A Zombie's Path to Power

Colwyn was often bored, and as anyone who has ever spoken to him on more than two occasions can tell you, this was very bad.

It was so bad in fact, that the templars selected Lyra to be his squire in an attempt to balance him out, after all she had been raised and fed Sunchaser propaganda since she could crawl.

The old templars thought that having a squire with such a righteous personality would keep him in check, with the added benefit of keeping tabs on him of course. Unfortunately for the higher ups, Lyra was unable to keep Colwyn's various whims in check.

But still, even for the notorious drake knight, recruiting an undead into the sun chasers was insane and down right heresy...

For context the undead race is a rather rare kind of monster in which, like humans, can continuously grow stronger without any sort of limits. Unlike humans, however, the undead lacked empathy morals and had the added bonus of hungering for other creatures life force...

Colwyn wasn't worried though. Even if they caught him, the drake knight was too valuable of a resource to punish. He was already strong enough to match a Templar and his raw talent contended with some of the paladins... The only thing holding him back from a promotion was his reckless personality.

And yet, The knight still found himself dumbfounded at the level of talent from zombie he was supposedly training... Colwyn had set Azel an impossible task, to manipulate mana like this was something that most squires would struggle to do.

And yet the Zombie, which had less that three days of experience mind you, had seemingly done it. It was something from a fairy tale.

If Azel successfully had escaped and hid his nature for long enough Colwyn was sure he would have become a famous monster in the future. In fact, Azel's talent may surpass his own and even some of the nig names back in the Enclave.

But the drake knight wouldn't let it show, he had already invested too much time into his identity as the laid-back, capable master. It would be to embarrassing to openly reveal his amazement, acting nonchalant and mysterious was no doubt the best route.

<---o--->

Azel only noticed Colwyn's presence after the knight was just a few steps away from him, the undead had immersed himself into perfecting his mana control.

Over the course of the night, Azel thought he had gotten pretty good at the mana control. The initial problem was by dropping his mana output his body was using less energy and was therefore weaker.

But that problem was quickly solved when Azel learnt to condense his internal mana. That was it seemed like less mana was being released but practically the same amount of was actually being pushed out.

The only problem was concentration, when Azel was focusing it was easy to compress and release, but in any other situation he struggled to do this tactic.

"Not bad, Azel," Said Colwyn, "Not bad at all, you're pretty quick when it comes to this kind of thing..."

Azel paused for a moment, all he felt towards the knight and squire duo was animosity but it was probably best if he played the nervous "lost soul" character for now.

Azel scratched the back of his head faking embarrassment, and then responded in his best sheepish voice, "Thanks, but I don't think I'm anything special, I bet you guys picked this up way quicker than I did,"

If he didn't know any better, Azel would of assumed that Colwyn's shoulders drooped for a moment, and then quickly returned to how they were.

"...Right, but you shouldn't compare yourself to me. Just be a better man than you were yesterday," Affirmed Colwyn, His back straightening as he dropped a rather weak quote.

Azel decided Colwyn was joking because no self-respecting individual could say such a cheesy line and not be at least a tiny bit embarrassed.

"Thanks, I guess, when are you guys going hunting though?" Said Azel, eager to change the conversation away from more quotes.

"We aren't going anywhere. You however, my dear student, will be," explained Colwyn, matter of factly. "There's a whole field of these little buggers just a minutes from here... You might not believe me but its an extension of his training,"

Azel blinked, processing this new challenge. "You want me to to hunt for you? With what, my hands?"

"Now you're getting it! Don't take too long, Lyra gets angry when she's hungry..." Said Colwyn whilst doing a very good job remaining oblivious to Azel's sarcasm.

"..." Azel didn't even know how to respond to the strange, helmed knight.

<---o--->

As Azel trudged off toward the field, he couldn't help but feel a mixture of annoyance and determination. Catching a rabbit? That was something he would have considered a mundane task before becoming undead. Now, with his altered abilities, he had to approach it as both a challenge and a test.

Reaching the edge of the field, Azal paused, trying to sense the presence of any nearby rabbits. He focused on the mana around him, watching the flow of it silently, as it warped around the natural world the mysterious energy helped show the presence of other creatures.

After a few moments, he spotted movement in the grass—a rabbit, nibbling on some clover.

Usually Azel would remain calm and peaceful like a snake ready to strike, but this time he had to stop himself from gasping. Because, well, the rabbit had a horn jutting out the centre of its forehead. And even weirder, seemingly a result of the mana training, Azel saw mana swirling around the horn?

Azal crouched, his eyes narrowing as he observed the creature. The swirling mana suggested the horn had some kind of magical property. He would need to be careful. This was no ordinary rabbit. He slowly moved closer, trying to stay downwind and keep his movements as quiet as possible.

As he approached, the horned rabbit's ears twitched, and it looked up, its eyes glowing faintly. Azal froze, holding his breath. The rabbit sniffed the air, then went back to nibbling the clover. Azal resumed his slow, deliberate movements, inching closer until he was within striking distance.

He reached out, his hand glowing slightly as he channelled a bit of mana to enhance his speed. But then, despite the rabbit facing completely away from Azal, it bounded off as great speeds.

It didn't take a genius to figure it out, the rabbit reacted to Azal using mana as an enhancement, its horn was acting as an antenna for magic.

So that's what Colwyn meant... he had to effectively hide his mana through compression and boost his physicals with it if he wanted to catch the rabbit. Definitely an upgrade from just pure meditation.

<---o--->

"That was stupid." Said Lyra, rather curtly, although Colwyn had gotten used to her blunt personality he still found his apprentice a bit rude.

He smiled behind his helmet. looks like the templars had made the wrong decision, he ended up being the one influencing her personality, not the other way around.

"He's pretty talented you know, I bet he'll have it figured out before lunch," Responded Colwyn.

"You and I both know you need far more than just talent to make it in this world, especially if he wants to be strong enough to sway decisions..." Argued Lyra, her gaze hardening, Colwyn frowned a little in response.

This wasn't because he was threatened or worried of course, but he was just reminded of a certain Templar who often held a similar expression. Colwyn had forgotten how much of an influence templar Rio had on Lyra, and also how bothersome it would soon become.

Technically she was right, there's no point having talent if you haven't got the resources to exploit it or the knowledge to apply it, but Azal had something else... Colwyn didn't know what but the zombie had a peculiar aura to him.

"He has a fire, a drive. I can see it," Colwyn said, his tone more serious. "That's something you can't teach."

Lyra rolled her eyes and turned her face upwards to the sky. "Well, let's hope that fire catches a rabbit. I'm starving."

<---o--->

Back in the field, Azal refocused his efforts. He had to catch the rabbit without using detectable mana. He took a deep breath, compressing his mana tightly within him, feeling it coil like a spring ready to release. Moving slowly, he approached the rabbit again, this time with a clearer strategy.

As he neared the rabbit, Azal didn't enhance his speed with mana. Instead, he focused on hiding himself, not just his presence but his impact on the physical world too. When he was close enough, he lunged quickly and silently, his hand snapping out to grab the rabbit before it could react.

He held the horned rabbit up triumphantly. "Got you this time," he whispered, a grin spreading across his face.