Lucien accessed the System shop and bought out several high-ranking healing potions, the glowing green liquid sloshing in their crystal vials. Without hesitation, he drank the first one, feeling the magical healing spread through his system like warm honey.

The cuts on his arms began to close, the gashes across his chest sealed themselves, and the throbbing pain in his skull faded to a dull ache. He downed a second potion, then a third, watching with satisfaction as his body repaired itself from the devastating battle.

As the final wounds closed, leaving only faint scars that would fade completely within hours, a familiar chime echoed through the chamber.

[Job Change Quest has been completed]

Lucien's heart raced with anticipation. This was it. This was what he'd been working toward since the day he'd first awakened the system.

[Evaluating Performance...]

The notification hung in the air for several long seconds, and Lucien found himself holding his breath. He'd fought through endless knights and mages, survived death itself, and defeated the strongest opponent he had faced till now. If that wasn't worthy of the highest evaluation, nothing was.

[Class Allocated: Necromancer]

For a moment, disappointment flickered through him. Just Necromancer? After everything he'd been through?

But then new text appeared, and his disappointment transformed into pure elation.

[High Evaluation Points Detected]

[Class Upgraded: Shadow Monarch]

[Class Skills Acquired:

[Shadow Extraction Lvl 1]

[Shadow Preservation Lvl 1]

"Yes!" Lucien shouted, his voice echoing through the devastated chamber. "Finally! I got what I came here for!"

He immediately opened his skill descriptions, eager to understand the full extent of his new powers.

[Shadow Extraction Lvl 1:

Extract Shadow soldiers from the fallen enemies. Extracted shadows that are not preserved will disappear after 24 hours.

-Current limit: 50 shadows]

[Shadow Preservation Lvl 1: Permanently preserve extracted shadows in your shadow army.

-Current limit: 30 preserved shadows.]

Lucien's mind raced as he processed the information. So he could extract up to 50 shadows at once, but only preserve 30 of them permanently.

The temporary ones would last a full day before fading, which meant if he played his cards right, he could command around 80 shadows simultaneously in the right circumstances.

The possibilities were endless. He could extract a massive temporary army for a single battle, and choose the best to build a smaller but permanent force of elite shadows.

Most importantly, no mana was required for the extraction or preservation processes. His enhanced mana pool would only come into play when his shadows needed to regenerate from damage, allowing him to support them in extended battles.

Movement in his peripheral vision caught his attention. Three objects had materialized near Sukuna's corpse—skill runestones, glowing with inner light. He hadn't seen runestones as rewards in quite some time.

"Bonus loot from the King of Curses himself," Lucien murmured, collecting the stones and storing them in his inventory for later examination.

He opened his status screen, eager to see how his new class had affected his overall capabilities.

Name: Lucien Reynolds

Job: Shadow Monarch

Level: 38 Fatigue: 30

HP: 500/1710  MP: 1100/1100

Strength: 220

Health: 171

Agility: 170 -- 185

Perception: 132

Mana: 110 -- 132

Stat Points: 15

Gold: 48000

The numbers were impressive. His agility had increased dramatically with his new class, and his mana reserves were substantial enough to support a full shadow army in combat.

The gold he got today would let him purchase whatever equipment he needed going forward.

But the real prize was laying right in front of him.

Lucien turned his gaze to Sukuna's headless corpse, a predatory smile crossing his face. "I know exactly who's going to be my first shadow."

He approached the body and activated his Shadow Extraction skill for the first time. The power felt natural, instinctive, as if he'd been born to command the dead.

But the skill required a verbal command, a phrase to focus his will and activate the extraction.

Without hesitation, he chose the same word that Jin-Woo had used in the original story.

"Arise."

The effect was immediate and dramatic.

Sukuna's corpse began to sink into its own shadow, the flesh and bone dissolving into darkness that writhed and coalesced above the spot where the body had lain.

The shadow grew and took shape, reforming into the King of Curses—but now composed entirely of shifting darkness.

Four arms, four eyes that burned with purple fire instead of red, the same imposing presence but now bound to Lucien's will.

When the transformation was complete, the shadow Sukuna immediately dropped to one knee before his new master, his head bowed in absolute submission.

[Elite Grade Shadow Successfully Extracted]

"Your name will be Sukuna," Lucien declared, the words carrying the weight of true authority.

Sukuna straightened slightly, acknowledging his new identity and purpose. This wasn't the arrogant, bored monster that had nearly killed him. This was a weapon, a loyal servant bound to his will for eternity.

"With Sukuna in my Army, I can easily take on a large number of opponents. Not to mention that having the King of Curses as a part of my Army is way cool."

Lucien then made his way back to the main hall, where the remnants of his earlier battle lay scattered across the marble floor. Sukuna was following his new Lord.

Broken armor and dissolved mage robes marked where his enemies had fallen, but their shadows remained, waiting to be claimed.

He moved through the battlefield, selecting his targets with care. The mages would provide ranged support and magical capabilities that could complement his physical fighters.

The knights would form the backbone of his army, disciplined warriors that could hold formation and follow complex orders.

"Arise," he commanded, targeting a group of nine mages whose shadows still lingered near where they'd fallen.

Dark energy swirled as the shadows took form, robed figures with eyes that burned with the same purple fire as Sukuna's. They immediately arranged themselves in formation, awaiting orders with perfect discipline.

"Arise," he called again, this time focusing on twenty of the elite knights who had given him such a challenging fight.

The extraction went smoothly as he stood at the center of his first true shadow army—thirty elite soldiers from a realm of eternal conflict, led by the King of Curses himself. The sight sent a thrill of power through him that was intoxicating.

Though saying that Sukuna was their leader would be wrong. He was the oddball here.

"This is a good start," he said aloud, his voice carrying absolute confidence. "Soon, I will build an army with strength and numbers that will put Empires to shame."

His thoughts turned to what he was going to do next.

Belasco was not going to be a problem anytime soon. He will deal with Belasco when that little Lord of the Limbo dares to act up.

For now, he had a perfect target in his mind that he was going to hunt. And, he won't be hunting alone this time.

Lucien shook off his thoughts and then reached into his inventory and withdrew one of the skill runestones he'd claimed from Sukuna's corpse.

The stone pulsed with inner light, its surface covered in intricate runes that seemed to shift and dance when he looked at them directly.

[Commander's Touch Runestone]

This was one of the key skills from the series that would develop into a great skill that Jin-Woo used while Aura farming.

Lucien crushed the stone as he got the skill. He did the same with the other two runestones before storing his soldiers in his shadow and leaving the dungeon.

He was going to treat Anna and the others, after all, today was an occasion of joy for him.

After all, the Shadow Monarch had truly descended on this world.

.....

POWER STONE GOAL: 700 ( 1 Extra Chapter)

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