When he finished casting the spell, he opened his eyes and looked down. Rather than rising again as an undead creation of his, the corpse was just as still and lifeless as before. Emil frowned as he began to chew on his thumbnail.

‘Where did it go wrong?’ He asked himself. ‘I thought I did everything correctly, so was there something I missed, that I didn’t take into account? Maybe it just needs more start-up energy, let’s try that.’ He channeled an extra burst of both Mana and death energy into the body, and tried again. However, even that proved to not be the correct answer.

‘Okay then, that clearly wasn’t the issue. So what gives? It should have everything it needs, so why didn’t the spell go through? Come on Emil, think. What differences are there between this and the small animals I’ve successfully experimented with so far? The biggest one is the presence of a soul, the original soul of this body at that. However, it didn’t seem like that was interfering in any way. If it was, I imagine that I would have just… felt it.’

For all intents and purposes, the spell behaved the same way as it had in the past. It worked perfectly, right up to the end result where it simply fizzled out instead of producing the expected outcome. Emil knew that he had looked over something, he must have, that was the only reason that made sense. But now the question was, what exactly was that something?

‘It can’t just be that I’m not strong enough, can it? That raising a human body requires some minimum amount of power that I haven’t reached yet. That’s all I’m able to think of, but that’s just not how magic works,’ Emil thought, his mind trying to think through the possibilities.

In the System, levels are simply a reflection of one’s mastery over an ability. There’s no such thing as being too low of a level to cast a spell. A novice in fire magic can try to learn and use a master tier spell. They’d simply be unable to understand it, or if they forced the knowledge into themselves with a skill book, they’d lack the necessary amount of Mana. And even then, if they found a way around that, they would technically be able to cast it, but without knowing how to control it, they might destroy themselves along with their target.

However, at the same time, those were the rules for normal Mages and the magic they used. Emil had already seen that the power of death didn’t necessarily always play ball with the logic utilized by the rest of the arcane. So now that he thought about it, there was the possibility that was once again the case. At the same time, he didn’t like the idea of it.

‘But if that is what’s going on here, then that I need to find out where that line is drawn, for my current limits. If the soul is the issue, then I try it again in a couple of stages. One, I remove the part that contains the mayor’s personality but leave the other. If that doesn’t work, then I’ll take both out. At that point, it’ll just be the corpse and memory orb. So if I still can’t make it undead, then it’ll prove that the limit is related to the body itself.’

Now determined once more, Emil began to work quickly. He concentrated, reaching the first part of the mayor’s spirit, and forced it back out from the gut. With that done, he again tried to raise the body as undead. As his eyes remained closed while focusing, he was able to sense something this time around. Underneath Emil’s hands, he could feel a flow of power suddenly rushing through the body, like a floodgate had been opened.

When he opened his eyes, Emil moved back as the mayor’s corpse began to reanimate. The muscles across its entire body spasmed. He could hear its teeth grinding even through the closed mouth. Its eyelids fluttered as every finger twitched and flexed. A few moments like this passed, before it finally went still. The body of mayor Duran then sat up, its eyes wide open.

Behind his gag, Hadwin tried to scream as the newly created undead rose up. As it did, Emil was still thinking about the sensation he had just felt, and what it possibly meant. And now that part of the mayor’s soul was now outside the body, what he could do with it instead. He stood to his feet and wiped the dust off his pants.

“Well then, this has been an educational experience. Mr. Mayor has taught me something new. I’m glad to see that he’s already begun to make himself useful to pay his penance. Oh, I didn’t mention that part yet to you, did I?” Emil said aloud, half to himself, half to the cleric. He turned to the undead mayor, and looked at him up and down, inspecting the body.

“Now then, the part of you with your conscious soul is right here,” Emil stated as he held it up. “However, you should still have all the memories and knowledge from when you were still alive. I would have you speak right now to prove it to Hadwin. However, the fact that your mouth is sewn shut would make that fairly difficult. So instead, I order you to remove the gag from his mouth,” he commanded.

The undead shuffled off, and did as it was told. When it was done, the cleric coughed right after the gag was removed. The older man breathed heavily, as he looked up at the unblinking eyes of his former accomplice. He then looked over at Emil and spit at the ground near his feet.

“You! I don’t know what kind of evil sorcery you practice, but release this man’s body and soul at once! You said that you’re now familiar with the Order and our goddess? Then know that by going against her faithful, you shall incur the full might of her wrath! Your own soul will be doomed for all eternity as you are punished in both this life and the next! You inhumane, dark-”

Emil stepped forward and cut the cleric’s rant off by slamming his fist into the older man’s face. He felt something crack upon impact, as the force sent the cleric and the chair he was tied to him to the floor. Hadwin’s face now pressed against the ground, spit once again. But rather than just saliva, a tooth and some blood now came out.

“Mr. Mayor, go ahead and put him back into place. And while you’re at it, put the gag back in. If that’s all he has to say for himself, then I’m not interested in hearing any more of it,” Emil said as he rubbed his knuckles. Once the cleric and chair were stood back up, Emil walked up to the man and looked straight into his eyes. Their faces were only inches apart.

“For the record, as far as any of the gods are likely concerned, my soul is already doomed. But your group is supposedly very old and keeps many secrets. So I’m curious to ask you something. Does the name… Alterum happen to mean anything to you? Perhaps the word dragon, or something such as a war between dragons and the gods?” Emil asked. However, there was only confusion in the cleric’s eyes. He was clearly not familiar with any of those terms. Emil took a few steps back.

“Huh, interesting. I’d get it if that was something simply kept out of public knowledge. But I assumed that someone like you would at least know of them. Perhaps I should ask a member of a different god’s sect, like a member of the High Pantheon. Someone has to know something, at least amongst one of the higher-up members. Anyway, I am still a little curious about the kinds of secrets your Order does actually hold. So I won’t waste any more time with spoken words, and will find out for myself what you know.”

Emil then placed a hand on the cleric’s head, and reach out with his spirit. As he had done with the mayor, he intended to read his soul and look through Hadwin’s memories. However, as he made contact, an unexpected result occurred.

He hit a wall, one that felt almost invincible and impossible to get around. It wasn’t just a strong will or anything like that. No, it felt like something far greater. His spirit touch the formidable obstacle, and recoiled as what felt like electricity went through his system. Just what was going on here?

His concentration was broken as he felt Hadwin’s body shaking beneath his touch. Emil looked down at him. The cleric’s head was tilted backwards, looking up as his shoulders jiggled up and down. But even from underneath the gag, Emil could hear it. This man was laughing.