As Emil took in the update to his rank and abilities, his latest experiment quickly took his attention back. The new and improved Theo began to move with its remade form. Each of its spindly legs twitched, and its shell parted away for the wings. Tiny wisps of blue flame escaped from between the separated sections of its exoskeleton. Its mandibles clicked together as they moved. Then as the first real action of its advanced body, Theo bent its front legs and gave him a bow.

“Ma…ster. Serve ma…ster,” Theo slowly said, its voice reverberating inside its body. Emil’s eyes widened as he realized just what happened. It actually spoke! This wasn’t just sensing emotions, or even mentally communicating. No, this really was human speech, spoken aloud! He had hoped for an advancement in its mental capabilities, but this was more than he could ever have guessed. It wasn’t just a step up from before, it was practically a leap to the sky.

‘And in English too!’ Emil thought to himself. ‘It must have picked it up straight from my mind, that’s the only explanation that makes sense. It’s not perfect speech, sure, but who cares about that?! What else does it already know? Is it stuck at where it’s mentally at, or does it also have the ability to learn and improve further? Okay, let’s start by trying something again.’

Emil commanded his creation to face toward true north. The last time he had asked this, it had failed. But now, upon his order, his undead servant began to turn around. When it stopped, he looked in the direction it was facing. It was hard to tell for sure how precise it was, but for all intents and purposes, it was to the north.

“That’s fantastic Theo! Not only do you know how to speak English, you even understand more abstract concepts now too! You just have an inherent knowledge of these things. Okay! So what about magic? I gave you access to a little bit of Unholy Fire Magic, as the System called it. But do you currently know to channel that power into spells? If so, can you try casting something at that rock?’ Emil asked, pointing at the target.

He had also just gained access to this ability, so of course, had yet to properly try it out for himself. So without that chance to practice, he had no concrete knowledge for Theo to already have. So if it could indeed cast a spell, it would be proof that its mind was more than things copied from his. A full minute passed as he watched. Theo stared at the rock he had pointed out, but nothing happened.

“I see, so apparently that’s a no on that front. Oh well, it’s not a big deal if you can’t use it yet. If anything, it would have been a little worrying if you already could. But hey, now we can see if you’ll automatically learn it as I do, or if it’s something that needs to be taught by me. Guess we’ll find that out together, huh buddy?”

“Yes, ma…ster.”

“Hmm, your answer gives me an idea. I’m going to ask you a series of questions, and you just answer with either yes or no, okay? This one’s already obvious, but I’ll go ahead and just ask it anyway, ‘cause I might as well. Do you understand me and what I’m saying?”

“Yes.”

“Right, of course. Now to see how being resurrected for the first time and just recently remade has impacted your memories. First, do you have any kind of memories from when you were a living roach?”

“No.”

“Interesting. Do you have any from after I first brought you back as an undead?”

“Yes.”

“I see, now that’s intriguing. I’d like to see what kind of memories they are. You only had death energy and Mana at that point, so I did kinda expect that to be another no. I’d understand being able to form memories now, with an undead fake heart. Since that seems to be more powerful than even the charged ones A-1 and A-2 have. Hmm, I’m going to place a hand on you and try to read your mind. Just letting you know.” Theo didn’t vocally respond to what he said.

Emil did what he said he’d do, and began to search by going straight to the oldest parts. At the start, there was only a void of seemingly endless darkness. But at the end of this stretch, there was suddenly heat, an almost unbearable amount of it. Then, there came the light that brought an end to the dark. Through Theo’s eyes, he watched what came after it was resurrected by him.

However, there was only sight. At no point did the undead roach feel any other sensation. From his perspective, it was strange to not be able to experience the world. To not feel anything as it crawled or flew around. It didn’t even really hear the orders he gave at that point, it simply understood through his intent and will. This was from the connection they shared as creator and servant. Emil pulled back from Theo’s memories, and contemplated what he had just seen.

He had yet to use the scroll he bought to check on his Sheet. But he was willing to be that Undead Creation was still at level one. And even if it had just leveled up, it would have been after he made undead he merged Theo with.

‘But for the sake of argument, let’s say it did level up right after that. So when I recreated Theo, it was level two by that point. So that could be the reason why it made such a big leap in terms of advancement. I can check what level it actually is in a minute, but let’s go with that for right now. If this is what I’m capable of with that ability at level two, then just how much better can it really get? Like if it goes all the way up to level ten as its max, what the heck will that be like?’ He asked himself, wondering where the limit even was for these powers.

The safe assumption was that Alterum was the ceiling. A master of death, able to manipulate the souls of others into being Necromancers. Would he be able to do something similar? Even if he couldn’t to the same degree, he might be able to give other humans a small amount of power over the undead. If that was possible, then he could have his own students. And if they honed their abilities, perhaps one day they too could pass it down to others. So that it could spread, and perhaps even be fully turned into an academic field.

If Alterum did win its war against the gods, then perhaps that could be what comes after. A new world, one where death wasn’t something to be feared, but studied and understood. Through undeath, the best and brightest of people could spend centuries gathering and enhancing their knowledge. What would civilization look like in such a future?

If a scholar didn’t just have one lifetime to invent and discover, but an eternity. If people didn’t have to worry about working so they could afford food and shelter. Since if undead golems could be enhanced, they could take care of all the manual labor. Leaving people to enjoy ease and comfort. And if everyone were undead, hunger, thirst, illness, and every negative ailment would all be eliminated. Could it be the key to unlocking their full potential, if those restrictions no longer existed?

Emil looked down at his hands. When he had first received these powers, he thought of himself as a poor fool who had been cursed. Someone who should be pitied for the cruel gift fate gave him. But now, he began to think of it in a new way. With his hands, he could bring forth a new era, a golden age that could last forever. Undeath could potentially be a blessing, one he could share with the world. And as the first and potentially still the most powerful Necromancer, he could ensure that this course remained on track.

“But…” he began to ask aloud. “If all the gods do end up being gone, what happens to the afterlife and all the souls in it? Would they all still stay there, or could they be brought back to this world? For a lot of them, their physical forms would be long gone. But new bodies could potentially be made for their spirits to inhabit. Hmm, at some point, I’ll have to see if that actually is feasible.”

Emil glanced around at Theo and the golems he had made. Now that Theo was significantly bigger, he would need to keep it here at the camp. Alf could be safely brought into town. But with how basic its functionality was, there wouldn’t be a reason to do so. However, for the undead and golems powered by death, it wouldn’t be safe.

But if he wanted to turn his vision into a reality, knowledge of him and his powers needed to spread at some point. It couldn’t be kept a secret forever anyway. So he might as well be proactive about it, and try to plant the seeds for the future world. However, even attempting to do so would bring its own set of challenges and obstacles.

As he thought about it, Emil looked up. Dusk was about to arrive. He stood up and brushed his clothes off. He had been so hung up on his experiments and inner thoughts, that he’d completely lost track of time.

But now, there wasn’t long until Emil would head out for the town to secure his room at the inn. Then when that was done, go to the graveyard and revisit the spirits. It was good that he had the chance to practice going through memories and reading the mind of an undead. It would prove to smooth the process of him trying to find out the silver one’s identity from the dead children’s own memories.

There was still just a little time left until he planned to go. Emil went to grab the enchanted scroll. That was just perfect, since it still gave him the chance to look at his Sheet.