Kai, who had nothing else to do at the moment, sat on the uncomfortable wooden stool and began thinking about what he could possibly do next.
He was no longer just Kai Gray, a nineteen-year-old teenager studying to become a teacher at a local college while working a part-time job whenever he wasn't in class.
Now, he was also Elandor Gilgrim—a millennia-old necromancer whose soul core had been on the verge of breaking apart because of a dangerous and possibly forbidden experiment.
To prevent that core from completely shattering, Elandor had attempted to fuse his soul with two others pulled from distant worlds—at least, that was the conclusion Kai had been able to draw.
He was also, somehow, a creature resembling a vampire who was stranded alone on some distant moon floating in a vast, dark, and silent space.
He did not know the identity of this third body, but he was certain that it was the strongest of the three he now possessed.
The signs were obvious—this body could survive without oxygen, without food or water, and endure complete isolation for what could have been centuries.
He didn't know how or why that body had ended up there, nor what it had once been, and the thought of entering it deeply unsettled him.
There was a terrifying sense of wrongness in that form, a fear that if he so much as jumped, he might float off into the stars forever.
For now, he chose to avoid that body, suppressing the instinct to explore it further despite the power it radiated.
Instead, he turned his attention back to what he still hoped was his original body—the one that existed on his home planet, Earth.
There, he hoped to understand if the person inhabiting it was still truly him, or if, like the necromancer, he too had stolen the body during the experiment.
The pain in his soul had subsided slightly after absorbing a great deal of mana, and with focus, he began the process of switching bodies like if they were avatars from some game.
He let go of the visions and thoughts that haunted Elandor Gilgrim and directed his consciousness back to the physical shell that waited in the cave.
The darkness returned as his awareness anchored itself once more, and he found himself standing alone above a pile of corpses inside a desolate cave.
This time, however, something had changed—his skin had returned, reformed by the magic of necromancy, recovering his vessel in this world.
He looked down at his hands, watching as they came into view through a green-tinted darkness, almost like everything was lit by eerie neon light.
The fingers were long and thin, and strangely familiar to him, unlike the alien hands of his other bodies.
He examined the rest of himself, noting that his height and frame had not changed, which gave him some small comfort.
But then, he looked down fully and realized the truth—he was completely naked.
He sighed deeply, his thoughts drifting back to the clothes, his laptop, and all the study materials he had packed into the backpack he'd been carrying before everything went blank.
Kai slowly examined the rest of his body, running his fingers over his face and through his hair, just to confirm the growing suspicion that this body—unlike the others—was truly his own.
Everything about it was familiar: the shape of his limbs, the texture of his skin, even the small scar on his shoulder he got from a fall years ago.
With a shaky breath and a hand pressed lightly against his chest he breathed in and made a long sigh. During all this he tried his best to avoid looking down at his bare form, choosing instead to scan the cavern for an exit or any clues about where he had awakened.
The area was still cloaked in eerie green light, a wide cave filled with corpses in varying states of decay, all strewn across the stone floor like discarded puppets.
But one body stood out—it was slumped in front of a large, cracked altar, and something about it radiated an important part he needed to check out.
As he got closer, Kai felt a surge of anger rise within him, convinced that this robed figure must have been responsible for all the horror surrounding him.
Without thinking, he stormed forward, grabbed the figure by the collar, and attempted to haul him up, perhaps to yell at him—or even choke the life out of him, if he still lived.
But the moment his fingers made contact, the corpse disintegrated into a cloud of thick, choking dust that clung to his throat and nostrils.
Kai staggered backward, coughing violently, waving a hand in front of his face as the ashes floated down like dead snow.
"Ugh—man... human dust. What the hell," he muttered, thoroughly disgusted as he waited for the air to clear once more.
Once the dust had finally settled, he stepped forward again and knelt by the remains, spotting a long, tattered robe—still intact and, unfortunately, the only piece of clothing he could use.
He grimaced as he picked it up, clearly reluctant to wear it, but accepted that it was better than remaining completely exposed in a corpse-filled cave.
Nearby, scattered across the base of the altar, were several gleaming jewels—some large enough to catch the faint light and glow unnaturally.
Each gem was engraved with strange runes, symbols he couldn't decipher, though the stones themselves looked like diamonds, rubies, and possibly deep blue sapphires.
Before doing anything reckless, he closed his eyes and once again concentrated, shifting consciousness back into Gilgrim's body, the one now resting in the necromancer's dark domain.
There, he turned toward Ysaria—the silent, undead elf who now followed him reluctantly—and asked the question that had been bothering him.
"Say... I just used my human body. Turns out it really is mine, same body and everything. But there's a problem—it's surrounded by corpses, and near one of them, a hooded figure, probably the necromancer."
Kai crossed his arms and glanced at her with a concerned look. "Now in front of that guy, there's a bunch of jewels. Big ones. Runes on them. Any idea why the hell he'd be sitting in front of those?"
Ysaria, who seemed to be looking at a mirror trying something quickly turned towards him with a shutter, slowly directing her new green beautiful eyes to meet his.
"Oh? So that's what you were doing," Ysaria said, her eyes narrowing slightly. "You seemed to have gone completely silent for a while, so waking up so abruptly was a little strange to witness."
She crossed her arms and tilted her head thoughtfully. "Ehem, Now, about that cave... it was probably related to the ritual—the one that failed, obviously. As for the jewels, well, they were likely catalysts. In this world, poor necromancers who can't afford proper mana stones sometimes use gems while praying, hoping a higher existence will bless them with mana."
Kai was trying very hard to focus on her explanation, but the elf—now visibly restored after absorbing mana—had taken on a striking beauty that made it difficult to keep his eyes strictly on her face while ignoring the rest of her body, he even wondered why some parts had been oddly enhanced in a few minutes.
This distraction, unfortunately, didn't go unnoticed.
"And here I thought the old Gilgrim had long since forgotten what a woman's charm could do," she said with a teasing smile. "You've at least proven it wasn't his body that was ancient, just his mind."
She winked, and Kai groaned internally, shaking his head as he tried to recover from the obvious bait.
"Yeah, yeah... very funny," he muttered. "Now, about those stones. Do you think anything bad will happen if I take them?"
He didn't want to waste time. He needed answers quickly so he could return to his body and collect them while he still had the nerve.
"No problem," Ysaria replied with a casual shrug, already drifting back into her own thoughts. "Whatever mana they were blessed with has probably long since faded. They're nothing but expensive-looking rocks now."
Without further hesitation, Kai shifted back into his first body, letting the consciousness of Gilgrim's vessel fall dormant once again.
Within seconds, he was back in the cold, dark cave. The corpses still surrounded him, unmoving.
He crouched near the altar and began collecting the scattered stones, stuffing them carefully into the folds of his borrowed robe.
As he moved, he noticed that his sense of smell had returned, and with it came the full, nauseating stench of rotting flesh and the damp cave.
He gagged slightly, pulling the robe away from his face as he realized he should have shaken it out before his senses came back online.
Grimacing, he flapped the cloak a few more times, then darted out of the ritual chamber and into the adjacent corridor, eager to leave the smell behind.
He walked carefully, doing his best not to step on anything unpleasant as the path narrowed and twisted ahead of him.
Sharp stones dug into the soles of his feet, slicing shallow wounds, but they closed quickly—his body was still healing, even without a steady flow of mana being injected.
That small miracle gave him some relief. At least he wouldn't bleed out in the dark from a stubbed toe.
Eventually, the corridor opened up and split into three distinct paths.
To the left, he saw what looked like a makeshift room filled with old cages, broken tools, and rusted chains—maybe a holding area for experiments or prisoners.
To the right, there was a cramped laboratory-like chamber cluttered with vials, strange liquids, and even more scattered jewels lying between alchemical instruments.
And straight ahead, the faintest draft suggested an exit—perhaps a way out of this cursed place.
Kai's gaming instincts kicked in, and he made a decision without much hesitation.
First, he would loot the lab for anything useful or valuable.
Then, he'd check the cage room—just in case it held something important or dangerous.
And finally, he'd get the hell out of there before anything else came back to life.