Stygian Mage

A few days had now passed since Soren had broken the Blood Contract. All this time, he had been recuperating inside the vestige. Although the Soul Recovery Potion he took was of the Low-Grade quality, one level higher than the Lowest-Grade quality, it had at least healed his Soul up to a point where he could once again cast some spells. And so, for food and water, he used his spells. Water, he created by himself; food, his undead creatures brought to him. And like that, his days went by peacefully together with the little fox.

In contrast to his situation, the Liston Family Mansion had become really chaotic since the day he broke free. Not only the core members but even the distant relatives of the Family were living like a sword was hanging over their heads. Even Captain Brady was losing sleep while thinking about the consequences of his actions. To make sure that Soren was caught again, he had even lent the City Guards to the Liston Family for the manhunt. Fortunately for Soren, the mindset that these people had based their strategy for the manhunt on had missed by a mile. They were thinking that after breaking out from the Black Chamber, Soren would surely run as far away as he could from this area; especially, when he must be suffering from Soul Damage after breaking the Blood Contract. Remaining in this area when he was at his weakest did not make sense to them. And this was the mindset that Soren had fully intended to exploit. He was indeed taking a big risk with this, but after considering his options, he had decided on this course of action. And as the situation had proved it, his decision was the right one.

Of course, people looking for Soren were also not stupid. They already knew that there could be a possibility that Soren had not left the area. As such, they had left a small group of people behind to search around the town. Although this small group was left behind to search for Soren, their real purpose was actually not so. The reason they were left behind was, in fact, to scare Soren out of his hiding place if he had indeed not left the area.

Regrettably for them, though, Soren didn’t fall for it. While he was staying inside the cave, he had constantly used his undeads to scout the situation for him. As such, he was already aware of what they were trying to do.

………..

Days went by but they still couldn’t find Soren anywhere. Due to this, the air of the town became so heavy that it could be cut with a knife.

Soren was now free; this fact had become their nightmare.

Everyone related to this matter had been living on the edge. Accusations were made against the Liston Family as they were blamed for not doing their job properly. Even the close family members had started blaming the decision-makers for not killing Soren when they had the chance.

And while chaos ensued in the town, Soren lived in that same cave trying to get as much rest as he could. Of course, he didn’t just waste his time in the cave. His soul damage had healed quite a bit so he was able to properly cast spells now. As such, he started studying and researching his spells once again. As there was no way for him to gain any new knowledge regarding them, he decided to just practice them. As a result, he got quite familiar with the new spells that he had bought in the auction. The one spell he practiced the most, though, was the <Elemental Sense>. After what had happened with his eye, this spell had now become very important for him. While he could easily use the spell to sense his surroundings because of his developed abilities as a Spellcaster, he still had to familiarize himself with it. After all, from now on, he had to depend on this particular spell to properly determine the depth of his target.

Based on his ‘Intelligence’ stat, he could currently sense up to 60 meters. Of course, the area that Soren could scan was a circle around him and that 60 meters acted as its radius.

Because of this same stat, the clarity with which he could ‘see’ things when using this spell was also very high. This fact further bolstered Soren’s confidence in replacing his lost eye with this spell. Although he still wasn’t familiar with this spell, he was at least making good progress. And it wouldn’t be long before he would be able to use this spell in a battle. For now, though, he still had to synchronize what he saw with the spell with what he could actually see with his eye.

Apart from that, Soren also continuously practiced his <Dark Gravity> spell and his <Create Undead> spell. Regarding the <Create Undead> spell, Soren had started doing what he had thought of some time ago. He started researching the anatomy of different creatures and tried to create their undead form. He practiced on many Beasts that his undead creatures brought in as food. Not only that, but he also expanded his research to the insects.

The result of all that was that he now could create different forms of his undead. Of course, this only included the Rotten Zombie and the Skeleton Soldier. Soren had not tweaked the Weak Wraith for now as he needed to properly research on the knowledge he had received during his advancement before he could make any changes. As for the other forms of his undead, Soren was now using his Skeleton Spiders for the scouting purpose. This undead was very small and could easily hide anywhere; making it a suitable choice for the scouting. Although the Weak Wraith also made for a good scout because of its ability to phase through things, it was not able to hide properly.

About his <Dark Gravity>, as he didn’t have enough knowledge about the concept related to it, he could only increase its mastery by a few levels with practice.

Of course, this was not the only spell that he increased his mastery in.

“Spell Mastery Increased. Elemental Sense – Level 5/10.”

“Spell Mastery Increased. Space Snatcher – Level 7/10.”

“Spell Mastery Increased. Withering Wood – Level 3/10.”

“Spell Mastery Increased. Dark Gravity – Level 4/10.”

……..

Soren opened his eye and released a long breath. He was not cultivating right now, this was actually a habit that he had developed in these few days; meditation. After doing it a few times, he had found out that it was really useful in tempering his emotions and relaxing his mind. During meditation, he didn’t empty his mind; instead, he conjured different scenarios in his mind and evoked his emotions. Then he tried to control them as best as he could. At first, he wasn’t able to maintain such a situation for long and couldn’t see any advantage in this. But as he continued it, he realized that he was getting much relaxed and much better at managing his emotions.

The little fox beside Soren had also tried to copy him and had started doing meditation. But of course, his form of meditation was nothing but sleeping.

Also, during this time, Soren and Isaac had finally decided to name this little guy. They went through many names but there was only one that this little creature liked, or so Soren thought; it was more like he liked the name so he decided that the fox also liked the name. And so, the little fox had a name now: Argus.

…..

“Isaac, let’s start,” Soren said as he woke up from his meditation. He was now going to do what he had planned to do before moving out of the cave; evolving his Rank 0 Spells. He was now a Rank 1 Initiator, so he needed to have more Rank 1 Spells. Although Rank 0 Spells were still effective, that was only true for low ranked Initiators. In a battle against a Rank 1 Initiator, only Rank 1 Spells could be of any use.

“Simulate the evolution paths for ‘Ice Arrow’ first.”

“Understood, Master”

“….”

“Simulation complete. Calculating Mana Cost for both paths…..”

“Calculation finished. Mana Cost for the evolution path of quality – Negligible; Mana Cost for the evolution path of quantity – Negligible.”

 “Hmm….”

Soren thought about both the paths for a few minutes and finally made his decision, “Go with the quantity path. Start the evolution process for the spell.”

“Understood, Master”

[Initiating Spell Evolution: Ice Arrow]

[Forming the Base Spell]

[.…]

[….]

[Spell Evolution Complete: New Spell Registered]

“Ice Barrage: A barrage of ice arrows bombarding the target at a high speed. Each ice arrow can also be exploded by using more Mana. Does physical damage plus freezing damage. Mana Cost – Negligible.”

…

“Good. Now, simulate the paths for ‘Dead Rising’.”

“Understood, Master”

“….”

“Simulation complete. Only one evolution path is available for the spell.”

“Would you like to make any modifications, Master?”

“No, just evolve the spell accordingly.”

“Understood, Master”

[Initiating Spell Evolution: Dead Rising]

[Forming the Base Spell]

[.…]

[....]

[Spell Evolution Complete: Spell Strengthened]

“Dead Rising: Able to raise the dead which follows the caster’s will. Furthermore, the caster can also choose to bring out the soul remnants of the dead. Mana Cost – Very Low.”

…

“Next up is ‘Dark Bolt’.”

“Understood, Master”

“Start the modification process for this spell.” Soren had already decided on the path for this spell. He was going to modify this spell to have a homing ability based on his skill ‘Vornea’. Although he could now use ‘Vornea’ on any projectile type spell, he wanted this one to be a little different. Of course, he was aware that he needed more than just ‘Vornea: Basic Form’ to change this spell to what he had in his mind. But as for now, he was just going to modify it with what he had.

[Initiating Spell Evolution: Dark Bolt]

[Forming the Base Spell]

[Applying the Modifications: Modifications Applicable]

[.…]

[.…]

[.…]

[.…]

[.…]

The modification process continued for a long time. This time, Soren applied the modifications himself and changed the spell how he wanted. The whole thing was extremely tiresome as fatigue completely took over him when the process finally ended. 

[Spell Evolution Complete: New Spell Registered]

“Dark Raven [Incomplete Form]: A dark bolt in the form of a raven which attacks the target at a high speed and explodes on contact. The projectile is also able to track the target and move around the defense up to a certain extent. ‘Darkness’ element infused in the raven does withering and decaying damage over time. Spell incomplete. Mana Cost – Very Low.”

……..

“Next up is ‘Shadow Chain’,” Soren said after resting for a while.

“Understood, Master”

“Simulating the evolution paths for the spell….

“Two paths available: One will strengthen the existing spell without changing its structure; another will increase the quantity of the chains which can then allow the caster to decide whether to use it as a single target spell or a multiple targets spell.”

“Go with the second path; increase the quantity of the chains. Also, modify the spell and change the factor of its origin point,” Soren said.

“Understood, Master”

[Initiating Spell Evolution: Shadow Chain]

[Forming the Base Spell]

[Applying the Modifications: Modifications Applicable]

[.…]

[.…]

[.…]

[Spell Evolution Complete: New Spell Registered]

“Shadow Prison: Multiple shadow chains pierce and bind the target. The origin point of the spell can be determined by the caster. The range limit for the origin point of the spell depends on the caster’s spell mastery. The strength and amount of chains depend on the caster’s ‘Intelligence’ stat. Mana Cost – Very Low.”

…

“Next is ‘Cold Touch’.”

“….”

“Simulation complete. Only one evolution path is available for the spell.”

“Would you like to make any modifications, Master?”

“Yes, change it like this…….”

“……”

[Initiating Spell Evolution: Cold Touch]

[Forming the Base Spell]

[Applying the Modifications: Modifications Applicable]

[.…]

[.…]

[....]

[Spell Evolution Complete: New Spell Registered]

“Frost Domain: Creates a sphere around the caster within which the caster can freeze anything with just a command or a thought. The radius of the sphere depends on the spell mastery of the caster. Its duration and strength depend on the caster’s ‘Intelligence’ stat. Mana Cost – Very Low.”

…..

“Now, the last one,” Soren stated as he thought about his only Natural Spell. He wasn’t going to evolve his <Fireball> and <Spark> as he didn’t need them. For <Spark>, there was no need to evolve the spell as it was only a fire-starter. As for <Fireball>, the Mana Cost after the evolution was something that Soren wasn’t willing to pay for casting the spell. If he needed fire, he could just use the current <Fireball> as it was good enough for most jobs.

“Understood, Master”

Natural Spells evolved in a slightly different manner than the Artificial Spells. The evolution paths for a Natural Spell were decided by the spell itself and the Initiator could not modify it whatsoever.

[Initiating Spell Evolution: Create Undead — Low Tier]

[….]

Soon after the evolution process began, Soren started getting some information in his mind. This information was not from Isaac; it was actually from the spell itself. This was similar to the last time when he had received the information about the undeads that he could create with this spell. This time, though, it was about the two paths that were available for its evolution.

After Soren got this information, he fell into deep thought; the evolution process was also put on hold for the moment.

The information that he received from the spell had described the two paths in detail.

One path would allow Soren to create the advanced version of his current undeads. If he chose this path, he would get these undeads after the evolution: Skeleton Warrior, Ghoul, and Ghost.

The other path of evolution would give Soren the ability to create only one undead, but it would be a powerful one. This undead was called: Forsaken Knight. Creating and controlling this undead would put a huge strain on Soren’s soul. As such, he would only be able to create it as many times as his Soul Strength, which was signified by his ‘Spirit’ stat, would allow. Given his current ‘Spirit’ stat, three was going to be his limit.

Of course, regardless of the path, Soren would still be able to create the undeads that he could create now. So, he was not going to lose anything in either of the paths.

Both cases had their advantages and disadvantages. He only needed to decide what he wanted.

According to what he had discovered about the spell back in his ‘prison cell’, the undeads also had certain potential. The undeads which he could currently create had Rank 0 potential. It meant that no matter how powerful Soren got, these undeads would always stay at the peak of Rank 0; their limit was Rank 0.

And from what he could tell, the advanced version of his current undeads would have the potential of Rank 1. As for the undead on the other path of the evolution, Soren couldn’t tell what potential it would have. While Soren liked the idea of being able to create multiple Rank 1 undeads, he was still leaning towards the one with unknown potential. Having a higher potential meant that it would be able to keep up with Soren even when he reached Rank 2 or Rank 3; maybe even Rank 4. This would ensure that Soren would have more options at higher ranks.

After considering this point and some other details, Soren finally decided to go with the evolution path which would allow him to create only one additional type of undead; the one with unknown potential. He had decided on this path with hopes in his heart that this new undead would be powerful enough to justify his choice.

[Evolution Process Resuming]

[Evolution Path Confirmed]

[…]

[…]

[…]

[…]

[Spell Evolution Complete: New Spell Registered]

“Create Undead — Low Tier Ⅱ: The Spellcaster can create undeads of Low Tier as well as of Low Tier Ⅱ. Their ability and their life span depend on the caster’s 'Intelligence' stat. The amount of undeads that the caster can create and control at once depends on the caster’s ‘Spirit’ stat. Furthermore, the undeads can remain in existence even if their connection with the caster breaks, but they will stay completely inactive. The current list of undeads: Skeleton Soldier, Rotten Zombie, Weak Wraith, and Forsaken Knight. Mana Cost [Low Tier Ⅱ] – Average. Mana Cost [Low Tier] – Negligible.”

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