Sorry for the hiatus. I had real life issues that I had to deal with. I'm back and will be releasing 2-3 chapters a week like before.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 20: A Sanguine Gift

Groaning as he stood up, Kaz gingerly used his fingers to feel out the wound on his chest.

{That looks like it hurt. I wonder if you would have died if the tomahawk’s blade had slammed into you instead of the flat top.}

“Of, I would have definitely died. In fact, nearly all of my ribs have been shattered. I don’t know how much internal bleeding…ugh” Pausing a bit to spit out another mouthful of blood, Kaz’s face paled even further.

Grimacing, Kaz used the last of his shallow mana pool to cast Blood Debt on himself. Coughing up a mouthful of blood, this time the blood floated in midair before transforming into a mist that entered Kaz’s wounds. Glancing over at his unmoving minions, Kaz frowned as he checked his mana pool.

“The amount of mana available to me is even smaller than before...is this because I have animated undead minions now?” Standing up unsteadily, Kaz began to walk closer to his undead minions in order to inspect them.

{Yes, that’s how your minions are maintained. Nothing is free, and this goes doubly for anything related to magic.}

“So the Soul Power that I can take from my minions, which can substitute for mana, is in essence invested into a minion. It seems that I can’t utilize the soul power of a particular soul when it is being used to animate an undead minion. The basic ghosts don’t limit the amount of soul power I can extract, but all of the more advanced minions do.”

Looking around, Kaz saw that the utility sacks of the dead hunters were more or less intact with the exception of two that were utterly destroyed, contents included. Quickly using the death energy released by the sergeant, Kaz enslaved his soul and then explored the contents of the utility sacks.

Each of the hunter’s utility sacks was surprisingly well stocked for being only the size of a small basket. Kaz found bandages, dried food, water flasks, potions, and spare sets of clothes. Not surprisingly, the sergeant’s utility bag had a comprehensive map of the Klavan Empire. Setting everything aside except for the map, Kaz leaned against the wall as he sat. Trying to move as little as possible as his Blood Magic was slowly healing him, Kaz opened the map and started to read it.

“Hmm...it would seem that we’re relatively deep into this forest. These hunter sure are meticulous in their tracking. They’ve marked how far they’ve travelled so far, as well as where they started from.”

{You’re still on the run. Where were you planning on going, anyways?}

“To be honest, I had no idea. I was just trying to get as far away from the Blood Citadel and Pagan as possible. The forest was near the fortress, so I instinctively walked deeper and deeper in an attempt to elude the hunters.”

{It looks like your way isn’t working. Let’s see now….what do these black triangles mean?}

“Those are troop deployments. The hunters sometimes coordinate with the army in order to trap their quarry. As such, it makes sense for them to know the approximate locations of strategic garrisons. They’re spread fairly apart so I think we should be able to avoid them if we give them a wide berth.”

{What are those red circles marked on the map? The red markings don’t look like spilled blood, and they’re obviously too neat to have been made by accident.}

“I’ve actually never seen this either. It might be the area of operations for each of these garrisons. See how each of the garrisons are directly in the center of the areas circled? But it might be better to just confirm.” Frowning, Kaz browsed through his remaining free ghosts.

This map came from the sergeant’s utility sack. He would obviously be the best choice for interrogation. But, I found from breaking the minds of previous spirits that the recently dead have a higher mental resistance. Bah, that shouldn’t matter since the sergeant relied almost exclusively on his martial strength. Plus, I hypothesize that a lot of his strength and resistance came from those unusual potions that he consumed. This will be the first mind I break from this batch of souls.

Satisfied with his choice, Kaz’s face broke into a small grin as he gave his full attention to the sergeant’s ghost. His mana somewhat restored from the death energy released by the sergeant, Kaz used a portion of that to condense several mana spikes. Rotating them around his right hand, Kaz’s mental probe started to delve deep into the ghost’s memories.

Initially, Kaz’s mental advance was slowed down by the ghost’s resistance. After slamming a mental spike into the ghost, Kaz was able to rip apart its mental defenses and access the deceased sergeant’s memories.

Having practiced categorizing the memories of the deceased several times by this point, Kaz was able to quickly and efficiently rip apart memories to find what he wanted. Looking at the memories chronologically, Kaz was able to find the moment where the map was last used.

“Hmm. It seems that these markings are the area of operations for each strategic garrison’s patrols. The green arrows indicate troop movements, and the black arrows indicate enemy troop locations.”

{Well then, we have our answer. How accurate is this information?}

“Well since the dead person’s memories can’t be tampered with any longer since new memories are unable to be formed, I’d say that this information is fairly accurate. Plus, this ghost died extremely recently, so memory loss should be nearly nonexistent.”

Looking back at the ghost, Kaz could almost see the spirit shudder as the necromancer once again delved deep into its memories. Of particular interest to both Kaz and Ahriman were the potions that the hunters were supplied with. Once again organizing the memories chronologically, Kaz started his search from the latest memory and worked backwards.

“These strange potions must be a relatively recent innovation. If these potions were already common, the elite shock troops at the Blood Citadel would indoubtably have some variant.”

{Maybe you just weren’t told about them. It seems something this effective in combat against non-magically protected humans would be kept under wraps.}

“You underestimate how much the troops talk during meals in the mess hall. The castle staff ate at the same places, more or less, than the soldiers. Even if these potions were a top military secret, the troops would’ve talked about it. You forget that all of the men and women stationed at the Blood Citadel were elite troops, second in prowess only to the soldiers guarding the capital.”

Taking the potions that he had gathered, Kaz set them down in front of him. There were a total of four potion types that he had gathered from the dead soldiers. The first flask had a carving of a cat imprinted onto its yellow surface.

“This should be the Felis potion. It should grant night vision towards the user along with slightly enhanced reflexes.”

Putting it aside, Kaz looked towards the second type. Picking up a grey flask, which was the same size as the yellow one, Kaz stared at the carving of a wolf on its surface.

“This is the Canis potion. It seems to enhance the user’s sense of smell and hearing greatly. It’s not surprising then, that this potion made up the majority of the hunter’s potions.”

Placing the grey flask down onto the small pile of other grey flasks, Kaz estimated that they made up over half of the potions still remaining. Deciding to make a actual count after looking at the rest of the potions. Picking up a brown flask, Kaz looked at the bear shaped carving on its surface.

“This is the one that the sergeant took right before his physical abilities increased drastically. Even though the flask is the same size as the others, the flask is about one and a half times heavier. I don’t think it’s due to the flask itself, it must be the contents.”

{Considering that the sergeant’s physical strength and defense nearly doubled, I’d think that the liquid contents of the potion be quite hefty. Although neither of us are alchemists so I don’t know how much weight that thought carries.}

“I didn’t know you were interested in alchemy, Ahriman.”

{Foolish bumpkin! Alchemy is one of the most influential of the arcane arts. In fact, there is a whole department dedicated to it at your sniveling Arcane Library. Not everybody can be a mage. In fact, you’re barely one as it is. If not for your meager Soul Power, you’d be no different than the lowest tier of hedge wizard.}

“Yeah, keep rubbing it in. If I die, you’re not going to do so great either.”

Putting the brown flask down. Kaz looked towards the last type of potion. Unfortunately, the sergeant used the only portion that Kaz could find. The empty silver flask seemed like a taunt as Kaz picked it up. The silver flask was like the other flasks in weight, only empty. A nine pointed star was carved onto the side of the flask, and it seemed to still emanate power even after being used.

“This...one is called the Argentum potion. Rather, it should be described as a sort of poison. When applied onto weapons it grants greatly increased effectiveness against magical defenses or creatures.”

{This one is fascinating, this potion apparently makes steel weapons effective against the supernatural. Otherwise, how could that human’s standard tomahawk been able to actually come into contact with the reaper spirit’s mana sword?}

“It’s indeed a pity. But there’s nothing to be done about it now. Now hold on for a bit, I want to take inventory of these potions.”

Gazing over his new stash of potions, Kaz carefully tallied his gains. There were four Felis potions, eight Canis potions, and one Ursus potion that could still be used. They were sealed with a wax cap, and the flasks themselves were made out of ceramic. Gathering them up, Kaz placed them into one of the few remaining knapsacks that the hunters carried. As Kaz’s gaze fell back onto the map, Ahriman abruptly spoke up.

{I’ve decided to accelerate your education. You almost dying to those hunters is not acceptable by any means. I need you alive so you can later restore my physical body to me.}

“How exactly will I be able to do that? You’re not even a ghost at this point but more similar to another voice inside my head.” Scrunching his face up, Kaz stared at the central mana crystal of the cavern.

{You’re going to need various rare materials and lots more training. I’m going to attempt to gather the mana that I need from the surrounding environment. This means that I’m going to be in hibernation, and cannot help you. You must navigate your way to the Southern Swamps, and I’ll wake once we’re near.}

“What else is special about the Special Swamps? I know that if one could travel through, it allows travel from Klavan to Janaro without the need to pass the mountains.”

{The ancient necromancers lived and practiced their art in the Southern Swamps. Actually, the swamps used to be connected to the great Southern Ocean. However, the struggle between the Janaro Church and the necromancers caused an apocalyptic disaster that transformed the previously fertile floodplains to the swamp that it is now.}

“That’s...actually fascinating! How long ago did this happen? This had to have happened before the Venta Klavan’s schism. How come there’s no mention of it in any of the historical records of both countries?”

{Gods, any mention of history and your eyes light up like the sun itself. It sickens me, it really does. This happened thousands of years ago. How old do you think Janaro is? The damned place has a heritage of several thousand years, and their state religion had existed since the advent of the country. I only know this much because my master was taught by one of the necromancers that survived the event.}

“But, how long ago did your master learn from this necromancer? It can’t have been that long ago.”

{I don’t know. It never occurred to me that this information was important in any way. It doesn’t help me with my studies in the necromantic arts, so what’s the worth in studying it? It’s probably been at least two thousand years since the event happened.}

“Janaroian records go back further than that. I wonder why there’s no mention of it. Unless...you’re just making this up to mock me.”

{I don’t have the patience or need to want to frustrate you intellectually. I’m only even offering this much because I know you’ll pester me to the ends of the world if I don’t give you at least this much. So be it. Your destination is the Southern Swamps. You have the map and know how to read troop movements. If you get caught...well I sincerely hope that you’ll be able to pull through.}

Having said his piece, Ahriman fell silent. Kaz looked at the map, and put it away in his new knapsack. Setting his skeletal minions on a patrolling route, Kaz moved all of his other ghosts except for the reaper spirit to the central mana crystal to absorb mana. With his red reaper spirit trailing behind him, Kaz made his way back to the old library. Walking towards the central desk, Kaz didn’t pay attention to the reaper spirit as it entered the library behind him.

As soon as the reaper spirit entered the library, the library underwent a drastic change. The central stone table lit up with a red light, revealing that there was a network of sigils previously applied to it. Stunned, Kaz could only watch as the magic sigil underwent activation.

“The sigils carved onto the table combine the individual sigils for Transport, Blood, and Reformation. Even though I know what these sigils mean, I can’t deduce the exact functions that they will enact. Gah..watch now, think about it later.”

The sigils on the table were a light pink initially, but were continually turning into a darker and darker shade of red. Eventually they became an extremely bright shade of blood-red. All of a sudden, the table flashed bright red and a head sized ball of mana began to float about a meter above the surface of the table. The ball of mana seemed alive as it pulsated slowly, and a throbbing vibration was growing stronger as Kaz watched.

“This..ball of mana seems to mimic the feel of a human’s heart. This sigil network and library is probably related to Blood Magic. It looks like the spell is reaching critical mass, I need to be careful not to miss a single detail….” Standing rigidly in front of the table, Kaz stared unblinkingly at the throbbing ball of mana.

The mass of mana eventually condensed into a fist sized human heart made purely of mana. Rhythmically, the heart began to throb in sync with Kaz’s own heart. The moment that the sync between man and mana was perfect, the heart shot out streams of mana towards all of the books along the shelves in the library. Ripping through the pages of each and every book, the streams of mana ran around and around the room creating a small tempest of loose pages. Horrified, Kaz could only stand still.

“I can only hope that the spell creates something out of the books in this room. Gods above, if this was only a failsafe that triggered because of the reaper spirit, how large would my loss be? I wouldn’t even know how much knowledge that I accidentally destroyed.” Gritting his teeth, Kaz turned his attention to the central table so as to not look anymore at the shredded pages of the tomes all around him.

Lowering itself so that it now floated just above the surface of the table, the heart exerted a sudden vacuuming force. The shredded pages and leather of the now destroyed collection of tomes converged onto the heart’s location. Stunned, Kaz watched as the pages and mana came together to fuse into a thick tome in the exact center of the table. Looking around, Kaz realized that the formation of this single tome had used up all of the material that was contained within the library’s collection previously. It was a curious book indeed, slightly bigger than a normal tome and with an eerily realistic human heart on the cover. Walking towards the tome, Kaz tried to pick it up and almost dropped it.

“Gah, why is this tome so heavy? It doesn’t seem to be significantly larger than the other tomes that were present before the sigils’ activation. Hmm what’s the title of this tome...the Book of Blood?”

Flipping open the Book of Blood, Kaz’s eyes widened as he read the introduction of the book’s contents. Going through the pages, Kaz’s excitement dulled just a bit as he realized that he could barely understand the material past the first chapter. Half a second later, Kaz’s face lit up.

“Hahaha! This is what I’ve been waiting for! How long has it been since I had material like this to study? I’ve been on the run for a while, and never really had the time to sit down and study something like this. Oh this is going to be great. Maybe I could stay here for a bit longer and try to comprehend at least the first chapter of this tome completely.”

All of his worries gone for the moment, Kaz put the Book of Blood into his knapsack and went back to the corridors with all of the hunter’s knapsacks that his skeletons had gathered. Rummaging through the sacks, Kaz was able to gather up about a week’s worth of dried food and several waterskins that were still full. Fortunately, these supplies were stored in the middle of the knapsacks, and were less susceptible to being damaged via combat unless the bags themselves were destroyed as well. Walking back to the library, Kaz sat at the central table. Cracking open the Book of Blood eagerly, Kaz started to read without any interruptions.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for reading! Leave a comment below if you enjoyed!