Apprentice Stone

Ritzy followed the directions in the Unholy Codex about how he was supposed to move his mana as he swirled it around inside his body.

One of the few things in common between the Killgara methods and the Mognog Empire's methods was that the difference between the first and second ranks, Novice and Apprentice, respectively Wood and Stone, was something as simple as a dedicated vessel.

But that was where the similarities ended.

The Mognog Empire's methods revolved around creating a mana core to store mana. And each successive rank after Stone was a reinforcement of that core, the mana inside, and the practitioner's body. The degree of refinement of each part depended on whether they were more like a warrior, like Mognog, or more of a mage.

The Killgara methods, however, first created a fuzzy and indistinct mana vessel that, with each rank up, would grow clearer and more suitable for the practitioner's magic and habits. 

A fire mage would have something related to fire, whether it be a pyre, a candle, or a wildfire, to symbolize his mana storage, for example.

This part was one of the larger challenges Ritzy and Mognog faced when they mixed the methods. Should they base it on the Mognog Empire's core reinforcing ideal? Or should they go with the Killgara methods' way of developing something uniquely suited to the user?

In the end, they came to a conclusion.

Why not both?

Ritzy and Mognog decided that since they were combining the methods, they should go all the way. Their method developed a perfect vessel for Ritzy, or whoever else would get the pleasure of using the method, while also making it possible to reinforce the vessel all twelve ranks in the Mognog Empire's mana mastery system.

When they decided that, Ritzy also had the idea of making each rank from the Killgara system available for refinement twelve times.

At first, Mognog was like, 'Woah! What a wicked idea, kiddo!' But then, as he realized how long it would take for Ritzy to complete each stage's refinement, he was like, 'That's gonna take ages, kiddo!'

However, Ritzy was like, 'Not on my watch!' And he added that possibility anyway.

It was just that he first had to clump together the initial shape of his vessel before he could begin the refinement. So, he swirled his mana around inside his body, amassing the power and attributes necessary to begin condensing his vessel. 

Since the mana would react to him, his way of handling mana in general, and his body, Ritzy didn't know what shape the vessel would take despite being one of the creators of the method. He might not even find out what his vessel is until one of the later ranks since the initial shape might be too indistinct.

However, as he swooshed his mana around more and more, something gradually began taking shape. At first, it was nothing but an illusory mist floating around within his body. But eventually, as Ritzy approached the finish line of the breakthrough, the vessel began taking a slightly more solid shape.

Ritzy didn't want to get distracted, but he couldn't help but be curious about what it was.

However, it seemed like he was bound to be disappointed. 

After a certain point, the vessel stopped getting more solid, no matter how much Ritzy tried to encourage it. He had finished his breakthrough, and he was left with a circle, a ring, of light grey mana. It looked like it had protrusions under it, but it wasn't clear enough for Ritzy to determine what it was.

"Whatever. It's not like I wanted to know, anyway."

"You finished already, kiddo?"

"Yeah. I'm now officially an Apprentice Stone."

Ritzy spoke with a proud smile and his hands on his hips. But he couldn't help but frown as he finished his sentence.

"Wait… That doesn't even sound cool!"

"Don't worry about stuff like that, kiddo. Focus on the fact that you've reached a new rank or something. Besides, is that as important as the discovery I've made?"

"I would like to say it's at least as important if not more. What do you think about Stone Apprentice?"

"Kid—"

"That's a no-go as well, huh?"

"..."

"Fine. I'll figure it out later. Go ahead. What discovery have you made, Moggy?"

"Thank you."

Mognog sassily thanked Ritzy before shaking his head but without shaking his head.

"I said discovery, but it's more like I have a theory about this Unholy Avatar you made."

"Oh! Why didn't you say it was about him? That's way more important than a stupid rank!"

Mognog sighed.

"As I was saying… I think the Unholy Codex written down on his body has gotten a little mixed up. Somehow, this guy, despite being nothing but a reanimated corpse, can absorb mana. More than that, he has managed to maintain a balance between the different attributes, at least to some degree."

"Yeah?"

Ritzy inspected the Unholy Avatar with eyes practically beaming with excitement.

"But, due to a lot of the letters overlapping and their meanings clashing and whatever, the finesse of the Codex, which is going to be the source of your strength, is lost.

"Oh?"

Ritzy answered with a furrowed brow. That didn't sound good.

"But that's a good thing. If the Codex on this guy worked like it does for you, he would just be a walking mana vessel. I doubt he's smart enough to use magic like you, kiddo."

"Okay…?"

"Well, I said the attributes are in a balance, but that's not quite right. It would be more accurate to say that they're forcefully maintaining a balance by fighting and feeding off of each other. They're constantly trimming each other but also promoting each other's growth. It's an endless cycle of growth and destruction."

"I see."

Ritzy started understanding why it was a good thing.

"Basically, the clashes between the different attributes and the power of death break down his body. But then, the power of life restores it and makes it stronger. At the same time, since he's an undead, life breaks it down, and death restores his body. Darkness and light act as boosters and supplements to each attribute while also being their own sources of destruction and regeneration. Is that it, Moggy?"

Ritzy didn't even look at Mognog as he spoke. He was fully entranced in using his newly increased strength and mana to inspect the Unholy Avatar on a deeper, more intrinsic level.

"Yeah, that's what I had in mind as well."

Mognog was too used to Ritzy to be surprised that he took a fraction of the time he had used to figure out the same thing.

"Does your connection with the Unholy Avatar give you any more information?"

"Just that Unholy is very fitting. This guy goes against the norm of necromancy and, how should I put it, the basics of life."

"Cool."

"It's cool as heck!"

Ritzy broke up into an excited grin as he patted the Unholy avatar. It wasn't his first actually cool summon since it wasn't technically summoned, and he had summoned Mognog, Hotes, Fotes, and the bone club before. But it felt like it was the first of his minions that, while it diverted from his expectations, didn't completely ruin his image of how necromancy worked.

"Uh, what now, kiddo?"

It was great that Ritzy finally had a fighting force. But they couldn't just stay here in the forest outside Benin and admire the Unholy Avatar forever.

Ritzy nodded with a determined look.

"We're going to clean up here and then start looking for materials."

Mognog also nodded. No, he didn't.

"Materials for what?"

Mognog asked as Ritzy started walking around and gathering the corpses together.

"I'll give you a hundred points if you can guess correctly."

Ritzy gave Mognog a cheeky smile before standing with one hand on his chin as he looked at the corpses of Mercel and his men.

"More undead summons?"

Surprisingly enough, Ritzy shook his head.

"Bzzt. Wrong! We're bringing Talia back!"

"Oh, shit."

Mognog whispered his curse so that Ritzy didn't hear him. He could already tell that this was going to be a messy part of Ritzy's journey. But he couldn't say that he wasn't looking forward to it. Talia had seemed like she could handle Ritzy to a certain degree. She was at least a little less reactive than Gerhart.

If Ritzy succeeded in resurrecting her, maybe she could prevent Ritzy from doing something too crazy.

"What kind of materials do you need to resurrect Talia?"

"Dunno. I'll figure it out. But I'm thinking epic stuff like dragon hearts, giant skeletons, fairy wings, mermaid scales, and so on, maybe a unicorn horn as well."

Mognog's eyes widened in surprise. Ritzy wanted stuff from myths, almost all of them, to resurrect Talia.

"Uh, and you're doing this before you target god?"

"Well, yeah. I want Talia there with me when I do it."

"I see. But aren't there other ways to resurrect the lass?"

"Y'know. I've been thinking…"

Mognog wanted to retort and ask when he had had the time for that but stayed quiet.

"My mana now isn't strictly death-attribute, and as we saw on Avie, with the mana from the Unholy Codex, it's a being that isn't dead, undead, or alive. It's something in between all three. So, my plan is basically to upgrade Talia's body so she won't ever die again and then kind of just…"

Ritzy glanced at Mognog as he made a fireworks gesture with his fingers.

"...Wake her up."