Sage released a sigh when she saw Kaylee’s chest rise and fall at uniform intervals. The half-elf was asleep. Having confirmed that, she got out of her chair and set her book down. Then, to make sure that the half-elf remained as she was, she cast [Sleeping Circle].

“Nyx,” she then called out softly to the Familiar dwelling somewhere in the numerous shadows of the room. A second later it he appeared from the shadow of a table leg. “I’ll be out for a while. Watch her and alert me if she wakes up.”

“Leave it to me master,” the cat replied casually before leaping back into the shadows.

With that she [Ghostwalk]ed out of the house and was on her way.

Honestly, Kaylee’s refusal for her to meet the Cryptmaker had been a surprise, especially since the half-elf had not seemed to mind her other endeavours; well, apart from the whole stealing from her thing. Most people tended not to care about the actions of others unless they were affected by them. So Sage was completely caught off guard by Kaylee’s fierce rejection, going as far as to threaten to dissolve the contract if Sage disregarded her.

So surprised she was that she momentarily let slip her calm façade. Fortunately, she was able to collect herself quickly after concluding the half-elf would not let up. Since Kaylee was being so adamant about it she decided to relent, or at least appear to.

There was no fucking way in hell she was going to let such an opportunity go.

If Kaylee was opposed it than she only needed to wait for the half-elf to clock out. The days on the road had no doubt build up massive amounts of stress and fatigue which, sooner than later, she would have to sleep off. Now that the moment had come she only needed to go and come back before her contractor awakens and Kaylee would be none the wiser.

A minute jogging through the deserted town, she stepped onto the road with a sign saying it led to the village of Hassun. Half a day’s journey on foot it read, at least by normal people’s standards. For an untiring undead with a Grade 4 physique she reckoned she could cover that distance in an hour; probably a fraction of it if she chose to fly. However, that would waste mana she might need later on so going on foot was her decision.

Ever vigilant, she looked around to make sure there was no one in sight. Although in this situation the likelihood of there being someone was less than a fraction of a percent, one could never be too careful. The last thing she wanted was for the rumours to fly around the next morning about a random passer-by sighting someone headed in the direction of the necromancer’s village. To make extra sure of it she stepped a few hundred metres from the town before she picked up her pace.

Then she ran.

The scenery flashed past her as the accompanying wind whispered its eerie melody in her ear. The chilly breeze wailed a gloomy tune, as if trying to warn her from continuing on the path she was currently on. Unfortunately, Sage could not do that. She did not want to.

As Darkborne, necromancy was the ideal magic for her. Unlike other spells that took a minutes to hours to learn, spells with the Dark Element, like necromancy, were an instant study for her. Necromancy fit her like a glove. To deny it would be a denial of herself.

But there was no way in hell she would waste her slots learning how to summon brittle skeletons and rotting corpses.

Apart from them being aesthetically unappealing, the odour was not something she would be able to stand. It did not help that these creatures did not have two brain cells to rub together. For her it was better to have no undead at all than such crappy ones. Of course there would be times when the need for a mindless minion was necessary. In that case she had [Summon Undead]. Even though the creature she called from the Deadlands was as mindless as the ones Bori used to command while strolling in his tower, the summoned undead was a hell of a lot stronger. An added benefit was that after she was done with it the creature was cast back to where it came from, so she did not have to deal with it longer than a few minutes.

Obviously this would not be the case if she created an undead in the Main Plane.

The last thing she wanted was to be surrounded by drooling zombies whose rotten skin was constantly exfoliating or skeletons who could not stop their bones from rattling with every step.

If she was going to engrave a necromantic spell it was one that would help her create servants who could think for themselves, beings who could receive orders and think about the best way to carry out those orders; undead who would take the liberty to warn her about danger before she herself perceived it.

So, learning that the Cryptmaker was capable of creating such undead, how could she not be tempted?

As he had only been an intermediate necromancer, nothing in Bori’s notes had anything about how to create an intelligent undead. There was no denying the man was a genius, having designed the ritual that summoned her, but the creation of sentient undead was something only necromancers of the 7th Order and above dealt with. If the Cryptmaker truly knew how to create them then she would do what she could to get the knowledge from him.

After an unspecified amount of time manmade structures appeared in her vision, the layout of the village. The side that faced her had four buildings, using that she estimated the entire village had fifteen to twenty buildings.

The first thing that jumped out to her was dozens of sentries atop those four buildings, each of them armed with a bow as they gazed emptily at the path. It appeared she was too far for them to spot but she had no doubt the moment they did arrows would fly in her direction. Then the patrols that were limping about the area would rush her with their pitchforks and woodcutter axes.

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Here Sage stopped to think. How should she go about things from here?

She could take the direct approach in which she would casually stroll into the village. However, according to the reports she got from the Mercenary Guild, the undead attacked everything that approached village. The patrolling creatures were too far for her to use {Index} on them but they were probably not anything to be wary of.

If Sage took the direct approach though, the chances of being attacked were high and while she was confident in being able to wipe them out, the Cryptmaker would not take kindly to her actions and whatever deal she tried to propose would be met with scorn.

The second approach was to order the creatures to take her to their leader, but that approach would garner an even worse reaction. Once the Cryptmaker witnessed her ability to control his undead he would no doubt feel a massive threat to his existence, which would lead to him trying and eliminate her. Any deal she wanted to arrange with him would be snuffed in the cradle.

The third approach was the one she chose; stealth. This was the approach she usually took in such situations and it had yet to fail. A combination of {Lightfoot} and {Invisibility} and she strolled past the patrol easily.

The closer she got to the village the clearer it was reflected in her eyes. The starlight reflected the empty skulls of the skeletons, showed her exfoliating features of the zombies and revealed the crimson splatters and meaty chunks smeared onto the walls of the buildings. Along with this a potent stench of blood and putrid flesh assaulted her nasal cavity. It, along with the unusual buzzing of flies at night, would have made her throw up if she were still human.

Entering the perimeter, she noted the compact number of undead present; a massive horde that could have stampeded this village to nothingness if its master so desired. If the amount of the ragged corpses and skeletons did not tally up to a thousand then the number was pretty damn close. Even if the tools of these undead were rusted and their amour lacking, the numbers alone would warrant a serious reaction from any nation; well, any smart nation. The thing she could say about the Yshian aristocracy after seeing this was that they were retards to let such a force roam in their borders unchecked. Also, these were only the weakest of undead, common riffraff by anyone’s standards. Perhaps they could massacre a bunch of helpless civilians but a trained army half their size could wipe them out.

At least that was what she thought. After all, she was not familiar with the standards of the army.

The core of this undead horde stood apart from the rabble. These superior undead were garbed in proper armour, armed with quality weapons and had a chilly air more orderly than the majority of the undead. Sage took in a deep breath as she beheld them. At first sight there were about a hundred of them. Most of them were zombies and skeletons with Grade 4 bodies. Where the geezer had only had two such creatures the Cryptmaker had about fifty times this number. That was not the end of it though as she even spotted Grade three undead and surprisingly 1st to 4th Order Skeleton Mages and Dread Zombies.

Holy shit! She exclaimed nonverbally.

The Cryptmaker knew his shit. If the whole ordeal were not downright disgusting to her she would have been amazed. Instead, after a brief acknowledgement of respect she turned to the gruesome scene at the centre of the village.

Death was what met her.

Not the dried up rotting kind of death, but the fresh kind of running blood and spilled guts. Decapitated heads, dismembered limbs and scattered intestines; this was the sight she saw as her attention moved on to the main spectacle. These bodies were being arranged in a round pattern in preparation for what was no doubt a ritual. The glassy eyed faces she could see all had expressions of pain and despair. They had not died in peace.

Amid these corpses there were four individuals who were moving them around into the pattern. Even if their lively (when compared to everyone else present) demeanour had flown over Sage’s head, the information she gleaned through {Index} would have ensured she not overlook them.

The first of these was a being clad in what appeared to be ivory armour with a sword that seemed to be made of similar material at its waist. The creature’s information was revealed to her as it dragged the headless corpse of a little girl into a walls of the pattern’s edge.

Race: Bone Knight (Undead- Skeleton)

Physique: Grade 2

Mana: C (Brown)

On the other side was a being with a large frame clad in dark spiky armour while carrying what appeared to be an even larger sword on its back.

Race: Death Knight (Undead- Ghoul)

Physique: Grade 1

Mana: F (White)

A skeleton in elegant crimson sorcerers’ robes hovered above the circle using what could only be 7th Order [Telekinesis] to move the corpses into place. Among the spells of the 7th Order it was probably the most versatile, which was why Sage wanted to learn it. Seeing this undead use the spell, her hope of learning it soon blossomed in her.

Race: Skeleton Mage (Undead- Skeleton)

Physique: Grade 4

Mana: B (Blue)

The last of these individuals was an old hunched back man with thin hair, small dark eyes and a nose that was big for his face. He stood at the centre of the ritual circle encircled by six bound and gagged individuals who squirmed and moaned. One of these people was a young woman with terrified eyes that were ever fountaining. The old man did not seem to care about this though as he worked his magic to manipulate the blood from the spilling out of the corpses to reinforce the circle.

The Cryptmaker’s stats became known to her as she continued to stare.

Race: Human (Human)

Physique: Grade 5

Mana: A (Green)

What is he up to? She wondered as she continued to watch him work.

She wanted to watch further to see how he what he was planning but the Cryptmaker suddenly stopped what he was doing and his small orbs turned to where she was. Then, like a domino effect all the undead stopped whatever they were doing and looked in her direction with drawn weapons.

Fuck! She swore when she saw this.

Her usual approach had failed. She had been discovered.