After the lesson I approached Gronir. “Sir, is there a place where I could store my undead? I am working on something with my friends. I might have a few more minions soon. They would be small animals.”

I did not want to admit that we were planning to strap bombs to undead chickens.

“Small animals? Hm. That should be fine and good training. If you raise an actual army you need approval, by the way. Maybe I should have told you this sooner but having more than 50 undead soldiers requires registration and a permit.”

“Oh. What is considered a soldier?” I wondered.

“Now that is debatable. Usually anything that can fight on the level of a person with a simple weapon. As part of the army, you are getting a permit automatically when you graduate. A student already raising an army is not a normal circumstance.” He chuckled. “Anyway, I will talk with the headmaster and see if you can get one sooner. Until then, don’t raise more than 50 soldiers. And I approve of your small animal plan. You can use them to learn how to coordinate troops.”

“Where could I keep them?” I asked.

“Oh, right. I can give you access to one of our underground storage areas. There is an empty one that is currently not needed.”

“Thank you, sir!”

Mission accomplished! The remaining week passed swiftly and Solday arrived. Skadi and Helena grabbed my horse and went out to collect the first batch of bones. Meanwhile, Cassie and myself readied the lab. We prepared a cleaning solution and set up two baths. My goblins and draugr would help with the cleaning. Nyx… Well, she was watching.

My friends arrived carrying big bags. “Next time we will use our undead to carry!” Helena said. “Although, I guess it counts as training.”

“Are all of those chicken bones?” I asked.

“No, we have some others as well to feed Nyx.” Skadi said.

The feline in question was already approaching one of the bags. Skaid threw her a bone, which she caught with her mouth.

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“Ok, we have set up stations!” Cassie explained. “First the bones go into this bath.” She pointed at it with her finger. ”It will be handled by Koyuki and her minions. It’s mostly about stripping any remaining flesh, sauce and other things off the bones. The second bath is a proper wash. Afterwards, we will have to assemble chickens out of the piles we have. Make sure the bones fit and that you don’t pick two legs with different lengths.”

“Anything left over we can feed to Nyx, or keep for next week. Once we have a bunch of complete skeletons I will raise them.” I added.

Helena volunteered for the second cleaning station. Skadi and Cassie would be assembling the skeletons.

Food waste did not smell particularly good but I was used to some bad smells by now. Necromancy was not a clean profession. I tried to use a little bit of necrotic mana to help clean the bones. With only myself and undead working on this station I considered it safe.

Nyx realised that her bones were in a different bag than the chicken remains. Instead of waiting for people to throw her something she took matters into her own paws. Nyx simply approached the bag and crawled into it.

“Um. Should we… stop her?” Cassie asked.

We all looked at the bag. The tip of her tail still poked out and we could hear crunching noises.

Skadi shrugged. “They were meant for her anyway.”

“It’s not like she can get fat. I think.” I added. “As long as she does not eat the assembled chickens it’s fine.”

We left Nyx to her feast and continued our work. At some point the crunching stopped but she did not emerge. It looked like Nyx decided to sleep inside the empty bag.

“Some of those bones are chipped or broken. I wonder how well they will work.” I mused.

“Undead can heal, right?” Helena said. “Should they not mend themselves once they are animated?”

“I am not sure. I think they will only heal to the state they were in when the undead was created. Although, I learned that they can grow stronger over time. So perhaps they would fix any defects over the years.” I speculated.

“Doesn’t matter, as long as they can run.” Skadi pointed out.

“And trigger the bombs. We still have to work out a proper system. I might have to order special flasks that fit into the ribcage. Hey, if you deliberately break a bone before raising them, does this create an artificial joint?” Cassie asked.

I scratched my head. “Maybe? I think the problem is that an undead that does not follow an existing creature’s design will be lacking the instincts to use their abilities. It’s a bit weird, since draugrs seem to know how to use ice powers… But they do exist naturally.”

Then I realised I had just scratched my head with my hand. A hand that was covered in the filth of the cleaning bath. Which was now in my hair. I blushed and quickly went to the tap to get some clean water. My friends were clearly amused by my predicament.

Thankfully a distraction emerged. Nyx crawled out of her bag and stretched.

“When you are done washing your hair you should wash Nyx. There is sauce sticking to her bones.” Helena teased.

She could manifest a magical tongue and lick things. But apparently she was not in a mood to clean herself. I sighed, picked up the feline and started washing her in the sink. She purred.

“It’s interesting that she tolerates the water.” Skadi mused.

“Maybe because she has a water affinity and frost powers? Also, some bigger cats like water.” Helena said.

“We still don’t know what she was while alive. Or what sort of undead was inside those bones…” Nyx was my loyal companion but there were still a lot of unanswered questions. Once she was clean she sat on the edge of the counter. And began licking the water from her bones.

“We do have the first skeletons assembled.” Cassie said. “You can start raising your first chicken!”