"Learning Necromancy!" Jason sat among a group of children, looking at the gray-robed mage before him.
In a classroom, a mage calmly regarded the seven children who had lost their composure before him.
Jason was not the only one. When the gray-robed mage said he would teach them Necromancy, the eight children around Jason all cried out in surprise.
Jason later learned that eleven of the more than twenty children tested yesterday had been found to have an aptitude for the Edicts of Death. Several had an affinity that was too low, and only seven, Jason included, had ultimately been brought to this classroom.
Could the Rhine Clan's ancestor have been a magical beast with an affinity for death? Jason wondered.
But there was another possibility, because Jason had heard that yesterday's test had found slightly more children with an affinity for destruction.
The necromancer cleared his throat, and a powerful pressure on their souls instantly silenced the children. "Necromancy was created by the Death Sovereign and has been passed down among humans for several yanjis. Refined by countless necromancers, it has become a very powerful system of magic. Necromancy can concoct toxins, summon undead, and hasten death. Most importantly, Necromancy can extend a person's lifespan. Below the Saint-level, it can add up to three hundred years, meaning it can let us live to be six hundred at most!!"
The necromancer spoke at length about the greatness of Necromancy.
But Jason noticed something odd. A maximum lifespan of three hundred years, yet we can only live to six hundred? Shouldn't the maximum lifespan of humans below the Saint-level on the Yulan Continent be five hundred years?
"Did the teacher miscalculate the lifespan?" Lucy asked Jason.
Lucy, who had a supreme affinity for death, had also been brought to the classroom.
Jason did not answer, but a chubby boy beside them seemed to be a devoted admirer of Lucy's. He raised his hand and asked directly, "Teacher, did you miscalculate the lifespan? Five hundred plus three hundred is eight hundred!"
The necromancer's gaze sharpened, and the chubby boy immediately began trembling like a sieve.
He must have been subjected to a soul attack.
"Someone will answer your questions about your lifespans later. For now, what you need to do is learn Necromancy from me! Once you learn to summon undead, you will be transferred to other classes."
There was no room for discussion. It seemed the Rhine Clan forced descendants with the aptitude to learn Necromancy.
"First, meditate and build up enough spiritual energy. That is the foundation for learning Necromancy." The necromancer Stutzman personally taught the children how to enter a meditative state.
He had just used his soul pressure to make a quick assessment of the seven children's spiritual energy. It was average. Aside from Lucy, who had learned magic long ago, the other children had only middling levels of spiritual energy.
Whether or not they had successfully meditated before, they all had to be checked by the teacher before learning Necromancy. Necromancers had extremely high requirements for spiritual energy; simply knowing how to meditate was not enough.
After all, the process of a necromancer linking their consciousness to the Netherworld and subduing undead was very time-consuming. Both the depth and duration of meditation affected how efficiently they could subdue undead.
If interrupted during meditation, a necromancer's consciousness would be forcibly pulled back into their body, and their spirit would be injured as a result.
"His spiritual energy isn't strong, but it's very steady." Stutzman watched Jason.
Jason had not been meditating for long. He had first meditated during the earlier test, and had done so a few more times over the following days.
Contrary to Jason's expectations, his spiritual energy was not particularly high, only average. Fortunately, a potion had helped him enter meditation before, and he was now very steady when meditating. Each session lasted over two hours, and he did not feel too tired afterward.
Stutzman looked at Lucy next. This child is young but cunning. She was the one who egged the chubby boy on to interrupt just now. But her aptitude really is excellent.
The other children's affinities and spiritual energy are average. There's nothing remarkable about them. But every necromancer is worth focusing on and nurturing, myself included. As a necromancer himself, Stutzman could not help feeling proud.
After checking each of the seven children's meditative states, Stutzman entered a light meditation and waited.
By the time Jason and the others formally began practicing Necromancy, five days had passed.
For those five days, Jason and the others had been learning to meditate, and all their other classes had been postponed.
Now, all seven children could enter a meditative state at will. Jason could already meditate for three hours at a stretch.
"Today, we formally begin learning Necromancy," Stutzman said.
"The Four Edicts are unlike the Seven Elements. They are the laws governing how the world operates, and the power of the Four Edicts is dispersed throughout the world.
"Humans and magical beasts alike build their bodies with the power of life. Below the Saint-level, humans cannot directly absorb the power of death. But the Death Sovereign possesses heaven- and earth-spanning might and altered the laws of the Netherworld, giving every human with an aptitude for death a chance to form a contract with an undead being of the Netherworld.
"Anyone who forms a contract with an undead being can exchange spiritual energy with it for the power of death. In other words, a necromancer gives a portion of their spiritual energy to the undead, while the undead acts as an absorber of the Netherworld's power of death, supplying it when the necromancer fights."
In fact, it was not just the power of death. Humans could not absorb the powers of fate and destruction before reaching the Saint-level either. This also made Fate Magic very difficult to practice, while Destruction Magic that humans could use had never been created at all.
Stutzman paused for a long while, waiting for the children to digest the information.
Jason had more or less understood what he meant, but if those below the Saint-level could not absorb the power of death, what about after reaching the Saint-level?
Jason tried raising his hand, then asked the question.
Stutzman answered, "The Saint-level is not merely a rank. It also signifies recognition from the laws of heaven and earth. Saint-level experts can fly precisely because they have gained that recognition. And only humans who have reached the Saint-level can absorb the powers of the other three Edicts besides the power of life."
"In other words, after reaching the Saint-level, you can use Necromancy without forming a contract with an undead being."
Undead summoning was one branch of Necromancy. Many other spells within Necromancy also required the power of death to be cast.
"Now, begin trying to enter the Netherworld," Stutzman said.
The children had already been told how to enter the Netherworld. Each sat within a prepared magic formation.
A magic formation like this was needed to assist their first entry into the Netherworld. Once they successfully formed a contract with an undead being, they could enter again through their soul connection.
Of course, if an accident later caused their contracted undead to die, they would need a magic formation like this to form a contract with another.
The meditation went smoothly. As the magic formation lit up, Jason's consciousness sank into the Netherworld.