Chapter 399: Soul Elegist
"Soul Elegist…"
"Orest."
Cassius uttered the name.
The trees in the Valley of Bewilderment were towering and twisted, their branches and leaves blotting out the sky, casting eternal shadows over the land.
Deep within this dark forest stood an ancient castle built from black stone—Soulweeper Castle.
Its master was a lich known as Orest.
Hundreds of years ago, this place wasn't called the Valley of Bewilderment, nor was there a black forest. There was only a mage's tower, and Orest had once been a revered mage in this land.
In the magical desert of the Northlands, mages held a high status, and Orest, as a gifted archmage, was even more esteemed. The people built him a grand castle, and the surrounding nobles offered him thousands of slaves, allowing him to live a life of ultimate luxury, treating mortals as mere insects.
For nearly a century, Orest indulged in such depravity before realizing—he was dying.
To the laws of the world, even mages were but mortals.
No matter how mysterious and powerful, death loomed ever near, though it was not unavoidable.
Thus, Orest pursued immortality at any cost. He discovered an ancient ritual in hidden tombs, made a pact with Myrkul, Lord of Bones, and sacrificed his castle and thousands of slaves.
Finally, Orest bound his soul to a phylactery through the ritual, drank a transformative potion mixed with poison and sacrificial blood, and had his soul drawn into the phylactery, reviving his corpse as a lich.
He died.
Or rather, he achieved immortality.
He continued to exist in a new form.
What had once been a lush garden became a sinister black forest, the once lavish castle turned into the decayed and dark Soulweeper Castle, and the once spirited mage degraded into an undead lich.
Yet Orest wasn't satisfied. A lich's soul remained bound to its phylactery—and he sought true immortality.
He began drawing countless magic circles, creating hordes of skeletons and undead, planning to sacrifice the souls of the entire Carter Principality to achieve eternity.
This was the hidden side quest of the Northlands in the previous life—[Soul Elegist of the Valley of Bewilderment].
The questline was quite convoluted. Players had to first accept a [Haunted Basement] quest from a family in Antonio City to track ghostly traces. They would then follow those traces into the underworld and discover remnants of a sacrificial circle.
Next, they had to visit the Northern Grand Library to scour thousands of books for the circle's origin, learning the true name of "Soul Elegist" Orest, and locate historical witnesses.
Following this, players investigated multiple locations like taverns, bureaus, and adventurers' guilds, eventually finding an old beggar who knew the history but had long gone mad.
The old beggar subjected players to bizarre and challenging tasks, such as "retrieving fresh chimera dung," "pulling the filthiest tooth from a hill giant," or "snatching food from an ogre's mouth."
These tasks were, in fact, tests of players' strength and reliability.
The old beggar, having witnessed countless tragedies and deaths caused by the Valley of Bewilderment's taboo, wanted to kill the lich but refused to let innocents sacrifice themselves in vain.
Only after completing all the tasks would the beggar provide a crucial clue, guiding players to an ancient tomb.
Players would explore the tomb, overcome countless traps, endure attacks from terrifying undead creatures, and find the lich's phylactery in its deepest chamber.
Finally, they could proceed to the final quest location—the Valley of Bewilderment—to completely destroy the lich's plans.
The [Soul Elegist of the Valley of Bewilderment] quest series required players to complete over a hundred challenging stages, spend months navigating its extensive storyline, and gather hundreds of clues and quest items.
In the previous life, players affectionately dubbed this questline "malice of the devs," "toilet-cleaning king of quests," and "hidden task even dogs won't touch."
It wasn't until the 2.0 expansion [Clash of Kings] that a determined and skilled player, Singo, led a team to finally complete the questline.
Even Singo enlisted fifty professional players, all with an average level of 11.
They barely managed to kill the lich, splitting the hefty quest rewards and nearly acquiring a staff considered an artifact—highlighting the quest's difficulty and frustration.
But Cassius was different from the players.
He knew the storyline, had absolute control over the surrounding area, and possessed the power to utterly crush the lich.
In other words, he was fully prepared to deal with the lich, though he hesitated about how to handle it.
"Orest isn't some lunatic obsessed with magic. He's just a cowardly egotist terrified of death, albeit one with unparalleled magical talent."
"Greedy yet fearful—such a character is easy to manipulate."
"Perhaps… I can make him serve me."
Cassius squinted, the fire in his pale golden eyes flickering. However, he soon shook his head and chuckled.
"Now that I think about it, Anzeta is truly a land of calamity. Despite being such a remote region, it's overflowing with talent."
"Dragons, devils, demons, shadows, giants, vampires…"
"And even a lich."
This wasn't just Cassius's opinion—players in the previous life often joked about it. On forums, the saying "A humble Northland, a talent-rich Anzeta" became a running gag.
Even in the 4.0 expansion, high-level players traversing the astral realm still unearthed new discoveries from this "starter zone" of Anzeta.
It was understandable, though—Anzeta had experienced dominion by dragons, giants, and elves, once hosting a glorious civilization.
However, endless wars had utterly devastated the region, reducing its grandeur to ruins. The local Weave became fragile, leaving it abandoned by Mystra and turning it into a magical wasteland—yet it buried countless remnants of ancient civilizations.
The Empire now boasted a specialized archaeological team, including many players working in related professions. This team had earned the nickname "Arcane Tomb Raiders" on the forums.
They scoured the Anzeta Wasteland, unearthing long-lost secrets buried underground, bringing knowledge and treasures back to the Ember Empire.
Cassius turned his gaze toward the ancient tomb hundreds of miles away, his vision piercing the distance through the [Cataclysmic Dragon Eye] and [Omniscient Eye].
The tomb, once the resting place of Myrkul's priests, was now the site of the lich's phylactery.
For mortals, finding the ruins in the vast wasteland would be like searching for a needle in a haystack. But Cassius, as the Emperor of the Ember Empire, held absolute authority within its borders.
"Orest."
"Are you ready to welcome me?"
Cassius grinned, revealing a menacing smile. To him, the lich, a nightmare to mortals, was little more than a duck ready for the taking. He was determined not to let it escape.