When I woke up the next day, Mandro greeted me with a strong bitter potion and a few fragments of various small souls. I absorbed them all and after sipping the potion, without lingering I began to meditate to replenish my mana reserves. The surrounding corpse energies also flowed into me, aiding my actions.

At that moment I felt something different. The speed at which I absorbed the mana had increased significantly. As well as the capacity of my core.

"Haha, you finally felt the change," my instructor said. "Your core has at least double the capacity it had before. Congratulations Meridin, you've just reached new heights in your mana cultivation!"

"Thank you so much for your help." I replied in a voice filled with respect and hurried to bow low to my instructor.

"Haha, there was no need. You're very formal Meridin. Just doing my job. Just doing my job."

So, driven by the need to fill my new core with mana, I indulged in meditation and, guided by Mandor's instructions, spent three whole days and three nights in almost continuous meditation.

Even when I rested, Mandro would not let me eat, drink water, or sleep. It was terrible. But something happened to me.

The necrotic energies of this place merged better and better with my body and I spent time watching the spiral of necrotic energy. It was constantly swirling around my core, occasionally touching it and losing some of its energy.

"This is the beginning of your next development on the path of mana cultivation," the teacher instructed me. "For an ordinary mana manipulator, this spiral would have been made of pure mana, and would be much more difficult to form. You, however, as a necromancer, have an extra reservoir of energy."

As you already know, for the time being this spiral just slowly converts your necrotic energy into pure mana, and puts it directly into your core, greatly aiding your mana cultivation.

When a regular mana manipulator builds up its spiral, it ends up just moving on to the next stage of its development. You, however, will need to change the nature of your mana essence first and then break this temporary construct around your core and rebuild it with your changed mana.

I recommend you delay this process as much as possible so that your mana can change significantly before then. That way your necromancer abilities will be much stronger.

Don't worry for now. As long as you humans are in the initial levels of the towers, I and the other instructors will always try to guide you at each stage of your development so that each may proceed most optimally on their own personal path.

"But let's not waste time," my instructor continued. "You only have a few days left and you have a lot to learn."

And indeed he was right. Over the remaining days, Mandro showed me how to use my meager reserves of necrotic energy in battle.

I learned a few different curses that I could send against my opponents, as well as a simple attack spell that was currently weaker than a randomly thrown rock, but that would help me practice and grow my skills.

According to Mandro, I could have learned to work with the bodies of the dead in those three weeks, but given my small reservoir and the cruelty of the towers world, it just didn't make sense for now.

It was far better to use my new skills to improve my existing mana cultivation and develop my body.

Mandro informed me that there was a special shop that I could use in this place. After looking it over, I picked out a few items:

- A set of tools related to my future necrotic experiments and pursuits.

- Ten flasks of poison, extremely strong against undead creatures.

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- And most importantly, Vilmar Ethrich's book.

Mandro mentioned this book several times in his lessons, so I decided not to spare my currency units but to invest in more knowledge and thus improve my future potential.

"In this book you will find the description of the dead planes of existence and the endless graveyard worlds in our plane. Get to know the theory. You are also a summoner. In the book you can even find instructions on how to open micro portals to these worlds to tap into their aura and how to research and use them. But you have to be extremely careful and strictly follow the instructions. The dangers are enormous!"

When my time was finally up, I bid a warm farewell to my instructor who had made a strong impression on me and who had helped me transform and refine my body and inner core. The world spun around me and I found myself back in the Elven stronghold.

****

I looked around and saw the orcs had their troops at the ready. A huge amount of orc troops had died the day before, but the defenders had paid a heavy price for it as well. I was eager for another battle and hungrily anticipated the delicious souls I could devour. I knew I had an important task ahead of me. To absorb 100 little souls or their equivalent.

However, the orcs did not attack the fort throughout the entire day. We stood by while Elven craftsmen and wizards repaired and strengthened the walls.

Later in the evening, Agradella informed me that according to elven intelligence, the orcs would most likely not attempt to attack the walls because of the large number of casualties they had given the previous day. The elven war council suggested that the orcs were waiting for fresh reinforcements.

"Meridin," the young elf turned to me. "Our troops are exhausted from the many wars of the past decades. The orcs are growing stronger and more numerous. One by one, our allies on the island are losing their forces and territories. Our armies are now busy defending our borders in all three directions. Only one direction is secure, protected by the vast ocean. Furthermore, every settlement, major city, and naturally - our capital city also needs permanent garrisons, making it harder to mobilize more troops for the frontlines."

While explaining all this, Agradella showed me the map of the island, the different borders and the lands of the orcs.

"I want to know if your people can help us in this fight? You will be handsomely rewarded."

I looked thoughtfully around at the Orc troops being formed up, and then at the map in front of me. Then I thought about the sheer number of non-combat occupations among the humans. "Who the hell chooses to continue in a strange game of life and death and then becomes a cook, musician, and so on?" However, we had a pretty serious number of mages and fighters. If somehow we put them behind these walls.... but no. Even if I somehow managed to convince a large number of mages to go on a several day journey to fight in an uncertain war, for an uncertain reward, thus abandoning the defense of the human base and the hunting of zombies and orcs. There was simply no way!”

"I don't think we can afford to help at this point," I replied. "The orcs are also attacking our position and we are busy building walls and fortifications."

"But if you help us defeat them here, it will give us the opportunity to take the battle to the Orcs territories!" Objected Agradela vehemently.

I smiled for a moment.

"I think my people will soon take the battle to the orc lands themselves, one way or another," I pointed out. "Wasn't I in the orc lands? Did I not destroy their camp?"

Agradela looked at me and sighed.

"I wish I could find powerful new allies to help us with a massive war force and help save many lives."

"But here we are. Perhaps you would do well to open a trade and diplomatic channel with my people. I can show you where we are on the map and help introduce you to our leaders."

"Really? I shall be very grateful to you!"

"Really, really," I laughed too. "But a certain reward on your part will help a good deal in that direction. "

"I'll see what I can do." said Agradela, and left the tower.

Two hours later, a group of elves escorted me to a large room where I met with several high-ranking elves. Agradela had told them my story, and my offer of potential cooperation and trade. Given that I had helped in the battle, as well as saved a group of elves, including three somewhat higher ranking individuals, the potential of this cooperation was highly estimated.

"How many mages do you have?" translated Agradela.

After some clarification, I was amazed to find out that by their standards, absolutely every single player, due to the fact that you could use a mana at such a high level, was defined as a mage.

"We have a little more than 900 magic users. And that includes quite a number of craftsmen," I informed them.

My words made a strong impression on both Agradela and the other elves.

"That many? Your strength is high indeed."

"I fully agree," said I, unconsciously rubbing my hands together contentedly.

We negotiated for a while and finally I was sent to rest. The next morning I would return to the human camp.