Truthfully, I was a little wrong about my former Master or Mistress. Given the base level of education on this backwards planet, the over-reliance on magical powers and the complete absence of any form of technological progress they had salvaged and built a template Mining Drone.

Yes, they could have done a better job granted that there were a host of functions which simply didn’t exist or had been ignored. But overall it was a decent job. I truly wanted to experience the virtual reality, which struck me as a type of illusion magic but one that was far more advanced than anything even a talented conjurer would be able to come up with.

Soon enough I wanted to build a little virtual reality space of my own, take the half-soul of my old tormentor, throw them into it and give them a decent beating. See how they liked being hurt and shouted at for trying to clean musty castle rooms full of damp when suffering from blood loss and regrowing taken bone.

I literally ignored the skeleton inside the room and swiped away the previous confirmation notification from the Necro-System as I viewed the window with the red tinted lenses giving me an outside view.

Clearly my Master or Mistress had given it some thought and not decided to install the ranged incendiary device which threw fire at a distance slightly below the head and helmet. Closer to the chest region which made a lot more sense to my mind although why they hadn’t attached to the arms as portable weapons that could wielded was simply one of the ways in which they had deviated from the original design.

The first bouts of fire, I saw through the screen inside my metal egg that was my home and present shield against the outside world, caught the precious artefacts and began to melt them before the flames splashed outwards and began to flow across the grey stone floor.

There was a word for the liquid that was being used, it wasn’t the flame from a fire but had been altered and bonded with other home-made chemicals and both flowed like a liquid but also stuck onto surfaces.

My mind, or rather my consciousness was beginning to dole out small pieces of the massive information storage that had been contained within the prototype bonded self-improvement unit. I had only been given a basic level education according to galactic standards and the Mining company which had developed it.

‘Flamethrower. Not an incendiary throwing device but a flamethrower. They took a cutting-edge Mining Drone, threw apart most of the extras and decided to convert it into a humanoid dragon figure with claws and a flame thrower in the chest. Oh dear, there go the cauldrons and various worthless weeds I spent years collecting and sorting into piles. Nope, all sticky flaming dust now. Power. True power needs to be more than this. I need to be able to kill immortal beings. Correction. Ancient immortal beings.’

O...o….ov...over….mi...mi...miiii...

There was a word of something beyond my understanding, on the very edge of my consciousness which slipped away each time I tried to grasp for more information on it. An itch deep inside my mind like a splinter which had been dug in deep but refused to leave.

Overmind.

Something larger and more dangerous which had built the prototype self-improvement unit before it had been captured by unknown forces restricted and then bound in a spacecraft which thankfully landed relatively near the castle of my former Master or Mistress and been noticed.

More than gods. More than immortals. More than my pathetic, worthless Master or Mistress with a severely limited world view.

‘Pathetic. The power to terraform an entire planetary civilisation and all they could think of was a single Mining Drone, alter it and make it look like a mock humanoid dragon and then pass on some basic technological improvements to one of the living gods who dominate life here. Not much surprise nothing here has changed. Necro-System, can you provide any information regarding something called Overmind? I can sense an echo of the name, a shadow of it but everything else simply eludes me..’

….All information regarding entity designate: Overmind has been removed from this unit….

….Searching….searching database….error…..err-er-er-er-er-er-er-er-er-er-er-er-er-er-er-er-er-er-er-er-er-er-er-er-er-er-er-

‘I understand. According to the basic universal standard of education you provided me the information isn’t only restricted but it was related to your core functions. Someone has stripped it out of you, burnt it and then scattered the ashes. I can relate. My memory is much the same. Stop searching for topic: Overmind. Actually, is there a chance of an advanced education package available?’

I accepted the situation for what it was and considered my present situation. The sheer backwards nature of the planet on which I had been born, spent my life struggling to survive in a village and then been attacked and fled surprised me. I was pretty sure that this planet and society was ancient, I was lucky that my village didn’t perform yearly sacrifices to the two immortals that had divided the planet between them.

Each half a decade though we would have survivors from other villagers who talked about when times went bad, crops failed or simply bandits and other wandering heroes decided to use villagers for target practice or to deprive the other side of resources.

I had never worshipped either of the two immortals, nor prayed to them. No. I had prayed for a peaceful life and the opportunity to meet someone, fall in love and explore the world together beyond the confines of my mountain.

Technology was standard for most places, over time developments took place and the native species either killed themselves in the process or adapted and built on old ideas to make new ones. The two immortals had effectively caused the entire planet to stagnate out of sheer selfishness. Another reason for me to kill them I suppose.

‘I wonder if anyone else survived the village dying. Doubtful. Necro-System, that wasn’t a question, I’m just considering life before I met you. Actually, I’m pretty confident that my Master or Mistress was a human. Most necromancers are. Something to do with fear of dying accelerates magical ability and affinity with death. Keep that fire going, if there’s any risk of overheating then let me know immediately but this form ought to be strong enough at most temperatures. Also, I’m dead.’

‘Not a priority. Music? A novelty but later. Maybe try and spread the flames out a little. With a bit of luck we’ll set the place ablaze. Most of this space is stone and abandoned so the fire will eventually die out. The smoke created will spread though. Priority Order: Deactivate communications and conserve power.’

The fact that they sacrificed me as a test subject after at least a decade of service according to my memories was only a testament to their attempts at a place besides one of the two immortals who controlled the planet in a never ending war.

A General position most likely, or one of the exalted ones who oversaw the entire never ending cycle of constant death and then holding back the monsters for around fifty years to make sure that the population didn’t die out and had time to sufficiently recover.

Yes, I was wrong about them. Just a little. Which was exactly why I was in the process of watching bookshelves of ancient necromantic tomes catch fire with a bright smile on my non-existent face. I missed bones, and skin and muscles. I knew I was smiling, there was a sensation there but there was no physical indication of it.

Clearly my soul which the Necro-System had saved from entering an afterlife of the Dark Emperor likely and becoming another tiny power source for his immortality and eternal strength was still making adjustments.

Oops. Through the screen I could see even more books begin to ignite, it took longer but they were beginning to catch alight. The books which I had been entirely forbidden to touch, even to lightly dust around or tidy up. Creations built from dead flesh had that opportunity although granted that once the fire had killed enough creatures to give me a sufficient power boost to deactivate the emergency mode which had effectively disabled all movement and audio input I would be searching for a hidden and protected old soul.

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‘Necro-System, don’t provide me with active updates or even respond to this command. Focus your energy on harvesting as much dying life forces as we can capture. I have no idea how much heat it would take to burn off any the Rune Exterior Placement but I’m pretty sure that the metal skin of the dragon form this mech is taking can handle it. They were a smart person my teacher, smart enough not to teach me much as all beyond basic menial tasks and draw my blood and bone matter then they needed it.’

Yes, I was wrong about them. Just a little. Which was exactly why I was in the process of watching bookshelves of ancient necromantic tomes catch fire with a bright smile on my non-existent face. Revenge was nice, even nicer when I knew they had died once and would be captured by me again. Eventually, although the process was becoming far too slow for my tastes.

I knew that I existed in a spirit form, bonded now with the mixture of machine and half-formed necromantic magic with a prototype self-improvement device but I missed my body. Or at least the skeleton which made up the structure of my once fleshly frame.

A memory came to me unbidden as the flames began to catch alight with a few of the more ancient tomes covered with layers of human, dwarf, elven and ork skin trying to open stitched mouths and eyes to either scream in agony or release.

‘Skeletons. I remember skeletons with pretty pink bows on them and rough dressed while others wore gloves and head covering. My ladies and gentlemen of bone.’

A shame that their souls or whatever was left of them were going to belong to the necro-system and me as its administrator level controller. When I had been serving my Master or Mistress for around a few months as I now understood the concept of time I had grown lonely. Those rats and spiders which infested the ancient ruined castle either chased me away, bit me or acted as unseen spies.

After a point, I had needed to find companionship and eventually I’d chosen to talk to the rotting corpses which were used as manual labour but usually doubled my own work-load due to their flesh falling off.

They didn’t say much aside from gases being released as considering my now enhanced level of intelligence and understanding in comparison to the poor stinking peasant turned necromancers apprentice and standby human sacrifice there was little need to enchant them with any form of magical awareness.

After most of their flesh had sloughed off I was the one responsible for removing any lingering bits of meat and brain to ensure they would be prepared to undergo reanimation as skeleton warriors.

I recall my Master or Mistress had tried their best to educate me on skeletal bone structure, one of the few areas excluding magic which they held a passion for, on how to tell a male or a female skeleton.

In the end all it had earned me was more beatings and a steady diet of black bread and part-fermented grape juice which hadn’t been used in rituals. For my part, I had tried to tie my own pretty style bows on skeletons and added minor decorations for those I considered male and female. Then I gave them all names and as each one was reanimated as either a guard or a patrolling soldier I would greet them every morning.

The fact that they didn’t say a single word wasn’t an issue. My Master or Mistress either didn’t care about my behaviour or simply chose not to waste any necromantic power seeing through their eyes. Even I bumped into them or pushed them with force they would simply stop, pause in recognition at my magical aura and carry on their set path.

So many conversations with skeletons and all my attempts to dress them up had helped to stop me going insane. The level of interaction with my Master or Mistress was far harder as they had received a decent degree of education and had once been a noble of some renown with their noble ancestors coming from a distant Kingdom called Nerburg.

Before the Necro-System had increased my intelligence, awareness and understanding I had longed for anything regarding the so-called noble heritage of my Master or Mistress. As it stood I was just thankful that they died and left me such a fine gift which I would put to better use once I had sufficient power to activate physical movement and locate the hidden place they had secured at least half of their soul.

A notification display popped up in my left field of vision but I stopped it blocking my immediate field of vision and left it paused. I saw the fires were beginning to consume more than the bookshelves and spread across the moss-covered walls. There was movement now, likely rats or other vermin trying to escape the threats of smoke inhalation. There were no sentient beings living in the castle although my own movements had been heavily restricted by my former Master or Mistress so truly I had little clue.

If there was a nest of goblins or troglodytes hiding in tunnels below and the fire generated by my own Necro-Mecha mock dragon body killed them then I would harvest their souls all the same. The Dark Emperor could survive without such a snack as them and I doubted that he’d notice unless I took thousands at once, he had an entire Immortal Empire to harvest including the souls of his counterpart the Light Empress.

‘Necro-System, give me the display. Are we killing things and harvesting their non-sentient souls to boost power levels? I assume that there is only so much fuel in the tanks for this mock dragon breath. While killing using my claws is a reasonable option it’s far easier to use the existing atmosphere to simply kill on mass. Those the fire doesn’t harm, the smoke and toxins in the air from all those experiments, precious herbs, corpse parts and other magical detritus will kill. I’m not going to kill the Dark Emperor by relying on this form.’

…..Non-Sentient Death Confirmed….Genus Rattus…..…..Non-Sentient Death Confirmed….Blood Ritual Retraction Initiated….Powering Up Non-Vital Systems….Location Scanner Reactivated…

…..Non-Sentient Death Confirmed...Unidentified Species….…..Non-Sentient Death Confirmed….…..Non-Sentient Death Confirmed…..…..Non-Sentient Death Confirmed…..…..Non-Sentient Death Confirmed…..…..Non-Sentient Death Confirmed….…..Non-Sentient Death Confirmed...…..Non-Sentient Death Confirmed...…..Non-Sentient Death Confirmed….…..Non-Sentient Death Confirmed...…..Non-Sentient Death Confirmed...…..Non-Sentient Death Confirmed….…..Non-Sentient Death Confirmed...…..Non-Sentient Death Confirmed….

….Blood Ritual Boost Complete...transferring attained power to Necro-Mecha form...

….Warning: Increased traces of residual energies of temporary user Eike located approximately seventy-eight point three-three-three metres from present location…

...Warning: Hostiles on edge of Location Scanner Detected. Power Set: Anathema and Hostile to Necro-Mecha Blood Ritual Operating System…

‘Eike. The name continues to slip my mind every time I think of it. They were called Eike. Either I lost part of my memory when I died, bonded with you, was sacrificed and my blood used to activate you or I just simply don’t care. We’ll find this Eike. Can you give me access to full physical range? I need to walk or rather smash through a few walls. Structurally wise, this old castle can take it. I recall it used to belong to one of the sides during the never-ending war before the battlefronts shifted and this place grew long abandoned.’

The red-tinted view which gave me a perspective of the outside world remained darkened from the smoke but as far as I could tell the flames were slowly dying down and left charred and melted remains behind them of metal, books of skin and precious relics.

None of it meant anything to me. I recalled that I had previously asked the Necro-System a question and restricted the data flow to conserve power I had left the physical skeleton form and remained in soul form inside the helmet.

I needed more than vague guesses and workaround to pilot the Necro-Mecha. I needed a full-run down of its capabilities. First though I needed the Necro-System to work for me until I had a decent grasp of the basics.

‘Necro-System, locate Eike through shortest possible route. Sorry, make that find the soul container of Eike and automate all movement to conserve power as much as possible. And shut down the flamethrower unless the fuel reserves have already run dry. I think we need an an assistance. I’m authorising full range of movement while I run through a basic tutorial on how to construct a virtual room. I’m thinking prison cell. Once you approach two metres away and have target in visual range, halt and notify me immediately.’

I needed to enter the floating skull surrounded with white and green lines once more and enter the world of numbers, screens and words once more. I had a basic, wider view of the world but there were a large number of gaps to fill in. To begin with, I had to work out how to enter my own soul into a virtual reality.