《World of Necromancy》 Chapter 1: Catacombs
Basic information Mastery
Name: Mortimer Race: Human Anatomy(beginner) Enchanting(beginner)
Age: 13 Class: Neophyte Necromancer Soulscouring(beginner)
Attribute values Spells
Strength: 2 Constitution: 3 Soul Branding(utility) Soul Trap(utility)
Dexterity: 5 Spirit: 6 Soul Scouring(utility)
¡° Just when he was preparing to take a break, something unknown alerted him.
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Dexterity: 5(+1)
Spending so much time engraving raised my dexterity... it does make sense, all I''ve been doing lately is practicing it." Chapter 2: First undead Straverra Bloodworth...Basic Runology by Chudrem Dreadmore...Inscription Insights by Mardomri Ironarm...Soul Scouring by Porael Magnus...Common Wildlife anatomy by Thaleus Juwyn...Human Anatomy by Alistar Norberg...Neophyte''s guide by Dalekai The Mentor.¡± in the future. Neophyte¡¯s guide by Malekai The Mentor reserve to be commanded. artificing with alchemy and have it blow poisonous gas from its mouth! Hmph, I¡¯m doing you a favor and you won¡¯t even say hello first.¡± she glowered at him. feydust you asked for, but can you afford it?¡± feydust, I¡¯ll pay you next week.¡± feydust was just too useful to him because of its effect to increase concentration. He needed every advantage he could get to increase his success rate when enchanting failure was too expensive for him to bear right now.
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Lesser soul gem: Humanoid beast type(werewolf)
Mastery: Claws proficiency(apprentice) Leap(beginner)
duergar¡¯s skin was light gray, he had fiery red short hair and was clean-shaven. feydust, every movement of his hand firm and precise. He let out a sigh of relief after finishing engraving the last line. He was glad nothing unexpected happened. Taking a single lesser soul essence from his coffer, he mumbled a chant under his breath, the essence melting and filling the engraved runes in the bone, imbuing the entire skeleton in a colorless glow. Mortimer had a wide smile on his face. This glow was the confirmation that the enchantment was a success. The bodily glow dissipated after a minute, only the engraved runes on the back of its head were dimly glowing now. was two meters tall even with its neck hunched and head brought forward. Its teeth and claws looked razor-sharp and ready to tear anything to shreds. The gray coating made it look like an odd sculpture made of iron and gave it a much-needed resistance to blunt damage. it in his mind.
Basic information Mastery
Name: Iron wolf Race: Undead skeleton Claws proficiency(apprentice)
Age: 0 Class: Werewolf Leap(beginner)
Attribute values Body Enchantments
Strength: 8(+5) Constitution: 8 Lesser strength rune set(+5)
Dexterity: 16 Spirit: 0
Chapter 3: Colosseum ruins The next day after finishing his chores, Mortimer arrived in front of Melissa¡¯s quarters accompanied by his werewolf undead. After knocking and waiting for a moment, the door cracked open and Melissa''s head popped out the gap. ¡°You came! I thought you¡¯d ditch me.¡± she pulled Mortimer inside by his arm. He looked around her room, it was the same size as his, but the interior was completely different. She had replaced the previous furniture with fancier cream-colored variants and had a vanity set added, along with a white fur carpet and magic crystal lamps. But there was no sign of Melissa¡¯s undead inside. His skeleton followed after him inside, the door closing behind them. Melissa looked the werewolf undead over from all angles. ¡°It looks quite good, my resin made it look less nasty than skeletons usually are.¡± she poked the surface. Mortimer pulled Melissa back by her ponytail. ¡°Don¡¯t scratch the paint.¡± She turned her head and grinned at him. ¡°Oh, you¡¯ve grown quite attached to it already.¡± ¡°Everyone gets attached to their first one.¡± She nodded. ¡°I liked mine more when I saw it in action. You still haven¡¯t used yours yet, right?¡± ¡°Where is yours anyway?¡± ¡°It¡¯s right here.¡± she pointed to the ceiling. Mortimer looked up, only to see a giant spider wreathed in snowy white fur upside down on the ceiling, it had a fair amount of bald patches, ten legs, two large fangs, and multiple dull blue eyes. He widened his eyes and took a step back the instant he spotted it, he hadn¡¯t noticed it at all the entire time he was here. Melissa tilted her head, looking at him oddly. ¡°Why¡¯d you get scared? It¡¯s quite fluffy and cute, not scary at all compared to your boney werewolf.¡± The snow spider dropped down on the floor, standing at around one meter tall and two meters long. Mortimer regained his composure and gestured to the door. ¡°Let¡¯s get going, you don¡¯t want to miss your match.¡± Outside the catacombs, the charred ruins of the ancient city were overgrown with plants, gray clouds covered the entire sky, joined by the howling wind. ¡°It looks like it¡¯s going to rain soon.¡± Mortimer looked up to the sky. ¡°I hope not, my fluffy spider will smell terrible if it gets wet.¡± Their loose black robes were billowing with the wind, heading towards the ruins of the colosseum with their undead in tow. Mortimer pulled the hair that was blowing in his face away. ¡°How long is this gonna take?¡± Melissa ran her fingers through the frost spider¡¯s snowy fur. ¡°Won¡¯t take long at all, I¡¯ll kick his ass then we¡¯ll be done.¡± Mortimer spotted the dilapidated colosseum in the distance, it was one of the few structures still standing in the ruins. It was shaped like a circle with some open portions of it that had collapsed over time. The stone it was made out of blackened from the great fire thousands of years ago. There was an expansive arena in the middle of it, the spectator rows were completely collapsed and unuseable. When they arrived inside the ruins, they spotted over a dozen other neophytes that were accompanied by their undead, separated into their owns groups. A minority were having undead duels inside the expansive arena, most were watching or putting down bets at the bookmaking for upcoming popular matchups. There was also a small section dedicated to trading or other services located away from everything else. The neophytes who lived in the catacombs usually gathered here to test out their new creations in live combat, socialize, gamble or trade, it was a hotspot for entertainment among them. Mortimer looked around the bustling place. ¡°It¡¯s quite busy.¡± ¡°Everyone gathers here when they have nothing else to do.¡± ¡°Do you remember when we last came here?¡± she squinted her eyes at him. ¡°We bought the werewolf skeleton and soul at a trading stall here months ago.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, so you still remember.¡± she let out a sigh. ¡°Of course I do.¡± Mortimer avoided her eye contact. She put on a half-hearted smile and nodded. ¡°Let''s get this over with.¡± When they reached the betting stall, there were three neophytes around it, Mortimer was surprised to recognize two of them. It was Gregory who was running the bookmaker stall, the duergar courier that dropped off his feydust yesterday, and an unfamiliar slim and tall female drow covering herself with the hood of her robe, he could only get a glimpse of her skin and gray hair. The trio was accompanied by their undead, keeping them close to themselves. Gregory¡¯s was a set composed of an armored zombie warhorse, upon which sat a skeleton knight wielding a lance. Its heavy iron armor plate was black, with a horned open-faced helmet and a ragged black cape on it¡¯s back.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. The drow woman¡¯s undead was a tall desiccated zombie with white skin, wearing a set of steel plate armor that shined in a purple tint with sharp spikes attached all over its surface, and wielded a twin blade set. The duergar spotted Melissa approaching and bared his teeth at her, making no attempt to hide his hostility. His bear skeleton turning to face her along with its master, its bones were reinforced by small iron plates and it had a brass Gatling gun mounted on top of it¡¯s back. Mortimer frowned at Melissa. ¡°I thought this wasn¡¯t personal.¡± ¡°They¡¯re all like this.¡± she snickered, making the duergar watching ball his fists at the sight. The two of them arrived in front of the stall, interrupting Gregory and the drow woman from their conversation. ¡°You¡¯re here too.¡± he gave Mortimer a cursory glance before fixing it on Melissa. ¡°What are you going to stake on your match against Gruth?¡± Melissa narrowed her eyes at Mortimer before opening her satchel and digging through. She pulled a pouch from inside, tossing it on the stall¡¯s table. ¡°Forty lesser soul essences, can you match it?" she put on a mocking smile. Gruth swallowed hard. ¡°Uhmm¡­¡± he turned to look at Gregory. ¡°Can you lend me some?¡± Gregory grinned. ¡°Don¡¯t you already have another outstanding debt to me?¡± He scowled at Gregory, crossing his thick hands in front of him. ¡°I¡¯m gonna pay that off after I win, I¡¯m tired of running errands for your sleazy ass.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± He turned to Melissa. ¡°I¡¯ll pay you in his place if he loses.¡± Gruth spat on the ground. ¡°C''mon.¡± The duergar walked off in the distance to pick a space for their duel, his bear skeleton following behind with heavy steps. Mortimer patted Melissa¡¯s back. ¡°Good luck.¡± ¡°Just watch me crush him.¡± Melissa tailed Gruth to their designated dueling space, followed closely by her skittering snow spider zombie. The drow female spoke for the first time with a husky voice after they left. ¡°Who¡¯ll think will win?¡± Gregory rolled his eyes. ¡°I¡¯d never lend him money if I thought he¡¯d win.¡± She frowned but didn¡¯t speak further. The snow spider and bear skeleton were fifty meters apart and facing each other, their controllers taking a long distance from them to prevent getting hit by any stray attacks. The heavy bear skeleton stood its ground, hunkering down and angling itself to face the enemy, waiting for the snow spider to close in so it could riddle it with holes. ¡°It''ll all come down to if she can reach him.¡± the drow squinted at the faraway battle. Mortimer sat down on his skeletal improvised chair and watched the fight with his hand to his face, he wasn''t particularly interested in the outcome. When the snow spider came within forty meters, bursts of tiny metal balls were fired upon it from the Gatling gun, coupled with a series of bangs and a cloud of smoke. Most of them missed and hit the ground next to it, kicking up dust, but a couple of dozen shots hit true and embedded themselves in its flesh, staining it¡¯s white snowy fur with dark green blood. The spider was frantically dodging to the sides to avoid the metal storm released upon it, green blood trickling on the ground from its numerous small holes. While none of them managed to dig deep enough to truly cripple it, the damage was accumulating fast all over its body. It finally skittered to the side further enough to get out its range after advancing twenty meters in, forcing the bear to have to stand up and reposition itself to be able to hit it. When the bear sat back down and was ready to fire, the spider had already moved to the side and out of it¡¯s firing range. Gruth¡¯s face was red with veins pulsing in his neck, shouting incomprehensible and obscene words from across the field at the spider. It seemed he never even considered that his enemy would ever make it close enough to make this happen, he underestimated the speed and resilience of the spider. Gregory had his feet kicked up on his stall and laughed at the sight. ¡°What a silly battle.¡± ¡°It was completely different yesterday, he fought a slow ogre zombie and it didn¡¯t manage to even get close before dropping down. It¡¯s a bad matchup for him.¡± The drow shook her head. The fight turned one-sided as soon as Melissa¡¯s spider got close enough to easily dodge the volley of shots by leaping to the side. The bear could do nothing to turn its hefty Gatling gun fast enough to target the spider, it was more of a burden at this stage. When the snow spider came into melee range, the bear was too top-heavy to use its paws or teeth to fight without tipping itself over. It took multiple hits by the spider¡¯s front legs, it¡¯s bones showing faint cracks where it had been hit. Gruth¡¯s shouts were heard across the field when he realized continuing the fight was futile. ¡°Stop! I lost, stop hitting it!¡± Melissa smiled at him and commanded her snow spider to maneuver to the bear¡¯s side, anchoring it¡¯s back legs into the ground and shoving with it¡¯s front, tipping the bear over. The skeleton bear collapsed in a heap on its side, the heavy Gatling gun snapping it¡¯s boney spine in two from the impact and crashing into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. Gruth knelt on the ground when he saw it''s tragic state when the dust cleared out, his eyes getting moist at the sight of his undead getting destroyed. While he could glue the bones together and mend the cracks, they would be much more fragile than before and prone to snap again in the same places. The skeleton was ruined. The snow spider returned to Melissa after it¡¯s victory, green blood trickling from the small holes in its fur. She took out a vial and syringe from her satchel, injecting the solution into its wounds to stop the bleeding and begun its post-battle treatment. Melissa let out a pronounced sigh when she saw the additional missing patches of snowy fur, she could not regrow those. "One day it''s gonna end up completely bald..." After she was done, Melissa strutted over to the stall holding her head high at their stares. ¡°Told you I¡¯ll crush it.¡± Gregory tossed a pouch containing eighty lesser soul essences to Melissa, then turned his head to look at Gruth who was crouched over his destroyed skeleton with tears in his eyes. ¡°You did.¡± "You didn''t have to take it that far." the drow shook her head and walked towards where Gruth was, her undead trailing behind. After exchanging a few words with him, she used her zombie¡¯s strength to carry the still intact Gatling gun on its shoulder, abandoning the ruined bear skeleton on the field and leaving the colosseum together with Gruth. Melissa stuck her tongue out at the drow when she was a fair distance away. "He shouldn''t have looked at me that way." Gregory chuckled. "You shouldn''t offend her, her undead is one of the strongest among all of us." Mortimer looked at Gregory''s mounted knight and asked him. "Stronger than yours?" He choked on his saliva. "Ahem, of course not, but her undead got a master dual-wielding mastery, it''s scary at close range." A set of unknown neophytes approached Gregory for his bookmaking services, taking his attention away. Melissa nudged Mortimer. "Let''s check out the stalls before we leave, I got plenty of money to spend now." He trailed after Melissa, he was interested in what they had to offer as well, even if he couldn''t afford anything. Chapter 4: Forest The duo approached the first stall in sight, looking through the displayed wares together. There were small enchanted trinkets laid out on display, flasks filled with unknown substances, a small selection of lesser and common soul gems of different creatures, sets of bones and even a whole preserved corpse and other miscellaneous fleshy pieces stored in embalming fluid. There was a young man with tied back blonde hair sitting down behind it, smoking on a pipe and flanked by a heavily cloaked undead servant. He took a cursory glance at the approaching Mortimer and Melissa but dismissed them when he saw how young they were. Mortimer had his interest piqued by a dried out green-skinned troll corpse propped up on a stand. It was above two and a half meters tall, a slim body with long and ungainly limbs, three-toed feet and powerful clawed hands. He pointed towards it and asked the vendor. "What''s the price on that?" "Ten common essences." he said plainly, not even turning his head to look at him. A single common soul essence was worth five lesser ones, so the troll corpse cost fifty lesser essences or two hundred and fifty petty soul essences. While it was an exorbitant amount for him, it didn''t seem too overpriced all things considered. Perfectly preserved corpses sold for the highest prices and the troll was a rare monster in the first place. They were solitary and long-lived creatures, some of them even end up developing into greater soul monsters with age. Melissa wrinkled her nose. "Such a disgusting thing, who would want it around them?" The vendor shrugged and hit his pipe. "Some people have odd tastes, especially underground folk." Melissa browsed through the pile of books and pulled out thick a herbology tome, holding it up for the vendor to see. ¡°How much for this?¡± ¡°Ten lesser essences.¡± he took a glance at the book before returning to toking his pipe. She left its price on the table before turning her attention back to the tome and shuffling through its pages. ¡°It¡¯s quite extensive, there¡¯s plenty of things I have no knowledge about in here.¡± Mortimer shook his head and walked off, he didn¡¯t have anything to pay with, window shopping was too frustrating. Melissa spotted him leaving and followed after him, holding the thick tome with both hands to her chest. ¡°Wait up, I¡¯m going back too.¡±
Melissa and Mortimer were in front of the staircase leading down into the Black Ruins Catacombs. Small droplets were trickling down his face while he was looking up at the cloudy sky. ¡°I wanted to make a trip to Crowshire order some custom armor for my skeleton, but the weather¡¯s terrible.¡± He sighed, even if it was just a drizzle right now, it would most likely be pouring when he returned. Melissa chuckled. ¡°It''s just some water, what¡¯s the big deal?¡± ¡°The big deal is, it might wash off the resin from my skeleton, I don¡¯t have any left to touch it up.¡± ¡°Oh, that shouldn¡¯t be that bad as long as you dry it off when you come back, you¡¯re worrying for no reason. I made that stuff, it shouldn''t be so crappy¡­I hope.¡± Mortimer blinked. ¡°You wanna come with me?¡± She looked up at the sky before shaking her head. ¡°I don¡¯t want my hair to get wet, or my spider, plus I don¡¯t like that town, it¡¯s too depressing.¡± He pointed down the stairs towards the catacombs. ¡°Isn¡¯t living in there more depressing?¡± She puffed her cheeks out and rebuked him. ¡°At least nobody tosses their shit out into the street in the catacombs and it¡¯s much quieter and peaceful.¡± ¡°Fine, you have a point there.¡± he shook his head and turned to leave. ¡°I¡¯ll be going then, see you later.¡± Melissa snatched him by his arm just as he turned around, putting on a sweet smile. ¡°Can you pick up a few things for me?¡± ¡°No.¡± he pulled his arm back and frowned at her. ¡°I¡¯m not your chore boy.¡± Her smile disappeared and was instead replaced with a piercing glare. ¡°I¡¯ll pay you one essence, that should be worth your time.¡± Mortimer pondered for a moment before nodding, a soul essence was enough for him to attempt another enchantment. ¡°Alright, what do you need?¡± She pulled a lesser soul essence from her pouch, it was clear colored and glowing dimly. Mortimer stuffed it in his pocket, then took out a small booklet and stubby graphite pen from his satchel. Mortimer turned away to shield the booklet from the water with his body, then opened it on an empty page and looked up at her. ¡°Go on.¡±This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. She had a mischievous grin on her face while barraging Mortimer with alchemy ingredient names. ¡°Creep clusters, lavender, nightshade, taproots, jazbay grapes, deathbells and fly amaritas, that should be everything you can buy locally.¡± Mortimer hastily scribbled down every name mentioned by her, his writing fast and accurate due to his extensive training in engraving. ¡°Slow down, what quantity for each and what shops should I go look for them in?¡± ¡°Quantity? Just buy everything you can find, and all of the shops. They¡¯re nothing too expensive, I need enough for a few months at least, it¡¯s fine if they¡¯re dried too.¡± Melissa unhooked a cloth pouch from her waist and tossed it at him. Mortimer heard the clink of metal when he caught it in his hands, raising an eyebrow at Melissa. ¡°You want me to haul kilograms of ingredients back here through the rain? Your money really doesn¡¯t come easy.¡± The only reason he didn¡¯t immediately refuse her was that his skeleton would do most of the carrying, but it would still slow down his pace. ¡°Don¡¯t take too long, I need them today.¡± she gestured him goodbye then walked down the stairs and into the catacombs, followed in by her patchy furred spider minion. Mortimer watched her walk off quietly before heading off towards a dirt road in the distance, accompanied by his skeleton. The sound of the rain engulfing the desolate ruins. The town of Crowshire was a few kilometers away from the catacombs and separated by a small forest. It was located geographically on an isolated peninsula that was disconnected from the rest of the mainland, there were no trade routes by land or sea. The population of the town was a meager five thousand with mostly humans but also a few minorities, it was the biggest town above ground within hundreds of kilometers. A fair amount of its population were fugitives, outcasts, exiles, deserters and their families that settled down to start a new life in a faraway place. All things considered, it was a wonder it hadn¡¯t devolved into anarchy and there was still some semblance of law and order.
Mortimer was trudging through the dim forest in the direction of the town when he spotted a family of black boars from the corner of his eye, it was a mother trailed by five little piglets drinking from a creek. ¡°That¡¯s a lesser soul right there.¡± A struggling expression showed up on his face when he spotted the little black piglets trailing it. Every lesser soul he could get was important to him, he couldn''t get stronger without hunting for his own resources to use. ¡°Can I really murder a mother in front of her children?¡± he shook his head, then turned to look at his werewolf undead. ¡°If I had to do with my owns hands I couldn¡¯t¡­but indirectly¡­¡± After hiding his body behind a tree, he willed his werewolf skeleton to crouch down and stealthily approach the boar family busy drinking water. The boar mother suddenly turned around in the direction of the skeleton when he got closer and oinked at her children to get behind her. Mortimer slapped his forehead, the resin had a strong chemical smell, it couldn¡¯t escape the notice of the boar¡¯s strong nose. ¡°Stealth¡¯s a failure, guess this is one of the resin¡¯s downsides when facing creatures with sensitive noses.¡± The gray skeleton leaped out the bushes and landed in front of the guarded mother boar, spooking its children and having them huddle behind their guardian. The mother boar courageously took a stand against the bigger predator to protect its children, it pawed the ground and grunted in threat, preparing to charge. Its charge was easily sidestepped by it at the last second with uncanny grace, instead making it easier for the undead to disembowel the boar with its sharp claws as it passed by. The little piglets saw their mother fall down and squealed in fright, turning tail to escape without any regard for their siblings. They all split up and ran in different directions of the forest while whining. Mortimer came out from behind the tree and approached the gutted boar with a downcast expression. He commanded his undead to finish it off with a jab of its claws through its skull, then withdrew a dull crystalline gem from his pouch. ¡°Am I going to have to fend off revenge attacks from magical piglets in the future? It isn¡¯t impossible for them to find and eat some kind of legendary magical herb.¡± he snorted and shook his head. Touching a part of its untainted fur, he chanted under his breath while holding the empty soul gem. A tiny wisp of light was sucked out of the boar¡¯s body while he was chanting the soul trap spell, imprisoning it inside the empty gem. The previously dull soul gem was emitting a faint white glow now that it was filled with a soul.
Lesser Soul Gem: contains beast type lesser soul (black boar adult)
Now that he had extracted it¡¯s raw soul, there were several ways he could process it. If he wanted to make a boar undead and have a shot at obtaining any mastery skills from its soul, he''d had to spend the time to comb through it with a soul scouring spell. By using the spell, he could browse through the boar¡¯s entire life memories like flipping pages through a book, and selectively keep only the useful mastery experiences and knowledge accumulated over its entire life, erasing everything else that could make it have a will of its own. It was a lengthy and time-consuming process, especially in the case of processing long-lived creatures that have lifespans of hundreds of years. Proficiency in soul scouring was measured by how fast you could finish processing a soul and the quantity and quality of the extracted masteries. Naturally, you couldn''t extract masteries from somebody who spent their entire life sleeping in a cave and never did anything. A soul¡¯s masteries can be anything that the individual was proficient at while alive, and it doesn''t necessarily need to be combat-related. It could be proficiency with a certain kind of weapon or playing a musical instrument, anything that could be considered a skill was able to be extracted from a raw soul and used. A beginner neophyte like Mortimer would need days to browse through the years of the boar¡¯s lifespan to get an acceptable result, while a master at soul scouring could finish in minutes with a much better result. While there are masters at soul scouring that could fabricate memories to their benefit to gain the loyalty of intelligent lifelike undead, the fabricated memories will erode over time, there have been many cases of overconfident necromancers having their intelligent undead turn on them when they realized the truth down the line. It was much safer to turn them into brainless husks of their former selves and preserve only their most important skills. If the soul was not particularly useful to the necromancer, there was always the second option to refine it into a soul essence. Soul essences were the currency most often used among necromancers, they could be used as fuel for enchanting, or the most common use, to nurture their spirit. Nurturing the spirit with soul essences to raise it was the most popular method used by necromancers, it was a slow process and took a lot of accumulation every day to see results, it couldn¡¯t be rushed. A neophyte would need to slowly increase it to the value of thirty before they could attempt to step into the realm of a Rank 1 Necromancer. Chapter 5: Crowshire After traveling through the forest, Mortimer emerged outside the treeline and spotted Crowshire in the distance. It was a tiny town surrounded by a shabby stone wall and a few watchtowers that had seen better days. It was afternoon and raining lightly. The entrance to the city only had a few lined up cloaked travelers and the guard on duty to attend the gates. The guard was resting his spear against the wall, wearing a set of plain chain-mail armor over his clothes and hiding from the rain in an alcove. He was taking a sip of a local hard alcohol brew when he spotted Mortimer, trailed by his werewolf skeleton with blood-stained claws. His eyes went wide, and he choked on the strong alcohol, coughing harshly with his eyes watering. The traveler next in line looked oddly at him, but then turned his head and froze on the spot. Mortimer walked towards the gates unobstructed, everyone quieted down when they noticed his undead. The people in line to enter the city gave him a wide berth when he skipped it, not even daring to look at him. Mortimer was just a young thirteen-year-old boy, but his halo as a necromancer nevertheless induced respect that was rooted in fear to the common folk, especially the people of Crowshire who lived so close to the catacombs and had more contact with them. The guard on duty smacked the stupefied traveler blocking his way aside with the butt of his spear. ¡°Move aside, worm!¡± Mortimer looked at the scene oddly. While he knew that most people in town were spooked by necromancers, some of the more daring ones would always try to find a way to ingratiate themselves with one. The guard bowed to him and took a step to the side after pulling the gate open. ¡°Welcome to Crowshire.¡± Mortimer walked past him and into the city unhindered, taking a cursory glance around the bleak city as he advanced. The buildings were at most two stories tall with their exterior paint chipped and stained. They were in a dire need for renovation. The roads were filthy and there was no plumbing, the residents often dumped their waste out into the street. The streets were void of people because of the bad weather, which Mortimer quite appreciated. He didn¡¯t like the reactions people had to him in here. He finally arrived at his destination after taking a few turns through the streets, it was a plain-looking smithy in an out of the way area, it was out of the way and not the best location for business. Mortimer walked inside nonchalantly, staining the wooden flooring with his muddy feet. The storefront had no one staffing it, so he just went around and into the atelier in the back to look for the blacksmith. In the back, a three-meter giant was sitting down at an oversized table and having a modest meal. His skin was wrapped up in bandages except for his mouth and eyes. The exposed skin that was not hidden was covered in unsightly warts. Mortimer knew him as Bubos. Most of the armor used by the neophytes in the catacombs was made by him and he was the most popular blacksmith in their circle. Bubos was not his real name, but something he adopted after leaving his clan. The reason for his skin condition was that when he was traveling through some marshes years ago, he had accidentally stumbled into the outskirts of a hydra nest. All plant life surrounding it was dead and rotten, but it was already too late by the time he realized his folly. He turned back immediately and never even caught sight of any hydra, but he had still contracted a serious skin affliction that left him on the brink of death just from the residual poison released in the air by the Rank 2 creature in its territory. Only the strong racial constitution of a giant allowed him to last enough time until he could return to his clan, get immediate treatment and preserve his life. Any other physically weaker race would have succumbed to the poison within hours. But while his life was preserved, things were not the same after that. His skin was completely covered in green warts that refused to go away no matter what. His wife left him after several healers failed to cure him, and his friends and family started avoiding him after his change. Children even started calling him derogatory names. Everything he had built over his entire life was gone just because of one unlucky encounter, the only thing he had left was blacksmithing. After that he started covering his unsightly appearance and isolated himself in his workshop to distract himself from his depression, focusing entirely on improving his blacksmithing skills. After a few short years of dedicating himself to it, he had achieved the milestone of an expert blacksmith and left his clan to travel the world and find a master to learn more from, and possibly find somebody more competent who could cure his skin. He was already an outcast in his clan so he didn¡¯t feel any remorse about abandoning them. They had abandoned him first. He didn¡¯t tell anybody about his advancement, but he was still a journeyman before this. Some elders opposed it because his skills were still valuable to them. However, nobody insisted for him to stay when he made his resolve to leave clear. He was only forced to renounce his clan name.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. The reason he settled down in Crowshire was actually to get the help of the catacomb''s master and Rank 1 necromancer, Igor. He was an expert at alchemy and was his best bet for curing his affliction permanently, but it was impossible for Bubos to even talk to him, let alone get treatment. Trying to enter the catacombs without permission was a suicide mission. The only plan he could think of to attract Igor¡¯s attention was to render his best services to his apprentices and create a connection to him through them, he was bound to get their master''s attention. However, what Bubos didn''t know was, even the neophytes who were his apprentices rarely ever got to see him, and it was impossible to get an audience. Mortimer himself only had a hazy memory of him from his inherited memories and it was only for a few seconds when the original had just joined under him as a neophyte. Bubos turned his head to Mortimer, who just entered and said with a deep voice. ¡°What do you need?¡± The skeleton werewolf followed closely behind, attracting the giant¡¯s attention. ¡°Hmm, not bad, it¡¯s one of the more pleasant-looking ones I¡¯ve seen.¡± ¡°It¡¯s the paint, isn¡¯t it?¡± Mortimer sat down in a free chair, ready to discuss at length his wishes for the armor. The giant nodded. He picked up a leather measuring tape roll from a high shelf and approached the skeleton to inspect it more closely. ¡°What do you want me to do?¡± ¡°It needs to be light and not impair its agility, regular steel should be good enough.¡± Mortimer held his chin in thought. ¡°I can make a pair of pauldrons, shinguards, armguards, and a belt tasset, it could use its teeth with an open-faced helmet too.¡± Mortimer nodded. ¡°Can you make a pair of proper claw gauntlets? If it keeps using its hands to fight, they''ll eventually snap.¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll talk to you about the price after I note down all the sizes, making armor for bones is challenging.¡± he took out a notebook and started scribbling down the measurements he took off the skeleton, it took a long time before he finished recording everything. After he was done, he put everything away and faced Mortimer. ¡°Hmm, since you necromancers rarely deal with gold, I¡¯ll take soul essences. I trade with your peers quite often.¡± ¡°Five lesser soul essences is a good price, I won¡¯t make a loss.¡± he put on a nausea-inducing smile. Mortimer smiled awkwardly. Even with a huge discount from Bubos¡¯ ulterior motives and wish to get a good first impression, he still came up short with three essences. ¡°I¡¯ll pay you two upfront, and the other three when I pick everything up.¡± Bubat nodded. ¡°That¡¯s acceptable.¡± Mortimer pulled out the lesser soul essence he got from Melissa and the soul gem he had just harvested from the mother boar, presenting them to him. He raised an eyebrow when he noticed the difference between them, the essence was smaller and shaped like a clear pearl with a uniform dim white glow coming out of it, while the soul gem looked like a clear crystalline shard with a small glowing wisp encased in the center. ¡°Why does one look different from the other?¡± Bubos tilted his head. ¡°It hasn''t been refined yet, but it¡¯s still worth one essence.¡± Mortimer had a light blush on his face. ¡°So what''s why... I¡¯ll have your order ready in seven days.¡± he nodded. Bubos led him to the exit personally, and Mortimer left in high spirits with his undead. He was ogling his werewolf skeleton while fantasizing about how great it''d look in its new armor, but then his mood worsened when he remembered he still had to buy herbs for Melissa. ¡°She¡¯s definitely trying to torment me for denying her.¡± he snorted. He took out his booklet under an alcove, shielding himself from the increasingly stronger rain. After reading through the ingredients he needed to purchase, he pulled his robe¡¯s hood over his head and begun scouring the city for every herb and medicine shop he could find and buying out their stock of the specified ingredients. It was starting to get dark by the time he finished going through most of the shops in town. He had amassed a sizeable collection of required herbs, both fresh and dry. His werewolf had an over-sized wicker basket strapped to its back, packed to the brim with his purchases. Mortimer¡¯s boots and the bottom of his robe were soaked in wet mud, he had a miserable expression on his face after he was finished. While he could have called it quits early and lie to Melissa that he did his best, he wouldn¡¯t have even amassed a quarter of what he currently had and his lies would have been seen through. Souring his relationship with the only person who could aid him in this new world seemed like a terrible idea, especially when it was over such a trivial matter. The only upside was that the rain had stopped while he was busy running around town and he wouldn¡¯t return to the catacombs completely drenched. His trip back to the catacombs was uneventful, but much slower because of the wet terrain and the burden on his skeleton from the ungainly wicker basket. His robes were a complete muddy mess by the time he saw the entrance. ¡°Finally back¡­¡± he exhaled and stepped down the steps and into the familiar catacombs, almost tumbling down on the slippery stairs more than once. The neophytes that passed him in the corridors gave him amused looks. He looked like he¡¯d just been in a mud fight. After entering his room and tossing his dirty boots and robe aside, he controlled his skeleton to deliver the wicker basket to Melissa''s room while he prepared to take a much-needed shower. Melissa opened her door only see a mud-covered werewolf skeleton facing her, she almost let out a yelp at the sight. "You...you scared me." She unhooked the moist wicker basket from its back, took the top off and rummaged through it in her doorstep. She raised her brow at the sheer amount of alchemy ingredients. "He really did it? I don''t need this many..." Chapter 6: Giant Rats , alchemy, artificing or other services, form up groups to tackle objectives together, or bounty notices for creatures to be killed and have their bodies or souls brought back to the issuer for rewards. Bubos for the armor and his three petty essence debt to Gregory for the feydust. boar sized rats. ¡± she sipped the last of her black tea. the issue of his teammates. While he was unfamiliar with Doland, he knew Gruth from the other day at the colosseum and as Gregory¡¯s lackey. He was worried that the duergar would resent him as well for his affiliation with Melissa and become uncooperative during the mission. Looking around the room for something he could use to wake him up with, he paused when he saw a water canteen. dro¡­ what? Who are you!?¡± he pulled the wet hair out of his face and stared at Mortimer with wide-open eyes. The mushroom crocodile turning towards him. duergar looked like an unkempt mess, with heavy eye bags and he gave off a fishy stench that made their noses scrunch up. Chapter 7: Hunt
Lesser Soul Gem: contains insect type lesser soul (giant spider, adult)
Lesser Soul Gem: contains beast type lesser soul (giant rat, adult)
heard startled them, but after a dozen false alarms, they let their guard down and relaxed. Those tense minutes felt like hours to them and tired them out mentally. It was too much for these inexperienced neophytes. feeling of terror Igor¡¯s experimental abominations gave him. to completely dodge the tail swipe. It held its hands in front of it to defend and they took the brunt of the glancing blow. look for Gruth, he realized that he was long gone. He spotted his slow crab skittering away in the distance after him. smell suddenly grew stronger. Chapter 8: Return ¡±
¡®Is he afraid a monster took my appearance?¡° ¡° It sounds like a greater basilisk had burrowed up from down below¡­ It¡¯s a wonder you got away, the greater kind is a lot meaner.¡± heard two people went missing, but nothing else.¡± went back to sleep, he was still exhausted. them day in and day out. Only taking a break when his hands were too worn out to continue. The feeling of utter helplessness he experienced back then kept him dedicated. Crowshire. were adorned with silver details.
He thought back to the basilisk¡¯s tail swipe but shook his head. ¡°It would still get crushed all the same."