Damon climbed a tree near the village to check his status screen in relative safety.

Damon Asmodeus LVL. 0 (77/520)

Charisma

Intelligence

Perception

Agility

Endurance

Strength

Mana

14

25

19

18

13

13

68

All humanoid language acquisitions Arithmetic’s Lvl.6/7 Black magic Lvl.1/10 Dark magic Lvl.1/10 Dark spirit communication Lvl.2/10 Detect diseases and viruses through smell Lvl.3/5 Earth magic Lvl.1/5 Improved memory Lvl.1/5 Medium disease tolerance Night vision Telepathy Lvl.3/10

Although he hadn’t gained any levels in his skills, he was glad to see that he doubled his experience points.

“Stolas. Are we going to wherever you’re taking me?”

Stolas shook his head, “Sleep for now, you’ve been awake for two days now.”

The next day Damon went down the tree and followed Stolas on a trail which led to the east of the Duchy.

“So where are we going?”

“One of my subordinates is in charge of a demonic sect in the surroundings.”

Damon hadn’t thought of secret organizations, cults, and sects even though these things shouldn’t be all too surprising in a world of angels, and angels. “Is it in another village or town?”

“No, it’s deep within The Forest. The base is under a tree.”

Damon thought back to the map, “so why is it called The Forest, what makes it so different from the others?”

“Simply because no one can cut down trees in that region, not to mention the forest keeps expanding a few metres each year.”

“Is it some sort of tree spirit, I haven’t thought about all the different races and beasts you might find in this world. This area doesn’t seem very, well, magical.”

Stolas laughed, “No that’s fair. There isn’t much here, this is the far corners of civilization.”

Damon swatted away some mosquitos, “Then why do you have a sect in the boonies?”

The owl shrugged, “We all lose at some point, and you need a place to lick your wounds.”

Damon rubbed his chin, he wanted to complain about his luck for getting stuck with such a weak demon; however, what happened in the forest was still fresh in his mind. He decided that a change of topic might be best for his survival. “So, faith let’s you gather strength. If that’s so, do all kingdoms and maybe duchies have their own religions based on their monarch. But then, wouldn’t that fulfill the condition of a religion made around a cerenoid being?”

“That’s true, but faith itself isn’t what’s granted.”

“Then is it something like spiritual power.”

The owl gave out a small laugh, “It’s close to that, but at the same time very distant. When someone devotes himself to a deity, he gives that being a very small part of his soul. But tell me Damon, when was the last time you’ve seen a human, or an elf know how to harness the power hidden within a soul?”

“It’s not like I know much about it, but it does make sense. So, all deities are beings such as demons and angels. And I guess in return for the soul essence the deity gives back some of the converted power to the believer.”

Stolas patted Damon’s head. “Such a smart boy, but you’re wrong about one part. Not only do demons, and angels use this energy but also higher life forms, i.e., legendary beasts such as dragons, sea serpents, krakens, Tikoloshes, sphinxes, or Teju Juaguas.”

“That sounds interesting, so this sect, the soul essence goes to your subordinate and then he pays some of it to you.”

“Yep, exactly, and I have twenty-six other sects or cults around this world on all of the twelve continents.”

“Twelve!” Damon had completely forgotten about the geography of this world, especially since he’d only seen a couple hundred kilometres of this new world and it’s been all but forests. He’d now decided that after seeking knowledge he’d go on an adventure and become an anthropologist and explorer, he could only imagine the deserts, plains, underground dungeons, and grand swaps he could explore.

Lost in fantasies Damon continued to follow Damon for three days. However, on the fourth day he stopped when he noticed that the forests had become one filled with dread and despair. The trees seemed infected and dying, tree bark and grey leaves lined the forest floor, and the sound of insects quieted down.

“Isn’t it too obvious that there’s something weird here. Won’t the local lords send a subjugation force or something?”

Stolas snorted, “Which lord, the one of the towns we just came back from. Do they have more than two hundred men? Little prince, sects and cults aren’t that uncommon in this world. If we stay far away from them and don’t cause too much trouble they won’t lift a claw, so don’t worry. Anyhow, who do you think are our main customers?”

Damon nodded and proceeded deeper into the forest. The days, and nights passed, yet they found few beasts. Damon slept next to Stolas perched on tree branches, and during the day he asked Damon about this world. The dense forest made for hard ground to track. He didn’t know how far he’d have to trek before he reached the Tree; however, the surroundings didn’t inspire a sense of awe, but dread.

Finally, after three weeks of travel Damon saw something other than a tree; a skeleton holding a bow and arrow stood in the distance. He activated his shadow meld, lessen reflection, and hid behind a tree.

“Oy, little prince, your instincts are good, but that thing has already seen you and he won’t do anything to you. You’re my apprentice and he’s my subordinate’s creation.”

Damon slightly relaxed, but still didn’t release his magic. This was the first time he’d seen a skeleton and although he’d expected the time to come, it still disgusted him. Especially since skeleton didn’t seem to be just bone. This one still had tendons and some muscles. He guessed this helped reduce the mana required to operate the skeleton, but then again, what did he know about making undead?

Damon approached it slowly. However, it didn’t move. He kept going till he came within an arm’s length from it. The skeleton had a smell; however, it wasn’t comparable to the time he was sick. He proceeded to poke it and noticed that there was a viscous substance on its surface.

“If you’re so fascinated, why don’t you go make one yourself?”

Damon turned to face to the owl perched on his shoulder. “Can I?”

“Of course, here we don’t limit information. Here your future is in your hands; here you’ll learn black magic, and necromancy is a fundamental part of it.”

This made Damon’s curiosity run in circles, “Let’s go. Oh wait, where’s the entrance?”

Stolas pointed straight forward, “Bring me to arm’s length of that tree.”

Damon ran to the tree and Stolas touched the tree and said, “Press your hands against the tree.” A few seconds later Stolas told Damon to let go of the tree, the owl did the same, “Now try it yourself.”

Damon pressed his hand on the tree. It started to untangle and give way to a winding staircase which led down into the ground. Damon entered the tree and when he reached the lowest floor, he saw a cave system lit by blue stones. Damon was both excited and disappointed. “I was kind of expecting a giant room with a bunch of weirdos in dark robes.”

“If they were all gathered in a room that would mean they’d be doing nothing, no? Don’t they have to gather materials, practise their craft, but most important of all work? I’m sure some of them are in the rooms doing some research, but don’t disturb them. They come here to work not socialize and if they’re ever kidnapped or questioned, it’s always better for you if they’ve never seen you.”

Damon nodded and followed Stolas into a small circular room. In the centre a few fresh rodents, rodent skeletons, unknown ingredients, and books lined a rectangular wooden table.

“Starting small,” said Damon, he reached out his hands to one of the rodent corpses, but Stolas held him back.

“Start with the book.”

“I already know the spell for reanimating small insects and rodents.”

“Oh, is that so? Then go ahead.”

Damon placed his finger on the rodent’s head and activated the spell which consumed ten mana points, however, the only thing that happened was that its head started to violently shake up and down and right to left.

“I’m afraid it’s broken; it’s neck must have been injured when collected.”

Stolas slapped his face, “You know it’s your fault, now read the books.”

Damon sat down and read the three books stacked on the table. When he finished reading the first book, his memorization skill increased to level two. Since the contents of the books were rather complex, he decided to go through it once more, and this time he managed to understand and remember much more. Although, he still couldn’t remember the various names of plants nor the vast amount of theoretical knowledge.

In summary the book explained that magic in its raw state can be felt. When you released mana on a sheet of paper, the paper would rise, however, when you changed the way in which you released it, it’s nature would change as to effect change on the elements. How this happened, they did not know. And why fire magic could only be activated by people with the required skill they did not know either. But they assumed that each kind of magic was self-contained. Even if an individual possessed two or more types of magic, cast both at the same time. The exception to the rule came when aided by another object which could access that specific magic’s schematic floor. For said reason when casting necromantic spells on corpses, one had to remove all magical attributes from the creature. Only then can you cast the necromantic magic on it. This is because the creation wouldn’t have a conscience, and as such wouldn’t be able to control it’s the schematic floor it wished to operate on.

This is where the different definition of death came from. Here death was defined as the loss of one’s mana regulation. Those who could move, but whose body couldn’t control it’s mana were defined as undead.

The book later gave the spell to remove the mana from an object, the spell to reanimate small rodents which Damon already knew, and the spell slow deterioration.

The later part of the book went on a tangent about how the greatest achievement for all necromancers should be to give life to a corpse. This didn’t seem too outlandish to Damon when he considered this world’s definition of life and those called the living dead.

Damon deicide to give it a try. He first applied the spell to strip the corpse’s traces of mana which consumed 10 mana points. He then applied the reanimation spell. The rodent slowly stood up, and soon after fell over.

“I read the book, what am I missing?”

“Damon, you are too excited, there are still two left. You only have one corpse left so read them properly.”

Damon’s eyes twitched. He didn’t know how much time had passed but his eyes had started to be drained of life. He wanted to sleep but had noticed that the corpses had begun to rot. Although someone had probably applied a spell to slow down the decomposition time, it didn’t stop it.

The second book explained that the reanimation spells gave strength by imbuing magic inside the bones of the corpse since it is dense and most absorbent part of the body for mana. That’s why the undead were usually only bones. To imbue magic into flesh wasn’t practical nor even possible for most necromancers due to its complexity and mana drainage. The book then gave a spell which attempted to do this; however, it could only imbue magic to flesh for two to three seconds depending on the magical reserves of the individual.

The final book looked more like an anatomy textbook than anything else. It contained the methods of dissection. Which muscles you could keep on your creation without making it too cumbersome on the mana requirement and a spell to slow the decay of flesh.

Since the slow decay spell had already been used, he tried to dissect the corpse and removed everything layer by layer trying to only keep the tendons attached to the bones. He ended up cutting half of them and breaking a couple of bones. He’d already dissected a rat and rabbit in his previous life; however, the tools here were crude, cumbersome, and less precise.

The owl gave the prepared skeleton. Damon respected whoever prepared it and swore to thank them later.

Once again, he stripped the corpse of its mana, then applied the reanimation spell, and watched his creation stand up. It still felt stiff, however, it ran to his creator and did circles in Damon’s hands. Damon felt his stress and sleepiness wash away. He turned to Stolas, “Do you have more corpses?”

The owl didn’t respond, Damon realized he’d spoken a loud. “Do you have more corpses?”

“Do you have more mana?”

Damon checked his status and noticed he only had fewer than twenty mana points left. He gritted his teeth, “No.” He wanted to make a small battalion of undead rodents.

“Then sleep, the bed is behind you.”

Damon laid down on a straw mattress, “I have to increase my level, I barely have any mana.”

The owl nodded, “Then we will go hunt tomorrow.”

With these words Damon fell into a deep slumber. The undead rodent curled up on his head and went back to sleep.