As our professor rose from the sarcophagus, I felt his presence with every sense I had, the urge to eat him nearly overwhelming, as I felt just how much necros had accumulated in his body, the unprocessed power from yesterday eating at my flesh.

“Welcome to your first class in the art of necromancy, the Arcana of death, decay, and everything else end related. Before we start properly, I want you to understand that zombies are high tier magic, and more often than not need a vast variety of runes to just exist, most necromancy is simply snuffing out the lives of your enemies. This lecture will teach you to kill, and that’s the essence of everything you have to know to advance to the fifth tier. Everyone here is inevitable, your actions will have consequences that will be hard or impossible to turn back. I want each and every one of you to understand that high level necromancy is the art of ending something, without a chance of return. Now that that is out of the way, there are four basic varieties to our spells.” He smiled, the way he did it sending shivers down my spine.

“First, mass slaughter. At your tier, you can probably disinfect yourself and destroy a rodent nest, these are spells that instantly wipe out a large population. Number two are curses, infection related spells that will slowly weaken anything in their path, though they can spread from time to time. Most infect related spells are simply offensive disinfection spells, destroying your enemies natural resistance against one type of disease. They are viscous, disgusting and fun to use on people you do not like. I recommend holding back though, this school is quite strict on permanent death and almost all forms of curses and diseases.” A stern gaze made all of us focus, knowing that this was important for him.

“Number three, we have manipulation spells, they primarily come when combined with null runes, and more often than not, they are how necromancers fight. Control corpse and control specter are easy spells, once they are achieved, you simply control the equivalent to a zombie, though you will have to reinstate the spell every six seconds, which makes most zombies move in ways that look sick in the best of times. The last variety is extermination. Much earlier than other magics, we can tell others to die, and we are the only magic that can destroy souls. They are among the highest spells you will learn with me, but I will also teach you how to properly absorb soul force, not using soul parasites as some do, or the potions others use to make sure their child can absorb souls, I will teach you how to do it, and you may use that knowledge to advance yourself in your own time. It is not to be considered an unfair advantage, because where other schools only need three runes to advance each tier, our power grows exponentially for every null rune we have.” He looked at a corpse, grinning as he ordered two of us to get it to him.

“Vitus mages would cast imbue life or something, which is among the most powerful of their tier zero spells, the pinnacle of necros, is the death rune, and the most important rune for any necromancer in regard to null, is the overwrite rune.” He smiled, knowing that probably nearly none had the second rune, his eyes fixing on me as I tried to use it, only for him to dispel my magic immediately.

“Our goal is for each of you to be capable of casting ‘Overwrite death’ If you get access to the overwrite rune, be careful with it, it requires absolute control, as it meddles with the universes laws, and if you are not strong enough, you will get a simple message, a security measure implemented by the system to keep our brains from melting the moment we use this.” He wrote something on his interface, before projecting it to each of us.

Administration access to low to use spell: Overwrite death.

“It’s a message I haven’t received in a long time, and ever since I became the ambassador between the realm of necros and our world, I can use almost every death related spell. For anyone that wants to serve the titans, power is going to come easy, as they can simply impart a rune into your mind.”

It was like an army recruiter telling his students about the scholarship without mentioning the high death rate.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“This spell is going to directly give you any knowledge related to the targets corpse. If they are alive, you can simply toggle death on, it’s that simple, and at a touch, they will crumble to the floor. Different from that, you can also use this spell to toggle any wild growing cells to stop, or for any dead cells to be alive again, though the entire status is written in runes, so not everything will be for you to read.”

We all nodded, curious what he intended to do next.

“Now, I can overwrite this guys death, and instead push him to be alive.” his hand brushed the corpse shortly, before the barely preserved figure stood up again.

“His brain is mush, and he is going to require direct orders, and most importantly, I only have six seconds to enforce the change, After this type of spell is used, the world will feel harder on you, your body will become sluggish as reality itself tires to correct your deeds and put him back to death. If you keep this up for a week, he will regain system access, an updated sheet that will call him a zombie. Like I said, it's the pinnacle of mortal necromancy, and the goal of everyone who considers necros a worthwhile use of their time. Tell me, which of you knows a mass murder spell?”

All of us put our hands up, the professor nodding, probably expecting that much from each of us.

“How about curses?” He asked, and everyone still had their hands up, both of these spell types easily acquired by anyone with access to first and second tier runes.

“Who can use control spells?” He asked, and still, most hands were up, only two people incapable of them, probably not using null runes all that often.

“And who can kill someone with a first tier spell reliably, a single touch of death?”

I was the only one still holding my hands up, the spells coming to my mind all of the second or third tier.

“With only necros and null runes, preferably of tier zero.” Thus, I let my hand falter, knowing I could not stand up to his requirements.

“This is what I will teach you, and what I expect you to learn. You will command death, decide who lives and who doesn’t. Maybe you will be adventurous, maybe you will simply be executioners, but once you are done with this class, no one will oppose you and survive doing so. Class dismissed.”

Slowly, we began filing out, most having already left as I looked at the newly created undead, grinning as I cast ‘overwrite control’ on it, the spell simple, and the runes were quite complex, but most importantly, I saw a vast network of things that held control over this undead, and what it had control over, millions of lines condensing to one as I suddenly saw a line of text that fit my expectation.

Corpse controlled b̶̛̩̯̘͈͖̜̪͖̗̯̰͍̞̙̞̝͖̙̳͖̝̳̗͍̠̈́͋̽̇͊̓̋͑́̎̈́̂̌̿̄̋̎̿͋̓͆̏͂̚͘̚͝͝͠ͅy̴̛̺̱͉̗̤̣̑̄̈́͒̅̎̽̃̾̀͐̓͊͗̅̈́̚͝ ̴̢̡̨̡̛̳͔̱̠̺̠̺͔̤̱͖̥̟̥͓͔̳̜̰͕͕̗͕̲͙̫͈̈͛̏̍͂͌̍̓̓͘̕ͅJ̶̧̨̛̠̲̠̮̠̦̱̻̪͍̫̯͇̬̫̪̙̹̀͌̉̔̅̎͊̾̑̋̉͊̔̽͂̽͌̚͘̕̚͘͠͝͠ǫ̷̧̢̦͍̠͈̖̬̗̜̯̰͍̤̫̤̯̀̃̉̍̓̀̾̐̈̄̔͐̓͊̿͒͝͝h̵̢̧̡̧̬̪̻̺̥̬̟̻̜̘̠͔̦̮͔̘̙̠̹͍̟̦͔̀̉͌̂̏͊́̑̉̕͜͜͜͝ë̴̢̡̻͕̩́̏̇͛̎̾̆͆̀͂̉̏͆̚͜n̵̛̜̤͍̞̼͖̺͕̤̱̣̑̇͒̌̓́͐͌͗̌̓̐̀̄̈́̂̒̅̌́̐̓́̌̂͐̕͜͜͝ņ̴̩̞̥̥̟̱̖̳̦̳͎̩̺̀̎͘͜ ̴̧̡͈͓͈͔͚̂͒̒̚̚͜͝v̸̛̛͓̆̈́̈́͐̾͐̊̂̒̈́̆͐̑̌̔̿̉̑̔́̓́͗̈́͌̓̕͝͝͠ȧ̴̧͕̯͖͉̗̪̩̞͕̜̲̻͓̮͓̱͕̦͎͕̯̖̰͎́̈́͌̐̈́̆͐͘̚͜ǹ̴̡̨̢̢̡̛̛̛͎̬͍̼̹̳͍̼͈̖̖͚̳̙̬̣͖̞̦͕͍̹̦̥̭̒̍͒̆̽̒͊͆̓̀͂̓̇̈̋̌̅̾͘̚͜͠͠ ̸̧̜̣͓̭͉̂͊̏͆̐̏́͒̋͌͌͊̽̾̑Ḑ̴̨̨͎̬͙̲͇͓̼̻̮͉͎̱͉̦͖͉̪̪̹̗̩͙͍̝͎̠̒́̎̑̔͗̋́͋́͊͒́̓̀̽̒͌̿͐͊̈͂͂̚͜͝͠u̵̡̡̯̭̣̬̖͔̗̙͕̯̙̼̪̬͓̥̦̼̱̭͎̲̭̥̜̘̝͔͗̊̓͗̈́́͌͌̿͂̀͂͆̿̐̔̋̿̓̈́́͆̉̕ͅn̴̨̛̩̗͕͖̮͕͖̻̬͎̘̱̽͛̇̎́͒̔͗͂̑̃̏͘̚̚̚͜͝͠͝k̴͖͍̬͙̲͈̩̼͖̳̖͕̼͎̝̝̂è̶̢̢͙̺͙͍͇̖̦̞͔̦̟̝̒͋́́̏͆͑̎̌̎̀͆͘̕͠͠͝͝͠l̸̢̡̪̜̩̩͛̒͛̈̀͗͌͊̓̽̐̑̂̍̋͗̓͐̐͒̈͋̚͝b̵̨̛̖̗̞̳̿͒̂̐̅̓͛̕ͅȩ̴̧̡̱̪̗̭̙̹̩̠̲͓̩͓̹̪̪̥̜͚̘͓̭̞͕̞͉̝͙̟͑̀̔͒̍͑̌̀̓̾̄̚r̵̢̨̢̡̗̞̙̠͔͖̦̭̭͇͇̜̗̖̰̦̜̬͖͉̼̻̠͇̤͎̖̓̽̈́̀̾͐͛̓̈́̀̋̐̆͐̈́̂̔͐̔͑̐̆̀̊̌̎͝͠͝͝͠ͅǧ̶͊̓̎̏́̒̽̐̉̿̋͒̿̊̏͋͗͆̚̚̕͠͝ͅ

The last part was a name, a name I quickly noted down in my own interface, before deciding to delete this line, making the zombie stand as a mere part of the area, not reacting to his masters command for a few seconds.

I felt as if someone punched my gut immediately, the system trying to restrict what I was allowed to do with hundreds of warnings about meddling with it like that.

Then, I went to the library and decided upon my next goal.

“Why doesn’t my undying mutation advance?”

The process might take up to thirty hours, in which your body will be absolutely immovable. It is also recommended you take extreme safety measures, as this step will result in you or others near you getting hurt.

“So, I’ll better head to one of the ritual chambers then, huh?” I did that, telling the master of that place about my vital requirement to perform a ritual, and showing my slowly blackening skin as the reason why. The next three days were free to settle in, thus, I would get everything I needed tomorrow, and perform the ritual during that evening.

I was going to ascend, and I would be a tiny bit closer to immortality.