Norris looked at the horde of abominations coming toward his newly built shelter and couldn't help but smack his skull.
"Idiot," he muttered to himself, shaking his head. "I'm really In a mess. More preparations should have been made.
"Now look at what I have to face." Norris glared at the dreadful lot of undead surrounding him.
He surveyed the line of undead present. Thankfully, none at the sublimation level were there. At least, he didn't feel any. While sublimation involves breaking the limits of one's species, chaotic creatures were different. The world inherently disliked them, shackling them—their intelligence mostly.
Looking at the horde, no powerful aura could be felt. Except for anomalous chaotic creatures, these unintelligent abominations possessed no cunning; they can't think enough to hide.
Surveying his fortress, Norris got lost in thought. "Hmm, ritual magic. Ritual magic. I feel the aftertaste already. My affinity for death and arcane has increased ever so slightly. Hmmm. A new idea for a cantrip has come to my mind. Nothing substantial, to be honest."
With a slight thought, he cast the spell. A cemetery-like environment materialized based on his inspiration. It felt very warlock-like.
The ground shook violently and the new environment crumbled. Norris just looked at it, stroking his chin—which looked funny. A lich with his bony fingers, stroking his bony chin….or maybe not funny; creepy, is it? The bystander chooses.
"Could be used to slightly nurture initiate undead. Most effective for spell-casting undead. The combination of forces from the ritual must have made this. If I analyze this further and dissect the spell, I might be able to gain..."
Another quake. A slight vibration broke his concentration.
"Fuck it. I'll think about it later. Let's see what's happening. That quake felt weird."
Norris climbed the observation platform. Then he saw something fairly…awesome.
Energy cannons were mounted on the fortress. Jet-black energy gathered, concentrating into a point. Looking at it, Norris felt nothing but death.
He felt something in his soul stir slightly. Energy weapons in the Otherworld. He had tried them, but they weren't lethal… enough. Everyone could dodge them, and when they hit, they didn't kill straight away. It wasn't worth it, he thought.
The beam fired and hit the area with the most undead, as detected by the fortress. Those abominations withered away, leaving behind the fundamental chaotic essence that made their being. Norris looked at the chaotic residue in interest. His attention was then pulled by the weird physics going on.
A minor physical energy reaction in the form of a vibration was triggered before it, too, was silenced. In the face of death, all is equal. Thinking of the gods, he rephrased—most are equal?
That explained the quake. Norris stroked his chin. Vibrating, but without much sound. The vibration felt lackluster. Magic is really the nemesis of science.
Looking at the horde being silenced, he felt…speechless. The chaotic residue, though, attracted his attention.
This once again confirmed his dread for ritual magic. Too convenient. By paying a price, he had gotten a fantastic bargain. Too easy. For Norris, who had seen and read a lot on Earth, it screamed scam.
Mages read a lot; they analyzed the rules of the world to strengthen their belief and resolve. Even though instincts could be used in the sublimation stage, it was mostly based on established knowledge. But ritual magic? Nothing. Just pure, so-called equivalent exchange. Voilà, a higher-dimensional being responds to you.
Norris would be the first not to believe that there was no scam going on.
Looking at the cannons, he fell into deep thought. "The ritual takes what your deepest subconscious considers your ideal desire. Cannons on a high wall? Sounds fortress to me.
The Death-energy beam should be higher level, containing hints of concept. It might most likely be the purest, original energy of the death realm itself.
The ambient energy is decreasing slowly and the concentration of arcane is increasing. Hmmm. With my mana sense, I can intuitively feel it.
So the ambient energy is being consumed, or used as a catalyst to draw more energy from the arcane realm? Hmmm, let me go closer. Maybe I can understand some of this. It will help sometime..." Norris muttered as the mage nature took over him. Curiosity at cat killing level.
The closer he got to the beam, the more Norris felt a slight, weird calm. He didn't think much about it.
"ALL THINGS WILL HAVE AN END, won't they?
Death. Why don't I try dying? Worst comes to worst, I'll just completely become a lich. I can assimilate with the laws of the death realm, so I can assimilate with the normal world too..." Norris began convincing himself.
On his way, he thought of his mom who had died. Maybe in death they could meet?
Then that seemed to trigger something.
In a blink, Norris was miles away from the beam. And still running farther.
Outside the fortress, Norris looked at the death beam with lingering fear. His mental defenses had been ignored. It wasn't even attacking him. Norris was just being assimilated. No specific target. Just as nuclear radiation doesn't care, the beam assimilates everything.
Thinking of the vibration being assimilated earlier, he felt lucky… and stupid. Ritual magic is for the craziest of the crazy.
Looking at the chaotic residue that couldn't be destroyed by the death beam, Norris—who had been planning to study it—now felt utter dread.
He'd known the chaotic residue was high-level, but he didn't know how high. Now he didn't dare to know. What could eradicate him couldn't eradicate it. That was chilling to think about.
Norris after calming down re-entered the fortress. He calculated and stayed at the farthest point, away from the beam. Feeling relatively safe after all the calculations, he relaxed. Sitting cross legged…..or cross bones? Norris entered a meditative state. His consciousness rising infinitely higher crossing dimensions. He easily drew energy from the death realm, drew some from the arcane realm, a little from the fey realm and a little from the spiritual realm.
He didn't dare draw from the warp, the most easily accessible place. Other realms than those realms would be harder to refine.
This is how a mage get their mana.