Imagine watching a reality TV show about a mad scientist. Now imagine you watch this TV show without a single break or rest. Did you get that picture in your head? Okay good. Now imagine there are eight thousand seasons with three hundred episodes a season, and each episode is twenty-four hours long.

Kieran was living a nightmare.

Sometimes, the lich would sleep for months or years and then spend a year straight creating abominations or raising his magical knowledge.

And Kieran was forced to watch EVERY. SINGLE. SECOND.

Around the four thousandth season, the lich completed his 173rd magic circle. Kieran had concluded that a typical mage could have a maximum of twelve circles around their heart, but the lich found a workaround and put circles within each of his bones, meaning his upper limit was 206 circles. Once he had completed this powerup, he flexed his magic muscles and decided today was the day he would attempt to bring his wife back to life.

Abominations of flesh and bone roamed the lich's stronghold and were a testament to four thousand years of research and development. They were the baby steps the lich took toward finding a suitable vessel for his wife's soul.

In four thousand years, back on Earth, the human race went from discovering bronze to becoming a space capable civilisation. Kieran had lived this amount of time from atop the lich's shoulder. Due to this, his memories of Earth began to get hazy. He couldn't remember his parents' names or his sister's favourite colour... wait, did he have a sister? Kieran shook his non-existent head and focused on the resurrection ritual.

Although Kieran never met the lich's wife personally, he felt emotionally invested in the ritual's success.

After looking over his shoulder for four thousand years, Kieran often struggled to separate himself from the lich. It was an astronomically long period of time for a human, and his mind struggled to comprehend such a long life.

'And I still have four and a half thousand years to go... the system said this inheritance would be condensed, but I have witnessed every minute of this mad mage's life so far.'

The lich retrieved a perfectly sculptured and preserved Fleshy Undead from a climate-controlled tomb with telekinesis. Kieran almost thought it was a human from a casual glance, but he noticed the lack of breathing, pulse, and even heat when he looked closer. The slight rotting smell was also a dead giveaway.

But despite its zombie-like state, its beauty was unmatched. Kieran highly doubted the body was an exact replica of the lich's wife, but perhaps it is how the lich remembered her? 

Then, much to Kieran's shock, the lich stepped outside of his tower and walked across his necropolis for the first time in a thousand years. The two moons hung in the sky and cast an eerie glow on the black spires that reached for the skies.

The only other light source was three Nexus crystals that glowed blue as they released mana into the surroundings. Similar to meteorites, these fifty-meter tall crystals originate from the stars.

The lich had made great efforts to collect all three of them, and they surrounded a building in a triangular formation. Even though Kieran was but a simple soul, the dense cloud of mana almost took his breath away. It was like trying to breathe inside a vacuum. The lich paid the dense mana little attention and approached a guard.

"Deathknight, make sure no monsters approach. I give you full authority to defend this location with all resources."

The Deathknight was a floating armour set with a black skull residing inside the helmet. Kieran suspected it was initially a titan as the thing loomed over the lich.

It gave a deep bow and silently went to relay its master's orders.

The lich took a deep non-existent breath before entering the mausoleum, something Kieran noticed he does when he is nervous.

The inside was both expansive and empty except for a single table. The lich used telekinesis to move the fleshy undead onto the table and then began his work.

On this day, Kieran witnessed the lich unleash the peak of his power for the first time.

The lich's skull was always the first to start glowing when a spell needed to be cast, as it was where the Spell Visualization magic circles were engraved. Next was the spine circles that dictated the spells restraints such as speed, size, element, mana cost, etc. 

Once the lich had visualised the spell's purpose and added the necessary restraints, it was time for the magic to begin formation. The lich raised his hands as they glowed with power; a second later, his ribs also lit up as vast amounts of mana began to pour inside.

At this point, blue rings began swirling around his form. One, two, three, four... as the mana kept coming, the rings kept appearing until there were over fifty. Some spun fast; others spun slow. The lich's leg bones began glowing to correct this imbalance, as they are responsible for casting speed. If one part of the spell activates too fast, then the entire spell is ruined.

Despite the mausoleum's size, it could barely contain the spectacle. After a few minutes, the fleshy undead began floating in the air; thunder roared throughout the walls as arcs of black lightning attempted to bind the soul to its new vessel.

As chaotic as the situation was, the spell seemed to be working. The lich somehow managed to stand within the mana cyclone with the defiance of an ancient being. His grey robes fluttered around his boney form as he raised his arms to construct another spell.

"COME BACK TO ME! RESURRECTION!" He proclaimed as he spread his arms wide. The lich's body lit up like a Christmas tree, and all three Nexus's surrounding the mausoleum cracked as a tsunami of mana descended upon him.

The lich was so focused on his spell that he failed to notice the rapid accumulation of clouds overhead and the immediate increase of Qi in the atmosphere.

<Divine Tribulation Invoked.>

Kieran glanced at the system message and looked towards the ceiling. He was glad the system continued to support him throughout the inheritance. Otherwise, he would have been clueless about almost everything.

<Mana in atmosphere rapidly declining.>

<50% -> 40% mana concentration>

The lich's eyes burned a brighter blue as he looked around in terror, "No no no no no no. This can't be happening!" The massive spinning rings began to slow, and some shattered as the mana rapidly vacated the area.

His ribs glowed even brighter as he desperately tried to support the formation with his mana supply. It was at this moment that the mausoleum shuddered as the roof exploded. Stone rained down like hail as moonlight poured in; the lich stopped and looked up at the clouds of heaven with rage.

<40% -> 35% mana concentration>

The heavens cared little for an undead's hatred and promptly attempted to strike him down. The lich screamed as he cancelled his resurrection spell; his legs exploded with power as he rapidly cast multiple barriers to resist the incoming lightning.

Kieran watched in amazement as the barriers shattered one after another. The lich may be on the level of a demi-god, but all must bow before heaven's wrath. Especially the undead.

The lich's ribs cracked as he overloaded the enchantments. Mana swirled around him as if he were the eye of a hurricane. 

<35% -> 20% mana concentration>

Hundreds of barriers envelop the entire mausoleum, but they shatter as the sky flashes with arcs of brilliant white. "YOU DARE!" The lich screams as his body cracks under his heavy mana expenditure. 

<20% -> 0% mana concentration.>

The lich falls to one knee with only his mana reserves in his rib bones keeping him alive.

The final barrier fades away, and only the darkened sky stands before him and the world's punishment. The lich takes one final look at the charred remains of his wife's vessel before the world turns white.

 

***

 

A week later, within the deepest depths of the lich's tower, a ring placed upon a pedestal surrounded by bones glows a pale blue. Seconds later, the bones on the floor rearrange and form a human body. Yet, it remains still until its hollow eyes flare with wrathful flames.

The lich is reborn once more, he screams for a while, but once he calms down, he clicks his fingers.

Nothing happens.

He clicks again.

Nothing happens.

The lich slowly inspects his pristine white bones and realises the problem.

"All my magic circles... are gone."

He falls against a nearby wall and stares at his boney hands in silence.

Kieran knew what the lich was thinking. Even with the knowledge he had acquired over the past four thousand years, it would take years for him to reach the peak of his power. But that's not the biggest problem-

"My wife. I can't feel her soul anymore."

 

***

 

To say the lich went mad is the understatement of the century. With his entire purpose gone, the only thing on his mind was revenge. He furiously reached the peak of his power in a mere decade and then began destroying every sect he came across with his army of undead.

'System, why is he hunting cultivators?'

<Because they are the enemy of all mages and serve the heavens.>

'I thought cultivators defied the heavens?'

<Their defiance is also servitude.>

'Explain.'

<Mana comes from the stars and could be considered a type of radiation. It distorts reality and can mutate organisms; for example, a Lich is a magical being that can't survive without mana.>

<Qi is the planet's answer to protecting its lifeforms and ecosystems from this radiation.>

<Cultivators absorb this Qi to improve themselves; this defies heaven as they consume the world's Qi. But in return, they become the world's defenders against mages and monstrosities warped by mana.>

'What produces Qi if Mana comes from the stars?'

<Leylines.>

Kieran had to ponder for a while, but a memory from long ago surfaced, 'My lich body is within a tomb below a sect. Is that why the mana concentration was so low?'

<Correct. A leyline lies beneath the sect, and the tomb is sealed from the outside world. Therefore the stars can not replenish the lost mana.>

Kieran absorbed the information before asking a final question.

'When does this inheritance end?'

<One hour remains.>

Kieran watched as the Lich floated before hundreds of cultivators.