"The Soul Singer..."

"Orestes."

Cassius pronounced the name.

The trees in the Lost Valley are tall and twisted, with branches and leaves blocking out the sun, as if they are always shrouded in a thick shadow.

Deep in this dark forest, there is an ancient castle built of black stones - Soul Cry Castle.

The owner of the castle is a lich called Orestes.

Hundreds of years ago, this place was not called the Lost Valley, nor was there a so-called Black Forest. There was only a wizard's tower, and Orest was once a respected wizard in this land.

In the magical desert of the North, wizards are highly respected, and a gifted wizard like Orest is even more so: people built a tall castle for him, and the surrounding nobles offered him thousands of slaves, allowing him to live an extremely luxurious life, treating mortals as worthless.
After indulging in such a dissolute life for nearly a hundred years, Orestes finally realized that he was about to die.

To the rules of the world, the mage is just another mortal.

Even with mysterious powers, death is always around, but it is not inevitable.

Therefore, Orestes pursued the method of immortality at all costs. He found the secret ritual in the ancient tomb, proposed a deal to Melkor, the Lord of Bones, and sacrificed thousands of slaves in the castle and territory.

Finally, Orestes imprisoned his soul in a phylactery through a ritual, drank a transfiguration potion mixed with poison and the blood of a sacrifice, allowing his soul to be drawn into the phylactery and his corpse to be resurrected as a lich.

he died.

Or in other words, immortal.

Exist in the world in a new form.

The once lush garden turned into a gloomy and terrifying black forest, the once luxurious castle turned into a decayed and gloomy Soul Weeping Castle, and the once high-spirited wizard turned into an undead lich.

But Orestes is not satisfied with this. The lich's soul is still trapped in the phylactery - and he wants to seek true immortality.

So, he began to draw magic circles continuously, creating countless skeletons and undead souls, preparing to sacrifice the souls of the entire Principality of Carter to gain eternity for himself.

This is the hidden side quest in the Northland of the previous life - [Soul Singer in the Lost Valley]

The process of the mission is a bit complicated. Players must first accept the [Haunted Basement] mission of a household in the city of Antonio, look for the ghost, and then follow its whereabouts to the underground world and discover the remains of the mysterious sacrificial array.

Then he went to the Great Library of the North, looking for the source of the magic circle from tens of thousands of books, learned the real name of "Soul Singer" Orestes, and followed the historical records to find the insider.

Next, the player searches step by step in multiple locations, including the tavern, the office, the Adventurer's Guild, etc., and eventually finds an old beggar who knows the history and has already gone mad.

The old beggar makes things difficult for the players, asking them to complete a series of difficult and bizarre tasks, such as "bringing back the fresh feces of the Chimera", "removing the dirtiest teeth of the hill giants", "stealing food from the mouths of the ogres", etc.

——This is actually testing the player’s strength and credibility.

This old beggar had experienced too much suffering and seen too many people lose their lives to the taboos of the Lost Valley. He wanted to kill the lich, but he didn't want to let innocent people sacrifice their lives.

Only after all the tasks are completed will the old beggar give out valuable clues, allowing players to go to the ancient tomb under his guidance.

They will search for clues in the tomb, break through numerous traps, experience attacks from countless terrifying undead creatures, and find the lich's life box in the deepest part of the tomb.

Finally, players can go to the final quest location - Lost Valley, and completely destroy the lich's conspiracy. The Soul Singer in Lost Valley series of quests requires players to complete hundreds of difficult stage quests, spend months to complete the long plot line, and find hundreds of various clues and quest items.

In the previous life, players affectionately called this series of tasks "the malice of dog planning", "the king of toilet unclogging tasks", and "the hidden task that even dogs don't do".

It was not until the [Clash of Kings] stage of 2.0 that players, led by a player of both perseverance and strength, completed this quest - that player was Singo.

Even Singo invited fifty professional players, and the average level of their team reached level eleven.

In this way, they barely managed to kill the lich, split the generous mission rewards, and even almost got a staff that could be called a divine artifact - this was enough to show how difficult and disgusting this mission was.

But Cassius is different from the players.

He is familiar with the plot line, has absolute control over the surrounding area, and has enough power to crush the lich.

It can be said that he was determined to capture the lich and was full of confidence, but he was hesitant about how to deal with it.

"Orest is not a madman pursuing magic. He is just a coward who fears death and is extremely selfish. The only difference is that he has an unparalleled talent for magic."

"Greedy and fearful, such a guy is the easiest to deal with."

"Maybe I can use him for my own benefit."

Cassius narrowed his eyes slightly, and fire flickered in his light golden pupils, but he shook his head as if he remembered something, and couldn't help laughing and sighing.

"Speaking of which, Anzeta is really full of disasters. It is such a remote area, but it is full of talented people."

"Dragons, devils, demons, shadows, giants, vampires."

"There's even a lich."

This is not just Cassius' personal opinion. Players in the previous life also often joked about it. There is even a saying in the forum that "the people of the north are simple and honest, and Anzeta is full of talented people."

Even in version 4.0, there are often advanced players who travel across the star realm and dig out new things from the novice area of ​​Anzeta.

But this is understandable. The Anzeta Wasteland has experienced the rule of dragons, giants, and elves, and once had a glorious civilization.

However, this place was completely destroyed by endless wars. Its former grandeur collapsed, and even the local magic network became fragile. As a result, it became a magical wasteland that was not favored by Mystra - however, many relics of ancient civilizations were buried here.

The empire now has a professional archaeological team, which includes many players engaged in related industries. This team is nicknamed "Magic Tomb Raider" by players in the forum.

They dug everywhere in the Anzeta Wasteland, searching for lost secrets buried underground, and seeking more knowledge and treasures for the Burning Empire.

Cassius turned his head, and through the Eye of the Heavenly Tribulation Dragon and the Eye of All-Seeing, he could see the ancient tomb hundreds of miles away - that was the resting place of the former priest of Melkor, and also the storage place of the Lich's Life Box.

For mortals, searching for the ruins in the vast wilderness is like looking for a needle in a haystack, but Cassius is the emperor of the Burning Empire and has supreme authority within the empire.

"Orestes."

"Are you ready for my arrival?"

Cassius opened his mouth and revealed a ferocious smile. The lich that was like a nightmare to mortals was like a duck about to be caught in his mouth, and he was afraid that it would escape. (End of this chapter)