Emil had learned a few things about this spell, which he had since dubbed Negative Void. First, there was a limit to how much mana he could use to improve it. With double the mana, he could increase its initial size and total travel distance by about fifty percent. Putting it any more mana than that, led to dramatically reduced returns. But in total, he had cast it four more times before he was satisfied.

Though now, his pool had been reduced all the way down to 20/200. So if he wanted to continue using magic, he needed to find a way to replenish his reserves. He already knew it wouldn’t refill naturally with time now, like it had when he was a Mage.

Alterum had mentioned something about using the insects as its source of power, before Emil’s group had arrived. But at the same time, the dragon had said that he would continue relying on mana as fuel until he could master using death. As he thought about it, Emil decided to take a break for lunch.

But when he went into the cave and began to prepare his next meal, something immediately seemed off. The food rations weren’t the most aromatic things to begin with, but now he couldn’t smell them at all. When he went to take a sample bite, he realized that he couldn't taste it either.

Emil’s heart rate skyrocketed as he began to panic. He had been able to taste and smell this morning when he ate breakfast. His throat became tight as he tried to think of an explanation for this sudden change.

Was this a result of his repeated use just now of Negative Magic? It was then that Emil realized, he had no idea how fast the transformation into an undead would actually be. Alterum had said that it would happen “slowly. But was that based on Emil’s perception of time, or that of a being who had been around for centuries?

However, the ancient dragon had also said that he would change as he grew in power. He hadn’t increased his strength or increased in any levels yet, and only gave one of his abilities a try. With deep breaths, Emil attempted to make himself calm back down.

It was then that a new scent caught his attention. Something meaty, like barbecued steak. Emil began to salivate as he turned around and stepped back out of the cave. He needed to know where something that smelled so delicious was coming from. It couldn’t have been the groups from the dig site. Surely he had traveled too far away from them by now, for that to be the case.

Emil forced himself to swallow the built-up saliva. Hungry or not, he needed to know if there were people around his current shelter. He didn’t think there would be any towns nearby, but there was always the possibility of folks out camping.

If he still had access to Novice Divination, he could have used it to help himself find out. But with that form of magic now gone, he had no choice but to look the hard way. Using the scent itself as his guide, he clumsily attempt to follow it and tried to pinpoint its source.

The wind was bowling steadily, so he had at least could sunrise from which direction it was coming. And if there were people cooking something over a campfire, then at least he would see the smoke before anything else.

Even after half an hour of trying to find it, he still hadn't seen any smoke yet or really any other evidence of human presence. But the potency of the smell had only grown stronger the closer he became. Emil had no idea what kind of food was being cooked, but the scent alone was almost otherworldly in how good it was. It couldn’t have been much farther from him now.

When Emil cleared past a row of bushes, he found it. From the scent alone, he had to stop himself from drooling. But now that he saw what it really was, it threw his brain for a loop. There was no campfire or barbeque. Rather, just the half-rotten, partially eaten carcass of a deer.

But what ended up drawing his attention wasn’t the corpse itself. Instead, hanging several feet above it, there was a dark cloud. The cloud itself was just about as large as the deer. It was thick, to the point that he couldn’t see anything past it.

Without realizing it, Emil took a few steps toward it. He didn’t care about the deer’s body, he realized that it was this substance that had drawn him here. Tentatively, he moved even closer, and reached out a hand so that he could touch it. When his fingers made contact, several images and emotions flashed through his mind.

The undead dragon’s skull, and the tendrils it had used to make him a Necromancer. But then there was the deer, he saw its last moments before it had died. A pack of wolves had been hunting it, and injured its leg. When it finally became too weak from the blood loss, they went in for the kill.

For those few moments, he felt the same things the deer had felt. Tooth and claw ripped open his belly as the wolves pulled out his organs. The shock alone would have made a human pass out, but the deer remained awake and aware for all of it. Finally, one of the wolves walked around to the deer’s head, and the last thing it saw was its jaws going for the neck. Emil pulled back a hand on his throat, processing everything he had just seen.

After a few seconds, he reached back out. There were no visions this time, but he paid more attention to the physical sensation. The cloud felt more like a viscous substance, similar to honey. But as he touched it, he could still feel the lingering feelings of the deer as it had been dying, in the back of his head. Emil began to believe that after taking a moment to think about it, he understood what this was.

It wasn’t the deer’s spirit, per se. Rather, he assumed that it was more of a lingering impression. It was similar to the tendrils Alterum has used on his teammates. However, it was different at the same time. The cloud felt… less concentrated. If the tendrils had each been a raging forest fire’s worth of raw power, then this was more like the flame of a hearth back in his dorm. But even so, Emil could feel the power contained within it. Like there was a tingling sensation in his own soul, as he touched it.

Emil pushed both of his hands all the way inside, and closed his eyes. If this was a source of power, then he could manipulate it. He imagined the cloud drawing into his body through his fingers and palms. Sweat ran down his brow as he concentrated.

Slowly, it began to respond and act upon his will, but there was still resistance. If Emil lost focus, he knew it would break the connection and reclaim anything it had taken. As such, he needed to give it all his attention and try to steadily absorb it all in one attempt.

Eventually, the viscous sensation disappeared from his hands. When he opened his eyes, the cloud was gone, and a new System notification appeared in front of him.

+50 Mana acquired

Conversion into a usable form is required

Estimated conversion time: two hours

‘So that’s how it is, huh?’ Emil thought to himself. He believed he knew what was happening now. He would need to rely on death as his fuel, but could only use it indirectly. The way he is right now, he wouldn't be able to utilize it in its original form. Instead, it needed to become Mana first, so that could be what he used to cast magic.

As he looked at the notification, the smell of rotting meat suddenly hit him. He quickly moved away from the body, and threw up into the bushes. It would have seemed that his normal sense of smell had returned.

Emil still didn’t fully understand these new abilities or how they had already changed his body. But bit by bit, he would explore them and learn. And then when he felt he fully understood them and himself, he would then decide what to do with them. He then began the walk back to his shelter.