Six hours passed in the blink of an eye, and another person woke up from their slumber.

Hearing the grunting coming from the door, Kirk opened it.

His sight soon fell upon a young man who appeared to be just under the age of 18. The young man was handsome, with short brown hair and almond-shaped amber eyes. A short stubble covered his face, while his muscular frame was obvious, as he was left with only his underwear.

The young man glanced at Kirk with boundless killing intent and rage, as his expression was ugly.

"Who are you bastards? What have you done to me? Where is my family?!"

He shouted, his brain only filled with wrath.

Kirk glanced at Tyler, waiting for what to do next.

"Just close the door and wait for the little girl to wake up. The paralysis poison the lord used is extremely potent since these brats and their mother aren't normal kids. The little girl should wake up in a couple of hours."

Said Tyler while licking his lips in anticipation.

Homer nodded and signaled to Kirk to close the door.

The young man was still shouting, not accepting his situation, as the door closed in his face without remorse.

At this moment, William opened his eyes, his gaze cold, as a mischievous smile formed on his lips.

"It seems that Adam woke up. Let the second phase of the plan commence."

He muttered, squinting his eyes.

At the moment, he had just advanced into a tier one apprentice mage, enlarging his mana channels and creating the first steps for core formation.

If others knew his advancement speed, they would be shocked and utterly speechless since it required an incredible talent and a significant amount of knowledge and resources to reach this stage quickly.

Apprentice stage mages had three levels divided by their refinement degree.

Extending his index finger, William injected mana into his fingertip. He began etching a magic circle on the floor since his mana was still insufficient to create an actual spell in the air.

Usually, spells were done with one's mind and mana; however, he had to cheat the system a bit since he was weak.

"Apprentice tier spell: Sound replicate."

He muttered as the magic circle shone in a purple light, dissipating and reappearing close to his ears. The engraved symbols remained in the ground, an obvious flaw in his plan.

Closing his eyes, he focused on sensing the mana leech, a small amount of blood leaking from his lips.

At that moment, the 'mana leech' on Kirk's head glowed for a split second before extinguishing, a small magic circle replacing it.

William opened his eyes and coughed a mouthful of blood on the floor.

He raised his head and wiped the blood with his fingers, his gaze not changing in the least.

'Step two of the plan is complete.'

Looking at the blood he had just expelled from his body, he frowned.

'This is still too taxing for me since this body is still too weak even though it's just an apprentice rank spell.'

He had to increase his strength to at least the third rank to deal with the situation.

Glancing at the small puddle of blood he had just created, he furrowed his brows, an idea sprouting in his head.

Smearing his finger with blood, he began inscribing a magic circle on his body, covering himself in symbols.

After an arduous hour of painstakingly creating the circle, William grit his teeth and began channeling mana from his body, initiating the spell.

He didn't need to chant to activate the spell since everything was already written on it, unlike other spells that required a complex set of hexes. The spell glowed in an eerie red light, making the blood dripping from his body stand out even more.

Soon, insurmountable pain struck him like lightning. The magic circle he had inscribed etched itself into his skin and caused him almost to faint.

He kept himself awake with sheer willpower, knowing everything would be over if he failed here.

Beads of sweat formed on his forehead as he channeled mana into the intricate magic circle etched on his skin.

As the spell took effect, William felt a surge of power coursing through him, rejuvenating his tired muscles and sharpening his senses.

With each passing moment, he could feel himself growing stronger, his body adapting to the newfound energy coursing within him. It was as if his body's time had accelerated quickly.

After an eternity, the pain began to subside, replaced by a sense of euphoria as William realized that his plan had succeeded.

'I must be fucking insane to sacrifice my lifespan like that."

William couldn't help but curse his stupidity, but he had no other option. He had forcefully upgraded his mana capacity and channels to that of a third-rank apprentice.

This process would've customarily taken him two to three weeks, but he sacrificed a few years of his lifespan to accelerate time around him.

It was a method he had only theorized while studying dimensional travel. Putting it into action in this situation was extremely risky, but he could change his fate thanks to it.

Thankfully, this wouldn't harm his foundation since he knew how to concoct potions that would increase his lost lifespan with ease, and the spell didn't leave a mark on his body, despite the agonizing pain.

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William couldn't help but grin, his green eyes glowing with a hint of rage.

After reaching third rank apprentice, William was strong enough to deal with the situation.

They weren't even iron-grade adventurers; what could they do against a third-stage apprentice mage who rivaled a bronze-rank adventurer in power?

Using the spell he had cast earlier, 'Sound Replicate,' William could eavesdrop on their conversation, reading when they were about to act.

After recovering his energy for a few hours, William began his third step of the plan. Extending his index finger, he began inscribing a magic circle on the cellar door, covering it entirely.

Since William was mainly well versed in sound-based spells due to his background, his main arsenal of combat spells consisted of sound-based magic.

He had dabbled into other types of magic in his last ten years while creating the dimensional device, but he still couldn't consider himself anything other than a sound mage.

After ten minutes of concentrated inscribing, William smiled, wiping the sweat covering his brow.

He had completed the magic circle as he opened his mouth to chant.

Unlike his peak form, he couldn't use his soul power to inscribe the magic circle directly. He needed to draw it first and then chant the spell.

“[First tier spell: Whisper of the damned]”

The magic circle lit up, its light covering the room in purple.

William once more coughed up blood, clutching his head at the backlash of his mana being drained by almost half. However, he still maintained consciousness and started physical recovery instantly, preparing for what he was about to do next. Sadly, his lost mana couldn't be recuperated due to the backlash of the forbidden spell.

'Coughing this much blood will surely make me anemic.'

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The trio outside noticed something amiss in the basement, hearing a loud noise, so they headed down.

Noticing the noise from William's cell, they approached with vigilance.

Homer used his aspect, making his skin hard as stone, while Kirk covered his hands with rocks by shoving them into the ground. On the other hand, Tyler didn't have any attacking skills, so he stood on the back line, looking for any changes.

A white mist started flowing from William's cell, slowly covering everything and obscuring their vision.

They frowned, not knowing what was going on.

Kirk rushed forward, trying to reach the gate, but to no avail. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't even find a wall, as if they were stuck inside an endless mist.

After five minutes of fruitless wandering, he tried returning to the others but couldn't find his way back.

"What is going on? What is this? Homer!? Tyler?!"

He shouted in horror, not knowing what to do in this situation as he rushed all over the place, trying to find his companions.

Homer and Tyler looked around on the other side, slowly advancing together.

"I think Kirk has lost his way, we can't find his silhouette in the mist, or even hear him."

Said Tyler, a solemn expression on his face.

It was the first time he had heard of a situation like this. A shadow rushed towards them when he was about to tell Homer to be careful and not split from him.

Their vigilance rose to the next level, Homer's skin hardening even more, causing cracks to cover his whole body, while Tyler pulled out a small dagger.

In that instant, the shadow's appearance was visible.

It was Kirk, but something about him was different.

The right side of his skull had caved in, and blood rushed from his eyes, ears, and mouth. A horrible grunting sound came from his whole body, as his ribs were exposed and his guts hung loosely from his waist.

When they saw his appearance, the two were stunned, horror showering their faces. Cold sweat covered their backs as their hair stood on end.

Homer gritted his teeth, eyes bloodshot, while Tyler shivered as he hid behind him.

"I'm sorry, Kirk."

Muttered Homer as he clenched his fist and rushed forward, spikes appearing on his whole body.

He shot out a punch, hitting Kirk in the head and knocking it over, blood gushing out like a fountain.

Kirk's body fell on the floor with a thud as it convulsed, a pool of blood covering the floor.

Sighing deeply, Homer glanced at Tyler, who was shivering in fear and disdainfully said.

"Get your shit together. Let us first find our assailant. If Kirk became an undead, then that means the assailant is either a necromancer or a darkness user. Be on high alert."

Tyler nodded, trying to calm his beating heart, and headed toward Kirk's corpse.

He activated his gold hoarder skill and scanned his body for anything valuable.

Looking at this scene, Veins popped on Homer's forehead as he scolded.

"Are you seriously going to rob even our comrade? You fucking scum! Just focus on not dying and stop with your greed."

Tyler jumped when he heard him shouting, but he didn't stop checking the body, coming to a halt only a few seconds later.

He glanced at Homer's angry expression and said.

"Homer, we have a problem. Everything on his body is worthless…"

Homer's expression turned strange as he asked.

"What's the problem with that? We are wearing the cheapest type of equipment and the treasures of those brats are upstairs."

Tyler shook his head.

"No, you don't understand, his whole body is worth nothing, not even a copper coin. This means that this Kirk isn't real."

He said, a somber expression appearing on his long face.

"This… but I felt the damage on my hand, even the blood is covering us as we speak… How could he possibly be a fake?!"

Shouted Homer in disbelief.

When Tyler was about to explain to him, two more shadows appeared in the mist, heading towards them.

Tyler's expression became horrified once more, while Homer became even more angry.

After a few more seconds, the figures became visible, shocking them.

It was Kirk again, or rather, Kirks.

The two had different types of wounds in their body, separate from the previous Kirk that had appeared.

"Quickly take these monsters down!"

Shouted Tyler, fear holding him by the collar.

Homer didn't say much as he lunged toward the undead; his fist was ruthless as it hammered them to the ground.

This time, he didn't need more than two hits to deal with the undead, but his expression had become worse when Tyler inspected the bodies once again.

"Just what kind of horrible nightmare is this…"

He muttered as fear gripped his heart.

----------------------------------------

Somewhere within the mist, a figure fought four shadows with agitated movement.

Although his movement was slow, his fist hit incredibly hard, causing even the ground to shake.

After a few seconds, he finally dealt with all four as he panted heavily.

He fell on his knees, glancing at the four corpses.

The corpses had different damages, but they had something in common. Two of them were copies.

It was the copies of Homer and Tyler.

The man who fought these abominations was Kirk, as his face was ashen.

Unlike Tyler and Homer, who had somehow figured out that the corpses were fake, he was having a horrible nightmare, as his companions had turned into horrific monsters that continually came to kill him.

He was having a complete mental breakdown, as his face was stricken with undisguised horror.

----------------------------------------

Inside an endless mist, two figures relentlessly fought against a horde of undead, their gazes resolute, yet at the same time exhausted beyond their limit.

They had no idea how long they had been in this mist, but it felt like an eternity to them.

The undead that kept attacking them were all copies of one man, his damage varying from undead to undead.

A tall and bulky figure rushed forward, his hand resembling a mace, as he ruthlessly minced the undead before him.

His gaze was cold, as the countless corpses surrounding his body signified the massacre he had caused.

Behind him, a tall, skinny figure stabbed any incoming undead with fervor.

The two were covered with countless scratches and bite marks, but the light in their eyes hadn't dimmed.

These two were Homer and Tyler, who had fought hundreds of undead Kirks so far.

They had noticed that each time they killed the kirks, another wave of them would appear around five minutes later, and the numbers doubled.

However, they had already killed over a dozen of them by the time they noticed.

Tyler, who was so horrified and scared, had become a ruthless killer after a few close calls to death.

Although they had some growth when it came to fighting, they were beyond exhausted and would fall to the hoard at any moment at this rate.

Homer had used his aspect beyond his limits, to the point that cracks had formed on his skin, and blood oozed out of them.

Tyler had a weak physique and could not hold on for much longer.

On the other side, Kirk was fighting against a horde twice the size the others were fighting, and he used his earth shaker aspect to kill them with bloodshot eyes.

It was evident by this fact alone that Kirk was the strongest of the trio, but he lacked the intelligence to understand his situation. All he could do was kill, so he did.

Unlike the others, he used the earth on his feat to slowly recover, stunning the undead by shaking the ground. This allowed him time to recover, but he still looked terrible.

The wounds on his body were horrifying, as he constantly bled. With this rate of bleeding, he would die of blood loss in less than twenty minutes.