Several minutes then passed, and with a heavy breath, he relaxed the tension in his body. It was then that he suddenly realized something quite obvious. As a ghost, he didn’t have any breaths to let out or muscles to relax. Perhaps it was a trick within his mind. One he made himself still believe was necessary from a lifetime of habit.

Emil turned away from his camp, and stared off toward the horizon. He could stick to his original idea, of possessing a corpse to hope it would allow him access to magic. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized how far-fetched of a plan that was. When he had been possessing Maynard earlier, he hadn’t felt any trace of magic or access to Mana. Initially, he assumed that it was because the captain’s soul was in the way, hence the idea of using a corpse instead.

“But, I already know that won’t work either, don’t I?” Emil asked himself out loud. “I know how magic works, that the body is the most important part. That’s why magical creatures without souls can use Mana. It’s why people are more likely to become Mages if it’s already in their blood. If I possessed a corpse, it needs to be one that had at least been able to unlock the use of magic before they died.”

There were two reasons why that would prove extremely difficult. The first was that the Kingdom of Mendac prioritized people with the ability to use magic highly. As such, they were given the best of the best from their nation to live long lives so they can cultivate their abilities. So many magic users could live far longer than normal folk, the oldest Mage alive today was well over three hundred years old.

But it was the second reason that was the real troublemaker. Those who unlocked their body’s access to the Mana in the world essentially became part of it. When they did eventually die, their bodies would not decay like everyone else. Instead, within an average of half a day, they would dissipate into pure Mana. As far as he could tell, as a ghost, he wouldn’t even be able to tell a magic user from a normal person until after he possessed their corpse. So unless Emil hit the jackpot, he wouldn’t be able to even find a dead body that could let him use magic.

It seemed hopeless, like he would be doomed to always be unable to rejoin the living world. But then Emil realized something, something way more important than not needing to breathe.

“How long have I been dead by now?” Emil tried to think back to Maynard’s memories. He knew he had still been barely alive that morning when he was found in the cemetery. But when exactly had he taken his last breath and died? Was it when he had ‘woken up’ as a ghost, or had there been a delay between his death and regaining awareness as a spirit?

“Darn, I shouldn’t have just skimmed his memories from after they found me. Uggh, that doctor had his notes out when he was talking to the captain. I know I was looking right at them, if I had just been paying attention instead of standing there like an idiot,” Emil chastised himself. In those notes, it might have mentioned a time of death. He thought hard to recall what information those papers had contained.

“Wait, I remember!” Emil cried out. He did see his time of death listed in the notes. It was that morning, just when after he had been brought to the hospital. Right now, it was fairly late into the afternoon.

But with his current estimation of the time, he guessed he had been dead for around fourteen hours. Even if that was a bit off, he knew for sure that it has been more than twelve. And yet, Emil knew that his corpse had still been there. It hadn’t dissipated into Mana. Even though he had been using Mana while alive, his dead body had not met the fate it should have.

Maybe it was because of his extensive use of death magic and its powers. Or perhaps it was due to his last Rank of being‘Half-Undead’. Either way, his corpse hadn’t faded away. But even so, with how wrecked of a condition it was in, it wasn’t as though he could just possess it and walk away. He was certain that if he tried, the body’s legs would give out from under him due to just how damaged it was.

“But in my Class Info, I did gain an ability called Flesh Manipulation. I didn’t really get to try it after gaining it, but what it does is pretty straightforward. If I did possess my body, and if I could then use magic, then maybe I could use that ability to fix it?”

It could potentially be done. If being in his original body allowed him to use death energy as Mana again, then he could absorb the memory orbs he collected. He could also gather up more death energy from places like the morgue and graveyard. And if even that wasn’t enough power, then he still had the surviving half of the mayor’s soul. So in terms of resources, he should have enough to use Flesh Manipulation to get his corpse at least usable again. As Emil thought through the idea, he continued to stare off into the distance.

“If I could do that… then…” he slowly trailed off. Then what? He would need to sneak out of the hospital and skip town, that much was for sure. The people there knew him, and when his dead body disappeared, he wouldn’t be able to let himself be seen again. The best case scenario is that he gets out like a thief in the night, where nobody knows what happened. The worst case, however, was not an idea he wanted to think about.

But then there was still Flumdea and her Order. They had done too much, including effectively killing him, for Emil to just walk away and not look back. But even if he did leave it all behind, where exactly did he plan on going next? He didn’t know, he truly didn’t know.

Emil felt stuck between his uncertainties. Just a few weeks ago, he had been a normal Mage at First Light Academy. And now he was dealing with choices and factors he would never have even imagined back then. He was alone to deal with it all. But if there was only someone he go to for advice, to tell him what the right move was.

He blinked twice. Without even really noticing, he had been staring off in one particular direction. At the dungeon, where it had all begun from him. At Alterum the undead dragon’s lair, the one who had given him these powers. At the one being he knew would have the advice he sought, who could tell him what it was he should do next.

The thought of going before the dragon left a bad taste in his mouth. Emil had told himself that with these powers, he wanted to do things his own way. So to go back to the undead master like a wounded puppy just felt… humiliating. Like he was turning away from his hope of being independent and free to use these abilities for himself and the greater good.

And yet, look at where that hopeful idea had gotten him. Emil swallowed his pride. He decided that he would do it, he would go back to Alterum’s lair and throw himself at the dragon’s mercy. He didn’t have to like it, but at that moment, it felt like the most likely solution to getting out of the bind he had created for himself. His decision made, he readied himself.

“Alright, back to Alterum I go then.”