Chapter VI

Noon rapidly arrived. 'Time sure goes by quick when you're meditating' he thought to himself. Having finished meditating, he stood up and walked outside towards where the two charred corpses were. Staring at them he thought, 'Alright, so the tome said that first I need to be able to animate the dead, then I will naturally understand how to control them...Huh, that tome seemed like it was specifically written for me..'

He shook his head dispersing any random thoughts, 'Anyways, the tome also stated that I should start with a lesser undead, well here goes nothing.' He shrugged, then raised his hand, aiming it at one of the two corpses. He spoke, “Raise Lesser Undead.” The moment those words fell, a black mist seeped out of his skeletal hand and travelled through the air, enveloping the corpse.

Three breaths of time passed before the black mist that was swarming on the corpse started to move. The black mist stood upright becoming a dark figure. The black mist then dissipated revealing a skeleton with glowing blue eyes, standing in its place with the corpse no where to be seen. However at its feet there were some burnt scraps of robes remaining.

As soon as the black mist vanished, Azrael felt some sort of connection coming from the skeleton. 'Weird...it's hard to put this feeling into words...' He thought to himself as he examined the skeleton that was standing before him. 'Will it follow my orders?' His voice sounded out, “Lift your arm above your head.” The skeleton complied and lifted its arm above its head. 'Haha, excellent!' Although what Azrael had just created was a lesser undead, he was still elated nonetheless.

'According to the tome, this is just the most basic undead of the lowest tier. A skeleton. Although that's the case I now have something to defend me.' In the tome, The God of Death's Revised Death Magic, it explained that there are three different categories that undead fell under. There are Lesser Undead, Standard Undead and Greater Undead. The tome even explained what types of undead fell under what category.

The skeleton that Azrael had just created fell under the category of Lesser Undead. The skeleton is considered the most basic form of undead and it is considered the workhorse of undead. It also stated that skeletons had no intelligence and would follow any order given to it by their master without question. When creating the undead, a minuscule amount of the creator's soul would imprint itself into the undead. Thus, making the creator the master.

The tome went on to explain that undead were capable of evolving, so to speak. A lesser undead such as a skeleton, could be ordered to use a sword to fight. After killing enough enemies, it would evolve into a Skeletal Warrior. When it evolves it would become slightly stronger and gain some abilities. Such as when evolving into a Skeletal Warrior, it would gain battle instincts and a hate for the living. It would also start to develop a very small amount of intelligence.

This was good news for Azrael, as that meant any undead he creates now, will have the ability to grow stronger. Thus there was no need for him to hold back. Azrael looked at the other charred corpse, raised his hand and spoke, “Raise Lesser Undead.” Once more, that black mist seeped out of his hand and travelled to the corpse, engulfing it. In three breaths of time later, the mist stood up and formed a figure then vanished, leaving behind a skeleton standing in its place. Also at this skeleton's feet were burnt remnants of robe just like the previous one.

If skulls could smile, that's what Azrael was doing right now. 'Hahaha, excellent.' he thought. “Raise your arm above your head.” He ordered the newly created skeleton and it did as told. He chuckled as he looked at his two creations but then suddenly stopped. Shaking his head, in an awkward tone he muttered, “P-put your arms down.”

Sighing he looked around the village. 'I forgot that they'll follow orders without question. They probably would've kept their arms up forever if I didn't tell them to stop...Alright, let's see...' As we was looking around, he abruptly stopped as his eyes focused on something in particular, 'Oh, I almost forgot there's still that corpse I could use.' He walked over to where the final mage had pleaded for his life.

Staring at the corpse that was a bloody, withered husk, he raised his hand and uttered, “Raise Lesser Undead.” After a few moments a new skeleton was standing before him, wearing a bloody robe. 'Alright! Three skeletons now. Hmmm, what to have them do...' He thought as he looked at his three undead slaves. As he looked around the village once more, he seemed to have a sudden idea.

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Looking towards the skeletons he ordered, “You three, gather all twenty of those piles of weapons, armor and bone. Bring them and leave them outside of that house over there.” He pointed to the house he was currently calling his own. “Make sure to sort them into three different piles. One for weapons, armor and bones. When you finish, knock on the door of the house and then enter.”

As if they were acknowledging the order, the three skeletons nodded and then moved to do as told. 'Good. I'll be able to see just how complex of an order they can carry out.' He waited and watched as the skeletons proceeded to do as told. 'Hmm...I can try out Control Lesser Undead on those skeletons that are standing idly over there.' As he thought this, he looked to the now thirty-seven skeletons that were standing in rank.

Walking over to and standing in front of these skeletons he thought, 'Hmm, it felt like Raise Lesser Undead consumes the same amount of mana as a fireball, so I should only be able to cast it two more times. I wonder how much mana Control Lesser Undead takes...'

Control Lesser Undead was another spell that was contained in the tome, The God of Death's Revised Death Magic. In the process of creating an undead, the caster of the spell or ritual would imprint a minuscule amount of their soul into the undead that was created. This would allow the undead to recognize the caster as its master.

Control Lesser Undead was a spell, which was essentially the process of imprinting a minuscule amount of the caster's soul into the undead target. If the undead was masterless, the caster of the spell would become the master. If the undead already had a master, it was possible for the caster to gain control of it, if the caster imprinted a larger portion of their soul into the undead than their current master already had or if their soul was stronger than their current master's. This spell is only effective, as the name implies, on Lesser Undead.

Standing in front of the skeletons, Azrael raised his hand aiming it towards one of the skeletons and uttered, “Control Lesser Undead.” Immediately a violet blue energy radiated from his hand and arched to the skeleton he was aiming at. It engulfed it's upper body for a second and then vanished. 'Did it work?' He thought as he eyed the skeleton. “Raise your hand.” He ordered it.

The skeleton promptly raised its hand as ordered. “Haha, excellent! Lower your hand.” As the skeleton lowered its hand, Azrael was lost in deep thought, 'So Control Lesser Undead feels as though it has the same mana cost as Raise Lesser Undead and Fireball...At the moment I can only cast either of these three spells, five times before I run out of mana...Hmmm, it seems like my mana continues to regenerate even when I'm not meditating, but at a horrendous rate. It's better to just replenish my mana to full by meditating. It only takes a quarter of an hour to do so after all. But to increase my mana pool by meditating, seems like it will take a lot of time meditating. Even meditating for a few hours at once didn't seem to do anything...' He shook his head as he continued to think.

'Regarding these skeletons, if I use Control Lesser undead one more time, then there would be thirty-five skeletons left, that I can cast it on. I can cast this spell five times every fifteen minutes so...In about two hours I should be able to have all of these skeletons under my control...' Azrael crossed his arms and brought his hand to his chin as he pondered, 'Huh...there's no way I could have done those kinds of calculations before I was made into an undead...Did the god of death increase my intelligence when he transformed me?...Hmmm, well I suppose it's just one more thing I need to thank him for, haha.'

Finished with his thoughts, Azrael raised his hand, aiming it at another skeleton. Once more he cast “Control Lesser Undead.” The same effect occurred as before, a violet blue energy emanated from his hand and engulfed the skeleton's upper body for a moment before it vanished. “Alright, you two, follow me.” He ordered them. Both skeletons gave a nod and began to follow Azrael as he turned around to walk towards the house he was calling his.

'Once I'm done gaining control of these skeletons, I'll have forty in total. I'll have to figure out what to do with them.' He thought as he made his way to the house. As he entered it, he ordered the two skeletons following him to stand by each side of the door. He then walked over and sat down at the table. 'After I run out of mana, I'll meditate in here. I don't like the idea of being out in the open and meditating.' He thought to himself before he closed his eyes and began to meditate.