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"The undead were clustered where you mentioned, but..." Vivian paused.

"The thing is, they were digging..." Theas continued from Vivian\'s pause. They had both witnessed this, and it made no sense to either of them. In some areas, the undead had even formed caverns, the clearing of which had slowed their progress.

"Digging?"

"Yeah... we do not know why." Theas confirmed, "It is the first time I have experienced something like that. It also didn\'t look like they were commanded to dig. In fact, there were several zombies. Likely converted after dying in the forest."

\'Mmm, before I was forced to quit for a few months, we had cleared forest and destroyed the source of the original miasma. But it seems things won\'t end that simply. Kynigo has abandoned the forest since they don\'t have the time or energy... It might be best to start burning.\'

Of course, Eldrian would first confer with Pelaros before actually doing something like that. From the snippets of the lich\'s memories, Eldrian understood well that the entire aspect of undeath was far too wide a field for him to fight blindly.

Necromancy was a perverse field of magic, manipulating life and nature. To take part in this field, you need to be ready to risk your soul.

\'GAIA refused to answer, but lifeforce can be used as fuel. It is all condensed into one\'s soul, but it isn\'t all your soul. If I think of a glass, that would be your soul. A vessel that contains all you are.\'

\'Certainly, a certain amount of lifeforce is required to sustain life and the vessel. But not nearly all. I would venture 30%, perhaps even lower. However, to test that would be dangerous...\'

To put it simply, the vessel was like solidified lifeforce. Its density was far greater than what was being forced within, but to a degree, the inside can be compressed. Kind of like a spray can, inside being compressed air. Only, instead of air, it was lifeforce—or as Eldrian thought of it, the space inside his mind.

Eldrian was using this peculiarity to keep the lich\'s soul contained and condensed, separate from what he considered his true soul (the world he had created).

\'I absorbed the lich\'s soul because I knew this already, but how do I use it as fuel? Diving into necromancy might give me a route, but I don\'t think that is a smart option...\'

\'Keeping it confined is best for now. I won\'t let it mix with my natural state until I have a better grasp of things...\'

"What are your thoughts on them digging?" Eldrian asked after finishing his thoughts, Vivian and Theas having gone through their own thoughts likewise. Each trying to make sense of the undead\' actions.

Vivian hesitated. "It felt... like they were desperate."

\'Does that perhaps mean the death aura is finally weakening?\' Eldrian wondered, waiting for Theas to offer his opinion. Eldrian couldn\'t tell anything of the aura from here, at the edge of the forest.

"To me, it seemed like they were trying to find a source of nourishment. I\'d hazard a guess that where they were digging are mana veins. Normally, just the slight mana density increase would be enough to sustain them... why they would dig? I can\'t understand that part."

Eldrian\'s eyes flashed. Looking towards the roof, he saw with his mind\'s eye the magic circle on the third floor and the mana crystal filled, somewhat, with death mana.

\'Is it possible? Rather, how far does it stretch and what are the consequences?\'

"Eldrian... Explain." Vivian demanded. She knew that look and didn\'t like not being looped into what was happening.

"It\'s just a hypothesis. I\'m thinking that the experiment conducted by whatever made that death knight cause the death mana to strike deep into the ground...

"I actually don\'t think the undead were digging to survive, but rather... to grow- no, that\'s wrong. To evolve."

"Can lower undead evolve?" Theas questioned. Even with having faced thousands of undead, he had never heard of something so queer.

Lower undead were just that because there remained too little of the original to be anything but a mindless pile of bones and decomposing flesh.

"Like I said, it\'s a hypothesis. I\'m thinking that whatever happened in this forest caused even the mana veins to become corrupted..." Thinking back to how there was an entire network of death working through the trees, Eldrian felt it was likely.

Wishing to confirm this, Eldrian stood and headed outside. Unable to follow his thoughts and curious about what he was going to do, the two followed. Seeing them leave, the rest ended their conversation and followed, too.

"Right, seems I am on the right track." Eldrian nodded, and no one followed what he was getting at.

"Can you please explain?" Vivian asked.

"Sure, this is an ackley tree. I\'m not sure if you remember, but they were the original cause for the spread of the corruption through the forest. They formed a type of network and could be turned undead-

"No, it might be correct to say that the plant can survive in both living and undead conditions. Let\'s see..." Moving closer, Eldrian placed his hand on the tree and examined its structure with mageia.

\'Oh, there is indeed some corrupted mana inside it. This should prove that the mana veins are corrupted since we are at the edge of the forest but, this is more troublesome than what I expected.\'

Eldrian had truly wanted to burn the forest to both cleanse it and to remove it from being usable as a hiding place for their enemies. Sadly, he no longer felt burning it would cleanse the area.

\'It might stop or slow the spread, but if the mana veins are corrupted. I have absolutely no idea what that might mean nor what it can lead to. Will have to get Sofiera\'s opinion on this.\'

"Are you going to explain?" Vivian asked as soon as Eldrian removed his hand from the tree. Seeing her glare, he quickly relented and explained his thoughts.

"Let me get this straight. There\'s two possibilities. Either the mana vein corruption is spreading and infecting the tree, or the tree is connected with corrupted trees deeper in the forest and is corrupting the mana veins in the area?"

"Yeah, more or less. I have no idea what was the trigger nor how to stop it. But I should at least be able to keep the fort clear of any lingering effects."

The concept of keeping an area safe from alternate states wasn\'t a complicated one. Normally, to combat the state of death (aura), priests would perform rituals (complicated way to cast spells), or they would assist a formation master in creating divine arrays within the formation.

Thus, even though Eldrian said he would handle it, no one really thought much of it. Compared to everything else he had done, this seemed like a given.

"Are we finally going to get to fighting now?" Judith asked, having been bored to death with all the talk about managing the new fort, the situation of Kynigo, of the kingdom, and how to separate the forces of the guild.

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