Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 343 Undead Treasures and Combined Buildings

"My lord, my lord, I was possessed by the artifact of deception, which is why I did such a foolish thing."

The Soul Cauldron only requires the soul of a high-level hero. Keeping it will still be useful; it can be used to craft Soul Vessels for you.

Uli was brought over, prostrated himself on the ground, and hurriedly begged for mercy, showing no sign of rebellion, a stark contrast to his earlier actions.

In Liliana's words, he was a complete scoundrel. Many wizards in the ancient ruins were like this, like lapdogs in front of the powerful, extremely individualistic and scheming, and prone to rebellion at any moment. Only soul magic could somewhat control them.

"Hmph! Defeat and death are all that matters. What kind of appearance do you have? Part of our soul fire remains in the ancient ruins. Even if we are killed, we will not be completely destroyed. What are you afraid of!"

Fao was much more defiant; after all, he was a Death Knight and possessed considerable courage. He was confident that even if he were killed, he would only suffer some losses, and he could be resurrected in the ancient ruins, like Ullr, so he wasn't particularly afraid.

But Uli looked like he was mourning, completely lacking any hope of rebirth.

The reason, of course, was that Su Mu found a special item on him, which deprived the hero of the ancient ruins of his greatest support.

Liliana gripped Uri's head with her claws and pulled a miniature soul cauldron from his chest. As her magical power was activated, the cauldron gradually grew larger, with green liquid bubbling inside.

If you look closely, you'll find a crystal skull pendant hidden beneath the crucible, its empty eye sockets radiating a dark aura.

【Pendant of Sophistry (Tier 3 Special Soul Artifact, Upgradeable): Increases the power of Mind Magic/Dark Magic/Deception Magic by 50%, can extract souls for sacrifice, and increases the success rate of soul fusion.

If used by a non-undead, there is a chance of causing a confused state. It is one of the components of the Deceitful Shrine.

Evaluation: This treasure, which shares the power of divine artifacts, possesses extraordinary soul power.

Su Mu knew that Uli was unwilling to accept defeat and would always make small moves behind the scenes. He was sent to the battlefield not just to team up with Fao and others, but because he had something more important to do.

The Soul Cauldron is indeed important, but it's not the most crucial item. What the ancient ruins really want is a treasure that enhances deception skills, and this Sophistry Pendant is the perfect fit.

It must be said that Uli still had a way. Despite being sealed layer by layer, he still managed to complete the treasure refining using the remaining soul material. He wanted to launch a desperate counterattack, but ended up being beaten stupidly.

Su Mu took off a treasure and put on the sophistry pendant. Instantly, he felt himself enter a kind of ethereal state, with the surrounding world covered by a light gray filter, full of decay. If a living being wore it for a long time, it would easily cause problems.

He gently raised his hand, suspending Fao in the air. The other was still shouting, but to Su Mu, he sounded like a noisy piglet.

With a powerful throw, Fao was tossed into the Soul Cauldron. The cauldron, subjected to the powerful sacrifice of the hero's soul, instantly boiled, releasing continuous heat and seeping out a liquid that corroded the earth.

Fao started howling, but after a while he weakened and eventually melted away, even his bones were boiled into soup.

After the sacrifice of the last soul, the crucible completed its ascension, and the entire treasure turned bronze, with an even stronger aura of death within.

【Soul Cauldron (Level 4 Treasure): You can perform soul smelting in this cauldron, which allows you to turn any unit into a vampire and give it a special elemental baptism.

转化比例：8:1（1级兵种），4:1（2级兵种），3:1（3级兵种），2:1（4级及以上兵种）

Soul Container: Using this item on a non-undead hero will increase Spirit cost and Mana consumption by 10. This item can be upgraded up to level 5.

Soul Binding: Undead heroes can be deeply bound; the amount converted is affected by Knowledge (with a maximum value), and the cooldown time is affected by Cursed Power.

Su Mu touched the new Soul Cauldron. Based on his current knowledge (23), he roughly estimated that it could convert 1150 vampires, which was a considerable bonus.

Currently, the Night King and Night Queen together only have a little over 1300 troops. With the Soul Cauldron, their troop strength can double. Of course, using the Soul Cauldron requires Soul Fusion, and most undead heroes possess the Necromancy spell, so there's an ample supply of skeletons as a consumable.

Unlike Ullr, Fao did not experience a splitting of his soul flame after being sacrificed. Su Mu speculated that the reason the heroes of the ancient ruins were able to store their soul flames was related to that artifact of deception.

The Sophistry Pendant is a treasure with the power of deception, thus suppressing the resurgence of the opponent's soul fire.

Uli witnessed Fao being refined and tried to use his magical power to self-destruct, but Su Mu used dream hypnosis to put him into a deep sleep.

This Soul Wizard is far more valuable than the Death Knight and needs to be properly managed.

Let's focus on securing victory in this battle first.

Vampire Cloak (Level 2 Treasure): Summoning Skill +10%. One of the three components of the combined treasure, Ghost King's Cloak.

Evaluation: You discovered the vampire's daytime hiding place, killed him, and obtained his hooded cloak.

Liliana picked out a bright red cloak from the pile of bones and presented it to the lord.

Unexpectedly, it was this treasure. Su Mu had fought many battles with the heroes of the ancient ruins' cemetery, but this was the first time he had captured a piece of the Ghost King's Cloak. The famous cemetery set of treasures was finally complete.

【Black Death Armor (Level 4 Treasure): Attack +8, Defense +8, Morale -1 for all players, increases the effects of plague-type magic, one of the six components of the combined treasure Plague Source】.

Commentary: When plague sweeps across the continent, sharp-beaked crows will descend, and the air will be thick with the stench of death.

No wonder Fao's attributes are so good; he even possesses this treasure. Speaking of plagues, the legend of the Black Death is inevitable. It is said that the Black Death Armor was found in a ghost town where hundreds of thousands of people died. It is said to be contaminated with the most evil source of plague, which can cause the wearer to fall ill.

If one is not an undead hero, it would be difficult to wield this treasure.

Fao contributed two undead-specific artifacts; the rest were all destroyed in the battle.

Su Mu didn't dwell on it too much, after all, there was still a treasure in the Flame Kingdom.

"Go, send some soldiers to patrol outside and prevent Isildur's men from getting close!"

Although the two sides fought fiercely on the volcano, the actual battle lasted only two hours. Su Mu chose the magic-side ability precisely to end the battle quickly; otherwise, even if he defeated Fao, he would only be doing the work for Isildur, which would be a greater loss than gain.

It's already pretty good now. The volcano has just erupted, and Faol's undead army has cleared the illusion. They can now reap the benefits.

The vampires lost nearly 400 in this battle. After the battle stopped, Su Mu continued to use the Spirit Gathering Technique to try to restore his forces while the souls were still intact.

Liliana led her troops in two groups, one guarding against the outer fortification forces and the other exploring the treasures of the Flame Kingdom.

Fireball, Sulfur Ring, Flame Pendant.

This was what Su Mu had sensed before: the vampire had broken into the ruined fiery cave to collect all the treasures of the illusion.

The Fire Orb is a Tier 3 item, but it's incredibly powerful. Both Liliana and Maggie are heroes proficient in fire element, and either of them will benefit from its enhancement. Maggie, in particular, a true magic expert, would experience a significant boost to her damage-dealing spells if she possessed the Fire Orb.

[Sulfur Ring (Tier 3 Treasure): When equipped by a hero, grants 1 sulfur daily. One of the four components of the Harvest Horn set. Evaluation: You visit an alchemist. He is impressed by the righteousness of your army and gives you a sulfur ring to help you achieve great things.]

If I remember correctly, this should be the first time Su Mu has obtained a special resource-type treasure. Although it's sulfur, it's better than nothing, and he's taken a step closer to the Corner of Harvest.

【Flame Pendant (Level 3 Treasure): Makes the troops under the hero's command immune to Fire Wall and Landmines, and reduces the damage of Fire Shield by 50%.

Evaluation: Amidst the raging flames, you broke through the encirclement and tore off the Flame Tyrant's necklace, thus gaining immunity to many fire-based skills.

This treasure was a truly unexpected delight. If we had been able to obtain the Flame Pendant earlier, the vampire army wouldn't have suffered such heavy losses.

Furthermore, if I remember correctly, the Flame Pendant is particularly effective against towers, since tower defenses rely on landmines, which are essentially the same type of magic. Wearing the Flame Pendant will prevent your troops from being overwhelmed by the powerful landmines when attacking tower cities.

In this fierce battle that unfolded beneath the volcano, besides the treasures, the biggest gain was naturally Liliana's promotion.

[In battle against a powerful undead hero, Liliana's understanding of the Bloodline deepens once again, granting her +1 Cursed Power and granting her the Advanced Bloodline Enchantment skill.]

[Advanced Bloodborne Enchantment (Ruler): For every 3 points of Cursed Power a hero possesses, casting Deadly Charm (naturally mastered by heroes and usable on non-living units) gains a 20% (80%) effect boost and the special magical Bloodborne Blessing.]

【Bloodline Blessing (Flesh Magic, Advanced Bloodline Bonus): Grants Bloodline Blessing to selected units, granting them 50% lifesteal. Attacks restore health, which can be added to Blood Shields and resurrect undead allies.】

Advanced Blood Blessing will be a game-changer for Liliana. While flesh magic could originally be cast on all types of units, only vampires could use it to resurrect their fallen kin. Now, after the upgrade, casting it on undead units can resurrect Dark Knights, Lich Kings, and other units, greatly enhancing the war's endurance.

The only downside is that Blood Blessing can be dispelled, and if the enemy has a hero with high-level water elemental mastery, they can counter this spell.

Even so, it's already quite perverse.

But what's even more outrageous is that two similar high-level skills usually have a chance to synergize. If the skills match the hero's sequence, the probability of synergy will be greatly increased.

Liliana's Night Queen and Bloodborne Enchantress are both initial talents with extremely high synergy. Combined with the bonus from Advanced Governance, she possesses unparalleled strength.

When both skills are upgraded to higher levels, they naturally merge.

[The hero has mastered the Advanced Night Queen and Advanced Bloodborne Enchantress skills, allowing the construction of the special building, the Night Soul Tower.]

【Dark Night Soul Tower (Soul Tower Auxiliary Building, Tier 2, requires a hero with high-level Bloodborne Soul to build, requires at least 1 Soul Tower): Vampires and Vampire Kings can receive a baptism of flesh and blood here, and increase the lifesteal conversion ability of all vampire units by 10%, and have the ability to break through the 100% lifesteal cap.

Prerequisite: 1 Soul-Summoning Tower.

Next Tier: The Vampire Count can receive the Baptism of Flesh and Blood, increasing his vampiric conversion ability by 20%.

Additional building costs: 50 Primogems, 30 Sulfur, 30000 Gold.

Overall, the vampire's super-tier units are already quite powerful. Their only weakness is that they haven't received elemental baptism.

If the strongest swordsman were to truly clash with the vampire prince, the swordsman with the supernatural baptism would likely be more powerful, given his greater versatility. However, if the vampire prince were to undergo a flesh-and-blood baptism, the outcome would be uncertain.

Liliana is taking this step, but due to the lack of a cemetery city and a spirit tower, the newly formed union buildings cannot be constructed for the time being.

Su Mu's current focus is still on Silver Peak City in the north, so he can't afford to be distracted by building a cemetery city, but that doesn't mean construction is prohibited. Once things are settled in the north, he can consider building a cemetery city for her, right next to the ancient ruins, to keep a constant watch on the Grand Duke of the Dead.

The Deception Artifact remains a major threat, and the skill known to be the most effective counter to Governance is the one granted by the artifact.

But if Liliana wants to establish herself, she needs to continue to improve herself; otherwise, she may not be qualified.

"After this great battle, you will continue to harass Isildur's legion in the northwest of the hills, using the Soul Cauldron to expand your forces. When the vampire legion has more than 2000 men, we will consider capturing an undead city for you."

The seal on the ancient ruins is loosening, and inside are cemetery towns. When the time is right, Su Mu will also resolve the previous curse problem and definitely wage war against the undead. He will then seize a few cities to reward Liliana, which will also boost the Night Queen's fighting spirit.

Hearing the lord's promise, Liliana and Akasha were both very happy. They had been guarding the haunted gold mine for some time, and although they had a strong army, they were unable to develop their power, which was quite frustrating. This was also why Akasha had been dissatisfied.

However, Liliana knew that firstly, Su Mu was worried about the undead army and wary of vampires, and needed to test their loyalty; secondly, the undead army had not made enough contributions and had no reason to receive Kuraki's strong support.

Even though her subordinates are all elite soldiers, capable of plundering and killing indiscriminately, would they dare to provoke trouble without Su Mu's protection?
The Arcane Empire, the Ancient Ruins, the Isildur Empire—even the weakest, Elton, is still within Kuraki's territory; there's nothing they can touch. If they were to openly cause trouble, they would easily face encirclement and annihilation.

If we don't plunder, where will we get the resources to build cities?
Ultimately, everything is based on the economy.

With the lord's promise, everything else fell into place naturally.

Looking at the spirited vampire, Su Mu couldn't help but shake his head. This was the first time he'd seen such emotion in a half-undead. He allowed Liliana to develop her abilities because she possessed some characteristics of a living being; otherwise, conflict would have been inevitable.

He might be able to suppress them by force now, but what happens when all the heroes become powerful? Maggie and Lilliana are somewhat incompatible, and on a larger scale, it will be difficult for humans and the undead to reconcile.

Given the current situation, he had no choice but to take this step. As for the future, if even he himself doesn't know what the future holds, why worry unnecessarily?

"My lord, we've discovered another treasure!"

Liliana killed hundreds of fire monsters and obtained a ring and some special resources from the fire altar.

[Sulfur +20, Gem +20, Gold Coins +10000, Dragon Blood Essence +5]

【Dragon Eye Ring (Level 2 Treasure): Hero's Luck and Morale each increase by 1. One of the nine components of the Dragon King's Divine Power combination treasure】

Review: You enter a dilapidated hut where the remains of a witch lie. After searching, you find a ring inlaid with a longan.

Su Mu stared at the enormous longan and nodded in satisfaction.

For others, luck and morale may be optional, but for him, they represent a qualitative change resulting from accumulation.

After a series of battles, Su Mu had already sensed the bottleneck of the Luck spell. He only needed to improve the ability of one more key hero to be ready for advancement.

When combined with special buildings, breaking through the limits of morale and luck, his combat power will receive a terrifying boost.

Gazing at the dreamlike kingdom constructed of raging flames, Su Mu and Liliana simultaneously unleashed attack magic, launching a large-scale assault on the illusion.

While it is impossible to completely stop the illusion, it can at least slow down its formation to some extent.

"I'm sure the generals of Isildur will appreciate our gift!"

(End of this chapter)