Chương 244

In the center of the room, Mumud held the glass beaker. The silver liquid shimmered, reflecting in his dead eyes. He didn't drink it right away. He looked up at Rudra.

"Lord Rudra," Mumud said, his voice trembling slightly.

"Before I consume this, I need to tell you how I plan to survive the transition." Rudra leaned on his dark staff.

"I'm listening." Mumud looked down at the glowing liquid.

"A couple of weeks ago, when I was still hiding in the Siren Kingdom, a human girl visited me. Her name was Euphemina and she was immortal like My Lord""A player, huh?," Rudra nodded.

"That's interesting.."

"She came looking for the design blueprint for my Magic Orb," Mumud explained.

"I agreed to give it to her, but only under one strict condition. I demanded the right to study her abilities. She had a very rare talent. A class called 'Skill Duplicator'." Mumud floated a few inches closer to the table, his fingers gripping the beaker tightly.

"Her talent was fascinating," Mumud continued.

"She did not learn magic the way a scholar does. She did not understand the flow of mana, or the theory behind the spells. She simply looked at the result, and her talent copied it. She bypassed the formula entirely and forced the magic to replicate the outcome." Winfred frowned, stepping closer.

"That sounds highly unstable. Magic requires a foundation."

"It does," Mumud agreed.

"But it taught me a very important lesson. Magic is not just calculations. It is a concept. If you can fully grasp the concept of the end result, you can bend the rules to reach it." Mumud looked right at Rudra.

"You told me to use my willpower," Mumud said.

"You told me a Saint takes the ordinary and pushes it beyond its limits. I am going to do exactly what Euphemina did, but I am going to apply it to my own soul." Rudra grinned.

"You're going to copy a human body."

"Yes," Mumud nodded.

"When I drink this elixir, it will provide the raw energy to build a vessel. But I am not just going to let it turn me into a normal, fragile mortal. I am going to use my willpower to duplicate the concept of my original human form, while actively holding onto the concepts of my Lich soul."

"You want to keep the near-infinite mana that you would have as a Lich," Elysia said, her eyes shining with interest.

"Infinite mana, and agelessness," Mumud confirmed.

"I will balance the divine and demonic energies from the catalyst to create a completely neutral core. I will be human, but I will retain everything that made me a monster."

"Sounds like a solid plan," Rudra smiled.

"Drink up, Mumud. Let's see if it works." Mumud didn't hesitate anymore. He lifted the beaker to his mouth and tilted it back. The shimmering silver liquid poured into his mouth. The moment the elixir touched his tongue, it glowed with a fierce, blinding light. Crack. Squelch. Mumud dropped the empty beaker. It shattered on the stone floor. He fell to his knees, gripping his face with both hands. The transformation was rapid and violent. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen.

Please report the violation. His temporary, artificial flesh instantly vaporized. It turned into pure steam. The pale skin melted away. The fake muscles dissolved into nothing. Elysia gasped. She covered her mouth. Alex took a panicked step backward. In a matter of seconds, Mumud was reduced to a bare, rattling skeleton dressed in human clothes. He was a Lich again. The cold, empty feeling of the bones hit his mind. He couldn't breathe. He didn't have lungs. Panic exploded in his chest cavity.

He felt the demonic and divine energies from the elixir tearing through his ribs. They were fighting each other. The golden light burned his undead soul. The freezing black fog tried to consume the light. Braham's old teachings screamed in his head. Your calculations are wrong. The formula is breaking. You need a suppression circle. Mumud frantically tried to calculate a containment spell. He tried to build a mana barrier inside his own ribs.

He pulled ambient mana from the room, weaving complex runes in his mind to separate the clashing forces. But the numbers failed. The pressure was too great. The runes shattered before they even formed. You are a failure, Braham's arrogant voice echoed in his memory. You cannot control this. Mumud's bony hands clawed at the stone floor. The energies were going to detonate. They were going to wipe his soul out of existence. Then, he remembered the beach on the pirate island. He remembered Rudra standing in the sand.

He remembered Rudra telling him to stop solving the math problem. You tell the magic what to do. Mumud stopped calculating. He threw away centuries of rules. He ignored the failing formulas. He stopped trying to build a dam to hold the river. He closed his empty eye sockets. He pictured his own face. He pictured the warm skin he used to have. He pictured his silver hair. He pictured a strong, beating heart. He focused his entire mind on that single image. He forced his Willpower over the clashing energies.

He didn't ask them to balance nicely. He didn't use math. He grabbed the holy light and the demonic fog with his mind. He crushed them together. Build it, Mumud demanded. The air in the room suddenly grew heavy. A swirling vortex of blue magic erupted around his kneeling skeleton. It wasn't the creepy, cold magic of a Lich. It wasn't normal human mana. It was incredibly dense. The magic carried the chill of demonic force and the warm light of divine energy.

He was actively forcing the two opposing catalysts inside his new body to harmonize under his control. He was using his willpower to overwrite the standard resurrection rules. Thick, healthy red muscle fibers sprouted directly from his bare skull. They wove together quickly. Blood vessels shot down his spine like vines. A strong, steady heartbeat echoed loudly in the quiet room. Thump. Thump. Pale, flawless human skin stretched tightly over his chest. It wrapped around his arms and his legs.

The dark, necrotic energy washed away completely. A clean, vibrant aura replaced it. In less than ten seconds, the horrifying skeletal Lich that appeared was gone. Kneeling on the floor was a young man. He had pale skin, striking silver hair, and bright, brilliant blue eyes. Mumud took a sharp, loud gasp of air. His lungs expanded. His chest rose and fell. He squeezed his eyes shut, listening to the sound of his own heart beating loudly in his ears. He looked down at his hands. He touched his own face.

He felt the warmth of his skin. He felt the cool air of the tower brushing against his arms.

"I am alive," Mumud whispered. His voice wasn't a raspy, hollow echo anymore. It was clear, deep, and entirely human. Tears streamed down his cheeks. He looked up at Rudra. The sheer gratitude in his eyes was overwhelming. A massive, blinding pillar of blue magical light suddenly blasted from Mumud's chest. It shot straight up, passing right through the stone ceiling of the Alchemy Tower and reaching high into the sky above Stormbreak. The entire city stopped.

Militia guards, merchants, and farmers looked up at the sky in wonder. Inside the tower, system messages flashed wildly in front of Rudra's eyes. [Mumud has defied the laws of life and death!] [Your Knight, Mumud, has become a Human!] [Mumud has been enlightened on Will and Magic!] [Your Knight, Mumud, has become the Magic Saint!]