Gustavo Flynn left with a dark expression on his face.

In the end, Ambrose still managed to squeeze five million gold out of him. It was less than he had expected to pay, but five million gold for a single vote still made his heart ache. And he wasn't even guaranteed to win.

That said, Ambrose had promised that he would refund half the gold if Flynn failed to win the election.

As for their cooperation, Ambrose had asked Flynn to furnish a top-tier mana extraction furnace, along with installation and all the works. In exchange, Ambrose would grant him priority access to partial distribution rights for Isabel's Potions of Youth.

On the surface, it looked like a win-win situation. But no matter how you looked at it, Ambrose was the one who was profiting more.

Flynn had no time to haggle. He still needed to prepare for tomorrow's election. With Isabel's support, he could secure many votes from the younger generation, but his success was far from guaranteed.

His opponent was formidable as well.

After seeing his old friend off, Ambrose hurried back to the laboratory.

Black Rose was carefully examining the radiant, multicolored soul floating before her. When she saw him return, she said approvingly, "It's perfect. Even better than I imagined."

"Of course," Ambrose replied immediately. "I gave your requirements my absolute best. I've already embedded a command of absolute loyalty into the soul. Under ordinary circumstances, it won't betray you."

"Ordinary circumstances?" Black Rose asked. "What counts as extraordinary?"

Ambrose explained, "I preserved a degree of self-awareness and gave it the capacity to grow. In other words, the soul has a personality of its own. If you treat it too harshly, with abuse or torment, it may develop resentment. But based on my experience, as long as you treat it like a pet and keep it satisfied, its loyalty will be absolute."

Black Rose frowned slightly. "Can't you bind it with an unbreakable soul contract?"

She had no fondness for subordinates who might turn against her. Her servants were all bound by contracts that stripped them of any ability to resist. If this soul couldn't be neutered in the same way, she would have to seriously consider the possibility of an incident.

"I can't impose that kind of contract without sacrificing its capacity for growth," Ambrose said. "You understand how those contracts work: they erase all self-awareness. That would be a waste. This undead was created from the corpses of three legends."

The soul was the core of any undead.

A soul stripped of self-awareness could never become a legend, and neither could it grow. Even if it had once been a legend, removing its sense of identity could cause its legendary boon to dissipate entirely.

Because at that point, it was nothing but a tool.

There was no perfect solution. Ambrose had done what he could. Like a hatchling imprinting on the first creature it saw, the soul would regard Black Rose as its closest kin. Of course, he also retained an equal measure of authority over it. He had no desire to one day have a sword driven through his own skull by his own creation.

Black Rose hesitated for a long moment before finally saying, "I understand. Then let's begin the transfer. I will treat this child well."

Ambrose carefully lifted the radiant soul and placed it into the massive fleshy cocoon.

The moment the light sank into it, the cocoon began to tremble violently.

The blood vessels twitching around it convulsed, dragging along the drow elves impaled upon them. Their bodies shook uncontrollably before being drained completely dry.

Their blood poured into the cocoon, intensifying its violent pulsations.

Suddenly, a pale arm burst through the cocoon's surface, spraying foul-smelling blood.

Then a second arm followed. Together, they tore the cocoon apart.

A blood-soaked figure emerged, gazing curiously at the world. On her right eye was a peculiar rune, stretching from eyelid to cheek, so intricate that even Ambrose couldn't decipher its purpose. Clearly, Black Rose had deliberately preserved it.

Ambrose blinked in surprise. "Why a female body?"

Black Rose had furnished the body, and death knights were predominantly male.

Black Rose replied simply, "I prefer daughters."

Fair enough. The client got to decide.

The newborn undead seemed both curious and cautious, like a kitten exploring the world. She slowly approached Black Rose and gently tugged at her hand.

Black Rose stroked her blood-soaked hair. Dark energy flowed from her palm, enveloping the girl's body. The blood hardened, turned black, and crumbled into ash. At the same time, the darkness condensed into a fitted suit of soft armor around her.

Taking the girl's hands, Black Rose pulled her to her feet. "From today onward, you are my daughter."

The girl's face lit up. In a hoarse voice, she called out, "Mother."

Even Ambrose hadn't expected her to take the role so seriously. Well, there was no need to worry about loyalty anymore.

Then Black Rose suddenly said, "Name her."

"Me?"

"You created her soul, and I created her body. That makes her our child. As the father, it's only natural you choose her name."

That sounded... strange. But Black Rose was his client. If Black Rose paid him enough, he'd happily call this girl his long-lost biological daughter.

"I'm not great with names," he admitted. "If I had to choose... how about Milena?"

A girl with a mysterious rune over one eye... That name came to him instinctively.

"Not particularly elegant," Black Rose said, "but it will do. It's her father's choice." She turned to the girl. "From today on, your name shall be Milena Lyon."

Then she asked Ambrose, "You don't mind her taking my surname?"

"Uh... not at all. As you wish."

This was getting stranger by the second. Did he just... acquire a daughter with Black Rose? Was she going to ask for child support next?

Black Rose looked at her "daughter" with a rare gentleness. "Come, Milena. Show me your power. The moment you were born, legendary strength began to gather within you, didn't it?"

Though a newborn, Milena already possessed basic intellect and understanding thanks to Ambrose's careful design.

She stepped into the center of the laboratory, closed her eyes, and began to unleash her power.

A glowing blue magic circle spread beneath her feet.

Ambrose frowned. "A summoning circle... for a mount?"

Calling forth a nightmare steed was a signature ability of death knights.

But what Milena summoned was not a nightmare. It was... a sapling.

She had summoned a strange tree with pale bark and crystalline blue leaves.

Ambrose's eyes widened. "A whisperwood?!"

Now he was truly shocked.

The whisperwood, native to the Umbral Depths, was the bane of all spellcasters.

Wherever its flowers bloomed, all magic ceased to function: wizard spells, sorcerer bloodlines, bardic inspiration, divine miracles... even lesser gods were said to be affected.

And yet, once removed from the Umbral Depths, a whisperwood would wither within three seconds.

But under Milena's power, the sapling didn't wither. In fact, it grew, and rapidly at that. In moments, it reached three meters tall, then twisted and reshaped itself.

Before Ambrose's stunned eyes, it transformed into a warhorse, a living construct of wood, its body clad in armor formed from whisperwood blossoms.

The moment the horse took shape, a vast field spread outward. Ambrose felt it instantly: his dark magic was completely suppressed.

He couldn't even summon his Golden Throne.

This was the power of the whisperwood. Its effects bordered on natural law. Even standard anti-magic fields had limits. They were small in range, short in duration, and not absolute. Ambrose's Golden Throne could normally bypass such restrictions.

But the whisperwood's power was different. Within the field, all magic was sealed completely, without exception.

And yet Milena herself was unaffected. She even conjured a black spear from dark magic, a standard death knight ability.

She had done so despite being within the domain of the whisperwood.

Somehow, she could cast spells inside an absolute anti-magic field, even when no one else could. That was terrifying.

Even Black Rose was visibly impressed.

"Incredible. Milena, you are even stronger than I imagined."

Milena happily mounted her warhorse. "Mother, I want to ride!"

"Not yet," Black Rose said gently. "When we return home, you may ride as much as you like."

A little disappointed, Milena dismissed her mount and obediently returned to her side.

"I'm very satisfied," Black Rose said. "The remaining payment will be delivered. I'll take Milena back now. If you ever wish to see your daughter, you may come to the Umbral Depths."

"Of course," Ambrose replied quickly.

But inwardly, he was thinking to himself, "Black Rose's enemies are in for a nightmare. A death knight with a built-in absolute anti-magic domain... who could possibly stop that?"