New Life As A Level 0 Undead Mage

Whoosh!

The wind hurled and the surrounding vegetation's leaves shuffled as Mat woke up with a start. He didn't know when exactly he'd fallen unconscious, but it was somewhere around the time he had felt various energies swirl over him. It was around then that he lost his ability to keep watching as a warmth descended upon him and put him to slumber.

Mat noticed a different in his sight, it felt more natural to him for some reason now. He could focus on things at varying distances, and ignore others to the point they blurred out of his vision. He tried to close his eyes, and he actually blinked!

A moment of darkness descended on his field of vision, and he actually found himself physically able to close some sort of lid that disabled his it, and it even happened gradually! Like a sort of curtain was descending down and filling his world with darkness.

Amazed at this sort of difference, Mat quickly shifted the sight to his own body, and found his bones now covered in flesh and pale skin! His fingers that were once a mix of yellowish-white bones were now covered with flesh and muscles that felt healthy, and coordinate! With the exception of his deathly pale skin, Mat looked as lively as an average human.

He was suddenly so excited, he twisted his naked body and pumped his fist up in the air!

Pa!

A sound whizzed past his ears as he felt the air vibrate around him from such a simple action. This was amazing! He felt a instinctive sense of coordination across his body, as if he had trained as a gymnast for years.

As a test, he felt his leg muscles, and pushed himself from the ground. In that simple action, he seemed to have underestimated strength, because he found himself over shooting about half a foot to eight centimetres above ground, only to then barely control his descent and land on two feet.

He didn't fall!

Feeling embarrassed yet pleased, corners of Mat's lips raised up in joy. He was real again! He could now go out into the secular world, enjoy various delicacies this place had to offer, experience relaxing sensations of hot and cold baths, feel his muscles loosening under the effect of an amazing massage, and even do other sorts of adult things that he had no hope for before!

Although the last part would have to wait several years, this body is barely that of an adolescent. He was too disinclined with the idea of engaging in physical and emotional interactions with anyone anytime soon, especially after experiencing something as monumental as death! Shaking his head clear, Mat finally took notice of his surroundings.

He noticed all the grass in the 5 meter distance of the magic circle's circumference dead and withered. In fact, the whole area which the inner circle covered, and a half foot into the boundary of the outer circle was cratered! It was a shallow crater, barely half a foot deep at the centre—where he lay—but it was astounding still.

Is this the effect of a high level necromantic spell?

Mat was truly impressed by the old man's knowledge and power, especially from the results it provided. He was extremely happy with the result it provided!

Taking in his surroundings, Mat finally noticed his armour and clothes. Although they were not swept away anywhere due to the spell's effects, they were definitely more scattered than before. There was even some dust covering the rags that were wrapped around the armour. Fortunately it was barely visible, and completely dry.

Walking closer to the collection, Mat opened the cloth to find it relatively clean from inside. He was leisurely looking through different pieces of the armour wrapped in the clothes when he finally noticed his bodily parts hanging free in the air…

Oh.. I'm naked.

It was only now that he actually minded his nakedness, after all, he'd been too used to walking around in free air when he had no flesh to hide. Mat felt a little rush of heat on his cheeks, and contemplated whether his face was just as pale as the rest of his body. Just then, a gust of chill wind passed by him, impregnating him with a shiver that passed through his spine and nerves. Mat controlled his body and tightened his core to dispel the distress.

Not minding it anymore, he picked up a piece of armour, and tried putting it on, only to find it discomforting…

Ugh, stupid, sensitive nerves. They actually make you feel things. Mat lampooned as he gave up wearing the armour directly on this body. He'd needlessly harm his flesh due to friction and discomfort. Instead of wearing his attire like he had previously, Mat pulled the rags from the under the pieces of armour, and wrapped his body in blanket like clothes instead. Fortunately, the cool temperature of the mountains made sure that he didn't feel any heat. There was certainly an amount of humidity, but it felt more comforting than anything. It wasn't sticky.

Covering himself in the rags, Mat carefully put the pieces of armour on his body one by one. Once he was ready, he made sure he had everything that he needed on him. He patted his body around his abdomen and thighs to feel the armour, and found it providing barely providing any discomfort.

That would have to do for now.. I will think of buying new clothes when I enter the city.

Mat walked towards the river stream, to get a feel of the water. Since the armour had no shoes, he could simply walk in barefoot. He took a step in, and a stinging cold sensation hit his lower leg, and made him shiver. It only lasted a few seconds before he felt his foot warm up by the fresh blood that now flowed through his vessels. Magic was truly something, to give him a functional and biologically real body!

Is this what the characters were trying to achieve in a certain anime about alchemy?

Mat took another step and was now fully standing in the shallow water of the river. He tried looking down at his reflection in water, but it's flow made it hard for him to make out any details.

In the blurry reflection, he could only notice what looked like a baby face crowned by short, black-looking hair, and two eyes that were too unclear to betray any more information.

Mat let out a languid sigh, as if it was taking him a lot of effort to breath out, and beckoned his body to turn left. He slowly walked to the little pond he'd made to store his fish in, and found it still floating there, now mostly rid of any blood.

He picked it up, and used his mana infused finger to cut through its abdomen. At least he still held that ability.

Then, with the expertise and experience of an old camper, Mat pulled out the fish's digestive track, and threw it on the shore. Then, he properly washed its body from inside, and walked back to where his pail had been. He had a certain idea he wanted to try out.

Dropping the fish in the utensil, Mat jogged towards the trees at the edge of the clearing, and starting picking up little twigs, dry leaves, and any dry looking piece of wood he could find. Once he's collected what he deemed to be the enough amount, he walked back to where his pail and the crater caused by the spell were. He carefully pulled out long strands of thin bark from dried tree branches, and made the lowest level of his to-be campfire. Then, he covered it up with a few twigs and dry leaves.

Mat then lit a tiny wisp of flame on his fingers, and experimented with it—moving it around his hands, throwing it from one had to the other, increasing and decreasing its intensity—all to make sure that he was still immune to his own fire magic. Happy with the positive results, he threw the little wisp in the little starter collection of fast burning fuel, and found it lighting up in a small inferno. Immediately, he surrounding the flames with larger sticks of dried wood and stoked the fire to grow.

Once he was certain that it wouldn't go out, Mat picked up the three recently alive branches he'd broken form the trees, and buried them into three holes around the fire, making a little platform he would be able to balance a flat surface over. He quickly jogged to the river with the pail, and filled it with clean water, after which he immediately came back and put in on the three sticks, right above the fire.

He was going to eat boiled fish for lunch!

With the lack ingredients, I can't really hope for a delicacy, but with how long I've spent in this world without food, my soul yearns for nutrition even if this body doesn't!

Mat was hungry! So what, if he had just gained a body? It was his responsibility to respect the old man and his spell to take good care of this body and keep it safe and healthy. He was only fulfilling his responsibility as a benefactor of that enigmatic necromancer guru!

Many minutes later, Mat saw the fish boiling in the pail whose water had vaporised by more than half. An aroma was spreading around the area, and it filled Mat's heart with insatiable gluttony! Finding himself unable to wait any longer, he quickly jogged towards the trees at the edge of the clearing, and took some fresh leaves from one of the trees he didn't know the name of, and used them to pick up his pail from the fire.

Holding the pail, he felt a heat slowly passing through the leaves to his fingers, and walked towards the river in hurried steps. He carefully put down the container on a river rock, and heaved a sigh of relief. Using the same leaves to hold the pail again, he slowly poured out the now simmering water into the river until there was barely any left.

Mat put his butt down on top of another close-by stone, and wrapped the fish in the leaves to hold it up in his right hand, while he used his other hand to wash and cool down the pail with the cold stream's water. Then, he flipped it over on the rock, and kept the hot fish right on top of it, along with the leaves.

Hehe. Mat chuckled to himself in joy and picked up a handful of water with his hands and drank it. It tasted just like water! Fresh, soothing, cold, hydrating, and lively! Truly! Water truly was life! He picked up a few more handfuls of the clean water and satiated his thirst with it.

Feeling hydrated, he then prodded to touch the fish, and found it relatively colder to touch now.

He carefully held a piece of its flesh near its abdomen, and pulled it off from the rest. It gave way with some effort, and broke free from the bones, letting out hot steam as it separated. Mat looked at the rising clouds of steam with pleasure, and took a whiff of the meat first. It smelled like fish! He tossed the piece in his mouth, and chewed it with his pristinely white, newly conjured teeth. He appreciated the taste of his food despite the lack of any condiments or spices. He liked the taste even if it had no salt. It tasted just like fish!

Yes! This is what life is about, the little joys of being alive and having a body!

Mat breathed in the fresh air of the mountains mixing with the aroma of the fish, and finished eating it in barely five minutes! He was truly gorging on an ordinary, poorly cooked, boiled cat fish like a savage who'd never tasted food in his life.

Once done eating, Mat buried the fish in the centre of his spell's crater, along with the evidence of his camp fire, and covered it all with some soil he dug using his pail and a lot of effort.

It never hurts to be cautious. Mat justified his actions, although he didn't know what he was being cautious of.

Feeling accomplished, the fish loving, mad-man-child walked off from the clearing with a bounce in his steps. He was heading towards the trail that lead to the city in the distance.