The Babylon Academy of Magic and Martial Arts in the Lancelot Empire occupied an enormous area and enjoyed great renown throughout the empire. It was the empire's most important training ground for mages and knights.
The magic academy was divided into the Light Department, Darkness Department, Fire Element, Water Department, Wind Element, Earth Department, Lightning Department, Summoning Department, and Spatial Department. Each department had its own teaching buildings, library, laboratories, Trial Ground, and living quarters. The entire academy was like a small city.
The Necromancy department, where Brian worked as a servant, was a branch of the darkness department. Because necromancers dealt with dark creatures such as skeletons and rotting corpses, and because Necromancy had declined for many years, it was both the least popular and the weakest department. Even the other students of the darkness department looked down on its students and disdained their company.
During his six years as a servant at the Babylon Academy of Magic and Martial Arts, Brian had belonged to its weakest, least popular department, the Necromancy Department. Coupled with his particular job—carrying corpses and skeletons—this had subjected him to six years of scorn and bullying. Not a single day had passed without suffering.
Following Brian's memories, Han Shuo took the path down Back Hill behind the academy and returned through the small gate reserved for servants, deep in the dark, windy night.
Since it was late, the students had long since gone to bed. The route Han Shuo took was also extremely secluded, so he encountered no one along the way. As he walked, he carefully observed his surroundings and discovered that the buildings and layout of the Babylon Academy of Magic and Martial Arts resembled those of certain Western European countries back on Earth.
After a while, Han Shuo finally returned to the Necromancy department. Brian lived in a storeroom-a place entirely befitting his status as a servant.
The Supply Storeroom was crammed with assorted odds and ends, most of them discarded junk or materials abandoned after experiments.
Many of the things inside were awaiting disposal, waiting for Brian to throw them away. The Necromancy Department students tossed unwanted things in through the window and left them for Brian to deal with.
The storeroom was small to begin with. Apart from the jumble of things that were practically garbage, it contained only a little wooden bed. Even that bed accumulated heaps of rubbish every day, because the students never paid attention to where they threw things.
Brian worked until night every day. The first thing he did upon returning was sort the rubbish on his little bed, then wait until early the next morning, before anyone else woke, to throw away whatever needed disposing of.
When Han Shuo entered the little room and saw the garbage dump of a Supply Storeroom, his nose stung again. He felt deep sympathy for this poor boy—how had he endured these six years?
The air in the little room was foul. Even opening the window did little good, because the filthy odors came from the discarded things themselves. There was still plenty of rubbish on the little bed. Apparently, even after Brian's death, the others had continued their habit of throwing rubbish in here.
Dragging his weary feet, Han Shuo found even a few steps difficult-the floor was covered in discarded rubbish. He finally reached the little bed, intending to do as Brian had done: clean it off first, then enjoy a good, sound sleep.
But Han Shuo was not Brian, after all. Halfway through cleaning, anger began to ripple through his heart. At first, it was only a tiny spark, but as he grew angry, the thread of demonic essence inside him began circulating rapidly, fanning that spark of anger into a prairie fire.
At last, Han Shuo abruptly stopped what he was doing and said viciously, "I'm not Brian. I'm not putting up with this! Brian, oh, Brian, since I've taken over your body, let me help you punish that little witch Lisa!"
Han Shuo did not realize that, with his original personality, he might have entertained the idea, but he would never have acted so impulsively-he had only ever had wicked thoughts before, without the courage to make them real!
Leaving the Supply Storeroom, Han Shuo headed toward the female students' dormitory. In the still of the night, he crept up to the building. Brian often cleaned here and knew the place very well, including exactly where Lisa lived.
The Necromancy department had far fewer male and female students than the other departments, so every female student had a spacious room of her own, equipped with every living amenity. Compared with Brian's rubbish-filled storeroom, this was heaven.
Lisa lived on the second floor, and Han Shuo could not get inside at night. Fortunately, there was a large tree behind her room. Hunching his body like a skinny little monkey, Han Shuo climbed it using both hands and feet. From there, he could just reach her window by standing on tiptoe.
The window was open. Secretly delighted, Han Shuo rose onto his toes and brought his thin little body close to Lisa's window. He peered inside. The little witch Lisa's room was decorated in pink and looked very cute, with adorable furry toys hanging on the walls and at the table.
A faint fragrance drifted into Han Shuo's mouth and nose. He wrinkled his nose, surprised that someone as vicious as Lisa would make her room so cute.
Han Shuo knew perfectly well that he could not beat her in a fight. Leaning closer to take another look through the window, he spotted a hazy pink canopy in a corner-Lisa's bed was there.
He took a small bottle from the bag he carried, dabbed out some blood used for experiments, and smeared it around his eyes, nostrils, and the corners of his lips. Checking himself in a small, broken, discarded mirror Brian had picked up, he tousled his brown hair a little more. When he looked again, the mirror reflected a sinister, frightening face covered in streaks of blood.
"Heh heh, I might not be able to beat you, but I'll scare you to death!"
Very pleased with his appearance, Han Shuo nodded and gave a low, sinister chuckle. Once everything was ready, he braced his feet against the tree trunk and leaned toward Lisa's window. Swaying from side to side with the tree, he stretched out his bony right hand and knocked on her window.
"Knock, knock... knock, knock..."
Lisa seemed to have still been dreaming. Awakened by the knocking at her window, she sleepily parted the pink canopy and stepped out barefoot.
The carpet was pink as well. Her little feet, as fair as jade, landed on it. Beneath the soft moonlight, her five toes were tender and pink, looking rather cute and charming.
Lisa was a little younger than Brian and the daughter of a noble family. Setting aside how she treated Brian, she was a genuine little beauty, with long, smooth golden hair. At 162 centimeters, she looked just a little taller than Brian. She had slender eyebrows, a straight, elegant nose, and lovely, rosy lips.
Wearing pink pajamas, Lisa seemed not to have fully awakened. After stepping out of her little pink bed, she instinctively looked toward the source of the sound.
A familiar face was covered in blood, with long streaks running from the eyes, nostrils, and corners of the mouth, making it look hideous and terrifying. The thin little body swayed back and forth outside the window as though it weighed nothing. Hollow eyes stared woodenly at her, without the slightest trace of life.
"Aah..."
A terrified shriek rang throughout the female students' living quarters.
Han Shuo laughed sinisterly to himself. Even if I don't scare you to death this time, I'll scare you unconscious. As he thought this, his expression grew more and more terrifying. He rolled his hollow eyes back until only the whites showed, and, standing on the branch, swayed his body even more widely.
With his eyes rolled back, Han Shuo could no longer see Lisa. After that terrified scream, as he made his expression increasingly frightening, he suddenly heard nothing more from her.
She must have fainted from fright, Han Shuo thought. Hearing the curses of the female Necromancy Department students around him, he decided it was about time to retreat. Otherwise, he would be in terrible trouble if he was caught.
Just as he was about to turn his eyes back and escape, a tremendous pain suddenly struck the bridge of his nose, followed by another burst of pain in his head. His body fell uncontrollably from the tree, leaving him aching, numb, and dazed upon impact.
Then blows rained down on Han Shuo with a barrage of thuds and smacks. A voice cursed as its owner struck him. "Brian, who knew you had it in you! You actually survived last time, but did it damage your brain? I study Necromancy. I spend every day with skeletons and zombies, and you idiot actually pretended to be a corpse to scare me! I truly admire your idiocy. Do you think Lisa, a future Archmage of the Necromancy Department, can't even tell whether a soul is inside a body?"
His body hurt terribly, but his heart hurt even more. How could that fool Brian have spent six years working as a servant in the Necromancy department without knowing even this much common sense? The first time he had found the courage to do something bad, it had brought him to this!
Necromancy? This miraculous Necromancy could even distinguish something like that. There really was something to it. It looked as though he had a great deal to learn in this unfamiliar world. Otherwise, today's disaster might well happen again.
As the pain in his body intensified, Han Shuo cried out and let his thoughts wander. Chu Cangming's Demonic Cultivation Art had "demonic" in its name, and Necromancy didn't sound like anything good either. If I practiced and studied both together, would they conflict, or would they... make me stronger?
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