The sun came into view, illuminating the trees and plants that had waited for it all through the night. Malachi was meditating while perched on a rock when the grass swung in the wind and ruffled his hair.His lungs threatened to drag the adjacent grass into his nose as he inhaled deeply. The grass in front of him was flattened as he let it out through his mouth, creating a tremendous wind."My strength has increased," Malachi spoke. The reason he wasn't fond of physical activity was that it was more efficient to increase his physical prowess through meditation. Sure, there were times when he needed physical activity to break through his limits, but it wasn't necessary to do it every day. Using his mind, soul, and dark magic, he was able to break every organ in his body and repair them simultaneously, making his body more resilient.Dark magic was a potent source of energy capable of offensive or defensive purposes, but it could also be used for healing and much more, such as trapping
"How do you plan on obtaining a Death Guard? If you want to create a powerful undead, you will need a very good corpse. A corpse of a powerful figure, perhaps?""That's exactly what I need. Luckily, I know someone who knows the location of this corpse. It was the corpse of an Ancient King of the past, said to be the most powerful warrior of all. With his full might, he could be said to cleave a small hill into two. His strength dwarfed even the strongest warrior today.""Was he your Death Guard in your past life?""No. Someone found him and used him to fight against me. I barely managed to destroy him even with my full strength.""What is the name of this Ancient King?""I don't know. His existence was a secret until he was summoned to fight against me.""Okay, so what is your next step?""I will have to get out of here and find the person that knows about this information.""Who is it?""It's a student in a quite renowned academy."...Astralis Arcanum Academy was a gigantic academy
Malachi was walking through the mission hall. There were a lot of people here, most of them assassins, though he did see some spell casters and warriors. This was the Assassin Academy, after all, so most people here were assassins. The syndicate had many branches specialized in different fields.Malachi wondered if he should have created an academy system in the past. Would that increase his overall strength? He shook his head a second later. People could not be controlled as easily as controlling undead. He knew his undead were loyal, but no one could guess the human heart. One moment they might be a friend, the next moment they bit your hand.“What’s a kid doing here?”A comment by a random passerby pulled him out of his thoughts. The people here were much older than him. In fact, all of them were graduates. All of them already finished their study and had become a formal members of the syndicate. They still had to come to the academy to take missions though.Soon after, Malachi arr
Astralis Arcanum was the most powerful academy within the Divine Empire of Iaionia, and its influence spread far and wide within the empire. The Academy was a national asset, producing many valuable talents for the Empire.Malachi did not know much about this Academy because, in his past life, it was already destroyed by the time he gained strength. How such a powerful academy like Astralis Arcanum could be wiped out in a single night remained a mystery to him.“Even with my memories from my past life, there are still questions I cannot answer.”Nevertheless, regardless of his desire for answers, his ambition to become the strongest remained of utmost importance.His gaze returned to the map. “Checking all the buildings one by one will take too much time. I have to do something.”The blue, cloudy skies gradually turned dark as nighttime descended. The moon rose high in the sky.Malachi, cloaked in dark attire, swiftly moved above the rooftops, leaping and traversing from one rooftop t
Malachi let out a sigh as another arcane bolt came flying towards him. He tilted his body to the side, making the bolt missed its mark.On the tower, Stork frowned as he kept missing his shot. He activated his Eagle’s Vision, making his vision keener and capable of spotting distant targets with exceptional clarity.His hand grabbed an arcane bolt from his Aetherial Quiver, enchanted to hold a vast supply of arcane bolts, ensuring he was always ready for distant kill.With swift motion, he released another bolt towards Malachi. Once again, Malachi moved his body right at the last second, but Stork already anticipated that.With his ability ‘Wind Whisper’ Stork manipulated wind currents to adjust the trajectory of his arcane bolt, ensuring it reach its mark.The bolt changed direction, and went towards Malachi’s chest. “I got him!” Stork announced, but he was soon disappointed as the bolt went through Malachi like he wasn’t there in the first place. Then Malachi vanished, revealing tha
While Mary and Alyssa were talking, they did not realize that Malachi was inside the ceiling, listening to their conversation.He heard them talking about bones and how it manage to turn non-living objects into hideous creatures. The talk went on for hours until the both of them decided to leave.“This is my chance. Seraphina, keep a lookout for me.”“Humph! Didn’t you say that you work better when alone.”Malachi ignored her and tried to cut the ceiling only to find out that it was made from a powerful material. ‘I can’t get cut it. I need to enter from the entrance.’He slipped out and landed in the hallway, only a few meters away from the door. His feet was silent. They didn’t make any sound even when he jumped from 5 meters.His movement was so discreet that the 5 thieves that tried to pick the door did not notice him. All of them wore dark attires that covered their entire body except their eyes.One of them who seemed to be the leader said: “All of you owe me a lot of money. I j
A few hours earlier.Malachi summoned his Stygian Dagger as four shadow hands grabbed on all of Mary’s limbs. Lifting her in the air, preventing her from moving or trying to escape.“Why are you doing this? Is this about the bones? Alyssa said my life is going to be in danger, but I don’t expect it to be this soon. I will tell you everything I know about the bones. Please spare me.”Malachi raised an eyebrow. ‘Is this really the target? A member of the Syndicate shouldn’t act like this.’The boy raised his palm. A line of fire formed on it, creating a sigil that changed every second. Malachi approached.“What are you going to do?” Mary watch in horror. “No. Don’t torture me. I will tell you anything you want to know.”Malachi put his palm on the bare skin of her stomach. Nothing happened. He checked her wrist, her ankles, her back. There was no Umbral Brand on her body.“You’re not the target,” Malachi said.Hearing that, Mary was a bit confused before she let out a sigh of relief aft
Malachi returned to the Academy. Although he failed the mission, he did not care as he already got what he wanted. With ease, he walked to the mission hall and reported the situation.The target was an impostor. It was possible that the target switched identity with someone else and was still in hiding somewhere else.“Although you did not complete the mission, you will still earn half of the merit of this mission, so that will be 50 merit points. That’s actually quite a lot for your first mission.”Malachi then requested to leave the region for a few weeks.“Well, this shouldn’t be allowed, but since you did not die on your first mission and manage to obtain a valuable information, I will let you.”Suddenly, a firm hand slammed on the table. “Who give you permission to give such permits?” A man glared at the receptionist before he set his gaze towards Malachi.“You want to leave the region? You haven’t even graduated yet. You shouldn’t even be allowed in the mission hall, and now you