Chapter 4

Become a Legendary Necromancer - Chapter 004

This guy Yulias didn't seem to be particularly good at speaking.

He had been stumbling over his words in the same pattern quite a few times now.

'Well, that's beside the point.'

I calmly waited for Yulias to continue.

What mattered was what kind of abilities he possessed.

Before long, Yulias opened his mouth.

[What kind of class do you think a Necromancer is, Master?]

Why was he suddenly asking me that?

It was a rather unexpected question, but it wasn't something I needed to think deeply about.

Reviving dead bodies.

And using the Skeletons revived in that way for combat.

That was everything a Necromancer did.

Yulias nodded.

[That's right. Exactly. That's the essence of a Necromancer. Now then, here's a question! Who controls those revived Skeletons?]

“Obviously, I—”

I stopped speaking.

Because something suddenly occurred to me.

“Don't tell me... you're the one who controls the Skeletons?”

The corners of Yulias's mouth curved into a broad smile.

[Bingo!]

I was genuinely astonished.

Giving instructions and commands to each individual Skeleton.

A Necromancer's skill was determined by how proficiently and efficiently they could do that.

That was common knowledge about Necromancers in this world.

But Yulias was saying he could handle that?

If so, there was no way he was ordinary.

[Hehe. Judging by your expression, it seems you've figured it out, Master. Just how amazing I am, that is.]

Yulias crossed his arms and raised his chin.

Fwoosh!

The flames within Yulias's eye sockets blazed intensely.

[The Skeletons controlled by the ordinary Necromancers you know, and the Skeletons controlled by me. There's simply no comparison. Why? Because I don't merely give Skeletons simple commands.]

Simply giving commands.

I immediately understood what he meant by that.

Because of what I had experienced inside the Gate earlier.

When I revived a Skeleton using the Red Orc's corpse.

Back then, I had given the Skeleton a command along these lines.

To fight the Red Orc.

As for exactly how it should move its body or where it should attack.

I hadn't been able to give detailed commands like those.

But now Yulias was saying that he could do precisely that.

[That's right. There are some limitations, though.]

“Limitations?”

[A revived Skeleton cannot surpass the intelligence it possessed before its resurrection.]

Yulias continued explaining.

To summarize it briefly, it was like this.

Ordering a dog to hold a knife in its hand like a human and stab an opponent in the heart.

It couldn't carry out such an order.

After all, no matter how professionally a dog was trained, that would still be impossible.

Nevertheless.

There was absolutely no doubt that Yulias's ability was extraordinary.

Furthermore, according to Yulias's explanation, he could freely control any number of Skeletons.

Dozens, hundreds... even thousands of Skeletons could be controlled individually.

It was truly an insane ability!

I stared intently at Yulias.

Before I knew it, my gaze toward Yulias had softened considerably compared to when I first saw him.

Although his manner of speaking still bothered me, his abilities were undeniably impressive.

'But no matter how I look at it, he seems to be some kind of summoned creature...'

A summoned creature.

An existence that serves as a companion and supporter, growing alongside its master.

However, summoned creatures cannot necessarily be considered allies from the very beginning.

Because every summoned creature has a different level of loyalty toward its master.

Here, loyalty refers to a sense of duty and obedience.

It describes an attitude of prioritizing one's master even at the risk of danger or personal loss.

Naturally, I focused my attention on Yulias.

At that moment.

'Huh?'

A holographic window suddenly appeared before my eyes.

[Yulias von Kandel Ediar (EX)]

-Classification: Lich

-Loyalty: 100

'What the hell? So he really is a summoned creature?'

However, one particular detail immediately caught my attention.

'His loyalty... is 100?'

The maximum loyalty value is 100.

The closer it is to 100, the more devoted a summoned creature is to its master.

It means the creature will obey anything its master commands.

Even if obeying means the summoned creature itself will die.

The usual method is to increase loyalty gradually while spending time with the summoned creature.

That is common knowledge.

'And I heard it usually starts at 10.'

That's why controlling summoned creatures is difficult.

Because if a summoned creature's loyalty is low, its master could end up in an extremely dangerous situation.

There could be cases where a summoned creature refuses to obey commands at a life-threatening moment.

And the same applies to Necromancers.

Of course, the higher the grade of one's Unique Skill, the higher the initial loyalty value is said to be.

'That's why I could immediately give orders to my Skeleton. But even so, I never expected it to be 100.'

[Hehe.]

For some reason, Yulias had been chuckling happily for quite some time.

He spoke again.

[And that's not all.]

“That's... not all?”

[Open your Soul Inventory.]

Oh, right. There was that, too.

I immediately pictured the Soul Inventory in my mind.

Shing—

A holographic window arranged in a 4×4 grid appeared.

However, every slot except one was locked.

There was no need to ask about that.

'I suppose the slots unlock one by one as my level increases.'

The only slot that wasn't locked.

I shifted my gaze toward it.

Strangely enough, there was a Red Orc inside that slot.

A tiny, miniature Red Orc.

Shing—

It was at that moment that another holographic window appeared before my eyes.

[Soul Inventory Status]

Currently Stored Soul: Red Orc (D)

Extracted Skill: Iron Shield (D)

“This is...”

My eyes widened.

Because I naturally understood.

What the holographic window in front of me meant.

Using Soul Devouring allowed me to use the skills possessed by the corresponding monster.

That was why it said 'Extracted Skill.' The Iron Shield skill itself had originally belonged to the Red Orc.

Otherwise, there was no explanation for the current situation.

And sure enough.

[Hehe. That's right, Master.]

Yulias confirmed that my deduction was correct.

He placed both hands on his hips and straightened his back proudly.

[The Skeletons I control can use skills. As long as they belong to souls stored in the Soul Inventory, that is.]

He then provided an additional explanation.

When Soul Devouring was used on a corpse and its soul was stored in the Soul Inventory.

One skill possessed by that corpse could be extracted.

“...”

For a moment, I was at a loss for words.

Because this was truly an unbelievable ability.

Skeletons could use skills!

[Of course, that doesn't mean they can use skills freely without restriction.]

“They can't?”

[Because using skills consumes your mana, Master.]

“Ah.”

That meant the skills couldn't be used infinitely.

However, the advantages overwhelmingly outweighed that limitation. So overwhelmingly, in fact, that I could practically erase the disadvantage from my mind.

The fact that they could use skills at all was already unbelievable.

'Do you have any idea how much a single skill costs?'

Before my regression, I had spent countless days worrying because I couldn't even afford to buy a single skill.

'What's more, I can choose which skills to learn. Only the ones I want.'

Because all I had to do was kill a monster possessing the desired skill and store its soul in the Soul Inventory.

'And that also means... I can obtain an unlimited number of high-grade skills.'

As my level increased, the levels of the monsters I could defeat would naturally increase as well.

And those monsters would possess higher-grade skills.

'In the end, mana is going to be the problem.'

Just as I finished organizing my thoughts.

[All you have to do, Master, is 'serve' me properly.]

Yulias suddenly said something incomprehensible.

Serve him?

[There are two main things I want. First.]

Floating in midair, the creature raised one finger.

[Whatever I want to eat, I must absolutely be allowed to eat!]

Immediately afterward, he raised a second finger.

[Your schedule must always revolve around me. If I want to rest, we rest. If I want to go somewhere, we go there. Well, that doesn't mean I'll insist on having everything my way. As much as possible, I'll agree to enter the Tower, which we can enter once a day.]

What the hell was this bullshit?

I was dumbfounded.

Perhaps he noticed my expression.

[If you refuse, nothing good will come of it for you, Master. If you're curious, go ahead and try.]

Yulias spoke while straightening his back proudly.

However, contrary to his confident attitude, the flames in his eyes were trembling strangely and violently.

In any case, what mattered was the current situation.

The creature was threatening me.

At this point, I began to wonder.

Was Yulias's loyalty really 100, as I had seen earlier?

'Did I see it wrong?'

Just in case, I checked again.

But Yulias's loyalty was indeed 100.

And it couldn't be an error, either.

Because the System was accurate.

'It seems he's trying to use the fact that he can control the Skeletons to seize control of our relationship...'

But then I thought that this might actually be a good thing.

'Doesn't this mean I've been given an opportunity as well?'

An opportunity to establish control right from the beginning.

An opportunity to put a firm leash on Yulias.

I looked Yulias straight in the eye.

Then I asked.

“Hmm. So those are the two things you want, right?”

[Yep!]

Yulias nodded vigorously.

And toward that creature...

I smiled and spoke firmly.

“No.”

_____________

“That's right, you've made a wise deci... Huh? D-did you just say no, Master?!”

The flames in Yulias's eyes shook wildly.

Their size had also shrunk by half, and even his voice was trembling.

I drove the point home.

“Yeah. I said no. I refuse.”

[But why?!]

The creature suddenly shrieked.

[What's the problem, huh? No, Master! These are perfectly reasonable requests! Is it because of the second condition, where you have to accommodate me no matter what? If that's the problem, I'll compromise to a certain extent! That should be fine, right?!]

The creature rattled off words in rapid succession.

I was extremely bewildered by his sudden reaction.

Because I had never expected him to adopt such a submissive attitude.

If anything, I had expected him to become even more forceful.

And he didn't stop there.

He even reached the point of throwing a tantrum.

[Oh, come on! Just agree! I'm telling you to agree!!]

Like a small child begging someone to buy him a toy.

Yulias stomped his feet repeatedly in midair.

Of course, no matter what he did, I had no intention of agreeing to his demands.

'No. If anything, I should make things absolutely clear right now.'

Who the master was.

In other words, who held the upper hand and who was subordinate.

'That way, he won't even think about making ridiculous threats like this again.'

It was best to correct bad habits as quickly as possible, even if only by a minute or a second.

“Yulias, you said something earlier, didn't you?”

[Huh? What did I say?]

“That if I refused your demands, things wouldn't be pleasant for me.”

[I-I did, didn't I?]

“Then let's find out whether that's really true.”