Lieze woke up the next day feeling not quite as empty as she usually did. From the moment her eyes opened, her mind was swimming with possibilities regarding the improvement of her swelling undead army. She practically leaped out of bed, and for the first time paid little attention to the stack of tomes threatening to collapse her desk.
When she opened her door, the Void Beast’s feline silhouette was sitting patiently on the balcony, as if waiting for her to appear. She grimaced as it paced over and rubbed its half-melting body against her legs. She shook it off and tried her best not to compromise the balcony’s fragile construction as she descended the stairs into the throne room.
Another alchemy table had been placed into the chamber to accommodate the sheer amount of [Necromantic Alchemy] that was required to improve Lieze’s army. A few Gravewalkers had been ordered to stand guard around the room, which explained the foul smell that assailed Lieze’s nostrils as soon as she came out of her room.
She clapped her hands together and prepared for another day of preparation.
“I should start recycling some of these Gravewalkers into more useful thralls…” She thought, “Come to think of it, didn’t I reach a milestone when Drayya and I explored that dungeon…?”
She had been granted two new options from [Necromantic Alchemy (lvl. 9)]: [Designate Leader] and [Skeletal Necromancer]. She used her scale to bring up a description of both abilities.
Ability - Necromantic Alchemy: Designate Leader Description - By spending [1] hour and 8x a targeted thrall’s level in MP, you may designate any [Undead] creature as a leader. When under this effect, an amount of thralls equal to 5x the leader’s level may be assigned to it. When a thrall is assigned to a leader, it follows the leader to the best of its ability and will attempt to aid it in its current objective. Leaders capable of speech may give direct orders to these thralls.
Ability - Necromantic Alchemy: Create Skeletal Necromancer
Description - The target of this spell must be an existing [Dark Caster] that fulfils at least one of the following criteria:
1. The [Dark Caster’s] level is equal to or higher than 50
2. The [Dark Caster’s] intelligence has been heightened, such as through the use of a [Greater Intelligence] enhancement or similar.
If either or both of these requirements are met, you may spend [1] hour and 3x the [Dark Caster’s] level in MP to transform it into a Skeletal Necromancer. These thralls are capable of raising corpses on their own initiative using the [Greater Necromancy lvl. 2] spell, with all of the benefits and restrictions of its usage.
“Hm…” Lieze placed a hand to her chin in thought, “Briarknights can already raise corpses on their own, but as far as I know, they’re forced to make use of the weakest form of necromancy, whereas these Skeletal Necromancers could increase the value of corpses by inflating their levels…”
The two enhancements were clearly intended to be used in tandem. By designating a Skeletal Necromancer as a leader, Lieze could theoretically manifest new members of the Order out of thin air - undead members, but members nonetheless. She had always found her total number of members to be lacking, and those abilities offered the chance for her to eliminate what was easily the Order’s most prominent weakness.
And so, she spent most of the morning locating and dragging Dark Casters up from the city to ascend them, figuring that making her ranged thralls more intelligent was already something that needed doing to begin with.
She dipped into the well of communion with more ease than she could have ever hoped - demanding necromantic power from the Blackbriar in spades as she pushed the horrific visions of its leviathan tendrils to the back of her mind. As it turned out, ‘creating’ a Skeletal Necromancer involved the simple act of stripping a Dark Caster’s flesh from its bones. The ribbons of its rotting skin melted into black sludge on the floor as its hollowed-out eye sockets burned with crimson power once the short ritual was completed.
Lieze tapped her knuckles against the thrall’s cracked skull, and recoiled as it suddenly stood to attention, focus clasped in both hands like a quarterstaff.
Skeletal Necromancer Level 39 Undead HP - 299 / 299 MP - 1,759 / 1,759 BODY - 6 MIND - 28 SOUL - 5
“I am bound to your service, my mistress.” Its voice leaked out like a curse.
“Just ‘Lieze’ is fine.” She replied, “From now on, you’re going to be a full-fledged member of the Order, along with a few of your kin. If it isn’t already apparent - you’re expendable, so I won’t be tolerating failure.”
“As you wish.” The skeleton’s teeth clamped up and down as it shook its head.
All that remained was to designate the Skeletal Necromancer as a leader. Its level was [39], meaning it would be able to control a total of 195 thrall. That placed it squarely above the level of Marché and most of the Order’s other necromancers in terms of pure strategic value.
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Another hour passed as Lieze performed the ritual that would transform it into a leader, suffusing its mind with an abundance of necromantic power to make it a beacon for other thralls. When it was finished, there was no apparent change to the Necromancer’s appearance, but Lieze knew she had been successful in the endeavour by the sheer amount of latent power radiating from its skull.
“Wait near the southern gates for the caravans to return.” She ordered, “Once it arrives, explain your intent to the other members and accompany them to neighbouring cities. I want you to prioritise raising more powerful thralls to inflate their levels.”
“As you wish.” The skeleton lowered its head and departed obediently for the castle’s entrance. Lüngen, who was just making his way in, found himself a tad perplexed by the independent thrall marching its way towards the garden, before shrugging his shoulders and continuing on, having long since been desensitised to such sights.
“Lieze.” He sounded surprised to see her, “Not delving into your studies this afternoon?”
“I’ve got more important things to be focusing on at the moment.” She replied, “Did you see that thrall? It’s fully independent and capable of commanding legions all on its own. Suddenly, we have the means to control as many thralls as we wish. Imagine the entirety of the Sovereign Cities’ undead population marching upon the Dwarven Mountains.”
“Quite the advancement.” He stroked his beard, “Ignas was capable of something awfully similar, though as with Dark Casters, he refused to place his trust in anything other than true, flesh-and-blood humans.”
“That was his mistake to make.” Lieze said, “I won’t fall into the same trap. Unlike Sokalar, I have every intention of using our momentum to push through the remainder of our enemies instead of wasting months on end positioning ourselves strategically and pilfering graveyards for middling thralls.”
“I take that to mean you plan on moving out before long?”
“As soon as we get our report back from Marché and Roland.” She nodded, “By that point, we’ll have enough Skeletal Necromancers and Gravewalkers to challenge an army of any size. I’m going to spend a few hours creating some more. Once my reserves of mana begin to run low, I’ll return to my studies.”
“Oh… how proactive of you.” Lüngen chuckled.
“What’s so amusing?”
“If I may be so forward, you seem more energetic than normal.” He smiled, “Did something nice happen?”
“...What makes you think that?”
He waddled forward and held out a fat, wrinkled hand to reveal a small vial containing a clear liquid. Lieze would have guessed that it was water at a glance, but considering it was being held by Lüngen, it was almost certainly something more valuable.
“Nothing.” He shook his head, “In completely unrelated news, Drayya came to me this morning demanding that I brew something that could potentially deal with your troublesome skin condition.”
“Oh…” She took the vial and stared into the colourless solution, “How is she?”
“...What?”
“Drayya.” Lieze elaborated, “How is she?”
Lüngen was worried now - staring at her like she’d just sprouted a second head. Lieze only realised her folly a few seconds later. She hadn’t expressed concern for another human being since she was a teenager - well over a decade ago. The mere presence of eagerness in her voice was so utterly unlike her that silence seemed the only appropriate answer on Lüngen’s part.
“Uh-” Lieze stammered, “Is she still alive, I mean? I don’t care how she’s doing.”
“I did just mention that she came looking for me this morning, didn’t I?” He blinked, “How could she not be alive? And what could kill her, in a city filled with nothing but servile undead?”
“Well…” She looked from side to side, “I don’t know. It would be a problem if she was.”
“So it would!” Lüngen chuckled again, “I can’t argue with that.”
A beat passed between them.
“Hah…” He sighed, “When she arrived, she was very chipper, Lieze.”
“Okay?” Her expression flattened out, “I don’t care.”
“I’m sure you don’t.” He smiled, “Yes - she was all lit up and bubbly for one reason or another. I haven’t seen her so carefree since the days of her youth. Whenever she said your name aloud, she would swallow her lips as if afraid of smiling - and she said your name plenty of times, let me tell you. And also, she-”
“Yes, I… I think I understand the picture you’re trying to paint.” Lieze exhaled through her nose, “How odd.”
“Is it?”
She nodded, “Yes. Very odd.”
“If you say so.” He turned his gaze back to the vial, “Use that when you bathe, and scrub yourself carefully, because there isn’t a lot of it. If it wasn’t for the ateliers spread across the city, I would have never found some of the exotic herbs needed to synthesise it.”
“What will it do?”
“Hopefully remove some of that awful bark overtaking your body.” He gestured broadly from Lieze’s head down to her toes, “Godflesh it may be, but after careful analysis of its properties, it seems to me like more of a cancer than a replacement for your skin.”
“Right.” She nodded, “-And where did you get a sample of my skin, may I ask?”
“From Drayya.”
“Oh… how odd.” Lieze paused, “-And this will work? Regardless of whether I’m interested in favouring my appearance over precious Materia - which I am most certainly not, by the way.”
“Either that, or it will cause your skin to slough off in great sheets, leaving you a walking model of human musculature destined to die of a terrible infection within a day or two.” Lüngen continued, “-But I’m sure I have the mixture right, so don’t worry too much about that.”
“Hmph. I won’t thank you for using your spare time to create something that doesn’t directly contribute to the war effort.”
“-But you will take it?”
“Yes.” She dropped the vial into her Bag of Holding, “-But not to use it. Just to own it.”
“Well… that’s halfway there, I suppose.” He smirked, “But I get the feeling that Drayya wouldn’t be very happy if you didn’t put it to good use.”
“How she feels about anything doesn’t concern me in the least.” Lieze insisted.
“I see… of course.” He placed his hands behind his back, “Then, if you don’t mind, I’d like to return to my research into Dwarven siege weaponry.”
“How much longer is it going to take?” She asked, “I’ve been allowing your infringed deadlines to slip through my fingers intentionally, you know. I don’t want to hear that you’re dragging your heels on the matter.”
“With how much knowledge I’m partial to here in Tonberg, I think you’ll be quite satisfied with how thoroughly I’ve documented those little men of the mountains.” He replied, “Tomorrow. That is when I’ll be finished. I promise.”