As Gronir was contemplating the situation, Tom raised his hand.

“Tom.” Gronir said, nodding at Tom.

“How does one make a lesser vampire?”

“A good question! Most vampiric undead are raised by true vampires. They possess an inherent ability to turn the living into walking dead. Their teeth are magical. Vampire teeth are rather valuable, actually. They contain a lot of magic. Of course, they are not that easy to collect.” He chuckled, then continued: “When they bite someone, they can trigger a blood paralysis spell, which holds the target, assuming it has blood. Then they start injecting necrotic mana into it and consume it. The process prepares the victim for undeath.”

Tom looked rather shocked and glanced at my armadillo. Gronir noticed that.

“Only true vampires can do that. And like any necromancer, there is a limit on how many undead they can control. If they completely drain a target it becomes a flesh eating ghoul. It is, in some ways, an improved zombie. If the vampire leaves enough blood behind, the target can become a lesser vampire. The powers of such a creature vary, but they can all heal themselves with blood and replenish their mana. Which makes any active powers they possess rather dangerous. A protective shield, for example, can usually be worn down. But if they can replenish their mana, attrition is no longer an option. What they can’t do is manipulate an enemy's blood directly, only a true mage can do that.” Gronir explained.

“You can attack the blood inside someone?” That sounded horrifying.

“Yes. Masters of blood magic can do that. But, I should add, it does not work well on mages. Defending against a spell forming inside your body is relatively easy, compared to an outside spell. It is not the most efficient way to use blood magic.” He explained.

“Does this mean Koyuki is a vampire? Since she made a lesser vampire.” Tim asked.

“Oh no, necromancers can do that too. Of course, you would need a creature with blood for a lesser vampire. And you would need to raise it with water and earth affinity. Now if you do not have them yourself, you can use a creature with the right affinity. Which can be tricky, you would need a powerful monster, and a fresh one, to use that method. Turning a living creature into an undead is very advanced magic. A spiked rock armadillo does have an earth affinity, and Koyuki does have a water affinity.” Gronir explained, but his eyes did not quite match his voice. I had a feeling he suspected that something was off.

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“Where did you get such a creature?” Tom asked.

“I bought it from the adventurers guild.” I responded.

“Now, why don’t you open your books and read chapter five. Koyuki, follow me. We have to discuss how we are going to test your undead.” Gronir said.

Leo had been surprisingly quiet so far. I had to suppress my desire to stick out my tongue. My undead was awesome! Nobody cared about his skeleton.

While the others opened their books, I followed Gronir to an adjacent room. He closed the door, then looked at me.

“How did you create a lesser vampire? Those armadillos are normally not strong enough to retain their earth affinity after death. You would need a living one, that is not something you can simply buy. You would need to order it. And I saw that hole. You animated a corpse.” He said.

“I did, but I had help.” I admitted.

“I was afraid of that. Who approached you? What did they offer?” He asked.

“What? No, my friends helped! Skadi has water and earth, she handled the blood.” I explained.

“You are saying you did a joint casting? As first year students?” He looked unconvinced.

“Helena froze the outside so blood could not leak, Skadi circled blood through the body, which Cassie helped prepare and I animated the corpse. We used pig's blood from a butcher, since the corpse did not have any.” I explained. “It was hard and uh… It made us rather nauseous.”

“Of course it did! Mixing affinities and mixing your mana for a joint casting is an advanced class for a reason!” He sounded slightly upset. “At least it shows that you trust each other a lot. You cannot mix mana otherwise. The body tends to reject any foreign mana.” He shook his head. “What gave you the idea in the first place?”

“Skadi started learning blood magic, and we did something similar with water when I raised the draugr. We simply wondered what would happen with blood…” I replied.

He sighed. “You do have a very curious mind. I like that. And you have been honest with us so far. You told us when the brotherhood approached you, so I will keep trusting you. There is no way this does not get their attention.”

“What should I tell people? It’s easy to find out that I bought a corpse, not a living creature.” I asked.

“Hm. Just tell them you had help from friends preparing the corpse. A lot of mages have their secrets. Usually, they aren’t students though. Prepare for a lot of rumours. I suspect a lot of people will assume the royal family helped you.”

I nodded.

“Sorry if I was a bit harsh, you did a great job with your undead.” He praised me. “Now, let us figure out what it can do!” He sounded excited.