Old woman

So, having gathered all the threads, he left the room and headed towards Annino, who was guarding the territory. Showing him the threads, Annino, as if frightened, jumped back, but returned after a few seconds.

"Hmm, what happened? Is it dangerous?" asked Annino, inspecting the threads and then sniffing them.

Looking straight into his owner's eyes and shaking his head in response "no", Annino asked, "Can you take it to your world?"

Shaking his head again, Annino expressed his refusal. Sadly sitting on the floor, he hid his muzzle with his front paws, and his tail, which always wagged to the sides, was hidden under his feet.

"Hey, don't blame yourself like that. You're not guilty. So get up. And I'll tie the thread to my spear," comforted Annino's owner.

Showing his eyes, Annino stood up and happily started spinning around his owner. Meanwhile, he tied the thread to the spear rod, whispering, "Ssss, ssss... sssss, ssssss."

A strange sound from the forest made Annino stop. He went outside and began to look around, searching for the source of the noise. Going out after Annino and taking the spear in his hands, his owner also began to search for the source of these unpleasant sounds.

Slowly, a spider emerged from the forest. The spider was not small, the kind that anyone could kill with a slipper. No, it was bigger than a poodle, but not by much. And all eight of its eyes were staring at them intently.

After a few seconds of silence and intense staring, the spider slowly moved away, trying to escape.

"Oh no, not this time, you vermin, I won't let you run away," Annino, gripping the spear, made a leap straight at the spider and thrust the spear into it. The spear was violently torn out and fell on the sand.

The spider angrily jumped on him, trying to bite. But Annino caught it in mid-air and they both fell on the sand together. Taking the spear in his hands, he tried to strike the spider, but it freed itself from Annino and shot a web at his eye.

Dodging the spider's attack, Anino jumped onto its arm and attempted to strike it again. A powerful slashing blow to the spider cooled the dust and it fell dead onto the sand.

Holding a homemade saw in his hands, Anino watched as black goo oozed onto the sand. At the same time, he managed to break free from the spider's web and see again.

"Eat his soul," a woman's voice suddenly spoke.

"Who are you?" asked Anino, not understanding where the voice was coming from, yet happy to finally have someone to talk to.

"No time. First, eat this slave's soul. If you don't want potential problems in the future," replied the voice.

"And how do I do that?" Anino asked himself, looking into the void of the forest.

He looked at his master with confusion. Has he gone crazy, talking to an invisible person? Then he examined the spider, and then looked around.

"Ask the book," the voice answered.

Before he could even stutter, the Necronomicon appeared before him. Opening its pages, a chapter appeared that described how to control souls.

For nearly 15 minutes, he read the entire page, then sat down in front of the spider's corpse, which slowly began to recover.

"How is it not dead? And how can it still move?" he wondered aloud.

"No one can die in this cursed world. If you want problems, then sit and do nothing. But if not, I've already told you," replied the woman's voice.

"Okay. But after that, you will have to answer a few questions," he agreed.

"No problem. But you will also have to answer my questions. And for now, I'll leave you," the woman said in a voice.

Sitting comfortably and putting his hand on the spider's corpse, he closed his eyes. The first step is the most important - to make the first contact with the soul. To do this, it is necessary to control the necro-energy from the body and pour it into the corpse. Like little tentacles, one must touch every corner.

Scanning the body in this way, he was able to find the soul hiding in the corner of the body. Threads of energy poured into the body, like tentacles, surrounded the soul and captured it. She tried to break free, but was too weak. All her attempts were in vain.

The second step is to extract the soul from the body, the corpse. Slowly, the threads pulled the soul, slowly leaving the body. The more threads came out of the necro-energy, the more it bound the soul, not giving her a chance to escape.

The third step is to create a wound in the soul, making a hole, but not too big so that it would not break into pieces. To do this, several threads were connected, becoming thicker and sharper, like a knife. Slowly, he began to cut the named soul. She began to move chaotically from pain, but it was all in vain.

The fourth step is the assimilation of souls. It is necessary to connect one's own soul and the enemy's soul, destroying consciousness and will. But this step was risky because it connects souls together, and he had to devour it. So the fourth step is B.

Fourth step B. It is necessary to poke the threads into the wound and suck out all the energy, leaving an empty shell. After doing everything, the soul completely stopped its struggle and became like a corpse, only it was not physically tangible, but only with the help of energy - necrotic energy, which only necromancers possess. Of course, there are other energies that can come into contact with the soul, but they have other concepts and methods, and it's more of a hassle if you're just a mortal.

"And now all that's left is what to do with the empty shells," he thought, sitting on the sand.

"I see you're almost done. All that's left is to process the soul so that it becomes material for your wounded soul," the female voice appeared in his head again.

"And why do I need this?" he skeptically and incomprehensibly asked, wondering why she was helping him.

"Your soul is wounded, and energy from your soul is slowly leaking from the wound. To restore your soul, you need to process the vessel of the soul, becoming like clay, which will fix all the shortcomings of your soul."

"And how do I do that?"

"Take the soul inside your body and slowly but surely compress it to its limit, and then slowly immerse it in your soul until it becomes semi-liquid like clay."

"It's easy for you to say, but how do I do that? I've never done it before," said the hero.

"It will tell you," replied the mysterious voice.

"Who?... Hey, where are you? Who was she talking about?" the hero thought, and the book appeared in front of him again. A new chapter appeared on its pages, describing each stage of the soul vessel transformation. "Ah, yes, how could I forget about 'Soul Vessels for Dummies.' Damn," the hero thought, remembering the mysterious voice's words.

"After taking the empty soul, the land began to darken. Well, it was grey with a mixture of different colors. And the vessel that was cut began to darken. Maybe because it became empty? Who knows. Will it become a threat to me? That's the question," the hero thought.

"Hey, psst, book! This empty vessel is starting to darken. Is it dangerous for me if I transform it?" he asked.

The previous filled page of words disappeared, and new words appeared in its place: "The soul vessel darkens due to a lack of energy. It will become a threat to you if you connect it to your soul. But by processing the soul, a small amount of impurities will enter you. And when they accumulate, you will have to gather and purify the soul. It will take time. So, you decide for yourself. If you want to restore your soul and not lose yourself, you must use both methods."

"Oh, right, what about the gray mist that enters me when I kill someone?" the hero asked.

"This part is the soul energy that you take from the loser," the mysterious voice unexpectedly answered.

"What did it do before? Isn't this the same thing?" the hero said thoughtfully, remembering the gray smoke that always came out of the corpse.

"Now is not the time for contemplation. Command your dog to bring the spider's corpse into the house. And you, yourself, process the vessel. Then we will talk."

"Hey, why are you rushing me? Tell me the truth," he asked.

"You want the truth? It's simple - these spiders always move in groups. You don't want to be facing an army at the door, do you?" his interlocutor replied.

Instinctively swallowing his saliva, he ordered Annina to drag the spider's corpse into the house. He then began to survey the area. Maybe a few more spiders were hiding and waiting for a convenient moment.

Finding nothing, he turned and ran into the house, clutching the empty shell and spear in his hand. Closing the door, he heard the same voice.

"Process the vessel before the mother tries to find out where its soul is," the voice said.

"Mother? There's a mother of the spiders?" he exclaimed, surprised and scared.

"Yes, there is. But ask questions later. I'm not going to run away, and where to?," the voice replied.

He sat on his knees and quickly compressed the vessel with his energy. After a few minutes, he transformed it to the size of a candy, then used his soul energy to completely process it.

Slowly, the solid, pressed vessel began to soften until it became like clay. Then he started to connect the material he obtained with his soul using necrotic and soul energy in the place where the wound was. Unfortunately, he could only restore a small part of his soul.

Opening his eyes, he saw Anna and the spider's corpse. To his surprise, the spider didn't move. And although the rats didn't come back to life either, only those who had a soul did. Could it be... He needed to ask this woman.

"Hey, can you hear me?" he asked her.

"I hear you, I hear you. I'm a little surprised. Is this your first time doing all of this? Because you didn't make a single critical mistake. Unexpected," the woman replied.

"I want answers. And first, who are you?"

"Hahaha, human, no, former human. Do you think I am obligated to answer your questions? But I will. I haven't talked to anyone in a long time... I'm an old woman who has lost everything. It doesn't matter who I was when I found you. And now, how did you end up in this world?" she answered.

"Old woman, fine. I don't know how I ended up here. I just know that I died in another world," he said.

"Reincarnated? How did you manage to get into this world?" she asked, surprised.

"I don't know. And now, recently, I met and killed many enemies. But after some time, some of them came back to life. Can you tell me why?" he asked her.

"What specifically do you want to know: why they came back to life or why not all of them did?" the woman asked.

"Both," he replied decisively.

"To answer your question, I have to tell you a little about this world. Do you mind?" she asked.

"No, I don't mind," he replied.

"This world is cursed. It was isolated from other worlds, and no one can enter or leave it. When someone dies, their soul doesn't go to the river, as it does in other worlds. Instead, it returns to its body or another body. But with each death, souls lose energy, which is taken from the one who killed them. The energy of souls is like water in the desert for all living beings in this world. It sustains our minds and prevents us from perishing. That's how this world works," the woman explained.

"Understood. And what curse is this?"

"It's a curse... It's responsible for all of our suffering. If we were stronger..." the speaker trailed off, lost in thought.

"How did this curse come about?" the interlocutor asked.

"It appeared from the moment this world was isolated. Because of this, this world lost the opportunity to acquire resources such as energy, and the opportunity to purify its soul," she explained.

"What happens to those who have lost all the energy in their soul?" he asked, realizing she wouldn't answer immediately.

"When someone loses all their energy, they fall. Those who have fallen have lost themselves. They have forgotten who they are and their loved ones. They're no better than a resurrected corpse. They're willing to kill everyone, even those they once called family. They will never be the same again," she replied.

"What happened to Annino?" he asked.

Annino had watched him talk to himself for a while. Maybe something had happened to his owner, causing him to bite and weakly tug. When the owner asked, Annino left him alone and sat on the floor.

Annino had watched him talk to himself for a while and thought maybe something had happened to his owner, causing him to bite and weakly tug. When the owner asked, Annino stopped and sat on the floor.

"Do you want to eat?"

Annino shook his head, and then stood up and started spinning in place.

"Do you want to play?" Upon hearing the question, Annino happily started jumping.

"I see your pet wants to play with you... Where did you get that thread?" the old woman asked surprised.

"I found it. Why?"

"You better hide it. If you don't want to attract a dangerous enemy."

"Hmm, I'll try... Annino, not now. Leave me alone and keep watch, so that enemies don't come unexpectedly."

Annie felt a little gloomy and wanted to go outside, but the door was locked. The owner didn't want to open it, so he sat on the floor and closed his eyes. Then he began to turn into a shadow and disappeared.

"I see you have an interesting pet. I won't ask where it came from. But now I want to ask you: who were you in the past?" said the old woman.

"I understand. I'll answer. In the past, I was an ordinary person living in a world where there were no warriors or mages."

"Ordinary? Hmm, that means you're from a world where science reigns," she said.

"You could say that," he replied, surprised that a person from another world knew about science. "And it's not even certain that I'm a human," he added.

"Okay, now one last question. How did you become the owner of this book if you didn't even know about the existence of magic in your previous life?" she asked.

"I don't know myself. After I thwarted the plans of those dead people who wanted my soul, I woke up with this book. Although I'm glad it happened, I always dreamed of becoming a necromancer," he answered.

"A necromancer?" she asked with disgust. But after a few minutes, she continued, "Necromancy is perhaps the most fitting profession for this world where death energy has filled everyone who still moves. I never thought that necromancy could help me."

"What happened? Why do you need necromancy?" he asked.

"I'm asking for your help, but not now. You're still weak and need to become stronger. In return, I will help you. How about my offer?" she said.

"How am I supposed to be sure that this isn't a trap? Maybe you want my energy?" he asked, doubtful.

"That's your right. I can't force you," she replied.

Suddenly a blue panel appeared, which read:

[ New task.

The final service.

Description: one of the ancient enemies of all necromancers is asking for help from one of them.

By fulfilling his wishes, you will be able to receive a reward of ???? ]

"Um... How to understand this... Does the book really want me to help? But why? Oh well, I accept."

"Thank you. I've been talking to you for too long. I'll leave you for a while."

After thinking about everything that had happened to him and what he had learned, the hero realized he was in deep trouble. The cursed world, the fallen! What is happening in this world? He knew he had a lot more to do to become stronger. And maybe someday he would be able to leave this world.

In front of him appeared the mission panel again. There were four quests on it.

After thinking, he chose the first quest, which was to learn a spell. Taking the book, the hero began to flip through the pages, as he was tired of the book itself choosing spells for him.

The book, understanding what its owner wanted, made each page correspond to a corresponding attacking spell, most of which were of beginner level. The hero inspected each available novice spell.

Analyzing them, he stopped at the "Fire Skull" spell.

This spell only used necro-energy. Which was strange, because it summoned a burning skull. And where did the fire come from? It came from the sky. But this was probably for the best.

He read the entire page dedicated to this spell. Actually, each page was dedicated to one spell.

"Now this is what I call a magic book," he thought. There were a thousand spells in it. Most of which he couldn't read, but could understand from the pictures. He realized that this was magic of another level. Perhaps this was a mechanism for protection against those who couldn't understand more complex spells. "I'm certainly not in that category. When the time comes, I will learn them. But for now, I just need to survive."

Returning to the chosen spell, he began to read. It no longer surprised him that he knew the language and the letters. If the book helped to read and understand the words on the pages, then perhaps he could perform the ritual when his soul would unite with all the previous owners of the book. He was looking for a way to acquire their knowledge, and they - his. "Wait, does this mean they know I jerked off and had a collection of porn and hentai? How embarrassing," he thought. But where did they get this information? Maybe it was just his success in magic. After all, he only drew runes.

Maybe I not only failed to gain their sealed knowledge but also their proximity to magic and understanding. It's still suspicious that I was able to create an undead so easily, even if I used a method for beginners. I wonder what happened to that rat? Why did it become fat?

Let's leave philosophy aside, I need to survive. I think it's time to take the first steps on the path of a necromancer, but first, I need to learn not only spells but also how to start the path of a mage.

After reading the whole page, I realized I have big problems. It says here that a mage should only read the words when they want to create a spell. I thought about it, but it's complete crap. And this is a spell for beginners? What about others?

If someone still doesn't understand, there are several paths for a mage: physical, spiritual, mental, and many others. What does it all mean, and how to explain it? There are many ways to become a mage, and each of them is good in its own way. For example, there are physical mages who train their bodies. At the same time, they fill every muscle with energy, making them very strong in close combat. Many become magical knights or warriors. There are spiritual mages who train their souls and are very good at using spells at long distances. There are mental mages who train their minds and can leave their bodies, becoming astral creatures.

There is even a way where the entire body must be adorned with tattoos. But not simple ones, but various runes and circles that will help the body better feel magic and its vibrations. And the next stage is creating tattoos on your organs, on all organs. This will improve everything that is possible. However, you will have to look like a criminal who just got out of prison. Besides, I don't like this idea.

One can talk about these methods endlessly. Among all these methods, he was particularly interested in the one where a mage fills the body with magic to the maximum, and then processes it, turning magic into life force and so on. Although this method is not suitable either. To start this path, you need a lot of things.

Knowing nothing about which method to choose, he closed the book and asked:

"Can you tell me which method I should choose if I want to become a necromancer?"

The book opened, and on the blank pages appeared the words: "The methods you have read can be used by mortals. However, there is an enhanced version that, in theory, can turn you into a god. If you can freely master the methods of developing ordinary mortals, then the enhanced and new techniques that are not available to everyone will cost a lot of energy."

"What are these techniques, and how much will they cost?" he asked the book.