Thankfully Daniel knows where Stella is at, a compound near the center of the city that is a hospital and learning institution all in one. Apparently she has been studying under some doctor or something there.
We end up getting to the place after about an hour of walking. It’s a big walled compound with a bunch of buildings inside, mostly made out of stone, but with a few small wooden buildings too. We walk up to the biggest building, placed right in the middle of the compound, with a sign reading "Barad Medical Facility."
Inside we spot a receptionist at the front desk talking to a few people. Another free receptionist waves us over.
“What can I help you with?” He asks.
“We need to see Stella.” Daniel turns to me. “Do you know her last name?”
“No, but how many initiates here can be named Stella? Tell her that some of her friends are looking for her. Ray and Daniel.” I respond.
“You’re friends with that psycho healer girl? I’ll have someone let her know you’re here to see her.” He says with a polite smile and waves us toward the seating area.
It takes about thirty minutes for Stella to come down and see us, and when she does, she runs over and gives us hugs. “It’s so good to see some people from Earth who aren’t depressed and suicidal. How have you guys been? You look… strong.”
Stella looks fantastic, far better than when we last saw her. She actually looks happy and excited to see us. Maybe getting her help won’t be so hard after all. I [Inspect] her to see her progress so far.
[Level 27 Combat Healer]
“We’ve been surviving, leveling up, and getting used to everything.” Daniel responds. “I see that you’re not just a doctor and haven’t been skimping on leveling up either.”
“Yeah, I’ve been running local dungeons with a few teams who need a healer on my off days. I was actually going to run one later today if you guys want to join. I’m sure the three of us could do it, no issue.” She answers in a completely serious tone.
“Actually, we kind of have a favor to ask.” I say.
“What is it?”
I explain the whole situation with Clark and Duncan to her, and she looks like she’s going to cry when I get to how Duncan is doing. She immediately agrees to help us and wants to leave to see Duncan right away.
We don’t even bother with walking back. I just open a few portals to get us there quicker, getting many different looks from the locals, mostly surprise. It’s really starting to hit me that an unaffiliated space mage might be a rare sight around here. We end up at the Necromancers Guild just a few minutes after leaving the hospital.
After walking in and asking for Mordak, he quickly appears and leads us to the workshop Duncan is set up in. Apparently Mordak and Duncan really hit it off, and he’s letting him use his personal workshop for this project. I thought that a necromancer would be much more dark and brooding, but Mordak is a pretty cool guy so far.
Walking into the workshop, I see Clark’s body lying on a table in the middle of the room, and he does not look good, obviously. The right side of his body has been crushed pretty badly, and his right leg is missing below the knee. His skin is pale, clearly from blood loss, but he has a peaceful expression on his face, like he died happy. I feel a lump start to form in my throat and tears threatening to emerge in my eyes at the sight of my dead friend but manage to push it back for now.
Duncan is waiting for us as we enter, hunched over the body of his brother, gently cleaning it with a wet rag. Stella rushes forward, wrapping Duncan in a big hug. He seems surprised by this but doesn’t resist her. After a few seconds she pulls away, tears in her eyes for some reason as she consoles him about everything he’s been through. I see some of the tension leave Duncan, but as soon as he glances back over at his brother, a slight manic glint appears in his eye.
After the brief reunion I introduce Mordak to Daniel and Stella, and then we sit down at a table in an adjacent room to discuss how exactly we go about this. Duncan leads the conversation, as he apparently already knows what to do thanks to his patron, Zu’El.
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“The plan as a whole is pretty simple and should take us less than a week with everyone’s help. The first thing we need to do is repair Clark’s body as best as we can and then get it ready to house his soul again. He’ll need a few implants to properly hold his soul in place and a few more to properly produce mana again. After that it's just a ritual to transfer his soul back, hopefully intact and undamaged.” He says this last part with a bit of worry and concern on his face.
“What else can we do?” Daniel asks, getting a confused look from Duncan. “I mean, if we’re already putting implants in him, why not do a few more and give him a little extra?”
Mordak speaks up at the mention of this. “It’s a common enough thing to do to one’s undead, but usually undead are more akin to an enchanted item than what we’re attempting here. I’ve never met someone with soul magic strong enough to actually transfer a person's soul, let alone store one for prolonged periods of time, so all of this is pretty new to me. From what little I’ve managed to dig up from the guild’s library, however, properly integrated implants seem to become one with the body upon the creation of a “sentient undead.” That comes from an old research journal, so take it with a grain of salt.”
“So a few good ones, not a bunch of half-assed ones?” Daniel asks.
“Precisely.” Mordak responds.
After a bit more discussion, we come up with a plan on what we’re all working on. Mordak and Stella will work on repairing Clark’s bones and flesh, respectively, fixing what they can. Daniel and I are on enchanting duty, with him doing all the metal parts while I do the crystal work. Duncan will draw out the schematics for us. Where he will get them from, I have no idea, but he seems confident, so I have faith.
After another hour of various tests on Clark’s body thanks to the medical tools and equipment we looted, we are finally ready to actually begin work. The first thing Daniel and I start to work on is the mana circulation system, which will end up being a pretty extensive series of wires and crystals running all throughout his body almost like a second nervous system, but for mana. Daniel works on turning some kind of mana-conductive metal, [Inspect] reveals it as [Mana Enriched Gold], into very thin wires, nearing the thinness of hair. I start my work of enchanting the several dozen small red crystals and the few bigger orange and yellow ones. Most of the crystals will just be mana batteries, used to store up extra mana because apparently his heart will be fairly weak at first, and the extra mana capacity should help with that.
We work for a few hours, Daniel and I making small talk while we work at a table in an adjacent room to where the others are. As we continue working on the implants, Daniel asks me a question I’ve been wondering the answer to as well.
“Do you think you can implant these into a living person?”
“I have no idea, but I’ve been considering something similar. The internal construct I made, the [Mana Concentration and Circulation System], has been working pretty well for me, and I might do more.” I respond, not stopping my work.
“Crazy bastard. Barely a month here and you’re already considering a second body modification.” He retorts lightly.
“Eh, it’s do or die here, and I know that you have something cooking up. I’ll help if you need it.”
“I don’t think it’s anything you could really help out with, but I’ll let you know if it is. For the most part my idea is to implant some wires, thicker than these, under my skin and create some kind of mesh that I can use [Metal Manipulation] to interact with.”
I put the crystal I’m working on down and think about what he just said for a second. A mesh like that, one made from the mana-conductive metal that we’ve been using, could prove highly useful, albeit extremely painful. The metal is much more conductive, allowing mana to be moved faster, and with his skill he would be able to get an even greater degree of usefulness out of it, turning it into a layer of hidden armor that he could repair internally.
“We have to do some testing with that idea. You could be onto something. It could be like better chainmail or something more flexible. Do you think a mesh like that could resist cutting?” I respond.
“I think so. At least if I pump it with mana and use my skills to make it more resistant. I’m getting better with [Infusion], but I still can’t seem to find that last thing I need to create any kind of mana-enriched metal. I can get it close to stable for a while, but the mana always leaks out.” He says while idly creating another hair-thin wire.
“Have you considered going to one of the guilds? I’d bet there’s at least one that has the secrets of magic metal.”
“Hmm, that might be a good idea. This is the only guild I've been to.” His lips turn to a slight grin. “Didn’t we wake up on top of some kind of space guild?”
I rub my temple at the thought of last night. “Yeah, we did. The Spacers Guild. I should check them out at some point, but they seem a bit disappointing from what I’ve heard.”
“Oh? How so?”
“I’ve only heard this from one source, so I’m withholding judgement until I see for myself, but it seems like they don’t really fight, like at all. All of their guildhalls are basically transportation hubs that connect to each other and form a massive magical highway. It’s impressive, and I’m sure they have a ton of knowledge that’s useful to me, but I don’t think joining them will help me long-term. Especially when I think about returning to Earth.”
Daniel takes a second to think before he responds. “I think for most people I would tell them to do what they want, and that Earth could use a spatial mage like you, combat focused or not, but I know you wouldn’t care. You’re a fighter, and Earth is going to need a lot of those now. It would be a shame to see you stuck in a building as some kind of glorified taxi.”
I nod my head and pick the crystal I was working on back up and start carving out more channels. Another few hours pass, Daniel and I working on our respective tasks while bouncing ideas off of each other. Eventually, Mordak interrupts us, bringing in a tray of food and drinks.
He walks over to the pile of finished wire and fully enchanted crystals, examining them with a gentle touch. “This is good work, especially this wire. Most would need a machine to draw it so thin and so fast, too. Truly impressive.”
“How’s Clark’s body coming along?” I ask.
“It’s a slow process, but Stella is a quick learner, and her skills seem to work on the dead as well as they do the living.”
“Is necromancy not illegal here?” Daniel blurts out, apparently not able to hold his curiosity for a better time.
Mordak chuckles before answering. “No, necromancy is a magic just like any other, though some do hold their prejudices. Unlike Duncan in there, no necromancer has been able to use soul magic in a few centuries, so the argument of it being like slavery eventually fell on deaf ears. And for sourcing the bodies we use, we just buy them. Any Necromancers Guildhall will buy pretty much any body that can be confirmed to not have been murdered and is in good enough condition.”
“How do you guys make money?” I ask, trying to get info out of Mordak since he’s in a telling mood.
“Mostly by selling undead guards. Many houses use them as twenty-four-hour surveillance on their properties. We also do plenty of other work.” He says, pointing to my missing lower left arm and hand. “We make some of the finest, most capable prosthetics.”
Now this piques my interest. My mana arm really doesn’t cut it. It takes too much effort to really be useful. “Would you happen to have any left hands?”
Mordak gestures to the tray he brought in. “Let’s eat first, then we’ll talk business.”