As the death energy poured into his spiritual seed, Damien could feel the limit of Level 0 approaching. His body trembled slightly—he was standing at the edge of a breakthrough, ready to step into Level 1, Tier 0.
He calmed his breathing and focused his consciousness, guiding the stream of death energy carefully into the seed within his mind-space.
The seed pulsed, the pitch-black surface slowly being wrapped in a strange green fire. The flames didn't burn—it was more like they seeped into the darkness, soothing it while giving it an even more sinister aura.
That green glow was not life, not warmth. It was the flame of death itself, cold yet powerful. The more it spread, the more Damien felt an aura of dread rising from his own body, an evil presence that whispered of decay and endings.
The seed started to change. It was slowly taking the shape of a skull, but before it could fully form, the green flame went out. A shockwave of green fire spread across Damien's mind space.
Boom! The sound echoed loudly, ringing in his ears. After a while, it slowly faded away.
At the edge of his mind space, Damien saw a small piece of land. It was made of black soil and bones. When his spiritual body landed on the land, a sudden surge of power rushed through him.
The energy inside him was too much, so Damien released it back into the mind space. The power spread out and formed dark clouds that floated above. The black clouds clashed with each other, and soon, they began to rain. Black raindrops fell down, making a sizzling sound when they touched the ground.
The rain kept falling, and soon the mind space was partly filled with black water.
At the very top of this mind space, a small black bead formed, hidden where no one could see it easily. Now his inner world had three parts: the black bead above, water in the middle, and land below.
This was the start of Damien's chosen path of growth. With this path, he would one day be able to carry his undead army inside his mind space and teleport them out when needed. In the far future, this space could even change into a true Plane of Death.
than damien woke up from his meditation he unlocked new skills first he got a skill which was able to scan the soul of a taget and find out their level and he could find only up to three levels higher than his current stage and also their profession not exactly what profession do they have but what advacemnet route have they taken for example if there was a warrior infront of damine and he usesd the soul scan on the target he would be able to know the person has taken strngeth route and that would be a bit helpful in battels.
Another new thing Damien noticed was that he could now store his skeletons inside his mind space. While inside, they could slowly grow stronger on their own.
His body had also changed—now it could naturally absorb death energy at a slow pace, and that energy would be stored in his mind space.
But the most important change was his new ritual skill: he could now sacrifice either the living or the dead to summon undead beings based on the sacrifice.
The summoned undead could come from this world, from another world, or even from the undead planes. However, the ones summoned from the undead planes had very little intelligence compared to those summoned from other worlds.
Feeling the surge of power rushing through his body, Damien clenched his fists and smiled.
"Finally," he said in his mind, proud of reaching Tier 0, Level 1.
Alice was watching Damien, who had suddenly stood up. He looked more handsome now, and there was a majestic aura around him that left her stunned.
She was about to grab some water from the bag when Damien said, "You wait here, I'll go and check the situation downstairs."
Alice quickly moved in front of the door, blocking his way with her body. Even though she was still an unawakened profession, her speed was fast.
"Stop," Alice said firmly. "You haven't eaten anything yet. You were sitting in lotus position and meditating this whole time. First, you eat, then you can go."
Her unwavering attitude finally made Damien give in. He agreed and had lunch with her.
While eating the food and chatting with Alice, Damien could sense that she was filled with worry for him, which made him even more motivated to become stronger and protect all those he could within his capable power.
After finishing his food, Damien looked at her and said,
"Look, you don't have to worry about me, okay? I've just broken through, and I'm stronger than before. Plus, I have my undead squad as my retreat if I face something I can't handle."
His words calmed Alice's restless heart. On the surface, she looked fine letting Damien go fight, but deep inside, she hoped he wouldn't take risky decisions.
Damien then parted ways with Alice. He left one skeleton behind to guard her, and with the remaining skeletons, he went downstairs.
As he walked down, he could feel that the death energy here was very strong. That meant many lives had ended in this place. Most of the people who tried to run must have died, either from one powerful being or from many of them.
But when he looked around, he didn't find any zombies.
He ordered the skeletons to check each room one by one, moving with as little noise as possible. Yet, there was nothing. No zombies, no humans. It was like every living being had disappeared from this place.
Still, the thick death energy lingered in the air, slowly nourishing both his body and his mind space.
That's when Damien saw it. At the entrance of the building, there was a wall made of flesh. From that wall, a large nerve-like thing was spreading out and attached to a zombie.
But this was no normal zombie.
The huge being was sitting in front of a tower of dead bodies, eating them one by one. It had four arms and a body covered in thick muscles.
The monster stopped its feast. Slowly, it turned its head, as if it had become aware of Damien and his undead standing nearby.