Magnus here, I learned that in Eldran, I am the host for a multitude of titles with God of Magic being the most common. I've heard that I've been called the Lord of Creation (It's a common title for the true gods), Force of Nature, Emperor of Undeath, King of destruction and many similar titles... It's weird but I feel slightly excited for my titles. Anyway back to the story.

It's been a few minutes in the forest and Viktor has been walking in circles but it's not because he's lost, it's because he set an intricate path that would allow us to reach the secret hiding spot of his without being seen by anyone.

Thankfully my [God Senses] is always active and I can sense where large concentrations of mana is located.

A few more meters ahead is where Viktor usually trains his magic.

After a few more minutes of walking, we reach a small clearing that's near a small cave.

"Here."

Viktor points at the cave.

"I set the... cadaver inside."

Chuckling, I ignore his pale face and enter first.

For someone who's aspiring to be a necromancer, Viktor is pretty squeamish.

*Drip*

*Drip*

*Drip*

The sound of water droplets falling from the ceiling echoes all ove the cave.

I unconsciously sniff and smell a mix of damp water and moss.

Fortunately, I don't smell any decaying smell.

Viktor must've followed my advice and applied the spell [Remove Scent] to the corpse.

Once we reach a deeper part of the cave, I hear the untimely sound of a groan.

"Viktor... how many bodies are there?"

Viktor looks away.

"... 9"

*Sigh*

I reach my hand out towards the empty space in front of me.

'Absolution, give me my blade.'

'Aye aye captain!'

I grip my hand and it holds tight onto a handle.

I ignore Viktor's gasp of surprise as I pull out blade no. 1 out of Absolution's pocket dimension.

I brandish its sheathless blade as it reflects the scant amount of light that pierces the cave's dark interior.

"Viktor, a new lesson. If too much unburied and unblessed bodies are piled up in one place, a lot of death mana will appear. Didn't they teach you this at magic school?!"

"No! They don't teach necromancy at school!"

"Isn't necromancy common knowledge?"

Viktor shakes his head.

*Sigh*

The educational system here is shit. Necromancy wouldn't be as big as a problem as it is, if people were to freely allow it instead of forbidding it.

If it was freely allowed, it would be easier to control!

'Yar right my matey.'

Absolution what is with the pirate dialogue?

I hear the girl chuckle in my head.

'Just having fun Magnus. These books are amazing after all.'

I just remembered, I allowed her to stay in my mental library. She's been reading ever since.

*Groan*

The timely groan from the very undead cadavers brings me back to reality.

Within the dark cave, I see the figures of the undead.

4 pale and rotting humans shamble their way towards me. The rigor mortis just barely keeping them immobile while the death magic infused in their veins force them to hunt the living.

These creatures are the undead.

Slow and heavy, they are becoming closer as I ready Blade no. 1.

I always wanted to try it anyway, so this is a good test run.

I move with quick steps as I deftly raise my weapon.

[Heavy Slash]

*Rippppp*

My blade comes down quick and unhindered as its industrial steel and alchemically induced sharpness, along with my activated skill, cuts through the unfortunate zombie like how a hot knife cuts through butter.

*Thud*

The creature's body hits the floor dead.

[God's Eye]

I use my skill to check for the mana in the creature's body.

The mana disperses into air and returns to its normal state.

'Nice Blade.'

I praise Blade no. 1

'Ummm Magnus... Undead?'

Oh right.

I quickly dash in between the undead and slash towards their head, easily lobbing one of them off with one quick swipe.

[Heavy Slash]

Immediately, I activate my skill again and quickly bring down my blade on the zombie close to me.

*Shreddd*

The sound of flesh being shredded with deadly precision resonates around me as I quickly rush towards the last one.

*Swing!*

The last one's head drops to the floor.

Once all four are dead, I look towards Viktor.

"Do you have gasoline? If so, we can burn them."

Viktor shakes his head.

I raise my eyebrow but shake my head.

I guess not every adventurer is the same.

I look towards the dismembered corpses.

Thankfully the spell is in effect and I don't smell any decaying scent.

I ignore the bodies and Viktor follows me towards the other non-zombified bodies.

A few feet away from the dead zombies are the also very dead corpses.

I take note of the crude magical circle a few feet away from the corpse pile.

The inscribed circle is obviously the work of an amateur and it's very inefficient but it'll work.

I look towards Viktor, who is currently standing on the other side of the circle.

"So what do you need my help for?"

Viktor stammers a little.

Once I found out about Viktor's dark secret, his original cold demeanour disappeared and this shy undeveloped child took his place.

"Well... umm I tried casting the spell but it's not working. The reanimated body doesn't respond to my commands or will."

I nod my head.

"Try casting it, I'll watch. While I cannot cast death magic-

'That's a lie!'

I ignore the noisy spirit in my head.

"- due to the lessons from my teacher, I have the basics of magic in my head."

Viktor nods hopefully.

He goes towards the non zombie pile and drags a corpse towards the magical circle.

Once the body is inside the circle, he takes position in front of it and he takes out a clean steel dagger from inside his robe.

He puts the sharp edge of the blade on his palm.

*Slice*

He winces in pain as the edge cuts into his palm.

I notice that despite cutting his palm, he isn't too peturbed. Judging by the hidden scars under his robe, he must've done this a lot.

Once the blood hits the rotten but scentless corpse, Viktor starts to chant.

Chanting magic huh?

Well that is expected, he doesn't have a unique skill when it comes to death magic after all. So he must learn chanting before he can casually cast it.

Chanting is the most efficient way of learning magic that isn't naturally yours, other than years of constant rote practice.

Mana starts to coagulate towards the corpse.

"Oh great Lord of Darkness, King of Nihility, Emperor of Undeath, Noble Demiurge of the Void, heed the call of this humble servant and answer my wish. This poor begotten child of yours have been taken before the void's call and deserves a humble respite from the empty blackness that is not your void."

[Create Undead]

Once Viktor casts the spell, invisble mana seeps out from his body and slowly drips towards the dead body.

At first the body shows no reponse but suddenly the smallest movement happens.

The corpse's finger twitches.

*Groan*

A barely audible sound escapes its decaying mouth as the magic works its way into the corpse's very being.

"It seems to work? What's the pro-"

*GROAN*

The corpse stands with supernatural speed as it goes to attack Viktor.

*Swing*

*Thud*

The head of the zombie falls to the ground as I lobbed its head off.

"See? I told you."

Viktor seems annoyed. He must not be used to failing.

I nod.

I recall Viktor's chanting spell.

It wasn't a bad chant but it was too long making the spell stronger than usual.

He must not be used to chanting magic since he's an adventurer.

Adventurers need to cast spells on the fly after all, lest they get attacked.

I recall the 3 types of magic.

Chanting magic. The strongest but also the most risky magic. One can increase spell's power through chanting but it also leaves the caster in a dangerous spot.

Rote magic. The most common magic. It includes somatic symbols such as hand signs and verbally calling out the spell.

Lastly, Silent magic. This is the most costly form of magic but it has the most utility. It's used by extremely talented and trained magic casters.

"Magnus? You there"

I cut my train of thought and return to Viktor.

"Are you implementing the commands while chanting?"

Viktor's lips form a thin line.

"I'm guessing not?"

He nods.

I sigh.

Viktor looks like he was visibly harmed by my sigh of disappointment.

For a talented kid, he sure is weak-willed. I guess it's better than being too proud.

"Repeat the spell then."

He nods obediently and removes the decapitated body off the circle. Once gone, he drags another corpse from the pile.

Once he drips blood from his hands once more, he repeats the chant except this time he shortened it.

"Oh great Lord of Darkness, King of Nihility, Emperor of Undeath, Noble Demiurge of the Void, heed the call of this humble servant and answer my wish. Give thy servant a slave upon I can enact your will."

[Create Undead]

The earlier process repeats with the body not moving for a long time.

Due to the lower amount of death magic, the corpse doesn't immediately move.

But.

*groan*

It does move eventually.

"Stand up servant. Your master calls for your service."

The undead stands up twitching and groaning.

It stands up slowly and faces Viktor.

It doesn't go to attack me or Viktor.

Hmmm he must've included me in the do not attack list.

Good, I don't have to defend myself then.

I hide blade no. 1 for now.

I study the deceased and frown.

It looks ugly.

Were undead always this ugly? Why did I even allow necromancy to exist?

As I ponder more about the disgusting look of undead, I hear Absolution speak.

'Magnus... This kid doesn't have any natural talent with death magic. Why is he practicing it and why are you teaching him? It's pointless. Mortals should not try to learn things that aren't gifted to them by the gods!'

...

Absolution what is it this time?

I hear the girl within me giggle.

'I can't believe that some divine beings actually believe this!'

I recall some of my siblings.

'Azael believes in that.'

Absolution suddenly goes quiet and sweaty. She looks around and breaths a sigh of relief, knowing that Azael is not watching.

'Don't say that Magnus! Does Lord Azael truly believe that?'

I nod.

'He created the demons with a strict hierarchy with the demon lords above most beings. While humans have royalties, it is fleeting. A few assassination plots later and a king is dead. The royal bloodline can be usurped but for demons, blood cannot be tricked. A demon will always know if another demon is royal blood or a demon lord.'

Absolution nods fearfully.

Smiling, this girl is scared out of her wits.

'Do not worry I will not tell him about it.'

Some measure of fear disappears from Absolution. She thanks me.

'I do not believe that mortals should only do what is given to them. They are given gifts that come from us and as long as they do not ignore or go against our direct orders, they can do what they want with it.'

Absolution nods happily.

While talking, I notice that Viktor's eyes is glowing, filled with the joy of a child.

This is while he's staring at the undead.

I chuckle.

'After all... It's when mortals go off the path that they truly shine.'

*groan*

The corpse turns back looking at me.

Viktor freezes and I prepare myself.

Then I realize, it's not looking at me.

I turn around.

I see nothing and sense nothing with my [God's Sense] but the zombie is sensing something else.

Hmmm [God's Sense] is failing to sense something which means whatever it is can fool magical sensing abilities but not physical sensing abilities.

But that doesn't make sense.

It must be because my godly abilities is sealed.

I look towards the area where we came from.

"Viktor be prepared."

Viktor nods and readies his staff.

He orders the zombie with the giddiness of a child.

"Gutless. Go there and check"

Gutless?

I ignore the name.

Gutless the zombie goes towards the place where we came from.

*Slice*

*Thud*

The moment Gutless approaches a large rock that can hide a person, his head gets sliced and drops to the floor.

Viktor prepares himself but due to his weak body power, he didn't see what happened.

I did.

I saw a normal kitchen knife with lightning speed cut through Gutless head.

It was a normal knife enhanced by dark powers.

I pull out a mundane steel longsword from absolution's space.

I look towards the cave and prepare myself.