The First Lich Lord
Chapter 108

Vito, Raven, and I were working on a diagram for a ritual on a large, smooth stone wall that we were using like a whiteboard on the harbor floor, which we had made our primary residence. Another week had passed since we discovered what Mercy was in the tomb of the Nephelium, and Vito continued to push us in our training.

Maxwell was playing a soft tune, his skill over the orchestra in a constant flux of improvement.

“Maxwell, stop!” I shouted, my non-existent heart going from zero to sixty.

“What’s wrong?” Raven asked.

“I don’t know.” The beat of Maxwell’s song faded, and I’d hoped to be able to hear something, but only the sound of lapping water reached me. “Something is wrong, like there’s a presence that suddenly arrived.”

“Do you know which direction it’s in, my lord?” Vito didn’t seem concerned.

I focused on the feeling for a moment then pointed up. “From the top.”

“It looks like we have been discovered.” Vito stood and stretched. “Let’s go see our first customers. This is why we went through all the effort to get your mounts and pets down to this floor.”

The four of us ascended the ziggurat. Crossing through the mushroom floor, I noted the first round of micilium were beginning to take shape. It wouldn’t be long before they were stretching their legs. The ones who hadn’t begun a reproduction cycle were also showing signs of absorbing the magic, but many of them also looked ill.

Michael saw us rushing through and joined us. “Is something the matter?” His mastery of the common language had rapidly developed as soon as he had completed his vocal box. Now he sounded quite human, with a smooth tone that fit him as a mushroom person.

“Intruders,” Raven said. “Don’t worry, we won’t let them get to your people.”

We’d had discussions about how to protect the micilium colony if this ever became a dungeon or was invaded. Our best idea was to collapse the entrances to the level and figure out a way to bypass it. I had some ideas, but for now, it was too much work. Vito and Damien both promised that once it became a dungeon, I would have far more control, and the plans wouldn’t be an issue.

***

“That pretty much confirms it.” I let out a long sigh. “It was bound to happen eventually.”

“Yeah, they were definitely sent by Olattee,” Maxwell agreed. “That cleric kept going on and on about how they were here to purify this unclean place.”

“They weren’t very strong,” Raven complained. “They didn’t even make it past the fourth floor.”

“Yes,” I agreed. “But they’ll be respawning back in the cities, and no doubt word of our little home will spread and we’ll be getting much more powerful players on their way here to hunt down whatever treasure they think is hidden here.”

“This place is full of valuable stuff,” Vito chuckled.

“They will probably figure that out,” I sighed. “Let’s get the critters restored so our defenses are in place.”

“Why not just collapse the first couple of floors and put super strong monsters there so they will be discouraged?” Raven asked.

I let out a soft chuckle. “You don’t understand players. Once they realize something is here, they won’t stop trying to get in. Even if we were to collapse the first two floors, they would eventually replace a way down. Keeping weak monsters near the top will cost us a certain amount of upkeep time, but it will keep the stronger parties from taking notice right away.”

“Besides,” Vito smiled. “The more adventurers that die inside these walls, the stronger your lair becomes, and that hastens the process at which we become a dungeon.”

Vito and I proceeded to resurrect and repair all the fallen undead. To my surprise they weren’t degraded like they normally were once undead had been slain once. Vito explained that was because they’d been killed by adventurers trespassing in the lair. We kept the first three floors at levels roughly equal to the skink king and queen that lived at the top.

When I remembered them, we also went up and turned them into undead. To my surprise, I was able to claim the entrance room as well. After some deliberation we made the skinks that lived there quite a bit more powerful. The room wasn’t like the rest of the dungeon and would essentially serve as a gateway.

After we were satisfied with our work, we returned deep within the ziggurat.

“I think it’s time,” I said when we reached the harbor floor. “No point in holding off now, Olattee either already suspects I’m here or will know soon enough. Why else would there be a sudden undead presence in a region that was previously exclusively a blood marsh.”

“An astute conclusion, my lord,” Vito agreed. “I have been looking forward to this.”

We ventured down to the forge. While I could’ve done this without Vito, the process would’ve taken quite a bit more time and been far more difficult. With his help the task would be easier, and we would no doubt do a much better job.

Vito and I protected ourselves with our death magic once we reached the forge floor. We began to work on the uppermost layer of the terraced platform the forge was built on. Over the last several weeks we had both studied the forge quite a bit more and mapped out all the important parts.

The raised terrace served to contain the massive construct that was the forge itself, buried underneath protected layers of stone. The terrace was octagonal, and at different points on the different layers there were nodes we’d missed our first time through.

These nodes were contained within pillars of bloodred crystal. Around each of the thirty-two pillars, eight on each layer, we carefully drew a runic circle with an ink that had been heavily enchanted with both eldritch and death magic. Making the ink had been Vito’s suggestion. It was better than carving, since that would permanently leave behind an effect that would be unneeded once we were successful. It was only thanks to his strength that the ink would last long enough for us to accomplish the task.

That being said, we did not have time to dawdle. I worked as fast as I could, while still being as precise as possible. Still, my speed was nothing compared to Vito. I managed to do four pillars in the time it took Vito to finish the rest. He was more skilled, more powerful, and more talented at ritual magic than I was, and it showed.

With the pillars completed, we moved to the top of the terrace to work on the forge itself. We surrounded it in a double layered ritual circle. The anvil was also covered in rituals. The process took nearly half a day to complete. By the time we were done much of the area around the forge was covered in some kind of ritual pattern.

I took out a bag from my bag of holding. Even with the massive strength I had as a Lich, the weight of the bag was noticeable. It contained hundreds of powerful death cores. Whenever Vito had brought me a monster to fight, I hadn’t absorbed the core, electing to store it. After a while, Vito had started bringing me carefully selected monsters over level 100—they were weak for their levels, but that was okay. The important part was the power of the cores I got from them was significantly higher.

I was in the high eighties at this point as far as levels went. The cores I retrieved from the monsters over level 100 were not as powerful as they could be, due to my level being lower than 100, but they were still potent. Vito set out obsidian black crystals, each the size of a large dog, from his own spatial storage device. These had been placed in the necropolis where the bodies of the Nephelium were entombed.

They were artificially grown quartz that had been magically altered to be even better at both drawing in mana and expelling it into the surrounding region. The crystals were set up last, because the moment they were set down, they began emitting potent death magic.

As soon as he placed the last of the large crystals inside of their assigned ritual circle I nodded at Vito and stepped forward. I poured my Santa Claus-like bag of death cores into the gaping mouth of the forge. As soon as the last core was in, I moved back and took up my position. Already there was a rumbling as the death cores were broken down inside of the forge.

The sudden presence of death energy inside of the forge would’ve normally destroyed it, especially that amount. But before the reaction could get out of control both Vito and I poured our mana pools into the ritual around us. This served as the activation key that triggered every single ritual through connected lines of power.

Vito obviously had immensely more mana than I did, but I added a key aspect. Instead of using death mana, I solely focused on eldritch power. Vito’s death magic was the backbone of the ritual, serving to activate the large crystals he placed, drawing their mana out and into the larger diagram.

My eldritch magic amplified and multiplied the effects of the ritual, combining in places that would fuse the magic’s together to create something beyond what I would have been able to do by myself. I drank a mana potion, and Vito did the same. The ritual took hold. A controlled death energy deep within the forge began to emerge, the rituals around the pillars activating and converting them as well.

From what we could tell, those pillars and the nodes all fused together and formed a powerful ritual themselves. Our goal was not to destroy but to convert, which as I stated before was far easier than one might expect for opposing magics.

The rumbling that had been growing beneath our feet subsided. It was slow at first, then the change began to happen rapidly. The bloodred magic spewing from the forge was withdrawn as it attempted to fight our ritual. But the amount of death energy contained within the forge now was far too much for it to contend with.

The death energy purged the blood magic, converting it into death magic as my eldritch magic was mixed in like seasonings in a stew. As the ritual grew in power, the forge and terrace began to physically change as well. Stone blocks were rearranged, and Vito and I were lifted off the ground. The anvil was consumed along with all the other tools and equipment around the forge.

The red crystal pillars changed. The bloodred coloring vanished as a wave of black energy swelled up inside of them. The anvil reappeared, now obsidian black, along with different tools reforming around the forge.

The final change was the mouth of the forge reformed into a gaping skull made of obsidian black stone. I pushed my own death energy reserves into the ritual forming the final part of the process, while Vito wielded soul energy like a surgeon. My death energy served as the anvil on which Vito’s soul energy formed the core.

The core emerged above the top of the forge. It was a dodecahedron with glowing purple eldritch runes within. Once it was done, a core the size of a large watermelon lowered into the forge, passing down a hole which fused closed behind it.

A few seconds later, Vito and I were set back down to the ground as the ritual finished and all of the magical lines vanished as the power consumed them. We stood in complete darkness before the forge came to life. It’s hard to explain how blackness can emit light, but it can, it’s just very different. The black field contained within the crystal pillars was speckled by purple eldritch light like stars in the night sky. The nodes within each of the pillars had changed, alternating between one burning with eldritch magic while the other emanated barely visible death magic.

Then the eyes of the skull burned with eldritch fire as deeper within the mouth a black flame laced with purple magic began to burn.

Both Vito and I were panting, but that didn’t stop me from pulling up the description. Since this was in my lair, it was far easier than pulling up the description for something like this normally would be. I hadn’t bothered doing this for the blood forge, because in all honesty, I didn’t want to know anything more about them than I did.

Deathforge of the Eldritch Tranquil Soul

This forge once contained the souls of countless sacrificed victims. They were finally released from their torment thanks to the eldritch power of a Lich and his vampire companion during the process of converting this accursed object into death. They have found peace. Though the souls are now free, their presence has left a mark on this forge. It will burn perpetually as the soul energy contained within will power it. This was a gift left by the parting souls.

From this forge weapons and many other things of both eldritch and death nature can be created. The soothing presence of souls finally granted rest will remove, or lessen, many of the unwanted negative side effects of these two magics.

Undead created using the power of this forge will always contain the potential to become living dead thanks to the power of this forge.

The power of this forge will also serve the lair it is located in by providing a steady stream of dungeon energy for the utilization of the lair. Any creatures not already bound to the lair or slain within its sphere of influence will have their death energy harvested by the forge. That energy can be used by the smith or will be used by the forge to passively restore and rebuild fallen beings tied to the dungeon. This excludes the boss of the dungeon.

If the lair progresses to a dungeon, the forge will grow in power. As long as the forge exists the dungeon will also exist. If given a permanently bound smith, the latent intelligence within the forge will be fully brought to life and the two will work together to grow the power of the dungeon.

This is a mythical forge, but the power of the creations is based on the user. Due to the magical nature of this forge, while traditional smithing skills are equally applicable, so are skills with ritual magic.

“Holy crap, Vito, what the fuck did we just make?” I asked, completely stunned. I knew there was something wrong about the forge, but souls having been imprisoned inside of it was not what I expected. I relayed what I had read.

“I believe that settles it, I am never leaving this place.” Vito began to laugh. “Though that might not be true, if I stay here and this does become a dungeon, things will become more complicated. I’m far too powerful and it would throw the balance of this area out of whack.”

“Still…” Already I could sense the death magic flooding up through the rest of the ziggurat. “You sure we can figure out a way to access this without having to remain part of the dungeon? Unfortunately, I don’t think I can stay here forever.”

“If you remain as master of this place, it will be no problem,” Vito assured me.

***

The effects of the conversion of the forge were evident nearly immediately. Vito and I traveled back up to the upper reaches of the ziggurat after gathering our supplies. Some of the micilium had already finished their reproductive cycle and we had a new group of death micilium tending to the biome floor.

On our way through we broke down the rituals that had been powering the fountain, since they were no longer needed. The death magic flooding through the ziggurat was already changing things. My zombies moved around better than I’d ever seen them do before. I was worried how it would affect Maxwell and Raven. But when we found them on the fifth floor, nothing was wrong.

In the few hours it had taken the four of us to reach the top of the ziggurat, the fountain no longer disgorged the thick blood-like liquid. Now a much less viscous black fluid specked with purple sparks of eldritch light flooded out of the fountain. We followed it and looked out down the side of the hill.

The black fluid ran into the water at the base spreading out like a cloud. Monsters of the marsh fled before it, though some curiously dove into it. Fish that had been floating belly up in the black water stirred to life and swam back underneath.

“You see that,” I asked.

“I do,” Vito said. “You told me you had a zombie-creating disease. Did you somehow work that into the ritual of the forge?”

I shook my head. “No, that was complicated enough without having that.”

“Maybe it has something to do with the soul aspect of the forge now?” Raven suggested.

“It must, I don’t know why else things would be animating.” I looked back at the black fluid. “Either that, or the eldritch magic is having an unforeseen effect. Either way, I am very thankful.”

“Yeah, it means we still have things to hunt, and this won’t become a desolate wasteland as we wait for new creatures take it over,” Maxwell chuckled. “It will make it a lot more difficult to reach us.”

Raven shuttered a little. “In there it doesn’t appear to affect me, but out here the death magic is definitely affecting me.”

“It must be because the forge sees you as part of the lair,” Vito suggested. “It’s interesting that it can already discern that much. The latent self-awareness mentioned must be quite advanced.”

“I’m just excited I’m going to be able to explore a death biome.” I’d been fascinated by some of the things I had seen when I first fled out of Dothar.

“Me too,” Raven said happily.