It was two days after the ball and I had an advanced death magic class. While I loved magic in general this was my favourite subject.

Tim and Tom glared at me with a mixture of awe and envy when I entered the room. I was getting slightly better at keeping the twins apart.

“Is it true? Are you really such a powerful necromancer?” Tom asked.

The academy was currently drowning in gossip. Yesterday there were constantly people looking at me, pointing and talking. Nobody had truly approached me yet, but it was just a matter of time.

“Yes.” I answered. “I have a rather large core and high affinity for death magic. But I have still a lot to learn before I become truly powerful. I am still a student.”

The last part was not only true but I wanted to remind them that I was still learning, just like they were.

“But you managed to create Nyx. And you have a draugr…” Tim said.

“There was some luck involved but I worked hard and experimented. It paid off.” I answered.

“We have been a bit lazy…” Tom murmured.

The door opened and Leo entered. He had three skeleton wolves with him. Maybe he was trying to impress me. But I had a lot more undead than that. Also, Nyx was much cooler than any wolf.

“Hello Koyuki.” He said with a smile. Then he nodded at the others. “Tim, Tom.”

“Greetings, Leo.” The twins responded.

“I have decided to invest more time into my undead.” Leo said. “I intend to have a powerful pack by the end of the year.”

I studied his undead. The bones were clearly treated with alchemy. I wondered if he prepared them himself, or had servants do it. Actually, I had never really seen him with servants, or friends. He seemed like a loner. Hm. Could he be part of the brotherhood? Maybe I was just thinking that because Helena disliked him.

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Gronir entered and started the lesson.

“Hello everyone! Be seated.” He had a large smile. “It’s a good time to be a necromancer! Now that Koyuki’s potential is public knowledge you will see the interest in our craft rise. I already had four people ask me for an undead cat.” He chuckled.

“Which brings us to today’s lesson. We are going to talk more about different types of undead.”

I raised my hand.

“Koyuki.”

“Can you transform a zombie into a skeleton?”

“Ah. You are unhappy with your recent minions, I take it? A lot of people prefer skeletons because they are cleaner. But as your draugr has shown you, a proper zombie does not have to smell. Of course, we are talking about advanced zombies here. The more basic ones can be a bit disgusting. Before I answer your question, let’s talk a bit about undead types.”

“There are incorporeal undead. I won’t spend much time on them. They are hard to control, hard to raise and are generally an advanced topic. Most normal undead are either skeletons or zombies. Those are relatively broad categories. A basic zombie is something far different than a draugr. Essentially, a skeleton is an undead who is primarily made of bone. A zombie is an undead who possesses undead flesh.”

“The basic magic animating them is the same. But the spell is spread out through their entire body. To destroy an undead, you have to damage the body enough to disrupt the spell. Bones are hard and easy to fortify. That is an advantage of skeletons. Undead flesh is simpler to regrow. Also, a zombie has more mass. The spell is spread out and not so easy to disrupt. Shattering a bone from a skeleton might be enough to end it, cutting some flesh from a zombie will not have a large effect.”

“Of course, the quality of the undead matters too. Some can function with a lot of damage, others crumble rather quickly.” He looked at me. “Now to your question. Can you turn a skeleton into a zombie? What do you think, based on what I have told you?”

I took a moment to think about that. Then I answered: “If the flesh is part of the zombie you can't get rid of it. It would damage the undead.”

“Partially correct!” He chuckled. “You can’t just cut the flesh away and hope to get a skeleton. But there is something you can do.”

Leo raised his hand.

“Leo.”

“Could you dismiss the undead and then simply use the bones?”

“Ah, sadly that does not work.” Gronir replied. “You cannot raise an undead again. Some think this is simply the will of Necari. That may be true, but how did the goddess of darkness achieve that? It is believed that some of the magic lingers in a destroyed undead. And it cannot be raised again until it dissipates. Something that takes a long time. Research in this matter is sadly lacking. Mostly because fresh corpses are easy to come by.”

I raised my hand.

“Koyuki.”

“Can you modify the spell?”

“Yes! That is possible. But it's not easy. You see, you have to condense the spell, in a way. You have to push the magic from the flesh into the bones. Changing an existing spell is hard. People rarely bother. They usually just get new corpses and dismiss their unwanted zombies.”

I raised my hand again.

“Koyuki.”

“If you can modify an existing spell, could you change other things? Like adding an element?”

“Ah. Turning a zombie into a draugr, for example, is really hard. Not impossible, but usually not worth the trouble either. You see, turning the zombie into a skeleton does not fundamentally change the magic animating them. You simply push the spell out of the flesh and into the bones. Adding a power to your undead would require you to infuse an element into an existing spell.”

“The reality is, if you are unhappy with an undead you just dismiss it and get a new corpse. Even if you are talented enough to make changes it is not worth the effort. It can be an interesting training though. Experimenting and trying new things can be fun!”