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Necromancer Odyssey
24. Night School

24. Night School

Noah was in a foul mood. Learning that he was nothing but a sacrificial pawn for powerful people, that everything that he had suffered was the result of bad luck – he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Apparently, he was 'riddled with parasites' and now the person responsible for it all, was playing sensei with him.

'Whatever, I'll play along for now.' Though he certainly did not trust Silas.

The obvious answer for the nature of his power would be necromancy, akin to the class in the virtual games Noah enjoyed. The power to raise the dead. Yet, that wasn't the complete picture. It failed to account for the misty green clouds, visible only to him, emerging from the dead.

"Is it... power over souls?"

"You're pretty sharp, aren't you? Personally, I call it essence. But you can call it what you like, it's not like there's a manual." Silas chuckled. "You've seen it, right? The green stuff."

"Yeah." Noah nodded. "But monsters and... whatever Jeffrey is, can't see it."

"Yep. Only I, and now you, can perceive it." Silas paused for a moment before speaking again. "The shark man, I heard about him but never met the guy, myself. He's a good egg, as far as I know. Used to live closer to The Arc and help out expeditions until the zealots began harassing him."

"The zealots?" Noah glanced at Jeffrey, slumbering serenely in his horrifying hybrid form.

"Yeah, those Order of the Blazing Path freaks."

The surviving cities remained isolated from each other due to the vast distances between them and the inherent dangers of travel in a monster infested world. Yet, they were interconnected by the web, through which various ideologies had spread.

All the cities prioritized defense while striving to preserve some semblance of normalcy in daily life. Expansion campaigns were few and far between and primarily entailed extending the city walls outward, to accommodate growing populations. However, these endeavors were incredibly risky and often met with failure. The notable exception was the aptly named War City, situated far to the east.

The inhabitants of War City lived up to their name, engaged in an unending struggle against the monsters plaguing this world. Under the leadership of the powerful and charismatic Dea Zan, one of the oldest known humans at over 200 years of age, War City was singularly dedicated to warfare. Its society revolved around either active combat in the field or the production and development of resources essential for sustaining the ongoing battle.

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The singlemindedness and determination of War City's population and in particular, the legendary woman leading them, resonated deeply with a lot of people. Around twenty years ago, a chapter inspired by the battle focused city's ideology was formed in The Arc. The government tolerated it because the chapter did not care, nor intervene in the local politics. All they cared about was killing everything 'touched' by the other world and reclaiming Earth for humanity.

Of course, the Order Of The Blazing Path, as well as War City, had Touched individuals among their ranks. However, they didn't regard them as 'touched' by the other world. Instead, they saw them as blessed by God, bestowed with the strength for withstand the demonic forces afflicting humanity.

Noah only thought good things about the Order Of The Blazing Path. Not his kind of people, but they would cooperate with The Arc's military to fight off monster invasions and the rest of the time, would venture out of the city, for monster extermination expeditions. Noah also used to idolize famous Touched like Voidstrider. He felt safer knowing they were out there, fighting for the people of Arcturus City.

As it turned out, the people Noah had once admired, saw him as a thing to be used, killed and discarded. The Blazing Path, in particular, had apparently drove away the only person who had shown him kindness since this nightmare began.

"You can trust the shark man, he'll help you."

'I trust him a lot more than you...' Noah felt resentful.

"You said you were going to help me, and you mentioned parasites – can we get to that part of the conversation?"

Silas laughed. "You've been drinking unfiltered water and eating monster meat."

"...Is that bad?"

"Yeah, kid. It's bad, you have zero resistance to the organisms that invaded your body. If you weren't strengthened by all of the essence you've absorbed, they would have eaten you from the inside out, already."

"What?!"

"Relax, it'll be a good lesson for you. How do you think I knew that you were just what I needed, back then?" Without waiting for a response, Silas continued: "I didn't see you in that alley, I perceived your essence. Now, you can't glean into the essence of an entire city quarter, yet. But you can examine your own body. Close your eyes."

Noah sighed and did as the man invading his mind demanded.

"Now breathe and visualize your thorax."

"Nothing happens." Noah said after a minute, losing his patience.

"Shut up the hell up and relax."

"Fine..." Noah continued breathing and visualizing his chest.

"Huh...? I can see something! It's like a... green, glowing orb-like shape."

"Yeah, that is your essence, kid. Now expand your visualization to the rest of your body. The parasites are monsters from the other world, and they've been feeding on you. You should definitely be able to observe their essence."

Noah did his best to ignore Silas' disturbing words and followed his instructions, breathing and imagining his body.

"Huh...? Aggggghhhh!" After a few minutes, Noah achieved success. To his horror, he could see hundreds of tiny orbs of essence crawling all over inside his body.