Soul Summoning (1)
Doctor Wilkins listened to Green finish, considered it for a moment, then said seriously, "Teaching you two basic spells is no problem. I dabbled in the Necromancy School a few years ago, but you should know my specialty is the Evocation School. Though I've studied Necromancy, I've never learned it myself. I can't guarantee whether you'll master these spells, or how much you'll learn. Magic demands the utmost precision. A hair's breadth of error can lead you a thousand miles astray. One wrong syllable in an incantation or one wrong symbol while forming a Spell Circle can make a spell fail—or severely weaken it."
"That's all right. Whatever I manage to learn, I'll be grateful. Thank you for teaching me, Doctor." Green answered with complete sincerity. Someone else might have hesitated after that warning, but Green had the Graveyard System. As long as the Graveyard recognized a spell, he could cast it properly.
Seeing Green's resolve, and since Vincent had brought him here, Doctor Wilkins agreed. It was no great matter.
But there was no chance he would teach Green magic step by step. After agreeing, he merely told a student to fetch two spellbooks from his study and hand them to Green.
"These are both first-circle spells of the Necromancy School. One is Soul Summoning, a basic spell for any Necromancer. The other is Bone Spikes, for defending yourself in close combat." Doctor Wilkins was generous enough to offer two spells at once. Besides the Soul Summoning Green urgently needed, he even threw in another, leaving Green deeply grateful.
In fact, Doctor Wilkins also wanted to earn Green's goodwill. Anyone who had found his own way onto the path of magic either possessed extraordinary talent or had encountered some remarkable opportunity. He was bound to achieve great things. Two inconsequential spellbooks today might one day win him the goodwill of a powerful Necromancer.
Green accepted the spellbooks with repeated thanks and left the castle's top floor with Vincent, thoroughly satisfied. After they parted ways, Green returned to his room alone, shut the door, and eagerly opened the spellbook containing Soul Summoning.
Soul Summoning was the introductory spell of the Necromancy School and the foundation of most Necromancy. A Necromancer's greatest fighting strength lay in the Undead Troops under his command. But whether he summoned a Skeleton, a Zombie, or a powerful Black Knight or Bone Dragon, he used Soul Summoning. The ordinary version sufficed for low-level undead like skeleton soldiers. To summon a Black Knight or an Undead Dragon, however, he needed Soul Summoning's advanced form: Spirit Calling!
The undead creatures a Necromancer commanded did not actually appear out of thin air. The nature and origins of these creatures remained a matter of debate among magical theorists.
There were two main schools of thought:
The first was the Void Psionics School. It held that undead creatures arose from fragments of Void Spirit Energy. Necromancy drove those fragments to coalesce into undead, which then acted upon physical matter to form intelligent puppets. Such puppets did not have to be Skeletons or Zombies; they could be made from clay, rock, steel, and other materials. A creature's remains simply had a greater affinity for undead formed from Psychic Energy fragments, making the spell easier to complete and use. The strongest supporting evidence for this view came from the more unusual Stone Demon summoning spells in Necromancy: Clay Golems, Blood Golems, and Iron Golems. These Stone Demons were not made from creatures' remains, yet they could still be summoned as undead creatures.
The second was the Undead Arcane Realm School. It held that undead creatures were not fragments of Psychic Energy but inhabitants of another world, commonly called the Netherworld. Necromancers used magic to summon creatures from the Netherworld, then commanded them to fight through Contracts. This view was widespread before the Industrial Revolution. Combined with Theology, it gave rise to religions that worshipped the god of the underworld who ruled the Netherworld. The existence of Undead Dragons was compelling evidence for this view.
Undead Dragons were the most powerful undead creatures known to date. The first view could not explain their existence, much less summon one by gathering fragments of Void Spirit Energy. A Necromancer had to use a specific sacrificial Magic Circle to contact the spirit of a Great Dragon and gain its acceptance through mental communication before a summoning Contract could be made. Clearly, Undead Dragons were not undead creatures temporarily formed from Psychic Energy fragments, which lent indirect support to the existence of the Netherworld.
Fortunately, Green did not need to worry about any of that. With the Graveyard System, it made no difference whether undead came from the Void or the Netherworld. He only needed to raise the Graveyard's level, and he would eventually have both high-ranking Black Knights and Undead Dragons. Many unfortunate Necromancers, by contrast, could become Magi and still fail to secure a Contract with a single genuine high-ranking undead creature.
Green sat at his desk, holding the Soul Summoning spellbook as he read it carefully.
For a first-circle spell, Soul Summoning was not complicated. It was even easier than Death Spirit Sight, which Green had already mastered. Ordinarily, a Necromancer apprentice learned Soul Summoning before Death Spirit Sight. Green's unusual circumstances had simply reversed that order.
Though called a single spell, Soul Summoning comprised three spells in Doctor Wilkins's book: "Summon Skeleton," "Summon Zombie," and "Summon Ghost." The difference lay in what the condensed Void Spirit Energy joined with. If it joined with a creature's bones, the result was Summon Skeleton. If it joined with a corpse, it was Summon Zombie. If it joined with no physical matter, it was Summon Ghost.
It seems this spellbook was written by a Necromancer of the Void Psionics School. Green understood. The book itself contained little text, but its margins were crowded with notes, likely Doctor Wilkins's views and insights on the spell. They gave Green considerable help in understanding the core of Soul Summoning.
Green read the spellbook several times, then closed it and shut his eyes in thought. He tried to recall its contents and simulate casting the spell: how to form the Spell Circle, how to coordinate it with the incantation. When something felt wrong, he did not immediately reopen the book. Instead, he committed the problem to memory. Half an hour later, having identified three problems in all, he consulted the book to resolve them together.
After seven or eight hours, Green finally mastered Soul Summoning. When he entered the Graveyard and opened his character status, he found a new entry in his skill list, just as he had hoped: [Soul Summoning LV1].
Delighted but still a little nervous, Green withdrew from the Graveyard, took a deep breath, and cast Soul Summoning.
As Psychic Energy gathered within him, a gray-white glow began to form in Green's hand. It was so faint it seemed ready to go out at any moment. Within it, however, a red Spell Circle began to take shape around his palm. Green concentrated, not daring to let his attention wander, and the red Spell Circle finally became complete. An instant later, as he chanted the incantation under his breath, an enlarged red Spell Circle appeared before him. A vortex formed at its center. Then, with a bang, a stark white skeletal arm reached out from within...