Chapter 28: Un Deth

After the meeting with King Wargh and his advisors, there was a feast to celebrate the alliance.

However, everyone knows that’s not possible.

We arrive at the outpost a few days later.

Now called Un Deth, I believe it deserves a little renovation.

First, I erected a flag on top of the building in the center of the outpost.

A plain black flag.

Next, I ordered Bon to supervise a group of skeletons that will go and harvest materials for upgrading the outpost.

I want to make this place like a small keep, at least. I don’t want to be a ruler living in an outpost.

Since they will work day and night, I believe nothing will hinder their progress in the meantime.

Lastly, I had Lina supervise groups of goblin skeletons that are in charge of scouting the area around Un Deth. If possible, also to find more bones and corpses for us to raise.

It’s looking good because some dwarves came with us to assist with the building of the walls.

They brought their materials, and I promised to pay them back in with the same. We will gather those supplies later.

I designed my keep with multiple watchtowers and windows for archers.

I got a lot of extra space to store treasures, equipment, and miscellaneous items because we don’t need bathrooms, bedrooms, or even a food hall for our base.

I made rooms for a different kind of craftsmanship, like building weapons, armors, and various tools.

In the meantime, I’ll hire these dwarves, but once we get some excellent skeleton dwarves on our side, they can be our blacksmiths.

I also checked with my soldiers again.

For those who did not have anything to do, I have them line up in front of the outpost. They’ve been there for hours, and nothing wrong, fortunately.

I took one of the strong skeleton warriors and one from the mages. I want to check something.

I made a towards the ground. I asked the mage to copy it, and he did well. This spell is similar to Mana Blast. You concentrate your energies into a ball and then force it out of your hand to make it a projectile.

Then I asked the warrior.

He was able to produce a small blast, but it was kind of messy.

Still! Anyone can use any skills, but if their class isn’t in line with the ability or if their stats are too low for the spell, it will produce bad or failed results.

Then, I ordered the mage to do the spell without my example.

He was able to do it! He learned the skill.

I gave the same order to the warrior. He also remembered the skill, but it still produced terrible results.

This result is good news. I can train my mages with a variety of spells. Or Bon can do it for me since he is a lot stronger in magic compared to me.

Now,

I gathered the men for formation practices.

I explained a circle formation to them, the weak and ranged unit in the center, and the strong melee warriors forming a circle around them.

After only one explanation, I ordered them to do it, and they got it perfectly!

I also tried training them to make a two-pronged attack, suddenly splitting a group of soldiers to attack from two sides.

The results were excellent. I guess this stems from their past as soldiers when they were still alive.

There are a few that can’t follow correctly, but a few hours of practice can fix that. We can’t avoid that some of them we’re just farmers or ordinary villagers before they became undead.

Since there is no morale, there is also no confusion or fighting amongst the soldiers and no insubordination too. I hope this is because they respect me as a leader and not born out of fear.

I always believed that loyalty that comes from a reign of terror easily disappears when the source of terror is gone.

Now I got everything on track; I set up a meeting with Lina, Bon, and the most prominent warrior in the Melee class, Range class, and Mage class of my army.

For the Melee group, a Skeletal Champion came in front.

It was an evolution from a Skeleton Warrior. I was surprised for a bit there, but I guess they do evolve if they fight long enough.

Idmon: “(t) I’ll call you Mel. You are now in charge of commanding our Skeleton Warriors and other melee units.”

Mel: “Yes! MY LORD!”

A huge voice came out from the champion. Well, Champions do seem to have that skill, so they need to have a voice to use that skill.

His demeanor is like that of a stern captain but is still a cheerful person at heart even though he has none.

Next is the Range group representative, A Skeleton Marksman.

Idmon: “(t) I’ll call you Ran. Take care of our range units, and don’t forget to teach them the tactics that we went over before.”

Ran: “Yes… Milord.”

The quiet one. I can guess that Ran will be the most cunning of my officers. However, I do not know if he can be a leader.

He knows how to concentrate fire, make a volley, and to open fire. He can use these commands to test the coordination of the group.

And now for the mages,

It is supposed to be Bon, but sometimes I need him to go with my group, so I asked for another would-be leader for the mages.

A Skeleton Mage willingly went forward.

Idmon: “(t)Command our Mage group well, Mag.”

Mag: “Yahoo! Thank you, Milord.”

He made an exaggerated bow.

Mag can be the clown of the officers, but do not underestimate him. Bon claims that he is second only to Bon in regards to intellect.

After that, all three of them bowed to me, and I have them go to their stations.

And once they’re gone, I gave Bon and Lina their orders.

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A few days later...

The skeletons and Bon harvested a lot of materials. They used mining tools provided by the dwarves, which made the work more productive.

We got loads of high-quality stones and metals.

The dwarves had the skeletons work right away.

They supervised the building of the walls and had no problems giving orders to the skeletons because they always do their jobs without any delay.

Sometimes accidents do happen, but the mages can quickly restore an injured skeleton right away.

After a few hours, they got the foundation done already!

As I was pleased with the progress, Bon called my attention and asked for a short meeting in the watchtower.

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Idmon: “(t) Yes, Bon?”

Bon: “Milord, I forgot to tell you what kind of changes I have undergone this past few days, and what new powers I got.”

Idmon: “(t) Don’t worry, Bon. I got a general idea of it because skeleton wizards are in the monster registry.”

Bon: “It’s not just that… Lord Idmon. I got a unique skill.”

Idmon: “(t)What? That’s amazing! What is it, Bon?”

Bon: “It’s called .”

Idmon: “(t) Isn’t that one of the legendary skills that a human can possess when they follow the Scout path? I’ve read it in the books that this spell makes a scout class indispensable in groups.”

Bon: “Yes, and I can cast one on you so that you can be aware of your current strength.”

Idmon: “(t) That’s a good idea. Do it now.”

I can feel that he was concentrating his energies into his eyes, making it glow purple.

“The spell says…”

Idmon, Skeleton Captain

Spells: Ice spells (various), Lightning spells (various), N.E. spells, Strengthen Undead (low level), Sense Life, Raise Dead and Command Undead.

Passives: Enhanced Strength (2nd tier), Enhanced Endurance (2nd tier), Agility, Wisdom, and Intimidation Aura (low-level)

Titles:

“Near-death” - Survive an attack or spell that should’ve obliterated you if it hit. Increases luck a bit.

“Agile” – Evade a certain number of attacks — increases evasion chances by a small amount.

“Witty Coward” – Escape from battles without fighting and using trickery. Increases chance of evasion by a small amount.

“Messiah” – Save a race from extinction. Gain total obedience from the race which you saved.

Stats:

Strength: 2nd tier

Endurance: 2nd tier

Agility: 3rd tier

Magic: 2nd tier

Wisdom (Negative energy supply): 3rd tier

Hmm…

Idmon: “(t) They don’t have certain values, huh?”

Bon: “My apologies, Lord Idmon. The current level of my is below average, and to produce accurate results would need a higher level.”

Hmm… Still, it is handy.

I’m generally a 2nd tier creature then. The human knight is considered to be 3rd tier, and Paladins would be 6th tier.

Trolls and Ogres have 3rd tier or even 4th tier strength stats, but all of their other stats are very low.

Goblins are low strength but high agility creatures. They are ranked 2nd tier.

I think that makes sense.

Moving on…

Titles… and Messiah, huh? Saving a race from extinction? Does that mean all of the Undead in the north region is destroyed already? Even Skeleton Duke?

Looking back, when I left him, he was surrounded by Paladins.

A Skeleton Duke is a 7th tier creature, but to be surrounded by 6th tiers, it is hopeless.

I hope that they don’t plan on going here anytime soon.

After that meeting, I got a delivery from a dwarven scout. It was a sack that contained a spear and a full set of armor.

I don’t know where the armor came from, but it looked majestic. Fit for a king. It is a full plate armor made from dark metal, which I don’t know its name.

After putting on the armor, I felt a sudden increase in my strength. I tried punching the air, and I believe it did get stronger.

Enchanted armor, perhaps?

Next, the spear was white, the color of claws. Its handle was made from exquisite materials because it looked good and felt great to wield.

I tried thrusting the air, and you could even see it cutting the air.

Also, I got a feeling that it can take in negative energy, so I poured my energies into it.

It slowly turned black! And when it’s entirely black, I tried making a thrust, and a dark bolt came out. It caused an explosion of negative energy where it hit.

Amazing.

There was a letter inside the sack. It was from Golb.

Golb: “Hello there, Idmon. I made the spear into a magic weapon by putting the crystal that you gave me inside the weapon. When you put mana into it, it will turn the spear blue and will make a mana bolt spell.

I don’t know if it’s the same for Undead since I don’t think undead use mana anyways.”

The letter continued on the back.

Golb: “Also, the armor set that you got there, I found it in my stash of old armors and weapons. It was worn by a Skeleton Knight way back then. Hundreds of years ago. There were a lot of them back then. I just improved the armor a bit and cleaned it. I don’t know what’s the material used, but I sense magic from it.”

At the bottom of the letter is the signature of Golb and a burn mark. Must be from the forge.

Golb: “I believe this set would make you much stronger now, and if you have any other request, send me a letter, okay? -Golb”

So that’s what it is.

I wonder if they also have ancient bones left by the undead army before.

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Idmon: “(t) Bon, can you teach me how to make a mantle by using negative energies?”

I asked because it might be useful. Not because I think it’ll look awesome on me.

Bon: “It is a spell, milord. It is called Cloak of Darkness, it is part of my class spells as a wizard, but I can tell you the basic feeling when I do it.”

He demonstrated it to me. He said by focusing your energies on one point and then spreading it evenly.

For him, it was a ball; then it turned into a sheet of darkness.

“After that, you put it on your body and let it take shape.”

As he put it on my back, I can feel it changing shapes.

After a few seconds, it became a cloak of dark energies that’s supposed to damage living things and block attacks to a certain extent.

“To maintain the cloak, you have to insert negative energies into it from time to time. But if you’re in a battle and get hit, again and again, it will be hard to maintain it because it will demand a huge amount of negative energy, which is also considered as our health.”

Oh… okay.

Man, it looks incredible. Eherm.

I tried doing it, and I barely made it correctly. I tried wrapping it around my arm, and it took the shape of my arm.

Oh!

Idmon: “(t) You can also cover your body in this spell!?”

Bon: “Yes, milord. It is a defensive spell.”

Amazing.

I need to increase my negative energy pool so that I could use this spell regularly.

For now, a surplus of N.E. crystals will keep my N.E. reserves in check.

Idmon: “(t) By the way, Bon… How is it that a lot of you guys can normally talk now!?”

Bon: “Ahem… milord, it is part of our skillset. But if you would like to do it also, focus your energies into your mouth.”

I tried doing what he said to me.

A small ball appeared in my mouth, a negative energy ball. Then it went out of my mouth and exploded! It was like a breath spell!

Idmon: “(t) Hey! What happened!?”

Bon: “Oh, I think you did another spell entirely, milord. You have to put a small amount and try to stay calm while doing it. I believe only after a lot of practice, can you do it perfectly.”

Idmon: “(t) Okay… I think I’ll stick with Telepathy in the meantime.”

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I tried practicing the move that I used to defeat the Behemoth in the cave.

I called it I guess it’s not a proper skill, isn’t it?

I ask one of the mages to blast me from the side so that I could trigger the skill.

After dodge by leaping forward high-speed, I used Thrust, and it destroyed the rock in front of me and produced a shockwave that murdered few trees behind the rock.

Unbelievable. It is a reliable move. I could even use it as a counter.

I practiced it a few more times and also tried to improve my skill, but I think it won’t upgrade for a long time.

I dub the original skill,

I used the rest of my time to think of new strategies and practice my skills.

After a few more days…

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It’s done!

Un Deth has been established.

In a week or two, we were able to make a small keep from an outpost.

Now it has this small castle in the center and five watchtowers. Thick walls surround the castle in a circle shape.

It was good, and all that’s left is to coordinate with the dwarves to start this campaign.