Before we went to the mess hall we took a shower. While I was getting used to the smell I did prefer to be clean, especially while eating. Sadly we were too late for regular meal hours, it was already afternoon. We did spend quite a bit of time in the lab.

“We could go to the beer garden.” Cassie suggested.

“Great idea!” Helena agreed.

“True. I don’t think we will do any further experimentation today.” I said.

“We would have to pay in the mess hall, might as well pay for something better in the beer garden.” Skadi said.

It was about 16:00 when we arrived. I was getting really hungry. I ordered half a chicken and started filling my mug with delicious beer.

“Ah. This is really refreshing.” Helena said after taking a large sip from her mug.

“Indeed. Totally worth the money.” Skadi said.

“Speaking of money, are we allowed to keep the bribe that was discovered on the driver? What happened to that?” I wondered.

“I think they still have it as evidence. But in the end coins are coins. We should get it. We earned it in combat. It’s no different than what we took from the corpses.” Helena said.

“If we are lucky there is a bounty on the people we killed.” Skadi added.

“I doubt it. They are probably just part of a slave hunter group.” Cassie mused.

“Do you think they are part of a bigger organisation? Will there be someone plotting revenge?” I asked.

“Eh. If they are, you get more corpses.” Cassie said and took a sip from her mug.

“More corpses would be nice, but ideally without getting ambushed.” I said.

“If we had more free time we could go bounty hunting.” Helena suggested.

Stolen story; please report.

“You would need a lot of bounties to build an army.” Skadi pointed out.

“How do most necromancers get corpses?” I wondered.

“You can always buy dead monsters from the adventurers guild. Or hunt them yourself.” Skadi suggested.

“You can buy humanoid corpses.” Cassie said. “While it’s not legal to raid a graveyard you can make a deal and offer people the option to buy their dead.”

“What? Would people really do that?” I asked. “Who would want their loved ones walking around as zombies?”

“Plenty of people want the money. And they could not afford to pay for a proper burial anyway.” Cassie said.

Helena refilled her mug. “What you truly need is a war!” She declared after taking a sip.

“I don’t think I want a war.” I responded.

“I am not saying a war would be good in general, but it would offer a lot of corpses.” Helena clarified.

“I suppose.” I took a sip of my beer. “What happens to the dead of previous wars?” I wondered.

“Depends. Often earth mages just bury them in the field.” Helena said.

“So there are potentially areas with a lot of corpses?” I asked.

“There should be.” Cassie said. “But you are certainly not the first necromancer thinking about that. And I am not sure if there are any laws regarding old battlefields.”

“Another thing I should ask Gronir.” I concluded.

“I am sure the army could supply some corpses. They take care of bandits.” Skadi suggested while refilling her mug.

“Sure. But I am not the only necromancer. I am just a student, surely they give them to their officers first.” I said.

“You do have the support of the princess.” Cassie pointed out.

“I would rather not use too many favours.” I said.

“A wise choice.” Skadi nodded, then took a sip from her mug.

“And we do have the Iron Beaks anyway. Clearly they are the best undead.” Cassie took a sip from her mug.

“You know, an advantage of non-humanoid undead is that they don’t need weapons. Makes them cheaper. Maybe you should look more into monster corpses.” Skadi suggested.

“We do spend money on the explosives for the Iron Beaks.” I pointed out.

“Sure. But I am talking about monsters. Creatures with claws, teeth,...” Skadi said. “They would not need bombs.”

“Everything needs bombs.” Cassie mumbled.

“Monster corpses themselves are not going to be cheap. Unless we hunt them ourselves. And we don’t have time for that.” I said.

“We just need a few fresh corpses. Then we could make more draugr. Why go for an army of weak skeletons? You should build elites! Backed up by the Iron Beaks to soften enemy ranks!” Helena announced.

“Can you make elite skeletons?” Cassie asked. “Is there a skeleton version of a draugr?”

I scratched my head. “I have no idea…” Then I felt a tongue on my hand, which was still on my head. “Oh. Nyx is a magical skeleton with ice powers. But she is special…”

“Maybe you should try creating something similar to her?” Skadi suggested.

“We were able to make the draugr by simulating blood with the infused water. There is no blood in a skeleton. How would we do that?” I wondered. “I can use some water magic in the creation of a skeleton and give them some powers. But it would not be like the draugr.”

“What if you pumped mana through the bones, not water?” Helena suggested. “Can you make mana flow through them before you animate them?”

“I am not sure. We have modelled the flow based on blood. How would the mana flow through the bones?” I wondered.

“What would happen if you compressed the spell from a draugr and turned it into a skeleton?” Skadi asked while taking a sip.

“Huh. That is an interesting question. But I have not even managed it on a normal zombie yet. I think a draugr would be a lot harder.” I mused.

“What we really need is more experimentation!” Cassie said. “And more beer…” Then she refilled her mug.