Chapter 57: Skill Grades

The fusion continued.

​Cassian had carefully selected nine elites from each specialization, ensuring the original veterans were included among the fusion materials.

​Unfortunately, the Deathmark Commander could not participate. Once a troop reached the Commander Class, it became fundamentally distinct from Elite-Class units, and Fusion simply wouldn’t recognize them as compatible.

​Still, that didn’t stop Cassian.

​Death energy surged violently across the stone as the selected elites dissolved into streams of pale light, converging into four massive, blinding pillars.

The suffocating pressure radiating from the portal caused the surrounding undead to step back instinctively.

​Then, the light faded.

​Four imposing figures emerged from the mist.

​The first was a towering skeletal warrior carrying a massive tower shield covered in ancient bone runes.

Its frame was broader than any Elite Tank’s, and blue soul flames burned fiercely within its eye sockets.

​The second sat atop a skeletal warhorse draped in heavy, black bone armor. A massive lance rested easily in its grasp while a tattered cape fluttered behind it, the steed itself radiating a chilling aura of death.

​The third appeared almost ethereal. Its skeletal frame was slimmer than the others and partially concealed beneath a cloak woven from living darkness, the shadows around it twisting unnaturally to obscure its exact position.

​The final commander carried a gigantic black bow formed entirely from soul-infused bone. Crimson soul flames burned within its skull while countless faint wisps drifted around it like wandering spirits.

​Cassian stared at the four new arrivals, a satisfied smile spreading across his face.

​All four possessed SSS-Grade Potential, and more importantly, all four had successfully advanced into the Commander Class.

​[Gravewall Commander]

​Classification: Commander

​Race: Undead

​Grade: Common

​Potential: SSS Grade

​Description:

A commander forged to stand where armies break. The Gravewall Commander is the ultimate defensive specialist among undead troops. Its very existence strengthens defensive formations and inspires allies to hold their ground against impossible odds. Wherever it stands, the frontline becomes an impenetrable fortress.

​"When the wall of bones stands firm, even death must wait its turn."

​Skills:

​[Double Counter](Standard Grade): Reflects an incoming attack back at the attacker with twice the original force.

​[Ragebait](Standard Grade): Draws the attention of nearby enemies while reducing their attack power through provocation and oppressive presence.

​[Last Stand](Standard Grade): Once per day, if not completely destroyed, the commander can regenerate from any injury and return to combat.

​[Dreadlance Commander]

​Classification: Commander

​Race: Undead

​Grade: Common

​Potential: SSS Grade

​Description:ℯℯ𝘭.

An undead commander mounted upon a fearsome skeletal warhorse. The Dreadlance Commander excels at breaking enemy formations and leading devastating cavalry charges. Combined with its undead steed, it becomes a spearhead capable of turning entire battlefields into chaos.

​"A single charge is a warning. A second charge is a massacre."

​Skills:

​[Charge](Standard Grade): Accelerates alongside its mount before delivering a devastating, armor-shattering lance strike.

​[Smite](Standard Grade): Locks multiple opponents in place before unleashing a terrifying slash capable of cleaving through entire ranks.

​[Knight’s Honor](Standard Grade): Empowers itself with unwavering resolve, greatly increasing combat power for a duration.

​[Nightveil Commander]

​Classification: Commander

​Race: Undead

​Grade: Common

​Potential: SSS Grade

​Description:

A master assassin who exists between darkness and reality. The Nightveil Commander specializes in infiltration, assassination, and eliminating high-value targets. Even among undead commanders, few are as feared as the silent killer hidden within the shadows.

​"The shadow you fear is not the one behind you—it is the one already holding your throat."

​Skills:

​[Shadow Step](Standard Grade): Instantly teleports between connected shadows within range.

​[Shadow Clones](Standard Grade): Creates six shadow copies capable of confusing and overwhelming opponents.

​[Absence](Standard Grade): Completely masks its presence for three seconds, rendering it undetectable through conventional means.

​[Soulpiercer Commander]

​Classification: Commander

​Race: Undead

​Grade: Common

​Potential: SSS Grade

​Description:

An undead marksman whose arrows strike beyond flesh and bone. The Soulpiercer Commander hunts the essence of its prey directly, making physical armor and conventional defenses nearly meaningless. Every soul it harvests strengthens its arsenal.

​"The body may survive the arrow. The soul rarely does."

​Skills:

​[Soul Pierce](Standard Grade): Fires specialized attacks that bypass physical armor to directly damage the target’s soul.

​[Soul Arrows](Standard Grade): Converts the souls of slain enemies into spectral arrows that inherit a portion of the victim’s strength.

​[Soul Gaze](Standard Grade): Perceives souls directly, allowing it to identify hidden enemies, structural weaknesses, and spiritual abnormalities.

Cassian stared at his four new Commanders.

​Compared to the Deathmark Commander, they were undeniably superior in raw baseline power.

After all, the Deathmark Commander was only an S-Grade Commander, whereas these four were all SSS-Grade Commanders.

​Yet as Cassian examined their panels more closely, he noticed something peculiar.

​The Deathmark Commander possessed only a single skill, while the four newly synthesized commanders each possessed three.

However, the Deathmark Commander’s lone ability wasn’t a Standard-Grade Skill, it was an Advanced-Grade Skill.

​Skills within the Lord’s Domain were categorized into four distinct tiers:

​Standard

​Advanced

​Ultimate

​Transcendent

​A Standard Skill was the foundation, the baseline expression of a specialized ability.

It was potent compared to ordinary combat techniques, but still remained within conventional limits.

​An Advanced Skill was entirely different. It transcended standard limitations, allowing a summon to execute feats that appeared supernatural even among battlefield elites.

​As for Ultimate Skills, those represented the absolute peak of what a mortal existence could achieve.

Every movement carried crushing force, every activation functioned as a lethal finishing blow, and every technique embodied centuries of martial refinement condensed into a single instant.

​Then came the final tier: Transcendent.

​A Transcendent Skill bypassed mortal boundaries entirely, a power that no longer conformed to spatial logic, capable of altering reality itself.

​Simply put: Standard was power, Advanced was superiority, Ultimate was perfection, and Transcendent was godhood.

​Normally, skills evolved through those tiers gradually alongside a summon’s growth.

A Standard Skill would advance to an Advanced Skill upon reaching the Elite Rank, evolve into an Ultimate Skill at the Legendary Rank, and finally blossom into a Transcendent Skill upon ascending to the Eternal Rank.

​That was the natural law of progression.

​The Deathmark Commander, however, completely broke those rules. As a mere Common-Grade summon, it already wielded an Advanced Skill.

In fact, the very reason it had forced its own ascension into the Commander Class in the first place was due to that hyper-evolved technique.

​Its skill quality had effectively skipped an entire evolutionary stage.

​Which raised a fascinating tactical question: what would happen once the Deathmark Commander reached the Elite Rank?

​Would the skill remain at Advanced Grade... or would it continue its premature evolution and mutate into an Ultimate Skill?

​Cassian rubbed his chin thoughtfully. The more he analyzed the mechanics, the more plausible it became.

After all, if a summon manifested a skill far beyond its current rank, there was zero reason it couldn’t continue benefiting from future rank evolutions.

​His gaze shifted toward the four SSS-Grade Commanders, then toward the Death Speakers, and finally over the Death Chanters.

​An ambitious, dangerous thought resurfaced in his mind.

​Every single one of those units possessed multiple Standard-Grade Skills, three, sometimes four.

​What would happen if he fused them?