Outside the city, there stood a man behind a tree in a dark torn coat. The wind was blowing, and from time to time one could see the body under the cloak for a short time. It seemed to be a skeleton, which of course, turned out to be Satoshi. By now, his ribcage had regenerated, and interestingly, a mana core could be seen floating under the ribcage that had lost its color and was blood red. Satoshi was aware of his new problem. His previous way of using mana will be difficult to replicate from now on. He no longer had mana channels in his body to store mana more easily.
His mana absorption is now only a tenth of what it was before he became a skeleton. But he is lucky to still have his mana core prior to his death. Compared to him, the rest of Az's subjects, like Otaz, for example, or Ogron, who were also mages in their human days, were robbed of their mana core after their death.
"Well, at least my talent in Necromancer has been improved," Satoshi muttered while playing with some spells in his hand. "Oh look, they're coming," Satoshi spoke to himself while waving his bone hand in the air.
"Hey Satoshi, we got you a coat to welcome you," said Az, who ran up to Satoshi with a black coat in his hand.
"That's sweet, but I won't forget how you, little one killed me today," Satoshi replied while putting on the new black coat. "It even suits me. Now all I need is a mage's staff and I'll look like the stereotypical skeleton mage," Satoshi replied laughing while watching himself in a water mirror he created for himself.
In front of Az stood a pale skeleton that had no flaws and was encased in a matte black cloak. The cloak also had the same emblem on its chest that Ogron, Otaz, and Simaev wore.
"Welcome, Brother," Otaz said with a smile. "I guess I'm under your care now, my dear seniors," Satoshi sighed while running his bone hand through Az's hair.
"Well, you are the only one of us who is still a mage, which is why you get to play the role of Az Magic Teacher. At the same time, the four of us need to come up with a plan on how your three seniors can also get a mana core," Ogron whispered to Satoshi.
"I miss my damn mana talent. I was such a talented mage, but some bastard had to steal my mana core after I died," Otaz cursed.
"Just seeing you, using magic, makes me envious," Simaev added.
"My dears, my dears. I promise you that we will still take care of your mana core situation. But I think it's better if we go to my mage tower first," said Satoshi, who continued to run his hand through Az's hair.
"Satoshi, could you please leave my hair alone?" asked Az, who grabbed Satoshi's hand with both of his hands.
"It's Master Satoshi to you," Satoshi replied back to him before lightly flicking his finger against Az's forehead.
"Argh, that hurt," Az was heard whimpering, and the group just laughed.
The group marched for two days to reach Satoshi's mage tower.
"You seriously went this far only to be defeated by a mage apprentice just to end up as one of his skeleton minions?" asked Ogron. Ogron could no longer contain it and started to laugh loudly. His laugh could be heard echoing throughout the entire mage tower.
"Shhh, we aren't the only ones here. Stop yelling here," Satoshi cursed, immediately pressing his hand against Ogron's mouth. Az just had to chuckle when he saw what was going on in front of him. "You wait and see, kid. When I get over my logistical and existential problems, I'll come to you. You will suffer from my magic training." Satoshi cursed.
"I wish I could get rid of these plagues," Satoshi continued to curse. Suddenly, "Daddy do you have a minute," could be heard echoing through the tower. Az and the rest of the three skeletons started to feel bad. After all, it looks like they killed a family man and summoned him as their Minion.
Satoshi looked up in despair, which was actually understandable. After all, he is no longer a human but a skeleton. How is he supposed to tell his children that?
Az saw only the despair written on Satoshi's face and decided to run upstairs to prevent the child from seeing her father. The stairs were cold and made of marble.
As he ran upstairs, he saw a little girl around his age stopping abruptly in front of him. "Well, that's definitely not my father, and what are you doing here?" she asked while trying to squeeze past Az. "Um, what am I doing here? Good question. Oh yes, your father sent me up to play with you. Some important people are here, and he doesn't want to be disturbed," Az stammered.
"I was actually looking forward to seeing my father again," she sighed." "Alright. Then follow me. I haven't had contact with kids my age in a long time," the girl mumbled, feeling offended. Az followed her.
Down on the first floor, the veins of Satoshi's face were seen almost bursting, and his face was bright red. Simaev gently placed her cold bone hand on Satoshi's shoulder and whispered, "Don't worry about your daughter. Az is actually quite a good boy. If we had never met him, he still wouldn't even hurt a fly."
"I hope so," Satoshi sighed, and the group of four went inside his lab. It looked like what one would imagine a mage's lab to look like. Full of jars everywhere, there were scattered notes, and at the same time, it was also dusty everywhere.
"Well, in my day, mages were tidier. This youth is getting messier and messier," Ogron muttered, grabbing a few glasses off the shelf. "What kind of machine is this anyway," asked Simaev, pointing at some buttons.
"Eyy, don't touch my stuff," commented Satoshi grabbing Ogron's arm. "Oh, Satoshi, my dear. We are trying our best to buy some time for you in your situation. Remember, you're the only one to blame for ending up in such a stupid situation. Even a stupid 12-year-old kid feels sorry for you and tries to buy you time," Otaz cursed.
Satoshi sat down dejectedly on the chair and looked at the three of them from a distance. Ogron seemed to be using his equipment, and even though he couldn't use mana anymore, he could still brew better than Satoshi. "Ok, this is really embarrassing," muttered Satoshi, who was just watching. "Satoshi, stop sitting there like a child and come here. We need you," Ogron interjected. "I'm coming," Satoshi answered as he got up from his chair.
