Ch 159 – Life and Death Energy

Inside Isaac Deathwill's normal house which has tremendously transformed over the past few weeks, from garbage dump to modern but humble, there lies a hidden room only a few have access to.

It was located deep underground, hidden behind multiple layers of runes and technological constructs that only a few beings would be able to know of its existence. Either one needs an in-depth understanding of magic which humans of Earth lack considering they are essentially newborn beings in the field of magic, or have overwhelming might, and only Z-Rank Beings and above can possibly penetrate through the measures Isaac has put in place.

With his thousand years of experience, it's easy for him to transcend past ranks and put measures that can hold them back without much difficulty. His knowledge in nearly all fields of magic that have been culminated throughout a thousand years means his understanding of magic is nearly unrivaled in the mortal realm; meaning to rival him would be immensely difficult.

Inside the room, the fouls gleamed with a metallic luster as a floating blue ball floated on the ceiling, connecting to countless blue veins on the wall that poured into the floor to form a ginormous magic circle that covers the entire floor. In the middle of the magic circle, Isaac Deathwill gazes at the air in front of him with a focused stare.

If one didn't know his access to nanites and AI technology, one would think he was an insane psycho, but in actuality, multiple floating blue screens flooded his vision.

From charts, images, graphs, videos, data flooded his brain while he calmly analyzed them all with an unperturbed gaze.

Those screens showed countless strange images. From the business expenses of multiple companies throughout Korea, the perspective of a bird flying through the sky, the information of multiple hunters ranging from F to S rank, and all kinds of data flashed through his eyes.

With his cheat, building a massive force and information network would be quite hard for a normal person, but he wasn't a normal person! He was Isaac Deathwill, a lich that has transcended the limits of mortal life and was known as the Emperor of Death back in the world of Tellus, constructing a large shadow organization in mere weeks would be something quite easy for him to achieve!

He has his eyes and ears everywhere, ranging from his Servants scattered throughout Seoul, or his advanced AI that is essentially unrivaled in terms of technological power on Earth. With those two variables, he can have the entire world's information given to him like an open book!

He nodded his head, dismissing those multiple screens as he finally stood up after a short pause. His eyes gleamed with excitement deep within those abyssal depths. He grinned, a powerful force erupting from his body out of nowhere as one can sense a distinct change starting to happen.

His white shirt fluttered with the wind, a strong aura pervading the entire room as he raised his arm and inspected his veins popping out from the flood of energy stemming from nowhere. He grinned, the river of life force felt intoxicating to him who has been an undead being for a thousand years, 'This life energy, to think there'd come a day where I myself can experiment with it personally. Even after a thousand years, I haven't found a way to gain access to life energy as a lich, but now, I can wield it myself!'

He grinned, his eyes flashing with brilliance as the flow of life energy stopped, his eyes shone with a sinister glint as another form of strange energy flowed through his entire body. Instantly, a thick black aura encapsulated his entire body. It was sinister and ghastly; one glance alone would make one feel a chill crawl up their spine as if they were staring at the grim reaper personally.

But quickly, an intense surge of pain greeted him as he looks down at his body where black splotches quickly formed. 'Science and magic, it really does bring quite a shocking effect when combined. My nanites can not only make me essentially immune to the effects of wielding my very strong death energy with my absurd regeneration, but I can even rapidly increase my life energy with nanites!'

Dismissing the thick aura of death, he activates a spell and his body disappeared from the room with a swish. Opening his eyes, he was greeted by a weird room with a blue portal in front of him. Above the blue portal, a floating purple screen showed showing the words:

[A Rank Dungeon — Giant Mountains}

'Giants, they are humanoid monsters averaging at around ten meters in height. They are well-known for their absurd physical strength, defense, and vitality. To kill one means one would need to inflict a large amount of damage before the Giant can regenerate back its body. Just the perfect dungeon for training!' His eyes glowed fiercely and he resolutely stepped forward.

As a necromancer, it was strange for him to enter a dungeon all alone, especially when inside are Giants who are known for their absurd bodies. But Isaac wasn't any normal necromancer, he has been alive for a thousand years! When he finally has access to a new subject he has very little personal experience with, he would grab the chance to train and understand its practical usage!

Instantly, he was greeted by the freezing cold and he found himself near the peak of a gargantuan mountain seemingly hundreds of meters tall. Just the freezing cold alone would kill any weak hunter. But quickly, a surge of warm energy pervaded throughout Isaac's entire body and he breathed out calmly, his life energy stood tall like a pillar of warmth in such freezing conditions.

If one were to look closely, one would notice a thin blanket of white energy surrounding his entire body, that is the thing called life energy. It holds many names, from aura to ki, vitality, chi, and such.

Life energy can be harnessed through mystical techniques, and with it, one can exert varying effects considered magical. From increased physical strength, defense, and regeneration, to flight, life energy constructs, elemental manipulation, and a wide variety of effects.

If Isaac doesn't have his previous life's memories, it would have taken him a lot longer to progress in terms of life energy, but because life energy was a widespread power system back in Tellus, he was well-versed in its techniques even though he himself hasn't personally used it.

Life energy can stem from a variety of sources, from the world, plants, surroundings, and even one's own body. One can cultivate by absorbing the life energy of the outside world or train their physical body to naturally produce more life energy, consume pills of dense life energy, and such.

With the help of nanites, Isaac can make his body turn stronger with each passing second and have his life energy reservoir essentially never run out due to his endless stamina, the only thing he needs to improve on is the size of his reservoir through constant physical enhancements. With a shout, the thick white aura around him turned brighter and thicker, like an indicator for the giants to know where he was.

Quickly, he heard loud footsteps and looks above him, a ginormous fist was rapidly approaching him as a ten-meter Giant roared loudly.

In return, Isaac grinned and thick life energy coursed through his entire body down to his right arm. Rearing his fist back, he squatted and his entire body turned rock-solid like an indomitable mountain. As the fist of the Giant reached him, he exerted a gargantuan amount of force as his puny fist met the Giant's.

But unlike one would expect from the ginormous size difference, the Giant was punched back fiercely and collided with the mountain, causing snow to fall down to the ground while more giants were alarmed from the distance.

Isaac didn't let go of the chance. With his thousand years of life experience to base on, he quickly condensed more of his life energy to his fist and a white spear was formed which he threw forward towards the confused Giant in the distance. A thread of white life energy was formed and the spear struck the chest of the Giant, directly on its vitality-filled heart. Feeling that connection, Isaac's eyes shone with a sinister light as a burst of white radiance erupted from the heart of the Giant. Quickly, the Giant's enormous vitality was transferred to Isaac as he felt his very being turning stronger.

His senses, strength, vitality, and everything about his body were alleviated to another level! It was intoxicating, even for a thousand-year-old monster like Isaac Deathwill. To have been an undead being for a thousand years and suddenly feel this intoxicating feeling of vitality, he felt a deep thirst welling within him.

With a burst of brilliant milky white light, he lunges forward to the Giants in the far distance and quickly ensued a slaughter. With his Level 8 Mind which is far above the limits of the human mind, and his own experience with his experiments on Life Energy in his previous life, he quickly raised his own control over life energy.

From flight, constructs, elemental attacks, and life energy absorption. Many Giants died under his hands as he absorbed their enormous vitality, turning them into mere husks of their previous self as if they had aged for hundreds of years.

A Giant stood far away in shock, he watched his brethren get slaughtered by a tiny white speck in its field of vision that exudes an enormous pressure on him. The mere difference between him and the white speck grew greater and greater as more of his brethren got killed. Feeling anger and remorse, it roared loudly like an angered beast and charged forward, raising its mighty club to the sky and swinging it fiercely through the air.

But in Isaac's perspective, the Giant moved like a slow ant, and without even thinking about a second thing about the raging Giant, he poked his finger through the air and a bullet of life energy flew through the air, piercing the Giant's heart. As a thread of white life energy was formed, the Giant quickly turned into an aged mummy and had all of its life energy absorbed away by Isaac who hovered in the air at the epicenter of a bright white flame that covered the entire mountain peak.

"ROAR!"

A loud roar boomed, and Isaac hastily flew away and saw the entire mountain peak explode. Quickly, he saw a large shadow a hundred meters in size appear in front of him, the Boss Monster has finally appeared.

The Boss Giant was a fearsome monster, its body was a hundred meters tall bulging with muscle, one glance alone, and Isaac saw the overwhelming life energy the giant had.

'With my current life energy, killing him would be quite the challenge. But maybe…' Like a question that he badly wanted to be answered, Isaac's abyssal black eyes gleamed with a crazed light, they shone with brilliance and a strong aura instantly erupted from his body.

From his left, one can see a splotch of necrotic energy spread throughout his entire body. In mere moments, thick life and death energy surrounded his entire body as his mind felt like a sludge of good at that moment, even with the enhancements brought by nanites and the AI's help, his mind couldn't keep up with the chaotic clashes between both energies.

But he persisted, both of his eyes gleamed at the flood of real-time data he was gathering and he pushed both of his arms forward, both black and white meeting in the middle as a mellow gray energy slowly formed in the middle.

It was neither life nor death energy, just like how his Servants were neither dead nor alive. Quickly, his gathered knowledge helped him stabilize the grey energy for a few more moments but to no avail. With his mind finally unable to keep up, the grey ball of energy rapidly exploded with a brilliant gray light, leaving nothing in its wake as half of the mountain was devoured.

Silence ensued in the entire dungeon while a blue dungeon exit silently formed on the crater formed over the mountain. But quickly, metallic black nanites gathered to quickly form veins, bones, flesh, organs, and eventually, Isaac Deathwill's entire body got reconstructed from the ground up.

"Even though it ended in failure, the precious data I've gathered would help me make it more stable! Ahaha! To think that I, the Emperor of Death, would one day finally gain access to Life Energy! Life and Death, can I truly combine such different concepts?" Isaac laughed madly before descending into silence, both of his eyes gleamed as if he was looking at an invisible being, and he quickly exited the dungeon with an ominous aura.

AN: This chapter has 2169 words.

(September 25, 2022 – 305th day of writing)