magic would purge out the remnant sources of other power, including things like dark magic.

My eldritch power flooded out in the larger ritual. Most of what needed to be done was already automated, laid out by the runes drawn throughout the ritual. Most of my role was focusing on stabilizing the chaotic energy. The large ritual directed my power into the skeletal bodies and the brains sitting next to them.

Nephelium bones were thicker and in general just larger than human bones. All across them, runic patterns began to be etched in with purple eldritch magic. I knew from the diagrams Damien had helped me design that the rituals and runes being engraved on their bones would allow for immense power while keeping these creations loyal. The largest concentration was of course on the skulls of the Nephelium.

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The power pouring into the brains was less obvious, but I knew it was modifying the brains at a very intrinsic level. Eldritch power is a complex subject. People associate it with madness, but that is only when it runs rampant and uncontrolled inside of your mind. When harnessed, the power of the eldritch mind is something to be feared, and not because it was insane.

My power expended itself and my attention returned to the greater ritual as I pulled out and drank a mana potion. Vito did not need to do the same, his mana reserves were more than enough to keep up with what would come next. The two of us had finished at the exact same time, as designed.

Next, power flooded out of Kellnock and Damien simultaneously. Kellnock’s power gathered the refined materials and essences now floating within the ritual and poured them into the bodies. Meanwhile, the death energy from Damien flooded directly into the skeletal bodies. The brain was picked up by the power as the back of the skull where the neck connected opened, and it slid inside. The death energy pushed apart the bones and the death cores lowered inside the chest. Finally, the crystal that lay underneath the bodies was picked up by the death energy and integrated into the bone directly, replacing the marrow on the inside.

Power swirled around the body making small adjustments to everything. Then Kellnock’s power began to layer in material. Strands of pure purple material poured into the spinal column and spread throughout the entire body, the nervous system. Then the flesh came in and began to coat the bodies providing muscles and protection.

Bone was added over the flesh to further strengthen it, though not in large chunks or slabs. When Vito had been refining, he had broken it down and wove the bones together into something akin to chain mail. It would provide a massive increase to the durability of these creations while not hindering their movement. On top of the bone skin was added, smooth and pale gray. Absently I wondered if it would tan in the sun.

The onyx in the eyes of the creations had been absorbed and turned into something between a crystalline and flesh eye. The thirteen were stood up and faced towards the anvil, as my second part began. From out of me flowed eldritch power once again, but this time it was laced with a small amount of soul energy.

Across from me more death magic flowed out from Vito, also laced with soul energy. Our powers met in the middle where Mercy stood. They combined and then flooded out in torrents of energy in thirteen directions. The energy entered the eyes, and when it stopped, the ritual was complete.

As the power faded, I sagged, the only one tired. The others had fared much better, but they had a lot more resources. Nothing happened at first, and I briefly worried we had done something wrong. But then a purple flare of light blossomed in the eyes of one of my new creations directly across from me, and that light held intelligence behind it.

I reached out my will and summoned Mercy back to me. It flew through the air, avoiding the thirteen and landed in my hand. As if on cue, the thirteen new creations turned to me. I could feel a connection to them, distant like most of my creations, but also far more complicated than anything I had felt before.

I examined one of them, pulling up the description, and what I read did not disappoint.

Shamgar

Exalted Living Dead

Level: 108

Created at a forge of myth deep within a dungeon by four masters of rituals and necromancy with the remains of powerful beings who lived in an age long past.

An exalted living dead is a veritable force to be reckoned with. Crafted of the highest quality of materials, they can excel at many pursuits if they are suited for it. Often this means they become true masters of a particular skill and are sought out for their knowledge. The material used in the creation can give them additional traits.

Elder Bones: This exalted living dead has the bones of a being from an age long past. While not to the same degree as a true elder living dead it still increases the speed at which they can learn skills.

Natural Death Core: The death core contained within the exalted living dead was natural occurring and not forcibly made. This increases the quality and rate at which death energy can be circulated through the body.

Conduits of Power: The marrow of this exalted living dead’s bones has been replaced with crystallized death and eldritch power enabling easy use of magic, Giving them innate skills with those two powers and up to second degree related magics.

Eldritch Mind: The mind and nervous system of this exalted living dead has been refined and enhanced by eldritch magic. This gives them an increased intellect and further increases their skill with eldritch magic. It also increases their fine motor control and reaction times.

Purpose Born: Many creatures wander through life not knowing their purpose. This is not true for this being. It was created for a purpose, and though it is not self-aware yet, that will come soon. The intent and power of the forging of this creature has affected it, giving it additional traits.

Born to Serve: This exalted living dead was created to serve a powerful lich. When fighting to defend its master that power will be amplified. To better serve its master this exalted undead learns combat-oriented skills at an accelerated rate.

Warning! It is possible for this exalted living dead to throw off this yoke. Doing so forcibly, while possible, will result in direct soul damage as this exalted living dead has been created for this purpose.

Unified Power: The exalted living dead was created with twelve brothers and sisters. Their power is all equal, each in their own right. The power they wield is based off the strength of their master. They only grow in power as their master grows in power. Experience gained by them is deferred until their master grows in power and they can advance. When all thirteen fight together with their master their power is massively amplified.

Legacy of the Divine: This exalted living dead once served a god. He was entombed with his god when that god fell from power and was killed. The god’s body was taken and used to create a powerful dungeon lord named Kellnock. Kellnock’s involvement in the creation of this exalted living dead guaranteed his Divine Material trait to proc. Once per day, resetting on a twenty-four hour window, this exalted living dead has access to one point of divine energy.