The Collector weighed the elite specimen Goromir's suggestion. Notably, the elite only said it had 'hope' that the Amoraks would aid the Collector, thus it was not an assured guarantee. Yet, the Collector could certainly make it closer to a guarantee.
By reviving the Amoraks, the Collector had their lives in its hand. The Breath of Life functioned by growing regenerative ice crystals from the Collector into specimen, and these crystals formed new body parts and internal functions to sustain the revived specimen.
Which meant that at any given time, the Collector could simply recall the ice crystals into itself or cease to fuel them, causing them to melt and consequently return the Amoraks into true expiration.
The actual cost of the Breath of Life was quite high, approximately twenty percent of the Collector's total mana reserves, but its mana regeneration was such that with pores open for efficient mana gathering, it could regenerate that amount in twenty minutes.
"So be it," said the Collector. The rewards were variable, but the risks for reviving the Amorak were on the lower end.
The Collector used Sapia to bring forth the two snow mounds of crushed Amorak corpses it had created. Each mound was easily the size of a large boulder, but the Collector's Sapia easily levitated them before it. Then, the Collector engaged its Jotnar core, channeling the emotion of Mercy through itself.
Mercy to allow beings to live up to their potential. Their potential to serve and aid the Collector.
The dark blue spiral patterns around the Collector's chest started to glow. Pure blue magical energy swirled around the Collector in shimmering, spiral waves that looked like the currents of flowing water. A marked contrast to the raging, fire like blaze of chaos type mana.
Unity mana was more controlled. More stable. More attuned in balanced flow.
The Collector casted its Breath of Life, opening up its true stomach maw. Its chest split down from the middle, and the flesh and carapace parted to the sides like curtains, revealing a series of rotating sets of teeth and fleshy gums.
From this hideous space in its stomach, the Collector exhaled deeply, loosing a bright white, glinting mist that washed over the two balls of snow. The cloud of white was full of brilliantly glimmering sparks – the shine of ice crystals ready to nourish life.
As the Breath of Life infused into the balls of compacted snow, the Collector used Sapia to shatter them, baring the thirty Amorak specimen trapped within. They were just a mangled pile of half grown limbs, bones, and organs, but as they regenerated, they restored themselves not with the inexplicable restoration of Undeath, but the visible buildup of Breath of Life ice crystals.
The ice crystals formed around the chunks of flesh, bone, and viscera, turning them blue and white as the crystals gathered around each and built upwards, creating new veins, new blood vessels, new muscle fibers, new organs, new hearts, and soon enough, entirely new specimens.
Within a minute, the Amorak had been resurrected.
All thirty of them. Their fur was snow white instead of grey, with the larger specimens having manes of icy, crystalline white. Their once feral, gleaming yellow eyes were now a dark blue. The same color palette as that which the revived goblins possessed.
The Amorak specimen stumbled forwards, many of them collapsing on their knees or struggling to stand for they were unused to their bodies, but they adjusted to their forms far faster than the goblins had done the first time they were brought back.
It was to be predicted. The Amorak, at their base level, were vastly physically superior to the goblins. Thus, they were quicker to adjust to their new bodies.
Most importantly, the Amorak did not exhibit any signs of lost mental faculties inherent to the pathogen known as 'Undeath'.
The Collector spoke to the Amorak, for the shard upon its head allowed it to directly communicate with specimen that possessed higher levels of primal density. Approximately any specimen with primal density above the 30% threshold.
"I have cured you of this 'Undead' pathogen and know that the continuation of your lives are sustained entirely by me. With a single moment, I may undo the formations of life giving ice crystals continuing your existences," said the Collector.
All of the Amoraks in unison went down low, on all their fours, and put their snouts to the snow and their tails down in sign of deference to the Collector.
One of the larger, ice maned Amorak spoke.
"We know," said the Amorak. "When we were caught in the curse, we could still see. We could still feel. But…we just could not control ourselves. Caught in an endless nightmare. There was only darkness and pain and suffering.
Thank you, Sharded One, thank you for freeing us."
"It has been known to me that you repay 'blood for blood' and 'blood by blood'. Render your loyalty to me in exchange for your newfound lives free from this pathogen," said the Collector plainly.
"We would be glad to. But to do so, you must invoke the Blood Rite of Rulership with our Alpha," said the Amorak. "It is simply tradition, but as we stand by tradition, we are willing to die by it. You may ask our pack of anything else, to raid lands with you, to grant you knowledge of this land, or to feast upon our prey, but rulership is not our place to grant."
"Where is this 'Alpha' specimen. I will eliminate it promptly," said the Collector.
"I wish dearly that you do," said the Amorak. "A proper death is far better than what he suffers now."
"The specimen is not with this group," said the Collector. "Lead me to him so that this Rite may be completed with prompt efficiency."
"Are…are you certain? Our Alpha too is under the spell of the Black Curse," said the Amorak.
"Our Sovnar will beat your Alpha to a pulp!" shouted Thokk as he beat his chest. "Undead or not!"
"I must agree," said Goromir, and Kandak grunted in agreement.
"I have no doubts. The Sharded One is mightier than any I have seen," said the Amorak. "But this is different. Our Alpha lies within a black spot. Facing him…may be more difficult than expected. I will not protest, however.
A chance to free our Alpha from his accursed fate is one I will not let slip by.
Come, then, follow me. I will lead you to him."
The Collector and the goblin swarm followed the Amoraks for an hour, reaching quite nearly to the base of the Rift mountain range. They went deeper into the fall of Grain, so the Collector was less hesitant to spend time on this endeavor for their movements would not be tracked or sensed here.
Here, the Amorak stopped around a yawning pit formed in the snow. One completely enshrouded in curling tendrils of foggy darkness, making any visibility below completely impossible.
The pit was large, around twenty meters across, and from it, wispy black air emerged, and this, the Collector could sense was likely the main mode of transmission of the Undead pathogen.
This was further evident by the body language of the Amoraks. They crowded away from the pit, their tails curled between their legs in fear as they beheld the put from a distance.
In the distance, through the heavy fall of Grain, the Collector could perceive the towering spires of the Rift mountains that stood taller than any cloud.
Its next goal was near.
"When this pit opened up first," said the maned Amorak. "We thought it to be a Dungeon. Our Alpha went in to challenge it, to gain power for us, but soon after his entry, the foul black curse choked this pit.
A few of us more foolish were willing to leap into the pit to retrieve our Alpha, believing that if we did not spend much time within, the black curse would not take root in us.
We were wrong.
Our Alpha did not return. But those that went to search, myself included, did. We savaged our own and made them join our endless nightmare. Thank the winds that we did not reach our dens where the young are."
"You want our Sovnar to leap in here? To duel your Alpha?" said Goromir. His arms were crossed, and his brows furrowed. "He has already saved your lives, and yet you wish him to risk his own for this? I thought this would be a simple duel, not a rescue operation for a wayward, overconfident pup."
The Amorak bared its teeth, but did not snarl, controlling its emotions. "I understand. But we simply cannot follow another Alpha when our own still lives."
"Lives!?" Goromir pointed all four arms down to the pit. "You call being trapped in there living? Cut your losses and move on. Join our service for something better than this."
"Tradition is our way." The Amorak bowed his head. "If it means you must kill us all, then so be it."
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