“So this is what she has been doing for the past week, huh?” Amadeus began a conversation in the middle of training. The hammer he had just swung was barely a fraction of weight that he had been swinging while in the Goddess’ Realm,  fully hammering in just what kind of blessed training environment that was.

“Yes. And I must say, I think she has shown the fastest improvement out of everyone. Even faster than me, which is an achievement.” Kal chimed in as he readjusted his aim, his previous fist-sized flame bullets missing his target by a few centimetres. Even during this he was maintaining a barrier suited for each of Amadeus’ attacks. For him to praise his sister’s progress as ‘faster than him’ was among the highest honour he could give.

“… How are you so nonchalant about this?” The person that had sparked this conversation joined in. They themselves had been busy lifting and swinging a simple longsword, although their strength did appear to be a bit lacking for the heft of the weapon.

“I mean, you wanted this, right Kid? Then it’s only right we accept you as a comrade and friend! Plus, the Spirits like you, so there is no way you’re an evil Undead!” Altair came over and hugged the Skeleton, no regard for the weapon in their hands. The spirits that he had mentioned, which among the group only Amadeus couldn’t see, affirmed this statement as the ones of Wind crowded around the sword to make it lighter and faster, while the rest simply surrounded Kid.

“… I did, but still. While I don’t remember a lot, I remember that Undead shouldn’t be this accepted.” Kid swung at Altair as they were technically in the middle of a spar, but he floated away so lightly that he should by no accounts be quick enough to evade. Yet the blade never made contact.

“We’ve never been much for accepting norms. You talk like a normal person, if a bit slowly, we can have a conversation with you and you don’t hate the living. That’s more than we can say about some of the Twelve.” Amadeus’s hammer was once more bounced off by an instantly formed barrier by Kal as he evaded the incoming flames, this time a wide cone.

“… Which of those three things?”

“See, you can take a joke! Selen can’t! Up top!” Altair came crashing down, only barely pushed away by Kid’s full effort. She was not yet up to par for the Twelve but insisted on training with them, which was the initial reason for these matchups. Otherwise, Altair would have had to wait for his turn, so he was a bit too energetic to express his happiness.

“I think we should stop for today. Kid can’t keep up anymore, so please, Altair.” A wall sprouted up from the Earth between Kal and Amadeus as the former moved over to begin appraising Kid’s body and repair any minor damage that he could with his knowledge of Necromancy. Lacking, compared to his sister, but still notable.

“Okaaay! But you held out really well!”

“Yeah, you did. I’m impressed. Usually Skeletons are low-level mobs, but you might have the makings of a Death Knight in ya. Good for you!”

“… Yes. If it can help Master then I will train even harder.” Her determination could be felt. It was so intense, so burning bright, that they could even see flames flicker in her previously empty eye sockets.

Except, of course, those flames weren’t imaginary.

“That’s new. I guess you’ll have something physical to show my sister from this training. Although I do wonder why… Is it just general growth or a more focused breakthrough…” Kal drifted off into his own world of research, although he wasn’t so lacking as to stop his medical efforts.

“Wait, she just grew several stages! I didn’t know she would be this quick! Maybe she can keep up with us after all?” Altair was ecstatic at the prospect. Even just one more person to run around and have fun with was among the most joyous occasions for him.

“Yeah, isn’t that growth speed almost at our level? Kal, what’s your take?”

“Well, Kuna actually noticed this already and ran it by me. Our running theory is that the Necromancer has such an influence on the Undead, both the Body and the Spirit, that they inherit some of the talent of the Necromancer that raised them. The percentage at which this happens depends on the effort and care put into the ritual. Of course, they retain their own talents, dependent on the prepared Body and the inhabiting Spirit, but the Necromancer’s talent is inherited on top of that.” He paused for a brief moment as he found a small crack in Kid’s wrist, which he began mending before continuing on.

“In Kuna’s case that means that all Undead raised by her will have talent in manipulating and cultivating Mana as well as an edge for learning in general. Even if they are complete muscle-heads that have never even heard of Mana, if raised by her they will begin using it within the week. And I think we’ve all noticed how much Mana Kid has already been using, so even her innate ability from the life she doesn’t remember must be impressive, to say the least.”

“…Yes. Master already said I… would be most suited to be her personal assistant in the future…But…”

“You want to protect her, right? Yeah, we share a sentiment here. If you ever need more help don’t be a stranger! I’ll gladly help you no matter what.”

“Me too, me too!”

“…Thank you.”

“Well. I finished checking, you should be mostly alright. Kuna will give you a more thorough search, but this is all I can do. And just like those two I’ll help you where I can, if you ever need to look up a spell, by all means, visit me in my study or just find me around. Although… I guess that’ll be difficult considering not everyone is like the Twelve. Well, at least my study is close to her lab, so you can just wait for me there if anything comes up. It’s the least I can do for my sister’s friend. Especially if she is this dedicated to helping her. And do extend this invitation to the others, I would enjoy the chance to train up a Lich.”

“… I will. Really, thank you all…” Kid left the underground training room, one of the many facilities the Twelve had been given. And one of the only ones where Kid and her brethren could walk more freely, as access to the Twelve’s facilities was heavily restricted and controlled.

Kal sighed softly as he watched her leave, his mind filled with several troubling thoughts, but a quick shake of the head dismissed them all.

“…Damn. I hope that we can make a place for them eventually. This is just sad. Having to hide away because of prejudice. I rarely had to fear for my life but they… they have been given another chance that they could lose at any time.”

“Well, it is natural considering the reputation of Necromancers. Remember, the only reason we can have a conversation with Kid like this is because Kuna is considerably skilled. There aren’t many Necromancers that can so easily erase an Undead’s instinctual hatred for the living. Not to mention that Kuna herself is a bit of an outlier, a Necromancer that interferes with the Spirits by her own power, not by borrowing it from either Demons or Gods.

“Although I do agree. It is a shame. The ones that Kuna raises are by all accounts normal people, simply Undead by definition, not by nature. But this is not a prejudice we should aim to get rid of, unlike the one aimed at you. As unfortunate as it is, a natural distrust of Undead is the correct choice in most cases. Against you, it’s just people being assholes, against them it’s a survival instinct.”

“Yeah… You’re right. I just…”

“You saw yourself if the situation in our world were worse, I know. Don’t worry anyway. We will eventually be able to proudly declare their existence while making sure people do not lose their wariness against most Undead.

“Until then, we have to do our best. Kuna has proven herself, but we haven’t made that much progress in comparison. Hell, I fear that even Kid may overtake some of us if we slack off.”

“Yup, yup! Can’t have the Twelve be known as the ones that were overtaken by a Skeleton! Amadeus, you wanna go for another match?”

“Of course! Kal is nice to train raw strength against those barriers of his but you’re almost as swift as Daron.”

They parted ways with Kal who decided to focus on his studies instead of continuing combat practice. In the end, study was what suited him best.

And now he even had a research subject.

The History of Necromancy.

***

For the past week Ray had been running all around town at all times of day, always finding zombies in the most desolate and isolated places. Usually gathered in groups of around four, they weren’t much of a challenge at all.

Especially considering that they were barely hanging on to a physical form, their flesh ready to rot off their bodies at any moment. They could not exert any strength nor did possess any defensive ability. They could only shamble about as they didn’t even notice Ray approach to cut them into pieces.

He knew better than to try and dismember them.

They weren’t difficult to deal with, but the trouble came from the fact that they had mostly been found in the ‘Material World’ as he had begun calling it. The slice of Earth that normal Humans resided in and where barely a hint of Mana could be found.

And the sheer amount of them. In the past week he had sliced more than five hundred of them, but they showed no signs of diminishing. As if somebody was continuously creating more of them.

It bothered him.

The fact that they were organized into small search parties, four zombies, almost the perfect size for a scouting party. As if whoever was creating them was also directly controlling them to act as safety nets.

That also bothered him.

Not catching even a hint of the Necromancer that he knew must be behind this, despite slaughtering his forces with no hint of stopping. That the Necromancer was smart and had not yet blown his lid and decided to confront him directly.

This.

This is what bothered him most.

If he was to do shit like this, get in his path, the smallest courtesy he could show was to present himself on a silver platter to Ray.

How dare that fucker get in my way?

How dare he not react to me?

It was driving him insane.

For the first time since he began training Ray was facing an intelligent being that was actively attempting to evade him, fully aware that they could not win in a frontal confrontation.

Every other being, Goblins, Imps, Orcs and Ogres, was more than happy to fight him. When the Orcs began holing up in their camp, he could just infiltrate and poison them to death as they could not fully hide.

But finding a single person that apparently knew how to hide from pursuers. Tracking wasn’t his expertise and he had not a single clue as to how to go about finding them.

He had already tried ‘Thousand-Mile-Eyes’ but came up short on Mana. Not only was spreading Mana in the scarce Material Realm much harder, in the middle of the city the amount of information he gathered was much larger than what he would gather in the forest. Thus, he even had to use more Mana to enhance his brain.

In order for that technique to become fully useful again he would have to train his control over it.

But until he did, he was stuck with this routine. Wander around, use the Eyes, find a group of zombies, slaughter it and then repeat.

And not a hair of the Necromancer.

It frustrated him to no end.

He lamented that there wasn’t even a challenge. He would cut down the shambling messes in mere seconds and then be on his way. He knew that even if they did find him, they would not be able to put up any resistance.

They would try their hardest to make him join them in the realm of Undeath, but their hardest would be a pitiful effort against him.

Mindless slaves like them could never put a dent in him.

And in the end, he calmed his nerves that were being tested by the minute by thinking about how he would repay this goose chase.

But then it hit him, as his nerves calmed, and he returned to a calmer state of thought.

The reason that the Necromancer was evading him was because they knew how strong he was.

Because he kept slaughtering the scouting parties without leaving behind a footprint. The Necromancer constantly assumed that Ray was right on his tail and never stopped moving.

The easiest way would simply be to fake giving up the chase.

And instead, he could spend the time doing something that could give him an edge once he picked up the trail again. Follow the teaching of Sun Tzu and study his enemy.

It was time for him to take a break from slaughter and begin studying.

To figure out how his foe would manoeuvre, even just a little.

The History of Necromancy.