Reborn with a Necromancer System
Chapter 139: Soul Searching

Chapter 139: Soul Searching

The long oaken table in the estate’s library groaned under the weight of knowledge placed upon it.

Tomes splayed open with spines cracked and weary, scrolls unfurled like serpent tongues, and scattered parchment dusted with ink both fresh and dry were scattered around.

Dust motes danced in the light of the stained-glass windows above, casting kaleidoscopic hues across the cluttered surface. The scent of candlewax, wood polish, and aged books filled the room.

Kai sat across from Naia, one boot resting on the rung of his chair, the other tapping out a rhythm he didn’t seem aware of. She was scribbling furiously, eyes narrowed in mock concentration, though the sharp dip of her quill and the repeated loops betrayed the lie. They weren’t focused on magical theory anymore. Not really.

They hadn’t been for a while.

"We should strike before the next new moon," Naia murmured, her voice nearly swallowed by the silence between the shelves. Her hand never stopped moving, keeping up the illusion of work. "The Devourer feeds less during lunar lows, with what I gathered from your time spent captured. Maybe they’re more vulnerable then? That might be our best chance."

"Maybe. Or maybe it was something else..."

His gaze was lost in the middle distance, not focused on any particular book or idea. His mind had drifted into less tactical territory, into shadowed alleys and cold rooftops. Into memory. A kiss.

He hadn’t planned to kiss Kleo. But he, nor she, had pulled away either.

And now it sat inside him like a bruise he couldn’t stop pressing.

Naia’s hand brushed his across the table. It was a casual touch. Almost.

"And after?" she asked, voice softer now, unsure. "When it’s over? We go out again. Like before. A real date."

Her words landed harder than they should have.

He blinked. "I don’t know if I’m... ready for that."

Naia’s pen paused. Her gaze rose. "Is it because of me?"

"No." Kai exhaled, leaning back. The chair creaked like it understood his weariness. "It’s not you. It’s just... I kissed someone. Someone else. I didn’t mean to. It wasn’t planned. But it happened. And now I don’t know how I feel. About her. Or you. Or anything."

His voice dropped. "Girls... feelings... it’s all complicated."

"Oh..."

Naia didn’t flinch. She didn’t argue.

Instead, she stood up, stepped to the shelf behind her, and drew out a thick volume bound in darkened leather. The ancient spine cracked as she dropped it on the table with a thud.

The title gleamed in faint silver: Creatures of the Abyss.

Kai’s eyes narrowed. The script below the title curled like creeping vines, Salan.

He frowned, brushing a hand over the cover with reverence. "You don’t read this, do you?"

Naia shook her head. "I thought it looked important. Thought you might."

Kai nodded slowly. "Yeah. I know Salan. It’s... complicated. But translation magic helps."

Naia gave him a look. "Just ’translation magic’. Right."

Kai flipped open the book and let his fingers skim the pages. His eyes darkened with each page he passed.

Then he froze.

"The Devourer..." he muttered. "It’s not cursed. It’s a parasite."

Naia’s eyebrows shot up. "A parasite?"

He nodded grimly. "A living mana siphon. It bonds with a host, feeding, adapting. It forgets itself over time, loses identity, but it doesn’t die. Not unless the host dies naturally. If the host is killed? The parasite survives. Moves on."

Naia’s voice dipped into a whisper. "That means... it could live forever?"

Kai’s answer was barely audible. "Yeah. It could. If it keeps finding hosts, but I don’t think it’s changed hosts in a very long time."

Naia’s gaze went distant again. "The headmaster... how old is she, really?"

Kai blinked. "You’re not serious... She helped found the Academy. Centuries ago. She’s the only one who’s ever been Headmaster."

Naia stared at him in disbelief.

"So... If she was the Devourer the entire time..."

"Then it is as old as recorded history itself, or perhaps longer. One of her... collectors," Kai continued, "carried a seed. The Devourer implants them. Turns people into satellites. Extensions of herself. She tried to plant one in me."

Naia turned pale. "She’s split herself. Spread like mold."

"She’s immortal," Kai said. "Or close to it. The seed-bearers, the collectors, sustain her. She siphons the mana they colelct over time. Maybe that’s how she survives."

He pointed to a passage in the book, his voice grave. "This Chapter says: ’To destroy the Devourer, corrupt the vessel.’ That’s it. No explanation."

Naia frowned. "She’s already corrupt, isn’t she? What more could that mean?"

"I don’t know," Kai said. "Maybe the bond breaks only if the host turns against her willingly. Like... spiritual betrayal. Not just a curse. A choice."

"So we need to convince the immortal founder of the Academy to kill her parasite from the inside?"

Kai gave a humorless laugh. "Basically."

Naia sat back, brow furrowed. "We need help. Someone who understands this kind of knowledge. Someone from Sala."

Kai nodded slowly. "Exactly what I was thinking."

Naia’s lips parted. "So... you’re leaving."

He hesitated. "Not yet. But soon. The Church wants me dead. The royals would hold a parade. The Devourer’s watching. I’m not strong enough to face them yet. And... I have promises to keep."

His thoughts turned inward.

’Vepice. I need to help them. Mari’s the only one who can. I need her to say yes.’

"I want to come," Naia said suddenly.

Kai furrowed his brows. "To Sala?"

She nodded.

"It’s far. Dangerous. There are storms above the oceans. Even skyships avoid them. And what about your studies? Your father? Emille?"

"I’ll miss you too much," she said quietly.

Kai’s breath caught in his throat. He looked down.

Naia gave a weak smile. "Do you want to know why I like you?"

He glanced at her. "I would."

She raised two fingers.

"First, I’m supposed to marry Emille. But on the first day of school, I saw you push him over in front of everyone. Just... bam! No hesitation. I laughed for hours."

Kai blinked. "That... wasn’t my proudest moment."

She lowered one finger. "Second... Carter, the knight who introduced you to my father? He saved me from being kidnapped. And I only lived because you spared him."

He stared at her.

"Later, I met Aliza," Naia continued. "She told me about the boy who saved her with shadow, strengthening, and some kind of summoning magic. It took time, but I put it together. You saved her. You saved Carter. And because of that... you saved me."

Her voice shook. "So yeah. Maybe I’m biased. But I owe you. And I want to be where you are."

Kai didn’t speak for a long time. He didn’t have words. So instead, he simply nodded. "Thank you. That helps. More than you know."

He stood.

She didn’t stop him.

He left.

---

Outside, in the shade of the silver ash tree in the courtyard outside the estate, the world was quiet. The leaves whispered above him. Bells rang somewhere far away. The breeze stirred the grass.

He closed his eyes, exhaled slowly, and placed his hands palm-up on his knees.

Focus.

Not on the body, not on the courtyard. Not even on the mind. He sank beneath all that, into the invisible core of himself. Into the soul.

It wasn’t difficult. Not anymore. Since touching death, since crafting pacts with the dead and drawing power from essence itself, meditation had become a familiar descent into stillness. Into the grey tide where life and death bled together.

He called out.

Not with his voice or with magic, but with intent.

’Show me a soul. A teacher. One who knew the ways of space. Of gates. Of folds in the world and the paths between them.’

He needed a spacial mage to guide him.

His thoughts flowed outward like soft ripples.

For a moment, there was only silence.

Then, flickers.

A few familiar echoes shimmered in the ether, remnants of old pacts, borrowed knowledge. The weight of old souls, long since consumed or released.

But nothing new answered.

No whispers. No movement. Not even a curious spirit brushing against his mind.

He waited.

Still... nothing.

His brow furrowed. He tried again, louder, more commanding, if such a thing was possible within the spiritual plane. He pushed his will out like a beacon. He offered power. A vessel. Purpose. A chance to teach. A chance to be remembered.

But the void only swallowed his offer and gave nothing back.

"...Come on," Kai muttered aloud, opening his eyes.

The courtyard hadn’t changed. The shadows hadn’t stirred.

He tried again. This time calling more directly.

"Any soul. Anyone who mastered spatial magic in life. I seek your knowledge. I offer power. I offer meaning."

Nothing.

Not even a flicker of presence.

The silence began to crawl under his skin.

It wasn’t just rejection. It was avoidance.

Kai slowly stood and walked to the window. He rested his palms on the cool stone and stared out toward the garden below, mind racing.

Spirits had always come. Even before he fully understood what he was doing. Even before he wanted them. They had whispered in his dreams, tugged at his rituals, leaned into him like moths to flame.

But that was when the world was blind.

Before his magical assessment.

Before the gods and everyone else saw what he truly was.

A Necromancer.

And now?

Now they stayed away.

Not because he lacked power.

But because he had too much of the wrong kind.

Necromancy was no longer hidden behind the restrictions of a hacked system. It was a practiced art in his hands. A calling etched into his soul.

And the divine had noticed.

He felt it now: like a wall erected around him. Not of stone, but of judgment. A divine quarantine. One that the spirits, for all their autonomy, did not dare trespass.

They gods were watching closely.

And those that walked the veil feared being dragged into divine punishment by associating with him.

His shoulders sagged as the truth settled over him like frost.

’I didn’t change,’ he thought bitterly. Not really. But the world’s watching now.

Before, he was a boy with secrets.

Now, he was a necromancer. A named one.

A thief of souls. A binder of shadow. A general of an undead army. One of the condemned.

Kai stepped back from the tree, eyes shadowed, and looked at his hands.

"Looks like I’m on my own," he said softly.

He turned toward his desk, already reaching for parchment and ink.

If no soul would teach him spatial magic... he would learn it the slow way.

Page by page.

Experiment by experiment.

Alone, or perhaps, with the prince’s help.

Then he looked westward, to the ocean’s edge, even if he couldn’t see it.

To Sala.

He would find them.

Even if it meant letting everything else disappear for a while.

But Vepice came first.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.