Cursed Immortality

"Kekekeke… now that the ranting is over, shall we start?"

Jacob remained silent after discovering this secret of the Ghost Race before he spoke, "So, you are the Artifact Spirit."

"Kekeke~ yes I am! No harm in admitting it anymore since you can only get out of here by completing the first three trials." The Artifact Spirit admitted right away.

Jacob's eyes flickered with a profound light as he said, "Then the treasury vault and the Hall of Ghost?"

"Oh, very sharp. The Hall of Ghost is just the base level of the Soulless Ghost Pagoda, while the treasury vault is also another part of it." Artifact Spirit revealed dismissively.

"Just what kind of soul artifact are you? And why are you hiding behind the Ghost Race? If I'm not wrong, you aren't forged by the Soulless Ghost Ancestor, which means your origin is profound. Furthermore, what will happen if others learn about your existence?

"Aren't you afraid the Soulless Ghost Ancestor or Ghost Race might betray and expose you?" Jacob probed impassively.

The Artifact Spirit remained silent momentarily before ambiguously replying, "What does this all have anything to do with you? Furthermore, I'm also curious why you are questioning your own predecessor.

"However, you're neither qualified nor powerful enough to learn about these things. So, how about you prove yourself first before asking me again? After all, if you turn out to be all bark and no bite, wouldn't I be wasting my breath on you?"

Jacob had urged to summon Cursed Immortality right now, but he held back because he was suspicious.

In the end, Jacob nodded, "Alright, let's start."

"Keke, that's what I want…" The Artifact Spirit replied, "So let me tell you about what these trials are about and general introduction to the Soulless Ghost Pagoda purpose.

"Among other uses of the Soulless Ghost Pagoda, the most important one is it being a legacy inheritance ground. Because without inheriting the entire legacy, no one can use the Soulless Ghost Pagoda or become its true owner. You can think of this as a mandatory requirement to become my owner.

"The legacy store in the Soulless Ghost Pagoda is the Legacy of Soulmancers called the Soulmancy! I know this might sound like the profession of Necromancy, but it's not. In fact, Necromancers and Soulmancers are natural enemies because both professions dabble in the soul.

"However, the way they use and handle the souls are entirely different. A Soulmancer is a practitioner who uses souls as raw materials to create flames known as Soulless Flames.

"This ancient art is about combining souls to harness their residual life force, memories, and emotions, transforming them into spectral fire. They draw power from the essence of souls, making them masters of flame control.

"The Soulless Flames are perfect for dark alchemy, enhancing potency and success rates. They make complex concoctions easier to refine, especially for curses, poisons, and dark medicine.

"Not only that, Soulless Flames can also be used in traditional alchemy of the living to improve pill quality and reduce impurities, making them highly sought after, and any dark medicine refined by Soulless Flames is completely harmless!

"The usefulness of the Soulless Flames just didn't end there; another use is their ethereal nature, which allows them to bypass physical defenses, directly burning the soul or causing spiritual damage. They're extremely effective against dark beings and also deadly to living creatures!"

Jacob was astounded when he heard about this unfamiliar profession of 'Soulmancers'. He had already learned about everything he could about the Necromancers up to legendary rank, but he wasn't expecting there to be another profession of Dark Beings like Soulmancers.

Furthermore, Jacob also knew another profession of the Dark Beings, the Shadowmancer, it was mentioned in the inheritance of the Cursed Necromancer King but Shadowmancers are weaker than Necromancers.

The Shadowless King he encountered in the Myriad Galaxy Palace was also a Shadowmancer. However, there was no mention of the Soulmancers in Cursed Necromancer King's inheritance. Jacob felt that even the most powerful Necromancer of the past probably didn't know about such a profession.

Furthermore, with how deeply this place was hidden and all the surrounding secrecy, Jacob conjectured that Soulmancer might be some kind of taboo profession, or something about this profession made this Artifact Spirit hide so desperately in this place.

The point about Dark Medicine becoming harmless to the living beings after being refined by these Soulless Flames was enough to entice countless old monsters to seek them out.

Moreover, this legacy was far from simple, and a soul artifact like the Soulless Ghost Pagoda wouldn't be used to protect it.

Jacob's eyes shifted towards the translucent blue stele and flickered with a hint of realization.

He said, "I guess this trial is about becoming Soulmancer, so in that case, that stele there is the key?"

The Artifact Spirit replied with a hint of approval, "Keke~ right again. That stele contained the First Chapter of an ancient manual of Soulmancer, the Soulmancer Codex, detailing the creation and mastery of Soulless Flames and the ultimate method to form the Divine Soulless Codex—an impenetrable spiritual fortress that ensures the soul's protection unless destroyed!"

Jacob was astounded as he couldn't help but think about a few legendary king-state legacies that he gave up in the Path of Legend because this thing had a similar function.

But this legacy was clearly far higher rank than those since this was just the first chapter, not to mention this wasn't just simply a defensive legacy; it was far from it!

"You mean, unless this Divine Soulless Codex is destroyed, no matter what kind of attack my soul suffers, they will be all deflected to the Divine Soulless Codex, and unless it's destroyed, my soul will remain completely harmless?" He asked sternly.

"It's the gist of it, and this is just one of the abilities of the Soulless Divine Codex. The Soulmancer Codex is divided into 12 Chapters, each corresponding to a Class of Soulless Flame ranking from Class-1 to Class-12, the same as the ranks of Soulmancers (From Class-1 Soulmancer to Class-12 Soulmancer). These flames grow in potency, spiritual power, and complexity with each class, and so does the mastery of Soulmancy.

"This is also your first trial. You see, this first chapter is divided into three sections. This is the first section containing the technique for refining the Class-1 Soulless Flame.

"Only by refining Class-1 Soulless Flame can one be called a Class-1 Soulmancer. You will be given 100 souls, which is also your deadline. You need to refine Class-1 Soulless Flame before 100 souls run out.

"I don't need to remind you what will happen if you use up all the souls, right? Kekeke, good luck~!"