Mages Association (1)
"Had Soul Summoning reached the limit my body could bear at LV3?" Green wondered, unable to hide his disappointment. He had planned to train [Soul Summoning] all the way to [LV10] in one go, but now that seemed far too naive. As for the other spell he had obtained from Doctor Wilkins, [Bone Spikes], he had done little with it beyond learning the basics. Unable to sense Void Spirit Energy or the Netherworld through his Magic Power, he could communicate only with his own Graveyard. The principle behind [Bone Spikes] was much the same as [Soul Summoning]: both were summons, but they called forth different things. [Soul Summoning] summoned undead creatures, while [Bone Spikes] summoned spikes of bone from the ground.
Unfortunately, the Graveyard did not contain enough bones to form those spikes. Even if Green mastered the spell, he could not use it for the time being.
He had given up on the spell and decided to focus entirely on Soul Summoning. But now that an unexpected obstacle had stopped him at LV3, he turned his attention back to Bone Spikes.
My situation is different. With the Graveyard, I effectively have a small Netherworld of my own, and communicating with it is far easier for me than it is for an ordinary Necromancer to communicate with the Netherworld. But the Graveyard is still too bare-bones. If I want to cast Bone Spikes, I need spikes to begin with. Looks like I'll have to find some bones to put in the Graveyard. Green thought it over. Wait. They don't actually have to be bone. Iron or steel spikes would hit even harder! Ordinary Necromancers don't use them not because they don't want to, but because they can't. I could give it a try.
Green was eager to test the idea, but he could not get hold of iron or steel spikes yet. Instead, he experimented with bricks and stones from the Graveyard's ruins. The results were surprisingly good. He found an open patch in a nearby park and cast the spell. Bang! Five or six meters ahead of him, more than a dozen white stone spikes of varying lengths suddenly thrust up from the ground. They covered nearly four or five square meters, rose with startling speed, and had razor-sharp tips. Anyone caught within the spell's range would have been skewered like meat on a stick.
The results made Green's eyes light up. He was thoroughly pleased with the power of this modified [Bone Spikes]. Its one drawback was stone's low magical affinity. Even though he could communicate with the Graveyard more easily, casting the spell still took longer than it would with actual bone, giving an enemy more time to react and dodge.
"The casting speed is still too slow. What good is all that power if it can't hit the enemy?" Green considered switching back to bone spikes, but where in Landon City could he find enough bones to stock the Graveyard? In the end, he settled for using stone for now. To cast faster, he would have to keep practicing and raise the spell's level.
Both were first-circle spells, but [Bone Spikes] consumed more Magic Power than Soul Summoning. With his current reserves, Green could cast it only six or seven times in a row, making it much harder to level up. Nor could he use it indoors. Whenever he ran out of Magic Power, he had to return home before entering the Graveyard to recover faster; he did not dare leave himself defenseless by entering it outside. His progress was slow, and it took him a full two days to reach [LV2]. Fortunately, while the spell gained little power, its casting speed improved considerably, making it viable in a fight.
Over the next few days, Green shut out the world and buried himself in spell practice. Landon City, meanwhile, was growing uneasy.
Several city newspapers ran one report after another on the tragedy at Baron Lonanks's home.
The baron's death had been only the beginning. On the very day Green returned, another murder took place. A relative who had rushed over to fight for the inheritance was found dead in a second-floor guest room of the baron's house. According to reports, the scene was awash in blood, and the body had been torn apart.
Then the baron's servants were killed one after another, each meeting a gruesome end. His young widow, however, had been shrewd enough to flee straight to the Police Station and escape the slaughter. The three female Elf slaves the baron had bought also vanished. Their room was a wreck, with blood everywhere, and no one knew whether they were alive or dead...
Green sat across from Vincent, newspaper in hand, taken aback.
Until then, he had assumed the Eerie that killed Baron Lonanks and the adventurers had done so to rescue the three female Elves. But something he had never expected had happened: the three were missing, and judging by the scene, their chances of survival were slim.
Could it be... that the Eerie wasn't trying to save them at all, but had some other aim? Green sank into thought. He had not seen the three female Elf slaves when he visited Baron Lonanks's house that day, so he had no way to tell what had happened.
"My brother, this has gotten complicated." Vincent looked grave. "According to a reliable source, the Anomalies Bureau investigators were in the next room when those three Elves disappeared. And those three didn't notice a thing!"
Green nodded without comment. He knew the Eerie could turn invisible. The three investigators had only just arrived and were proud of their abilities; if they had let their guard down even slightly, it was hardly surprising that the Eerie had caught them unprepared. Green also suspected that its brazen killing spree had something to do with the Wind Blade Bracelet he had taken. Perhaps the Eerie was venting its fury over the lost treasure.
A flicker of unease ran through him. The Eerie was clearly vicious and quick to take revenge, nothing like the figure he had imagined, bent solely on rescuing the three female Elves. The Wind Blade Bracelet was gone now, but that did not mean the Eerie could not follow the trail back to him. If he faced it with his current strength, his chances of surviving would be slim.
Looks like I need to get stronger, and fast, Green thought, though his expression did not change.
"By the way, how's your practice going with those spells we got from Doctor Wilkins?" Vincent suddenly asked, changing the subject.
"Not bad. I've learned them." Green smiled, flicked his hand, and uttered three obscure syllables.
An instant later, a rotating Magic Array appeared on the floor of Vincent's study, and a tall Skeleton Soldier climbed out of it.
Vincent's eyes widened. He had never met a Formal Rank Mage, but Landon City had plenty of Advanced Apprentice Mages, including one or two from the Necromancy School. This was the first time he had seen anyone cast a spell as casually as Green had, and from so close. The Skeleton Soldier Green summoned was clearly unusual, too: tall, imposing, and well equipped. The green Soulfire flickering inside its skull made it all the more intimidating.
"Th-this is your Skeleton Soldier?" Vincent's voice rose with excitement. "Brother! There's something very different about this one!"
Green did not want to reveal the Graveyard. "I got lucky," he replied. "When I used [Soul Summoning], I called up a few good Skeleton Soldiers and made Contracts with them on the spot."
Vincent nodded and did not press him. Privately, though, his opinion of Green rose another notch. Green had learned Soul Summoning in just two or three days, entirely on his own, and could already use it with ease. That was the mark of a genius.
After saying goodbye to Vincent, Green left the study with twenty Gold Pounds.
He had come to Vincent to borrow money. Now that he had learned [Soul Summoning] and [Bone Spikes], he was qualified to register.
The Lorenzo Kingdom, like most countries on the continent, managed Transcendents through a registration system. Knights, Mages, and members of other professions alike were required to register with a government-supervised professional association once they reached the apprentice level.
Registration was semi-compulsory. It imposed restrictions, but it also offered protection. For someone self-taught like Green, joining the Mages Association after registering would bring basic benefits and give him legal access to spellbooks and magical equipment.