She counted her undead. It hadn’t changed, save for the four new ones. So, that brought the total to 1,159. About three-fourths of them were Ghouls, so they needed to eat flesh. After a bit of deliberation, Crystal decided that she didn’t want to deal with the horde, but didn’t want to get rid of it either. So, she took the four adventurers she had just turned- a Holy Lich, Lower Lich, Dread Knight, and a Shade, and left the rest in charge of guarding the fortress. She decided that the Goblin Skeleton- that was her name for it, for now- would be in charge. It was the biggest, and it seemed oddly intelligent as well, though it was still about as mindless as the rest of her undead.
After sorting out her supplies, she departed in the dead of night. Looking at the map, Mecork was about a month’s journey northeast. Crystal wanted to go there since that magic university really interested her. More options were always better, after all. Plus, she was really curious about her affinities. She wanted Fire magic for the firepower, but anything would work for her.
She had to have the Dread Knight pull the carriage, due to a lack of foresight. She forgot to tell her Ghouls to not eat any horses, and so they were annihilated. Crystal then cursed herself for not even trying to raise them as undead. She thought that it wouldn’t work on animals, but if it worked on goblins, who’s to say animals are out of the question?
The carriage was quite slow due to that mistake. Still, it was a steady pace at the very least, due to an undead’s infinite stamina. Crystal didn’t exactly want to walk into towns with a carriage pulled by an undead, though. That’s like making a massive sign on top of it saying “I am a Necromancer,” it’s a terrible idea. For now, though, they were traveling in the sticks. Nobody would see them, and Crystal was imploring a liberal use of Sense Life in order to make sure nobody got the jump on her. However, that didn’t apply when Crystal slept. She had a long day and had a bit of an emotional blow, so she was exhausted.
When she woke up, it seemed like they had traveled quite a distance. The sun was high in the sky now, so Crystal wanted to be more careful about people. And, lo and behold a merchant carriage did end up approaching. She hid her undead inside of the carriage and sat in it. The merchant stopped and shouted out to Crystal.
“Hey,” he said, “are you ok?”
Crystal peeked out of the carriage. The merchant looked like he was an older man, likely 50 or 60. He was balding, but he didn’t bother to hide it with a hat. He was wearing it like a badge of pride. Other than that, the only remarkable thing about him was that he was a bit on the plump side, which was a rarity in these parts.
“The horses were scared off,” Crystal lied. “I’ve been trying to think of ways to pull this thing for a good while now.”
The merchant thought for a moment.
“Well, I can take you to the next town, but I’m not sure how your carriage will fare in the meantime,” he said.
“I guess my carriage is less important than my life,” Crystal said. “I’ll gather money for a horse.”
Crystal was panicking a little. She had grabbed the money from her loot, and it all added up to 40 Trader’s Bills. Quite a sum. The most money Crystal had seen before was a single Large Trader’s Coin, and a single bill was worth 10 of those.
She hopped into the merchant’s carriage while ordering her undead to guard the one she left behind. She didn’t want them to jump out, but they did have permission to kill. She took her Shade with her, though. Just for safety’s sake.
The merchant and her barely spoke. He was going in the opposite direction that Crystal was going, but that was fine. She wanted a horse, after all. The main problem was twofold. Firstly, she had never ridden a horse before. Secondly, she had never driven a carriage before. The undead pulling it didn’t count. Crystal wondered if she could kill the horse and raise it as an undead, but that would cause the same problem as before. She figured she was just going to have to wing it, like everything else. Surely, it couldn’t be that hard.
It took a few hours, but they arrived in a small town. Crystal thanked the merchant and found a horse shop. A single horse cost her 5 large trader’s pieces, due to having to buy food, reins, and a saddle for it as well. So, she now had 39 bills and 5 large pieces. The town didn’t really have many other shops, and Crystal didn’t know what else she’d want anyway.
As Crystal was about to leave, she realized something. Everyone had been looking at her a bit oddly. She smelled like decay. Her robe was magical, so it didn’t stink, but that didn’t mean her skin, hair and other clothes couldn’t absorb the stench. She spent the remaining large pieces on some nice-looking clothes and hygiene products, for the sake of the Mecork Academy. She could probably just claim that she does something like burying corpses for a living, but at the academy, it’d be a bad look.
She took her newfound horse, who she hadn’t named yet, and got on its back. She held the reins with some hesitation. She squeezed on the horse tightly with her thighs and calves, since she was scared to get thrown off. She also leaned forwards, also out of fear. She then clicked her heels on the horse, since that’s how she had always seen it done. The horse didn’t move.
“Walk, damn you,” Crystal said a bit softly.
The horse went off, much to Crystal’s surprise. It wasn’t running, but it was trotting. Crystal was okay with that, since even at a trot, she was scared enough. At this pace, it’d take a few hours to get back to her carriage. It seemed like this horse was trained. Maybe it had responded to her saying the word "walk"? In that case…
“Go!” Crystal yelled.
The horse neighed and began sprinting. Crystal, also, began yelling. She wasn’t ready for that to actually work. She managed to stay on top, barely, but she was having a hell of an adrenaline rush. After what felt like a lifetime, but was actually about half an hour, the carriage was in sight.
“Woah! Cease! I said stop, damn it!” Crystal screamed.
The horse slowed down and came to a stop. Crystal got off, with some very shaky legs, and walked the rest of the distance. The carriage was untouched, it seemed.
Hooking the horse up to the carriage, she sat in the driver’s seat.
“Trot,” she said. The horse began trotting.
Crystal was amazed that this thing could understand verbal commands. She almost thought it was an intelligent shapeshifter, but she figured it was just well-trained. It took some trial and error, but she figured out that gently pulling on the reins could change how the horse moved. The carriage had a whip for the horse, but she figured that wasn’t meant to be used on the horse itself. What it was actually for, though, she had no clue.
Now that they had a horse, the pace was increased quite a bit. Of course, they had to stop to let it rest once in a while, but even with not being able to traverse at night or all the time during the day, the increase in speed was dramatic. Crystal also began silently missing the speed at which the horse ran. Oddly, even though it was terrifying, it was weirdly enjoyable.
Eventually, she decided to name the horse Gale. It had felt like a gale of wind, so she decided that was good enough. It didn’t have any special physical features anyway, just brown fur and black hooves.
After about two weeks, they made it to Mecork, a week ahead of schedule. Horses really did make a difference, didn’t they?
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Crystal was given the all-clear to enter the city and was directed to a designated part of the city to park her carriage. They’d even take care of her horse for free. Apparently, they had an entire program for it to encourage merchant business and tourism. She was thankful for that, but the real issue was the undead in the carriage. Well, Crystal’s undead were unusually silent and lifeless, so they wouldn’t give themselves away. Just to be safe, though, she’d look for a better spot to smuggle them. She also left her Necromancy-boosting robe in the carriage, since it was suspicious for someone to be hauling around a magic-centric city wearing something like that. Her Shade stayed with it. In a way, Crystal felt naked, even though she definitely wasn’t.
She decided to explore the town, but first, she visited a public bath. She dropped off her old, dirty, and stained white dress, and put on the nice outfit she had purchased. It wasn’t a dress, but something like a suit. It had black pants, a white button-up top with long sleeves, and some minor enchantment magic to protect it from staining. The enchantment bit is why it was so expensive. Washing her old clothes, and washing herself with her hygiene products, cost her three small trader’s coins. Cheap, but that was because she had her own stuff.
After that, she explored the town. She wasn’t going to jump at any food vendors, nor did she really intend to buy anything, but she just wanted to see what was around. Clothes, food, games, alcohol, all of it was on sale in the city, but she didn’t really care about any of that right now. She also checked out some inns but decided to hold off on booking a room in one for now. She might want to just sleep in her carriage to save her money.
Eventually, she found herself at the Magic Academy. Apparently, there was an application process, though taking it mid-way through the year like Crystal was about to do was rare. There was a fee of 5 trader’s bills for anyone who successfully entered, but it was free to apply. Well, that’s what the ad Crystal saw on a bulletin board said anyway.
Crystal approached the Academy and told the guards what she was there to do. They escorted her to the headmaster’s office since he was the one in charge of the tests. Walking through the hallways, Crystal could tell the place was kept to the highest sanitation standards. It didn’t have a particular smell, the floors were incredibly shiny, and the windows were large and spotless. Seeing glass windows at all was a bit of a culture shock for Crystal.
The guards stopped in front of two massive wooden doors. They opened it and gestured for Crystal to enter. She did, and before her sat a slightly older man. He looked to be an elf, with his long ears and blonde hair, but Crystal didn’t know much about non-human races, so she could’ve been mistaken. Eventually, the man looked up.
“Ah, are you here to apply?” he asked.
“Ah, uh, yes,” Crystal said, a bit nervously. She hadn’t used her voice to really speak to a person in weeks.
“Well, come on over,” the headmaster said. “I’ll give you an aptitude test right away!”
He seemed like an upbeat and passionate guy. He was dressed well enough. He scrambled in some drawers for a bit, before pulling out some device. It had six long tubes, all connected to a stone plate.
“Now, just place your hand on the stone plate,” he said.
Crystal did as she was told, and watched the six tubes. The entire mechanism started glowing white, and two of the tubes began filling with a strange, ethereal fluid. One was stark white, and one was pitch black.
In the end, only the last two tubes were filled, but they were filled nearly to the top.
“So, what in the world does that mean?” Crystal asked.
“It means you have a strong affinity for both Holy and Unholy magic,” the headmaster said. “A bit rare, but certainly not unheard of.”
Crystal was a bit disappointed. She had really hoped to be able to use Fire magic.
“Now,” the headmaster said, “I’m sad to say that, due to your Unholy affinity, you don’t qualify for most of the courses. At most, you’d be a guest in the academy.”
Crystal let out a small but audible sigh. In response to that, the headmaster smirked.
“But, it would be a waste to let someone like you go, right?” he said. “So, let me show you something.”
The headmaster beckoned Crystal to follow him. He led her to a bookshelf and yanked on one of the books. An audible click was heard, and he swung the shelf open like a door. Crystal had always thought the idea of a bookshelf door was bogus, but here she was, witnessing it.
It revealed a spiral staircase, going down. Crystal feared that she was about to be executed, but tried to put those baseless worries aside. The staircase itself was made of gray bricks, lit by the occasional torch. Crystal figured the torches were magical in some way, otherwise, she felt like there’d be some complications.
Eventually, they reached the bottom. It was full of grimoires, candles, and incense, it even had an altar.
“You know,” the headmaster said, “I also have an Unholy affinity. Frankly, I think it’s a miracle you managed to survive this long.”
“How so?” Crystal asked, still unsure of what was going on.
“The kingdom tends to weed out people who have Unholy affinities,” the headmaster said. “Did you have any difficulties when you were young?”
Crystal recalled her past.
“...My village, Craw, was eradicated,” she said. “I still don’t know who did it.”
“Well, the easiest explanation would be that a diviner figured out that you or someone else there could use Unholy magic,” the headmaster said, “but I can look into that for you. A kingdom that commits random atrocities isn’t a kingdom I want to be in.”
“Thank you, sir,” Crystal said. “Now, what is all… This?”
Crystal motioned to the large room. It was bigger than some houses. Like a massive library, filled with a dim blue light. In fact, Crystal recalled that same blue glow in Renna’s basement and the basement of that fortress. Was that just the only color magical lights came in?
“Ah, this is where I research Unholy magic,” the headmaster said. “I can’t admit you as a student, but I can let you study down here.
“Oh,” Crystal said. “Thanks, but I’d really like to learn more Holy magic than anything.”
“Of course,” the headmaster said. “I’ll provide you with those resources as well. Just ask me if you need anything, okay?”
Crystal raised an eyebrow.
“Okay, but how am I meant to reach you if I’m in a secret room?” she asked. “And what about things like food, sleep, bathroom visits, washing up, those kinds of things?”
“There’s a secret entrance and exit over there,” the headmaster said, pointing to a wall on the right of the room. “Just be sure nobody sees you using it. As for contacting me…”
The headmaster gave Crystal a small, silver bell.
“Us elves have a special bond with some spirits,” he said. “That bell contains a Sylph, and it’ll let me know when you ring it.”
“...Is the Sylph conscious of what I do around it?” Crystal asked.
“Oh, heavens no,” the headmaster said. “It’s just a small spirit of wind. Barely any different than an undead or elemental.”
Crystal nodded and put the bell into one of her pockets.
“Well,” she said, “thank you for all of this.”
“No problem,” the headmaster said. “Of course, this is all I’ll do for you. Even if I do find out exactly who ransacked your village, I won’t do anything about it.”
“Of course,” Crystal said. “This isn’t your problem to begin with.”
The headmaster nodded, and with a smile, left.
“...Ah,” Crystal said. “He never did get me those Holy books.”
So, Crystal rang the bell and ended up asking the headmaster for the books. She didn’t notice anything odd about the bell, aside from the fact that it was oddly quiet.
When Crystal got to studying and praying, she realized how similar Holy and Unholy magic were. In the areas they were different, though, they were truly different. Unholy magic manipulated the soul and life, while Holy magic aided them. It wasn’t a massive difference, but it was certainly a bit hard to grasp.
During her first study session, she didn’t learn any new spells. Her status hadn’t changed a bit, after all. Besides, she had to be extra careful with the books she was using, since they felt like they’d collapse into dust at any minute, so that hindered her speed a bit.
Exiting the underground area, she was deposited in the slums of town. She had only come out because she was hungry and thirsty, but by the looks of it, it was evening. Not dark enough to use Shadow Hop, but she couldn’t wait.
So, Crystal walked to her carriage. She grabbed her Shade, and some food and drink. She’d hole up underground for a while, only ever coming up to take care of herself, such as bathing or using the restroom. That was her plan, at the very least.
The city’s light brown bricks looked golden under the evening sunlight. The chilly breeze was indicating fall’s fast approach, making Crystal all the more thankful she had found shelter. It was a truly beautiful sight. Crystal wished she had people to share this view with, but she had resolved herself to be alone. The headmaster wasn’t a companion, he was just an ally. Hell, Crystal never even learned his name.
While approaching the hidden entrance, Crystal felt a gaze on her back. She looked around, even using Sense Life, but she couldn’t find anything odd. So, she went underground, figuring she was just being paranoid, and got to studying.