The small opening that Karvas resided in heated up as he conjured a fireball infront of him, he started out with a small ember on his palms, eventually learning to not only put it at a liquid esque solid state, but also add the decay affinity he possessed as an undead, the [Corrupted Flame] as the memories within Karvas' mind said, was something that can not only burn the target, but also reduce their flesh to necrosis in mere seconds, and depending on the resistance target, power of the spell or even the environment, this thing can turn something into nothing in but a split second. And in the right environment, the presence of this thing alone can turn something into ashes in the same speed.

Though the memories he possessed had no knowledge regarding this 'Environment' Karvas knew it was something related to what the two brothers called a "Volcanic Lich", the term was quite blunt and straight forward, anti climactic even. But, the fear and power that name held is something that is akin to myths turned reality, just like a monster called a fafnir, this form of lich can no longer get damaged by anything related to fire, heat? It won't work, Lava? They swim and their homes are located in such places. This type of Lich tempted Karvas, but, the memories of the Hob-Goblin had something when it was still getting taken care of the mage that had created it, something that's called a 'Pendant Lich" Though limited by the fact that if said pendant within their names getting destroyed would result in the Lich's death, this drawback easily gets outweighed by the sheer benefit that the lich would get, a pendant lich can, unsurprisingly, store stuff within their pendants, depending on the material used to create said pendat, they can- Store spells, Items, and Even Living Organisms. And Karvas planned to do everything in his power to make it possible to store all of it.

He did not know the specifics to become any of the two because the booked that the brothers read belonged to humans. And these methods aren't usually out in the open as well, these are things that only the greatest of necromancers have achieved, and with their greatness comes might. If Karvas wants to know how to become a Volcanic Lich? He needs to defeat one, lest he falls under it's control. Same goes for the pendant.

Though, the skeleton may be a regular undead for now - as regular as a four-armed skeleton warrior capable of defeating an entire brigade of trained soldiers can get - he plans on becoming something more, he can cast magic, is independent and possesses an intelligent on par with something that's more akin to a human genius, but he is not satisfied.

He has scoured the memories of every single creature within him and found out that he can increase everything he already has via a simple method of- Stealing the bones of his desired victims and integrating them with himself.

And Karvas plans on getting the bones of an elf. Something that would enable him to cast spirit magic, using his own spirit as a catalyst, conjure powerful spells due to how conductive the bones of an elf is when it comes to mana, AND even, call upon the help of nature gods if he plays his cards right.

Karvas' smile widened as the fireball infront of him turned dark-green, it grew large, larger than the 2 feet wide Hob-Goblin skull, the surrounding environment became scorhed, the stones started to get a brownish hue when it came to their coloration, and the Jacket that he had made one week ago started to smell burnt.

He released his [Corrupted Fireball], melting parts of the stone walls as it came into contact with the damn thing.

The heat dissipated, and Karvas felt weaker than before. More... He thought to himself.

***************

The hair on Ursus' neck stood up as he looked at the missing bones within the cave he first fought the undead, the people around him gulped at the sudden realization of what had just gotten itself into existence, possibly out of a necromancer's control as well.

"you said it was those two? and uh, a group of goblins with a hob amongst them right?" one person said, his voice shaky, refusal was the only content found within his words and tone, there was no longer an ounce of confidence within everyone present, and this was only exaggerated by the next man's prior next words- "They didn't turn into an undead did they?"

Ursus shook his head, "Wake up, we might have to deal with something that's akin to a skeletal warrior in the near future, one that possesses the intelligence of a human, the cunningness of a hob and the memories of all of them." Fear was the only thing that Ursus felt, who knows what kind of monster would result from the the bones things combined?

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

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Much to Karvas' dismay, the fireballs he could conjure were only a few inches wide, lest he risks something that mages call "Mana Deprevation"- is something that occurs when a mage expends too much mana, this results in them feeling sick, lethargic, or sometimes even fainting.- Karvas, as an undead only feels stiff whenever he goes through such a process, but one things for certain, he too has a limit, and conjuring that massive fireball earlier in the day allowed him to reach it, he didn't faint but he was unable to move for a few seconds after casting such a powerful spell.

Karvas, if he could, would sigh, though, he actually can, it surprisingly expends mana as the ashes and heat get expunged out of his mouth, this results in the furnace within his skull using his internal mana to regain the lost heat that went out of his skull.

Ignoring his research when it comes to getting stronger for now, Karvas noticed that several undead had been roaming the area, they were feral and out of control, though he did see a horde, Karvas noticed something that acted as a leader, a large fleshling undead with 2 heads and six arms. He did not know what it was but thing was for certain, if he got near it, he would be gone. Poof!

Just another one of those shambling dead bodies, controlled by that freak of nature.

Ashes came out of Karvas' mouth as he sighed, deciding that affording the price of such a thing was necessary for the situation, the action gives him a bit of comfort in exchange for mana, something that the memories of not only the two humans, but also the Hob-Goblins considered unnatural.

The undead needing comfortability was quite literally... strange. They did not need to be wary of their surroundings for they are already dead, and the dead did not need to feel comfortable, especially when it comes to the matters of the mind. Though, Karvas himself was baffled by the information, he did not care for it felt natural to comfort himself from time to time.

After gathering what's left of his shattered mind, Karvas left his "lair" and proceeded to go to the forest, hoping to find something interesting to test his new spells on. As for the new spells, they are organized as follows-

[Decay/Burn] is a spell that's related to the undead and anything that lives in a hot environment, these spells do not cost mana. The effects are as follows- [Decay] can put every organic object on the user's vicity into a state of decay, the effect amplifies if the user touches something with their body. So to say, whenever Karvas wields his swords or even put them near him, the metal would rust and the handle would start to deteriorate at a manner that would be considered unnatural.

[Burn] is a spell that is what is stated, Burns stuff. It has a passive effect that turns the users surroundings into a heated environment, this effect can be amplified if the user puts mana on the organ/part where this effect is castable. For Karvas, it would be everything. He tried to amplifiy it to the point that it messed with his head, even turn the furnace within his skull to grow weak and the resulting [Burn] was quite... something.

[Palm of Fire/Decay] were the palm and stronger versions of the former passive spells.

Though, instead of these spells, Karvas was planning on casting [Fireball] towards his future... test subjects.

Surprised, perturbed, and even remotely bothered, Karvas went inside the forest only to find out that multiple undead on the surrounding environment 3 kilometeres out was filled with undead that had come back to their death. Karvas looked around, his palms prepared to cast a spell, and after staying vigilant for 3 minutes- The skeleton warrior found nothing.

Leaving the area behind, this time around more wary than when he started, Karvas prepared to take a leave but-

"That should be all right?"

Anger seethed within the undead, his primal instincts as one driving him mad to kill. Though his basic instinct as an undead was undead the desire to kill, infect and turn those around him, he was intelligent enough to realize that, it is not a matter that he would need to attend to should danger arise. And, for most intelligent races, this is the scariest part of an awakened undead. For they did not need to work hard to achieve lichdom, or even deathdom like necromancers, they were already born that way.

The flesh can eat their victims to garner their memories whilst the skeletons can add bones on their body to achieve the same effect.

And Karvas, for all his worth, KNEW ALL THIS.

He knew that we would become stronger if he somehow manages to grab the bones of the stronger species, HE KNEW THAT HE WOULD ONE DAY BECOME SOMETHING GREATER! BETTER! AND HE HAS THE TIME TO GRASP ALL OF IT!

FOR HE HAD ALREADY DIED, AND DEATH, CAN NO LONGER RESTRAIN HIM!

His broken jaw formed into a smile, a beaming one with happiness. Then, the undead spoke someone's name-

"Karvas..."