Help with Lich Ascendancy -- Souless Form

Am a casual, not blasting through campaign. I am just using chaos damage, not minion build. Do I not assign any points after beating the first trial? The left side seems to be for minion builds, and Soulless form looks like a penalty node without Eternal Life. Am I misunderstanding it? Nothing takes that much mana, especially at the cost of taking extra damage.