Joseph stepped next to the generator and picked up the end of the silver coil. William, Stella and Daniel were with him.
SUMMON SPIRIT.
A vague outline of a human form began to float in front of him.
SOLIDIFY.
"Hello, Walter."
"Um. Joseph, is that you?" asked Walter, in a fuzzy voice.
"Yes."
"How long have I been dead?" he asked, looking down at himself.
"About 6 months."
"Wait, what?" Walter looked Joseph up and down, as if he was messing with him.
"Your family has likely been killed, along with most of the nobles in the Oxalium Empire. The king is dead. The first prince became king and is now also dead. Only the second prince survived, and has taken asylum with me."
"Wow. Things went even further to hell than I was expecting."
"Actually, not yet. I've been killing a lot of demons and cultists."
"Joseph, are you serious?"
"Very."
Walter paused for a moment, to mull over that.
"Did you summon me just to tell me that? That the family that betrayed me is also dead so that I might rest in peace?"
"No. I called you to ask, now that you don't have to worry about your family, if you wanted to serve just me?"
"How, I'm dead?"
"I can fix that. It's a lot harder without your body, but it also means I can create a new body for you. Maybe one without that knee issue you always complained of, whenever a storm was coming?"
"Is that allowed?"
"Yes, the gods are preventing me from doing time related magic, so I can't make it so you were never killed, but bringing you back is fine. Any particular race you prefer?"
"Wait, I don't have to be human?"
"I'm making a body for you. I could even put you into a golem if you want."
"I want to be whatever Stella is."
Stella raised an eyebrow at him.
"See? She's terrifying. I want to be like that."
Joseph nodded. "Ok."
Daniel looks at him, "Master Joseph, can I get a new body too?"
"Transforming you is way easier than resurrection. What do you want to be?"
"What are you going to be?"
"I'm trying to stay human, as most of my subjects are still human. And I'm still considering my options. I'm leaning towards fey, with dragon blood, and possibly some Atlantean."
"Uh, can you just make me younger?"
"Technically, time magic is a no, but I can force your age onto something else, like a tree."
"Then, if I die, will you bring me back?"
"As long as you're willing. I won't force you."
Joseph turned back to Walter. "You still want to be a guy, right? I mean if you don't, I won't judge but…"
"Yes, I want to be a man still."
"Alright."
ESSENTIAL EARTH.
Joseph used a few drops of blood on some extra enchanted silver wire.
SHAPE EARTH.
SHAPE METAL.
He forced the wire to go throughout the clay body he made of Walter, as he imagined he looked like at 17, except with much longer ears.
EARTH TO STONE.
It hardened into a magical rock with an enchanted silver magical circuit path. Joseph gave it a few more drops of blood, to ensure his connection as he did the next part. Not having any pieces of his actual body made the difficulty significantly higher. Joseph prepared to cast the first spell at the same time as Joe cast the second.
STONE TO FLESH. RESURRECTION.
Walter's spirit was sucked into the stone form, without resisting. Joseph poured pure mana into his lifeless body.
AWAKEN.
It was honestly overkill, but resurrection only allowed one attempt, so overkill was fine.
Walter opened his eyes.
"I warn you, Stella trains almost as hard as I do. If you want to be her level of scary, it will take practice. Also, you are the Sar'Ree clan of ancient fey. Stella is a Chuk'Soon. Stella gets a tremendous number of magical abilities. You will have no magical abilities. All of your magic is focused on improving your body. The other option for the ancient fey clans, are pure mages, and I didn't figure you wanted that. The Oberon clan is the blood line I was thinking of transforming into."
ANALYZE CREATURE.
Joseph nodded, satisfied. Walter had an 18 value in strength, dexterity, and health. For a former human warrior, this was the best clan, he thought. It should increase with actual work. At the moment his muscles were still soft and new, and no callouses were on his hands, etc. Joseph considered Walter a friend, but he was also hoping to study his progress if this worked. Having a health of 18 already, made him immune to almost all non-magical diseases, and even the majority of those. It also gave him the stamina of the world's best human long-distance runners or swimmers. Having a strength of 18 put him in the level of world class human body builders and power lifters, though he wouldn't have the techniques they did. And having a dexterity of 18 put him among the top human gymnasts and sprinters in the world for flexibility and speed. Though, he would still need to train in sprinting techniques and acrobatics to compete.
"Rest up, Walter. Stella will take you through a training regimen tomorrow for you to get used to your new body. Also, you might as well get used to calling me King Joseph, instead of Master. I'm just trying to get my country now. I have my people."
As Daniel led Walter away, a runner arrived from the front gates. There were half dead elves there!
Joseph rushed to the gate with his dad, dragging the wire behind him. Virion was almost dead with Laeroth and Elwin.
"We need you," whispered Virion before passing out.
Joseph touched each of them, lending energy to revive them. If they were this bad off, he worried about the others.
GATE.
With the silver wire firmly grasped in hand, Joseph stepped into the Elven forest. The king was on the floor, unconscious, but still alive.
LEND ENERGY.
All of the elves were being drained, not just the royals. Spying the queen on her bed, he moved over to her.
HEAL.
"Joseph?" she asked, her eyes fluttering open. "I'm so sorry I was so harsh with you before. Thank you so much for saving my babies!"
"I understand you were out of it at the time, give me a moment," he said, before she could focus her eyes and see him as he was, and moved away.
Following the feeling of being drained, he found himself in the elven library. On the ceiling was a rune, so corrupted, he had a hard time even telling it was a rune.
'System, that's the META rune, isn't it?'
(YES…)
Joseph could tell that the rune was trying to drain the mana out of his realm, through the wire he still clung to in his hand.
PURIFY.
No change.
BANISH.
No change.
The spells were being swallowed before they could reach the rune. He couldn't risk the corrupted rune getting inside his mana control area. There were at least three barb spells, at the master level, waiting for him to try and fix it. But if he destroyed the rune, he would have to wait until he reached the wastelands to get it.
"The grass is starting to wilt near the gate," said Stella, stepping through his shadow and giving a low whistle at the sight of the corrupted rune above them.
"Shavist!" he cursed, finally giving up.
TELEPORT.
The entire rune, along with the ceiling it had been on, disappeared. Joseph quickly rebuilt the ceiling and walls of the elven royal library, so the palace didn't collapse.
"Where did you send it?" she asked curiously.
"The sun."
Joseph held up his free hand and started sending tons of mana back into the forest. He could feel, through the mana, that the barrier was gone, and none of the royal family was killed. With the barrier down, he had to make sure the elves were restored enough to be able to protect themselves from anyone who came to investigate.
(THE ELVEN GOD WISHES TO BLESS YOU FOR SAVING HIS PEOPLE.)
(SHAVIST! HE'S GIVING YOU MAGERY 4!)
(HE WISHES FOR YOU TO PLEASE CONTINUE PROTECTING HIS PEOPLE UNTIL THEY CAN RECOVER, AS HE IS AFRAID HE IS UNABLE TO, AT THIS TIME…)
(JOSEPH! THIS IS…WOW!)
(YOU ARE NO LONGER HUMAN…WHAT DO YOU WISH TO BE CALLED?)
"How about a Wizar?"
(THAT'S WEIRD…BUT OKAY!)
(NEW RACE: WIZAR.)
Joseph glanced up at the space where the META rune had been. He wished that was what he had been reward with, but he was sure that if the elven god had been able to give it to him, he probably would have.
SHAVIST!