The Necromancer Who Was Despised

I had attached two Living Armors and a Specter to her.

I ordered each of them to take a break.

I had to think about what to do during my alone time.

I planned to stay quiet until I received the guarantee and saw the royal family’s reaction.

“There’s also cleaning up to do.”

I had crossed the line.

From Class 5, the possibilities became endless.

It was already decided what to do.

“I need to upgrade the Living Armor.”

The materials were ready.

“Soul Shadow.”

I could make it with a Specter, but I had a different plan.

In fact, making it with a Specter would lower the quality.

Then, I suddenly had a cruel thought.

“I’ll see my old colleagues become Undead and active.”

Of course, their corpses were already ruined, so their appearance would be completely different. I was going to use the Soul Shadow made by them to strengthen the Living Armor, so it was likely that no one would notice from the outside.

“Do you not know? Or do you not care?”

If I didn’t say it one by one, they wouldn’t know. There was no need to say it forcefully. Even if they noticed, it didn’t matter.

I had no reason to consider Anelis that far.

“I need to take care of the sacred artifacts too.”

I would minimize my requests while focusing on what I needed to prepare.

And….

“I’ll go as soon as the recovery is over.”

With the guild’s guarantee, it wouldn’t be difficult to become a publicly recognized Black Mage.

Considering the circumstances of the Reneta territory….

“It won’t be a difficult trade.”

But if Anelis were to fall out, it would be great, but I thought it would be difficult.

“It’s going to be extremely busy for a while.”

That much progress would be visible.

It wasn’t a bad feeling.

The next day.

I conveyed to my party that we would reduce our activities for a while and take some time to regroup.

“Anyway, we need to get an answer. There’s also the matter of Baldur’s slave mark.”

Artina nodded in agreement.

“After receiving the guarantee, the quality of our requests will change, so we need to organize what we’ve obtained this time.”

Kyle needed more time to adapt to the artifact he had obtained.

Baldur had a slightly gloomy expression.

“I didn’t think the slave mark would be erased so quickly.”

It’s possible that I was half-doubting.

Anelis didn’t even let us participate.

She’s currently living with the undead in this room. Of course, she’s fed. There’s no thought of starving her to death.

As my companions nodded in agreement, our next move was swift.

I secured a research space by renting a storage room from the Mercenary Guild, and my companions also rented a training ground from the guild.

Since we needed it for an extended period, this was a better choice.

“There’s no one to keep an eye on it since we’ve rented it separately.”

Colmail actively catered to our convenience.

As soon as the space was secured, I began enhancing the undead.

First, I strengthened the Living Armor as planned.

Excluding the two guarding Anelis, I started with the other two.

I put the Living Armor in standby mode first.

It’s similar to a dormant state, where I can weaken the connection with me and make it simple.

“They’re undead bound to me.”

Initially, the source of the undead’s immortality is a being bound to somewhere.

Either they’re bound to me and receive power to become immortal, or they’re bound to the earth like the Dead Soil I used in the past, using the power of that location to regenerate.

“There are cases where the self exists and controls the source, though.”

Assuming the source has no self, this is possible; originally, undead rebellion is impossible, regardless of whether the undead has a self or not.

There are exceptions, such as undead without a self that wander and maintain themselves by devouring the living, or those that become Riches themselves, but these are extremely rare.

“Becoming a Rich also means the undead with a self controlling the source.”

In this case, it’s an exception since it was made that way from the start.

Therefore, most undead are bound to somewhere and cannot escape, and if the connection to the source of power is weakened, their functionality will deteriorate.

I partially disassembled the Living Armor, which had become half-dormant, and accessed the core.

And there, I connected the shadow of the soul.

Thud!

A strong rejection reaction occurred immediately.

No matter how much I claim ownership, it’s natural. If the core is damaged, it won’t recover easily, even if I’m connected to it.

The core, which can be considered the main body, takes time to recover from damage, and in some cases, recovery might be impossible.

In such a situation, this rejection reaction wasn’t unusual.

I touched the core connected to me to reduce the rejection reaction, and once the core stabilized, I finally brought the shadow of the soul to the core.

———

The core soon merged with the shadow of the soul.

As soon as I confirmed this, I strengthened the connection with the Living Armor again.

Next, I repeated the process with the other one.

And then, the two were placed in the seal.

“It’ll take some time.”

It’s the process of evolving into a higher, more superior undead by fusion.

Especially since the shadow of the soul was absorbed….

“If it goes well, a basic self might emerge.”

It could be said that we’re on the path to becoming superior undead.

It’s unavoidable that the living armor has its limitations, considering its innate nature.

“Well, if I could find a better armor, there might be a way…”.

If I add a few more preparations, becoming the top-tier undead wouldn’t be impossible either.

“The original golem is…”.

There wasn’t much room for improvement.

To begin with, the original golem was enormous in size and weight, capable of storing a large amount of magical energy, making it a 5-class item that could only be crafted by a top-tier undead, but the golem itself wasn’t a high-tier undead.

In short, it’s a clumsy and large meat shield.

“It’s useful, but that’s about it.”

Therefore, there wasn’t much I could do to enhance it at my current level.

“Maybe 1 or 2… hmm, could they become knights?”

If they became knights, I could put the skeletal horse to use.

I’d have to create them separately, but it’s not like I couldn’t find the necessary materials.

“The ghost horse requires the souls of many horses or the soul of a famous horse, so it’s relatively easy compared to that.”

The horse itself is extremely useful, so its usefulness is beyond words.

I summoned 1 and 2 and examined their states.

“2 seems possible…”.

It has undergone significant growth. To begin with, the quality of its corpse is incomparable to 1’s.

1 was a skeleton created from the corpse of a mere hunter, whereas 2’s corpse is that of a knight who had mastered magic.

As a result, no matter how much more enhancement 1 received, it couldn’t compare to 2’s abilities.

“Still, it’s not too far off.”

I’ve been through the growth process together, and 1 has had the most influence on me.

Although it’s inferior to 2, if I focus a bit more, I think it can catch up to 2’s knight-level growth.

“I need to prepare more black bones.”

Its size will increase, and its equipment will become more diverse.

Therefore, it’s only natural that I need to acquire more black bones.

“A corpse…”.

It’s easy to find, yet hard to obtain.

In this world, it’s not that difficult to find a human corpse.

However, at the same time, it’s difficult to obtain a corpse that’s suitable for a black mage like me, who’s active in the daylight.

Image management is essential, given the guild’s backing.

“…I might have to dig through the sewers.”

It’s the most straightforward method.

There are sewers at the level of Dorirem’s territory.

“It’s dirty, but there are a lot of corpses in such places.”

It’s only natural, but labor has to be invested for management.

The environment is harsh, and monsters sometimes appear, so it’s a place that’s avoided, with slaves or low-ranking laborers being sent in.

Even monsters like slimes or lettmen are a significant threat to ordinary people or slaves without proper equipment.

As a result, death is frequent, and low-ranking mercenaries often receive requests to subdue them.

“I’m a bit hesitant to receive such requests…”.

I thought it would be better to secretly take care of things.

I started contaminating the artifacts I had obtained.

Unlike before, I couldn’t leave them in the laboratory, so I had to work on them whenever I had time.

For several days, I devoted myself to enhancing the undead and contaminating the artifacts, while my companions focused on their respective training.

Kyle seemed to be getting used to the artifact, and accordingly, Artina and Valdor were having a hard time.

Originally, there was a difference in their abilities, but now that Kyle was getting accustomed to the artifact, it was becoming difficult for them to keep up.

Meanwhile, no one paid attention to Anelis.

She was spending her time half-locked in her room.

It seemed quite suffocating, but I didn’t allow her to go out.

“Not yet, since there’s been no response from the royal family or the Colmail side.”

We were also extremely busy at the time.

Especially me, I was the busiest.

Recently, I had almost finished contaminating the artifacts, and I was also working on designing the future Black Tower.

It was different from the previous underground dungeon.

Back then, I lacked the skills and had to be cautious about many things.

Additionally, resources were limited.

However, now I could earn as much money as I wanted, my abilities had improved, and if the transaction was successful, I could build my tower without worrying about what others thought.

Since this was my first time building something like this, I needed to prepare.

Meanwhile, I recalled the Living Armor that was watching Anelis and attached Skeleton No. 1 to it, and I also started upgrading the recalled Living Armor using the previous method.

Furthermore, I had to secretly move around the sewer at night.

Even with two bodies, it was barely enough.

And about a week later.

“Is that you, Do-inha?”

It was a person from the mercenary guild who had come to visit us in the past.

“The guild leader has invited you.”

Colmail wanted all of us to attend, not just me.

So, Anelis was able to leave her room for the first time in a while, and since we couldn’t openly operate the undead in the territory, I left her surveillance to Artina.

“Don’t do anything stupid.”

Artina was the one who disliked her the most, so it was impossible to slacken the surveillance.

We were guided to the reception room where we had been before, and there were two additional people waiting for us: an old man and a middle-aged man, along with Colmail.

Swish.

At that moment, Kyle subtly took a step forward.

She seemed to have sensed something.

“It’s not ordinary people.”

It seemed like she was trying to protect me.

The old man looked at us with a gaze that seemed to say, “You’re not ordinary.”

We had sensed the old man’s strength, and the old man had immediately realized that we were not ordinary.

“Judging by their attire, they’re mages…they seem strong.”

Colmail seemed to have noticed the tension between us and the old man but didn’t seem to care much.