The fire essence crystal dissolved in Liam's palm, and a warm feeling started spreading across his body.
This feeling did not last long. Nevertheless, it considerably lightened the load on his mind.
It was almost as if he had just added a catalyst to a reaction, suddenly making everything faster and easier.
He could also tell that his chances of success now were significantly higher.
Just using a single essence crystal was so effective, what would happen if he absorbed more? Would all of his forging become simpler?
With this thought, Liam took another essence crystal in his hand, but the familiar notification popped out before he could do anything.
[Ding. Soul forging successful]
Liam stopped and opened his eyes in surprise. He looked at the small bluish-white soul bead, which now had a tinge of red to it.
The next second, this soul bead abruptly disappeared from his hand.
Instead, there was now a short miniature tree ghost swaying on the ground in front of him, a level 10 spectral lesser dryad!
And unexpectedly, just like the soul bead, the spectral dryad was also a tinge reddish-orange in color.
Unlike all the other translucent white soul undeads, this one had the imprint of its attribute.
Liam was thrilled. He was utterly exhausted from top to bottom, but he was ecstatic. He could not wait to see this dryad in action.
"Well, looks like I can't get up. So a simple demonstration has to suffice for now. Try tossing a fireball at that rock."
Liam commanded the undead lesser dryad.
The small tree immediately swayed its branches, two of the short branches forming a hand-like protrusion, and from within that a ball of fire appeared.
Sizzle Sizzle
The small ball of fire then readily flew to the rock and hit the surface making a small impact. The spot where the fireball landed was blackened.
It wasn't anything all that impressive but so was a fireball attack from a Level 10 mage.
When the undead further upgrades in its level, its combat strength should improve accordingly.
On the whole, Liam was very satisfied with the progress he had made. He grinned, and his gaze fell on the other dryad that was waiting for him.
He popped a few recovery berries into his mouth and sat cross-legged to adjust his condition and bring his body back to its peak.
An hour silently passed, and soon Liam was able to breathe freely again, and his mind was also relaxed.
"Alright. I should be able to try the second one now."
He stretched his hands, cracked his neck, and then used his fist to take away the last sliver of health from the second dryad.
"After using the essence crystal, everything was easy. So this one should go well too."
As the lesser dryad dropped dead on the ground, a small bluish-white bead seeped out of its body.
Liam noticed this and frowned. "Shouldn't this be reddish-orange in color?"
But he did not have too much time to think and assumed that the color perhaps changed after the forging.
He quickly imbibed the small soul bead with mana and then started the familiar process again.
However, the next second, as soon as he brought down the mana hammers on the bead, his body instantly shivered.
His mind trembled and he once again felt like he was being crushed by a colossal mountain.
FUCK!
Liam shouted out loud in anger. Just what the hell was happening? Shouldn't everything be easier this time around?
So why did he still feel like he was once again on the verge of collapse? Every single cell in his body was on fire. Pain exploded everywhere.
He had taken an entire hour's rest before starting forge again but it looked like that wasn't enough at all.
When compared to the previous forging session, this one was even more torturous.
He had borne that pain with everything he had, and now for this second time, even if he tried his best, brought out 500% of his will or fighting spirit, he knew that he wouldn't be able to withstand it.
Liam did not care. He knew better than to once again undertake this task. He was ready to give up and let this soul bead go to waste.
It wasn't really a big deal. He could always hunt another dozen lesser dryads and create several soul undeads. It did not matter.
But what bugged him was the fact that he was missing something here. This process should never be this difficult to start with.
When he absorbed the last fire essence crystal, it had become easier. So shouldn't it be easy now as well?
Perhaps he needed to absorb a fire essence crystal every time he forged a lesser dryad?
Perhaps he needed to absorb the respective essence crystal every time he forged a monster capable of using mana and casting spells?
Liam's mind spun and suddenly everything felt clear. Even in the midst of the mind-numbing pain, he got some sort of clarity.
He took the second fire essence crystal that he had already prepared and absorbed it.
This time he paid more attention to the wisp of energy. He tracked it spreading across his body, similar to what had happened last time.
However, surprisingly it did not stop there.
Liam's body shuddered as he noticed something crucial. The fire essence from the crystal did not actually stay in his body.
It entered his body, circulated inside, and then along with his mana, the essence also exited his body to reach the soul bead.
So all along it was the soul bead that had absorbed the fire essence from the essence crystal. It had never been him.
And now that it did, just like before, suddenly everything became more manageable. He was able to swing the mana hammers easily.
He pounded the soul bead smoothly into submission and within a few minutes, the notification also popped out.
[Ding. Soul forging successful]
Liam could not believe his eyes.
After adding the fire essence crystal into the mixture forging this guy was somehow even faster than forging a spiked mountain bear!
How is this possible?
He gazed at the two short swaying tree ghosts with only a few awkward spectral branches at the top.
One was Level 10 and the other was Level 15.
This showed that the second one was even a better forged product when compared to the first one.
What the hell was going on?
Liam collapsed on the rough forest ground and stared at the vast blue sky that sprawled above him in contemplation.
This time he was not as tired after the forging, but his mind was restless.
Although something was apparent to him, the last details were hazy and ambiguous. He wanted to know what it was.
Liam continued staring at the sky, and soon he lost track of time. He only snapped out of it when a bubbly chirpy girl's voice sounded.
"Brother, why are you sleeping here in the middle of nowhere?"
