"Interesting."
"I've never seen anything this strange. An undead creature is drawing in elemental power. The nature spirits should never have allowed this to happen."
"It's most likely because I'm acting as a living relay. My presence is balancing the positive and negative energies while concealing the aura of death, which prevents the nature spirits from noticing anything unusual."
Skyl, Doric, and Stan circled Mia, marveling at the undead girl who had seemingly returned to life. Her corpse now looked vibrant and alive. If not for the emptiness in her eyes, she would have been indistinguishable from a living person.
"She's bleeding." Doric noticed dark, blackish-gray blood seeping from Mia's left wrist.
It was undead blood formed from negative energy mixed with elemental water. The blood itself was toxic and inflicted a degree of necrotic damage on anyone who touched it. When the drops struck the ground, nearby plants rapidly withered, the soil lost its fertility, and the earth hardened into lifeless clumps.
Skyl lowered his eyes slightly as he looked at the wound on Mia's wrist. He remembered how the succubus Pencheska had slowly drained the girl's blood, drop by drop. It was an unpleasant memory.
He sighed, put on a pair of deerskin gloves, and dug an earthworm out of the ground. After becoming stained with undead blood, the worm resembled a writhing black thread. Skyl used it as a suture and stitched the wound on Mia's wrist closed.
Most healing magic was unsuitable for undead creatures. Positive energy was little different from poison to them.
The technique Skyl employed was normally used to create stitched corpses. Frankenstein's monster and the abominations of World of Warcraft were both examples of such creations.
A simple set of stitches, combined with a necromancy spell such as [Flesh Regrowth], stopped the bleeding completely. The wound healed with remarkable efficiency.
Blood was the most fundamental component of a biological circulatory system. In mysticism, it was also regarded as a sacred fluid that represented vitality and life.
There should not have been any blood inside Mia's body. Undead creatures did not need blood because their animation was sustained by magical power and negative energy. Now that Mia's body had been filled with blood again, the implications were extraordinary.
She had already begun evolving toward a higher form of undeath.
The combination of undeath and the Primal Power was certainly an eye-opening phenomenon.
During his time at the College of Winterhold, Skyl had studied necromancy for a while, though he had never specialized in the field. Necromancers also represented only a very small portion of the Tower Covenant's membership. Fortunately, Skyl's understanding of the fundamental origins of magic allowed him to explain what was happening before them.
"Nature encompasses the processes of destruction and death. There is a chance that Mia could become the first undead druid in Realmspace."
Doric immediately began questioning everything she thought she understood.
"That's impossible. How could the Primal Power be controlled by a twisted undead creature? It's absurd, and the nature spirits would never permit it!"
The tiefling girl muttered anxiously while rubbing one of the horns on her forehead.
Skyl shook his head, rejecting Doric's conclusion.
"The undead are neither acknowledged by the nature spirits nor accepted by the gods of nature. They're like bankrupt people whose reputations have been completely ruined. No organization is willing to employ them, which is why they can't receive an infusion of wilderness magic."
As Skyl considered the problem, the outline of an entirely new concept began taking shape in his mind.
"Legendary beasts eventually die or voluntarily transform themselves into elemental beings. The strands of thought they leave behind gather together and form nature spirits. These spirits possess a powerful affinity with nature, but they do not represent nature itself.
"Undead creatures are regarded as an evil race that distorts the natural order, but the laws of nature still contain and permit that distortion. Otherwise, necromancy could not function in the first place.
"To turn an undead creature into a druid, one would merely need to nurture an undead spirit first. Dementors could be regarded as one form of such a spirit."
Doric shook her head violently.
"You can't do that! It would destroy the balance! Undead druids would wipe out the world of the living!"
The tiefling girl was remarkably perceptive, and the undead blood that had fallen from Mia's wrist supported her intuition.
The Primal Power controlled by an undead druid would become distorted by negative energy. Such power could transform the natural environment into one suited for undead creatures while extinguishing the vitality of living beings. It would be an exceptionally malicious form of magic.
An undead druid's plague spells could unleash an undead scourge and cause endless suffering.
"Don't be nervous. I understand perfectly well how dangerous undead druids would be."
Skyl casually described the horrifying landscapes of necrotic wastelands and undead scourges, leaving Doric pale with fear.
"Many years ago, in Thay, the lich Szass Tam unleashed a massive necromantic spell that transformed tens of thousands of gathered civilians into undead creatures. The Thayans who managed to escape were still branded by Szass Tam. They were forced to wander through foreign lands, facing distrust and discrimination wherever they went."
"Then stop doing this!"
"Relax. Mia will eventually be resurrected. The undead spirit is only a hypothesis. Creating an entirely new class isn't nearly as simple as you imagine."
Doric remained firmly opposed.
"You still can't do it. What happens if you actually succeed? Spellcasters are always the ones causing the worst disasters!"
Spellcasters had an abysmal reputation throughout Faerûn. Most people practically regarded them as monsters and walking catastrophes.
"But I still need to train in the druidic path. Other than Mia, who would be willing to share their mind with me? Isn't that right, Mia?"
The undead Mia remained expressionless.
Then her eyes suddenly moved toward the warlock, and a strained voice emerged from her throat.
"S-Skyl…"
Her voice was as cold as a banshee coming to claim someone's life.
"She's alive!" Stan and Doric cried in alarm.
"No, only a fragment of her remaining soul has become active after being stimulated. Once the elemental power inside her is exhausted, she'll return to her previous condition."
Skyl turned toward Mia.
"I'm right here, Mia. Don't be afraid."
"S-Skyl… is the best."
A confused, childlike innocence appeared in Mia's eyes. She reached out and clutched the edge of Skyl's clothes.
Doric remained silent for a moment before quietly asking, "How did she end up like this? I was only asking. You don't have to explain."
Skyl's expression remained calm. He patted the severed head of the succubus hanging from his waist.
"A fiend murdered her."
He paused.
"I arrived too late."
Doric looked at him with admiration.
"You've already done something incredible. You're like a hero."
"I'm not a hero," Wizard Skyl said softly. "I'm only… a decent man who isn't particularly warm."
Doric extended a hand toward him.
"All right, then. Decent man, I'm willing to trust you for now."
"Hm?"
"I'll establish the telepathic link with you."
"Is this your compromise to prevent the creation of an undead druid?"
Skyl laughed softly, then gently took the tiefling girl by her fingertips.
"I'll remember what you did for me. Doric, you have my word."
Under the moonlight, the two of them attempted their first telepathic link, with Doric holding the Infinity Scepter.
The instant the spell succeeded, Doric felt a heavy current of coldness sweep across her cerebral cortex. A moment later, the current seized control of every one of her senses.
She asked anxiously within her own mind, "Skyl, is that you?"
"It's me. Let's begin."
Wilderness magic began to surge and boil. Through the connection between them, an aura of pure life poured into the Infinity Scepter.
The silver-forged scepter flowed like liquid mercury. Roots emerged from its base, while its head split apart and extended into branching limbs.
A divine tree began to grow.
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