Chapter 123: Summoning the Departed Souls

Thud!

Under the relentless assault of the group, the undead death knight, notorious for its high blood defense, finally fell with a bitter groan at the city gate. Its towering body crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. The mighty Monk Dingyuan, who had been raging for two minutes, shrank back to his normal size, though his skin remained a vivid green. Poor bald monk, he would have to endure this look for another week.

“Haha, Monk, you’re doomed! Now that you’re out of the illusion, you’d better find a quiet place to hide, or someone might mistake you for a monster and finish you off,” Longface teased from atop the assault tower. Thanks to Ye Chen’s thorough preparation, this round of monsters was handled with minimal casualties. Only one foolish Silver Armor Swordsman had fallen; the rest emerged unscathed, putting Longface in high spirits.

“Even if I got killed, it would have been worth it. I’ve never had such a blast before—wiping out 200 monsters of the same level single-handedly. That’s what being invincible means!” Despite turning into a green-skinned monster, Dingyuan Monk’s face bore no trace of sorrow. Instead, he was grinning from ear to ear, looking at Ye Chen as if he had discovered a treasure. Salivating, he sidled up and asked, “Brother Ye Chen, do you have any more of that potion? If you do, give me two bottles—no matter the cost, I’d bankrupt myself for them.”

Ye Chen bent down to pick up the gear dropped by the undead death knight and smiled wryly at Dingyuan Monk. “Do you think that Green Giant potion is like candy? I had to put in a lot of effort to get it, and besides, it's a unique quest item. Don’t even think about it.”

Ye Chen’s words instantly deflated Dingyuan Monk’s enthusiasm, and even the other team members who were listening eagerly felt a twinge of disappointment. Compared to the power of giant transformation, whether the skin was green or not didn’t really matter. Everyone would be fighting to transform if they had the chance.

“By the way,” Dingyuan Monk said, flipping through the team’s loot list, “didn’t that mutated pangolin commander in the city just drop a ‘Bronze Skin and Iron Bones’ skill book? Hurry and hand it over—that’s a powerful passive skill for monks.”

Without hesitation, Ye Chen tossed the skill book dropped by the mutated pangolin commander to Dingyuan Monk. The skill could boost a player’s constitution by 30 points and defense by 50—truly a rare and valuable skill.

“What about the death knight’s drops? Any silver equipment?” Longface, standing atop the arrow tower, asked with curiosity. The others also focused their gaze on Ye Chen. Silver-tier bosses were formidable, and since the drop rates in the illusion were higher, everyone was eager.

“A bronze lance and a silver ring,” Ye Chen replied, posting the equipment stats in the team chat.

[Lord’s Lance] (Bronze Tier)
Attack: 201–329
Strength: +15
Level Requirement: 32
Additional: +12% Melee Physical Damage

Upon seeing the bronze lance’s stats, the team let out a soft murmur. Although they had found plenty of bronze gear from chests before, most were level 20-something items. Longface’s level 30 weapon was the best so far, but compared to this lance, his bow paled significantly—the lance’s added melee damage bonus alone left the bow far behind.

Huzi’s eyes gleamed brightly. This weapon was a gem among knight weapons, rivaling even silver-level gear from the early 20s. That 12% melee damage boost was like icing on the cake.

Without hesitation, Ye Chen handed the lance to Huzi, who grinned so broadly that his eyes nearly vanished into slits.

“What about the silver gear? What stats does it have?” Longface asked impatiently. They’d been in the illusion for quite some time, and only one silver item had dropped—the medal Ye Chen had gotten from a treasure chest. The rest remained bronze at best.

[Soul Ring] (Silver Tier)
Attack: 32–56
Intelligence: +20
Constitution: +20
Level Requirement: 30
Additional: Soul Summon (When used on dead undead monsters, there is a 10% chance to summon the monster’s soul. The soul possesses 70% of the monster’s original attributes. The monster level must be below 50. The number of summons depends on the player’s level. Normal monsters can only be summoned once. Souls disappear upon logout.)

Seeing the Soul Ring’s stats, even Dingyuan Monk’s eyes widened in surprise, let alone the others. A collective chill ran through the group. They were all experts, fully aware of how game-changing the Soul Summon skill was. With this ring, one could roam the undead maps virtually unchallenged, summoning a whole battalion of minions as long as time allowed. The only drawback was that summons vanished upon logout and had to be summoned again.

“The magic user gear is mine,” Ye Chen declared, swapping out his old bronze ring for the Soul Ring. He looked at the new Soul Summon skill now displayed in his skill bar and felt a surge of excitement. Before 2058 had mentioned that the undead death knight had a 30% chance to drop this item—he hadn’t expected his luck to be so good as to actually get it.

The others watched Ye Chen don the Soul Ring with envy, secretly calculating how much this powerful silver ring was worth. Several magic users practically drooled, but since magic user items had to be chosen by Ye Chen first, they could only watch in silence.

“Brother Ye Chen, try out your Soul Summon skill. The next wave of monsters arrives in ten minutes. Try to summon as many souls as possible. If you manage to summon that death knight’s soul, it’d be even better,” Dingyuan Monk said, pointing at the pile of undead knight corpses by the gate. Corpses in the Demon Training Ground only spawned after monsters were dispatched, so Ye Chen could try summoning each one.

With the skill freshly acquired, Ye Chen naturally wanted to test it. He channeled the Soul Summon over the scattered undead knight bodies.

A streak of black light shot toward a corpse, which shuddered before bursting into a cloud of black mist. Summon failed!

Ye Chen didn’t lose heart. There were over a hundred undead knights—no rush. He’d try them one by one. With a 10% success rate, he thought, surely he could summon at least ten. The team shared the hope, but reality was harsher. After fifty attempts, not a single summon succeeded.

Everyone was stunned. Ye Chen felt deeply frustrated. This skill seemed like a scam. Forcing himself to stay focused, he cast Soul Summon on the fifty-first corpse. The body trembled again, and just as Ye Chen feared another failure, tiny miniature undead knight souls emerged from its head.

“Ding! Soul Summon successful. Acquired one Undead Knight soul.”

The miniature undead knight saluted Ye Chen, then inhaled deeply. Its body inflated like a balloon, growing rapidly, until it returned to its original size right before their astonished eyes. Then the corpse faded away.

[Undead Knight] (Elite Tier)
Health: 12,600
Level: 35

Though its overall attributes were reduced by 30%, the Undead Knight was still formidable—at least as strong as those mutated pangolins that had stolen the Demon Heart. The team marveled at its stats; this summon could rival many summoner’s pets. Sadly, it vanished upon logout, and the summoning rate was disappointingly low.

Encouraged by the success, Ye Chen pressed on. At the 40th, 30th, and 20th corpses, he summoned more undead knights. Ten, nine, seven summons succeeded. Half in this semi-phantom state, three souls silently stood behind Ye Chen in a wedge formation, as if surrounding a general. Their imposing presence stirred envy among the team.

Three, two, one—the last undead knight summon failed. Ye Chen paused briefly, then strode to the largest corpse and took a deep breath, preparing to summon the most powerful—the undead death knight.

At this moment, the team chat fell silent. Whether stationed on the arrow towers or beside Ye Chen, all eyes fixed on the death knight’s corpse. This was a silver-tier boss, and even at 30% reduced stats, it was a fearsome entity. If Ye Chen succeeded, their chances of clearing the Demon Training Ground would rise considerably.

“Jesus Christ, God, Satan, Buddha, all the deities—please bless Ye Chen’s success,” the anti-superstition member muttered repeatedly.

Ye Chen felt a twinge of nervousness. Summoning a silver boss was a huge temptation—having one as a minion would make anyone’s blood boil. He silently chanted for success, then pointed his right hand, adorned with the Soul Ring, forward. A black beam shot toward the death knight’s corpse.

It trembled, quivered, then trembled again. Every heartbeat in the crowd seemed to stop.

Bang! The death knight’s body exploded into a cloud of black mist. The summon had failed.

Everyone twitched, and the team chat filled with disappointed sighs. Ye Chen was equally vexed. What a lousy 10% success rate—felt more like 1%.

“Hey, look! The death knight’s corpse hasn’t disappeared!”

Ye Chen looked up, surprised. At the same time, a notification sounded in his ear.

“Silver-tier creatures have three summon attempts. The undead death knight’s first summon failed. Please proceed with the second summon promptly.”

Three attempts? Ye Chen cursed his own carelessness. The skill description only mentioned one summon for normal monsters, not bosses. He’d been too excited to notice. But 2058 definitely knew—intentionally withholding that detail. The mischief was growing.

(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please consider supporting it with recommendations and monthly votes on Qidian. Your support is my greatest motivation.)