Chapter 288: Impure World Body, Lich Power, and Chakra

"Is this body yours from before you died? I need you to give me a piece of your bodily tissue from before your death to serve as a summoning medium."

"O great demigod, this is the body forged from my ashes before death." Kel'Thuzad nodded, broke off one of his own ribs, and respectfully handed it to Luode.

In his skull's eyes flashed a pale blue light, the soul fire raged wildly; he had long awaited this new resurrection.

Luode nodded, began using this rib as a medium, taking Bai Jue as a sacrifice, and performed the Impure World Reincarnation! A strange seal began to form beneath Bai Jue's feet, and Kel'Thuzad's soul was pulled out from his lich body.

Moreover, Kel'Thuzad even took out his own lich's soul cage, extracted a portion of his soul; this soul cage is what liches use to preserve their lives.

Compared to this undead body, the lich's life-preserving method is vastly inferior! Know that after death, a lich's soul cage can indeed allow resurrection.

But it requires time to recover the soul, and cannot be used many times, after all the soul cannot be split too many times.

Even such a powerful lich as he can use it only a few times; after his defeat in the Eastern Plaguelands last time, his soul was weakened to the extreme.

Kel'Thuzad's soul was completely gathered together and then injected into Bai Jue's body.

Some gray substance began to appear, like ink and paper, starting to wrap around Bai Jue's body.

An old mage in a purple robe, about fifty years old, appeared on the spot, then he panted heavily, taking big breaths.

"I have been resurrected, I can hardly believe I actually came back to life. This is my original human body—good heavens, this is wonderful, my magic! Arcane and necromantic energy have actually merged!" Kel'Thuzad immediately discovered a delight.

His magic, based on his original human foundation, now also incorporated the lich's necromantic power, equivalent to fusing his human strength with his lich-era strength.

He originally thought that after being resurrected in this form, he would only possess the magic he had in his human days, which was roughly comparable to Ronin's.

Compared to the lich state, there's no comparison; after transforming into a lich, his magic was greatly strengthened by necromancy.

But now this transformed state pulls his soul out of the lich's body and places it upon a human body; the two magics add together, making him far stronger than before.

Now he can cast arcane magic, frost magic, and necromancy; the spells he mastered in life as a human and those he mastered after death as a lich have even perfectly combined.

"This is the wonder of the illustrated transformation; your Impure World Reincarnation body is something I specially prepared for you." Luode spoke.

Just like Yakushi Kabuto prepared a special body for Uchiha Madara, Luode, while transferring the soul, also increased the lich's magic upon this body.

Anyway, a lich's magic can be housed in any undead body; although this Impure World Reincarnation maintains a human appearance, it is truly an undead life.

"Please let me, let me familiarize myself with this body, great demigod." Kel'Thuzad said somewhat excitedly.

Luode naturally nodded and made a gesturing invitation.

After receiving permission, Kel'Thuzad immediately began to cast his various necromantic spells: frost magic, arcane magic.

He felt that after his magic was expended, it would mysteriously surge back again; now, as long as he wishes, he can release spells that previously required being drained and honed to cast.

Moreover, he can cast them as casually as ordinary spells, without needing to worry about stamina.

Even Kel'Thuzad cast a fireball at himself, blasting half his body apart; within just a few tens of seconds, large amounts of paper scraps appeared around his body and then slowly pieced themselves back together.

"Hahaha! Thank you, great demigod; your gift has left me overwhelmed, I am now immensely powerful, stronger than I have ever been." Kel'Thuzad said.

"We still have one final ritual; actually I possess the ability to resurrect the dead, I can let you return to life in a true human form." Luode said and then prepared to perform the Samsara Rebirth Technique.

"No, no, no! Great demigod, please do not punish me! This is the perfect body; now I am at my strongest."

"Infinite magic, infinite stamina, undead body, even greater magic—far beyond what a mortal human body can compare to; this is the ultimate form."

Kel'Thuzad immediately knelt on the ground and began to plead with Luode.

Perhaps for others, resurrection is a dream come true, but for Kel'Thuzad it is not so; this Impure World Reincarnation body, in his view, is the perfect body.

"Some spells targeting the soul can destroy your soul, and extreme primordial force can shatter your body, making recovery impossible." Luode said.

"Great demigod, a mortal body is just as vulnerable to soul-targeting spells and to extreme primordial forces as mine; what's the difference?" Kel'Thuzad countered.

Well, the reasoning stands, but it really is true! Even after resurrection, the body fears those spells, and even ordinary elemental magic, ordinary blades can kill it; yet this body need not worry about ordinary attacks. Moreover, it can unleash extreme primordial force—there are hardly any in the world of Azeroth capable of that, only the Titan guardians, the ancient gods, the wild demigods, myself empowered by Sargeras personally, or Archimonde and Kil'jaeden can wield it.

"Great demigod, know that as a lich I know many soul-targeting spells and am highly skilled in them; to kill me with soul magic, one's level must far exceed mine." Kel'Thuzad said.

No joke! I am a top-tier lich; how could I lack means to defend against soul magic? Even the greatest warlock, unless his magical attainment vastly surpasses mine, cannot hope to strike me with soul magic.

"Hahaha! Well, it seems resurrecting you completely would actually be a punishment for you; this form is what you like best." Luode said.

Perhaps in the future I could have Yakushi Kabuto and Orochimaru work on them, together with the Second Hokage, to improve this technique further.

Let these Impure World Reincarnation bodies also be able to train and increase strength; this undead form is indeed most suitable for certain psychologically deviant individuals.

Speaking of increasing strength, Luode suddenly thought of a method that might allow a certain lich to obtain chakra power.

"I will bestow upon you another power! Do not resist."

Luode approached Kel'Thuzad, placed his finger on the other's forehead, and injected some chakra power into his body.

Bai Jue's body inherently possesses Wood Release and chakra power; I merely activated and amplified it.

Those revived using goblin, fishman, or werewolf bodies cannot be granted this chakra power.

Luode also does not intend to grant chakra power to other Impure World Reincarnation subjects, for possessing chakra signifies the ability to undo the Impure World Reincarnation, which must not be given lightly.

The chakra power, using Bai Jue's body as a baseline, rapidly spread over Kel'Thuzad and then began to activate, increasing his bodily vitality.

Luode added chakra to this body, roughly equivalent to the amount possessed by a tailed beast.

With Bai Jue's body revived, this great lich should be able to master five ninjutsu techniques and Wood Release.

"Great demigod, I feel a new energy within me, and I also sense a life force." Kel'Thuzad immediately noticed the change in his body, saying with astonishment.

I can hardly believe that life force can exist within an undead body!

"Indeed! This is the new power I granted you; it is called chakra. The body I previously gave you as an offering inherently possesses a power called Wood Release.

It can summon trees for battle; those trees can absorb chakra or other energies—study it well."

Having said that, Luode passed on some Wood Release ninjutsu and basic Five Elements Release techniques to Kel'Thuzad.

"Great demigod, are you interested in recruiting some more subordinates? If so, there are in Naxxramas Fortress and the Black Blade Knight Corps.

There are some top-tier liches and death knights, also first-rate experts.

"In my Naxxramas Fortress, this time I have also brought some ice dragons." Kel'Thuzad said.

"Can you have them pledge loyalty to me?"

"Great demigod, but all the liches, you can completely trust.

"As for the other undead monsters, there's no need to let them control this power either, for many of them are bug-people or undead fashioned from other monsters." Kel'Thuzad said.

Hatred is a kind of corpse amalgam monster, assembled from various corpses, so it has no independent consciousness.

As for the other spiders, abyssal demons, gargoyles, and the transformed magical beasts, they all belong to magical creations.

There is also no need to use this special resurrection technique on them; the only ones that need it are some liches and these death knights.

"Demigod Lord! These death knights, I can try to persuade them.

Those willing to join under your command will be granted a new undead body; those unwilling will remain as death knights.

"Then we can just control them with black magic; this task can be left to me." Kel'Thuzad said.

"Among these death knights, most can be persuaded; those who cannot be persuaded can be forcibly controlled." (End of chapter)