Chapter 237: The Immortal Lich
The Immortal Lich had once been nothing but a small-time researcher who worked in the Magical Institute of a ’Rank III’ world known as T’laina, more than three hundred Dimensional Leaps away from Earth. His master was a woman called Forgo, and she was known as the ’Witch of Calamity’. She specialized in a brand of magic known as Necrosis, and she had dedicated her life to the advancement and perfection of this magic. Necrosis was a branch of magic that was misunderstood by nearly every member of the magical institute in T’laina.
As the name implied, Necrosis was a magical branch that focused mainly on the dead and the study of how they related to magic. One half of the magical institute saw the practice of Necrosis as barbaric and refused to involve themselves in it because they didn’t want to make their magic dirty. Meanwhile, the other half of the T’laina magical institute saw Necrosis as an evil practice. They filed various petitions asking the Magical Board to remove the practice from the institute, but they were refused because the institute was dedicated to allowing magical practitioners to study any branch of magic that they wanted.
Forgo, on the other hand, believed with all her heart that Necrosis was the highest and most powerful form of magic in existence. Forgo dedicated centuries to the study of Necrosis and its uses in magic. Forgo had studied magical creatures and found out that after death, the magical crystals from a beast would have most of the magical power that the creature had when it was alive! And sometimes, it would even have more! This confused Forgo for a while since she thought that most creatures lose thier magic once they lose thier life, but after much research, she realized that it wasn’t the Magical Beast that was giving off the excess magic, but rather the surge in magic was a result of the dead creature’s connection with the [River of the Afterlife].
The [River of the Afterlife] was a well-known magical entity, and it was common knowledge that every deceased soul in the Primordial Expanse went there to rest for eternity. But in the brief moment between the life and death of a creature, a great amount of magic is unleashed by the [River of the Afterlife] in order to take their soul away, and it is the traces of that magic that remain inside the creature’s Magical crystals and causes the increase in Mana.
Forgo wanted to learn how to harvest that magic. She believed that learning to harvest the magic in a creature just before it dies would allow her to tap into the [Rivers of the Afterlife] and gain incomparable power. Her work was so serious and it took up so much of her time that she eventually had to take on a young brilliant student known as Logof. Logof was the top of his class in all his magic lessons and had extensive knowledge of almost all forms of magic.
But it was Logof’s passion for magic that made Forgo take him as an apprentice. When talking about magic, Logof had a look in his eyes that would put fear into the heart of regular men. It was an insanity that only those who shared the same passion would understand, and it made Logof one of the most relentless pursuers of knowledge. Forgo appreciated this passion and she taught Logof everything she knew. She showed him the brilliance of Necrosis and she allowed him to read all the personal journals she had written about how to gain power from the [Rivers of the Afterlife].
Logof immediately fell in love with the idea of Necrosis and took to Forgo’s teachings like a fish to water. He followed after his teacher and learned everything that she could offer faster than she could ever imagine. He ignored his own health, his relations with other people, and even romance, and focused entirely on the advancement of this new form of magic. But after a while, Logof realized that his teacher would never be able to reach her goal. It wasn’t because she lacked the intelligence or skill. Forgo was one of the most skilled mages in the world, and she had extensive knowledge that would put most other mages to shame. But what she lacked was ruthlessness.
In order to advance a form of magic like Necrosis, there were many sacrifices that had to be made. They were dealing with the dead, so they needed to acquire creatures and people at the moment just before they would pass on. Forgo had no issue studying magical beasts in this state, but she drew the line when it came to people. She cared too much about other people, and that prevented her from being able to reach the true limit of their research. And this lack of Ruthlessness was where Forgo’s ambition hit its final roadblock.
But where Forgo’s ambition ended was where Logof’s ambition began. Logof realized the foolishness of his teacher, and he knew that he could no longer depend on her to advance the craft that he had come to love. And so, after making sure that there was nothing more he could learn from his teacher, Logof killed Forgo and used her body as the first test subject in his personal study of Necrosis. Logof advanced his studies by leaps and bounds using Forgo’s body, and he discovered things about the [River of the Afterlife] that he would have never discovered otherwise! After killing the first person, it was as though Logof lost every moral limitation that had been holding him back! Logof knew that he couldn’t stop killing since he needed to advance his magic, so sacrifices were necessary! Logof killed, and killed, and killed. And it didn’t take long before the authorities noticed the sudden spike in murders.
It was obvious that the first people that everyone pointed fingers at were those studying Necrosis since it dealt with the dead, but once people noticed that Forgo could no longer be found anywhere, Logof was tagged as a murderer by the Magical Institute! But that only served to increase Logof’s desire for power! These people didn’t understand what he was trying to do! They thought he was a murderer!? How foolish! There was no great discovery in the world that didn’t require some sacrifices! He was trying to change the world!
Logof refused to acknowledge any faults in what he was doing, and he refused to stop. And, after much experimentation and practice, Logof finally realized what he needed to do in order to perfect the art of Necrosis. Logof and Forgo had been doing it wrong all along. They were trying to tap into the [Rivers of the Afterlife], but they were never going to be able to do it because they were held back by their own mortality. Logof realized that in order to reach that great power, you needed to become more than just a living being. You needed to become one with death itself.
Logof carried out his riskiest experiment yet on the same night that the Magical Institution sent out a battalion of Mages to take him down. Logof stripped himself naked and drew two hundred different Magical Runes across his body. He made long cuts from his forehead down to his feet, and he slowly drowned himself in a bath containing the fresh blood of a hundred people. Logof recited a forbidden mantra while slowly absorbing the mana given off by the fresh blood. Once he was close to the end of the mantra, he stabbed himself in the heart and allowed his blood to mix with the others. The result was the stripping away of all mortal skin and blood from his body. His soul was dragged out by the [River of the Afterlife], but the [River of the Afterlife] couldn’t take it away because of the ritual he performed! Instead, it remained in the space between the living world and the afterlife, and this allowed Logof to awaken as a new creature. An Immortal Lich.