Chapter 56
The message was from Bonnie.
[MochiByte: Lili, I saw the omen over the Frostlands. You've been gone a long time, and now you've killed several Lords. Did something happen over there? The undead army is fully assembled and ready to march on the Goblin homeland the moment you give the word.]
Lilith smacked a hand against her forehead.
"I completely forgot about that."
She replied at once.
[God of Light: Hold the army for now. Something did happen, and I can't come back yet. It's a long story...]
[MochiByte: I also noticed the Lords you killed belonged to the Beastkin Alliance. They've already dropped out of the top ten.]
[God of Light: Good catch. They lost four Lords—no surprise there. Stay inside the Territory and keep everything locked down. I'll contact you if anything changes.]
[MochiByte: Got it, Lili. Be careful over there.]
Even without Lilith present, the three Overlords could lead the undead army against the Goblin homeland. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't have expected any problems.
Still, something about the timing sat wrong with her.
She was already taking a serious risk inside the dungeon. If the undead army ran into some unexpected threat of its own at the same time, the combined losses could cripple her Territory.
One crisis at a time.
Until she made it out of the dungeon safely, the attack on the Goblins would have to wait.
Then another worry surfaced. Even if she found a way out, there was no guarantee the surrounding Frostlands would be safe when she did. She sent Bonnie one final order.
[God of Light: Mobilize every Veteran-ranked undead in the Territory and send them to Frostbound Bastion.]
With her preparations settled, Lilith turned her attention back to the black book.
She was still deeply curious about the treasure Thorne had found in the dungeon. A shame she hadn't turned up anything comparable during her own search—but taking it off the Three Blades Alliance's hands was nearly as good.
A new System panel appeared.
[Item: Draconic Codex]
[Description: Written by a powerful dragonblood scholar, this codex contains an extensive collection of draconic magic. Its teachings have been refined into a complete Legacy Class: Wyrmspeaker.]
[Type: Legacy Relic]
[Legacy Relic: Enshrine this item within a Legacy Sanctum to unlock the Wyrmspeaker Legacy.]
[Wyrmspeaker: Wyrmspeakers possess formidable bodies and devastating magical power, earning them the title of tyrants of the sky.]
[Note: This Legacy is unique and cannot coexist with another Legacy. Any Lord who does not already possess a Legacy may inherit it. Once accepted, the inheritor permanently loses the ability to obtain any other Legacy.]
Lilith stared at the panel.
She had assumed the ancient book was an ordinary Magic Grimoire—a way to learn a single spell. Instead, it was one of the mysterious Legacy Relics she had been trying to make sense of ever since receiving her Necromancer Legacy qualification.
After reading the information several times, the shape of the Legacy system finally started to come together.
One path ran through a System reward. That method didn't hand over the corresponding Relic outright. It granted the Lord eligibility, followed by what was almost certainly a questline that had to be completed before the true Legacy unlocked.
The second path was a direct discovery, like this one.
By finding the Legacy Relic itself, Lilith had acquired the key item needed to establish the entire Wyrmspeaker Legacy.
I haven't even finished my Necromancer Legacy, and somehow I found the Wyrmspeaker Legacy first.
She had to admit, Wyrmspeaker sounded considerably more powerful.
It came with restrictions, though.
The Wyrmspeaker Legacy was exclusive. Anyone who accepted it forfeited the chance to inherit any other Legacy, forever.
Its advantages were just as significant.
A Lord's System-awarded Origin Legacy was meant for that Lord's Vassals. Independent Lords couldn't inherit it without first entering a Vassal Contract.
A Relic-based Legacy played by different rules.
Bonnie, for instance, couldn't inherit Lilith's Necromancer Legacy while remaining an independent Lord—she'd have to become Lilith's Vassal first. The Wyrmspeaker Legacy carried no such restriction.
Bonnie could inherit it and keep her standing as a Lord, so long as she didn't already hold another Legacy.
Lilith herself remained ineligible.
As the Lord bound to the Necromancer Origin Legacy, she was the pinnacle and source of that inheritance. She couldn't cast it aside to become a Wyrmspeaker.
That did nothing to diminish the Codex's value.
Anything that could make her allies stronger was worth keeping.
The discovery also cleared up several details that had puzzled her before. Her Necromancer Legacy required a Legacy Altar, while the Wyrmspeaker Legacy called for an entirely different Structure—the Legacy Sanctum.
Different Legacies clearly came with different inheritance Structures.
Conveniently, the Structure's name appeared in blue, and Lilith opened its detailed description.
[Structure: Legacy Sanctum]
[Description: A sacred Structure designed to enshrine Legacy Relics. Once a Relic is placed within the Sanctum, a corresponding Legacy Order will automatically be established inside the Territory. Members of that Order may inherit the associated Legacy.]
[Note: Any Legacy that does not originate from the Territory Lord's Origin Legacy will automatically establish its own Legacy Order upon activation.]
So that's how it works.
She would have to build the Legacy Sanctum and enshrine the Codex before the System revealed anything more.
Unfortunately, her curiosity would have to wait until she was out of the dungeon.
Giles looked equally pleased by the find.
"I didn't expect this place to hold something that valuable."
"Neither did I." Lilith nodded. "Now I'm starting to wonder what the real treasure is."
If several Elite-ranked factions were willing to risk everything to claim it, its value had to outstrip the Draconic Codex by a wide margin.
"We'll see how things play out," Lilith said. "If the scramble gets chaotic enough, I might take the central treasure for myself."
Her original plan had been to stay on the sidelines and collect an Elite-ranked corpse. The Codex had her reconsidering.
Before the final clash began, though, she still hoped to root out more of the treasures hidden throughout the dungeon.
Lilith closed the System panel, stowed the Draconic Codex, and pressed deeper into the passage with Giles.
The arena's many archways seemed to branch in different directions, but every route eventually wound toward the dungeon's central region. Their own path stayed remarkably clear—the native factions ahead had already smashed through most of the obstacles and trials.
Lilith and Giles were, in effect, following in their wake.
"My Lord, look at this," Giles said.
Mechanical components lay scattered along the edge of the dark corridor. Lilith could see perfectly well despite the gloom, and she recognized the rusted gears and metal fragments at a glance.
They belonged to constructs identical to the ones she had fought near the entrance.
She crouched and examined the wreckage. Every piece bore the marks of overwhelming physical force, and the Dragoncore Crystals had already been stripped out.
"White Hart didn't do this."
The constructs had been destroyed before White Hart ever entered the passage.
Lilith rose and gazed into the darkness ahead.
"The native factions came through here. They're somewhere deeper in."
Her pace quickened.
"We picked the right path. Let's go."