The city was called Sicon, a small city on the border of Tarvia. Tarvia itself was a strong Kingdom that bordered Lissura, the Kingdom Alaster was born in. The two nations had not had a true war for nearly a century but had a small series of skirmishes almost yearly.
Alaster himself had never actually heard of Sicon. Not that he thought it meant much, as he was a village boy. As a Frontier City, the City of Sicon had very thick walls and all its guards were quite skilled at protecting it from the monsters.
From what Alaster saw while they walked the streets, the people were well cared for and fed. The streets were clearly maintained and regularly swept clear of any snow or filth. Guard patrols were regular but relaxed.
Alaster noticed that most of the buildings were made by Earth Mages or similar Classes. It was noticeable by the large and uniform blocks of stone the buildings were composed of. Either they had a masterful mason and great quarry, or, and much more likely, they used Magic.
The city itself was fairly small, just a little smaller than Onigas. Unlike Onigas that had a wall separating each section of the city, Sicon only had two sets of walls. Sicon only had two gates, The North and South gates. The city sat on a tall hill, which the rich and influential claimed the hill as their own. The City Lord's Mansion sat at the highest point. The second set of walls separated the Noble District from the rest of the city.
The streets were wide, but the alleys narrow, much to Alaster's delight. He did not actually like narrow spaces, but they were much easier to defend than a wide area. They found an alley that was roughly three meters across. Tall buildings on either side, nearly seven meters deep, and the rear was where the wall stood.
Alaster found it ideal as it only had one way in, so it was easily defended if needed. It was far from the actual street and tall buildings, and an even taller wall covered it in shadow, so it was easily hidden. And it was wide enough for the Shelter to be set up.
Astrid found it less amazing, but she agreed that it was a good and secluded spot for Alaster to work his Death Magic while still in the city. Her quiet complaints became even quieter when Alaster set up the Shelter and got a fire going. They both sat down and warmed themselves by the fire.
Eventually, exhausted from the chase and not yet recovered from her capture, Astrid fell asleep. Alaster took that moment to begin rebuilding his Night Children. Unfortunately, he had been unable to recover the already modified bones of the Skeletons. So, Alaster would need to begin from scratch.
The only good part of that was the EXP that he would get. He still wasn't happy, but that fact consoled him at least a little.
Due to already being familiar with the process, Alaster progressed quickly. It was not long before both Night Children were rebuilt. It was, however, still long enough for his legs to become stiff. The young man stretched them out while he looked over his [Skeleton Creation] ability.
[Skeleton Creation
Level 4: 57%
Create what none have created.
Mana Cost 50/min]
"So close." Alaster muttered to himself, bringing up his [Raise Undead] ability.
[Raise Undead
Level 9<10: 94%<41%
Raise a small corpse to serve as your servant.
Max Minion: 2/2
Mana Cost: 32<30]
[Evolution Available]
'Holy Shit!'
Alaster had expected the ability to level up again. After all, it was only six percent away, and he had just made two more Undead. But Alaster did not expect it to already be forty percent to the next level.
'Just how strong were those two Goblins?'
The two Goblin guards that Alaster had killed while trying to escape the Goblin Lord had provided him more EXP than he had expected.
[Class: Death Mage
Level: 6
EXP: 32%<73%
Health: 160/160
Health Regeneration: 6/min
Mana: 150/150
Mana Regeneration: 2/min]
'And almost leveled my Class.'
Alaster was more than impressed by his progress. It was commonly understood that it would take a Novice, who trained hard every day, roughly until their twentieth birthday, to become an Adept. Yet here he was, not even a month after his birthday and already level six, almost level seven.
Not only that, but Alaster already had very capable minions. He had designed them to be an Assassin Type of minion. Sneaky, quick, and lethal. He doubted that any Novice would be able to survive a sneak attack from the Night Children.
But he did not let himself grow cocky. In the end, the Night Children were fragile. He was quite certain that in an actual fight, even Astrid could defeat a Night Child. Astrid herself wasn't weak. She had thrown back a much higher-level Goblin and even blocked a strike from an Adept Goblin Lord.
Alaster had checked the book of Classes he had gotten from Alice for his birthday. Astrid's Class was not there, but that in itself was not surprising. Alaster would have been surprised if it had. The book was by no means complete, and it seemed to focus more on the Magical Classes.
He would have preferred to be able to learn about her Class to be able to better utilize it. As for now, and the foreseeable future, at least in the immediate, he and Astrid would be working together.
At the moment, Alaster had to select one evolution and was so close to another. Alaster was severely tempted to choose the evolution now, but decided he would wait to see the [Skeleton Creation] evolutions to see if the selections from both abilities could synergize in some way.
To do that, however, Alaster would need to level up his [Skeleton Creation] ability. Alaster sat down in front of the Night Children and wondered what more he could change. He could of course simply make random changes until the ability leveled up and then change them back. But he was hesitant to do that.
Currently, his greatest defense were the Night Children. A good defense is a great offense. But Alaster wanted a great defense, as well as a great offense. In that way, he did not really need two Night Children.
He needed a shield. An undying one.
Alaster stretched his arms and fingers and got to work.
First, he completely removed the blades of the Night Child. He did not want to worry about getting cut by them while he was working on the rest. He then smoothed the spikes down on the shins and underside of its forearms.
Without the blades or the spikes, Alaster was once again reminded why he decided to call them Night Children. He had originally been planning to simply strengthen the bones and give it some armor and weapons. But after seeing it stand straight, it was too short.
The other Night Child stayed crouched in the corner, watching its master blankly. After Alaster had removed the spikes and blades, the first Night Child had stood back up.
When Alaster thought of a guardian, he imagined something standing tall and large. But the Goblin Skeleton was simply too short and too weak. Alaster was sure that it could protect against most blows a Novice would use, but it would be thrown around or easily reached around. Alaster needed a larger Skeleton.
The young man leaned back against the shelter wall and rested his chin in his palm. He considered waiting until night and then doing a bit of grave robbing. His parents would not exactly approve of that, but Alaster himself did not see any issues with that. After all, they were already dead. And it was not like he was shoveling them up for any riches they were buried with. He only wanted the bones themselves.
However, while Classes and Abilities that could make use of corpses were Unique in their rarity, guards were still placed at the cemeteries. Not that people were truly worried about their loved one's corpses being used in some way, but because it gave them the sound of mind that having the guards there would prevent it.
Most cities had limited space. They could not expand outward very easily, and the graveyards could not be placed outside the walls, or they would quickly be dug up and eaten by monsters. As such, most cities would 'recycle' the space.
The worship of the Gods was prevalent practically everywhere. Even the nonreligious were affected and took care of it. As such, the burials were typically handled depending on the dead's faith.
If they worshiped the Gods of Earth, Life, Water, or Fertility, they were buried. If they worshiped the Gods of Fire, War, Protection, or Wind, they were cremated.
From what Alaster could see and had overheard, this city seemed to be predominately Earth Worshipers. As such, their Graveyard would be larger. But eventually, space would run out. Due to this, every so often, when the Graveyard ran out of space, the bodies would be dug up, the remains gathered and then ground up into powder that would be spread over the farmlands.
This was done very respectfully, and the family of the deceased would handle the remains. The idea was that by burying the dead within the walls, the souls of the dead would help to nourish and protect the city as they passed on. And then the earthly remains would be used to help nourish the people of the city.
Of course, there were always remains that were left unclaimed, for numerous reasons. It would be quite easy for Alaster to claim a few as his long dead relatives and simply leave with them. But he had no idea when the last Remembrance Ceremony was, and the next one was never planned very far in advance. They simply did them as the need arose.
So, the young man's mind once again ran to simply digging up one of the graves. However, there was no doubt that it would cause quite a stir in the city. It would not be long before the idea of a Necromancer being in the city was thrown around.
That in itself was not bad. Necromancers and those with similar Classes and Abilities were not illegal, and most Cities would love to have one, as it means free labor or soldiers. However, followers of the Gods of Life were much less welcoming, especially when said Necromancer stole the dead.
The actual scriptures and teachings of the Gods of Life said nothing against Necromancers and other users of Death. In fact, it is quite regularly and directly said that death is just a part of life and should not be shunned or avoided. But what was taught and what was acted on, were almost never the same for anything. Especially when it came to religion.
Alaster's family weren't intense worshipers, but they did abide by and follow the teaching of Metos, a Goddess of War. More specifically, returning from battle. She was worshiped by most guards and almost every soldier. However, since that night, he had forsaken her and the rest of the Gods. They had not protected or saved his family. Not from death, nor from torture. In his eyes, they did not deserve worship.
He shook himself from the thoughts that had run away from him and returned to the matter at hand. Alaster could not steal a body, either now, or during a Remembrance Ceremony. He silently chastised himself over not taking the bones of the women at the Goblin Tribe. But with a glance at Astrid, he knew that it would have made matters much worse.
'Not that she would have known if I had taken them after she passed out.'
Not that it mattered anymore, so he moved on.
'Wait. I can mold bone. Why can't I create human bones? Oh, that's easy. Because I don't know what they look like or their density. But do I really need to know? The Goblin Skeleton's stats had changed after I changed it with [Skeleton Creation]. I don't need to know what a Human Skeleton looks like because it won't matter. After all, it's the Mana that causes them to move, not the bone's functionality. It's not like bones can run, jump, and fight anyway.'
Smirking to himself, he got to work.
Changing a raised Skeleton worked with a weird combo of both [Bone Crafting] and [Skeleton Creation]. It seemed to rely more on [Bone Crafting], but if Alaster had to add anything to the already existing Skeleton, whether it be more bone or, he was guessing, anything else, it required more use of [Skeleton Creation].
However, within just a few moments of work, he got a notification.
[Bone Crafting Level up]
[Evolution Available]
'Nice!'
If he was being honest with himself, Alaster had pretty much forgotten about [Bone Crafting], at least its levels. It had quickly become something that just felt natural.
[Bone Crafting
Level 3<5: 42%<0%
Ability to mold bone as if clay.
Mana Cost: 8/min<6/min]
[Bone Crafting Evolutions:
1. Blueprint, can create copies of creations, if the user has enough Mana.
2. Finer Control, easier to create smaller and more intricate creations.
3. Stronger Control, easier to manipulate properties of creations.]
Alaster thought about the implications and use behind each choice. As before, each choice could be learned by the user, but that required intense practice and time. Ability Evolutions allowed the user to learn one choice right then and there. Even then, it could be improved with practice.
Blueprint would be great if and when he created an army of undead. It would allow him to create an object with the ability, like a helmet for example, and then create copies of that item. It had specified 'if the user has enough Mana', so it likely also required the correct amount of bone. And Alaster had a sneaking suspicion that the copies would not be as good as the original.
Finer Control would make it easier for Alaster to create smaller items. Anytime he tried to create something smaller than his palm, he could feel resistance. Resistance that became stronger the smaller the item was or became. As he was now, Alaster could not make anything smaller than the width of three fingers.
Stronger Control implied that he could force through any resistance easier. So, in a way, it would also help with making smaller items. But Alaster could feel that it was specifying something else. Something like the density and strength of the bone. Just like with small objects, Alaster felt resistance whenever he pushed the bone too much.
Each was valuable. Blueprint would help with quantity. Finer Control would help with delicate and intricate works. But Alaster was leaning more towards Stronger Control. Not only because it would help him with his current project, but because he had always preferred quality over quantity, and he struggled to see how Finer Control would help him in his current situation.
So, Alaster made his selection.
He immediately felt something change as he used [Bone Crafting]. Though he wasn't able to identify what.
Alaster continued with his project, adding more Goblin bones as needed, he certainly had a surplus. He didn't intend to skimp.