Norris, still reeling from his recent battle, focused on modifying the skeleton warrior's remains. He decided to transform the undead warrior into a formidable guard, one that would serve as a temporary protector of his shelter.
Norris felt kinda guilty. First he stole its home, now he used its remains too.
"Oh,the skeleton is still in its home? Just a guard now? Then I feel much better," he told himself—a joke to cope.
Deciding to also transform the environs, he had to go all out.
He sealed the environment to reduce the leak of his energy.The ambient mana felt like a cold, oppressive fog that lingered in the air, and so he added intricate seals to the spell, ensuring that the Death Realm's chaotic energies wouldn't interfere with his makeshift haven.
Runes were drawn; magic arrays were created. The skeleton guard was also modified. He drew simple strengthening runes on its bones and bound it with a contract magic—now Norris could effectively control it. He equipped it with a better sword and shield.
After he was done, Norris took a close look at his haven. The atmosphere transforming from cold, desolate, and deathly to… deathly with warmth?
From the desolate wilderness of death to a cemetery with traces of living—Norris was speechless at the change.
His haven could now successfully aid his spellcasting within the domain and shield him from the ambient mana of the Death Realm—though not harmful when not used, it hampered his spellcasting ability. And lastly, it could blend seamlessly into its surroundings.
The guard, too, effectively changed its image. From a white humanoid structure to a white humanoid structure with words on it. Pretty dope.
Norris struck the bones of the guard with his sword,and immediately the words lit up faintly. The bones remained flawless, clearly strengthened.
"Good enough,"he muttered.
Norris, done, set out to scout the surrounding areas. The landscape was bathed in an eerie, otherworldly glow from the swirling patterns of mana that danced in the distance. His goal was to gather valuable information about the local terrain and potential threats.
As he left, he looked back at his cave and its surroundings. What kind of massive beast could form this landscape alone, he wondered.
---
Clank! Clank! Clank!!
Norris slashed at the skin of a humanoid creature. He felt like he was trying futilely to cut a strengthened mystical wood. The pale skin was too tough and far from a healthy look. If Norris had a nose, he might have died just from the stink alone.
"The mana use of the undead creatures is indeed too primitive and crude. Mostly relying on instincts," Norris had time to think as he engaged in battle with a ghoul. The inability to slash the skin was just a momentary setback.
Norris had picked up an innate ability he had as an undead: mana scent. An instinctual ability undead possess, replacing smell to help navigate their surroundings.
With this, he sensed the mana as it moved chaotically through the ghoul.
The ghoul had roughly used its mana to protect itself. Any place hit expended mana to protect against Norris's sharp cut.
Clank! Clank! Schlick!
Norris slashed at its upper body and noticed a weak point on its lower body, which he swiftly cut. A gaping wound was left on the ghoul's left leg, dark ooze pouring out.
This verified his guess. Its mana control was chaotic and instinctive. If an area was under attack for too long, it tended to neglect others.
He could choose to wear it down slowly or use this knowledge to his advantage and gain a swift victory.
The ghoul might be stronger than him in strength, but he could think and plan. This advantage allowed him to stay one step ahead in the skirmish.
Before long,the ghoul was defeated.
Looking at the ghoul, he briefly pondered why he was the first to discover this.
Undead had been around long enough,with necromancers chasing them around. Mana scent had always been known as a trait, but its use in combat hadn't been popularized. Strange!
He could only come to the conclusion that while it had been discovered, it was not particularly useful for high-level battles.
Low-level mages with background, though, might have had a way to replicate it and use it for combat, but this wasn't something he—a wild mage—could get.
After the fight, Norris concealed his traces… to the best of his ability. He continued exploring.
As he explored, Norris occasionally encountered corporeal undead—skeletons, ghouls, zombies, and mummies—which he engaged in combat. These skirmishes allowed him to hone his melee combat skills so he could adapt to the unique challenges of this eerie world. Each encounter refined his combat awareness and helped him correct data that he used to develop strategies tailored to the local environment.
During his encounters with the undead, Norris observed that some of them seemed more spiritual and resourceful than others. Most initiate undead were barely intelligent, almost non-sentient, operating purely on basic instincts.
However, he noticed that as they evolved into Adept undead, their intelligence increased, becoming as smart as animals.
The more spiritual and resourceful ones resembled primates in their cunning and adaptability. These cunning warriors appeared to possess a primitive form of intelligence, allowing them to sense and avoid potential threats. Norris noted that they would deliberately steer clear of him, and he reciprocated by not pursuing them. This unspoken understanding allowed them to coexist, each respecting the other's space.
As he navigated the twisted landscape, he easily noticed that the most numerous in the surroundings were skeleton warriors.
After dealing with several such creatures, Norris's mana sense suddenly flared. A much denser presence—a heavily armored skeleton warrior. This one was different, exuding an aura that matched Norris's own. The dense and heavy presence of its aura screamed caution to Norris's instincts, and he prepared himself for a potential confrontation.
Knowing he stood no chance in a contest of blades, Norris cast his sword aside. "Oh f*ck, it's a sublimated warrior on the same level as me," he thought to himself. "I gotta use magic."
Consciously keeping his distance, Norris fell into critical thinking. Due to his situation, he couldn't cast long-range spells.
He was aware that his inability to cast long-range spells necessitated strategic positioning. He couldn't afford to get too close, but staying too far away would leave him vulnerable to the warrior's energy attacks. The warrior doesn't have as many concerns as him. He needs to hide, but the warrior doesn't.
As he focused his mind, Norris rapidly assessed the situation. His upgraded soul granted him immense calculation power. In a split second, he processed numerous scenarios, weighing the pros and cons of each spell.
The landscape around them was desolate, shrouded in a perpetual twilight. The ground was cracked and dry, with an eerie mist clinging to the surface. The air felt heavy with mana, pulsing like a living entity.
A "Clone" spell (4th-level) was cast, and a clone materialized beside him. The clone created an unsophisticated barrier that sealed the area, preventing anyone from interfering in the fight without Norris's knowledge, and also concealed any evidence of the battle.
With the place sealed, Norris could attack with his full might, showing the power of a sublimation mage. Hopefully, the crude barrier held out.
The warrior charged, undisturbed by Norris's little actions, its movements swift and deadly. Norris sidestepped, avoiding the attack by mere inches. The warrior retaliated with a devastating vertical aura blast using the sword as a medium, unleashing a torrent of negative aura that carried a withering effect on the already desolate environment of the Death Realm.
Having turned their innate mana into aura, a sublimated energy, warriors could launch it out as energy attacks with devastating effect. The blast created a gaping ravine in the cracked ground, the air around them growing colder as if the very life force was being drained from the surroundings. The ground vibrated violently, causing rocks to shatter and bones littering the area to be flung into the air. Nearby undead were unfortunate victims, vanquished by the sheer force and withering effect of the blast.
Norris dodged the blast by a hair's breadth, but the residual energy still managed to crush several of his bones. He gritted his teeth; the distance was still too close to the warrior.
With a swift motion, Norris used his "Cure Wounds" (1st-level) spell, making a little change to it by adding concentrated death mana. The spell manifested as a deadly pale green light, giving off a feeling of twisted vitality. The spell passed the warrior's spell resistance without much ripple. Cure Wounds, a buff spell, provides healing by adding vitality.
Undead creatures can assimilate vitality as a potent energy source, fueling their growth and development. Like food.
With this spell,the warrior became like snakes stuffed with food. The skeletal undead warrior couldn't rapidly regenerate and expend this vitality, fixing its predicament. The little bit of Norris's death energy added to the vitality made it harder to digest, further slowing the undead and creating a debuff. A buff spell used right can also help kill enemies.
Norris's strategy was to debuff the undead even if only briefly, bind it, and use this opportunity to play with it slowly.
A"Bind" (1st-level spell) followed, created by stunning the soul of the warrior, making him have the hallucination that he was restricted. Norris's soul strength was far stronger than the undead's, allowing the spell to bypass the soul's inherent barrier and hold the warrior in place for some seconds—enough time for Norris to cast the "Bone Binding" (3rd-level) spell.
Skeletal bones erupted from the ground, joining together in a bone cage-like structure that looked like weeds entangling a bird, restricting the warrior's movement. Enraged, the warrior attempted to break free, its energy surging. Wantonly expending its energy ironically actually needing Norris's ill-intentioned buff.
Norris, seeing this, understood. He reinforced the bind with additional energy to maintain control.
The warrior unleashed another energy blast using his body as a medium, breaking the bone cage and delivering an Area of Effect (AoE) damage. Normal Warriors can't do this easily. But the undead could--they didn't need to take care of their flesh. Norris misconceptions proved fatal. His insufficient knowledge of undead fighting style becoming a flaw.
The impact created a shockwave that shattered Norris's clone and damaged the surrounding landscape.
The shockwave travelled and nearby undead were once again unfortunate victims. Norris's robe, imbued with the "Ethereal Barrier" (5th-level) spell, resisted the energy impact while he shielded himself against the physical effects of the attack, like shock and debris.
Norris saw the energy shield of his robe about to break as the attacks were gradually approaching the limit.