Growing one’s mana was like growing the rings of a tree. The magic stone by default was a container for mana, and by creating an artificial layer, it was possible to increase the mana pressure inside the magic stone. This was called layering, and it was the basis for all growth in the world. The first three layers were called the low-tier for humans, layers four through six were the mid-tiers, and seven through nine were the high tiers. The reason that they were called artificial layers was that the magic stone did not get bigger; instead, walls of solid mana formed layers like a jawbreaker, but these allowed the mana pressure to be vastly increased inside the stone.

 

When taking mana from a magic stone to increase your own power, you were only able to do this up to a certain level. Once the mana level inside your magic stone matched the level inside the other, the donating stone would no longer be able to help you improve. This also wasn’t a perfect transfer of one equals one. Using magic stones to improve mana level was incredibly wasteful, the Machine Lord had hypothesized that only one-fifteenth of the mana was donated to the user and the rest was lost in the process.

 

I think the Machine Lord said it was like diverting water from one bucket to another, but for every one cup, you can move you spill fourteen of them. This is only possible to do until the water level in the two buckets is the same. 

 

Humans just were not as efficient as monsters when it came to taking in and utilizing mana. They preferred to slowly and steadily build it up, night after night. 

 

“I don’t have time for that! Who knows what else is out there? I need to get out of here and find my parents!” David whispered to himself.

 

David didn’t need to be nearly as quiet as he had in the past, that was because of all of the banging that the walking corpses were doing on the furnace. The corpses did not get tired as humans did, and they would continue to attack the furnace for days to try to get to him. As David stepped into the hallway, he found that he felt calm even with what he was about to face.

 

Butcher ghouls were common in the Machine Lord’s world, if they are appearing here then what would I do if I couldn’t even face something like this?

 

Always assume the worst and hope for the best, this was David’s motto. Seeing the corpse of the undead who had been projecting the voices made it clear that this was not going to be something small and localized.

 

These were all common low tier undead… Butcher Ghouls, Wights, I wouldn’t be surprised if a Corpse Mother was the one who raised them all…

 

David stopped as he reached the end of the hall, he could hear the rocks flying, and the ghouls breathing. Peeking around the corner he could see its naked body as it was digging through the rubble. The sound of pounding was coming from the other side of the rocks through the cracks. Looking at the ceiling of the hallway David realized that there was a second floor to the part of the Asylum he was in. Looking back at the Ghoul he took a close look at it.

 

The Wight did injure it, I bet it was raising the undead in the yard! This Butcher Ghoul must have eaten all of the walking corpses in this section of the control room before it began to break into the hospital rooms to eat the dead patients. 

 

It was stronger than him, that was undeniable. Reaching into his beltline, he adjusted the ballistic knife that he had prepared. David’s mana was full after his nap, and it was time to use his first spell. Many people would imagine someone making complex hand signs and chanting in a ridiculous language to use mana, but the Machine Lord thought that was erroneous and stupid. 

 

Taking the normal knife he had prepared using the Butcher’s blade and the regular pipe he began to trace his finger over the blade as he pushed mana into it. This was a form of limited enchanting called setting a rune. David used a quarter of his available mana, runes were single-use and acted just like enchantments that weren’t permanent. Once the mana you imbued into the rune ran out then it would disappear. What was the best rune to use against the undead?

 

Festering decay!

 

The true bane of the undead was not a spell that lit them on fire or purified them with light, those were expensive and David was on a budget. Instead, he would use a spell that was favored by farmers for preparing mulch in Edea. Magic as a spectrum had two properties; positive or invocation, this was the creation of elements like fire, water, earth, air, etc. Then you had anti-magic; or the negative spectrum, this involved things like space, time, and the various mana controls necessary for enchanting.

 

Most spells or runes were a combination of the two to reach a specific frequency to produce a spell. Festering Decay was of the time branch in anti-magic, but it would only affect non-living creatures like the undead.

 

Too bad you are not mid-grade, and you have not yet gained true unlife.

 

Seeing a light green shine start to appear across the Butcher’s blade, he smiled sadly as he began to channel his mana and created a thread. This thread wrapped around the hilt of his knife and drew a straight line from his arm to the Butcher Ghoul’s waist.

Got you!

 

The creature jerked, as it turned towards David after feeling something wrap around its waist.

 

“You still have that purse?” David asked the ghoul in shock.

 

When the Butcher Ghoul had turned it was not the deep claw marks that crossed its chest, or the marks on its neck that looked like it had been chewed on that caught David’s attention. It was the clean, pink purse it was wearing over its large shoulder that caught his attention. A thought suddenly occurred to him.

 

“I bet you’re the one who called this place ‘The Vegetable Garden,’ aren’t you?” David asked.

 

Roooaaarrrrr!

 

The Butcher Ghoul turned and stood, roaring and bearing its claws.

 

Not yet…

 

As a human, most monsters will be stronger than you, it was best to realize this early. David watched as the Butcher Ghoul began to charge towards him, the thread of mana he tied to its waist was getting thinner and thinner.

 

Not yet…

 

David loosened his knees and got lower to the ground, this way he could spring in any direction. Since he had awoken from his coma he found that he wasn’t in a poor physical state, and all the signs of his leg wounds had disappeared.  David watched its shoulders carefully, this was something the Machine Lord programmed into his golems. David watched it pull its left shoulder back, as it began to move its right claw forward.

 

Now!

 

David needed the creature to be close, not because he was looking for some magical opening, but because he just didn’t have the mana to do this otherwise without risking passing out. The thread of mana that David had attached to the waist of the creature suddenly tensed and David threw the makeshift knife as hard as he could. 

 

David suddenly felt himself go almost listless as the thread of mana was broken off. The knife flew forward the 3 feet(~1M) that separated the two of them and plunged deep into the Butcher Ghoul’s pelvis. David immediately jumped back to avoid the right claw that shot towards him. Taking a few steps back his foot hit a piece of debris, and in his tired state from casting a spell he lost his balance and began to fall.

    

 

Shit! It’s the damn shoes 

 

David wasn’t the only one losing his balance though, the knife he had placed the rune on flew much harder than David would ever be able to throw it. This was because the mana he detached was pulling it with great force. This was not a spell, this was just knowing how mana behaved, and he was taking advantage of its properties. Mana would be attracted to itself before anything else. The knife that buried itself into the Ghoul’s waist started to decay its pelvis.

 

Rooooaaaarrrrr!

 

The Butcher Ghoul roared angrily, after having missed its target. It attempted to step forward to take a swing at the flailing David but it encountered its problem. It was having issues moving its legs and looked at the offending knife. Reaching a clawed hand down and grabbed the pipe handle sticking out of its groin like a penis and tugged at it, ripping it off and leaving the blade buried in its flesh.

 

“Hahaha! Did you think I would make it easy to pull out?” David laughed, as he scrambled to his feet.

 

The ghoul tried to take another swipe at him, this caused David to have to leap back again down the hallway. He could feel some of the rocks and pieces of rubble scrape his skin as he dodged backward to avoid the claws again. Every time David watched it struggle to take a step, he felt better about his chances of surviving the encounter. David started scrambling to his feet when he saw the ghoul taking another swing at him with its clawed hands. David was forced to push off the ground and leap back onto his ass again to avoid the blow. If it wasn’t having issues walking it would have easily disemboweled him already.

 

David finally managed to get his feet under him, his breathing was ragged, and he was covered in sweat from the exertion of mana. But he was experiencing a thrill he hadn’t expected to ever experience before. 

 

Do I like fighting things that are bigger than me?

 

As he watched the ghoul approach with an enraged expression, its mouth frothing in outrage. He felt calm and collected, he could even laugh happily that he had managed to cast a spell. Even with all of these mishaps, this result was one of the better ones he had calculated. Opening the grate in the duct had given him a fear that if he tried to use mana in combat he might cause himself to blackout as he did in the duct. Seeing a spell that he cast working so effectively was relating after everything he had gone through.

 

“Why won’t you just let go of the damn purse?! Why is it so important to you?!” David yelled as he dodged the same claw that had been swinging at him the entire time.

 

Looking at the ghoul who was reduced to a stiff hobble, he saw that the wounds across its chest were only on the side where the purse was, this was also true of the deep bites in its neck. This meant that the Ghoul was very close to getting the memories of its past life back, this was the most dangerous part of the undead. Many people will see these undead creatures who were about to evolve, start exhibiting traits of their loved ones, like the Ghoul holding the purse. 

 

“An idiot might think there is some hope you can go back to being what you were and take pity on you, but this is just the precursor to your own intelligence awakening.” David muttered, reaching into his waistline and pulling out his improvised weapon.

 

To the Ghoul it looked like another knife, it suddenly became weary he was going to throw something at it again. David took this opportunity where it took a defensive stance to take more distance from it. 

 

“You’re not a human, so you don’t understand how we were able to rise above creatures like you on Edea.” David muttered as he shook his head.

 

The moment it took a defensive stance it lost the fight, this was because humans were shameless creatures at their cores. Who would stand around and risk their death? David immediately turned and bolted down the hall being careful to avoid the rubble.

 

There is no way I can trade blows with this thing, I came up with this plan because of that!

 

David could have targeted one of its legs with the knife, but that would have been a waste of his mana. David began sprinting down the hallway, and he could hear the Butcher Ghoul chasing behind him. 

 

It’s too close, I can’t go into the ducting…

 

David made his way into the room he had the most experience with, the control room was one he spent enough time in to have a good understanding of the layout. Turning his head slightly to peek at the ghoul, he could see black flesh forming around where the knife blade was trapped in its flesh, the dark black patch was vivid against the pale white flesh. 

 

Festering Decay is slow, but it is the best I can do under these circumstances…

 

The most important thing he saw from the ghoul was how it was forced to run strangely due to its stiffening hips. Combined it was becoming more substantial than if he had damaged a single leg. There is a lot more soft flesh around the groin than anywhere else, and this beast did not possess anything that made him able to tell what it once was. Its whole body was covered in thick muscles and pale skin, it had already shed all signs of its gender.

 

Seeing the counter that separated the room and acted as a lone island, he leaped up and began running over the desk. David was trying his best to control his breathing and maintain calm, as his foot landed on the desk he had to be very careful to maintain his balance.

 

I should have just ditched these shoes!

 

David was cursing in his mind as they were now slowing him down, but David suddenly had to fight to stop himself from falling over.

 

Crash! Boom! Clatter! Clatter!

 

The Ghoul had also attempted to leap after David; he called it an attempt, as it had failed to make it onto the desk. Its legs were much weaker than it was used to, and it could not clear the desk with its large bulk. The center of this rectangular desk space was filled with the bones of its victims and it had landed in the pile. David wanted to turn with the ballistic blade he had made, but he was also losing his balance, and he dived off the desk onto a clear part of the concrete floor.

 

 Poof!

 

David felt all of the air getting driven out of his lungs as he landed on the cold floor. He turned quickly and managed to face the Butcher Ghoul, who was crawling out of the bones and over the desk. Looking over, he saw the ballistic blade he had crafted and picked it up. It landed a few inches from him as it wasn’t capable of rolling easily with its strange shape. David used the heels of his feet to push himself back as the Ghoul came crawling after him on its large hands.

 

Its face had a look of rage on it as it was no longer able to walk on its legs. The fall had caused its rotted pelvis to fall apart, making its two legs useless. David reached down and pulled a pin that ran through the base of the baton, this hole was made using a file. As the Ghoul crawled forward onto the ground and began reaching forward, he aimed with the knife blade and pointed it at the ghoul’s head. He pushed a small red button that connected to a wire that ran into the base of the foam-wrapped steel piping.

 

Boom!

 

The gunpowder ignited, and David felt the handle of the baton get driven into his stomach. The blade and handle of the baton fired forward like lightning after the gunpowder had begun to rapidly expand and drive the baton forward like a pneumatic spear. Then the blade and heavy metal fittings soon made contact with the ghoul’s skull.

 

Crack! Splat!

 

The blade went right into the forehead and continued to sail forward under the force of three bullets worth of gunpowder. The blade was soon taking the fittings and the shaft of the baton with it, it did not stop until it was halfway out of the other side of the Ghoul’s head. The shaft of the baton had disconnected from the handle, but David was also hurt by the recoil of this blast.

 

Blergh! Splash!

 

Water and beans were sprayed all over the head of the corpse and over David’s pants, this was due to the handle being forced into his stomach from the heavy recoil of the blast.

 

Cough! Cough! Cough! Heave!

 

“I did it!” David said weakly with tears in his eyes.

 

He reached up and wiped the vomit from his mouth. Looking at the dead ghoul in front of him, he slowly started to get shakily to his feet.