How to Conquer Death?

With the fear his near death experience carved into in, not just near death but near existential termination, even though Nox could not yet do anything strenuous, he closed his eyes and while the girls though he needed rest, which was true, inside his mind, Nox was already scheming.

In order to devise a way to avoid and/or conquer a similar situation to the one he faced, Nox first analyzed the events that occurred in order to figure out precisely what had made it damning.

After some deep reflection, the reason was clear, the stakes.

Not only was retreat impossible due to his rearguard duty that only he could accomplish, as losing meant termination, Nox could simply not afford to hold back to the point of overdrawing on his body and soul.

But what if his life was not only the line?

If that was the case, Nox would simply endeavour to hold the Demi Spirit back long enough for his comrades to escape without overexerting himself even if it pushed him towards certain defeat as after all, that defeat would not spell his end.

There were two solutions to the problem. Either become strong enough to overwhelm any future opponent.

This was infeasible due to a lack of time and knowledge but there was also another path, removing the cost of death from the equation, or at least diminish it enough that it stopped mattering.

The true question though, was how. Nox had already made himself very very hard to kill due to his extreme regenerative powers but that would only help him against a foe he could feasibly beat.

Against something or someone far superior to himself, it would at most make him a more lasting punching bag, so how to fix this?

Much on Nox's inspiration for his miracle items and magic came from the various forms of media that he had consumed in his previous life and even from mythological tales that he had read.

Among all of this treasure trove of information, there was a particular method that might be achievable with enough research on the topic. His current knowledge of the soul lent much credibility to the idea as well.

Not only that, as Nox was planning on taking a break from Dungeoneering for a while, even after his recovery, he would most certainly have the time for some more esoteric research.

Unfortunately, there were also moral connotations and he doubted the gods would appreciate further infraction upon their domain. Fortunately however, Nox cared very little for both of these things.

As for the solution he arrived too . . . It was Lichdom.

A most heinous ritual and one that required much experimentation before he felt confident in pulling it off.

Fels' existence as a walking skeleton gave Nox hope of success but he felt the feasibility of Necromancy and true undead rather than just undead looking monsters still needed to be thoroughly investigated.

After using his enhanced mental faculties to parse through his memories, Nox found the few common points among rituals of Lichdom and how they usually went.

First, an appropriate container for the Soul, had to be acquired. Nox couldn't imagine anything worthier than the Philosopher's stone itself which he already possessed.

Then there was the the ritual magic to unbind his soul from his body and then bind it to the phylactery.

Finally, there was the ritualistic form of death, usually by the imbibing of a special concoction that was necessary to fully sever the connection one's soul had to their physical body, after the the unbinding was successful in order to allow for its binding to another vessel.

Although it seemed deceptively simple, each of the steps was not only extremely hard to achieve, any sort of mistake no matter how small could irreversibly damage his soul or even outright annihilate his existence.

Still, as Nox floated in his Panacea Tank, he grew more and more interested in the profane path that came up during his thought process.

It was no longer just about the most efficient solution, the topic of the ritual itself and the possibilities it presented were far too appealing to a madman like Nox.

As he thought about all of his future plans and research, Nox truly fell into a deep recuperative sleep he so desperately needed.

Meanwhile, as Nox sleeped with dreams of future achievements, amongst which was the conquering of death itself, all the girls stared at Ais like she was the elephant in the room.

They were fairly positive she wasn't under contract and thus, one of them. This was due to the fact Nox always made an announcement when he chose to welcome someone into the fold.

Even if they knew her induction was a done deal that was probably not yet carried out due to Nox's condition, they still burned with jealousy at the special privilege of being privy to so many secrets despite not yet being bound.

The contract was not just a safety net for Nox after all. For the girls, it became the symbol of their sisterhood and they refused to acknowledge someone who had yet to "sign" it.

Some showed it more than others however. Haruhime was just feeling slightly miffed while Ryuu was feeling just a little pang of jealousy.

Lili was the one glaring resentful while Naaza looked like a kicked puppy cutely glaring at hte culprit.

As for Aisha, she was just enjoying the show.

Ais, despite her major case or airheadedness, was quite sensitive to hostile intent so she quickly figured out she wasn't being welcomed.

Confused and jittery about this affecting her relationship with Nox, Ais turned towards Riveria for clarification, something which she had gotten used to doing since childhood.

*sigh*

Riveria sighed. Despite being one of the more recent members, her high level as an adventurer, seniority and experience made the girls see her as some sort of guiding figure so she was well respected in the sisterhood.

This also had a ot to do how she was one of the few that could scold Nox without feeling anything wrong. Even Nox himself sheepishly accepted the colding or sealed her lips with kisses when he could take no more.

Seeing her little Ais' confusion, Riveria sagely turned to her and offered her wisdom.

"Don't worry Ais. Their just being jealous do to the special treatment Nox gave you." Riveria said with zero hesitation, exposing her sisters of blushed with embarrassment as they resentfully looked at her.

Knowing it wasn't serious however, Riveria just adopted a "So what?" attitude that deflated the jealous girls.

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P.a.t.r.e.o.n is officially up!

The link is: https://www.p.a.t.r.e.o.n.com/lusoba  without the extra dots of course.

You'll get to read up to FOUR weeks ahead, a full month, but I'll still post here.

There's also my other novels Kage of Kages and FATE of DxD, do check them out!

I would greatly appreciate any support since this is going to be my breadwinner.