《Death Unto All》 The Orphan start If I had a nickel for every time I¡¯ve died I would have two nickels. It isn¡¯t a lot, but it has happened twice, I remember both times, which may be even weirder. Even now as I look around, I am floating in a familiar pitch black void. Let¡¯s go back to the beginning. Hello, my name used to be Natalie Woodhull. ¡®Used to¡¯ being the keywords there. After sacrificing my life in an effort to protect a child, at the request of someone I may or may not have had a crush on, I appeared in this same void area. While I was waiting, a bright flash occurred and a rabbit beast-human showed herself to me. ¡°Hello. I am Cassandra. The Ruler of spirits, souls, and reincarnation,¡± she said. ¡°Are you God?¡± I asked. ¡°No, dear child, I am well above those beings. I am in charge of guiding souls across the multi-verse. In most cases, the gods in charge of your world would deal with you accordingly. However, a favor was called in by the Ruler of dimensions. He told me to transport your soul into an empty shell in a universe I deem beneficial.¡± ¡°Beneficial to who?¡± ¡°You. Now normally in the stories of your world people are granted an unimaginable power. Your power is the fact that you have extremely powerful knowledge and were born already with an eidetic memory in your last life, coupled with your control over your emotions, you¡¯ll be fine.¡± ¡°You know the stories?¡± ¡°Dear, every story has its own universe. Every fan fiction and original story have their own place. Now I do think our time here is up.¡± After she said that everything went white. With that quick introduction, I now wake up in extreme pain. Both physically and mentally. Mentally, about five years of memories were being merged with mine and physically because I was a bruised and chained up in the back of a moldy and broken carriage. My natural disposition, emotionally despondent, allowed me to maintain a passive face in front of all of the other malnourished children even though my own mind was in turmoil. Lucky me. After an excruciating period of time later, I had absorbed all of the memories. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. This body is called Lillian, an orphan since birth. No father to speak of, and a mother that died during childbirth. With golden yellow blonde hair, and emerald green eyes, she could have been a cute child if not for the state of the orphanages, as poorly funded they were. They were managed by the country and, well, not taken care of. Full of corrupt caretakers, they spent all of their time, barely fulfilling the role of caring for us. Seeing as the current period seems to be a medieval, fantasy kind of world, this seems fitting. Except for the fact that we were essentially just sold into slavery. They worded it as adoption, but I know better. We are to work as servants in the noble¡¯s mansions. Our fate in unknown to us. Some of these people I may never see again. We all sit quietly as we ride. Some of us dragged off at points by our handlers. None of us react. We have already resigned to our fate. The silent tears shed were noticed, but left unspoken. This other girl and I were the last ones left. If I remember correctly, her name was like Jodie? I didn¡¯t really care to remember. The only thing really of note is her pointed ears signifying her elven heritage. We were left for delivery at the ducal estate, a known eccentric and playboy, a combination for disaster. However, we were lucky as we were not nearly important enough to meet him. Instead we met a stern looking head maid who sniffed and sneered at us. We had no choice but to follow her. We were led to a corner of a back garden with a tub of cold water waiting for us. As we were cleaning ourselves, the head maid looking person came back with two identical uniforms. ¡°You two are to become trained maids of the exemplary noble house of Duke Harrison. You are to address all manner of people with their correct title, myself being Head Maid Gloria, and treat all with proper decorum.¡± She spoke her first words to us with a stern, authoritative voice that seems to penetrate the soul. The girl at my side¡­Lucy was shivering from both the cold water and the intimidating Head Maid, but I was left unfazed. At the difference in our reactions, a glint in Gonorrhea¡¯s eye passed by as quickly as it came. We were left with a list of tasks to perform that day such as: clean the west wing hallways, clean the lavatories, assist the gardeners, and clean the dishes in the kitchens. We set off to do all of these cleaning jobs starting with the gardens since we were already there. I noticed that a few people were hiding around the corner, observing our every action. At one point, Rosebud accidentally pulled up a flower instead of a weed and the people watching us made a move. Moving with speed that I couldn¡¯t see, Rosemary was met with beatings and blows as they shouted at her failure, then berated me for allowing such an event to occur. With the fear of punishment put into her we set about cleaning the mansion with vigorous attitude. At one point, Gladys was milling about giving a tour to some other maids that apparently were just hired and not bought like us. You see, they get wages and freedoms, we don¡¯t and have no room to complain. Our trip to the kitchen was¡­eventful. In my last life I lived solely on packaged ramen and macaroni. I don¡¯t think I drank water in the last four years of my life due to my college lifestyle at the robotics institute. Anyway, the reason I mention this is due to the fact that when we finished the dishes, our last task, we were given a challenge to prepare a meal. Roslin¡¯s was okay, mine was treated as nuclear waste. I am no longer allowed to cook. The girl-whose-name-I-can¡¯t-remember and I were forced to share a room with twelve other maids and all of us were packed like sardines. Even with this, I can notice that the others were trying to give us a wide range. Well, wide as two inches, but still. Our lives were uneventful. The other maids trying to stay away from us, but we work in the same building, so we had to interact still. Though through the rumor mill I found out why we avoided. They thought of us as rabid children that the Duke was so kind as to take us off the streets, how thoughtful, and employed us in his mansion for his kindness. Other things of note, magic systems are really underdeveloped. They really think that a person¡¯s magic determines their personality, like darkness being evil and light being kind. What garbage is that? The Spirit Start Years passed by, our jobs never changing. We were kept almost as if we were an open secret. Eventually we became 19 years old if my counting was correct. I eventually learned Ruby¡¯s actual name, it was Ruby, but one night something interesting happened. We were sleeping in our room when one of the personal maids of the Duke came in asking for Ruby. I never bother to learn their names as they leave about three months after employment. He goes through them like an obese toddler goes through candy, and I don¡¯t care if that¡¯s offensive if it¡¯s true. ¡°Ruby, don¡¯t go. I don¡¯t have a good feeling about this,¡± I said in a sleepy drawl. But the maid interrupted me saying, ¡°Be quiet! This is an order direct from the head of the estate. You have no choice.¡± Ruby gave me a worried glance before following her. She didn¡¯t return for the entire night and when she did return she was in distress. A pale face, sweaty body, and glazed over eyes. The smell left a whole bunch of clues as well as to what happened. She was never the same. Any comfort I attempted to give went through one ear and out the other. I don¡¯t think that any words were ever spoken again by her afterwards. Months passed, Ruby got ¡®fired¡¯ and left. Though the rumor mill says otherwise with some chronic disease like their version of influenza, but the disease I think she has is one that won¡¯t leave for about 18 years. I do feel sorry for her, having such a life placed on her, but this was our fate since we arrived at this mansion. To live depressing lives forced on us by those with power. Plus those that actually got fired never lived to see another day. Things went back to normal. Or as normal as a day is with work, sleep the night away, work again. I die of overworking at this rate and my cooking wouldn¡¯t have gotten any better. But these things were not to be. Plague. It swept through the land, killing all in its path. Each member of the staff fell ill and died. It turned the garden area into one large mass grave. The family members died, and I did as well. The nobles got to go to a cemetery. Eventually years passed. The ground swallowed all of the bodies, hiding the fact that people lie there. So now here¡¯s a question. How am I still here? Well, that¡¯s another interesting story. Cassandra rubs her brow. ¡°You aren¡¯t supposed to be here.¡± I raise an eyebrow. ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t exactly live the best of a life. Forced to work in and out each day.¡± ¡°¡­I promised that you would live a good life, and now you¡¯re back here. You should¡¯ve used your knowledge to live.¡± She sighs. ¡°Well, didn¡¯t really have the time, and I would need more knowledge to do anything. Everything is just superficial.¡± She puts her head in her hands and sits down on a wooden chair that came out of nowhere. Then a little girl came in out of nowhere. Almost as though she melded through the void. ¡°Hey Cassy, whatcha doin?¡± Her frilly purple dress shifts the environment around her. Her black and purple hair sways like tentacles. I have no clue who this is. ¡°Dealing with a wayward soul who seems to have a penchant for dying. Also they aren¡¯t able to change the world I put them in due to time and knowledge constraints.¡± Cassandra states with another sigh. The girl seems to ponder this. ¡°Okay. So just unlock the System Store for her. It would solve a ton of problems. Umm, put her back into the world, probably a short time after her death, uh, in a body that can¡¯t die. How¡¯s that?¡± The girl giggles at the idea. Though honestly, that might work. ¡°That might work,¡± Cassandra says. ¡°Are you fine with that?¡± She asks me. ¡°Sure, plus you two are the gods here.¡± That gains another giggle from the girl. ¡°We¡¯re not gods.¡± Then everything went white. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. I open my eyes. I¡¯m in the main foyer of the mansion I died in. It¡¯s daytime, I believe I died near sundown. Strange. Also, I seem taller than usual. I try walking forward, but don¡¯t move. Why can¡¯t I move? I look down at my body to see a translucent body. My maid uniform still seems to carry on after my death, how fun. I guess when they said a body that can¡¯t die, they just meant a body that¡¯s already dead. Hmm? There¡¯s a System Notification. [ Ruler Notice: Hey! Cassandra here! You¡¯re probably wondering about your new body. Well, you¡¯re a basic spirit now. No special abilities other than a physically impervious body. You can unlock other abilities though, like the ability to see other ghosts. Now, if you look at your status, you see the System Shop skill. This skill has been modified from its original form where it took stats to give knowledge and skills. Obviously that would be detrimental, so I implemented a new system. Spirit Tokens! When you kill creatures you get experience and you get Spirit Tokens as well. The closer a creature is to the soul, the more tokens. These tokens can be exchanged for knowledge from your universe and skills. Now, about your spirit body. It might be weak now, but since you are technically a monster now, you can evolve. Though I don¡¯t know when you¡¯ll evolve. Good luck, and have fun! ] Oh dear. Well, a lot of information to unpack there, but I think I¡¯ll start with my status first. [ Name: Lilian (Natalie Woodhull) Species: Spirit Age: 1 day (19 years(24 years)) Level: 1 Experience: 0/10 Spirit Tokens: 0 Titles: N/A Effects: Normal Spiritual Matter: 100/100 Magic: 50/50 Mana Regen: 10/hr Power: 0 Endurance: 0 Intelligence: 180 Wisdom: 156 Agility: N/A Dexterity: 0 Skills: Alchemy Magic III(Maximum, Base) Chaos Magic II(Minor, Base) Computer Engineering(Maximum, Passive) Eidetic Memory(Passive) Element Shift Negative(Active) Element Shift Positive(Active) Mechanical Engineering(Maximum, Passive) Order Magic II(Medium, Base) Spirit Body(Passive) System Shop(Active) ] Alright, so, my skills haven¡¯t changed much from my life, except for Spirit Body and System Shop. Though the obvious drop in my stats worries me. A glance at the skill Spirit Body shows that I can go through physical objects and have an immunity to physical attacks. Though I now have a massive weakness to Holy Magic. Now, how am I supposed to gain experience if I literally cannot interact with the world around me? I take a closer look around, the building actually looks dusty and dirty. Almost as if nothing has been touched in years. I glide through the walls, a new weird thing to do, and see an overgrown garden. ¡°I may have been gone longer than I thought,¡± I say with a reverberation. I back up in shock. That¡¯s new. My voice sounds like someone took a recording of my voice, reversed it, added an echo, and then reversed it again. Now the echo leads into my voice. ¡°Do. Re. Mi. Fa. So. La. Ti. Do.¡± I go through a basic musical scale to test the sound of my voice. This is pretty cool. While I¡¯m messing around, a rat runs past me. ¡°Hey!¡± I shout with a monotone voice. This is actually kind of fun. A small giggle escapes me. Wait, I don¡¯t giggle. Yeah, it kind of sounds more forced than one would think. I chase the rat and when it eventually stops, I kneel in front of it. ¡°Hello there.¡± General Kenobi. Alright, jokes aside, the rat doesn¡¯t react to my appearance or voice at all. I don¡¯t think it can perceive me. I wonder? I place my hand above the rat and charge an Alchemical Magic spell, Element Shift Positive. The rat reacts to the flow of mana, but still can¡¯t see the spell. Now, this spell is interesting, a testimony to my hubris as I had decided to jump my mana affinities straight to Alchemy, jumping chemical magic. Element Shift Positive should be paired with an Periodic Table Element magic, not fusing, so that the spell can focus on shifting that element up the periodic table. However, I never unlocked the chemical elements, so the spell just selects a random element, could be one not included in the rat. The spell falls over the rat. It looks forward before the light in its eyes dies, and it collapses into dust. I should learn wind magic to clean this up. [ You have killed a level 1 ¡°Adult Rat¡± x 1. 3 experience points gained. 1 Spirit Token gained. ] Alright I have a Spirit Token. The System Shop shows a lot of interesting things. Some books, documents, blueprints, and other forms of information. The skills range from basic physical attacks to skills that can alter space-time, though those are ridiculously expensive. I mean I¡¯m pretty sure that I would have to put that number through scientific notation three times. I can even rank up, or evolve skills into different paths. But if I want to expand my range of skills, then I need something to attack, and one skill has a tag of ¡®DISCOUNT!¡¯ The flashing tag elicits another monotone giggle. [ Spirit Telekinesis - A skill used by Spiritually attuned beings. It allows the user to expend mental focus on lifting an object, but while it can be used by the living, dead beings will find it much easier to use this skill. ] [ Ruler Notice: Lillian if you grab this skill it will reveal a curse that¡¯s been placed on you due to your death. ] The second notice worries me slightly. A curse? If this is going to interfere then I need to know, so I¡¯ll just purchase the skill. [ Through purchase you have unlocked the skill: Spirit Telekinesis(Minimum, Active) ] [ Through purchase you have unlocked the skill: Spirit Bound(Passive) ] [ Spirit Bound - This skill bounds the user to a location. It causes the user to be kept within a range of an area. This can be a place where the user died, but can be expanded using various means, such as objects made by the user can leave the area. ] Fuck. Liberating forgotten items I¡¯ve tested my new skills¡¯ limits. The binding one seems to be drawn at the legal barrier of the estate. Luckily, the estate is large with a mansion and the entire surrounding forest, though heavily overgrown, but that can be remedied. I also tested my telekinesis. I can pick up up to five items that weigh about ten pounds each at the same time, or a single item of fifty pounds. So, it seems that the limit of my skill is primarily based on weight. I start commanding several dusters to start flying around the mansion under my command to begin cleaning every nook and cranny of the estate. I find the personal library of the late Duke completely untouched. This means spider webs and dust occupying all spots. I have more dusters fly around the room. I¡¯ll come back to read some of these books after I finish cleaning with the free weight. I see a few rags polishing the silverware. I would wash the other dishes, but that requires a weight limit to increase. Straighten up all of the beds and their unused sheets. How long have they gone without change? I draw the curtains to let in some light, even if it would deteriorate the furniture. An inspection of the garden reveals that what once was a well groomed place of beauty is now a weed vineyard. I have some pruning shears fly around, cutting an eliminating all useless plants. My continued inspection reveals a shed with a solid iron lock, paltry for something that can phase through solid objects, and find a bunch of tools laying in a pile within. It¡¯s expected as this is a gardening shed. Specifically, the tools on the top of the pile are all gardening tools, but the ones underneath are more suited for mining, excavating. ¡°Now what is all of this?¡± I reverb into the air with my usual monotone voice. That is still really cool. Before I can continue inspecting the pile of rusting tools, something floats past my eye. It¡¯s hair, my hair, I think. Much more white than I would like, instead of a pretty chome like my¡­friend Alice, it¡¯s more of a bleached white. It floats through the air without abandon like it¡¯s floating through water. I let the hair flow through my hands. Hands that seem too boney to be mine with skin that is translucent and pasty white as well. If only mirrors worked with me I would really want to see my new face. Anyway, my features aside, I stop polishing the silver as it has been finished for a while and has been just doing cyclical motions and pick up the mining tools. I have a pickaxe swing at the door to break the lock from within. With a new entourage, I float back to the foyer. Now, my plan. I need to prepare a lot of things in this mansion if I want to live here. Specifically a private space for myself to haunt. Now, I could just occupy a closet, but this has more uses. I swing the pickaxe towards the stone, cracks spread around the area. I¡­It swings again at the stone, more cracks. I release all other objects I¡¯m controlling for the moment as I put all of the fifty pounds I can hold and more into this swing. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. *Crash!* The entire surrounding five feet are pulverized. How much strength did that have? [ Through repeated actions skill: Spirit Telekinesis(Minimum, Active) has ranked up to Spirit Telekinesis(Minor, Active) ] Guess that answers my question. Putting my all into that swing really took it out of me. I try my telekinesis on nearby objects and find I can go to about 200 pounds now; what a massive increase! I command the now freed up tools to continue excavation as I head back to the study. I need a study session. ¡®The glorious kingdom of Orzinwal was founded by the first King Romo Orzinwal, once lead chief of traveling tribes. With their settlement, they established nobility as the strongest aides to the King in declining order due to the God¡¯s System allowing them strength and the ability to grow stronger. Those without God¡¯s blessing were allowed to live under the service of the better people with the ability to protect the country. The lands that nobles occupied where all based on spots where ancient magicians noticed increased auras of magic. These spots became locations where the nobility built their humble homes to gather their strength. With the spots in random accords, the shape or placements of the capitals of their lands became in the shape of God¡¯s will.¡¯ Alright, obvious religious and political bias aside¡ªa dangerous combination; I have a solid grasp on the basics of the idiocy that these people believe in. Instead of placing their capitals in the center of territory, so that trade could flourish; they instead placed them at places where the strong could get stronger. Also, what we would call the Heroes and Villains back home, where I can never get back to¡­They instead call them nobility here, which over time is just a recipe for corruption and disaster. Oh well. It¡¯s entertaining seeing buckets of dirt and stone fly past you. I¡¯ll just deposit it in the nearby forest. I wonder if there¡¯s anything in there to kill. I pick up an axe in my hands, using my telekinesis to give myself the illusion of grasping the handle. Even if no one else can probably see me it¡¯s nice to have some semblance of normalcy. I wander into the forest. The leaves sway in the wind, glistening with some remnants of the morning dew, rapidly evaporating under the blistering sun¡¯s heat. Perhaps it is hot, for it looks to be summer, yet with my intangible body I cannot perceive such things. Silence grows around me as I venture further into the woods, the grass and greenery grows darker and the treetops grow higher. Reaching points at which no light can escape their grasp and reach the forest ground below. The only light which can be seen is back from whence I came. Absolute silence. Not a sound to be heard. Whereas before I could still hear some bugs and birds, yet neither can be heard here. All except one sound. Something rustling in the bushes. Slow, heavy steps resound around me, coming ever closer. Then it jumps out at me. Aiming for whatever being is wielding the axe as it probably knows from experience that tool-holding beasts carry, well, tools. Alright, I¡¯m tired of being overly descriptive. I¡¯m in the woods. Like deep in there. My previous descriptions still hold true though as there¡¯s only me and one confused wolf here. It tried to attack me, but is utterly baffled at how there is no human, or other, holding the tool. Now, it¡¯s sniffing around for any other person nearby that might be using magic, but no, it¡¯s just me. Weird thing is, there¡¯s no other wolves around. They run in packs, so a lone wolf shouldn¡¯t exist, unless¡­Their pack is dead and there¡¯s no other pack for them to join. Oh well. I swing my axe towards its neck. Promptly ending its poor, lonely life. [ You have killed a level 13 ¡°Ebony Wolf¡± x 1. 60 experience points gained. 10 Spirit Tokens gained. ] [Your level has increased by 1. ] [ Your Spiritual Matter has been restored and has increased by 50. ] [ Your magic has been restored and has increased by 20. ] [ Your mana regen has increased by 5. ] [ Your power has increased by 4. ] [ Your endurance has increased by 5. ] [ Your intelligence has increased by 4. ] [ Your wisdom has increased by 5. ] [ Your dexterity has increased by 3. ] Alright. Strange. My stats actually increased. They are no longer zero, but it doesn¡¯t do anything. I can¡¯t interact with the physical world. Ducal Vengeance I continue floating through the forest. The leaves grow ever darker as I float past them. I don¡¯t think this forest should be this dark in the first place. The leaves haven¡¯t become this thick; have they? I have some ideas that could use lumber, but I would need more strength first. Some of the items in the shop are books by a Dr. Archimedes, and some blueprints as well. Funnily enough, the physical items themselves are ridiculously expensive. A simple stainless steel spoon cost millions of Spirit Tokens, but the various recipes for making stainless steel and shaping it only cost a few hundred. Meanwhile, skills are the cheapest, such as Library which would store any information I¡¯d like. It also mentions storing the data I can buy from the System, so I will need it eventually. It just costs 20 Spirit Tokens. At least my nights spent browsing the internet will have some use now. ¡°Hahahahaha¡­¡± I hear a deep, coarse laugh from within the depths of the woods. Not ominous after all. I glide forward, keeping my current pace. I don¡¯t really fear whatever is making that creepy laughter. Eventually, a small, red dot can be seen in the distance. As I float forward and it grows bigger, I find something strange. ¡°Hahahahaha¡­ Oh, a new personage appears,¡± the laughing creature is a ghastly-looking man. Perhaps ghostly would be more apt with his red, see-through skin which means he¡¯s similar to me. His skin is wrung tight as his gnarled hands clench tight into fists. He appears to be a middle-aged man with noble attire. His waistcoat sports a golden pocket watch that is missing its lid and showcases the broken glass within. Oh yeah, and his eyes are literally on fire. ¡°Hmm, do I know you?¡± The man strokes his chin. Actually, he looks kinda familiar too, but I just can¡¯t place it. I guess it wasn¡¯t that important. ¡°Hmm, must have not been all that important then. Well, whoever you are, feel free to kneel down before your new master.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Hmph. Glad you asked.¡± The trees around us begin shaking wildly as he floats up in the air and his body glows brighter. ¡°Fear.¡± A log suddenly thrown through the air, straight towards me. I cross my arms, unimpressed, as it flies through my incorporeal body. The man floats down as he is faced with an unexpected outcome. ¡°Huh. You look more human than the other ghosts I have encountered.¡± ¡°Does that mean you won¡¯t throw a tantrum then?¡± ¡°TANTRUM?!¡± He clears his throat and calms down. ¡°No. It just saves me the step of killing you. Now-¡° His chest begins growing darker and the black spot formed becomes more swirly. ¡°Dinner time.¡± His dramatic flair is something, I must admit. But his use of the same gag where he transforms and says a short phrase loses its effect when he does it a second time. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. The swirl grows strong as it begins to drag me toward it. A glide slightly backward, just out of the reach of the pull. The man gives a disgruntled frown as he glides forward as well. ¡°Oh, so that is how you would like to do this?¡± He appears right before me and swipes down on my shoulder. I get knocked away before I can react. Oh, that actually hurts. Status, health. Oh wait. Status, Spiritual Matter. [ Spiritual Matter: 110/150 ] Damn, that¡¯s some damage. I sit up, and see specks of glowing matter in the air. The man is desperately licking these specks up before they float away. Wait, are those parts of my spirit? Strange. Wouldn¡¯t those be stopped by the barrier surrounding the estate? Couldn¡¯t this guy just get them after the battle? Does he not know about the barrier? Is he even stopped by it? Might as well attack him while he¡¯s distracted though. My axe floats up behind him, swiping through his form, surprisingly causing specks to fly out of his back. Hmm, interesting. The log passed through me, but my axe can harm him. I raise my axe above him and cancel my telekinesis. The axe harmlessly passes through him. So it is my skill. As he is now enraged, he charges towards me. I reactivate my skill and summon the axe towards me, and parry his swipe with the flat side of my axe. His hand claws through the ground. Literally through as the environment remains unchanged. Before he can turn to face me, I swing the axe through his neck, decapitating him. A flood of specks bursts out of the neck, but instead of the man dissipating, or anything similar, he effortlessly picks up his head and places it back on. Shit. ¡°That¡¯s cheating!¡± I yell out at the injustice. How can this guy just ignore a fatal attack?! ¡°I believe that a ranged weapon also gives you an advantage,¡± he charges towards me to which I jump back. His charge seems slower than before. Is this damage slowing him down? Sidestepping his next charge to the right, I jump forward while swinging my axe. I chop off his arm which he simply places back on, but not before spewing out those specks. I continue our dance, but his speed isn¡¯t changing. Perhaps it¡¯s something else that slows him down. I jump back at his swing again. He¡¯s grown slower now, but why? Hmm, that¡¯s new. Why is he glancing behind him? Unless¡­ I start walking backwards while maintaining eye contact with the man. As he charges towards me, he noticeably grows slower as he comes towards me. So, he¡¯s probably linked to a place, or perhaps something, and he must stay around that thing. Kinda the inverse of my barrier. ¡°Get, huff, back here, huff, child!¡± The man gasps for air as he continues trying to reach me. ¡°Why?¡± I taunt. ¡°I need- *huff*, *huff* to- *huff* kill- *huff*, *huff* you!¡± The man is really not doing well right now. ¡°AH!¡± The man has now collapsed. Oh dear, it would be such a shame if a random axe happened to chop him apart limb from limb. ¡°AH! AH! STOP!¡± The man screams for mercy at the axe¡¯s actions. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°PLEASE! IT HURTS!¡± Is he crying? Didn¡¯t know we can cry. ¡°No.¡± ¡°WAI-¡° The axe splits his skull in half, which seems to be the final straw that broke the camel¡¯s back, as he explodes in a flurry of specks. Hmm, no death notification? I wander back into the woods where I encountered the man. It¡¯s still filled with the inky darkness, but a faint red glow is emanating from a familiar pocket watch. It¡¯s the man¡¯s watch. I slam the axe onto the watch, shattering it. [ You have killed a level 8 ¡°Vengeful Spirit Duke Harrison¡± x 1. 490 experience points gained. 20 Spirit Tokens gained. ] [ Your level has increased by 3. ] [ Your Spiritual Matter has been restored and has increased by 150. ] [ Your magic has been restored and has increased by 21. ] [ Your mana regen has increased by 6. ] [ Your power has increased by 1. ] [ Your endurance has increased by 1. ] [ Your intelligence has increased by 5. ] [ Your wisdom has increased by 5. ] [ Your agility has increased by 0. ] [ Your dexterity has increased by 0. ] [ Due to the defeat of an enemy, you have unlocked the skill: Spiritual Matter Absorption(Minimum, Active) ] [ Due to the defeat of an enemy, you have unlocked the skill: Possession(Active) ] [ Due to the defeat of an enemy, you have unlocked the skill: Spirit Projection(Minimum, Active) ] [ Spiritual Matter Absorption - Allows the user to absorb and convert the remains of Spirits into experience. ] [ Possession - Allows the user to possess an object. The main spirit is bound to the object and cannot move. Other skills may still be used. The object can be destroyed to permanently destroy a Spirit. The object can permanently bind a spirit to the mortal plane. ] [ Spirit Projection - A skill to be used in conjunction with Possession. It allows the user to create a projection from an object. This projection is as visible and tangible as the normal body, and can still damage the user¡¯s status. However, if the projection is destroyed, the main spirit will still live. The projection can only move a certain distance from the possessed object. ] I use Spiritual Matter Absorption and such up all of the specks in the air. [ You have gained 1 experience point. ] Wow. That is some really bad mileage. Which begs the question: How many spirits had that man consumed to get to level 8? Perhaps the rest of the mansion staff, and maybe the Ducal family too? I wonder if he consumed the Duke¡¯s soul. What was the Duke¡¯s name again? Beginning Robo-Golemancy I wander back into the mansion. Finding my way to the kitchen, I eventually come across a slightly rotten pickle. Hmm, that should work for my experiment. I use Possession on the pickle. I feel my entire existence being squished into the small phallic shape. It¡¯s similar to being sucked down a very small vacuum tube, and if I were claustrophobic then I would be terrified. Alas, I am not. Interesting. While I¡¯m inside the pickle, everything is dark; I can feel nothing. This is most likely due to the pickle being a vegetable and not in possession of a nervous system. Projection, on the other hand, allows me to fly away from the pickle, but only about three feet. A small red tether also links me to the pickle. Now, here¡¯s an important question: What do I want to do? I really don¡¯t do much. I lived my first life mostly peacefully, dying to help my friend. I lived my second life uneventfully, dying to a plague. Now I¡¯ve been given a third chance, but I¡¯m stuck where I am. I can still interact with the world, somewhat, but I don¡¯t even know if people can see me. And just to add insult to injury, I¡¯m stuck on this property. This extremely large property on the edge of the country¡¯s capital. I guess I may as well just mess around with the estate until something changes. Level some skills. Maybe buy some too. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Right. So¡­it took five hours. It took five hours for me to clean the entire mansion with my telekinesis. I mean, it did rank up again, so I¡¯m at about 800 pounds. I did find some goodies like the Duke¡¯s personal treasure room. Guess what? It was hidden behind a bookcase in his room. The man kept a ton of gold, silver, copper, and platinum coins in there; however, I was interested in something else. A set of inscribing tools. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Runic Inscribing is essentially programming with magic. Specifically, object orientated programming. I would say this is a great boon, but the tools are a fancy set, made for showing off and not using. Anyway, long story short, I bought a Carpentry skill for 10 points. An axe into the forest brings be a sizable log for me to whittle down with my several knives at my command. I strip the long into thin yet sturdy rods with notches for interlocking. I create some wheels for pulleys and joints. I attempted a omni-directional joint, but my skill is nowhere near good enough to make one of those. I make a torso and a mask. They¡¯re just a concave plank and a massive hollow log. The feet and hands get much more intricate parts. And numerous too. So yeah, I¡¯m making a puppet, but this looks pretty average. [ Through repeated actions skill: Carpentry(Minimum, Passive) has ranked up to Carpentry(Minor, Passive) ] Confiscating some leftover threads from the servants¡¯ quarters, I wire the limbs together. It¡­takes a while. There are a lot more joints than I remember making, but they each have a pulley and simple joint to which they need a wire. Now here¡¯s the hard part. Yeah, all of that work was the easy stuff. I¡¯m in the back of the mansion. There are several loose pebbles here, but I need certain stones, and they need to be of certain size. Shape is tough, but I can whittle them down if need be. It would be amazing if I had some gemstones¡ªespecially mana-infused ones¡ªbut the only ones I have are lodged in the furniture; I don¡¯t want to damage them too. Let¡¯s see¡­some limestone should be good. It¡¯s soft enough for me to whittle, and it has a good Earth and Water connection. Those combine to form Life Magic and that should add some vitality to the puppet. I would like some obsidian and topaz, but beggars can¡¯t be choosers. Using the pickaxe and knives, I attempt to make disks of varying sizes. I fail a few times with a some missed swings, or too much power. In the end, I did get some limestone fragments that could pass for circles¡­if you squint hard enough. Now, I just have to place the disks on each joint and pulley, then inscribe them to work in tandem with the main motherboard I¡¯ll have to make, then I just have to figure out how to connect them. It¡¯s at times like this when I miss having Stack Overflow. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Alright, now for the finale. I must Possess this adequate puppet. I really need to spend some more time on this demonic-looking nightmare, but that¡¯s a problem after I figure out if my assumptions work. My soul shifts to fill the wooden container, aura flowing into each limb and ligament. The magical motherboard sends a small pulse in reaction to my mana. Sending one back, the cycles begin sending pulses of mana throughout the puppet- No, rudimentary golem¡ªin an initialization process. I slowly, methodically, prop myself up, slipping slightly under the unfamiliar feeling. I quite literally am incapable of feeling anything, and I have to eyeball all my movements. There also seems to be a delay between my thoughts and the action performed. I jump around and stretch a bit to test this body¡¯s limits. Hmm, another problem: the mana between my soul and the motherboard gets a little muffled, so any action will be slightly less than what I want. Perhaps it¡¯s due to the power supply also being the I/O bus, namely me? And now, a brownout leading into a blackout as I run out of mana. The body collapses as the magical particle no longer circulates and moderates function. It¡¯s¡­strange feeling locked away in here. I un-Possess the body and hover above it slightly. Hmm, so basically movement only and sight as the only sense. I can¡¯t exert more force than I like nor stretch the body. I can¡¯t speak nor use any of my five senses, par sight, but even that leaves things to be desired. Mainly basic sight actually. Yeah, I wired some rubies I found into the mana network, but they just act as mana ultrasonics, revealing only the basic shapes of things that possess mana and exist in the physical world. I wouldn¡¯t even see other spirits with this. Oh boy. I have a lot of work cut out for me. Building Many A Things I need a place to work. It¡¯s fine to work in the empty mansion, but if anyone sneaks in, I need a place to hide and keep private. I have some plans for the future, but it¡¯s best if they¡¯re kept secret. High enterprising secrets. Luckily, I have a shovel, a pickaxe, and nothing but time. Telekinesis helps; especially since that means I won¡¯t get tired. Using anything that can be considered a bucket, I use the pickaxe and shovel to loosen up the bricks in a wall and the dirt beneath. Telekinesis, sadly enough, does not allow me to circumvent weight limits by focusing on the bucket only. I don¡¯t even know why I¡¯m doing this. To distract myself from the inevitability of insanity that comes from an immortal, unending afterlife? Most likely¡­ That¡¯s an issue for the future me. What I need to worry about now is fulfilling some childish dreams of my own. Like having my own fort, maybe getting a girlfriend in a medieval world where the Sexual Revolution has not occurred, and will not for centuries. I need a comfortable technology level to operate my dreams. Maybe, just maybe, if I play this right, I can rule the world. What are we doing tonight? The same thing we do every night. God, that show hasn¡¯t aired for centuries. Anyway, I¡¯m going to have to Dr. Stone this situation to the extreme. An uncouth person would replace the last four words of that sentence with ¡®bitch¡¯. I''m going to have to Dr. Stone this bitch. Except with minimal chemistry. I¡¯m cold, not emotionless, nor a perfect little princess. Cursing is what I want to do, and a few words here and there can¡¯t even begin to underline the situation I¡¯m in. A few logs that my axes had cut and stripped earlier are lined up to support the catacombs I¡¯ve dug out. Obviously, they aren¡¯t optimal for what I want, but a basic series of rooms and passageways underneath don¡¯t need much. Steel could add multiple levels, but that¡¯s a future prospect. A prospect that could lead into me taking charge of an Industrial Revolution, and subsequent Gilded Age. Perhaps I should deal with the farming situation before the revolution, though. Eli Whitney¡¯s Cotton Gin and Interchangeable Parts should work fine. Then Lowell¡¯s Mills, minus the poor working conditions and what is practically slave labor. Bessemer Process for steel. Electricity, oil, railroads, banks. Mass production, here I come! Let¡¯s not get ahead of myself. I¡¯ll need people in charge. Quality golems. That¡¯s the most likely solution. Most feasible, too. I just need to deface the copper currency to make a rudimentary microphone to be able to listen and a poor speaker. Then, put on a cloak, pretend to be an elderly person¡ªwho would be a sight to see due to the medical technology available, except for Light Magic¡ªthen buy things. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. I¡¯m not going to make everything myself¡­ Well, I am! I¡¯ll just start with poor quality tools, regardless of how the saying goes, then make better tools from there¡ªShip of Theseus style. Now, time for a crappy crafting montage. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª [ Through repeated actions skill: Spirit Telekinesis(Major, Active) has ranked up to Spirit Telekinesis(Maximum, Active) ] That was boring. Specifically, creating a hole in the ground with buckets. Then lining up the pillars and beams. Small air vents for air. Not that I need it, but the lanterns do. Anyway, the telekinesis ranked up twice. From a good 800 pounds, to then what I assume 3,200 pounds. If I follow this linear slope, then my current weight limit should be 12,800 pounds. All with my soul. I could easily life a few cars now. I lifted at least thrice that amount out of the foundation of the mansion. In the end, the forest now has a sizable mound in it now, and in a similar way, a good portion of the riverbank is missing. Why? Clay. I need a basic furnace to melt down these coins. However, that means clay, which also means charcoal, which means wood chips from the flying axe in the forest. If I can find coal, that means coke fuel. Coke fuel means I don¡¯t need as much air pumping into a clay furnace. Of course, at that point, I would probably be using steel furnaces, but let¡¯s not get ahead of ourselves. So, a poor excuse for a furnace that looks like a three-year old¡¯s craft project is filled with hastily-made charcoal. At the center, a crucible made of clay sits. The sand molds carved with Telekinesis are most likely the most detailed part of this project, and even they don¡¯t work right. I need copper wire. I don¡¯t have the tech required for wire, so thin metal strips are my next best option. I ignite the coal the good ol¡¯ fashioned way: friction. Using Telekinesis, I rapidly spin a stick, heating up the coals until they smoke. Dumping the copper in and using the aforementioned skill, the copper slowly begins to melt. Normally, this would never get hot enough to melt copper. I must admit that I¡¯m cheating a little. The Element Shift skills are both alchemically based, meaning that I can shift things around the periodic table. It¡¯s typically used for turning gases into another. There isn¡¯t much to change anyway. In this case, I¡¯m concentrating the carbon in the charcoal. [ Through creative actions you have unlocked the skill: Element Concentration(Minimum, Active) ] [ Element Concentration ¡ª A skill to separate and condense elements in an object. Additional mana can be added to convert the excess elements. Cost: 10 mp per gram. 2^(x-1) per gram of element shifted by periodic mass number. ] As it should be. Unfortunately, this also kills all of my mana in a matter of seconds. The atomic mass of the leftover calcium and the several valence shells quickly drains my pool beyond the point of equilibrium. The copper eventually melts, and I take the crucible out, pouring the contents into the molds. I can¡¯t make true microphones nor speakers without magnets, so I have to do this in a roundabout¡ªand musical¡ªway. What I¡¯m doing would be typically done with high-carbon steel wire coated with copper. These are strips of ¡®pure¡¯ copper. If I had more mana, then this would be actually pure. Then I use some locks to put tension on the strips. A few small hammers hooked up to my mechanical, magical motors, and I now have a shitty piano. I can twang the notes, and it can almost be mistaken for a voice. ¡­Screw it. I have thirty tokens. This should only take about ten, anyway. [ Through purchase you have unlocked the skill: Sound Magic I(Minimum, Base) ] [ Through purchase you have unlocked the skill: Vocal Emulation(Minimum, Active) ] [ Sound Magic - The base skill for using magic with a modicum of comprehension. ] [ Vocal Emulation - Uses magic to project the user¡¯s voice. Cost: 2 mp per minute. ] Right. Time to work this into the piano. It¡¯s always much easier through a medium. ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª A bit of tinkering later, and I now have a microphone and speaker set. Best part is: I made it sound like my original voice. Not this¡­wispy¡­reverb¡­stuff. It¡¯s cool, but other people would probably be freaking out at a reversed echo. Here I stand, at the edge of the property boundary, after a quick fly through the forest path. The sun beats down, yet I am unable to feel even the heat. My donned cloak covers most of my¡­non-human deficits. Preparing my psyche, I step through the gate. ¡­ ¡­? YES! Haha haaaaa! Suck it, universe! No property boundary can stop me! *Crash* My body collapses as I run out of mana¡­again. Fuck. My spirit is forcibly pulled out of the body and back through the gate. I sigh and use Telekinesis to pull the body back. The far-off view of the capital city, across the plains, seems so far away. Why is there a mansion here? Is this the Duke¡¯s capital estate? I¡¯d expect him to have like¡­land, not so close to the city. Well, he does have a massive, perhaps artificial, forest. So what happened to his old land? Doesn¡¯t matter. It¡¯s back to the drawing board for me.