Grimfield had awaited him inside his tent. He was sitting in a chair that resembled a throne. There was a girl each to his sides. A man stood beside him too.
“Welcome, Brother Allen.”
Allen nodded. “Do you have a business with me? It’s my pleasure to work for you.”
“Don’t be rush, brother. I heard you are a diligent person. It seems the rumor is true. However, I wondered what made you come late, brother? I have summoned you one hour ago. The supply wagon has gone out.”
Allen bowed. “I am truly sorry. On my way, Mr. Woodpecker called me. He owed me my weekly wage from the master. When I first met him, he didn’t bring it. When I went to his tent, he made me working on his document in exchange for some resources. I couldn’t see why I had to refuse.”
“Very well, then. I actually wanted you to come early to help you. Sect leader issued an order for everyone in here. Each disciple has to bring three crimson tubers per month. The problem is it only exists outside of a safe region where rank 3 beasts are common.
“I am not underestimating you, but at your current level, no one wants to be in your party. I want to help you, brother. If you learn Limitless Vigor Art, you can have a body that’s compared to rank one beast. This technique has one more benefit. It can make you breakthrough to another stage easily.”
“Is the procedure to take this mission the same?” Allen asked.
“Yes. Wait; don’t tell me you want to take this mission alone?”
“Thanks for your concern, Brother Grimfield. I will manage somehow.”
“Oho, you are reckless. Fine, I will see if you can complete this mission by yourself.” Grimfield grinned and clutched the throne.
“If you don’t have another business with me, excuse myself.” Allen bowed slightly and headed out.
When Allen got out, he met Eren at the front of the entrance. It seemed Grimfield had summoned him too.
Eren seemed hesitant to call him, but he did it awkwardly. “Ugh, what did he do to you?”
“Offering something. Probably, he will do the same to you.” Allen closed his eyes and walked past him.
……
Inside his tent, Allen threw himself to the bed. Since the refining of renegade spirit took time and he didn’t want to waste himself by meditating normally, he decided to broaden his knowledge in necromancy.
Allen didn’t want to waste any corpse he absorbed. So, he planned to add Undead Raising Technique to his mind rune. After a half-day, he had built the spell model. He opened his eyes and sighed.
“To think it was so easy. Well, it’s fundamentally similar to Renegade Spirit Refining. I just need to change some attributes in a renegade spirit and put it inside a corpse. It’s easy said than to be done.
“I have buried the corpses that I have used. I need to call Mr. Skylark again. Sturdy men can do.”
That night, Allen ordered thirteen slaves. He did the usual torture to extract the souls. After he had done, he proceeded to refine renegade spirits.
The next day, Allen smiled in content when he looked at the result. Around him, ten renegade spirits floated. He was lucky.
“I am tired. I will take a rest for a moment.”
Suddenly, he heard someone shouting his name. He took a peek and saw Eren standing outside.
Allen opened the curtain and asked, “What do you want?”
“I just want to invite you over a te—I mean wine.”
“Is there something serious that needs to be discussed?”
“No, I am just taking a break from refining the item we need to survive in the forest.”
“I am sorry. I am not in the mood.” Allen closed the curtain and ignored Eren’s call. He looked at the corpses on the floor. “I can’t be lazy too.”
Allen sat beside one of the corpses. He picked a nearby renegade spirit and surrounded it with his lifesteal aura.
The renegade spirit had absorbed his lifesteal aura and started emitting black flame; it was the black life force. Allen stuffed it inside the corpse’s chest; the spirit passed through.
At the same time, the corpse miraculously opened his eyes. It screamed as the body was surrounded with black flame or black mist.
Allen was taken aback as he watched the black flame burnt the corpse into ash. He gritted his teeth.
“Nine turns to go. I can’t give up.”
He had used two more turns, but every effort he did always fail. Three turns left and the body still ended up burning.
Allen controlled his breath and closed his eyes. He felt the connection with the renegade spirit as it passed through a corpse’s chest. The body was surrounded with black flame, but this time the burning was slower.
Allen spread his hand around the corpse’s body; he manipulated the flame. Eventually, the flame had burnt the skin and flesh. The only thing left was only the skeleton.
Allen wiped his face and smiled. “The first step is done. The inner layer is the renegade spirit. The outer layer is a black life force that’s made by my lifesteal aura. The second step is creating the middle layer of the soul as the connector. It has to be made by my default mana. After that, it will arise as undead and will only obey my command.”
Allen took a breath and emanated blue mana around his body. He created a lump of mana in his hand and sent it inside the skeleton.
After an hour, a blue dot appeared in each of the skeleton’s eyehole. A blue orb lit inside its see-through chest. Its right hand raised and grasped the air. It stood up in confusion.
Allen’s eyes shone when he saw the creature before him. “I actually succeeded in one day. I didn’t expect my first undead would be … this corpse. You are called Alfa.”
The corpse looked at him and knelt. Allen nodded in satisfaction.
“It’s perfect. He can sense my will. He can move automatically or by my will. The only flaw is you are just at the normal human level. I wonder if you can awaken spiritual roots and start magus training. Well, it doesn’t matter for now. I will train you other things first.”
The next day, Allen enjoyed his breakfast. The reanimated corpse stood beside him and poured wine into his glass. With his diligent training, it could do household chores.
Looking at his competent assistant, Allen was satisfied.
“I was lucky to succeed in my first time, but the other attempts had failed. My path as a true necromancer is still long. I have to awaken his spiritual roots first. Now, with this corpse, I have an idea of how to survive in the forest. I can’t just believe in Eren, can I?”
Finally, the day when Allen and Eren would go to the forest had come. Each of them carried a heavy bag. They went outside of the encampments by wagons. They were other teams too, but his team was the smallest. Grimfield led the carriage into the forest.
“This Cage Forest is divided into Mortal Circle that’s full of rank 0 magical beasts and sometimes rank 1 magical beast; Outer Circle, the area we are in that’s full of rank 1 magical beasts. Our destination is Inner Circle where rank 3 magical beasts live. The trip needs approximately seven days if we follow the normal route, but Brother El knows short route that needs one day; it’s the most dangerous route,” Eren explained.
“Have you finished the preparation?” Allen asked.
Eren gulped. He sweated a lot. “I need another day. Don’t look at me like that. I—I will finish it as fast as possible.”
