The shroud of ancient oaks and pine, their rough barks clawing at the sky and their thick branches weaving like baskets, formed a thick canopy. Sunrays weakly pierced through the canopy in scattered beams, illuminating small patches of green foliage and casting long shadows that danced with the gentle breeze. The ground was a natural mosaic of fallen leaves, twigs, and the occasional mushroom or moss, creating a soft, uneven carpet that somewhat muffled their footsteps. Birdsongs filled the air, and the occasional interruption occurred from the rustle of insects and small creatures scurrying through the foliage.
Ainz, with a flick of his wrist, stowed away the remote-viewing mirror back into his inventory, his eyes scanning the dense canopy above for threats. "This should be a decent spot. I didn't find any humans within a kilometer radius," he declared. It had been quite a hassle to scout the area, he had moved the view under the dense treeline to avoid any curious onlookers possibly interested in their experiments.
"There's a chance that a sentient boar or a talking bunny is nearby, which might report our activities to the government," Buku remarked, her tone even flatter than the surrounding forest floor as she started pulling the animal corpses out of her inventory.
"I could start with a negative burst and see how far it reaches and what remains," Ainz retorted, his face twisting in intense determination as death energies started to swirl around his fingertips.
"It was a joke, darling. I seriously doubt there are sentient animals even in this world, even with what I read." Buku raised a brow. She loved her husband's cautious attitude, it would keep them safe since she was far more reckless and adventurous than him, but there were limits to the caution where it simply became counterproductive if taken too far. Which he tended to do when handling the unknown.
"I know." Ainz sheepishly chuckled as he relaxed, dispelling the spell with a sigh, its energies returning to him.
"Huh…? You got me, you bastard," Buku pouted in response and crossed her arms, turning away. "It is my job to joke around!"
"We're in a strange new world. I need to keep you on your toes." He retorted, slowly approaching his pouting wife.
Buku glanced up at him, her nose twitching, and demanded, "You will give me kisses as consolation."
"That is a reasonable request." He leaned down, planting a kiss on her lips as he grinned.
"You are forgiven," She mumbled back between kisses, melting into his embrace.
"We should get back to tests," Ainz reminded her.
"Right." She reluctantly broke away and piled the last of the animal corpses onto the ground, dispensing them from her inventory. During the last few hours of travel, they had encountered a lot of wildlife that could be easily dispatched by the precise strikes of a sword or weak lighting spells, giving them quite the kill count. The bodies were a grim assortment: a deer with its once graceful neck twisted at an unnatural angle, its fur covered with dried blood; a boar, its tusks still menacing despite the lifelessness in its half-burnt eyes; wolves, their fur a stark gray against the lush green forest floor, marred by a single, fatal slash across the spine; and a bear, a massive, hulking figure, its fur a deep, rich brown now covered with dirt and blood, all having fallen before their impossible might within seconds upon encounter.
"Let's start with the same spell you used. I doubt any undead will stand a chance if I raise them before you unleash your light magic."
"Please put on a shield first. I don't want to accidentally hurt you," Buku responded as she nodded. Even if she tried to repeat the prayer of fortitude, there was a decent risk she could lose control again and bless half the forest, blasting her husband in the process at point-blank range. This rather simple light spell increased the stamina and the overall body constitution of the target, capable of changing the tide of battles if performed on a mass scale.
Buku had memorized a few other prayers during her time in town wanting to ensure she could control the intensity of her magic first before moving on to spells like smite, heal, and shield that were known to be more specific and powerful. There was also a prayer for a divine miracle or resurrection, a once-a-lifetime spell that only a select few could perform, but that was for much later. Her sharpened mind truly came in handy, when all it took was to see a page of text once and she would remember every tiny detail with ease.
"I'll just switch back to my default gear for now." Ainz pulled out his midnight black robe, the fabric as dark as a moonless night, and quickly changed outfits. He adorned himself with an array of resistance rings, each one gleaming with a faint, protective aura, to minimize his weakness towards the holy magic's searing touch. Each ring appeared to be crafted from rare, enchanted metals, imbued with ancient runes, the veritable work of gods by this world's standards, but really, they were game items he had acquired through various means. They boosted his mana, increased overall resistance across the board, and greatly lessened his weakness towards the light. One thing he was still relatively weak against was fire, but even this weakness could be lessened with other gear safely stored in his inventory which he had chosen not to bring out given the previous prayer.
Buku took a deep breath, steadying her nerves as she patiently waited for Ainz to cast a shield and bolster his resistances. She knew his equipment still wouldn't be enough if she truly went all out on a holy spell, but that wasn't her goal. In fact, the effect would likely be the same if Ainz attempted to cast death magic spells at his full capacity upon her, even with her resistance-heavy build. It was hard to tell what their new limits were, but both had to be careful as there was no such thing as friendly fire neutralization in this world, unlike in-game.
"Ready?" She asked for confirmation once Ainz had performed all his preparations.
"Ready, but try to tone it down as much as you can," her husband urged.
She recited the prayer of [Power Word: Fortitude] with a clear intention to aim it only at herself and intentionally at a vastly reduced power. Like before, light surged from within her, a radiant tide from within, but this time it was much more controlled, contained within. Her skin and eyes glowed with a soft, ethereal light, but there wasn't any explosive outburst of holy energy. Only a few bits of grass around her were blessed this time.
"Still a bit too strong. I guess I'll try this again and again until I get the hang of how to precisely regulate the amount and direction," Buku commented.
"Hmm, it's easy for me to know exactly how much mana I should use, but I guess you as a non-caster will need some practice. It is strange though since neither of us had innate knowledge of magic before," Ainz mused.
Buku's eyes sparkled with a mischievous glint, "Hey, how about you try using a sword while I practice magic? If we are both rebuilt with a specialization in mind, you'll likely be shit at it, while I can use any melee weapon I pick up with ease." With a swift, fluid motion, she tossed a sheathed sword at Ainz, who caught it with both hands.
Her suspicions were spot on. Her husband swung the sword around like a stick without any grace or technique. Despite the lack of any semblance of technique, the fact that he could wield the sword was an unexpected but welcome development for his possible growth. Both had innate knowledge that just wasn't there before, and it was there for them to build up. In the game, each class had a specific range of weapons and armor they could use, and that was it. Ainz's build prevented him from using most melee and ranged weapons with staves, maces, and wands being the only exception. She, in turn, couldn't use most powerful magical items except for those built explicitly for her archetype, and practically all magical spells were impossible for her to perform.
But now, the possibilities were literally endless. Even if their innate talent didn't lend itself to their goals, theoretically either could learn the abilities of other occupations and gradually build up a repertoire of everything else in a jack-of-all-trades fashion. All they needed was time and resources.
"It seems you're right," Ainz admitted as he handed the weapon back to her with a resigned sigh, his wife sliding it back into her inventory.
"Yup, but that means you can teach me how to use magic and I can help you train with weapons. We complement each other perfectly." Buku couldn't help but feel a smug sense of satisfaction, knowing she had an edge in melee combat despite never having trained for it.
"When I cast spells, I go with a feel of how much magic I need for a particular use," Ainz explained. "For example, try comparing how much mana you spent back in Northshire and how much you've used now. Visualize it as a numeric scale while you cast a spell, and once you've successfully comprehended that, you can begin targeting specific values." Ainz gave her pointers, his words were like a guiding light for the eager Buku.
It was easier said than done, but with Ainz's help, Buku slowly but surely gained a grasp on how much mana was required for a particular outcome for her Light magic. What's more, Buku also began to discern the subtle difference between drawing from her mana reserves and channeling the divine energy that responded to her prayers and provided the fuel for the spells.
After reciting a prayer over two hundred times in the forests, she finally had a good enough grasp to cast with finesse and avoid causing any more accidents as long as she had a grasp on her emotions. Her mana pool seemed inexhaustible, limitless even, and to her estimate she had regenerated her energy faster than she spent on training by a large margin.
While she trained, Ainz did the same with relentless dedication, repeating very basic sword moves again and again under his wife's guidance to ingrain the feeling of how the blade should be swung.
After casually blessing a random squirrel, Buku announced, "I'm ready to train the next stuff. How about you raise a zombie so I can try using [Smite]?"
"Is it a spell made to counter the undead?" Ainz inquired as he casually raised one of the wolves as a zombie, its fur, once sleek, now hung raggedly, revealing decayed flesh beneath that, due to magic, didn't have the stench of decay. For him, using necromantic magic came as naturally as breathing, and the lifeless creature was back on its feet and growling menacingly in a single moment.
"I'm not sure," Buku replied, "There were no details in the book. I can try casting it on a zombie first and then on something else and see if it works. It could just be an all-rounder spell imbued with divine energy." She raised her arm and aimed her palm directly at the wolf's head. A blinding bolt of blinding light escaped her fingertips and collided with the animal's head, turning it into nothing but ash instantly. The reanimated, now headless and thoroughly toasted creature, shuffled around a bit before falling to the ground. The ground where the wolf had stood was scorched, and the air was thick with the acrid smell of burnt meat.
Ainz waved his hand, and the headless wolf stood up once more, a charred hole existing where its neck should've been. Yet, the creature moved around with seemingly no difficulties.
"How interesting. As long as necromantic energies are present, anything can be reanimated." Ainz stoked the animal's fur for a short while and then extracted his energy from it, letting it fall lifelessly to the ground.
Buku observed her husband's actions with curiosity. 'I'm not even remotely bothered by how cruel our tests are. We are monsters, yet my love for him has only grown stronger.' For her, only he mattered. Cruelty and death weren't new concepts in their lives. She used to be the sort of person who wasn't bothered by seeing the corpses of orphans since this was hardly a rare occurrence, bearing in mind that her previous world was a toxic and unforgiving dystopian world. Life was common, and so was death.
Their eyes met, a silent understanding passing between them. Ainz seemed to have reached a similar conclusion to such feelings too, possibly even earlier than she had, and neither of them saw the need to discuss it. They weren't humans anymore, and the traits of their game avatars had replaced much of their human psyche. Early in his life, he had lost his mother to exhaustion and disease when she overworked herself to death. Therefore, Ainz now felt that his focus and objective was to ensure Buku's happiness over anyone else. This had given him motivation to learn and grow stronger both as a warrior and a caster by accumulating knowledge about Azeroth, protecting her, and helping her grow.
Returning her focus to the task at hand, she cast [Smite] on a nearby tree. Though the effect wasn't as devastating, damage was done to it nonetheless, much to her delight. A black charred spot now decorated the stump of the oak as grim proof that even the holiest of magics could be used to cause pain and destruction upon anyone and anything.
"It seems light can be used as an offensive magic towards any enemy, but it's more potent against the undead," Ainz observed.
"At least now I have projectiles if I needed; I am curious though if I would be able to use resurrect," Buku mused, discarding a corpse from the pile nearby.
"I have a few resurrection wands, but they each have a limited amount of charges, so being able to resurrect would no doubt be useful." Ainz's curiosity was piqued. While he could easily raise any living thing as an undead and control it, true resurrection would be better suited if they needed to gain someone's favor by performing such a miracle. He had a few resurrection wands; glowing short, magical artifacts made from ivory, adorned with gold, and engraved with runes imbued with the power of the 7th tier to bring the dead back to life, in his inventory. The spell could revive a dead target, provided the corpse was relatively intact and the user had enough magical power. However, If the body was too damaged, the resurrection had the possibility of failing, and the wand would shatter. Additionally, the revived subject would suffer various penalties, such as loss of level or vitality. Since the wands were of very limited supply and use, he considered using them for any purpose other than the utmost crucial need would be foolish. They hadn't even found out if they could be resurrected in this world as was the case in Yggdrasil, and death was always a possibility.
While Buku prepared to cast a spell by gathering her magical power, he turned his attention to the next set of tests: summoning. With many new undead types in his arsenal from intuition and past experiences, he decided it was better to begin testing the ones he was most knowledgeable about.
He had an instinctive knowledge that he needed a corpse to make an undead summon permanent and for low to mid-tier undead, but even animal corpses would do. This would turn out to be very useful if they had to create a force without attracting the attention of local powers, as disappearing people would surely attract more attention than disappearing livestock or wildlife.
Ainz picked the corpse of the headless wolf for the first test and cast [Summon Death Knight]. The first thing he noted was that the spell required a noticeable amount of power at its base and more energies could be used to empower the Death Knight even more if he chose to do so. Considering that his regeneration rate was simply insane, Ainz pushed massive amounts of necrotic energies into the spell, trying to make his summon as powerful as possible.
The figure that morphed and arose from the animal's corpse was that of an average-height humanoid, clad in dark gray armor with a rune-covered sword in his arms. The man's face wasn't rotting, nor did he have the traditional shield of the Yggdrasil Death Knights. His features were greyish, pale like a recently deceased corpse should be, yet his eyes glowed with eerie blue light that hid intelligence. Considerably different from the Yggdrasil summons, but still decently similar.
"I am ready to serve, master," the creature announced with a gruff, breaking voice, taking one knee.
"Tell me what you know of yourself," Ainz ordered.
"I know my name is Rainger and I have been raised to serve you, master. I do not remember what my life was like before my death, nor does it matter to me. My only desire is to carry out your will." The undead knight spoke with a deep, echoey voice.
Now having such a servant was useful but impractical. He couldn't bring it into a human city and not expect a lot of trouble at the same time from experienced fighters, yet killing it would be a waste.
"What about your abilities?' Ainz inquired about additional details.
"I have a wide array of frost, blood, and decay-related abilities that can be used to damage enemies and heal undead allies. I can raise the dead, but my ability to do so is inconsequential compared to yours. I also can use death gates to travel to places I have visited," The Death Knight explained.
"How much do you know about the world you are in?" The gate ability only seemed useful if the Death Knight knew the locations he needed to reach.
"I am quite knowledgeable about the former Kingdom of Lorderon that once stood at the northern part of the Eastern Kingdom. Unfortunately, I lack information about other parts of the world."
"I see. If I understand correctly, those territories are controlled by undead." Ainz recalled the details about the continent he read in the books.
"Correct, master." The Death Knight answered.
"I want for you to reach the undead-controlled territories in the northern part of the continent and gather information about the forces there while avoiding attention. If need be, pretend to be loyal to the local leaders and carry out their orders as long as they do not contradict mine," Ainz ordered.
For now, the best option is to use this summon to gather information about the world and then recall it to get up-to-date details. Perhaps he could even summon more if he felt like it later.
"As you command." The Death Knight rose and cast a spell Ainz found very similar to the gate spell he used, although the one Death Knight cast wasn't oval like his but a triangle with an animal skull on the tip.
'It requires a lot less energy to use here.' Ainz thought. The Death Knight, a mid-tier summon, wasn't particularly strong compared to what he could create, and to his estimates used only the seventh-tier level of magic while his gate was of the ninth tier. For now, his summon would serve as an intelligence unit and infiltrate either forsaken or scourge lands.
The creature disappeared through the gate, which closed right after he passed through.
Meanwhile, Buku was hard at work attempting to bring the boar back to life. She stood over the deceased animal and recited a longer prayer with a barely audible whisper. Holy energies swirled around her extended palms, rapidly flowing into the target of her spell.
The deep cut in the boar's gut disappeared and the creature stood up with a stagger, glancing around in deep confusion.
"It worked!" Buku exclaimed with a high-pitched shout of excitement.
"That's great." Ainz nodded, his eyes set on the animal who was growing increasingly agitated before them.
Before long, the pig let out a blood-curdling squeal and took off as fast as its stubby legs could carry the massive animal.
"Ungrateful bastard!" Buku shouted after the boar.
"I'm sure the pig wasn't too happy to be killed for experimentation," Ainz remarked dryly, chuckling.
"Yeah, I would probably have done the same in its place. Oh well, piggie can return home and develop an unhealthy addiction dealing with the traumas I caused." Buku waved after the pig as it disappeared into the trees and shrubbery. "That sounded more messed up than I intended." She added with a giggle, grinning.
"We surely need to watch our behavior when around humans," Ainz concluded, sighing.
"That we do, but hey at least we know we're practically monsters. Might as well not get hung up on moralities when it doesn't benefit us." Buku shrugged. "I think I can still care deeply about people close to me."
"Perhaps that's what Artemel meant by us being more entertaining. The old restraints are gone, even if we didn't notice that before," Ainz pondered, tapping his chin as he often did when in deep thought.
"Probably. Might as well give her a show."
With the experimentation yielding such positive results, there was no need to worry about one test subject getting away, especially if said test subject couldn't testify in a court of law.
It was time to continue the journey and some tiny details didn't warrant worry. They needed to reach a suitable town before sunset and there was still at least an hour's walk to reach the nearest one, plus the obligatory observations in case the news had spread to that town and they had to run.
Editing by NabeisWaifu and aidan_lo.
Proofreading by IAMTHEPLOKOKIOPO, aidan_lo, Ainz-sama, miraculous-trash, fvvck, Malguis, and I AM THE STRING CUTTER.
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