Deadtired

I found a good-enough seat, some pillows from the bedrooms, and a small box that I could use as a footrest. These were all levitated to a room with a window overlooking Shitake City's ashen rooftops.

I settled myself down, then reached into a pocket for a book to read.

Long ago, I had discovered myself afflicted by a sickness I called Reader's Hesitation. It was an illness that arose when one had many choices of what to read, but wasn't in a mood for any of them.

Unfortunately, no matter the genre, style, or themes I was in the mood for, I would always eventually reach the end of written matters in that niche. It was extremely frustrating to want more of something that I had already caught up on.

I'd even gone so far as to resurrect favourite authors so that they might continue their works, and I was the patron of many an artist.

Eventually, however, I'd discovered a simple solution. A catalogue of books I'd enjoyed the reading of. Some more than others. Essentially, it was a list of some several thousand books that I'd rated between satisfactory and excellent.

These were placed within a pocket dimension which would create a copy of a random book from the catalogue when reached into.

Of course, by necessity, I had read every book in the catalogue, but that's where the clever part came into play.

On reaching into the pocket dimension, a complex magical trigger was pulled, one which would give the reacher a fresh book to read, and which would simultaneously erase their memories of that very same book.

I sat back into the seat, a new book in hand. It was blue, with a pair of lagomorph ears on the cover. "Oh, this seems interesting," I commented to myself. I had no recollection of this one, as intended.

I opened the book, finding a small review written on a loose leaf just behind the cover. It was penned in my own hand, and, of course, spoiler-free.

Nodding to myself, I opened the door and idly started reading. This was a distraction. There were certainly other things I could be doing at the moment, even other books that I could be reading. A refresher on certain topics wouldn't go amiss, and perhaps I should have been studying the work that went into the creation of my phylacteries. After all, I was on a mission to recuperate one of them at that very moment.

But I didn't feel like doing that.

Once, I'd been the sort of person that put work first. Studying and improving myself was my priority in all things. Amusement was only found as long as that amusement came from my work, and I did truly enjoy the scientific process. Discovering something new, or proving myself wrong, was always a great way to spend the day.

However, as the realities of immortality began to sink in, I realized that while I had forever to do what I wanted, the only thing standing in my way was myself.

I wouldn't consider myself a lazy bag of bones, but some divertisement from time to time isn't that great a sin.

I was about six chapters in when the door to the suite opened. Fortunately, I recognized the soft, padded steps as Alex, and the louder, clunkier steps followed Alex as Rem. It seemed as if Mem wasn't with them. I imagined that she was probably lost.

Alex came to stand nearby, then they waited.

"Why aren't you saying anything, stupid-" Rem started.

"Shh," Alex said.

"What? What do yo-"

"Shh," Alex repeated, a little more insistently. "A good butler knows to wait until their master has reached the end of a chapter before interrupting. It's only polite."

Rem sniffed, but other than some low grumbling didn't say anything else. Fortunately for the mantis's patience, I was a quick reader and these chapters weren't overly long. I carefully dog-eared the corner of the page I was on, then closed the book. "Yes?" I asked.

I noticed that Alex and Rem were both carrying a mantis-person. They were covered in ribbons, one... significantly more artfully than the other, and they both seemed to be knocked out at the moment. "Hello, Daddy," Alex said. "We were mugged."

"Were you mugged by these two?" I asked.

"Only her," Rem said, while pointing to the mantis she was carrying. "That one's Rob."

I sighed and shook my head. "Rem, I have a question for you, who named you?"

The mantis blinked. "My mother?" she said, though she didn't sound entirely certain.

"And at what age did she name you?"

"Young?"

"Hmm, interesting. I'm wondering if your sibling's names are a case of nominative determinism or if it's all just coincidence. Depending on which, it may or may not be a case of fantastic wordplay, which would oblige me to respect your mother at least a little."

Rem glanced at Alex, then back at me. "Can you eat that?"

"Nevermind," I said. I'd question Rem's mother myself when the time came. "In any case, what do you intend to do with these two?"

"Does Father want the bodies?" Alex said. "I can kill them so it doesn't show."

"I don't have a particular need for them, no."

Alex hummed. "More butlers?"

"No!" Rem said. "You haven't finished training me, yet."

"That's true," Alex replied. "Well, I don't know what to do, then. Maybe we can give them to the sect? I think they generally dislike the mantis people."

"I suppose it's an idea," I replied. "Let me know what you chose to do. Oh, and we're leaving at first light in the morning. You might want to track down Mem between now and then." I returned to my reading, curious as to what past-me meant by that review I'd left myself.

* * *

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Chapter Eleven — From the Observation Logs of Fenfang

Chapter Eleven — From the Observation Logs of Fenfang

Fenfang Fang's Observation Log | Day ninety-nine

It's weird that it's been almost a hundred days since I met Master. It feels longer, and shorter, all at the same time.

I think I've been making good progress over all, all things considered. My spell repertoire isn't where I want it to be, but from the books Master has given me, and from the stories he's told, it'll probably be a few years before I'm as strong as I want to be.

Still! I can't complain too much. I'm making actual, tangible progress. I've become quite good with some of the easier spells. I can cast Prestidigitation without the somatic gestures now, though I haven't figured out how to completely cut out the incantation yet.

Note: I can cast Prestidigitation without the incantation, but it's significantly weaker, with far worse results. With both incantation and gestures, I can now summon up to twenty-two distinctly shaped and coloured objects moving in unique ways. Without the somatic component but with the incantation, that drops to twelve. Without the incantation but with the gestures, I can manage about eight, if the spell works at all.

I can almost manage to cast the spell on a single small illusion (as long as it is as simple as I can make it) without either incantation or gestures. The problem is that this usually fails outright, and it causes a slight headache and I think it still drains my magic reserves, even with a failure.

More study and practice is required.

Note end!

I'm still pushing myself to become a better caster every day, and my repertoire of spells that I've 'mastered' is growing.

From some discussions with Seventeen, I think I'm firmly in the 'first tier' of spell casting.

Out of something like ten tiers, with each one being exponentially harder to master. That's a little discouraging, but I didn't expect to be strong with no work, so it's fine. I'm out of the zeroth tier, which is a big step already!

Master left me a couple of books to study before he left on his mission to the west. I also have a small collection of spell books to re-re-re-read! I think at this point I just need to look at a page to remember every word written on it.

So far, my spell-list looks something like this:

Fenfang Spell List:

Zeroth level

Chill Touch — Mastered (Working on gestureless)

Prestidigitation — Mastered (Working on quick casting)

Frostbite — Mastered (Working on gestureless)

Spare the Dying — Mastered

Sapping Sting — Mastered

Eldritch Blast — Practising

Mage Hand — Practising

1st level

Detect Magic — Mastered (working on gestureless)

Cure Wounds — Practising

Inflict Wounds — Practising

Cause Fear — Mastered

Some spells are easier to practice than others. I can use Cure Wounds and Inflict Wounds on the undead, but I don't know if that's super useful, and it requires dedicated training time to do. That's not as easy to get nowadays.

Some of the other spells I'm learning I can practice whenever I want.

I'm particularly proud of Mage Hand. It's not a spell that Master showed me, but one that I picked up from watching Rem and Mem trying to figure it out! I had to work backwards from basic principles to get it to work.

Spellcraft is... a lot more complex than I initially imagined, and I never thought that it would be easy to begin with.

It'll take a lot more reading and learning before I can start making my own spells. Maybe I should hold off for a while?

The spell that I'm currently having the hardest time with is, annoyingly, a zeroth level spell.

Eldritch Blast.

Master gave me a mission to learn this spell!

Note: Master said that if I had mastered it by the time he returns, he'd let me pick a second level spell to learn. That's... such a massive opportunity! I need to work extra hard here!

Eldritch Blast, according to the books that Master left, is a relatively simple spell to cast. You concentrate magical power borrowed from a patron into a simple form, then fire off the spell. The gestures are all very simple. The incantation... isn't.

The spell doesn't have a universal incantation. Casting it is more about begging a patron for help, then releasing the energy.

And it's so easy!

I can fire them off like a rich cultivator raining gold on peasants. I can make them twist, and change directions, split to hit two targets.

Eldritch Blast is like... the prestidigitation of killing things.

Master expects me to fully master this? In just a few weeks? That's... well, maybe not impossible, but there's so much potential here that really getting to know this spell could take ages.

Note end!

Maybe if I wasn't so busy.

I need to work out a better schedule for my day-to-day stuff. Master has only been gone for a couple of days, and already things are getting complicated.

I'm now, currently, something like the provincial leader of Yu Xiang. An entire city.

I never expected to ever be in charge of a city, but here I am, and I really have no idea what I'm doing.

Thankfully, I have Seventeen to help. He's been promoting some of the smarter undead into administrative roles already, but he says it'll take weeks for them to be trained up. In the meantime, I have to handle all of the army's logistics myself.

An army that doesn't eat or sleep, so it's not as bad as it could be, but I still constantly have things to worry about.

Yesterday, the city council sent a very politely worded and rather long letter asking me to move the more... odorous undead out of the vicinity of the city. So I had to set up a second camp further out for all of the zombies and wights and such.

Fortunately, Seventeen's willing to help. Those are now our long-range patrols, so they're not staying close to the city or roads anymore.

The skeletons are being paired up with local guards for policing work, and we have a whole aerial surveillance system in place.

I have so much more on my plate now than ever before.

It was hard enough when Master was around, and I just had to worry about magic, the undead, and maybe the occasional cultivator. Now I have to worry about everything. The city's council is asking for my help with irrigation, deciding the location for farmer's plots, splitting funds for the newly-freed conscripts, transporting them back to their villages, tax reforms, and what to do with the dead.

I don't know how to address any of that!

But I'm not going to fail.

Or, maybe I will, but not without doing my best!

I'm not sure how long I'll be able to keep it up for. Cultivators will come, sooner or later. They already knew about Master being here.

I'd discovered some forms and letters in the Hungering Inferno sect building, specifically in their administrative wing. I don't have much time to look into that kind of thing, but I do have some. They've known about Master for a while. Maybe even since I met him. Or a little later? It's hard to tell, exactly.

They were charged by the Jade Throne to seek him out and try to kill, or if not capture, him.

Now that Master's acted more openly, the Emperor will certainly find out, and then we'll all be in a lot of trouble.

Well, Master might not be. I think he could maybe take the Emperor on. But I'm nowhere near ready for something like that.

I'll have to see if we can prepare the city some more. I'm sure we can set things up so that if a cultivator does visit, and they're not too strong, we'll be able to scare them off.

Maybe.

I really don't know what I'm supposed to do. I'll just have to trust in Master and everything he set up, I guess.

Note: Master says that worrying too much is a waste of time, so I should try to stop worrying about it, or at least focus on productive things.

Note end.

For now, I'm trying to work out a way to get some studying in between dealing with the city and the undead army and exploring the sect compound's records for anything useful.

I think I might need to ask Seventeen for more help, this is too much work for one apprentice to handle all on her own!

Yeah, that's a good idea! I should see what he can do to help out. My job should be to improve myself, not... do all of the work of running a teeny-tiny empire.

I'll approach the city council tomorrow. Some of them seemed very reasonable.

Right, day ninety-nine record over. Back to work for me!

* * *

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Chapter Twelve — Dusty Dimension

Chapter Twelve — Dusty Dimension

I finished the seventy-sixth book in the series I'd started the night before just as the sun rose over the walls of the city.

I tucked the book away, then stood while placing bony hands on my hips to stretch out my spine. Once, when I had flesh over my bones, I'd been very careful about my posture. Sitting straight and keeping my back in good working order.

Unsurprisingly, undeath had put an end to back pain for me, and from then on I had to make a conscious effort not to allow myself to slouch.

"Papa is ready for the day?" Alex asked as they stepped up. Alex had been standing at attention a few paces away from my reading chair all night, as a maid should. "Do you want me to draw a bath? Prepare a change of clothes?"