Unwelcome Thoughts

Chapter 32

It was an hour before Erica got back to me and by then I was experiencing my equivalent of sweating bullets. It was an acidic tingle that rolled down from my head to the tip of my tail. Aside from a small injury she’d been fine the entire time. Even so being helpless to do anything to help her felt terrible.

“Hello Mistress 42,” she said cheerfully. I’d picked the call up the instant it came through.

“What happened!?” I asked immediately. Marlow had updated me about his counter offensive on the men who’d attacked the camp, but that had been half an hour before.

“Oh, well first off, everything’s okay,” Erica said, sounding like she was trying to sooth a child. I realized that my agitation showed in my voice, but I didn’t care. I’d been worried and still couldn’t get ahold of Elim.

“Well, a mage and a knight followed us. The mage is dead now, but it turns out the knight is someone I knew. He’s still loyal to my family and me,” Erica said gently. I felt another wave of unpleasant emotion roll over me. Things had worked out, but a mage and a knight were a dangerous combination.

“Marlow mistook him for a threat. Thankfully I had a healing potion, so he didn’t die,” She continued. I said nothing though she waited for a reply. I needed a few moments to compose myself. Erica was tough as nails, but I wasn’t. My existence revolved around hiding rather than facing threats directly.

“Okay, I’ll try to update Elim,” I said finally. I hadn’t been able to help and worrying more wouldn’t change anything. The situation was under control as far as I could tell.

“Oh! I forgot to mention it, but I called him. I was worried and I kept trying how to reach him when I remembered that friend request you sent me,” Erica said happily. I was stunned for a moment, then started laughing. The native population didn’t have access to the system in the same way I did normally. Their ability to perceive it was limited and it didn’t send them notices.

“Was that wrong to do?” Eric asked, sounding concerned.

“No, its fine. It just raises some questions,” I said as I regained my composure.

“If you need or want anything in the future, let Elim know. I’ll make sure to send it,” I said. I wanted to experiment with this new possibility immediately but refrained. Erica wasn’t someone I wanted to use as a guinea pig. Elim hadn’t told her much about what I was or what I could do. Getting increased access to the system might be confusing or even carry some kind of negative consequence. I could wait and test my theory out on someone else.

“Thank you, Mistress. I appreciate everything you’ve done for my family,” Erica said and hung up. I could have called Elim immediately but held off. I needed a few minutes to decompress. Floating on my back I tried to calm down but couldn’t at first. Erica and Bess were fragile existences compared with the creatures of my dungeon. I couldn’t just set them to respawn if anything bad happened. The same thing applied to anyone who wasn’t directly part of my dungeon.

“Look up resurrection magic,” I said finally. It was something I should have done the moment I noticed it mentioned in the Basilisks description. Instead I’d pretended not to see it. A choice I’d repeated every time someone died in my dungeon.

Resurrection, Magical Spell

The magical process by which a body may be restored to a functional state after death. The soul of the original inhabitant or another compatible soul must be present to be reinstated for the spell to succeed. The condition of the body to be resurrected must be relatively fresh with all body parts present or applicable substitutes nearby. If a substitute is not provided, then the castor’s body will be used to compensate.

The amount of time a soul lingers after death varies. Those of a non-heroic class averaging several days, heroic classes a few weeks. Spells can be used to bind a soul in death to prevent it moving on. Strong grudges, goals, or wishes can also prolong how long a soul lingers.

If the original body is not present a substitute needs to be constructed before the resurrection attempt is made. The spell will fit a substitute body to the soul but will not construct one.

Spells of this type can be found in the healing, holy, and necromantic schools of magic. Those wielding holy power are the most common castors of this type of spell.

Blessed are those who walk in the light of the gods and receive their favor. To the most devout, even death shall not bar the way.

I looked at the description and sighed. The soul was the key point, so long as you had that you could bring someone back. My gaze unconsciously drifted toward the graves for those who’d died in my dungeon. I already knew I wasn’t going to bring any of them back, but that didn’t ease my mind.

There were a lot of reasons not to get tangled up in doing something like that. If I could even find out how to pull it off. Offering it as a reward in the dungeon was out of the question if I did. I’d be orbs deep in people looking to bring someone back.

Ethics of needing to make sure no one awful was brought back aside, it would increase the desperation of those who came to the dungeon. Motivating my opponents like that was a good way to end up with my core shattered.

The more I thought about it, the less I wanted to. Elim’s father and wife had both died, if I told him about it wouldn’t be wrong for him to want me to bring them back. Honestly it wasn’t something I’d mind doing. Paranoia aside I just didn’t know enough about the matter to make a real decision. Rolling around in midair I decided to stop thinking about it. I wasn’t in a position to do it and didn’t know if I would be any time soon.

It would be better to focus and get back to work. With my mind made up I was about to call Elim when I noticed that I had a text from Henry. He’d been working with those who’d signed up to be business owners to make them clothes and like to show me the results. Seeing his name, I was struck by a shrinking horror that left me feeling vertigo for several moments.

Henry was a necromantic construct. A soul tied through unnatural means to a remnant of his body. I had an entire layer full of preserved souls.