CHAPTER 418: A Necromancer's Job

The best thing about the new year was that I had necromancy classes again. My first one was on the second day and I was excited as I entered the room with my tier three undead. I was greeted with the familiar faces of Tim and Tom.

"Morning." I greeted them.

"Hello Koyuki." Tom said.

"Hi Koyuki and undead." Tim said.

"It's our first necromancy class of the new year, what do you think we will learn?" I wondered.

"Um, I think what you will learn and what we will learn is going to be different." Tom said.

"There is a lot about undead that I don't know." I pointed out.

"It's about time that we learn more about the creation of tier threes." Leo said, as he entered the room. He must have heard our conversation.

"Is that even part of the normal classes? You need to be at least a senior mage and I think it's like only one in six mages who achieves that." Tom said.

"True but you can't be sure who will reach that; the core grows until about 30, right?" Tim said.

"I believe it technically grows even after that but it slows so much that people who haven't managed senior mage by 30 never will." Rose added.

"Uh, are you a senior mage?" Tim asked Rose.

"Preposterous." Leo said. "She is but a fledgling vampire born from a servant's corpse, although she was created by a sophisticated ritual."

"Perhaps her first meals after her creation were a bit lacking but I am confident that she is growing nicely right now." Hatsumi said, with a toothy smile.

Leo didn't look amused.

"Um, do we get tested? How would I know how big my core is? Can you tell, Koyuki?" Rose asked.

"Damn, we should have asked the headmaster to test you." I said. "I would think that Hatsumi has the biggest core between all of you, or maybe Nyx." I looked at the feline. Nyx looked back, then she yawned.

"Koyuki is already in control of a lot of tier threes, clearly they can't have a large core." Leo stated. "Actually, I would assume it limits their growth since she has so many links and can't properly feed them."

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"Really?" Tom asked. "Is that why you keep feeding Nyx bones?"

"No, that's because she is a cat." I replied. Of course I also gave treats to my non-cat undead. Everyone deserved treats.

Nyx nodded.

Our conversation came to an end as Gronir entered and we took our seats.

"Morning class! You all made it to the third year, congratulations!" Gronir was followed by a skeleton carrying a stack of books. "This year you will learn more advanced spells and we will explore some death magic besides necromancy. We will also start with an introduction to your duties as a necromancer, since all of you have picked the specialisation."

While Gronir talked, the skeleton handed out the books. As soon as it placed the book on my desk Nyx curled up on top of it. Rose extended her hand towards the feline and started petting her.

Meanwhile Gronir continued: "Necromancers in the army fill a variety of roles, depending on their strength. Every necromancer can command at least a squad of undead and they can be used for tasks that would be too risky for normal soldiers. However, necromancers are also used against undead."

Rose raised her hand.

"Rose."

"Wouldn't that be the job of light mages? They are very strong against us undead." Rose said.

Gronir nodded. "Light magic is good against undead and death magic is mostly useless, so why are we using necromancers, if available?"

"To control the undead." Leo said.

"Partially correct! We can certainly take over the undead and turn them into a resource, it really depends on their type and how efficient they are. What else can we do to them?" Gronir asked.

"Feed them to Nyx." Garm stated.

"Yes, we can feed them to our own undead, assuming we have undead that can devour others. So we have established that they are a usable resource and not just enemies to get rid of, what else is there?" Gronir asked

I pondered the question, what advantage did we have against undead? Then it hit me: "Death mana!"

"Yes, go on." Gronir said.

"Natural undead don't just appear, there needs to be a source of death mana. With our own affinity we can explore the source." I said.

"Yes! Mind you, the source could also be a necromancer. This only applies if a region is found, or an old tomb unearthed, where we have a lot of natural death mana. While there are spells to shield you and you could always vent regularly we have an easy time entering such regions. Another advantage of necromancers is their knowledge. Other than a specialised undead hunter we know the most about the different types of undead and their abilities, so you might want a necromancer just to provide information. Starting this year our class might join the military for a mission, if the opportunity arises." Gronir explained.

"Uh, we could go into a crypt?" Tom asked.

Gronir chuckled. "Ancient crypts aren't found every day. They certainly sound exciting but what's more likely is that we deal with a rogue necromancer. The Brotherhood has also tried to create places with death mana by using ritual sacrifices."

"A place with death mana sounds like a resource, why aren't we using them to create more undead?" Leo asked.

"Why indeed? Do all of you remember our lesson about natural undead when you took control of them? Why do you think we aren't just taking over a crypt and using it to create a legion?" Gronir asked.

"They are inefficient. We could create better undead ourselves and enhance the corpses instead of waiting for them to rise." I said.

"Yes, it takes a while for a natural undead to rise and even longer if you want them to evolve. You would still need to supply the crypt with corpses and you would need to guard it. They are more of a headache for the military than an asset, however there are crypts being researched. In such a case our job would be to guard it and not to do research, the Academy of Neth, or the Arcane Institute, would handle that." Gronir explained.

"What happens if you raise an undead in such a crypt?" Tom wondered.

"It doesn't change much. If you wanted to use the death mana in the air you would need to perform a ritual and it's rarely worth it. The corpse itself might be enhanced over time, if you leave it inside such a crypt but you can get faster results with alchemy. What you could do is store your undead inside a crypt, however they are usually not at a convenient location. Besides, it just takes too long for a lower tier undead to evolve, if they ever will." Gronir explained.

I thought about all of my recent creations and I had to agree, there was no point in having an undead sit around and hope for a random evolution. If you wanted a good undead you just had to put some work in and create it yourself, or better yet, create it with friends who provided additional expertise or affinities.