Chapter 3

"Nine Yin Bone Claw!!"

Following the rule that ultimate moves must be shouted out, I roared and then grabbed the skeleton soldier with a powerful claw.

Then, with a crisp sound, two bones broke simultaneously.

Looking at the secret manual of the "Nine Yin Bone Claw" from another world, I sighed helplessly while regenerating my damaged hand bones with magic.

"Another useless thing. I have the bones, the claws, and even replaced the Nine Yin with ice magic, but this composite magic still doesn't work."

So, I casually tossed it aside, letting it join its predecessors from other worlds as neglected collectibles.

Yes, this is a product from another world. According to the introduction in the manual, it seemed to be a very powerful attack magic, invincible and unstoppable.

"Where did I go wrong? The interpretation should be correct. Yin means ice and negative attributes, right? Nine means many, so 'many ice' and 'bone claw' are there, why doesn't it work?"

But clearly, in this new world, these composite magics are useless.

"Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms, the legendary dragon-slaying magic. I thought I could finally take revenge on Little Red (the dragon), but I almost got slapped to death by her and was even ridiculed for dancing the skeleton dance."

"Rulai Divine Palm, sounds very powerful, but this is clearly a holy light spell for exorcism. If I really learned it, I might as well let a holy light priest brainwash me."

These secret manuals from other worlds were all obtained through the unreliable system's lottery.

At the beginning of each month, the system gives me one chance to draw from three categories: secret manuals, divine weapons, and rare treasures.

And the reason I always choose to draw secret manuals, despite the over 90% chance of getting something unreliable, is that the less than 10% chance can yield true treasures.

Next to the pile of unusable manuals, there is an old bookshelf, where the occasional treasures are kept.

"On the Organizational Structure and Personnel Allocation of the Undead Army, Uncovering Blind Spots, and Maximizing Your Undead Army's Combat Power from a Theoretical Perspective—Kel'Thuzad."

"The Secrets of the Past and Present, the Constraints of Time and Space? Meaningless! We mages are the masters of time and space—Raistlin Majere."

"Methods for Creating Soul Artifacts and Life Boxes. If you get knocked out in one turn, you shouldn't call yourself the final boss. Switch to the undead class, resurrect a dozen or twenty times, and annoy your opponent to death—Tom Marvolo Riddle."

"Eighteen Classic Mage Defense Techniques—Let Uncle Mordenkainen teach you how to fight in hand-to-hand combat! Who says mages can't fight? Attack!! Wahhhh!"

"Magical Puppet Army and Large-Scale Strategic Magic—Elegant Magic Strategies by Evangeline. A true archmage won't dirty their hands; let your servants overwhelm your opponent, and make your opponent vanish beyond sight."

Such magical tomes fill half the bookshelf. These secrets and knowledge from other worlds are my most treasured collection, more important to me than life itself.

For a lich who abandoned their physical body for endless knowledge, these valuable magical secrets from other worlds are more important than anything.

Although identifying whether these magics are useful is indeed very troublesome.

Clearly, this knowledge comes from different worlds, and the only way to identify it is to learn and master it myself.

"Six Pulse Divine Sword Duan Yu Style... Isn't this just a simplified version of the Scorching Ray? While it's creative to shoot light swords from five fingers, what does 'effective with a certain probability' mean? If it works sometimes and doesn't other times, isn't that playing with your own life? This unreliable thing is probably only suitable for protagonists who live by luck."

"The most ridiculous is the One Reed Crossing. What kind of zero-energy floating magic, and the lighter the better? I'm already as light as bones, but I still sank. It even made Eliza have to ask the merfolk to fish me out of the river, which was really embarrassing."

"Master, the evil points from the underground prison for this month have been collected, totaling thirty-nine points, two points less than last month. Two prisoners in the prison can no longer generate points, and it is recommended to replace them."

Eliza's reminder made me realize that it was the beginning of the month again. This time, I must draw what I want.

"Super Lich System!"

With a command, a golden panel appeared before my eyes.

It had only three options: "Draw," "Quests," and "Enhance."

Quests were divided into daily quests and story quests. Daily quests were mostly ridiculous and gave little reward, while the story quests section was grayed out, clearly unusable due to some reason.

I had used the "Enhance" option before, which displayed my personal information, but it was also grayed out and unusable now.

This wasn't a system issue but a personal one.

Roland Lam, male lich (life box damaged, cannot enhance until repaired)

Strength 5, Dexterity 5, Constitution 5, Intelligence 30, Charisma -88, Will 5 (10 points are the basic attributes of a normal person; except for the main attribute Intelligence of casters, the others are all 5 points of combat ability)

Class: 60th level Mage / 1st level Lich / 20th level Spellcaster (Total level 81, overall combat power evaluation 79 peak gold-level magic class)

Soul Emblem: Seal of Justice, Crown of the Dead (damaged), Ice Walker (damaged), Son of Radiance (destroyed)

"Ah, a significant drop in power. From black iron bloodline, bronze body, silver dignity, gold will, legendary venerable, human saint, immortal epic, and undying demigod, I've dropped from peak eighth stage to fourth stage gold..."

A soul emblem is the crystallization of a mortal breaking through to the legendary realm, the culmination of their lifetime of experience and power, and the foundation for advancing to a higher realm. A person has only one life, so they can only have one soul emblem.

But I have four, for no other reason than that I have had four lives. These four soul emblems represent my three deaths and four glorious pasts of reaching the legendary realm.

The crown of ice, the king of the dead, and the favored of holy light were once my glories, but now they are incomplete.

However, being able to live and bounce back after three deaths should be enough. With a damaged soul emblem, not only can I not advance, but it's even surprising that I'm still alive.

As that fellow from another world, Voldemort, said, how can one be considered the final boss without resurrecting a dozen times and transforming a few times?

Although each death has cost me a lot, the gains from overcoming death and returning to life are also significant.

The last time, due to a damaged life box, my power plummeted, but when I died in battle for the first time, I had just reached the legendary realm, the second time, I was at the peak of the sixth stage, and the last time, a hundred years ago, I had reached the eighth stage demigod.

"The loss of precious knowledge and past memories is indeed painful, but overall, there has been progress... However, dying and coming back to life is too embarrassing. Each time I die, my reputation gets worse, and I have to change my identity again."

Anyway, being reduced to my original form isn't the first time, so I'm not discouraged. As long as I earn enough points to repair my life box or even reshape my body, with the system's help, retraining is a shortcut to reaching new heights.

"Even if I'm just bones, I will wait for the day. Of course, I've had enough of being a lich. Although I have great talent in necromancy and ice, my attributes are too extreme. To advance further, a complete physical body is essential. Cough, it's not that I see others in pairs and don't want to be a bachelor anymore."

"Hmm? Who dares to look down on me?? There are many undead marriages in the East District, and the vampires have even formed families. Why can't liches, who are also undead, have relationships? Liches need love too!!"

Liches are a special kind of creature. Their souls are not in their bodies but in a treasure called a life box.

As long as the life box is not destroyed, they can resurrect after death, but if the life box is damaged... like me, falling from a high level and being unable to advance for over a hundred years is still considered lucky.

However, for mages, knowledge is power. Even if my power cannot advance due to a damaged life box, the knowledge from other worlds has been very beneficial.

"Repairing the life box costs 80,000 points, and creating a new body costs only 100,000 points. How foolish would I be to use points on repairing the life box?"

Looking at the 49,762 points on the panel, I sighed, realizing that my progress toward resurrection was less than halfway. I had to gather my spirits and focus on the last option—drawing.

The lottery only happens once a month, and besides secret manuals, there are also options for "divine weapons" and "rare treasures," but based on past experience, I usually don't choose them.

"Last time, I drew a Holy Light Sword that almost killed me, and the Fountain of Life, which has its own holy light. The Eastern treasure Zhu Guo? It looked good, extending life and being all natural, but without a mouth, I couldn't eat it, so I fed it to the dog along with the Fountain of Life... Forget it, knowledge is power, so I'll draw a secret manual."

With my command, the large golden wheel began to slowly turn.

"Mass Transfer, Great Disintegration, Beast Mastery... Stop!"

The wheel spun faster...

"Judgment of Holy Light! Fate's Punishment! A secret treasure of the Holy Order! Even if I can't use it, I can sell it. There are many good things this time, stop!"

The wheel spun even faster...

"FFF Group Flame Magic Cookbook! It sounds perfect for me, stop!"

Well, I can't see the patterns anymore.

This is the most frustrating part of the lottery. Treasures pass before your eyes, but the wheel doesn't stop.

But with only one chance a month, closing my eyes and waiting is unbearable. Finally, after a torturous ten seconds, the wheel stopped after passing a series of precious manuals.

"The Manual of the Plum Blossom, let Sister Dong teach you how to embroider. What is this!? Can embroidery techniques even be a secret manual?"

Even so, I still held a glimmer of hope. Isn't it true that many great masters are eccentric? Maybe the tailor is a legendary expert.

But soon, harsh reality dealt me another blow.

"Didn't it say that you can practice without the 'root of desire'? I'm just bones, and I still can't practice."