Looking at the doorway in front of me, I was glad that I had finally reached this place. It was a little irritating since technically, I could have tried to break through one of the inner sanctum gates that was sealed shut to get here quicker, but I had not been too interested in leaving holes in my defense. Seeing as how I had found metal eaters and a basilisk inhabiting the fortress, I really didn't want to play tower defense with my throne room being the final goal for any other monster squatters.

  However, looking at my current body, whose flesh and armor had been replaced courtesy of my new pet basilisk, I grinned brightly inside. Even without really trying, I could feel the increased mana conductivity of the basilisk's scaly hide and flesh. Fleshy body parts were essentially a combination of mana batteries and built in physical and magical defenses, and their usefulness usually improved the stronger the creature became. It was one of the reasons why a strong mid tier creature like the basilisk had only been jarred a little, when I hit it with a Dark Lance. Mind you, against any other enemy, the spell would have still done decent damage, but I had ended up unfortunately fighting with a creature with high magic resistance of all things.

  For an undead being, flesh and physical food was not a necessity as our souls pretty much controlled and powered everything. However, having flesh meant it was another layer of armor that could be hardened for defense or another way to increase the body's strength. Moreover, if there was any damage, something like a normal wight could just consume its enemies after a battle to replace any body mass lost, as its soul would have remembered its basic body structure. For a bit, I felt like I was going further and further down the road of becoming inhuman with how nonchalantly I thought about the undead but just gave up thinking about it, since I was already a lich. The moment I had been pulled this into world and had consumed Neduzar's soul, I had sealed my fate.

  Sighing, I pushed the adamantine plated door open, sending a screeching and squealing sound echoing through the hallways. For a bit, I wished the my predecessor had not been so fixated on metal for everything, but I guessed it was better than rotting, wooden doors. Illuminating the large two story hall with some light globes, I stopped in my tracks, almost hearing the sound of glass breaking in my mind as I got a good glimpse at the fortress library. “What the fuck...?”

  The shelves were empty. It wasn't just the one shelf right next to me, and it wasn't just the one a couple isles away. As far as I could tell, the entire damn library was empty of one of the largest collections of books, manuscripts, scrolls, and even grimoires that had once existed on this continent. Saying I was angry at his moment was an understatement as mana poured out of my body, surrounding me with a dark aura that spread around quickly. A book shelf near me literally began creaking, as its metal frame began sagging from the distortion of the natural rules by my dark aura. Just when I thought I was at my breaking point, I finally reeled in my emotions, hammering them back into control.

  I calmed myself enough so the darkness, which was essentially mana flooding out from my body, stopped and then slowly dissipated. “Damn it..” Cursing myself for losing control, I knew that a lot of it was from the residual emotions leftover from Neduzar's soul. He had treasured his collection of knowledge, probably one of the few things he had maintained a soft spot for. Seeing it all gone had literally roiled up those emotions in me. However, I wasn't pleased, either. The books were important assets, even worth more than all the precious metal in the fortress. They had contained in them knowledge from thousands of years of civilization on Teloria, especially knowledge about magic that most magicians and maybe even wizards would have been willing to sell their souls for. “And, now, all of them gone...”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  For me, the worst part was not having immediate access to all the different spells. Even my lich soul could only remember so many 'Book' spells accurately, and the ones I did have in my memory were mostly complicated mid and high tier necromancy spells, some of which I wasn't sure about. Screwing them up when casting was not something I wanted to experience, as the consequences could range from mana backlash to soul trauma, depending on the tier level of the spell. Annoyed at my plans being stalled, I made way through the empty library, noting the handful of skeletons scattered here and there. Most of them had been Neduzar's undead servants and had most likely been magicians or researchers for them to be here.

  I shook my head in disapproval, as I thought about a weakness of the undead. Most did not trust one another, with their negative emotions overpowering everything else, unless their souls became strong enough to forcefully control the instinctual emotions. However, by then, the desire for dominance and control was pretty much ingrained. Neduzar, who had probably reached the peak of undead existence, had pretty much enslaved these bastards, tying them up with an ancient, soul enslavement spell, which had of course killed them due to Neduzar's near permanent death experience. The memory of that final battle was kind of hazy, but I remembered one of Neduzar's last conscious thoughts had been to take everything and everyone down with him if he was going to die. Hence, all the piles of skeletons in the fortress. “Fucking lunatic...”

  There was a lot more else that was supposed to happen upon Neduzar's death, but I didn't know how much of it had actually been implemented, since Neduzar had technically survived. In either case, I shoved it out of my thoughts for now, as I entered an obscure entrance in one corner of the library. On either side of the new hallway, bones belonging to the former library guards lay entangled with their mithril and adamantine alloy armor. The formerly enchanted walls were covered in burn marks and deep pits like everywhere else in the fortress so far. In fact, everything looked as expected, except for the open doorway to the forbidden room of the library.

  If I had been in a human body, my eyes would have been twitching from stress by now. This was one of those entrances that was not supposed to be open. The door was made of pure mithril, probably one of the hardest of the uncommon metals, and most of the inner walls of the room had the layers of the same metal as well. Moreover, the door had been enchanted with powerful defenses. Trying to break into the room would have been like trying to break through a nuclear blast door. It was possible but not without specialized spells. However, what do I find? The damn door was open!

  The small room, with shelves on each of its four walls was also empty, except for a skeleton lying in the middle of the room, covered in shredded rags and a glass case in one corner. It contained what looked like a parchment and half a dozen, thick books. I wanted to face palm myself, realizing what the victims of theft on Earth must have felt like, when the thief left behind a few things out of pity. Still, I wondered why the thief had bothered to leave me what was probably a message. Walking over to the shelf, I pried open the case, pulling out the parchment, that seemed to be made from some high quality beast's skin. The handwriting on it was somewhat small but still legible.

Oh Lord of Darkness and the Undead Dominion,

  I, Elder Arok of the dark brownies, thy eternal servants, bid you fair greetings and once again swear our eternal loyalty to thy greatness. Though we know not when thy return to glory will be, know that we swear by the Great Mother that we will ensure the safety of thy knowledge and treasures...