...
A little too excited, he didn't seem to "notice" several adventurers in worn leather armor emerging from a dark alleyway.
They exchanged glances, each flashing a malicious grin.
Then they split up and began to follow him.
But they also failed to "notice" the faint smile that touched Lynch's lips beneath his hood.
A few moments later, after Lynch had made several twists and turns and entered a dark alley, both its entrance and exit were blocked almost simultaneously.
Blocking the path ahead were two brawny men with their arms crossed and sneers on their faces, while behind him were three sinister-looking individuals toying with daggers.
The group of five closed in on Lynch, their intentions dripping with malice.
Lynch stopped. Then, under the dumbfounded gazes of the bandits, he unhurriedly drew out his sinister Magic Staff.
With a wave of the staff, he summoned Bone Jade, a Skeleton King of who-knows-what generation.
The eerie green Soul Fire in its eye sockets flickered, and its aura was chilling and dreadful.
At the same time, a [Weakness Curse] formed at the tip of the Magic Staff. The ghastly pale light, characteristic of Undead Magic, cast his face in a particularly menacing and terrifying shadow.
"Someone from an Extraordinary Profession!"
"A Ne... a Necromancer?!"
The five adventurers, who had been so menacing just moments before, were instantly scared pale, their legs trembling uncontrollably.
They never dreamed they would end up trying to rob a Necromancer.
If they had been facing anyone else from an Extraordinary Profession, they might have considered fighting back or running away. But against a Necromancer, their minds were filled with nothing but a chaotic jumble of fears—their corpses desecrated after death, refined into Skeletons, their souls imprisoned and tormented, never to find peace.
"So, now," Lynch revealed a ghastly white smile. "Will you choose to become my Skeleton Servants, or will you hand over all your money to atone for your sins?"
The next moment, daggers clattered to the ground.
All five of them dropped to their knees, prostrating themselves and begging for mercy.
That's right.
This was, of course, one of Lynch's opportunistic fishing expeditions.
It wasn't the first time he'd done this.
Whenever he was short on cash, he could always count on "nature" to provide some "unexpected gifts."
「Three minutes later.」
When Lynch walked out of the dark alley with the Skeleton Soldier, Bone Jade, he was holding several shabby-looking money pouches, but his expression didn't seem very satisfied.
"Sigh, what bad luck."
"Adventurers these days are getting poorer and poorer," he muttered in disgust. "Nothing but copper plates and silver pieces. It all adds up to just over ten gold... Oh well, whatever. If you can't catch a fish, netting some shrimp is better than nothing."
Although he was complaining, he still briskly stuffed the money pouches into his robes.
After all, even the meat on a mosquito's leg is still meat.
Fortunately, his overall haul for the day was quite good.
Not only could he pay off all his debts, but he'd also have some left over.
Feeling pleased, Lynch felt his steps become a little lighter.
***
「The next day.」
When Lynch woke up on the hard plank bed in his cheap dorm room, the sky outside was already tinged with the dim yellow of twilight.
Most of his fatigue from the previous night had dissipated.
He rubbed his still-throbbing temples, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Bone Jade standing loyally by his bed, the green Soul Fire in its eye sockets flickering gently like a candle flame.
"Good, good Skeleton!"
Lynch couldn't help but praise it again. Compared to those crippled, sub-Tier One Skeletons, Bone Jade was clearly much smarter and stronger.
More importantly, there was a fundamental difference between it and the Skeleton Servants animated by the Undead Resurrection Skill using random corpses dug up from a burial ground.
From their birth in the Netherworld, they gestated a wisp of Soul Fire and possessed the potential to grow and evolve.
It was said that the Netherworld Skeletons under some powerful Necromancers could even evolve into Skeleton Warriors and Skeleton Commanders, helping their masters command legions of ordinary Skeleton Servants that lacked sentience and acted purely on instinct.
"Ah, Bone Jade." Lynch patted the Skeleton Soldier's smooth scapula and began to display his leadership skills. "Don't worry. Stick with me, and I'll make sure you live the good life in the future... In short, I'll never let your legendary potential go to waste."
'Of course, as for whether this is the exact same Bone Jade... I don't think it's necessary to look into it too deeply. They all look more or less the same anyway.'
The Soul Fire in Bone Jade's eyes seemed to flicker a little more cheerfully. Clearly, it was happily eating up the empty promise.
However, Lynch's stomach was rumbling with hunger right now. Cultivating his future key subordinate could wait; appeasing the temple of his five viscera was the top priority.
He picked up his sinister Magic Staff, recited a short incantation to Bone Jade, and sent it back to the Netherworld to rest. This would allow it to nourish its Soul Fire and recover its energy.
He just had to summon it back when he needed it.
Unfortunately, this act of summoning the same contracted Skeleton did not increase his skill experience.
Otherwise, Lynch would have maxed out his Summoned Skeleton experience long ago.
After sending Bone Jade away, Lynch changed into a black Undead apprentice robe, different from the one he wore last night, and left his dorm, heading straight for the cafeteria.
In recent years, the Undead Major had been in decline. The area was desolate with few people around. They had even lost their independent cafeteria and were forced to share the third cafeteria with the Holy Light Major.
In his black Undead apprentice robe, Lynch looked completely out of place in the third cafeteria, which was filled with white robes.
Fortunately, he wasn't the only one.
About a dozen other students from the Undead Major were also eating in the cafeteria. They had spontaneously gathered in a corner, talking amongst themselves in hushed tones as they ate.
In contrast to the sharp rivalry between the Undead and Holy Light Majors, the atmosphere among the Undead Major students themselves was quite warm.
Lynch sat down with his tray and casually listened in. He discovered they were discussing the recent incident involving Leon, as reported in the latest issue of *Rumors and Truth*.
A shifty-looking Undead apprentice was vividly describing the details of the incident, speaking with such animation it was as if he had witnessed it himself.
The other Undead apprentices listened, mesmerized, their faces full of schadenfreude and satisfaction.
Leon usually caused a lot of trouble for the Undead Major students; nine and a half out of ten apprentices here had been picked on by him.
With such entertaining dinner conversation, Lynch ate even faster than usual. After sweeping his large plate clean, he prepared to go to class.
Many of the Undead Major's classes were held at night, and the locations were often unusual, full of their major's characteristic flavor.
For example, the Chaotic Burial Grounds.
On the back mountain of Hurst Royal Academy, a Chaotic Burial Grounds had been specifically set aside. It served as both a place to dispose of unclaimed bodies and one of the most important practical training grounds for Necromancer apprentices.
In the early years, when the Undead Major was flourishing, fresh, unclaimed corpses were delivered to this graveyard every day, providing the apprentices with ample teaching materials.
But now, with the decline of the Undead Major, coupled with the intentional or unintentional obstruction from the Holy Light Church, the Chaotic Burial Grounds had grown desolate. They might not even get a few dozen corpses in an entire year.
By the time Lynch arrived at the Chaotic Burial Grounds, all eleven Undead apprentices in his year had already assembled.
Everyone found a relatively clean gravestone to sit on and waited patiently for their instructor to arrive.
The graveyard, shrouded in the night, was filled with a faint mist and the smell of decay, its atmosphere grim and silent.
Before long, the faint sound of footsteps could be heard.
Their instructor, Annabella, had arrived.
She appeared to be about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, with long golden hair and eyes as blue as a lake. Her skin was fair and her features delicate. Even wearing a loose, black Mage Robe, she couldn't hide her stunningly curvaceous and alluring figure.
Annabella was a rare great beauty among Necromancers.
She herself was an outstanding graduate of Hurst Royal Academy. Afterward, she traveled far to the Western Continent to study at the famous "Realm of the Dead"—the Nesto Undying Empire. She had only returned last year after completing her studies to take charge of Lynch's class year.
...