I became a legion lich

260 Big surprise

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. I won’t mind remembering your name anyway, so just shut up and drink this down.” Athos grumbled as he offered one of the potions to the ogre, who promptly opened it and poured the liquid into his jaws.

Skeletons had no throats and were unable to drink or consume food, but the darkness in their bones absorbed the liquid from the potions as if the ogre had consumed it.

Normal potions would have no effect on black skeletons or have their effects reduced by darkness, but the potions were made with corrupted materials and worked properly on black skeletons.

The skeletons all waited anxiously for any visible effects on the ogre’s body, but there was no apparent effect.

“Did not work?” Wylver, the male wyvern, asked as he craned his neck in confusion and used death vision to analyze him, but to no avail.

“Must take a while to kick in… I guess.” Athos said as confused as the others, but a cry of pain coming from the ogre cut him off.

The ogre skeleton fell to the ground as it writhed like an insect with its head crushed, a gray mass growing from the ribs and spreading to the rest of the bones.

The gray mass formed a desiccated skin that covered his entire body, before inflating like a balloon as the muscles below grew soon after.

“Is this what I’m thinking it is?” Emilia asked hopefully, looking greedily at the gray mass covering the ogre’s body.

.....

“Yes, it’s my magic organ.” Athos answered her question with undisguised pride, while inwardly sighing with relief that the potion was working.

He realized that the ogre was still writhing in pain, so the process would still take a while. From what he remembered, creating the skin and muscles was a quick task, but his internal organs took almost 10 minutes to finish.

“I thought it would take a lot longer to figure out a way to get our bodies back. How did you do it?” Emilia asked unable to control her excitement.

“It’s quite simple actually. I simply used black water conjured by a water mage and used parts of my body as alchemy material.” Athos spoke as he removed the necroscale’s helmet and breastplate, revealing that his body was extremely thin and several parts appeared to be missing.

“Isn’t it painful or uncomfortable to be in that state?” Treevor asked as he felt a shiver as he saw all the flesh on the side of the ribs was gone, leaving the skin glued against the bones.

“I don’t feel pain and my real body is the skeleton, so it’s not a problem. I just need to devour some corpses to recover the lost energy.” Athos responded as he mentally ordered some of the skeletons that went hunting to bring the corpses to him instead of taking them to the mages and being transformed into new undead.

“How did you think to develop the magic organ in other skeletons using potions?”

“You seem to forget that I am a gifted alchemist with over five years experience in creating potions and alchemical items. I’ve been thinking all this time of a way to share the magic organ with you, until I remembered some of the things my father taught me the secret to creating special potions.”

“It’s almost impossible to create special-grade alchemical items or potions as they require extremely expensive and rare resources, so alchemists mix magic stone dust to forcibly strengthen the effects of cheaper and more readily available materials.” Athos grew more and more proud as he spoke, happy to be able to brag about his trade for the first time.

“I figured it was the same trick runesmiths use with mithril to enchant cheap materials, so I thought the same might apply to us. I know many of you are stronger than I am, but as an undead, I am the original and superior to all of you.” He finished explaining his idea, surprising the other skeletons.

“I can understand the logic behind it, but the idea is so absurd that it seems inconceivable to me.” Malti spoke with an ironic smile that confused Athos.

“The idea is very simple, what do you not understand?” Athos asked.

“We understand your idea, master, but it’s the kind of thing almost nobody would think of. I mean, who would think of using their own body parts as materials?” Treevor asked incredulously, momentarily forgetting that he did the same to possess the corrupted willow and unlike Athos, he had been doing this since before he became an undead.

“Ack!” The ogre finally regained enough consciousness to scream in pain, interrupting the conversation and drawing attention to itself. The gray matter had finished forming most of the organs and was just finishing forming the brain.

The ogre finished the transformation and stood up while holding his head, feeling his brain throb with pain. Unlike Athos who formed the magic organ naturally, the ogre should have been unable to do the same, suffering agonizing pain as the darkness turned into a mass of energy.

The darkness also drained some of the nutrients from its bones to form the mass of the magic organ, so the ogre desperately needed to devour a corpse to recover the lost nutrients.

“How do you feel?” Athos asked, wanting to confirm the potion’s effects and see if there were any side effects. In his excitement, he ended up forgetting to test it on a weaker skeleton first.

He was sure it would work, but that wasn’t enough for his subordinates and they would definitely complain until their ears bleed if they found out, so he decided to keep it a secret.

“I feel like a giant has crushed a mountain on my head.” The ogre responded as he massaged his temples, belatedly realizing he had muscles he could massage.

He looked down at his gray body with surprise, feeling a mixture of confusion and joy. The headache and muscle pain began to disappear over time as the ogre got used to the new magic organ.

“The feeling is strange, but it’s not bad. It’s like recovering something that I had lost some time ago.” The ogre smiled as he pinched his own face and smiled at the sensation.

“I want to do some more tests with you, okay? This magical organ is capable of storing energy and helping to activate spells and abilities. Can you do the same?” Athos asked as skeletons brought fresh corpses for him and the ogre to recover back to their prime.

“It doesn’t seem to have any kind of energy or mana.” The ogre responded as he devoured the leg of a desert wildebeest.

“Hmm...I really can’t feel energy in your magic organ. I can recharge my magic organ thanks to mana body, but I have no idea how you’re supposed to recharge it naturally.” Athos started scratching his chin as he thought of a solution, but Treevor offered a solution.

“It’s impossible to charge the magic organ with corrupted mana, so try to flow corrupted world energy into it.” Treevor suggested and Athos flowed world energy into the ogre for a few seconds, confirming that it really was possible to carry him, as long as he didn’t mix his mana together.

“It really works, but what is he supposed to do to recharge on his own?” Emilia asked doubtfully. She was most interested in getting her body back, but she wanted to make sure there were no troublesome side effects.

“I really have no idea. Demihumans aren’t able to access the world’s energy, with the exception of those who are born with a mana body and the organ is made to support mages, so it’s not something suitable for species like demihumans or monsters. ” Athos spoke with a shrug.

“I am a species of lich and my abilities are related to magic, so I believe that only mages or species capable of using magic will be able to exploit my magic organ’s full potential.”

“It’s a shame, patriarch, but having my body back is enough for me. It’s not like I’ve gotten any weaker or anything.” The ogre thought with a shrug, glad he at least had a body.

“Well, I’m definitely a wizard, so I’ll be the next one to take this potion.” Treevor moved forward to get one of the potions, but Athos slapped his hand away irritably.

“After so much complaining about my potions, now do you want to drink?” Athos spoke in an arrogant tone of voice. He was still irritated at having his work questioned and wouldn’t give in easily.

“Okay, I apologize for badmouthing your work and questioning the effectiveness of potions.” Treevor raised his arms in surrender, knowing it would only be a waste of time to argue with Athos if he was stubborn about something.

‘If I insist and point out that none of us ever thought highly of his alchemical items he’ll probably freak out and give the potions to random skeletons only for us not to consume them, so I better save you the headache and apologize on behalf of everyone.’ Treevor thought annoyed with Athos’ childishness.

The other generals also nodded in agreement and Athos relented. He was still irritated at having his work belittled, but the best way to win was to prove them wrong.