“You’re on the spectrum aren’t you?” O'Malley said to me and promptly got my fist into his face. “Ow! Hey, what was tha-” He began to yell at me before I punched him again, stumbling back he tried to bring up a hand before I brought my heel down on his head.

“You fucker!” I yelled at him. I had, had it with waking up in this place with his nasty grin meeting me every time. “Stop standing over me when I come here, you creepy bastard! And what was with that on the spectrum shit?!” I almost snarled as I stared down at O’Malley who turned his face a little to the side to look up at me.

“You know? Are… were you retarded or somethin-” He asked me before I stomped my foot on his head again.

“Asbergers ain’t retardation asshole.” I growled before turning and seeing Sutekh and Verona who both looked a little stunned.

“D-did I just see what I think I saw?” Verona asked, mouth almost agape as she stared at me.

“That O’Malley just let the kid kick his ass? Yeah, I can’t believe it either.” Sutekh said only to take a half step back from my glare.

“Yeah, I figured considering your coping mechanism being so darn shitty.” O’Malley chuckled before he sat up. “I mean your emotional maturity is rather… well, you're kinda like a kid or teenager with how you manage your emotions. I figured you were somewhere on the autism spectrum.” The grinning vanghoul somehow had a cigar in his mouth and a few light smoke trails came up out between his teeth and from his nostrils.

I growled at him and let out my new claws, these reminded me much more of black almost hook-like claws, with their appearance much closer to sort of scythes than anything really. O’Malley blinked and his jaw dropped, the cigar falling out.

“Woah… WOAH!” He started then shrieked as I began to try and claw the bastard to pieces. I didn’t like him one bit, he always had this sort of smug sort of air around him. Like what you get if you mix a sleazy mobster with a smug rich fucker, that somehow manages to make you think you’re friends. The shitty ones, the type that would sell you stocks in a company he knew was doing well now but would fail in a week just so he got a good commission or the like. You know, a soulless piece of utter shit.

I noticed as my claw gave O’Malley a scrape with my claws that he jumped much farther away than he even needed to. I stopped and stared dumbfounded. “What the hell? What the hell did you just do to yourself?!” Verona suddenly piped up as she came over and gripped my hand.

“Get off I’m not done kicking this pricks ass!” I growled at her and I felt my canines had elongated a little, not just the upper ones like a vampires fangs but also the lower canines bellow those fangs. A sudden pain through my hand caused me to look at her.

In her hand was my own, she had a firm grip on the middle of my forearm and for a second I couldn’t understand why the part bellow her hand was bent almost seventy degrees down from where it should be.

Then as it all clicked I fell to my knees as I let out a yell of pain. “Tell me what you did to yourself!” Verona screamed at me before she let my hand go. To my amazement, a sudden rush of shadow wrapped around my arm and put it into a sling while my regeneration would take care of it. There was no longer the throbbing and numbing pain but now a dull ache instead as if I’d had the arm in a cast sling for a week already.

“Woah… I didn’t know you taught him that.” O’Malley said as he stared at my arm, looking about as dumbfounded about this as he was about my claws.

“I didn’t.” Said Verona with a slight grimace before she looked at Sutekh accusingly.

“I did.” Németh said as she glided into the space as gracefully as any dancer I had ever seen, making it kinda morbid as she was a skeleton. “I’ve been teaching his subconscious while he sleeps. It seems that it’s easier for him to access it while in this space with us.” She said as her tiptoeing near dance-like movements caused little tick tick sounds every time the bones of her toes touched the marble floor in the chamber.

And as gracefully as she had glided into the chamber she turned and near floated down into her throne-like seat, crossing one leg over the other. As if a high queen of the noblest of kingdoms had descended, a sudden pressure to obey her began to fill the chamber as she stared at Verona from her slightly elevated position in her seat.

“Is that a problem?… Spymaster?” She asked and despite her words being very conversational, there was a stifling weight to them.

Verona looked like she had just caught herself from kneeling before Németh, instead, she looked down and to the side from her. “N-no high consort.” She said as if she was both meek to the lich and resentful at herself for her meekness.

“Good.” Németh said as she then looked at me and I flinched at the attention. I’m not afraid of admitting it, the way Németh radiated this royal aura mixed with something much darker than killing intent like some mages are capable of emanating but all mages can feel. In this case, I mean mages as in those with a natural gift towards mana use or higher senses. It struck me cold and left me rooted to the spot until she dropped whatever skill or aura she was letting out.

“Now what is it that happened to you?” Németh asked and I suddenly felt my mouth go dry, was I nervous all of the sudden?

“I evolved my bone claws.” I answered after swallowing what little saliva I had in my mouth.

The way Németh tilted her skull head made it look as if she was arching an eyebrow at me. Dryly swallowing I elaborated. “When I evolved the ability it synergised with Bone crafting and defensive carapace. I can feel how it’s changed my skeleton, its as if the bones have grown to have something like that carbon nanotubes thing but on a larger scale so it isn’t as tough. Not only that but I’ve grown something like bone plating around my chest area and down along my spine and any place where my joints are.” I said this as I moved my body a little, feeling the changes that had been brought about now for the first time.

When I raised my fingers I no longer saw the way the muscles created these two or three lines running down from my knuckles to the back of the hand, instead, it was like there was a perfectly mailable plate over the bones of my hand which could almost not be seen under the skin if not for the faint outline on my skin.

Then I realized what she had just said she’d done and I narrowed my eyes at her. “You’ve been teaching my subconscious? For how long?” I asked, trying hard to keep the growl out of my voice.

Németh seemed to smirk and stayed silent until not only me but the other three as well were staring at her. She moved her head as if she was rolling her eyes at us and then sighed before she spoke in her silvery ethereal voice. “I’ve been using your dreams to teach since maybe day three or four. You didn’t think you were such a superb natural in Necromancy and shadowmancy did you?” She asked with an almost smug air about her but it also reminded me of pride in both herself and… me?

“Wow… way to kick a man while he’s down.” O’Malley’s blunt tone made me just sit down and let out a loud exhale. I didn’t have the energy for this any more. It was like all the frustration along with all the physical, mental and emotional fatigue came crashing into me. I had barely three and a half month left before this corruption did something to me or my mind that stress added on to everything else.

Four plus years of fearing and fighting for my life, letting people in only to either lose them or have them betray me. Of fighting through exhaustion to become stronger and better because I had been selected by a goddess that I wanted to let know her trust hadn’t been misplaced. That I’d protect her people as she had charged me to, the sorrow I felt when losing men in battle and how it had been building up in the background.

All of it, minor or major just finally caught up with me, like a dam had burst only to have it all funnel upon me and me alone. I began to silently cry, I really didn’t care any more, the emotional tsunami had left me numb. I mean what was the point anyway?

Was all of it just something like a cosmic joke at my expense? Summoned to a different world as some pawn of a supposed goddess of justice only to gain allies and lose the only ones that weren’t planning to stab me in the back. Rather literally in Mario’s case. Then I get saved by other supposed deities and when I finally think I have found something I might have talent with I get to know that I’ve been tutored in my subconscious while I slept.

I was done with it all, I was tired. Oh, sure I’d love to drag Aona down from her high heavenly throne and rub her face in the ashes of the empire she’s so painstakingly nurtured with her interference for centuries. But right at this moment?

I was just so done with all of it. I was exhausted beyond belief, I was rather certain my mind wasn’t what people would call sane any more by any stretch of the imagination. After all, that betrayal on paper might seem bad but the pain of not only the level of betrayal but the feeling of getting that sword through my back? The pain of a soul almost being destroyed? Or the fact I had sacrificed my left arm below the elbow protecting the man that had stabbed me in the back?!

And at that moment it seemed like my subconscious decided to unlock the memories of the teaching sessions from Németh. It was rather strange as if remembering something from a very, very long time ago. More emotions than images actually though there were almost blurry images in my mind too. A time of gentle guidance in using my skills and in using other skills.

It almost felt like the time I had learned from my grandfather to build a deck one summer. The fondness of the memory was similar. Then the notifications decided to get active and my head spun and for a time I just sat there, silent tears running down my face while looking glazed over with my head in the clouds.

Through your studious actions, the following have been cleared and gained!

Skill points gained: 3

Skill points used to accommodate rewards: 9

Remaining skill points: -3

Conditional ability points earned: 3 (These points are predestined towards specific abilities and have been awarded for actions both conscious and subconscious.)

Skills gained!

Necromancer:

Basic Soul Manipulation lvl.7↑

The manipulation of souls is often a very hazardous task, for one risks damage to one's soul if done poorly. Necromancers strive to learn by using mana created spirits to circumvent the backlash. Thus allowing them to manipulate the very breath of life in others if mastered fully.

Basic Minor Undead creation lvl. 2↑

While building undead with materials and seeing how it ends up coming out is often the way to go with some necromancers those that practice undead creation are different. Their process is often the opposite finding the parts to make the specific undead they wish to create, whether soul, bone or flesh is required is simply a matter of taste and skill.

Basic Soul absorption lvl. 1

The ability to absorb souls into oneself or vessels is required for the spirit smith necromancer. The skill allows them to even empower themselves with the souls they have bound to their flesh however this can also backfire should the souls imprisoned revolt.

Shadowmancer:

Basic Shadow Materialization lvl. 3↑

The ability to infuse shadows with mana causing them to materialize. The strength of the solid shadow is dependent on users proficiency as well as mana strength.

Basic Shadow Mending lvl. 2↑

Many do not realize that shadows can be used to heal. While light mends the flesh and knits wounds what shadows can do is stabilize wounds and numb the pain.

Basic Shadow Manipulation lvl. 4↑

Many a shadow puppeteer ends up learning this skill as their understanding of their craft grows, however only true shadowmancers can utilize this skill to it’s fullest.

Other:

Basic Mana materialization lvl. 3 ↑

The art of making one’s mana visible, infusing it with the elements of the soul can have different effects.

Basic Soul stone creation lvl.3↑

The creation of soul stones is with souls themselves, crystallising them and infusing them with mana allows these hollowed out and hardened souls to store others of their kind.

Basic Mana stone creation lvl. 2↑

The art of crystallizing one’s mana into a solid object. More often than not these are used in alchemy or ritualistic purposes. Some simply use these as extra mana stored for a rainy day.

Abilities upgraded!

Dark vision ► Enhanced Dark vision. (Capable of seeing greyed out colour up to 60 meters in darkness.)

Vampiric Physiology lvl. 1 ► Vampire Physiology lvl. 2 (Physical stats increase twice for every point used to increase them. Fangs have grown with attached skill. Nails become claws and are hardened considerably and can be extended. Senses increase with attached skills. Blood consumed will increase one’s regenerative capabilities.)

Moderate Regeneration ► lvl. 1! (Limbs can now be regrown in a months time, such as a hand cut off at the elbow. Larger parts of a limb will take longer, natural regenerative capabilities reflect this speed of healing.)

Skills gained through Abilities.

Error! Basic Vampire bite lvl. 1

is inferior to already gained Ability, superseded into this ability to strengthen its effect has been done instead.

Error! Basic Vampiric claws lvl. 1 is inferior to already gained Ability, superseded into this ability to strengthen its effect has been done instead.

Error! Basic Vampiric eyes lvl. 1 is inferior to already gained Ability, superseded into this ability to strengthen its effect has been done instead.

Error! Basic Vampiric hearing lvl. 1 is inferior to already gained Ability, superseded into this ability to strengthen its effect has been done instead.

Error! Basic Vampiric scent lvl. 1 is inferior to already gained Ability, superseded into this ability to strengthen its effect has been done instead.

Error! Basic Vampiric blood regeneration lvl. 1 is inferior to already gained Ability, superseded into this ability to strengthen its effect has been done instead.

Synergies from skills and abilities have occurred and are the following!

Enhanced Dark Vision has synergized with Basic Vampiric Eyes lvl. 1, Basic Vampiric hearing lvl. 1 and Basic Vampiric scent lvl. 1 and has changed to Enhanced Vampiric senses lvl. 1 (Capable of turning one’s vision to see the world around oneself normally even in pitch darkness or be capable of seeing in black and white while the blood vessels of those around the user are visible. Both effects reach up to 60 meters. Other senses are sharper and clearer enhanced by a factor of almost 50 times base race’s standard.)

Moderate Regeneration lvl. 1 has superseded Basic Vampiric blood regeneration and synergized with Vampiric physiology lvl. 2 and has become Moderate Vampiric regeneration lvl. 1! (Decreases the time needed to regenerate a limb by a week and can be empowered by imbibing the blood of others.)

Vampiric Physiology lvl. 2 has synergised with Defilers Claws lvl. 1 and Lich's gift lvl. 1 becoming High Vampiric Physiology lvl. 1! (Physical stats increase by three for every single point spent to increase. All mental stats gain a single point every time a physical stat has gone up by ten! Vampiric skills are easier to learn and a new set of classes have been unlocked for the user to gain by his own actions.)

Defilers Claws lvl. 1 has synergised with High Vampiric physiology lvl. 2 while also having superseded vampiric fangs as well as vampiric claws! This has lead to this ability mutating into Blood Defilers Claws lvl. 1! (The body of the user has begun the change towards the perfection of the vampiric form. All natural weapons gain the ability to consume blood to increase regeneration or even strengthen the user's body for a short time with the blood gained this way.)

Current user’s race has changed!

Race: Dökk Álfar ► Dökk Álfar (High Halfblood)

New Race summary: Halfbloods are those born with vampiric abilities yet not nearly strong enough to be considered as the lesser vampire spawns nor even true vampires. Stronger, faster, more agile and tougher than what is normal for their race nevertheless and shouldn’t be underestimated.

However, it has oft been said that the progenitors of the nine original bloodlines of vampires had been predestined as they were born as high Halfbloods capable of creating lesser versions called thinbloods and sought to increase their powers through magic, might or sheer will. Evolving their own bloodlines from Thinbloods to Halfbloods to full vampires.

Changes to users Statistics have occurred and are the following!

Strength: 38 ► 47! Agility: 44 ► 56! Vitality: 36 ► 45! Endurance: 36 ► 45!

Intelligence: 32 ► 38! Perception: 22 ► 38!

It was like getting hit with a mental stun gun. I just sat there a few long moments once it was over, a heavy silence in the air as I felt my body change slowly. My limbs grew just a tad while my torso seemed to grow more compact as if adjusting my body to be perfectly made for its new purpose. That of the perfected form for such an ancient type of predator. I could literally feel my muscles knot up and tighten down to become more compact then stretch out so that my body grew slimmer. Yet it didn’t hurt at all like I was just calmly observing these major changes occur within my body through feel alone.

My mind seemed to expand and I could see so much clearer even notice the very faint scent of dust in the air, the absolute void of sound beyond the chamber and even the slow heartbeat, yes heartbeat, of Sutekh and O’Malley yet it was only there for a second. Then there were the new instincts and insights into skills and the knowledge that what I planned to experiment with would be feasible, in theory at least. I inwardly grinned as I revelled in the freeing experience before everything came crashing down as it wore off almost as soon as it had fully set in.

“YOU ABSOLUTELY BONE HEADED LICH!!!” Verona shrieked as she stared at me and then turned on Németh. “Are you even aware of what you’re doing?! WE AGREED TO MAKE HIM A NECRACH, SHADOWMASTER AND DEATH KING! NOT CREATE A FULLY NEW VAMPIRIC BLOODLINE!!!!” She was utterly incensed and I saw the very shadows around her gather into her hands and compress into blades of shadow that looked as lethal as the real thing.

“OH please Verona, my dear~” Németh said very sweetly before the royal aura came upon all of us again. This time I was forced down, as if I was kneeling while sitting cross-legged before her, my limbs trembling with the effort of keeping myself from planting my face onto the ground.

“I fear you are forgetting something about our… what was it that you called him? Pawn? That’s right our pawn here. He now has the bloodline to do that. I simply opened the door, he needs to figure it out by himself. If he wishes to have any chance of actually going up against Aona then he’ll at least need that much.” She said it all in such a sweet tone that I would have thought she was having a tea party, yet the immense pressure she emitted now gave me such chills.

I noticed that Verona, O’Malley and Sutekh were all stock still as Németh stood up and seemed impossibly tall, looking down at us. “I was the void strider's consort, I am closest to him in power among all of us and you know it’s just a pale imitation of him. If I so choose to teach what I see as a promising student then it is my prerogative to teach what I know. Aona has been using her little pet project to destroy the very bloodline of my beloved and this boy is the last of that bloodline. A simple drop-in that grand line but the last drop none the less.” She said it so calmly yet there was a ton of weight behind her words, for a second I felt as if she was on the verge of tearing up by her tone but it passed too soon for me to fully notice.

“What?!” O’Malley suddenly pipped up incredulously. “You're telling me this kid isn’t just some poor schmuck tricked and used by Aona?! That-that-that he’s some sort of chosen one and the last of the Void strider's bloodline?!” He seemed rather furious as if Németh had made his favourite toy lose most of the meaning he found fun about it.

“That this isn’t a story about some poor schmuck getting stuck in an underdog story of revenge?!”

“No, that is not what I’m saying. However, there is a little truth in what you said, O’Malley.” Németh said, now seemingly back to her original size and softer tone of voice. “He is the last of the void strider's bloodline before he became divinity but it is so weak in him that his siblings don’t even have any traces in them and if he had been left back on earth it would have died with him. Aona has been targeting those of the bloodline for her so-called hero summoning to eliminate two birds with one stone. Vlad here would have simply been the last of that line to her. This of course only grants a small thing to Vlad that will set him apart from others.” She said as she placed her hands on her hips and seemed to almost scoff at the Vanghoul who simply glowered at her.

Sutekh seemed to notice what she was saying and a light of realization came into his face. “Ah so that’s why you wanted us to save him when we had the chance!” He said and hitting his open palm like he was some meat head in a cartoon or something, that snapped me right out of it.

“HEY! Will you just tell me what the hell is going on!” I shouted as I stood up and looked at all four of them pleadingly. I knew that to these ancient beings I was merely a child, heck I think I have the emotional maturity of one at least. It seemed to convey something to the four near gods as they all sighed as if defeated.

“What Németh is saying is that there is a secret to becoming capable of acceding to godhood. One you are apparently just barely qualified for so it’ll do. Somewhere very, very, VERY far back in your family tree is the human that became the Void strider. Your ancestor and coincidentally the god of Death, shadows and the void. This makes it just a tad easier for you to ascend to godhood… IF!” She said slowly as if teaching a child before raising her voice and finger and staring at me almost menacingly at the end.

“You are willing to put in the work to take the seat that is vacant.” She then finished.

“We aren’t gods just so you know.” O’Malley then said, somehow holding a beer bottle in his hand that he took a swig from. “We are simply what you get when a “mortal” has reached level 100 in four prime classes and level fifty in the fifth. The natural limit to growth unless one manages to get farther such as true deities. Most are those that managed five level 100 prime classes and gained the deity class which transforms them on a fundamental level. Instead, we are minor gods in our own right as all five of us could take on a god and win, though with heavy losses on our part.” He made air quotes when he said mortal, I guessed Liches and Vanghouls weren’t considered mortals.

“However something about earth makes a planet of cheaters.” He then said and that piqued my interest.

“Not only is there a higher limit to the number of classes you guys can have at one time, like we can only have a maximum of five, while you guys can have six to eight but once you’ve gotten your five “main” prime classes all other classes that somehow tie into it fall into sub-classes to one of the five allowing for the evolution of classes. This, of course, leads to near god-like beings at the end but that still won’t allow them to become full gods unless one of two conditions are met, usually, both have to be met.” He finished.

“Such as gathering worship upon yourself in unclaimed spheres of influence or destroying the power base of a deity that has the spheres you want. You can also simply grow strong enough that no mortal upon this plane can challenge you in a fair fight. The ones seeking this latter one have been boastful in the past and more than one god has struck such beings down for their impudence. For once they crossed that threshold the gods could interfere more directly with them.

You have a deity’s bloodline running in your veins though incredibly weak, it’ll allow you to become a demigod with more ease than others. That might help you but to even gain the demigod additive to your race requires four level 100 classes. Since you are also tied to the Void strider then you can take on the worship of your ancestor and gain godhood with a bit more ease.”

Németh finished and then looked at me hard.

“You are simply the last of your line with any chance of actually managing to inherit the Void strider's worship, for the Mortals do not know of his death. Even Aona knows she’ll be hunted down by the other gods if she exposes the fact that she killed the Void strider with trickery and betrayal during a supposed honourable duel between the two.” Némeths tone took on such a volume of venom and sadness as she told me this that I actually felt a little for the scary as all hells skeleton mage demigod before me. “She broke the very fundamental rule of the gods, never act in direct opposition to your spheres of influence. As one of hers is justice she has obviously broken that rule time and time again.

“You aren’t some chosen one Vlad.” Sutekh said to me then, gently as he placed a hand on my shoulder. “You seem to simply be the luckiest of your thin bloodline and the only one that was lucky enough to have managed to get our attention before the inevitable betrayal killed you.” He was stern, his square jaw and greyish skin making him remind me of Goliath from the old Gargoyles cartoon when I was a kid.

“I get it, simply right place, right time sort of deal.” I spoke with a grimace on my face, their tone of voices made it rather clear to me I was simply something they thought a slightly lucky find. Nothing overly special just simply a tool that if not what they needed at the right time, could put a monkey wrench into Aona’s plans until they did find the right thing.

“So if I get this right, the Void strider was my great, great, great ancestor and as Aona’s a cheating whore you need someone to take his place?” I asked with an almost deadpan tone. “And as she’s managed to get to most of those that can take my place you’re left with me.” My tone about as defeated and dead as I felt. I knew karma can be a bitch but with my level of silver lining reversed luck, I was getting pretty sick and tired of life.

The four minor gods all looked at one another and then at me, as if talking to one another with their eyes before speaking. The first to speak was Verona and her face seemed to display compassion, something I felt was as alien to her as rocket science is to me. “We still require you to take your vengeance towards Aona, even if it is only against her mortal servants it will set her back centuries. We wish to try and bring you to the point that you can have your vengeance as your vengeance is our own as well.” She spoke softly as if to a five-year-old that had done something stupid and dangerous.

“As it stands you have a very slightly easier time to get to the point we need to get direct revenge against Aona than anything else we got. Both due to your thin connection to the Void strider as well as your worlds peculiar humans and how your souls interact with this one.

“Just shut up.” I half growled. “If you want me to do your dirty work, don’t lie to me any more, teach me what you can so I can ruin Aona’s day as thoroughly as I can and to do that I want my old mind back.” My face had grown impassive, my fatigue and just utter disillusionment had left me at a point where I just didn’t feel like I had the strength any more, despite how hot the flames of my fury towards my betrayers was I just couldn’t manage a spark at that moment.

“Your old mind?” O’Malley asked curiously.

“Yes, whatever Aona did when I was summoned to this world seemed to have put my mind in balance but I can’t deal with my emotions any longer, at least not at the strength they are. I need them muted as if far away, that is the mind I have had for most of my life and I’m used to that. If you can give me a switch or something that might allow me to get used to emotions on the normal spectrum at my leisure.” I said in my dead voice as I looked between them once more.

“That and help me get rid of whatever this corruption Chernabog was talking about, whatever it is I’ve only got six weeks or so left.

Sutekh seemed to peer at me a little more at hearing that. “So she fixed you and you feel you’re broken because of it?” He seemed to ask in confusion looking as if he hadn’t even heard about my mention of corruption. That gave me a little pause, what exactly was the corruption if they didn’t even seem to notice when I spoke of it, or were they simply ignoring it because it was an ugly truth they didn’t want to share?

“When I had to only worry about anger or annoyance being prevalent things were easier, clearer to manage.” I answered him while looking at him with hard eyes. “I’m tired of feeling this exhaustion from dealing with emotions I can barely understand or properly manage.”

“So you effectively want us to turn off your emotions?” Sutekh asked with a tone of voice that I knew all too well. That annoying tone people take when they think you're just trying to sound special or cool or whatever when you’re only telling them how you view things as alien as that viewpoint might be to them.

“No I have emotions, just when I was back on earth they were muted… duller somehow. Like lowering the volume on a stereo or simply lowering the sound of one or a few of the instruments of a song. The sounds are still there but one can barely hear them over what wasn’t lowered in volume.” I answered exacerbated by the whole debate.

“Just tell me, can you do it or not?”

“I believe you can do it.”Németh said, hesitatingly as she had stared at me with the other three for a few, rather long moments. I felt like they were thinking of putting me in an asylum or something, then again it wouldn’t surprise me that this was all just an elaborate delusion and I had lost my mind years ago. I just hope that I didn’t shout any of those corny lines I had when serving Aona would be recorded and put on youtube or something of the like.

“huh?” I answered, like the intellectual titan that I am.

“You know the state of mind you wish to have correct?” She asked me and once I nodded to her she continued. “You see I think by using meditation you might be able to construct mental barriers to your emotions to the point of where you are used to having them at.” She said as she stared at me curiously like she had decided to try and see me from another perspective.

I sighed and wiped at my face, the tears having somehow dragged lines of congealed dust down my face. My instincts told me that it should be doable, but my ever talkative brain seemed more inclined to ramping up its ADHD to another level and go skipping down memory and insanity lane.

I breathed in and closed my eyes, breathing out my frustrations in loud exhales as I sat in the lotus position. Deciding to go through the same exercises as I did with mana manipulation but working on my mind more than anything.

I didn’t really care any more if I was being rude to these minor gods around me. I ignored them as I sank further and further into myself. It took a long while, I lost track of time but I do remember hearing some muted argument between Németh and Verona. I ended up managing what I was attempting but I could feel it was a shoddy attempt at best. Like putting up a simple basal wood plank over your windows to prevent a hurricane-like blizzard from smashing in your windows. It would only hold with a miracle but it would hold for now.

However, when I opened my eyes I saw that only myself and Németh were left in the chamber. Or so I thought before I noticed the puff of smoke from O’Malley’s cigar in my periphery. “I’ll help you, Vlad. I can’t help you construct the barriers you wish to have or how you’ll manage to make a switch or whatever it is you wish for. But I can give you the time you need to do so.” She said and I began to suspect that Németh might be either warming up to me or just that when she seemed to be in teacher mode it was similar to a kindly grandmother type of manner.

“How?” O’Malley pipped up and I turned my head slightly to look at him, he still got on my nerves as he sat there, sideways on his throne with an armrest under his back and feet over the other one. That smug toothy smirk of his back on and that mischievous glint in his eyes. “When two of our little council stay here we can effectively speed up or slow down the flow of time in here as opposed to outside this place. How did you think twenty years had passed when you spoke to us for maybe half an hour or so the first time you were here?” His smirk made me want to punch him again but what he said got me thinking.

“So what? For every hour that passes here a minute passes by outside or something?” I asked with disbelief and suspicion in my tone as I looked from him to Németh.

“Something akin to that… wasn’t Void strider's record that for each second that passes outside, a day would pass here? While ours was a minute for a day?” She asked O’Malley who nodded.

“Though then it was when Void strider was here. After all, he could do that by himself and only left us enough power over this place that it requires two of us to do what he alone could do with ease. We all had to be here to even attempt reviving Vlad here after all, and that took it out of us for a while.” He then said, shrugging and somehow conjuring up a can of lemonade vodka and took a swig.

“So you want to use that to help me construct my mind to what I want it to be?” I asked and both of them nodded at me. I stared at them rather incredulously for a little while and slapped my hand over my face and sighed. “And you wouldn’t use this feature to try and train me maybe? As in the use of my skills but also my abilities, magic and combat?”

The two looked at me for a long while and I began to think I might have very seriously overstepped my bounds towards these minor gods. Then the two looked at one another and began to speak in a horrific guttural language, like something out of Cthulhu's wet nightmare or something.

I then flinched as both in unison stopped talking and looked at me again. I swallowed, as the fear of a cornered sheep before a pack of rabid wolves feels, crept up my spine.

“He’s got a point though.” O’Malley suddenly pipped up and I suddenly breathed in the breath I had forgotten to take in my terror. I still wasn’t used to dealing with them, despite my glum mood. “It makes sense and though it isn’t exactly what it’s supposed to be used for this is a good opportunity isn’t it?” He asked Németh who had brought one hand up to gently cup her chin with a thumb and the side of her index finger.

“Hmm, you do have a point. It can’t be overly too much but we might be able to maybe help him set up a foundation for what is to come in his training by us later. As well as find out what he’s doing to his body when he’s doing mana manipulation training.” She then said calmly but her tone became curious as she finished staring straight at me. Hers was that icy penetrating gaze your mother or grandmother uses when she knows you're lying and wants the truth.

Both then seemed to smile as they brought their hands together and a bubble of power blasted out into the darkness beyond the simple chamber. “I believe four hours should suffice, after all, if he can’t learn what he’s supposed to in almost two hundred and forty days then we’ll really have to give up on him.” Németh said almost happily.

“True and this won’t be easy kid, I’ll really put you through your paces.” O’Malley almost sang with sadistic glee. “But first what are you doing while you are using mana manipulation? Your body is so saturated with mana that it’s making it easy for your physical abilities to synergize and mutate to change it to the degree we are seeing here.”

“Uh...” I began, looking a little sheepish. “I just thought that since I’ve read quite a few of these types of fantasy books that why not try something from the wuxia novels I also read. You know since I think maybe mana can be used like ki or whatever to awaken meridians or some stuff.”

O’Malley looked at me and then at Németh who seemed to give him a confused look then back again his grin so damn wide I felt like most of his lower face was now just teeth. “You’re more interesting than I thought. It’s amazing you haven’t exploded by now… perhaps you can bring something new into Imerith that is their own type of wuxia arts. After all, Eikusuth is a continent to the east and they’ve done something similar though they somehow have changed the ambient mana in their continent to a more refined spirit like energy, no idea how though.” The Vanghoul now looked like a kid at Christmas with a tree half drowning in presents to themselves.

All I could think was how me and my big mouth might have just made a huge mistake.

I’ll just have to hope that it’ll pay off in both short and the long term. Please don’t be painful. Despite growing used to pain, I still hated feeling it with every fibre of my being.