Necromancer Of The Black Bible (11)

The Soul Shackle placed by the Demon King.

That must certainly have been placed by the Great Demon King Illinas.

After all, he said he would take my entire soul as payment for granting regression.

‘Illinas.’

He took my body as payment at the last moment and yet he toyed with me.

He sent me back to the time after I became crippled.

And on top of that, he shackled my soul.

‘I must never let him be.’

I touched the thin red thread.

It was taut yet flexible. It didn’t seem very strong — I felt I could snap it if I wanted.

“If you cut it, Illinas will come to find his master. Can you handle him now?”

Equinox’s question hit the mark.

‘Not yet.’

Someday I’ll make him pay, but not right now.

I’ve only obtained the first Mana Ring — I have to keep growing.

Revenge can wait.

In the end, I let go of the thread.

Equinox stood beside me and spoke.

“Your body is exhausted. You must take nourishment.”

He was right — I was hungry.

I followed his unhurried steps out of the cave.

It was still night outside.

The view outside the cave was familiar yet new.

From the broken rock at the entrance drifted a faint green aura, and the stream before it shimmered with a strange silver sheen.

That wasn’t all.

The densely standing trees scattered motes of light, and white-and-black dust rose from the fallen leaves on the ground.

Even more astonishing was the sky.

Countless stars filled the sky so densely that it was hard to recognize the constellations I had known before.

And in the center there floated a sphere — it was not the moon.

A black orb amid the brilliant starlight.

Smaller than the moon, faint light leaked from its rim.

‘What is that?’

Equinox answered my silent question.

“That is the Ethereal Gate. It is where the souls of the dead come and go.”

After speaking, he glanced at my feet for a moment and continued.

“It seems small creatures have been lured by your aura. Deal with them before you lose focus.”

Following his gaze, I saw a large white snake had sunk its fangs into my ankle.

It had bitten so deeply it could only writhe in place.

The sight was strange.

‘I don’t feel pain.’

The venom of such a white serpent is lethal — one bite can kill within an hour or two. Yet I felt no pain or sensation.

This peculiar phenomenon confused me.

What could it mean?

Was this what Equinox meant by saying all senses would be redefined?

I subdued the writhing snake’s head with my thumb and forefinger and lifted it.

A white snake with a head the size of a child’s fist.

Its eyes shone blood-red, and silver light flowed from its white scales.

It was about two meters long.

Even raised to my eye level, its body still touched the ground.

It hissed and writhed helplessly.

As I looked between its dripping fangs and the bite marks on my ankle, Equinox answered.

“Now you will not be harmed by any poison in the world. The same goes for pain. You may feel it now to some degree, but it will dull over time.”

“Will my other senses dull as well?”

“Most will. However…”

“However?”

When I asked, Equinox approached and replied.

“If you concentrate, you can select specific senses to feel. And the senses you choose can be sharpened further — though you will require training.”

He stood beside the snake in my hand and continued.

“Absorb this creature’s life force. That is the priority now.”

Equinox was right.

Though dulled, I still felt tired and hungry.

I had lain still for days after implanting a Mana Ring in my heart; my body was in bad shape.

Even in my previous life, when the Demon King gave me my first Mana Ring, I was out for a week, and my master hunted fresh meat and cooked for me.

Thinking of that, I snapped the snake’s neck and summoned a ‘Blade’ with lesser magic to skin it.

Ssshhk—

The ‘Blade’ smoothly sliced open the snake’s belly. Pulling up from the severed head, I peeled the skin away to reveal the white flesh within.

At the same time, something caught my eye.

A red heart.

It was clearly visible even inside its thick body.

Perhaps because I had just snapped its neck, the heart still beat, and bright red blood gushed from the severed neck.

The sight was strangely intoxicating.

Warm blood still seeping with heat ran over my hand holding its neck — I felt momentarily dizzy.

When I came to, the blood was being absorbed through my skin.

The hot warmth soaked up my arm and into my heart.

The Ring in my heart began to turn slowly, absorbing that life force.

Thump, thump, thump…

As the snake’s heartbeat faded, when it stopped completely three small crimson beads appeared along the edge of my heart’s Mana Ring.

Those beads remained attached to the ring and began to rotate with it.

And the corpse of the snake in my hand had shriveled completely.

“Well done. Absorbing a creature’s heart yields Life Beads (saengmyeongju). The stronger the creature, the more Life Beads you obtain. At your current level your Mana Ring can hold six Life Beads. That number will increase as you gain more rings and train.”

It was astonishing.

Though I had learned necromancy in a past life, I had never heard of Life Beads.

And absorbing life merely through contact was astounding.

‘To do this without using blood-sucking magic…’

While I marveled, Equinox looked at the shriveled snake in my hand and said,

“It is not yet over. Many long-lived mountain creatures like this are inhabited by spirits. When they die, a spirit body appears much like for humans.”

As he said, a snake-shaped spirit separated from the corpse.

The spirit, glowing a chilling blue moonlight, flicked its tongue and glared at me.

“Catch it quickly. Even as a spirit, its attacks can injure you.”

“Is it more lethal than being bitten by fangs?”

“Yes.”

Following Equinox’s advice, I gripped the spirit’s neck.

It felt cold and sticky — markedly different from the creature I’d met in the cave.

Its emanation was different too.

This snake projected a clear killing intent.

“This is important. Do not avoid its eyes. Look straight at it and project your will to subdue it.”

I had already practiced implanting an image through the Earthbound Spirit.

I easily infused the will to subdue; the spirit stopped writhing and went limp as if its fighting spirit had broken.

Equinox spoke in a soft voice.

“Well done, Master. You have successfully subdued the spirit body. A subdued spirit can be used in many ways.”

“For example?”

“There are many uses, but for now it would be best to make it your guardian spirit.”

“Guardian spirit?”

Another term I’d never heard before.

My master never taught me about such things.

I had never heard terms like Life Beads or Sky Gate before.

Equinox, sensing my confusion, spoke slowly.

“Master, many things will seem strange and confusing — that’s only natural. The first necromancer vanished some 3,500 years ago. You are a true necromancer appearing after that long interval. Keep in mind what you learned from your master were mere tricks. In all those years I never imbued my copies with essence.”

“…I see.”

I recalled Equinox earlier claiming my master could not have approached the power of immortality.

At the time I dismissed it as nonsense, but now it seemed possibly true.

The wholly altered landscape and the vividly visible spirit form.

And the power to siphon life simply by touching it.

The power I had gained differed from anything my master taught.

‘Far stronger.’

Is this the true power of a necromancer?

I’d only obtained a single Mana Ring and yet it was incredibly powerful.

If I continue to accumulate achievements like this, what will I become?

As I asked myself that, my mind went momentarily dizzy.

When I regained focus I was seated high above; a vast world stretched below, and countless beings bowed before me.

“What is this?”

It was a mutter, but Equinox answered.

“This is the answer to the question you just asked yourself.”

Equinox, now sitting beside me, stared out across the wide world for a long while.

Meanwhile his form had shifted from a spirit to a physical body.

An old man in a tattered brown robe.

He had thick white eyebrows and deep wrinkles.

His green-tinged blue eyes held an indescribable sadness.

After gazing at the distant horizon and the world below for some time, he spoke.

“A necromancer defies the laws of the world and speaks directly with the world. When a necromancer obtains his first Mana Ring, the world shows him what he most wonders about.”

“So this is the answer to that question?”

Equinox nodded to my question.

I looked once more at the scene before me.

‘This is the answer to my question?’

I had only been wondering how far I could go, what I might become at the end of my accomplishments.

I still could not understand how this spectacle was the answer.

Equinox, with a somewhat peaceful expression, spoke.

“You will now learn how to converse with the world. Do not rush.”

“Tell me one thing — what does this mean?”

I pointed to the world and asked; Equinox answered with calm eyes.

“It means that you will ultimately become a god.”