No! I don't want to be a Super Necromancer!

The Core hummed quietly inside him, confirming the thought. Fifty percent activation. Power immense… but incomplete. There were monsters in this world that wouldn't wait for his next breakthrough.

He'd need more.

More than just raw strength.

He needed supreme treasures, the kind that reshaped the body and soul.

The Deathroot Lotus had refined his death energy. The Supreme Starstone Lily had stabilized his silver grade body. But he would need more. Much more.

And the next target was clear.

"The Bloodroot Ginseng," Damien said aloud. "Time to find it."

A rustle nearby made him turn, expecting General Hei Tian's bulky form, perhaps an update or a sarcastic quip.

But no one came.

He frowned.

No signal. No mana trail. No scent.

Damien's expression darkened.

"Coward didn't even fight," he muttered. "Disappeared the moment the Wyrm dropped."

Blackie and Rage Monkey growled low in agreement.

"I'm not waiting around for him." Damien dusted off his sleeves and motioned for them to follow. "We move toward the ginseng site."

And so they did.

Through marsh and root-choked valleys, over blackened hills and through tangled vines that reeked of mana rot. The trio moved with renewed urgency, the air heavy with distant roars and the eerie silence of beasts in hiding.

Hours passed.

By the time the sky began to gray with late afternoon mist, the terrain had shifted into something far more desolate.

They crested a ridge, and Damien's eyes narrowed.

Below them lay a dead plain, scorched and cracked.

Patches of ashen ground were littered with the skeletal remains of massive Zerg-like creatures. Some lay twisted into death-knots, their limbs snapped at unnatural angles. Others had clearly been killed mid-burrow, their spines jutting halfway from the earth like jagged tombstones.

And in the middle of it all—chaos.

A massive battle was raging.

At least a hundred fighters, half human, half beastkind, were locked in a brutal melee. Swords clanged against claws. Arrows screamed through the air. Spells detonated like fireworks gone mad. And through it all, one thing pulsed like a beacon in the middle of the bloodshed.

A glowing plant.

Delicate, glowing petals extended from a central vine, each one translucent like living glass, pulsing with gentle golden light. Mana swirled around it in rings, creating a windless vortex of spiritual force.

The moment Damien's eyes landed on it, his system chimed.

[One of Nine Supreme Flora Identified – Liferoot Orchid]

[Effect: Capable of rebuilding a body around a soul]

[Requirement: Must be used in conjunction with Soulroot Mushroom]

[Use: Resurrection. Applicable only to an intact Mana Core]

Damien's breath caught.

Liferoot Orchid.

One of the Nine Supreme Flora.

His mind went instantly to one person.

Jiang Xiao Yu.

He had her fractured Mana Core. He still needed to find a way to put the Mana Core together before he could even attempt to use the Liferoot Orchid and Soulroot Mushroom. But at least, it was a step in the right direction.

With this…

He could begin to bring her back!

He could rebuild her body.

Damien's eyes darkened with intensity. He took one step forward. The swamp wind tugged at his coat.

"Rage Monkey. Blackie," he said softly. "New objective."

They grunted.

He pointed down to the chaotic plain. "I want the Liferoot Orchid."

Blackie stepped forward beside Damien, her expression tight with pain, but her voice steady.

"You recognize what they're fighting over," she said, eyes narrowed. "But you're not seeing who's doing the fighting."

Damien didn't look away from the battlefield. "Explain."

She pointed with two bloodied fingers—first at the heavily armored, silver-scaled beastman wielding a twin-headed axe, then at the golden-haired human weaving fire serpents with precise finger sigils. "That one's an Apex Dragon Lord. The other is a Lesser Ancient. I'm seeing three more on both sides—maybe more hiding mana signatures."

Damien's eyes narrowed.

Apex Dragon Lord rank. Lesser Ancient Dragon rank.

That placed them firmly in his weight class—or just a step above. Not enough to kill him outright, but far too strong to plow through in a frontal assault. Especially not now, when he had just burned so much energy fighting the Bonewing Wyrm.

"We're not getting it by force," Blackie added, confirming his thoughts.

Rage Monkey snorted. "We fight. We bleed. We take."

Blackie rolled her eyes. "Yes, and then you'll bleed out while they roast your lungs and pick their teeth with your spine. Glorious."

Damien's mind was already racing.

There were at least a hundred fighters—humans and beasts alike—engaged in a brutal, chaotic melee. The Liferoot Orchid was glowing softly in the eye of the storm, untouched only because no one dared turn their back long enough to claim it. It wasn't just a prize. It was bait. A catalyst. Every faction wanted it, but no one could afford to take it while enemies still circled.

"Then we don't fight," Damien murmured.

He knelt and placed one hand against the ground. Death energy slithered outward in thin black threads, curling into the mud like curious fingers.

"What are you doing?" Blackie asked.

Damien didn't answer. Not at first.

His eyes glazed for a moment as he reached into the swamp's necrotic veins. The aftershock of so many battles left behind a tapestry of dying echoes—souls that hadn't passed on properly, beasts that had clawed and bitten and screamed in the dirt only to be trampled underfoot and forgotten.

And one of them responded.

Small. Curious. Innocent.

Perfect.

He smiled faintly.

"I'm calling a friend."

From the muck and bone and ash at the far edge of the plain, something stirred.

A tiny paw emerged.

Then another.

It was a small, skeletal creature, barely the size of a rabbit. Maybe once it had been a rabbit. Now it was… something else. Its bones were blackened with swamp rot, but its joints clicked with unnatural precision.

Glowing blue flames flickered in its eye sockets, and two crooked wings, clearly stolen from some birdlike scavenger, twitched eagerly at its back.

It chirped.

An adorable, undead chirp.

Blackie blinked. "That's your plan?"

Damien grinned. "Everyone overlooks cute things. Especially in the middle of war."

Rage Monkey grunted. "That thing dies in one hit."