《Who Says A Lich Can't Be An Adventurer?》 Prologue: A minor side-character dies Aedifex Venenatus looked about his carefully cleaned store with satisfaction. The large stone and wood store had none of the gleaming marble and glass his father¡¯s grand store in Medietas had once boasted, but the Venenatus family had to leave all that behind when they, like most of the skilled artisans, had fled the Hero-Cursed Kingdom¡¯s crumbling cities. All of the new City states they had founded just outside the kingdom¡¯s borders were still in the rough and functional stage, and Aedifex¡¯s Enchantments was as high-class a store as anyone had managed to build yet. It¡¯s just too bad that there were so few people who could afford high-quality enchanted gear these days. Therefore, as soon as he heard a customer walk in, Aedifex hurried behind his counter, put on a professional smile, and gave his usual ¡°Welcome to Aedifex¡¯s Enchantments¡± line. That... might have been a mistake this time. The young man who just walked in had to be in his teens still. Strangely, he carried a sword and was dressed in clothes that resembled a uniform, but were too thin to be any kind of armor. At least the fabric seemed to be of high quality, and the stitching was very regular. The young man eagerly pointed at various items, always ones with silver plating or that had a visible glow to them. Aedifex patiently described the enchantments on each of them, but he declined to pick up any of them to show the young man more closely. The shelves all had an enchantment that would shock anyone but Aedifex who tried to pick up an item, something the too eager young man learned no less than four times. Finally, Aedifex felt he had to ask. ¡°Young man, you do realize that the items your looking at all have a price measured in gold right?¡± ¡°Eh?! Ah, well...¡± He looks around nervously, he clearly doesn¡¯t have the money. He suddenly brightens up. ¡°Ah! But you should give me a discount! Or maybe credit. After all, I am a Hero!¡± He looks very proud. I try to make sense of what he just said. ¡°So, you''re robbing me?¡± ¡°What? No! I just told you I¡¯m a Hero!¡± ¡°Yes... I heard you.¡± ¡°No, I really am! You can trust me!¡± ¡°You want me to trust you because you''re a Hero?¡± ¡°You... just what do you think a Hero is?!¡± ¡°... An overpowered idiot who slaughters and wrecks everything and expects everyone to love him for it?¡± ¡°You... you... you... that¡¯s not a hero at alllllll!!!¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m pretty sure everyone would agree with me. Well, unless they¡¯ve been under a sleep spell for the last 30 years.¡± ¡°You... what happened 30 years ago?¡± ¡°...That¡¯s the day the Hero was summoned. Over in the Hero-Cursed Kingdom.¡± He just stares blankly for about 10 seconds. Then his face contorts through an amazing array of expressions. Don¡¯t tell me he really has been asleep for the last 30 years? Or even... no. Impossible. There is no way the Benevolent Goddess could be so cruel as to send us a second Hero! This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. The bizarre Hero wannabe finally settled on an expression. If I had to describe it... I¡¯d say like a spoiled 6 year old just told the Snow Fairy isn¡¯t real. ¡°No! No! No! You jeeeerk!¡± He punches me. It¡¯s a wild blow without any technique, yet somehow it carries enormous power. I feel something break inside my chest and I¡¯m thrown into the back wall. The Hero wannabe... no, the True Hero looks stunned by what he¡¯s just done, then he flees with a wail. You damn Hero! At least toss me a healing potion first! Healing potion... I remember the healing potions under my counter. I try to move there, but I can¡¯t even crawl. Everything seems like it¡¯s spinning and I feel so cold. Wait! I can still control my mana! I wrack my brain desperately for a spell that would help me, but I have no aptitude for healing magic and enchantments only work on objects, not living creatures. Damn it! Are the decades I spent mastering enchantments worth nothing? Is my death going to become just a minor mishap in some idiot¡¯s Hero Saga?! No, no, I refuse to die like this! Refuse... to die? I suddenly remember a certain old water damaged book I stumbled across as an apprentice. A book on necromancy. Half of it was illegible, but among the surviving spells was one that fascinated me because it seemed just like an enchantment. Soul Anchor. Even all these years later it he still remembered it vividly. But what could he cast it on? He had no desire to spend eternity haunting one of his own items, and his body might be dying but it wasn¡¯t dead yet. Unless... he focused his Sense within his body and focused on something. His bones. They might technically be alive, but the life force was very weak in them. He could make the enchantment hold, he could! He chose a rib from his upper chest, it was large enough and relatively flat after all. With the combination of speed and precision only possible for a Master Enchanter, Aedifex began forming runes. Most he¡¯d formed thousands of times... but there was one he¡¯d never used before. Carefully, he took the rune for Life and fused it with a modifier meaning Opposite. Unlife. The enchantment attached, but it didn¡¯t solidify. Instead, it pulsed as though alive... or pretending to be alive. It was growing, he fed more mana in and it grew faster. Spreading first to the spine and then to the other ribs. Even the broken ones were included, in fact, they were actually straitening out and melding back together! No wonder necromancers always seemed to start with skeletons. He should have emptied his mana pool by now, but strangely he felt like he still had more. He kept feeding the enchantment as it spread through his skull and down his legs. Finally, after spreading across his entire skeleton it solidified. Aedifex sighed (mentally) and opened his eyes... or tried to. Chapter 1: A bad way to wake up Aedifex tried to open his eyes, but nothing happened. He couldn¡¯t see or hear anything. His taste and smell were gone, not that he couldn¡¯t taste or smell anything, the senses themselves were just gone. Touch was still there, but all he felt was this sense of pressure from all around. Pressure and... wetness. He was encased in something wet, tough but slightly yielding, almost like... meat. It was his own flesh he was feeling. He supposed he ought to be feeling nauseous right now, but somehow he wasn¡¯t. Maybe because he didn¡¯t have a stomach to upset anymore? Never mind, there was something more important to worry about. He couldn¡¯t move. Aedifex strained his muscles (or whatever he was using) trying to move his arms and legs. It wasn¡¯t that they weren¡¯t answering, he could feel pressure build, but something else was pressing back. Giving up on his normal 5 senses (well, 3 senses now) he concentrated on his Sense. Each magic user developed their own unique way of perceiving the world through mana, determined mainly by how they used it. All of these were lumped together under the generic term Sense. As an Enchanter, Aedifex¡¯s Sense was very short ranged and specialized in analyzing the composition of objects. Not exactly the best way to see what¡¯s around you, but under the circumstances... He concentrated on his Sense. First he sensed his skeleton... or his body, as he ought to get used to calling it. Still the same material, but now coursing with mana. Moving outward he sensed first a layer of dead flesh, then a layer of cloth, then... a second layer of cloth? Finally he sensed... dirt. Just dirt. Everywhere. He felt a bolt of pure panic. He¡¯d never been bothered by enclosed spaces before, but then again, he¡¯d never been BURIED ALIVE (minus the alive) before either. He got a hold of himself, pretty easily too. Actually, he felt like there were a lot of things he should have freaked out about before this too. It seemed like his emotions didn¡¯t build upon each other like they had when he was alive, they just sort of flared up and then dissipated. He supposed he ought to be disturbed by that, but right now it was useful so he was just going with it. Calmly thinking about this, it became clear what had happened. Even though it felt like Soul Anchor had only taken a few moments to cast, in reality it had been far longer. Someone else had come to his store and found... a body. From finding the body, time for the guard to look over the scene, a priest to perform the rites... it had probably been at least 2 days. That would explain all the extra mana as well, that was long enough to refill his mana pool 8 times. Well, at least he wasn¡¯t being kept alive (sort of) by a hastily cast enchantment. He¡¯d never spent 2 days enchanting a single item before, could he call himself a masterpiece now? Getting back to his current predicament, the first thing to deal with was that second layer of cloth... his burial shroud. He decided the easiest way was just to overload it with mana. Every rookie enchanter destroyed a few items this way before they learned to control their mana. Starting above his feet, he focused his mana to one point on the shroud. It quickly crumbled, and he moved the focus up, centimeter by centimeter. He got roughly half a meter before his mana ran out. He was pleased to note there was no feeling of tiredness from using up his mana anymore. At this rate he¡¯d be out of here in under a day. If he was still alive he¡¯d have needed to sleep after exhausting his mana that way. Finally making it through the shroud, the dirt was easy. Aedifex had studied earth magic to the Adept level, as it was useful for working with metals and ceramics. Targeting an oval column of dirt strait upward, he cast Quicksand, removing the friction between flakes of dirt. Anchoring his hands in the unchanged dirt to either side, he slowly pulled his way through the wet-mortar like dirt. And so in the dead of night, the newly revived Lich, the most dangerous kind of the feared and hated Undead, arose from his own grave... quietly, without any fuss or bother. A quick Level Earth spell and you couldn¡¯t tell anything had even happened here. Aedifex hadn¡¯t planned that far ahead when he chose Quicksand over more violent spells, he was just a naturally low-key kind of person. Now, he really wanted to look around but there was a problem. His eyes were in the way. Though anyone seeing him would think he was a zombie, the dead flesh covering him was not truly part of him. Since Skeletons were able to see, Aedifex ought to be able to see even with empty eye-sockets... only his weren¡¯t empty. Gouging his own eyes out didn¡¯t seem like a great idea to him. Also, he had no desire to walk around as just a skeleton, that was way too obvious. However, he needed to see curse it! Examining his eye sockets with his Sense, he realized one of his eyes had burst under the pressure of being buried. Well, he guessed he could cover that with an eye patch, and since he was going to have to cover it anyway... Trying very hard not to think about what he was doing, he forced his fingers into his empty eye socket and pulled out as much squishy stuff as he could. Suddenly, he could see! It was just in black and white though. Looking up, he saw stars. Ah! So it¡¯s like a Night Vision spell, let¡¯s just hope it changes back to normal when there¡¯s enough light. He wasn¡¯t surprised it was night, he felt like he¡¯d already known somehow. Night was... comfortable. He was a bit worried what sunlight would feel like, he should find a heavy cloak. Not only would it, hopefully, protect him during the day, it would also make it harder to see the state his flesh was in. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. That thought made him remember the disgusting lump still in his hand, and he threw it away randomly as hard as he could. A distant thump announced it¡¯s landing on the roof of a nearby chapel. ..... Well, there should be no reason for anyone to connect that with the recently buried Enchanter, should there? Speaking of which... he finally thought to read his own tombstone. Aedifex Venenatus 22 BH (before Hero) - 31 AH Master Enchanter Honest Citizen IS THAT REALLY ALL THEY COULD SAY ABOUT ME?!?! Well actually... he wasn¡¯t sure he could do much better himself. They had probably wracked their brains to come up with even that. He just hadn¡¯t done much of anything besides enchanting. Aedifex just got more and more depressed. Not only had he died single, he¡¯d never taken an apprentice or even published his techniques. He¡¯d left nothing behind, other than a lot of enchanted items... which he was now one of. Well, he couldn¡¯t go back to that life anyway. He pictured how people would react if the person they buried just showed up back behind his store counter like nothing happened. Then he realized there had probably been so few people at his funeral it would likely take a few days for anyone to freak out. Ah, he¡¯d gone and depressed himself again. But he still needed to leave town. His old life might have been utterly forgettable, but his new life (or unlife) would be different! Of course, he wasn¡¯t about to set off on some epic adventure with only the cloths on his back, he wasn¡¯t as stupid as a Hero after all! As quietly as possible he set off for his store, trying not to think about the squelching coming from his shoes. Fortunately, the town wall was still only half finished, so he didn¡¯t need to worry about gate inspection. His new night vision let him dodge the patrolling night guardsmen before they saw him, and no one else was up at this hour. Arriving at his back door, Aedifex discovered his keys were missing. His money pouch too. Well, obviously someone had paid for his funeral, and he had a feeling that person had been him. Fortunately, he had always been worried about being locked out, and had installed a little trick in his door. Placing his finger on a certain spot to the left of the lock, he inserted his mana and pulled. *clunk* Quietly, he opened the door and slipped inside. A quick search of his shop and attached home revealed that no one was here and the front door was locked and barred. It also revealed that his personal effects were disturbed, his strong box had been forced, and the most expensive of his enchanted items were missing. That must have been agonizing. Even if no one was there to stop you, stealing multiple items in a row could kill someone if they didn¡¯t use healing magic or potions in between. Likely, the local noble had ordered the cash and most expensive items seized immediately, then sent for an Enchanter from another town to disarm the shelves. If someone showed up who could prove kinship (Aedifex had a few cousins left, but none lived in this town) then the noble would just claim they were stolen before his men arrived, and if no one got here before the Enchanter he called, he¡¯d just quietly confiscate everything. He was a shrewd bastard that Duke Dyrecktor. Fortunately, Aedifex¡¯s real treasures, his tools and materials, were in an ordinarily looking box in his workshop. The box was enchanted with space magic, similar to an item bag but more sophisticated. In addition to having a much larger capacity, the space could only be opened using Aedifex¡¯s mana. If anyone else opened the box, all they would see is an ordinary box with just a few pieces of ore at the bottom. A quick check assured him everything was still there. Since it was impossible to put one item with space magic inside another, Aedifex rigged a pair of cloth straps to his box, turning it into a crude backpack, before hanging an average item bag (capacity 1 cubic meter) on his belt. He also decided to take one of each weapon and armor type, all ordinary looking but well made, the kind he sold to real warriors, not the showpieces he sold to nobles. Those items left a very weak impression, so even if the Duke¡¯s men noticed there seemed to be less items now, they would have a hard time figuring out what had been taken and when. One last stop to take two sets of sturdy travelers clothes (self-cleaning) and he left his store forever. At that moment, Aedifex discovered he couldn¡¯t sigh anymore. Chapter 2: The traveler who wished his feet could ache Being undead certainly had some advantages for traveling. Aedifex no longer had any muscles to tire, his feet didn¡¯t get sore, and while he could feel hot or cold, his mind just registered it as information without any attached discomfort. Also, he was pleased to discover his sight did revert to normal come sunrise. He still traveled mainly at night though, as travelers would likely wonder about the man cloaked head to toe on a warm summer day. However, all that didn¡¯t stop him from becoming mentally exhausted. The problem was his flesh. His hearing was muffled like he was underwater. Parts of flesh wobbled with every step. A layer of fluid had formed between his bones and flesh, and the flesh kept pulling away and snapping back creating, this infuriating rhythm of suction-pressure-suction-pressure. Also... wait, were those flies buzzing around him?! Alright, that does it! An hour later, a bare skeleton was squatting dejectedly by a stream, watching the last chunks of what had been his flesh float downstream. Guess he¡¯d really gone to pieces there. Gradually he realized it was more than just depression, there was no pain but something was clouding his thoughts and sapping his strength. On a hunch, he put his cloak back on and immediately felt better. So, it seems direct sunlight is a problem now that his bones were exposed. Retreating to the shade of a nearby tree, Aedifex put on the second set of travelers clothes, the first being beyond saving. Though he had placed a self cleaning enchantment on them, even magic had its limits, and over the past 3 days those poor clothes been soaked with fluids the inventor of that enchantment had never imagined, even in his worst nightmares. Examining his reflection in the stream, he found the way the clothes hung on him completely unnatural, even without the grinning skull face on top. He tried on various pieces of armor but they didn¡¯t help much. The steel cuirass made his chest look fairly normal, but it made his stick-like arms look even more unnatural. He didn¡¯t have a full suit of platemail, only knights wore those, and knights had gone largely extinct since the Hero-King began his reign 10 years ago. He looked around for anything he could use to bulk himself up. Grass or leaves would be too soft and would bunch together over time. Sticks would be awkward and lumpy. Rocks would be even more awkward, and too heavy. He toyed with the idea of carving a mannequin like body, but now that he was finally rid of that rotting flesh prison he was in no rush to encase himself in lifeless material again. It would also cut off his newly rediscovered sense of touch. As he was gazing at an outcrop of limestone nearby, a very odd idea came to him. With his Sense he had noticed that the material of limestone was oddly similar to bone. Perhaps it was similar enough too... Rushing over to the outcrop he cast a quick Shatter spell, and picked up one of the resulting shards. Taking a metaphorical breathe to calm himself, he pressed the shard of stone against his arm bone and began using Mend Enchantment. When an enchanted item was broken, the smaller piece would lose its enchantment and reattaching it (or attaching a new piece) wouldn¡¯t restore it. That was where Mend Enchantment came in. Aedifex placed a finger on the stone chip and several threads glowing with mana extended through the stone to his bone. Latching onto the enchantment, these threads gradually pulled it into the chip while Aedifex poured mana into the enchantment¡¯s structure to replace what was being extracted. A few minutes later, the enchantment solidified again, as if it had always included that chip of stone. Tickling the chip with a blade of grass proved it was just as sensitive as his bones. Now, the only problem was the stone¡¯s weight. After more thought, he had his second very odd idea today. This one would take more effort. Taking a crucible and heating stone out of his storage box, he filled the crucible with water and then set it too boil. Meanwhile, he gathered more limestone and, casting Flow Stone, molded it over the crucible as a crude stone lid. He carefully monitored the building steam pressure through his Sense. This was going to be either the cleverest or stupidest thing he¡¯d ever done. When the pressure climbed as high as he was willing to risk, he cast Flow Stone again, temporarily weakening the structure of the stone until it behaved like hot tar. The lid immediately mounded up and burst open in the center with a *PA-Ffffwweeeeeeeee!* sound. Ok... currently leaning towards stupidest. After a hasty reset he tried again, this time with a net of wires over the lid. This time the limestone puffed up like rising bread as steam bubbled through the gaps between wires. After everything had cooled, Aedifex discovered he had made something like limestone pumice. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Eagerly, he began producing more pumice and molding it onto his arm bones. He avoided his joints for now as, obviously, stone doesn¡¯t bend. When he was forced to stop to recover his mana, he worked at carving a mask and making a wicker frame to fill out his lower torso. Filling in his torso would add too much weight, so he would stick to his arms and legs for now. In a moment of inspiration, he realized he could paint the mask to look like a human face. With a hood up, and the mask in shade, it ought to fool anyone who didn¡¯t get too close. It wouldn¡¯t fool anyone he had to talk with, but it should at least keep him from getting interrogated by every passing guardsman. Finally finishing with his legs, he decided to just encase his feet, as it shouldn¡¯t matter weather or not his toes could bend. He soon learned better, as he was left clumping around like a soldier in heavy armor, a jolt going up his spine with every step. Seems feet are more complicated than he thought. Sighing, Aedifex took out a small harmer and chisel. Ok... that HURT!!! Note to self: stop binding stuff to your soul unless you''re sure you want to keep it. At least, thanks to his screaming, he had discovered his voice was back now that his throat wasn¡¯t in the way. He decided to avoid thinking about where the sound was coming from too much. A magician¡¯s perception of things had a way of influencing their magic, and if they kept telling themselves something shouldn¡¯t work, it might just stop working. Getting back to his joints, in the end the best he could think of was tying rags around them to add bulk. In just clothes you could still notice the lack of elbows and kneecaps, but under a full suit of leather armor (including gloves of course) he looked... fairly human. Human shaped anyway. As for the metal cuirass, he decided it would look too out of place on a spellcaster. Mages on Klishay wore cloth for the simple reason that if all members of a party wore armor, the mages could never keep up with the more physically fit warriors. Sighing (out loud now, he was pleased to note), he decided he would have to pose as a spellsword. As you might guess from the name (so close to sellsword) spellswords were not well regarded by society. Regarded as vagabonds who had failed to master either sword or magic, they fought by combining a few tricks from both. Generally unwelcome in parties, spellswords survived by taking jobs not worth hiring a group for. As such, they usually wore leather armor (the ones who could afford armor at all) and it wasn¡¯t rare for one to hide his face either, as it was a rare spellsword who hadn¡¯t had to do something illegal just to eat at some point. So, with this disguise no one should suspect Aedifex was a Lich. Only one problem, who would actually hire such an obviously disreputable person? Well, that one was actually quite easy. You see, there actually was a nation spanning organization that existed for the very purpose of hiring such shady not-quite-bandits, created by the Hero-King as one of his very first acts. Resuming his journey, Aedifex set off to join the Adventurers Guild. Chapter 3: The not-so-lovely city of Agrestis After many days travel, Aedifex finally arrived at the city of Agrestis. He had spent a fair bit of those days worrying about how he would get past the guardsmen at the gate, but now that he was here... Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, he followed another group of travelers as they calmly walked past the gate and walked through the huge gap in the city¡¯s wall, just 20 meters to the left of the gate. As he couldn¡¯t cry anymore, Aedifex settled on laughing, doing his best to ignore how dry and dusty it sounded. A single guardsman, in old badly maintained armor, just watched on silently. Aedifex didn¡¯t know why he even bothered to show up. From his expression, the guardsman didn¡¯t know either. On the other side of the wall, Aedifex discovered the gap in the wall was just one end of a 100 meter long gash carved through the city. It looked as though a giant sword had torn through everything... or as though some idiot had loaded an unimaginable amount of mana into a normal sized sword before carelessly unleashing it inside a city. ¡°I see. So this is the Hero-King¡¯s work.¡± In the 20 years between slaying the Demon King and inheriting the throne from the Idiot-King who summoned him, the Hero had frequently roamed the kingdom slaying monsters and criminals, each heroic journey prompting another wave of refugees fleeing the Hero-Cursed kingdom. As Aedifex and his relatives had fled early, before the Hero had become quite this "helpful", he had never really believed the stories told by later waves of refugees. Now he silently apologized for his doubts. Wandering the mostly intact streets, Aedifex wondered at the scarcity of people. Though there were other wrecked sections, they made up at most 1/5th of the city, while the population seemed like it was perhaps 1/10th of what it once was. If he¡¯d still had the ability to smell, the stench of ruptured sewer pipes might have given him some clue. Also, if he¡¯d still needed to drink he might have been told of the city¡¯s brocken aqueduct. For now, he decided the first thing to do was find a safe place to stash his odd ¡°backpack¡± before it drew the wrong kind of attention. An enchanter¡¯s tools were his life after all! Er... lets try not to think about that word ¡°life¡± for now, this wasn¡¯t the time to sink into another funk. Aedifex ruled out staying at an inn, as the someone who even slept in mask and gloves would be way too weird. The staff was also likely to wonder why he never ate or drank anything. Instead, he walked through another destroyed section, this one near the center of Agrestis. A particularly large rubble pile caught his eye, er, eye socket. Bits of marble hinted it had once been a noble¡¯s villa. More importantly, some probing with earth magic showed it still had an intact basement. Aedifex couldn¡¯t resist another laugh. Making a lair beneath the ruins of a ruined villa was very Lich like. Of course, it wasn¡¯t normal for said ruined villa to be in the heart of a still inhabited (barely) city, but that was life under the Hero-King for you. Rather than trying to find and excavate a stairwell, Aedifex found a spot hidden between the ruin and a stretch of partly intact outer wall, aimed down at where he¡¯d felt the basement, and started alternately casting Flow Stone and carefully controlled Crater spells. Liquefying the stone, pushing it outward, letting it harden as a ring of dense solid stone, in this manner he dug a 1 meter across, surprisingly sturdy, circular tunnel down to the basement. As the circular hole was a bit conspicuous, he spent a few more minutes artfully reshaping the edges until the entrance looked like just a natural void in the rubble. He then crawled down into his new home. Unsurprisingly, it was a dump. At least there weren¡¯t any rats or bugs, likely because there wasn¡¯t anything to eat or drink down here. Not a problem for Aedifex of course. He spent some time picking up loose stones and molding them into cracks and gaps, until the place stopped seeming like it would collapse on him at the first Quake spell. His night vision could get by with the little light seeping in from the tunnel, but as seeing in color would be better for crafting he set up some magic lights. To stop the light from being leaking out at night, he covered the inner end of the tunnel with a leather flap, working straps of leather into magicly softened stone to make a crude hinges. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. More or less satisfied with his new home, Aedifex lay down on as soft a patch of dirt as he could find to rest... or tried to. His body didn¡¯t need rest anymore, of course, but he could still get mentally exhausted. However, it seemed even his mind didn¡¯t need sleep, just letting it wander for a few hours was enough. He¡¯d had plenty of time for that on the way here. So, should he visit the Adventurers Guild now? After some thought, Aedifex armed himself with a spear and dagger. He didn¡¯t think he could carry a sword without other adventurers noticing he was an armature. In his younger, more pretentious, days he¡¯d often carried a fancy staff, so he could at least carry a spear like he was used to it. Hopefully, no one would be around the first time he actually used it. Besides, a veteran mercenary who had shopped at his store had been fond of saying the sword was a toy for nobles too lazy to carry a real weapon. Fortunately, the name ¡°spellsword¡± referred to anyone who fought with a mix of weapon and spells, an actual sword was not required. Aedifex realized there was one thing he was still missing. Money. There was probably some sort of entrance fee, and he was a suspicious enough looking character already without admitting he was broke too. Sighing, he saw decided he would have to sell some of his spare equipment. He moved a sword and shield into his item bag, before hiding his storage box in a dark corner under some debris, just to be on the safe side. Climbing out of his tunnel (molding a few handholds along the way) he set off to find the most disreputable looking weapon shop in the city. Why you ask? Well, imagine a stranger, covered up from head to toe, came into your shop looking to sell expensive enchanted items. Of course anyone would think they were stolen! His only hope was to find a shop that dealt in stolen goods, even if he would get a terrible price that way. In the end, he chose the store a little too well. Not only did the owner ask no questions about where he got the items, he turned out to have an equally covered up employee who tried to gouge Aedifex on his items, said gouging being done with a dagger in Aedifex¡¯s back. The dagger pierced through his armor and clothes before striking... nothing. Aedifex then decided to test the paralysis enchantment on his own dagger. It worked perfectly on the too eager shopkeeper, but Mr. Backstabby seemed to have some kind of resistance. Fortunately, he had been seized by a different kind of paralysis, as he tried to figure out what kind of thing he¡¯d just stabbed, and he died after half a dozen inexpert stabs from Aedifex. Ah well, he couldn¡¯t let them live after finding out his secret anyway. After finishing off the aspiring bandit/shopkeeper (which only bothered him because of how little it bothered him) Aedifex decided that as the other parties were now silent, it fell to him to negotiate a new agreement. 3 gold, 38 silver, and 122 copper in exchange for nothing, and also a 100% discount on the shop¡¯s merchandise. The two even threw in their item bags to help him carry all his new impulse buys. Returning to his new home to go through his loot, he was highly tempted to melt down all the ¡°enchanted¡± items. Is this what enchanters had fallen to in the kingdom?! Ok, granted it all came from a pretty disreputable source, but still! Half of it was only enchanted to glow impressively, but the ones meant to be genuine were almost worse. Most actually left the weapons weaker than they¡¯d been before! Well, it wasn''t his business anymore, so he should probably quit stalling. It was finally time to see if a Lich could be an adventurer. Chapter 4: Who says? A surly receptionist, apparently Aedifex stood before one of the newest and best maintained buildings in Agrestis... that was also a total wreck. It probably had something to do with the bar taking up half the ground floor. Really, what moron had thought getting adventurers drunk was a good idea? Well, Aedifex wasn¡¯t the one paying the repair bill, so he¡¯d just avoid that section. In the dingy soot stained reception area, behind a desk that seemed to have been attacked with a battle axe at some point, stood the single receptionist. A middle-aged brute of a man, wearing a sleeveless shirt to show off his thick heavily scarred arms. Good, at least someone at the Adventurers Guild had some common sense. He shuddered to think what might have happened to an attractive woman forced to deal with groups of disreputable warriors all day. Now if only the man would stop glaring at him. ¡°Hello good sir, I would like to register as an Adventurer.¡± ¡°Oh you would, would you?¡± Wow, this new glare actually makes the old one seem soft, I didn¡¯t think that was possible. ¡°I don¡¯t believe there are any special requirements?¡± ¡°Oh you don¡¯t, do you?¡± This guy needs a larger vocabulary. Oh? The glare stopped, but I don¡¯t think I like that smile any better. ¡°Of course, good sir. Anyone can join, just as long as you pass the background check.¡± He gestures to a glass sphere on the desk. ¡°And just what is this.¡± ¡°This orb will check to see if you¡¯ve committed any major crimes before. If you have it will glow red, if you haven¡¯t, blue.¡± Aedifex glared suspiciously at the ¡°orb¡±, or at least tried to project a suspicious aura. Even if he¡¯d still had eyes to narrow, everything was hidden behind the mask, so it was a fail. Holding his hand near the ball he briefly examined it with his Sense. As he¡¯d thought, it was a fairly cheep glass ball, with as enchantment similar to those sham items that glowed but did nothing. This one was a bit more complicated though. ¡°As it happens, I know a little about enchantments, but I¡¯ve never heard of such a convenient enchantment as reading someone¡¯s past.¡± ¡°Oh you haven¡¯t, have you? Well... if the orb isn¡¯t real then there¡¯s no harm touching it, is there?¡± ¡°Oh it¡¯s enchanted alright, but unless I¡¯m mistaken its only enchanted to glow blue when touched. Though perhaps it would glow red if someone pressed... that little button your finger is hovering over?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be paranoid sir. Now, I¡¯m afraid the background check is required, my good sir, so unless you change your mind about joining the Adventurers Guild...¡± Aedifex just stared silently stared at him for a while (though again, it was wasted because of the mask), before silently placing one mana charged finger on top of the ball. ¡°Oh look, it¡¯s blue.¡± ¡°Hero take it! Why... wont... it...¡± He gives up his useless jabbing at the button to give Aedifex a truly terrifying glare. It was so intense Aedifex¡¯s imagined it could peel the paint off his mask, he actually checked with his Sense, briefly, to make sure it was still intact. ¡°You. Just what did you do to my orb!?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be paranoid sir. Now, I¡¯m betting that if it turns blue you¡¯re required to admit me, right?¡± After all, since the orb was a fake to begin with, the rules wouldn¡¯t alow anyone to demand it be inspected, would it? The surly sir was obviously trying to glare even harder, but that previous glare just couldn¡¯t be topped. Now he just looked like he was constipated. ¡°Yes... by order of the Hero-King, anyone who has not committed a major crime, verified by magic, may join the Adventurers Guild and receive an id plate. Even some obvious criminal who hides his face behind a mask painted like a face of all things!!!¡± Several things become clear. The Hero-King gave an irresponsible order when he created the Adventurers Guild, and criminals had flocked to it as a way to get fake id. Given the sorry state of the Hero-Cursed Kingdom they definitely wouldn¡¯t have records of criminals from other cities. He didn¡¯t know where the Hero-King had gotten the idea that you could just use magic to check that, but someone had seized on it and made these fake orbs so the Guild would have an excuse to refuse suspicious characters. Otherwise, a criminal could just go from city to city getting a new id every time he was caught. In fact, if he hid his face he could probably get another id from the same exact guild house! With a jolt, Aedifex realized why the receptionist was so hostile towards him. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°Um... is there anyway I could convince you I¡¯m not a criminal.¡± ¡°Take off that mask!¡± ¡°...no.¡± ¡°Then no.¡± They just glared at each other for a while. Aedifex honestly hadn¡¯t thought there was anyone this dedicated and responsible left in this cursed kingdom. He guessed he should be glad and hopeful to meet him... but did he have to be the receptionist at this particular guild house? Uh oh, that nasty smile is back. ¡°Well, perhaps there is something. Since you handled the orb so well, you should have no problem with a Truth Rod?¡± Curse it, those do exist. They can only tell true from false though, or rather what the person holding them thinks is true or false, but they were near impossible to fool unless you¡¯re crazy, and worse, they¡¯re all warded against magical tampering. On the other hand... ¡°Isn¡¯t it illegal to make someone use one of those if your not a guardsman?¡± ¡°Oh, but I¡¯m not making you, you¡¯re volunteering.¡± ¡°And if I don¡¯t ¡®volunteer¡¯ I¡¯m not joining am I?¡± ¡°What are you talking about good sir? I¡¯ll handle your request with all the care it deserves.¡± Aedifex thought furiously for a few moments, before saying... ¡°I will only agree to 3 questions.¡± With a smirk, Surly brought out a plain, but impeccably carved, rod of quartz crystal. A faint patina of age covered it, obviously a relic of better days in the kingdom. He wondered how it had wound up in the hands of a guild receptionist, but that didn¡¯t really matter now. He reached out and grasped the rod. --Surly POV-- ¡°So, first question: Have you ever killed or robbed anyone?¡± ¡°I have killed people that tried to kill me first, and taken their possessions as loot.¡± I make an unhappy grunt. Turning the tables on bandits and looting their bodies was a common way to make money for adventurers. Then again, if no one was around sometimes adventurers would turn bandit themselves and just say the other party attacked them, but the rod glowed blue. The colors were blue for true, red for false. The fake orbs used the same colors to trick people into thinking the two tools were similar. Wait... he never said those were the only people he killed did he? ¡°And have you killed anyone that didn¡¯t attack you first?¡± ¡°No.¡± Blue, I just wasted my second question. I start grinding my teeth, gota stop that or the healer will be nagging at me again. I wrack my brain trying to find the perfect question to trap this shady guy, but I end up just blurting the biggest thing bothering me. ¡°Why wont you show your face?¡± ¡°Well, I don¡¯t have much of a face to show anymore.¡± There¡¯s so much wry bitterness in that I¡¯d believe him even without the blue glow. Ah, Hero take it, have I been bullying some guy who got his face ruined by a fire or something? --End POV-- Aedifex handed the rod back to the now guilty looking receptionist. That had been a risk, but with only 3 questions why would he think to ask ¡°are you an undead?¡± as one of them? His biggest fear was being asked ¡°what race are you?¡± Then again, acting evasive on that one might make people think he was just an elf or demon hiding himself because he was afraid of slavers. After that, the now perfectly respectful and competent receptionist processed his application. Aedifex gave his real first name, no last name, as there was no reason for anyone to associate Aedifex the Spellsword with Aedifex the Enchanter who¡¯d fled the kingdom 25 years ago. Actually, would anyone remember him at all? Probably not. Ah, depressed again. 25 silver? Oh, the entry fee. Aedifex shook himself awake and carefully counted out 25 silver, a bit tricky wearing gloves. At least there were no coppers. The base 100 currency system introduced by the Hero-King was regarded as one of the few good ideas he¡¯d ever had, and had become popular even beyond the kingdom, but it took some annoyingly small copper pieces to make it work. The receptionist finished making my id plate (an ordinary steel plate etched using an enchanted stylus) before asking: ¡°Will you be taking a job today?¡± ¡°Sure, what would be a normal first job for a spellsword?¡± ¡°Honestly... killing rats.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll take that then.¡± ¡°Are you sure? The pay is only a copper per rat tail, and the best spots are mostly near broken sewer pipes.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± Actually it was perfect for him. A normal adventurer would need to kill a hundred rats a day just to eat, and no way could he pay for an inn, but that wasn¡¯t a problem for Aedifex and neither was the smell. Best of all, there should be no one around to see his first clumsy attempts at using a spear. After receiving a crude city map with several red marks denoting rat infestations, Aedifex set off to kill rats. Chapter 5: Couldn鈥檛 they all just gather in an inn鈥檚 basement for me? A Lich was stalking a dark alleyway in Agrestis. This once prosperous city had endured many disasters since the Hero was summoned to Klishay, and those on top of the mismanagement of the Idiot-King that summoned him. By now, the city could probably be wiped out by even a small monster invasion, so a Lich stalking its streets was a very real threat to its existence. Was it seeking the city¡¯s overfilled graveyards to raise a hord of skeletons? Or perhaps it preferred zombies, and was planning to stalk Agrestis'' unguarded poor district (most of the city now) snatching victims one by one to create a nightmarish hord? No, it was... killing rats. Doing a rather poor job of it too. Aedifex cursed, quietly but bitterly. He had no smell to tip off the rats¡¯ sensitive noses, his dark grey cloak blended well with the dirty stone walls, and he could stay perfectly still for hours without discomfort. All he¡¯d had to do was place some moldy bread (bought for a few coppers) in an alleyway and step back 2 meters, and the rats would come right to him. He should have been a scourge to the vicious little things. Unfortunately... *swish* *squeak* another rat ran away unharmed. The Master Enchanter, who had no problem aligning dozens of runes in a perfect formation, was bewildered by the simple problem of how to align one steel spearhead with one rat. Perhaps the problem is he was trying too hard. Aedifex had been doing his best to copy the thrusts and sweeps he had seen customers at his store use, when they were testing the balance of his spears. Belatedly, he realized there was no need to put the full force of his body behind each blow, when the target was just a rat. Granted, one of those rats had been half a meter long, not even counting its tail (Aedifex had used almost a dozen Earth Spikes shredding that particular rodent when it appeared, then spent half an hour repairing the damaged street), but most of the rats were normal sized. In fact, if it weren¡¯t for the strengthening enchantment on the spear head, he¡¯d likely have damaged it banging it against paving stones when he missed. Deciding he had scared off too many rats in this spot, he went searching for another of the red marks on his map. Was the large box with a jagged line through it supposed to be that warehouse with a collapsed roof over there? There was another warehouse next to it that seemed to be still in use, so shelter with a nearby food source? That made sense. Poking around inside turned up quite a few rat droppings, confirming his guess. The warehouse had a bright center, from light poring through the collapsed roof, surrounded by shadows cast by walls and the jagged remains of its roof. Placing the remaining bread at the edge of the sunny area, he took position just 1 meter away in the shade. He held his spear above his shoulder, angled down 45%, and froze that way. He looked like someone had dressed up a statue in real armor and weapons. After what seemed like half an hour, but was in fact... about half an hour (his internal clock seemed much more accurate now that he no longer had instincts demanding things like food and rest) a rat carefully approached the bread, sniffing the air frequently. Finally, deciding it was safe, the rat leaped upon the bread and began eating as fast as it could. Aedifex brought his spear down, moving only his arm, in a short vicious jab. *SQuee...* Oh, that actually worked! After cutting off the tail, Aedifex threw the body away before taking up his position again. He was somewhat worried that the smell of blood left behind would scare off other rats, but it turned out he had the opposite problem. The rats all swarmed to the body while ignoring his bread! He should have remembered, while most of a creatures mana was released in a burst upon their death, some of it remained bound within their dead bodies. Eating monster meat was a very bad idea, as unlike the pure mana released upon death, mana locked within body parts carried the essence of the creature it had once been, and had a corrupting effect on whoever ate it. This effect could be fought off if the meat came from a much weaker creature (which was why you didn¡¯t see wolves with bunny ears, for example) but eating weak creatures would also add little to your own power. No, if one wanted to see a noticeable growth in strength, one would need to eat a creature close to you in power, and the only way to do that without also getting strange, possibly crippling, mutations was to eat your own species. Very few humans would sink to that, but rats would. The horrible wet crunching sounds finally came to an end, and the mob of rats dispersed. One frustrated rat, that had arrived too late to get any rat meat, noticed the smell of blood near Aedifex and began sniffing around hopefully. Disappointed, it eventually gave up and settled for bread instead. *swish* Aedifex, still a bit upset, missed again. It took two more rats before he managed a hit again, and this time he kept the body. He soon found himself surrounded by a ring of rats. Each time they would approach the growing pile of dead rats Aedifex would strike down with his spear. The rats would scatter, then creep back, their noses in the air sniffing for any trace of a predator, their eyes alert for any movement, until their greed overcame their fear and they rushed again. It occurred to Aedifex that he was essentially copying the role of a mechanical trap. A rat would enter the target area, and his arm and spear would swing down. To pass the time, he thought of various mechanical and magical traps he could build to take his place. He didn¡¯t plan to build any of them though. Even if he set up rat traps all over town he¡¯d be lucky to make a silver per day, and he wasn¡¯t planning to spend the rest of his unlife as a rat catcher either. He was here mainly for spear practice. He killed 11 rats in this way before the survivors finally wised up. Harvesting the tails, he also took the 4 most intact bodies to serve as bait. He was at a loss about what to do with the other bodies though. The bounty was just for tails, and he was sure the other adventurers just left the bodies where they fell. He was also fairly sure that giant rat he¡¯d found had begun its growth spurt after eating several such discarded bodies. Well it wasn¡¯t his city, but it bothered him to do shoddy work, even if that work was just rat catching. Aedifex had never learned fire magic, beyond a couple of basic fire starting spells, and burning them in a normal fire would spread the smell of burned flesh for hundreds of meters. Even in present day Agrestis, that had to draw guardsmen. He could bury them he supposed, but that was a lot of work for a few coppers worth of dead rats. Couldn''t that wait till he had more to bury? He didn¡¯t want to fill up his item bag with rat corpses, but if that was the only way to keep the other rats from stealing them... wait, steal? If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. It then occurred to Aedifex that there was one kind of trap he could set, quickly and easily because he¡¯d cast it countless times before. He just hadn¡¯t thought of it, because he¡¯d never considered trying to protect rat corpses of all things. Finding a flat slab of rock, Aedifex piled the rat corpses on it and cast his anti-theft shock enchantment, before moving on to another hunting spot. Returning several hours later, he was shocked to discover that little trap had turned into a seething mass of live rats and mostly eaten corpses. Diving into the mass, he got a chance to try using sweeps again, and he even killed a couple of rats with them. After the surviving rats ran off, he surveyed the gruesome scene and deduced what had happened. The shocks designed to ward off humans had actually killed rats outright, and some of them must have fallen off the slab. More rats had come to devour them in turn, then emboldened and driven into a feeding frenzy, they had gone after the original corpses he had left, repeating the cycle until the enchantment ran out of mana. Sighing, he picked up the few intact rat tails he could find, before casting the anti-theft enchantment again, larger with a greater mana reserve this time. Then he hurried back to his new hunting spot to discover a similar situation was developing there. Although Aedifex had never set out to single handedly solve Agrestis¡¯ rat problem, somehow he found himself setting up highly effective rat traps around the city and tirelessly checking and maintaining them. His body didn¡¯t tire of course, and the work had frequent bouts of monotony where he could rest his mind. Before he¡¯d realized it, 4 days had passed this way. The only reason he kept up this quixotic quest so long was that the piles of dead rats had drawn out more giant rats (too big to die from one shock, but too greedy to just leave) for him to fight. Moving past arm only jabs, Aedifex could practice putting his whole weight behind a thrust against these giant rats. It was amazing how fast you could learn a move when your body didn¡¯t get tired and moved exactly the same way each time. Though he wouldn¡¯t be bringing down Dire Wolves with a single thrust anytime soon, by the end of the 4 days he figured he could at least wound a normal wolf, even without using magic. Satisfied that he could pass himself off as a real Spellsword now (A Spellsword wasn¡¯t supposed to be an expert after all) he then discovered his original problem had grown far larger. What was he supposed to do with... all... these... DEAD RATS?! Finally, he decided to make a huge pit with earth magic, compacting its walls to keep out burrowers, and using all 3 of his item bags ferrying the hundreds upon hundred of rat corpses from various locations all back to this one pit. After covering the top with rubble and fusing it together into one giant slab, Aedifex felt confident no rat was getting in there. He then returned home, deciding that had been the only rat hunting job he would ever accept. Unfortunately, Aedifex had underestimated the tenacity and digging skills of the common rat. Roughly 1 week later, a single rat made it through the dense rock-like dirt surrounding the pit, and began immediately to gorge itself. Quickly growing in size and strength, it fought off all other rats that tried to steal its find, and continued to eat and eat for another 3 weeks. The rat corpses had long since rotted into a putrid near liquid mass, yet the massive rat stubbornly continued to eat, eventually becoming corrupted into a rare Ghoul Rat. Finally, 1 month after Aedifex had confidently sealed the pit and left, a horrifying Ghoul Rat burst to the surface, its body a mind-boggling 2 meters long. The only thing that saved the situation from tragedy was that the Ghoul Rat had become addicted to the taste of dead flesh, and disdained the living as a food source. Instead, after waiting for nightfall (finding the sun abhorrent now), it crept through the streets with a stealthiness one would not expect out of 200 kilos of pure horror, its still sensitive nose leading it to the city¡¯s largest graveyard. However, once there it discovered it had competition. 4 cowled figures were pulling a recently deceased body out of a grave. The newly enlarged, but still simple, mind of the Ghoul Rat was filled with rage. NO ONE TAKES MY FOOD!!! The horror fell upon them, the cowled figures stood no chance... but strangely, they never panicked, not even as they were being torn apart. That was when the Ghoul Rat made a discovery, these things were delicious! It had never tasted anything so good! Ignoring the barely ripe human corpse, the Ghoul Rat eagerly followed the scent trail the delicious treats had left, eventually arriving at a dilapidated manor... and the greatest feast it could have ever imagined. --Mortuum Ipsum POV-- The Lich, Mortuum Ipsum, stood in his now much less crowded manor. Just what had he done wrong? How could he lose so many minions, and in such an absurd manner?! He had taken over this manor 17 years ago, after the Hero had destroyed half the nobles¡¯ district in one of his rampages, and most of Agrestis¡¯ surviving nobles fled the kingdom. Even if the city was too dangerous for pampered nobles, Ipsum found it safer than any crypt or tower. The Hero just loved invading those! Since then, he had moved patiently and stealthily. Never taking more than one corpse per week, and always from the unmarked graves of those left unclaimed by relatives. Daily casting preservation spells on his zombies, keeping them fresh enough to pass as human, at first glance at least. Even keeping a few meticulously trained human slaves for the times they couldn¡¯t avoid talking to the living. Those had been used to bribe the city¡¯s guardsmen to ignore the ¡°squatters¡± living in this manor. Then yesterday, after 17 years of diligently avoiding trouble, he had sent 4 zombies on a completely routine harvesting mission. They never came back. Instead, that thing had come. The largest Ghoul Rat Ipsum had ever heard of, let alone seen, had come through his gates and started devouring his carefully preserved zombies! It had eaten 2/3rds of his zombies, and even smashed the Skeleton Warriors he¡¯d sent to stop it. It was only when the stupid thing had gorged itself to the point it could barely move, that his remaining minions had been able to surround and kill it. Really, just what had he done to deserve this?! Chapter 6: A difference of perspective Aedifex looked around his much improved home. The tunnel had become a short hallway, ending in a flight of stairs. The outside entrance was hidden by rough stone doors, made by molding rubble over 2 steel plates purchased from a local blacksmith. The basement had become perfectly square, with 4 round pillars now supporting the previously worrisome ceiling. There was a stone workbench for his tools, and even a crude bed, made just in case he wanted to lie down on a whim. All this had taken 2 days, meaning it had been 6 days total since he accepted the rat catching job. There was no time limit, and since he¡¯d gone a bit overboard hunting, he figured an extra couple of days would make his haul seem more normal. He¡¯d had another reason, besides just killing time, for all these improvements though. He was testing his mana reserves. You see, there were 2 main ways people on Klishay could increase their mana: The first and simplest way was to use up your mana pool, over and over, as each time it refilled it would be just slightly larger. This way was the way favored by mages, as it allowed for slow but steady growth without limit (in theory, in practice a limit was set by the length of the human lifespan). However, it was not favored by warriors, as channeling large amounts of mana left one feeling too exhausted to train. Some had tried training first their bodies, then their magic, but the double strain on their bodies proved too much, and a few had even died. The second, more dangerous, way was to slay monsters. When a creature died, most of its accumulated mana was released in one burst. Someone bathed in that released mana would absorb a bit of it into their mana pool, and more of it would be absorbed by their bone and muscle, strengthening them slightly each time. This was the way favored by warriors, as their job required slaying monsters from up close anyway. It was not favored by mages, as getting close to enemies was exactly what they didn¡¯t want to do. Also, unlike a mana pool, the amount of mana muscles could absorb had an upper limit, proportional to their original strength. So a human was never going to out muscle a bear, no matter how many monsters he killed. The sole exception to this was the Hero (or Heroes now) who¡¯s logic defying body just gulped down any released mana, without any kind of limit. Now, back when Aedifex had been killing rats he¡¯d tried and failed to detect any increase in his strength. Even if they were just rats, he¡¯d killed dozens of them (the hundreds he¡¯d killed with traps didn¡¯t count as they were too far away) and as the first ¡°monsters¡± he¡¯d ever killed they should have had the most effect. Yet he¡¯d gained no new strength, and despite using a great deal of magic since his death, his mana pool seemed exactly the same size as when he was alive. He thought he understood the rules now. After becoming undead, he kept all the mana he had built up when he was alive, and as a bonus he could now channel it without physical fatigue. However, the price was he couldn¡¯t increase his mana anymore. After all, the dead couldn¡¯t grow. He could still practice new spells and learn to cast the old ones more efficiently (his earth magic had already grown noticeably more precise and efficient from all the practice he¡¯d had lately), but that too would plateau eventually. Now Aedifex was not particularly ambitious. He had built up quite a respectable mana pool back when he was alive, and with unlimited time to practice he was confident he could eventually best even an Archmage in combat. That would seem to be more than enough power. Yet it ate at him. His father had begun his magic training when he was 6, and he had diligently used up at least half of his mana pool, every day, for all 47 years since then. To just quit after all that... Suddenly, he snapped out of his brooding with a laugh. Of course. He was an Enchanter first and foremost. If his body couldn¡¯t absorb more mana he just had to make something that could. Now the only question was, could he find a decent magical materials store in present day Agrestis? The answer, it appears, was no. Scrutaria¡¯s Magic Goods was even larger than Aedifex¡¯s old store, and located just 2 blocks from Agrestis¡¯ main guardhouse (the only one still in use), it was probably the most upscale store in the city... and it made Aedifex wish he still had tear ducts. There were no anti-theft enchantments, the ¡°valuables¡± instead were protected by a decorative wrought iron grill... that a strong warrior could probably pull apart with his bare hands. The enchanted items were all gaudy things covered in silver plate and crystals. I grind my teeth seeing so many perfectly good crystals wasted as just decoration, and on such terribly enchanted items! Each one carried a crude but powerful enchantment. It almost seemed like whoever had enchanted them was more concerned with pouring as much mana as possible into these items than he was in actually using it for anything. The result was that leaking mana was slowly degrading the items¡¯ materials, including those precious crystals! I was filled with a fierce urge to hunt down the ¡°Enchanter¡± responsible for this abomination and strangle him. Fighting down my rage, I move on to the next section, which seemes to be all potions. I know less about these, but I suspect they''re of similar quality to the enchantments. Even if the same type of potion varies in color based on quality and specific recipe, I''m still pretty sure there''s no health potion recipe that''s supposed to come out mauve. Well, I can''t drink potions now anyway. Ah finally, the materials section. Looking it over, I now know why all the enchantments in this city are so terrible. Clearly, all the competent Enchanters killed themselves upon seeing what they had to work with. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Most of the section was filled with monster material. That was the one kind of material that I have almost no experience with. Though residual mana made the hides of strong monsters much stronger than normal leather, that mana would gradually seep away over the years, and I refuse to make anything that would just fall apart eventually. Still, I''ve heard such equipment is popular among adventurers, who I suppose would be more interested in affordable equipment today, rather than in equipment they could pass on to their children someday. The trophy aspect was probably appealing too, though that carried its own risk. I''ve heard rumors of equipment made from monsters have a way of braking at the worst possible time. It seemes to happen particularly often when the person using the equipment is also the person who killed the monster it came from. Well, those were just rumors after all. I was about to give up when I notice something in a dark corner of the store. It seemed to be an entire fortuneteller¡¯s stall. Once gaudy, now faded, purple curtains acted as a backdrop for a table draped in the same material, and a manikin dressed in a once gaudy, now faded, loose red outfit. My gaze snappes to the orb at the center of it all. That''s no glass ball! As casually as possible I turn to the woman behind the counter, who is looking very confused for some reason, and ask... ¡°How much for all of this?¡± ¡°Ah?! Well... 2 gold.¡± I silently take out the money. It¡¯s over 2/3rds of my remaining funds, but I don¡¯t hesitate. The befuddled woman helps to pack the curtains and cloths into my item bag, I handle the precious orb myself. Honestly, I don¡¯t know what I¡¯m going to do with this pile of tackiness, but I don¡¯t dare draw attention to the orb itself. Doesn¡¯t anyone in this city know what a 25 cm sphere of perfectly clear quartz is worth? Um... probably not, if this store is anything to go by. The few crystals they were selling were clearly chosen for appearance and not mana capacity. This orb was probably meant to be the core of a fortress class barrier, but those took an entire team of Master Enchanters to cast, and teams like that just didn¡¯t exist anymore. Likely the orb had sat in some government vault for years, until no one could remember what it was for, and someone took it home as a knickknack. Muttering some polite nothings, I leave the store as fast as I can without being boorish. --Scrutaria POV-- I look up as someone enters my store. I should be happy, there aren¡¯t many customers who can afford my goods these days, but I¡¯m not. The reason is, this lout came into my store armed and armored! I do get adventurer customers, my store has the best enchanted items and potions in the city after all, but they don¡¯t have to dress that way to go shopping for the Goddess sake! I prepare myself to look him straight in the eye, and tell him to come back when he¡¯s dressed appropriately for this district. Only... I can¡¯t. Look him in the eye that is. The reason is... what I thought was his face was really a mask painted like a face! Did he really think he could fool anyone like that?! Though it did fool me for a few seconds... While all this is going through my head, the man started looking over the enchanted items section. Abruptly, this really frightening aura starts pouring out of him. Oh no, could it be... he¡¯s wearing a mask because he plans to rob me?! I clutch at the protective amulet around my neck with my left hand, while my right reaches for the cymbal on the wall behind me that¡¯s enchanted to make a tremendous ringing sound when struck (it almost deafened me that time I tested it). However, he stopped giving off that aura, and just moved on to looking at the potions. Confused, I decide to look him over with my Sense. Although I¡¯m just an Apprentice water mage, I¡¯m very proud of my Sense. With just one look I can tell how much mana is in any item. No shoddy enchantments can get past me! Looking him over, I¡¯m shocked to see his entire form ablaze with mana. His weapons are enchanted, his armor enchanted, I think even the clothes underneath might be enchanted! I¡¯m confused by how strongly they shine, though. I can¡¯t imagine any Master Enchanter would waste his time enchanting such plain looking equipment. Perhaps having them all together makes them look brighter? In any case, having that much enchanted gear of any grade makes him a man of wealth. But why would such a man wear a disguise just to look over potions? Could it be... he wants to secretly buy a love potion?! No, I wont do it! I wont help you take advantage of some innocent young thing! At this point Scrutaria lapsed into a fantasy of an overbearing noble slamming a bag of gold coins in front of her and demanding a love potion, and of herself bravely refusing, over and over, in the face of growing threats and ever larger bags of gold. Somehow in all this she forgot that she didn¡¯t have any love potions, or even know where to get one. 9/10ths of ¡°love potions¡± were just colored water sold by swindlers anyway. ¡°How much for all of this?¡± She snapped out of her fantasy to discover the man was pointing to the fortuneteller¡¯s stall. What? She¡¯d bought that years ago, thinking it would look impressive in her store, but she hadn¡¯t realized how cheap the dyes were. Now it was faded to the point she was embarrassed to even look at it. Despite her confusion, her merchant instincts let her rattle off a price roughly 4 times what she¡¯d be willing to take for it... and he actually paid it! Well, the casual way he spent gold confirmed he was rich. Perhaps he wanted to secretly buy a present for his daughter? At this point, she became worried he might have rushed to buy the set without noticing its condition. She hoped he wouldn¡¯t tell anyone she sold shoddy goods. After all, Scrutaria had a reputation to uphold. Her store sold only the best! Chapter 7: You should always try to have a big heart Aedifex was skipping with glee over his find. Well, in his mind he was skipping. Actually skipping would be a little hard, as he was wearing full body leather armor, and his joints were still wrapped in rags. The point is, Aedifex was very happy right now. In his mind the precious orb was already hanging inside his chest. Wait, hanging by what? He had a fair amount of silver wire, and even some mithril ones, back in his storage box, but for this he wanted something cheaper and sturdier. Detouring to the same blacksmith he¡¯d visited earlier, Aedifex was delighted to learn that not only did the man know how to make steel wire, he also kept a supply on hand that he could sell on the spot. Aedifex was... less delighted to learn that the reason steel wire was kept in stock is that it was used for holding together old mechanisms no one knew how to repair anymore. Shaking off a few cynical thoughts, Aedifex remembered his plans. Not letting anything else distract him, he rushed home to his tools and workbench. Stripping off his armor and clothes, he tossed away the wickerwork filling in his lower abdomen before pausing to take a look at himself. ¡°Ah, after over a week in disguise, I¡¯d almost forgotten I¡¯m a skeleton now.¡± Well, a skeleton and some weird patches of foamy limestone. Well, of course his body looked strange to him. Except for the hours after he¡¯d shed his flesh, he¡¯d spent the rest of his unlife (all 2 and a half weeks of it) covering it up. Forcing down that strange feeling, he spread out the steel wire loosely on his workbench, and cast a simple but effective rust prevention enchantment on it. He then took a moment to load his Melting Rod, before placing it to one side for now. Now, it was time for some self-improvement. Grasping the orb with his finger tips, he pushed it up from underneath his rib cage until it was positioned just behind his sternum. It was fortunate he didn¡¯t have any muscles now, or they would definitely cramp from holding 22 kilos in such an awkward position. Now for the hard part. Simultaneously moving and softening the steel wire with earth magic, Aedifex looped it around his right 4th rib down, at the front, curved it under the orb before looping it around the left 3rd rib down, at the back. Moving back and forth across his rib cage like this, he wove something like a cat¡¯s cradle of steel wire around the orb. Controlling an object this precisely using magic was very taxing. The mana cost might be low, but it required great concentration, and on top of that Aedifex also needed to soften the steel to pull it through all these loops. But what else could he do with only 2 hands? Actually... as an undead, shouldn¡¯t it be possible to attach an extra arm or two? No no, he wasn¡¯t going to make himself into more of a monster. Although when he thought about the number of times he''d wished he¡¯d had a third hand... NO! His thoughts became more frivolous, as his concentration was overtaxed. He began taking breaks to rest his mind, falling into a pattern of making three loops, letting his mind wander, three more loops, ect. During the breaks, he would daydream about thinks like a skeleton with a ridiculous number of arms waving them around, finding weird shapes in the coils of steal wire like he was cloud gazing, he imagined dashing out of the home of Scrutaria¡¯s enchanter in the middle of the night with a box of crystals under his arm, and the crystals weepingly praising him as their savior... Wait, did he always have such weird dreams before? Hm... maybe he had? But being asleep, those dreams had been forgotten. Dreaming while still awake might actually be the weirdest part of being an undead, at least to someone like Aedifex Those... Thoughts? Daydreams? Bouts of temporary insanity? Whatever they were, because of the need for them weaving the steel wires around his orb took 6 hours. During this time, Aedifex stayed in that awkward posture without moving 1 millimeter. There were definite advantages to being undead. Finally finished, he used a focused Heat Metal spell to weld the overlapping ends of wire together. Still holding the orb with his left hand, for fear of the wires being gradually pushed aside by its weight, Aedifex picked up his Melting Rod with his right hand. It was a relief to move things normally again. Well... ¡°normally¡± if you ignored the fact that said hand was made of bone and rock. The Melting Rod was a perfect 6-sided prism of rose quartz (the best variety for heat enchantments) left untouched save for a narrow hole painstakingly drilled through its center. A complicated enchantment created heat using the whole crystal, while simultaneously channeling all that heat to the prism¡¯s tip. A wire of impure silver was passed through the hole, melting as it emerged from the tip. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Quite a few of Aedifex¡¯s tools were made from varieties of quartz. Common quartz actually had the highest mana capacity of any known material, but it lost large amounts of that capacity with every fracture or inclusion. Finding perfect crystals was actually harder than finding rubies or emeralds (both of which, ironically, had terrible mana capacity), and purchasing them was made even harder because, even when someone found a perfect piece, they often thought it was just another crystal. Well, he¡¯d gained his new orb thanks to such ignorance, so he couldn¡¯t really complain. Channeling mana into the Melting Rod, Aedifex dripped a few drops of molten silver onto each point where the steel wire crisscrossed, fixing it into a stable web. He could have welded them all together using Heat Metal again, but that would ruin the steel¡¯s tempering. He only needed to keep the wires from shifting around anyway, the silver mixture should be fine for that. Finished, he could finally remove his hand. He should probably rest his mind for a bit, but he couldn¡¯t wait. It was finally time to enchant the orb! At this moment he realized that he¡¯d just wired the orb inside his rib cage before enchanting it. Not technically an obstacle (it was well within range of his mana after all) but Aedifex liked to hold an object in his hands as he enchanted it, just out of habit. After a moment of hesitation, he pushed his fingers between his own ribs to rest his fingertips on the orb. He then focused all his attention on it through his Sense. It would be fairly simple (for him anyway) to turn the orb into a giant mana battery, which he could tap for casting large scale spells. However, that would be boring. Instead, he was trying to make a trap for something he couldn¡¯t be sure even existed. Ever since his near death (well, actual death) experience, Aedifex had been thinking that binding a soul was a more complicated matter than the necromancers seemed to think. He had the feeling that his own refusal to die had as much influence, or more, than the Soul Bind spell. He had also heard that those who willingly became undead were on another level compared to those raised unwillingly. Could it be that only the willing ones had souls? He sincerely doubted binding a soul was something so simple any apprentice necromancer could do it, yet even apprentice necromancers could raise skeletons. So that begged the question, just what were they binding? Aedifex had a theory. When a person died and reincarnated, they left behind everything that they¡¯d gained in that life. Not just material things. Memories, skills, their mana pool... did those just disappear when someone died, or did they stay behind as a sort of residue of a person? If that residue existed, he had a feeling it could be used for more than just moving old corpses around. But could he capture it? Well, there was only one way to know. He started with Soul Bind as the core (still the only necromantic spell he knew) but he removed the part that designated the target, and he left it without borders. Around that core he spread branching strings of runes, each thread made of the runes for conduct and attract alternating one after the other. Where the threads branched from each other, he inserted the runes meld and refine as well. Finally, at the tip of each thread he added 2 runes side by side, attract and the rune for person with the center of the rune missing. The shell of a person, as best he could represent it. Relaxing his Sense at last, Aedifex discovered he had no idea what time it was. Moving to his home¡¯s entrance he opened the door a crack, making a mental note to drill a peephole soon, and discovered it was dawn. Around 14 hours then? He guessed he shouldn¡¯t be surprised, considering what happened last time he cast Soul Bind, but had it worked? He carefully examined the orb with his Sense. It was definitely enchanted, the enchantment wasn¡¯t leaking any mana, which should mean it was functioning properly, but was it doing anything? He thought he felt an intangible something being pulled on by it, but perhaps that was just wishful thinking on his part. Clearly, he needed something to test it on. Something not someone. No matter how curious he was, there were things he just wouldn¡¯t do. No, it was time to return to the Adventurers Guild and take his second job. Something other than hunting rats this time.