CHAPTER 421: A Surprise

"Morning students, I have an exciting announcement!" Gronir said, as he walked in the classroom.

My ears perked up and I wondered what amazing things we would learn today. Then my eyes widened as a large black wolf entered the room. It was slightly smaller than Garm but still larger than a regular wolf. It had only one head and its green eyes glowed softly. It seemed as if each hair of the wolf's fur had a small aura of black smoke. It looked really nice.

"This is Grendel, my new tier three!" Gronir said.

"Morning." Grendel said.

Garm raised a paw.

"Garm." Gronir said.

"Welcome, fellow undead. I can offer you guidance when it comes to appropriate neckwear." The left head said. "Since Gronir seems to have forgotten about that." The right head added.

Grendel looked at Gronir. "I do like those bowties, where would I get one?"

"Really? This nonsense again?" Leo complained.

"Let's discuss fashion at a later time and not get distracted. Grendel is a new tier three and he has a lot to learn, but he is my undead. You will see him frequently in class and he might assist me in future lessons. He himself is going to be a lesson." Gronir said.

"Are we finally learning how to create a tier three?" Leo asked.

"Only Koyuki is licensed to create tier trees and she has already learned that part. If any of you qualify for the spell I am willing to teach you, until then remember the law." Gronir said, while staring at Leo. "Tier threes are dangerous and there is a heavy price for failure. So the lesson isn't going to be about making a tier three, any other guesses?"

I raised my hand.

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"Koyuki."

"Is it about his type of undead? Was he a dire wolf? Does he have an element?" I was really excited about meeting another tier three! I wanted to ask so many questions!

Gronir chuckled. "You are getting closer. What type of undead do you think Grendel is?"

"A zombie-type?" Tom asked.

Gronir nodded. "Yes but that's a broad definition. A draugr is a zombie-type, for example. Grendel is a dread wolf. This type of undead has a pure necrotic enhancement and they can be quite deadly."

"A dread wolf…" Leo muttered and he sounded quite envious.

"Dread wolves can occur as natural undead and they are a bit harder to create than a regular zombie tier three. They are masters of death magic and their teeth and claws can be enhanced with a death touch." Gronir explained. "That's essentially a complex spell that withers and rots organic things and might outright kill someone without a core to fight back."

That sounded like a lot of death magic but I guess it was a more powerful version of it. If you could deliver it with a bite it might even attack one from the inside, like a vampire bite.

"I have slain the dire wolf myself to ensure a fresh corpse and I killed it with my own death magic. However, I made sure to not destroy the entire body and wither its remains. Then I used alchemical enhancements from Horas and raised it as a tier three. What I wanted you to show with that is that you don't need to be Koyuki to create a powerful undead. Even a senior mage with only a death magic affinity can achieve a lot with experience and hard work." Gronir explained.

While he talked Grendel's gaze was mostly focused on Garm. It almost felt like the two canines had a silent conversation and Garm made sure to show off his two bowties. Today he was wearing a dark blue one on his left neck and a dark green one on his right neck.

"Grendel shall be a reminder of what you might be able to achieve, if your core is big enough. But even if you are never able to create a tier three, there are ways to enhance your tier twos. Koyuki has recently created some linked goblin shamans who are quite fascinating. This year we will focus on improving your tier twos so you can get more out of them. At the end of the year I expect everyone here to have one elite tier two undead. The other thing we will train this year is some combat raising, assuming I can get enough corpses." Gronir said.

I wondered if I would get a different kind of exam, since it felt like I had already passed those tests. Or was there more to it? Was I doing my combat raising wrong? Maybe I could get better results than regular tier two zombies?

Tom raised his hand.

"Tom."

"Will we have a chance to hunt for corpses, or do we need to buy some for our elite undead?" He asked.

"There should be opportunities to hunt during the year. The military is always in need of mages and you will be able to join some patrols this year. The academy will provide some basic corpse and simple alchemic enhancements, enough to complete the assignment but it might be worth it to invest a bit yourself." Gronir said.

I wondered if Leo would try to get another Orthos, or something similar. He seemed to like wolves but a good corpse would be wasted on him.

"And now for my second announcement: There will be some guest lectures this year." Gronir announced. "Thanks to certain advancements in shipbuilding we have more contact with Kitara and our kingdoms have decided to exchange some knowledge. Necatari Nanami will spend some time here in Lupos and she will share some of her knowledge about necromancy with us. While we don't have an actual alliance with them they are considered a friendly nation, for now. Their dislike of Ilestria certainly helps."

I had to stop my tail from wagging with excitement. Finally I would be able to learn more about Kitara and the guardian bond! This was going to be a great year!