Day 22

When I arrived, I ordered 702 to put the slaves in the storage room and take out the trunks. I will then rest in my room. The following days I finalize the modifications of my experience and prepare the ritual. Finally a month later everything is ready.

Day 54

For the occasion I unearthed a new perfectly circular room with a diameter of 20 meters. The ground is covered with more and more concentrated runes as they approach the center, all around the perimeter of large mana crystals are arranged and in the center 5 pillars topped with various ingredients surround a shorter empty pillar. I enter the room alone with several flasks that I pour into the runes and cups arranged in the network.

I sigh in satisfaction and calm down for several seconds before extending my hands and breathing in my mana, within seconds I'm exhausted but the circle is already glowing and the crystals are starting to melt. I collect several potions that I drink to regain my mana and watch the mana circuits soak up all the ingredients and flow to the central pillar. There is a ball of condensed mana and ingredient forms. I then drink a special potion before going into meditation and leaving my body in spirit form. A clear link always connects me to my forehead. That's when a matte black circle lights up beneath me and slowly erodes that bond.

I have little time to integrate the forming nucleus, my soul must return before it is fully formed so that I can fully integrate into it. Finally the link is cut and I feel a sharp pain like a needle which gradually disappears with my senses. I see myself starting to disappear more and more and rush towards the mana ball. When I enter the circle of the 5 pillars they shine and quickly form bars to imprison my soul.

At that moment, I feel my soul burn and then melt. The pain terrifies me and briefly makes me believe in failure until I lose all of my senses other than touch including pain. I feel myself sliding into the center and being mixed with the other ingredients.

Several times later, I feel myself harden, I think that there are no more mana crystals and that the transformation is coming to an end. Finally after a long time that I could not define, I gradually found my senses. I look around, but without eyes I can only feel ten centimeters. My mana stores are nearly empty, but I'm shocked to find that they're still ten times the size I had before. I was the greatest enchanting alchemist of my time! I was one of the 5 humans with the greatest reserve. Only large demons or dragons could match me currently. An indistinguishable smile can be seen and I marvel at my future possibilities.

I can feel my mana inside my body, my core is dark blue with black and purple veins and several touches of silver. I push my mana out to hear my outer domain, and the limit gives way easily. I gradually encompass the five pillars then the outer circle, my old body, and finally the walls. I try to push again but the resistance is several times greater to penetrate the stone than the air. I look at my body then, it is sitting but bleeding from all these holes. It's probably due to my soul leaving her. I want to test my abilities to see what I can do. I start by trying to absorb stone, after several tries I notice that it is first necessary to saturate the object of my mana before being able to integrate it. I end up absorbing a pillar and I feel the knowledge integrating into me.

I rejoice by recreating granite in different shapes, just as I wanted. I then move on to my body much easier than stone but slower than air to saturate. By absorbing it, I understand the anatomy of my body, and recover mana but when I try to recreate it, the body crumbles. At first I don't understand, then the evidence strikes me, there is no soul. Maybe if I put a soul into the body I could recreate humans. But why dungeons never did. Maybe this and I don't know it but I don't think so, souls are not easy to separate from a body or to recover on death because they disappear quickly. I was able to do it thanks to my research in necromancy but these subjects are generally taboo therefore not very developed. Dungeons have no personalities and are unlikely to find out. But if I want to recreate humans and perfect homunculi I have to find a way to create or store souls. Low level monsters don't have souls but I wonder if high level monsters do.

I would think about this in due course, for now I am trying to absorb my dresses. I notice that I have to spend more mana to saturate it probably because of the enchantments performed on it. By absorbing them the knowledge of enchantments reaches me, I already master them but I feel that I could do them much more easily and quickly than before.

I then stretch out through the hallway and in all the rooms, I can't claim the outside of the cave, I feel my mana flee if I push it more and I can't hold it to claim the cave. outside in my area.

Finding 702 and the slaves, I realize that I don't know how to contact or order them. I think the homunculus would be simpler, he has a piece of soul but incomplete so I'm trying to take control of it. Dungeons have absolute control over their monsters, but I don't know how. I try to saturate him with my mana but something resists and I feel 702 stirred, he must have noticed something.

I'm starting to run out of mana so I'm stopping for now. I cannot absorb an item to replenish it because saturating them consumes more than what I gain by absorbing them. I then look at what I have and notice several small manastones in a chest, the last I have left. Manastones are an unclean form of mana crystal, both collect mana but crystals can be recharged and are translucent, unlike manastones which are dull and dull, when used they crumble and turn into sands. As a source of mana maybe they will be easier to saturate.

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Indeed, there is no resistance and absorbing them gives me a little mana so I do it for all. I have recovered some mana but cannot continue to depend on mana stones so I am trying to see if I have passive recovery.

My control over mana has increased dramatically, I can now clearly see and manipulate it. Small numbers of mana particles escape from the ground and remain suspended in the air. Once there is enough of it, it forms currents that move closer to my heart before I can absorb them. The currents seem random and even chaotic in some places.

With my knowledge in enchantment I try to direct this flow so that it is more regular and I gradually eliminate the chaotic knots. I feel a slight increase in my recovery. Mages usually recover passively but if they want to gain any benefits they take mana potions or meditate. I think that by welcoming living beings I will receive more mana.

So I go into meditation to recover for several hours, and I wake up when my reserves are sufficient.

Day 55

I then observe 702 and the slaves. The slaves start to get restless because they have been locked for a month in a room with a weird being. I try again to take control of 702, and this time with a lot more mana I manage to penetrate superficially but the Soul piece seems to resist, I then manipulate my mana so that it forms into tentacles penetrating from it. inside. There is a strong resistance and 702 begins to convulse on the ground. Then the resistance gives way and I start to corrupt his soul, finally I quickly take control.

I ask him to come into the laboratory and bring one of the slaves with him, once inside I tell him to kill him. The slaves attempt to defend themselves but 702 grudges him from behind and does a quick job. I feel a sudden surge of mana and I watch a soul escape from the body, I try to retrieve it. She seems to disappear quickly and is attracted to something. When I try to recover it, it resists and the disappearance accelerates. I then send a powerful wave of mana to hold her back. And I'm getting there, but I don't know where to store it. I then lock him in a sphere of pure mana, but that can only be a temporary measure. The soul is not complete but it is much more important than that of 702. I think that the soul protects the body from my intrusions and that I have to become more powerful to corrupt them effectively. I then absorb the body which gives me new mana and some knowledge. I push back the personality and the memories but they are not complete.

The soul seems to collect all the information and imprint it in the body. I am examining 702, it is really ugly and I wonder if I could modify it, so I ask him to sciuscide. Which he does without hesitation. I let the soul fragment go because it is too weak and I absorb its body. I already know how to make a homunculus, but I now know every corner of its body and its ideal functioning. I can make it reappear but it won't change any of these weaknesses. All monsters have a mana core which serves as their energy reserve, mages have the same. So I decide to start with this.

So I compress mana by forming simplified circuits present in my heart. I then train the body from there, the amount of mana needed for this is huge. I feel flesh and bones forming and shaping it into human form. It is not easy and exhausting but I manage to form a body with 4 limbs. I name it 703 and it is much stronger than the previous one, it also looks more like a human with two legs, two arms, a slightly sickly pale white skin and a head without any real distinguishing feature with short black hair. I didn't give him sex to make it easier and because he wouldn't need it. Its creation cost me a lot of mana but I can now recreate it for a fraction of it.

As my body does not move so I try to infuse it with the soul that I have recovered. I don't really master this part yet and I think there is still a part of the memories and the personality of the slave. I impose absolute loyalty on him to make sure he won't betray me. He finally wakes up and his eyes are empty, emotionless. I wonder if I succeeded.

“Hello Creator” a monotonous voice emerges from the room.

It seems so, I still cannot transmit the voice but I can speak to him through the bond of his obedience. And I ask him to bring a soul crystal from the reserve and another slave. He bows and returns several moments later.

The slave seems suspicious. I guide 703 to form a circle of runes and place the soul crystal on one side with the slave in the middle, several ingredients are laid out to complete the ritual. He looks rather terrified. 703 kills him and this time I react faster and press the soul towards the crystal. The crystal seems to attract him and contain him.

I absorb the corpse and create 704 identical to 703. I decide to manipulate the soul more by trying to select only what I want. There are several layers in the soul, with outside information about the body, then memories, then the ability or power are the skills used daily, the fourth layer is the personality, finally there is a core but i don't know what knows. The first is easy to delete but the following ones are more complex and I can only partially erode the memories. I ended up giving up for lack of knowledge and the means to perfect the method.

I then put the soul back into 704's body, some of it seems to go away and I think that's the third skill layer. He wakes up and is more alert than 704, he also greets me and he takes possession of the body faster, he also seems smarter. I ask them to bring back another slave but when they enter the room, they revolt and try to kill my servants. If there had been only 703 they probably would have succeeded but with 704 the first is killed and the second seriously injured. I notice that I cannot absorb the corpse while the living slave is near so I ask my minions to start the ritual again with the injured slave.

Examining his soul I notice that the outer layer is injured in the same way as the body of the slaves. I create a new minion, 705, my Soul Handling has improved, and I appoint him as Team Leader. I give them clothes and order them to go and look for whatever they can find outside the cave. They will first look for weapons before going out. I can see a few meters outside, but no more.

They take the cart and disappear from my vision. Dungeon monsters can exit but rarely do, dungeon influence wears off slowly once outside and the greater the distance the harder it is to maintain control over the monsters.

During this time, I planned to absorb everything and rebuild the cave for a first line of defense. Designing the new homunculus cost me dearly in mana, and soul manipulation too. I have to recover some so I started my meditation while waiting for their return.