The body is suited to breaking itself apart in order to rebuild stronger. That was the entire principle behind exercise and training. It was natural. It was expected. It was something the Mind was suited to withstand and work through.
Magic, completely ignored all of that. It was similar to the body in that it could be exercised like a muscle. Pushed just a little past its limit in order to improve. Except, the pain felt from the muscle tearing was something the mind was suited to experience and temper. The pain from Mana Veins tearing was not. It was a soul retching pain that felt like your entire Being was getting ripped apart into a million little pieces.
Yet there was no physical result. For the last week, Aila had been forcing Mana into his Core, overloading it. Forcing it to compensate and grow. In his mind, Alaster was able to see micro cracks forming each time. After she overfilled it, just enough to not shatter, he was instructed to force it out as quickly as it could. Each time he did so, he could feel several of his Mana Veins burst.
After his Core was empty once again, the little Elf would use some sort of Spell to heal him, only to repeat the process again. It was grueling and exhausting work, yet he never moved from a seated position. His body was covered in sweat and his body ached, but he never moved.
She had asked him what Magic he wanted to learn first. He requested Necromancy. Yet even after a week, they had yet to actually approach using any sort of Magic, let alone Necromancy. But that ended today.
“Congrats! You have finished basic training!”
Alaster collapsed in the snow, chest heaving. By now, the snow was melting and only a foot remained. As he struggled to calm his breathing, he called up his Status.
[Class: Death Knight
Level: 37
EXP: 52%
Health: 1,065/1,065
Health Regeneration: 23/min
Mana: 1,015/1,015<1,125/1125
Mana Regeneration: 22/min<25/min
Abilities: Necrotic Bolt, Raise Undead, Bone Crafting, Mana Manipulation, Death Touch, Skeleton Creation, Meditation, Necrotic Heal, Dead Aura, Flesh Crafting, Raise Mage, Dead Bomb
Passives: Pain Tolerance, Blunt Resistance, Regeneration
Bonuses: Horde, Death Pact, Split Mind, Swap, Blood Price, Dead Embrace, Imbuement, Blood Aura, Fine Control, Dark Sight
Stats:
Strength: 172 Wisdom*: 228<250
Dexterity: 160 Intelligence*: 183<205
Constitution*: 193 Free Points: 0]
[Intelligence 200 Bonus Unlocked: Soul Seal]
[Intelligence 200 Bonus: Soul Seal
Level 1: 0%
Capture a soul that lingers after death]
“Oh! That's a neat Bonus!” Aila cheered, ever happy.
Alaster lifted his head slightly to look at her, “How do you know what I have? Richter knew as well. Is it a special ability?”
The little Elf visibly paled at the mention of the Knight, her eyes flicking about, as if expecting him to suddenly appear, but she answered.
“Not quite. It's very complicated to properly explain. Instead, just think of it like this. The difference in power between you and us is so drastic, your soul is like an open book. As the difference closes, it becomes more difficult to read.”
“So I should expect powerful Experts to be able to read my Status?”
“Experts?” She laughed, her light happy voice filling the clearing, “People like the Knight and I can read Experts clearly.”
Alaster sat up, his back soaked, “So then are you two legendary Masters?”
She levitated off the ground, hanging in the air like she was lounging on a couch, “No Al, unlike Novice, Adept, and Expert, the difference in power between the top of Experts and the very bottom of Masters, is drastic. The Knight and I, as well as the few others like us, are still somewhere between. If you could apply a number to how powerful someone was, wouldn’t that be nice, let's say Experts are numbered at 100. Masters are numbered 1000, at least. Using this example, people like me would number somewhere between 400 and 800.”
“Gods, so you could decimate an entire country?”
“Funny you would say that. Because if it wasn’t for the Demigods, yes, I could.”
“Demigods?” Alaster cocked his head in confusion, the term was something he knew, but only in children’s stories, never anything practical.
“Basically the Masters you were talking about. Arrogant bunch. I’ve met a few personally, and I gotta say, not someone to admire. Their power is awesome! But their personalities are lacking. However, you seem to have caught the attention of one.”
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“Me? What did I do?”
“No idea!” She flipped upside down while cross-legged, her long hair falling down, “He is the one who asked the Knight and I to teach you. Aren’t you lucky!”
She turned right side up again, her smile disappearing, “Be very careful of that attention, hun. From what I have seen, you are just a curiosity to him. A side project he doesn’t really care one way or another about. But if he decides it, he could eradicate you with just a sneeze.”
“So I’m guessing that he won’t help me rescue my sister?”
“No. And that's part of the rotten personality I mentioned. The Demigods are cruel. So long as it doesn’t affect the wellbeing of the entire world, they refuse to act. Not only that, but they have forbidden us to help you. Trust me, as much as the Knight frightens me, he is a good man. If he wasn’t forbidden from helping, he would have already stormed through until he found her. You have no idea how much that angers him. But they are simply too powerful to disobey.”
“Why does he frighten you so much? I mean, he is powerful and quite cruel with his methods, but you are just as strong.”
“Yes, I am. But they are two different types of power. And unfortunately for me, they oppose each other in his favor. Did he tell you about his [Magic Resistance]?”
“Yes.”
“That alone makes him a living nightmare to Mages like me. But even if that was somehow removed or disabled, his entire being seems to be created around killing mages. I can fight titan Monsters capable of crushing mountains beneath their feet, while he isn’t. But if there were a dozen of me, there is no doubt that he would still win. And against Mages, he doesn’t just kill them. He tortures them.”
“Why does he hate mages so much anyway? He told me part of his story, but that still doesn’t explain why he despises them so much.”
“That isn’t my story to tell. Just know that while I may not agree with it, I understand it. Now, enough of that. We have a limited amount of time, and we haven’t even begun the actual training!”
“Hold on a moment. You said my new Bonus was neat, what do you know about it?”
“Oh, it's actually pretty simple. It doesn’t just allow you to capture souls, but also manipulate them in other ways. Now onto your Necromancy. To put it simply, you went a weird direction with yours.”
“What do you mean?”
“For one, you custom create all of your Undead. That is costly, both in Mana, and in time.”
“What other ways are there?”
“Two ways, actually. So in total three, though no one really uses the way you used, at least not usually. First, and most known and common, is using corpses to raise the dead.”
“I do that.”
“No, you use bones to create the dead, big difference, my little pupal!” She giggled. Alaster found being called little by her weird, considering he was easily a head taller.
“They use the corpses to raise their minions. So without corpses, they have to resort to the second method. Which is just as mana intensive, if not more so, than your method. They simply summon their minions with Magic.”
“The entire minion?”
“Yep! In all its disgusting glory! The Undead raised in this fashion tend to be very weak comparatively. But they have the advantage that so long as the Mage doesn't run out of Mana, they have an unlimited supply, though they are still limited by how many they can have at any one time. The first method uses the dead as a medium, your method uses bones as a medium, but this third method uses no medium.”
“So which is better?”
She bounced up from her levitating seated position, “None of them!” She ‘sat’ back down, “They each have their own uses.”
A large blank poster board ‘popped’ into existence beside her, along with a marker that began to draw, even though she didn’t touch it. And as it drew, she explained.
“Using the dead is very powerful if there are plenty of dead around, but it is limited on the type of dead used. At higher levels, they Undead can even use the Abilities and Stats of the corpse raised. So it is very diverse, but if there are only weak dead around, then you will have weak minions. I knew a Necromancer who used this method. He aligned himself with a Kingdom and was able to assist his countrymen win their wars through numbers.”
The marker drew a tombstone with an arrow pointing to a crudely drawn zombie. The style honestly reminded Alaster of how his Sister drew, when she was four.
“Next, your method. You use bone, it doesn’t matter where the bone came from or how old it is. It is a very creative method that allows you to create Undead suited for your purpose. Very flexible, but it takes a lot of time. As I’m sure you’ve noticed.”
“Yeah. Though, I have an Evolution that allows me to blueprint the Undead, so my Second Mind can create them while I focus on something else.”
“Split Mind is one of the most powerful Bonuses you could have gotten, always keep it working. When it reaches Level ten, it will split again into a Third Mind, and again at Level twenty, and so on. But that's beside the point right now.”
She shook herself before speaking.
“Right now, you are only using bone. But the method actually allows a much more diverse use of material. You have [Flesh Crafting], why aren’t you using it? I’m sure you know that the more powerful Undead retain their flesh.”
“I just haven’t really had the time, I guess? I’ve always been focusing on something else or in a rush.”
“Spend some time with [Flesh Crafting], right now, it only affects the flesh of the dead, but you could Evolve it to allow manipulating the flesh of the Living. Moving on however, and totally not because that topic gives me goosebumps, this method also encompasses all sorts of materials. And depending on the material used, can even grant the use of Abilities or enhanced Stats.”
“What materials?”
She put a finger to her cheek and thought for a moment, “No idea. I know a lot of Magic, but Necromancy isn’t one I put a lot of focus on. However, I do know that this method allows for a small amount of incredibly powerful Undead, unlike the other two.”
“I should start experimenting.”
“Yes you should. Always experiment with your Magic! You never know what you might find! But onto the third method. The Copy and Paste method!”
“What?”
“What? That’s what it does! It allows for the Necromancer to create a large amount of Undead from just their Mana, but it is limited to certain types. Skeleton Soldier, Skeleton Archer, and Skeleton Mage are the three most basic. But there are also Zombie, Zombie Warrior, and Zombie Brute. And plenty more! However, each type is just that. There is no movement out of those types, at least within the method. And each one of a type is pretty much the same as the last. It even creates their armor and weapons, though once the minion is destroyed, the entire minion, gear and all, will all disappear back into Mana.
Very basic, but even basic can be powerful if given enough fuel. If a user of this method has enough Mana, they can be a one-man legion, capable of sweeping through large swaths of territory.”
“How do they get over the numerical limitations of their Minions?”
“That's what makes this method so appealing for most Necromancers! Each type of minion has its own number limit! And each can increase on their own! As I said, these Undead are weaker than your custom Undead, but even a Novice using this method can raise two dozen Undead right out of the gate, once they have all the Novice Level Spells of this Method.”
“Can you teach me?”
“Teach you? No. Give you? Also, no. But I can implant the Knowledge into your mind. It’ll give you a mild headache, but so long as I only implant a basic spell every couple hours, it’ll be fine.”
“Wait, you can do that? Why don't more people know this?”
“One of the perks of being able to read your Status. And its tiring for me. More annoying than anything, but still, I wouldn’t just do this for anyone.”
“Then why are you doing it for me?”
“Because if I didn’t do my best to teach you, and the Knight found out, he would find me.” She hugged herself tightly as she shivered.
“It might not be my place, but what was in that letter he had me give you?”
“Hmm? Oh, nothing special. Really, it was just one sentence. ‘Give him [Magic Resistance]’”
“That's cool!”
“Yeah, until you realize that to get that Passive you have to lose ten times your Health to hostile magic, within a twenty-four hour period.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, sorry Al, but this is going to be painful. And I can’t heal you, so you’ll have to do that yourself.”
“Why can’t you heal me?”
“You can take advantage of the System, learn to manipulate it, but that has its limits, and the System isn’t stupid. But don’t worry, I will be very careful and try to inflict the most amount of damage with the least amount of pain.”
She slowly returned to the ground, “Ready?”
It would not have mattered if he wasn’t.