2026-08-26 22:00:28I was level three now.
Still, I wasn't going to spend my skill points just yet. Better to wait until I could talk to Vopros. And when I really thought about it, I had an incredible opportunity here. Before returning to my own world, I could learn an entire range of useful skills. Skills that might one day let me open a small furniture factory instead of spending the rest of my life cutting open corpses.
Now that was an appealing future.
I finished washing the flo
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CHAPTER 51
The Grey Lands, The Estate, June 1, 2021Vopros and I were sitting in the Master's workshop.I was busy building a device that might—if everything went according to plan—be capable of condensing necro-energy with impressive efficiency.Vopros, meanwhile, was doing what Vopros did best.Complaining.“...I still don't understand it,” he grumbled. “We're wasting our time building useless contraptions that nobody needs when we could've simply broken into the Master's vault and made a fortune.”“Please be quiet,” I said without looking up. “You're distracting me.”The cat immediately fell silent. That was one of the advantages of having a written agreement with him. We had officially entered into what the system called the Dushny-Vopros Pact.Yes, that was its actual name in our list of active agreements. While taking a break from the painstaking work, I opened the pact and read through it again.The Dushny-Vopros PactArticle 1. The High Contracting Parties undertake to inform each other
CHAPTER 50
That got me thinking.I began to suspect that the endless shitstorm that had been my life back home might have had something to do with that jet-black pendant. If I hadn’t been so sentimental about it… If I’d simply thrown the damned thing away…Maybe things would have turned out differently.Maybe someone from a decent family would have adopted me from the orphanage. Maybe I would have gone to another school. Maybe that school wouldn’t have put me on the path that eventually led me here.Who knew?Anything could have happened. That was the cruel irony of fate.You could never know how your life might have turned out if even one little event had gone differently. Then again, my life hadn’t actually been that terrible.Sure, I’d started out at rock bottom. But I’d realized that pretty damn quickly, and once I understood where I stood, I was at least prepared for fate to throw i
CHAPTER 49
Vopros was already there, calmly eating fish with the serene indifference of someone who had absolutely no reason to care about my suffering.He glanced at me.“Oh. So you didn't croak.”I didn't bother answering.I shuffled toward the serving hatch. On my second attempt, I managed to get upright. I grabbed the tray and, using every ounce of strength I had left, dragged it over to the nearest table.This time, the meat had at least been thoughtfully cut into bite-sized pieces. There was barely any wine, but I got two full glasses of water.“The water contains a solution of easily absorbed iron,” the mouth that had appeared on the tabletop announced. “And… thank you, Anatoly. You saved me.”“Yeah.” I nodded.I wasn’t particularly hungry, but in a situation like this, what I wanted and what I needed were two completely different things.Give me the meat. Give me the damn meat.I ate and drank until I couldn’t manage another bite. Unfortunately, I didn’t experience the miraculous surge
CHAPTER 48
I finished eating and drank roughly a liter and a half of water from the carafe. Fluids were important. The more I could drink, the easier I'd make things for my battered body.Once I was done in the mess hall, I headed back toward the main hall.And the vending machine.I shuffled along, conserving energy with every step, then opened the medical section of the inventory. There had to be a large first-aid kit in here somewhere.I scrolled.There! Found one.The kit was a canvas-like bag with a shoulder strap similar to the one on my backpack. Judging by its size, it should contain everything necessary for emergency medical treatment.The moment I confirmed the purchase, the first-aid kit dropped into the dispensing slot with a clatter of glass and metal. I grabbed it and dragged it out into the light.I should have thought of this sooner. Unfortunately, losing that much blood had done a number on my mental faculties. In fact, the system had helpfully documented the problem for me.My
CHAPTER 47
Magic had halted the aging process.And with the restoration of youth came an unexpected price. The body remained young. So did the mind.A person could continue learning. They could acquire knowledge, develop skills, and accumulate experience. But something fundamental had changed. They could no longer truly transform.While millions of ordinary people were born, lived, and died around them, the eternal emperor, the eternal governors, and the eternal generals remained. Like marble statues. Living monuments to eras that had vanished centuries ago.A vast crowd had gathered in the Forum. Yet, contrary to what Belisarius had expected, no one spoke. The silence was almost oppressive. Even the gulls circling above the harbor seemed to have gone quiet.The Basileus sat upon his portable throne, his cold, piercing gaze fixed on Belisarius as though he intended to burn straight through him.Belisarius barely reacted. He had grown accustomed to that look. Nearly a thousand years of service to
CHAPTER 46
By imperial decree, squads of plague survivors were assembled throughout the empire. They were paid in gold to clear bodies from streets, houses, rivers, and canals.Three months of relentless work transformed the cities. The stench gradually disappeared. The streets were cleared. The waterways no longer carried corpses downstream. And, fortunately, the rifts were everywhere. Almost every settlement with a population of five hundred or more had one nearby.Justinian had always suspected that the foul air rising from the dead was responsible for spreading the disease among the living. So he wasn't surprised when the plague began to retreat after the corpses were removed. The rifts had saved the empire.For more than nine hundred years, the dead had been disposed of through them. It was safer that way. Cleaner, too. And unlike traditional burial grounds, rifts didn't require precious land. These days, a simple memorial plaque in the necropolis was usually enough.Practical. Efficient. E
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