Reborn with a Necromancer System - Chapter 119

Chapter 119: The Soul Forge – Part 1
Naia didn’t press him for answers. She sat quietly on the bench beside the training field, knees pulled up, eyes still red from crying. She simply asked the essentials:

“Can I help?” she said first, voice steady, despite everything.

“Is Willam already involved?”

“And what are your next steps?”

Kai told her the truth, or as much of it as he could safely share. That he was gathering allies. That the Devourer shouldn’t be unbeatable, but any mistake could be fatal.

When he warned her it would be dangerous, and that she could be targeted simply for knowing him, she didn’t even flinch.

“If you need me,” she said resolutely, “I’ll withdraw from my studies immediately.”

Kai shook his head, placing a hand lightly on her shoulder to ease her determination.

“Don’t be so impulsive. Stay,” he said. “You’re safer here for now. And you’re learning too much to throw it away. I’ll call you when the time’s right.”

He couldn’t count on her being as obedient as Kleo, but he hoped whatever she felt for him would keep her in line.

She didn’t look happy, but she nodded all the same.

They sat together for a moment longer, the spring breeze carrying the scent of the flowering courtyard. Kai hesitated before speaking again.

“I signed up with the League of Adventurers,” he said. “Taking contracts. Small stuff, for now. Enough to build a reputation, get the right people to notice me.”

“And then?” she pressed.

“If things go right,” he said, “maybe a tutoring job at the palace.”

The thought felt bitter on his tongue. It wasn’t really tutoring he was after, it was access. Access to Firra.

Naia stared at him for a long moment, brows knitting together. Then she said something he hadn’t expected.

“You don’t have to go through all that. My bloodline… it’s noble enough. I could probably get you a place there. A recommendation, at least.”

Kai blinked.

“If anything goes wrong,” she continued, cheeks colouring slightly, “we could flee. Or I could claim ignorance. They wouldn’t blame me… not too much.”

‘Running off with a noble’s daughter after being accused of killing a princess… That’s too much.’

He nearly laughed at the casual way she said it, as if abandoning her entire life would be no more inconvenient than changing shoes.

“Naia,” he said gently, “I don’t want to drag you into this mess more than I already have. But… I’ll keep it in mind.”

She smiled sadly, wiping at her face again.

“Just promise me you’ll stay alive.”

Kai promised.

But they both knew promises meant very little in this world.

—

Even with fewer souls at his immediate command, Kai knew time wasn’t on his side. If the Soul Forge really existed beneath the Academy, he had to find it.

It felt like now would be the only time to do so.

He moved like a shadow through the familiar halls, slipping down every stairwell he could find. Some led to old storage rooms filled with broken desks and arcane junk. Others took him past offices where lecturers poured over crumbling tomes.

Finally, he found something unusual.

Tucked into a forgotten corridor, nearly swallowed by the stonework itself, was a small alcove etched with worn sigils. Almost invisible.

Kai stepped closer, pressing his palm against the faded markings and flooding them with mana.

[Forebearer’s Language: 47% translated]

The alcove shimmered to life, runes sparking greenish-blue, and the air grew suddenly heavier.

Kai drew a slow breath, heart pounding, and stepped inside. Two careful strides.

The wall spun around him without a sound. When it stopped, he found himself facing a narrow stairwell hewn from black stone. Blue flames flickered in ancient torches, casting the passageway in eerie, shifting light.

He moved cautiously, feeling the ancientness of the place sink into his bones with every step.

At the bottom of the stairwell, tucked neatly against the wall, sat a small wicker basket.

Familiar shapes.

Inside it, half-buried under a thin layer of dust, were two objects he hadn’t thought he’d see again:

The Dampening Gloves, their runes still stitched into the fabric, and the Mirage’s Veil, his magical amulet, humming faintly as if it recognised him.

Slipping the gloves onto his hands, he immediately felt the faint hum of suppressed magic. He draped the Mirage’s Veil over himself, letting the artifact drink in his mana. His appearance blurred, then sharpened again, assuming the face of “Luke,” a careful blend of harmless features.

He thought about it, and it closely resembled his appearance from his previous life.

Kai grinned beneath the illusion.

‘Welcome back, old friends.’

Kai’s stomach twisted at the thought. Whether it was arrogance, oversight, or part of some greater plan, it didn’t matter. He was here now.

With his disguise firmly in place, he prowled deeper into the halls.

And that’s when he felt it.

A low, thrumming pressure. Not sound, but presence. Souls. Hundreds of them. Faint but undeniable, tucked away into the objects that lined the walls like trophies gathering dust. Some pulsed weakly; others were nearly dormant.

He quickened his pace, careful to remain unseen.

The corridor opened into a vast chamber.

There, in the centre, it loomed.

The Soul Forge.

It looked almost alive.

It felt… expectant. Like it had been waiting for a necromancer to grace its chamber.

Kai paused, frowning.

The Devourer, the Headmaster, must have known about the path. They stole his belongings weeks ago. They must have been here since.

And yet they had left the Forge untouched. Or seemingly so.

‘Why?’

A massive stone basin, the width of a small pond, carved with ancient, labyrinthine runes that glowed faintly under the torchlight. Green mist churned endlessly within it, not quite liquid or vapor, swirling in patterns that tugged at the edges of Kai’s mind.

Faces flickered in the mist. Hands reached out. Wings unfurled, only to vanish in an instant.

Subtle ridges divided the basin into several sections, and in each one the mist moved uniquely, reflecting a different feeling, of sorrow, rage, ecstasy, despair.

As he looked at it, a familiar sensation crept into his mind.

[Forebearer’s Language: 51% translated]

‘Orlin said the necromancers built the citadel, but was there something here before that? This is forebearer magical technology. Maybe that redacted name for my ranking up, Orlin’s master. Maybe they were a forebearer?’

Standing near it, Kai felt thoughts that weren’t his own brush against his mind. Fragmented memories. Echoes of lives long ended. They whispered to him in languages he didn’t understand.

He swallowed hard.

‘No instructions? Figures.’

He stepped closer, watching the mist ripple at his approach.

‘Test it,’ he thought. ‘Slowly.’

He reached into his soul vault, pulling out a Nameless Guard’s soul, the lingering remnant of someone he’d killed. He extended it toward the Forge.

The mist reached back.

“Let’s begin.”