Emil ordered his creation to crawl forwards, backward, and move side to side. It was even able to still fly around when he made it do that as well. He effectively had full control over its every action. As he had it return to the palm of his hand, he believed he began to understand something. Alterum had compared his group to barely more than insects, and Emil could see why.

For that dragon, manipulating a person was probably just as trivial as a bug. So in that sense, no wonder it felt superior and had looked down upon them. Alterum had manipulated them while they had lived, and then controlled what happened to them after they died.

And now, Emil had effectively done the exact same thing to this roach. But bugs didn’t have souls, while human beings did. So even though the principle concept was the same, he felt no guilt for making this insect his own undead puppet.

“You know what? I think you need a name, little guy.” After all, he had no intention to destroy his own servant. He didn’t know how useful it could actually be, but he might eventually think of something. As such, if nothing else, he could at least keep it around as a pet.

“Let’s see, what’s a good name for an undead roach. How about just Roach? Nah, too obvious.” Emil then had an idea, borrowing something a childhood neighbor had used for their cat. “I got it. You shall henceforth be known as Theodore, Grand Ruler of All That Lives, Emporer of Insects, and High Prince of the Dead. Or just Theo for short.” To him, it was funny, and the first bit of real joy he felt since leaving the dungeon.

‘But it is interesting though, how little Mana that actually took. Aside from the Mana I put inside its body, it didn’t actually cost me any to reanimate it. I wonder, when I eventually become fully undead, if my Mana level will just be fully replaced by death energy. Or, if I can use the two side by side, as separate resources.’ It was an interesting thought, but one that only time could answer.

For now though, it was time to move on. Soul Manipulation wouldn’t exactly be easy to practice without any souls around, aside from his own. And even if the power could be used on himself, he didn’t exactly like the idea of being his own test subject for it. As such, it would be skipped and shelved for later. So now, the only new ability for him to try was Death Magic.

Emil looked at the small cloud of death energy. There was a good chance that he would need it again, in order to cast a Death Magic spell. He put both hands around it, and tried to see if he could change it into a form that could actually be transported. Pushing against its surface, he imagined it condensing down as far as it could go. The cloud pushed back against his will, resisting him.

“Come on…” he muttered, adding more force. Steadily, it gave in to his desire. It became smaller and denser, until gradually the process hit a limit. By the time the former cloud refused to condense any further, it had already become a solid sphere. One that was no bigger than a grape. Emil held it in his hand, moving it around between his fingers. Though it still felt effectively weightless, the concentrated power in such a small object made his skin tingle.

‘Let’s see, if I can do this every time, I might as well come up with a term for it as well. Death Magic, death energy, death cloud, there are too many things I’ve thought of with “death” in the name.’ So to keep things just a little original, he wanted to avoid that.

“What do you think, Theo? What could be a decent term for this?” Emil asked his new undead companion. Theo, of course, did not respond. “Hmm, you make a good point. It’s not really related to souls, but it does leave an imprint of their final memories and feelings. Calling it a memento mori might be a decent idea, but that’s a little long. I don’t remember anything from my Latin classes, so making my own phrase from that is out. But… maybe calling it a memory orb could actually work? Yeah, I think I like the sound of that.”

Emil took the newly dubbed memory orb with him. He kept it in one hand while having Theo stay on his shoulder. As he walked, looking for another insect nest, he saw something move in the corner of his eye. There on the ground, not too far away from him, was a squirrel. It hadn’t noticed him yet, but it likely would and get spooked if he got any closer to it

He figured that this was as good a chance as any to test his Death Magic. A squirrel would be tougher than just another bug. Plus this way, he could get a feel for the range. If successful, he could also try to reanimate its remains as well.

Emil began to concentrate, but didn’t close his eyes. No, he instead kept his gaze locked onto his target. He didn’t need to think too much about how the spell would work. After all, it was easy to presume that it was what Alterum had used to so quickly snuff out the life from his teammates. Clenching the memory orb, he pictured doing the same to the squirrel as what the dragon had done to them.

-25 Mana

As the notification appeared in front of him, Emil felt a wave of cold go across his body. A sharp pain suddenly spiked inside his chest. He stumbled back and had to gasp as the air seemed to rush out of his lungs. A fragment of the orb shot out, embedding itself right into its target’s torso. The squirrel let out a shrill squeak, before falling limp into the snow.

After taking a moment to regain his breath, he walked over to it, one hand still pressed against his chest. Emil knelt down, and examined the squirrel. Its eyes and mouth were wide open. And as he looked, the increasingly familiar dark cloud began to form above it.

He would need to touch it before he was able to collect its energy. Though he did not look forward to experiencing what the squirrel just had. Reluctantly, he pressed his hand against it. In its last moments, the squirrel had been thinking of nothing but food. It still had a little time to forage and collect more before winter hit its peak.

Then suddenly, it felt nauseated and dizzy. An incredible amount of pain radiated from its chest, like it was being torn apart from the inside. But it was only in agony for a moment, before it died. It was strikingly similar to what Emil had felt when he had cast the spell, just on a more extreme level.

Was what he felt a side effect of using Death Magic? It had to be, there was no other good explanation. Even now that a little time had already passed, Emil still felt a little shaky in his legs. The spell’s base cost had taken a lot more Mana than Negative Magic. When he thought about it, it kinda made sense that there was also a rebound for using it.

The power to grant such a swift and ultimate end to a creature had to have a cost. Especially for him, someone who was still a living being himself. But what would happen in alternate scenarios? It would very likely take more power to swiftly kill a larger animal, such as a moose. A full-grown moose was arguably much tougher than a human, so what kind of rebound would he experience from that?

And if it was a case of still being alive, would that also mean the side effects would simply disappear once he became undead? If that was truly how it worked, then Death Magic would be a terrifying tool if he could use it without any worry for himself. For now though, he still had work to do.

Emil then repeated the process of making a memory orb. Although this second time ended up taking him longer than it had for the insects. With that done, he placed both inside a pocket and picked up the squirrel’s body. If possible, he’d like to take it back to the cave and open it up for dissection. There were a couple of knives and tools in his supply bag. So cutting its torso open would be easy enough.

He looked into the now opened-up body of the squirrel, and his eyes widened. Emil’s initial theory had been that the actual cause of death was a heart attack. But the reality turned out to be much more severe. The squirrel no longer had an actual heart, or rather, it was more accurate to say that the organ had completely exploded.

The inside of its corpse was filled with blood from the severe amount of internal bleed that would have caused. Emil carefully tried to look for any pieces of the heart with his tools. He wanted to avoid using his fingers, just in case the squirrel had been sick. I would be best if he never had to test his altered body against an infection or disease in general. After a few seconds, he did manage to find a piece of muscle tissue, then another, and more. Eventually, he believed he had every part picked out.

Emil put his tools down and sat back. He gingerly placed a hand against his own heart and felt it beating inside his chest. These abilities were no joke. Although there was an exciting aspect in trying things out and experimenting with what he could do, he had to remember caution. Because if he allowed himself to get reckless and too rash, then he might end up suffering as a victim of his own carelessness.

As the aspiring Necromancer spent the rest of his two weeks out in the wilderness, he would keep this in mind. If he didn’t, then Emil might end up unintentionally sending himself to the reaper.