Cloud couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Of course, through the red in his eyes after seeing his wife getting turned in front of him while Zacharia was stopping him from getting infected, it was hard to manage.
It wasn’t as though he didn’t understand what Zacharia was doing. If anything, it was the correct call. He just didn’t care. His wife was dying in front of his eyes, and he didn’t care for anything else at all.
Anyone else could die for all he cared, but the one person he didn’t want to let die at all was dying, so he wanted to act.
Yet the only one who managed to do so was his student, Zeke, and he did it in a way he never expected him to do.
Through his eyes, he could see Zeke’s mana pouring out of him, weak as he was and almost running out. His Recovery skill was active, but it didn’t look like he was trying to clear the undeath with his mana. Even now, the Undeath trying to turn Val into a zombie was so strong, not even Zacharia could handle such a thing without turning.
So if Zeke tried to heal her with his Recovery, the Undeath would easily travel along his own channels, and it would kill him outright, not even giving him a chance to turn. But that’s not what Zeke did.
He summoned his barrier in the most unlikely of places–Val’s channels. He could barely see with his own version of Mana Perception, but he noticed Zeke was summoning tiny, microscopic barriers in each channel in her body. It was at such a level of control he never thought a child of his age could manifest, no matter how much he complained that he was already an adult in his world.
But it was clear that Zeke was in a trance-like state as he did so. He didn’t even realize that his body was turning paler by the amount of barriers he was summoning. He was summoning so many as each barrier was getting destroyed by the incoming undeath that was coursing through her body to turn her.
To reach deep within her core where the turning would manifest into reality. Cloud realized now what Zeke was doing.
He wasn’t trying to stop it, at least, not the turning. He was delaying the process. Perhaps he thought he could do so instantly, but anyone with experience with magic could tell that the best he could do is delay the inevitable.
But two glorious things happened when he did so. First, the air of undeath stopped coursing throughout Val’s body and out into the area, allowing everyone to come closer to help. The other part was that he was delaying the process.
Long enough for Cloud to act.
“Zeke!” Cloud rushed ahead, ignoring Zacharia who was stuck in place, in awe of Zeke’s control. He rushed towards the two, kneeling down in front of his wife.
Valorie was practically gaping in pain, her eyes looking upwards and in shock, showing completely white as there were no irises at all. It was horrifying to look at, as though Val was frozen in place while in constant pain and agony.
That made sense, after all. Her channels were plugged up by Zeke’s barriers. Such a thing would undoubtedly be painful, borderline psychotic. And possibly the best thing for her right now. If the undeath continued, it would eventually get to the point where the undeath could no longer be stopped. But if it was stopped in place for a short moment, there was a chance.
“Zeke,” Cloud said, staring right at Zeke who kept staring at Val’s body with his intensifying emerald and azure glare. “Zeke, whatever you do, don’t stop. Please, just hang on…!”
Cloud knew he was asking for a lot. Especially for a child who was just starting his career as a mage. He was basically asking him to sacrifice his future to save his wife.
Guilt didn’t even reach him as urgency took over. Who knew how long Zeke could hold out with his diminished mana? Who knew how long his wife could have control over herself? There was only one thing that Cloud could do.
He pulled out item after item from his storage pack and other various pouches along his body. He pulled out every item he needed to make a rune array that would help in this scenario.
“Is this the time to do such a thing?!” Zacharia screamed, realizing that Cloud was going all out in preparing what looks like a very convoluted rune array process.
He pulled out specialized leathery scrolls which he drew runes on with his attuned pen. He was also settling them around both Val and Zeke who were close enough for a circle to surround them, all the while the other soldiers helped out as Cloud basically screamed at them to help.
There, he saw Mikella, Zeke’s partner, watch in horror.
“Zeke!” She shouted, trying to touch Zeke, but Cloud stopped her.
“Stop! If you mess it up now, Val will die!” Cloud roared, stopping Mikella in her tracks.
Being good supporters, Myra helped by pulling Mikella away, but she was refusing to leave Zeke behind. Cloud could understand so very well why Mikella didn’t want this, even though her face was contorted with conflict between saving Zeke and helping Val.
He understood so well it hurts, but it doesn’t hurt worse than possibly losing Valorie, one of the remaining good lights in his life. Even if he will be forever hated by Mikella, it was worth it if it meant saving Valorie, his love and light.
Zacharia was left completely ignored, but being the man he was and how valuable saving Val is, he couldn’t stop Cloud from continuing. He ordered the other soldiers to help with the process, even helping Cloud with drawing the runes by inputting their mana into the scrolls. Cloud was pleasantly surprised at how much expertise was shown in his work, but he couldn’t lose focus.
He asked Philip to help charge Zeke with mana, as he needed every single lick of it. Philip did so without hesitation, knowing full well the value of Zeke’s support in this. He placed his hand over Zeke's prone body, and poured what little mana he had to fill Zeke’s mana pool.
Eventually, Mikella could only watch with anticipation, even helping out by helping Zeke open his mouth with her fingers and pouring droplets of any leftover mana potions, which were being pulled out by all the soldiers around them. On top of that, she also poured mana into his body like how they did with kinetic energy, but it was incredibly inefficient without Mana Perception. Still, it was better than nothing.
Zeke needed all the time he could have, and Cloud wanted him to keep going. He could feel Val’s lifeforce withering away, rushing Cloud further and further into his work, pushing his high leveled Runecraft skill to the limit.
He will not leave Ana alone without a mother. He will not leave Val to go off on her journey to the afterlife alone. He will be with her from life to death, and he will do so gladly.
Because she is his light, his love, his very reason for existence.
…..
Zeke always had an inferiority complex, no matter the situation at hand. It was gained recently, though, after realizing some very impactful truths about his life.
When he was born, he had a mental disability unlike anything the doctors could discern. His mother, always the driven and competitive type, never really liked that.
So throughout his childhood, his teen years, and his pre-adult life, he faced several trials and tribulations all while going through a mental haze nobody could ever understand, or try to.
By the time he managed to conquer the haze when he turned 18 years old, he was already out by himself, striked out of his mother’s will and left abandoned.
For the next three years after that, he tried to regain control of his life, or what was left of it. At the end, there was nothing he could do. So he ended up working at a simple job running the numbers, as doing mathematics was the least he could do.
He did nothing noteworthy, and even worse, he was useless to his mother. But not in this world.
In this world, he became someone actually worthwhile. Or at least, useful enough for somebody else. So when he saw Val about to die from an unfair surprise attack, Zeke stepped in before thinking about it further.
When he saw a mother of a child about to die, he put himself in harm’s way, helping Ana avoid the awful life of losing her mother. In a way, he went through that himself.
It was also the reason why he wanted to be there for Clara. It gave him a purpose, something more than himself. He had to combat the uselessness of himself for the past three years, and he won’t start doing that now.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
But as his mana started to get drained away, eventually reaching zero and once again entering the cold state of his soul, he found himself adrift. He felt the migraine coming up, and the incredible urge of his mana pouring out of him like a juicer clenching the contents out of his body.
At the same time, he was surrounded by a white void that seemed to go on endlessly. He didn’t know how he got in here, but as he could feel his body slowly withering away, he felt that this was some sort of mental block he put himself in, or perhaps what was inside of Val herself.
Then again, there was nothing here depicting her presence, so perhaps it was some sort of spatial void or something.
Then he realized why. It was the very same void that the enemy was in. The reason behind the undeath that was summoned out of Alex’s corpse.
As though the last vestige of his body was here, Alex appeared in front of him, but his form was clearly not the same young teen as before. It was as though his soul was made bare for the world to see, and just like his personality, it was god-awful to watch.
He was like a withered skeleton, completely blackened as though darkened by the age of time. There was skin on some parts, though they looked so ancient that they might as well be some strange gunk instead. His skeletal face bare some resemblance, his burning sockets where his eyes should be had the same color as his irises. They weren’t eyeballs, instead it was like directly looking at flames with irises.
It was a strange sight, and even stranger when it looked like the skeleton-looking soul noticed his presence.
“What are you doing here?” The being, once a vibrant psycho of a teen, now a talking skeleton pointing an accusatory finger at him. “You’re not supposed to be here!”
“I could say the same to you,” Zeke spoke casually. Strangely enough, he didn’t feel threatened or weirded out. He knew where he was, and he didn’t plan on staying here for long. But it felt as though he made a connection to this strange happenstance.
It was his skill, Recovery. He didn’t know why, but it looked like his skill helped in putting his mind directly where the soul was attacking the vessel, in this case, Val’s body. He didn’t know that the skill could be so powerful enough to send his own soul in here, but then it was an Epic skill now.
But he put that aside for now. He walked towards the ghostly being, his hands clenched. He felt a strange sense of calm, but he felt the opposite from the former teen. He felt fear in those burning eyes.
“S-Stay back!” The skeletal being backed up a step in fear, raising his bony hand. “Stay away! D-Don’t you care what’s gonna happen to this chick?!”
“Nothing worse than what you’re doing,” Zeke said, unwilling to give in to the teen’s threats. It was as empty as his soul, devoid of any love or empathy.
Alex could care less about life, but all of a sudden he cared about his own life. It made sense–teens tend to think arrogantly that way. He once thought of himself above others during his own teen years, something that he regretted deeply.
After all, it was just to get away from the fact that his mental state was as broken as his life and familial bonds.
So right now, he was feeling a little pissed.
“No! Stay away! G-Go away!”
The teen forked his hand out, unleashing a blast of dark magic like before. But Zeke knew that this kind of magic was empty–if anything, it was only making it worse for the teen.
Alex must have used some ultimate skill of his class, allowing his soul to transcend his body and into another body. But Zeke believed that there was a mistake involved, or Alex reached too high up. The skill was supposed to send his soul to an undead body, making himself into an undead. Instead, the kid figured he could go to the closest most powerful being in the room, trying to take over it and make it his own body.
But his spirit was too weak, his soul utterly pathetic. The black magic was pushed aside by Zeke as he ran towards the soul, unwilling to let it go.
Clenching his fist, he punched the soul straight on its skeletal face. It fell to the ground, or what is constituted as the ground in this white void.
Just like Alex made himself into a ‘skill’, so did Zeke. Zeke became the definition of his Recovery skill, and healed the wound by punching Alex.
Maybe it didn’t have to be that way. A simple flick of the wrist would be good enough… but Zeke felt like Alex needed more than that.
And as he expected, Alex slowly withered away, the true cause of his skill finally disappearing. This time, Zeke felt no guilt from killing off Alex for good this time.
After all, he was trying to kill Val. He was trying to kill his friend. All that guilt and panic from earlier felt hollow now.
Soon, Zeke figured that it was over, and tried to return to his body, but when he felt his body, he felt something was off.
The undeath. It was still surrounding Val’s body. Even though he took away the soul that was trying to control Val, the undeath was still within her body.
And he can’t get rid of it.
Panic took over. He was already reaching a critical state of his Mana straight at zero. He sensed the outside where the leaders, the soldiers, and even Mikella were trying to help by pouring Mana into him.
But the mana expenditure of his barriers trying to constrict the undeath was too much. His barriers, miniscule as they were, were taking more Mana to continue existing. After all, it wasn’t like Zeke was deliberately causing a blockage throughout Val’s conduits. If he did it like that, he would end up blocking the vital energy from her core, causing her to die.
What he was doing was specifically stopping the undeath, but it still persisted. If he doesn’t do anything now, however, his barriers will lose hold against it and Val will turn.
And at his state, he can’t even conjure a simple barrier to protect them all against a powerful Journeyman zombie.
He opened up his status page as a last resort. As fear gripped his heart, he realized something unpleasant. His level was at 30, and that means that he has the right to take on an attunement.
Just like with Mikella, he could take an attunement to save everyone, and perhaps even himself if he was lucky. But right now, undeath was all around him.
So… what if he took the Undeath as his Mana attunement?
The idea of being like Alex, taking and using Undeath as part of his everyday life, made him reel in disgust. He didn’t even want to think about leaving Mikella and Clara behind even though he wouldn’t dare be anywhere near them if he took in an undeath attunement. But what other choice did he have?
Let Val die and get themselves killed? He wasn’t gonna let that fly.
He felt the coldness take over, causing his mind to wander. Not only his head, but the rest of his body was aching badly to the point where he wished he could just go to sleep.
He had no other choice. As long as it means that Mikella will live to go back to Clara, so Ana can still be with her mother, Zeke will do whatever it takes.
Even if it meant being alone forever for everyone’s safety.
> Attunement available:
>
> Undeath
Seeing the prompt, Zeke closed his incorporeal eyes. He thanked Mikella for the care all this time. He hoped Clara would forgive him for leaving her behind.
He thought about the people they lost, the people he didn’t even see die off while he was away. He thought about them, and how heavy each of those lives were on his shoulders. He can’t even imagine the pain and suffering their loved ones would go through, as he never truly experienced it himself.
But he knew that he would never forgive himself if he let this happen. He accepted the attunement.
Then it refused his command.
“...Wat?”
Zeke’s eyes stayed squinting at his system notification, showing him something that he never expected to have seen.
> Error!
>
> Unable to choose Undeath as attunement.
>
> Adjustments will be made.
>
> ERROR!
> ERROR!
> ERROR!
>
> Attunement chosen without the user's intent.
>
> ERROR!
>
> You have chosen–
An extraordinary feeling swelled into him the moment after the prompt disappeared mid-sentence. It was as though his channels were being filled to the brim, his core expanding further and further beyond his body’s limits.
A force unlike anything he ever felt before entered his mind, body, and soul. The feeling he experienced just now suddenly became… bigger, but not in size.
It became denser, almost like lead, but more than that. Pressure from some unforeseen force of nature. A supreme force of nature.
It was daunting. Yet, it didn’t feel unnatural. It felt the exact opposite.
It was true energy. Complete and refined beyond a shadow of a doubt.
It was also heavy, bigger than anything he ever felt before.
That giant feeling swallowed him whole, and pain unlike anything he ever felt before blossomed within his very core.
He screamed in silence, and the void echoed in response. His brain turned into mush, and his body felt numb. His soul was expanded to the point where it could cover the entirety of this void and beyond.
Then, like that, it ended. Despite his vision turning blurry and pain exuding from him in waves he never felt before, he still saw the new notification that dropped.
He couldn’t believe what he saw.
> Attunement process completed.
>
> You have gained The World.
>
> You have gained +10 STR from your attunement.
> You have gained +10 DEX from your attunement.
> You have gained +10 INT from your attunement.
> You have gained +10 SPI from your attunement.
> You have gained +10 VIT from your attunement.
> You have gained +10 END from your attunement.
>
> …..
>
> You have chosen your attunement.
>
> You are able to advance.
>
> You are now an Expert.
>
> As your reward for advancing to Expert, you are eligible to evolve your Class. Choose your evolution on the list and further strive for ascension.
>
> Due to choosing your attunement, your mana has now permanently changed to that of The World.
.....
> The World
>
> Your mana is now heavier and denser than before, approaching that of aether. You gain passive abilities.
>
> Denseness: Your mana is heavier, increasing your magical potency.
>
> Overreach: Your senses have been strengthened beyond your body’s natural state.