Here is Maru!

A mage who learned the secrets of life and death to become the ultimate wizard!!!!!!!

okay... a little bit of an exaggeration. While he did learn magic to create souls and therefore living beings, he isn't all that skilled in magic. Before his transformation he was a normal mage learning about everything all at once, a wanna be jack-of-all trades. He does have a lot of general knowledge but his magic is pretty crap, mainly focusing on learning spells until he can reliably recreate them for experimentation.

What kind of experimentation you may ask? Something many viewed as stupid: the mixing of completely opposing magics. Usually when two opposite spells come into contact and they are still made mostly of manna then they either A, cancel out or VERY rarely B, create a chaotic reaction. It is that latter effect that Maru became very interested in. You see, the only other times where a spell cause such chaotic reactions is when a spell is done improperly (unless it is a spell that specifically creates a chaotic reaction). Learning about this he began to ask a simple question.

Why does it seem like the spells are failing to create a new one? Sadly no one else saw what he was seeing. After 137 years of magic's existence people gradually came to accept that reaction as something that "just happens". So when he began trying to answer this question people obviously view him as a moron. So much so that he had to take his experimentation outside of the kingdom he was studying at and instead do it in an abandoned mill so that he would stopped being bothered by people about it. It was there that eventually began trying to actually see if he could complete the spell.

It took many weeks of fine tuning, taking breaks to resupply for rations and knowledge at the kingdom, and experimentation until he finally had his eureka moment. Eventually he managed to combine freeze and boil spells to create... freezing/boiling water! I leave that to your imagination for figuring out how that works. With such a huge success he immediately wanted to try more. He continued researching magic, combining spells, gradually discovering more and more combinations until he was finally mixing the really powerful ones together. This leads to his greatest experiment. The combination of life and death magic. resurrection of the fallen and reanimation of the dead. holy and unholy.

It took him a very long time to find all the materials he needed to complete both spells. Resurrection was easy to learn since everyone wanted to learn the spell and its knowledge was widespread, however the draw back was the materials to complete it were very fucking hard to get access to. Reanimation was so much worse because of HOW FUCKING ILLEGAL IT WAS. all knowledge was either destroyed or locked away. With such a huge hurdle to overcome he only had one way to accomplish his goals...

By breaking and entering.

In the matter of a week he stole dozens of holy and unholy documents and became a fugitive wanted the king himself. A large manhunt was launched to capture him but it was all in vain. After several months of sneaking around his peers and the acquisition of many spells impossible spells he had gained the skills to barely escape with it all. With his loot secured he finally had all he needed to combine the magic. Late at night, deep inside the refurbished ruins of the mill, he did both rituals for reanimation and resurrection. Within moments everything was thrown into chaos. wild magic filled his testing chamber, fighting against the other opposing magic. He tried to control it but for such powerful spells he was instead consumed by them both. In a flash he was killed and torn apart...

At least that was what was supposed to happen. through either great talent or insane luck he managed to combine them properly the first try. Yes he was still blown apart but in the process a amazing reaction occurred. His soul, before it had the chance to leave his body, was absorbed and crystalized into a solid object, granting him immortality. It also changed so many parts of him, one of those being his psyche. this was very helpful since if his mind remained unaltered he most likely would have been traumatized. instead he really didn't feel shocked, in fact he felt amazing. the pain he felt was shifted into something he never felt before, something cathartic. He did not enjoy it but it was not unpleasant either. not only that but he also was unaffected by the fact he was in pieces.

It took him a long time to put himself back together but once he did his only thought was to do more. After a few more experiments he managed to make another discovery, the creation of souls. The first time he made one was the moment he created This skeletal lad right here. eventually leads us to present day. Currently Maru is trying to find a way to get back into spell combination along with experimenting with the creation of peeps. It is going be a huge pain because of his infamy and current state but he is optimistic.