The morning felt heavier than usual. Not just because my spatial ring—now laden with every component for the Lich ritual—pulled at my consciousness, reminding me of the monumental task ahead. No, the real weight sat coiled in my chest, a knot of tension that refused to unravel. Today, I would attempt something colossal, something that even Ascendant-rank necromancers would hesitate to try. And as prepared as I was, as meticulously as I'd planned, the enormity of my ambition pressed down on me like an immovable stone.
I realized, with a pang of uncertainty, that I needed more than just confidence or resolve before I entered Professor Gravemore's lab. I needed the voices of the people who mattered most, the voices that could steady my feet on this precarious path.
