CH598

“Why are we trying this again Ben?” Thera sighed. “You do remember how well this turned out last time, right?”

“I mean, yeah, but practice makes perfect. It will be good for your training and just as importantly, handy to me if you succeed.”

“And what exactly am I doing here?” Ceselee asked, the guild master having been invited over to Sonya’s home after she was done with her work for the day and was left standing in the backyard, staring at the two, along with the sack of loose meat that was sitting between them.

“Acting as a witness. If anyone happens to come back here and see a dead body, it would be nice to have someone with some authority around to explain that everything’s actually fine.”

“…I need significantly more explanation than that.”

“It’s nothing crazy,” He explained. “Thera needs some slightly broader practice with her life magic and I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on a few more clones to work through, with the answer to both of those things ending with homunculus creation. It’s just if it doesn’t work out, it can look a little suspect.”

“And I’d like to remind you that I had no luck at all last time, Ben.”

“Sure, but you’ve leveled your magic since then and have read up a ton on the topic too. You can’t only focus on the healing aspects of your power Thera, gotta branch out a bit where you can.”

“That would be a bit more believable if you so blatantly didn’t want more hands to use.”

“That’s just a side benefit,” He told her with a wink. “Now come on, it will be great.”

He waggled the handle of a knife at her which she eventually gave in and took before dragging it across his palm.

“Just no complaining about however much you get cut or stabbed, you hear me?”

“Loud and clear ma’am. No worries, I’ll be nothing but grateful no matter how it turns out.”

He felt his blood start to condense and move in his palm under her power, eventually falling from his hand to the meat below as it began to incorporate it and grow before all of their eyes, not just eating what was there but moving on to devour the surrounding dirt and grass, taking it all in as it consumed the yard.

“I’ll ask Sachel to come help fix this later,” Ben muttered, getting no reactions. Thera was too focused on her spell while Ceselee was looking at it happen in disgust, yet unable to pull her eyes away as it grew, taking a form that was undeniably Ben before it all went wrong.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Near the very end of its feeding frenzy, the body that had been produced could no longer support itself, the bit of life it had slipping away and leaving them with a nearly fully-formed corpse.