Though they didn’t reside in the ancient castle of Drakenhof, many vampires worked there during the day. They were primarily involved in alchemical experiments, manufacturing alchemical equipment, creating high-level undead, and producing powerful magical weapons and armor for higher vampires and undead. For the production of ordinary weapons and armor for skeletal soldiers, the vampires contracted human manufacturers in Sylvannia. However, for high-end weapons like rare black iron, mithril, and adamantine, they kept production in-house.

Beneath Drakenhof Castle lay an entire production line. Vampires worked on it, using their magic to forge metals, inscribing magical runes onto armor and weapons to imbue them with power. A continuous stream of armor, weapons, and staffs was produced, either shipped to the frontier to replenish losses or paired with newly created high-level undead, stored in the castle’s underground armory as reserve forces.

This armory was perhaps the most vital secret of the von Carstein family, its importance surpassing even that of the Blood Chalice, their supposed greatest treasure. Today, in the emptied underground armory, over 20,000 high-level undead and ten times that number of regular skeleton soldiers lie silently. Prestigious units like Grave Guard, Black Knights, Blood Knights, and even three colossal zombie dragons await their vampire masters’ command.

This vast army was the result of centuries of accumulation by three generations of von Carstein counts, surpassing the forces most enemy nations could muster. Other families like Lahmian, Necrarch, and Aborash also had similar reserve forces.

Vampires bided their time, gathering strength until the moment was right. When it arrived, or their numbers swelled sufficiently, they would once more march upon the lands of the living. When this happened, the undead army would reach truly terrifying numbers.

Norton and Triss occupied a small, vacant alchemical lab in the castle. Triss had brought in several high-quality skeletons, spoils from battles with foes, as Sylvannia lacked military training centers open to the living.

There were five skeletons in total, three human-sized, one human warrior, and another of a green-skinned orc. Normally, vampires ground such non-human bones to powder, using Bone Reconstitution to reshape them into standard human skeletons. Discipline and standardization were vital to an undead army.

However, these bones were for training. Their size didn’t matter, and Triss had her reasons—to train Norton in comprehensive undead creation skills. As she put it, "In real warfare, you'd need to use any corpse immediately. There's no time for reprocessing." Norton agreed with her point and focused on watching Triss cast her spells.

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High-grade undead weren’t like the ones Norton attempted last month, using enough magic and clapping black iron armor on them. Those were pitiable failures. Without the cat’s help in reconstructing the tomb guardians, the situation could have been disastrous.

Norton watched Triss’s meticulous process with silent admiration. First, the bones were soaked in a special potion to enhance them, undoubtedly for at least six hours. The human skeletons were already treated, and the dwarf and orc bones, only for practice, didn’t require stringent procedures.

Triss simply made Norton copy the potion formula for future practice before moving on.

She used fresh blood to draw magical runes on the bones, enhancing their strength and the tomb guardians’ power. Most importantly, the runes connected them to the souls in the underworld, absorbing useful martial skills and military training from them.

Even after the runes were drawn, the process wasn’t complete. Next were magical engravings on the bones—an intricate step. Mistakes could be erased and redone when drawing, but engravings required precision. Minor errors could be fixed by cutting a bit of bone, but major ones meant grinding the bones to powder and starting over.

The engravings were half on the bones and half on the armor and weapons used by the tomb guardians, ensuring synergy with their gear and teaching them combat techniques—how to wield black iron halberds, swords and shields, and operate crossbows. They also learned formations, coordination with fellow undead soldiers, and large-scale tactical skills.

Once the runes and engravings were complete, a sufficient infusion of pale magical wind would finish the tomb guardian. Of course, a family control command was also inscribed to ensure obedience to the von Carstein vampires.

After about three hours, Triss completed a tomb guardian. Norton was quietly amazed at how much his previous efforts had lacked.

Watching the guardian salute her with phosphorescent eyes, Triss nodded in satisfaction. She remarked to Norton, "It’s slower for one person, but nowadays, undead soldiers are assembled on production lines. A tomb guardian takes just twenty minutes."

"I see," Norton nodded in understanding.

"Did you catch everything I did?" Triss asked.

"Mostly," Norton replied.

"Then you try making one," Triss chuckled, fully expecting him to fail. She intended to get back at him for earlier deceptions and even holding a sword to her neck.

Typically, a teacher would spend a week teaching undead creation, going over each rune and engraving step-by-step before it could be combined into a full process. Triss planned to mock Norton once he struggled or failed—it seemed only fitting to humble him.

Yet, to her growing astonishment, Norton replicated her steps and completed a tomb guardian, taking even less time.

Watching him frown and mumble, "First try was a bit rough…” Triss felt a strong urge to bury herself in a hole out of shame. Compared to this genius, she felt like nothing. His success demanded more than just a strong affinity for magical wind; it required drawing skills, carving precision, and an exceptional memory—Norton remembered every step of her three-hour demonstration.

Seeing the guardian salute Norton, Triss couldn’t suppress a scream of disbelief.

"Shut up... that girl," Celia, comfortably lounging, flicked her ears and flapped her wings before settling back to sleep. She was as fond of sleep as any dragon.