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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Naturally, I set aside the Soul Shadow.
Then, I inscribed a magic circle in the designated area and sprinkled it with powdered black bone.
‘Next…’
I selected large orc corpses from the accumulated pile and extracted their bones.
I began to inscribe runes on the finished black bones, one by one.
I prepared over a hundred such bones.
It took several sleepless nights.
Kayla brought me meals occasionally, and I ate whenever I had a moment, completely immersed in the process.
While I felt bad for Athena, Thea, and Mutre, I promised myself to make it up to them later and focused on completing the preparations.
I retrieved the stored coffin.
The corpse, having absorbed a large amount of black water, was in a rather unsightly state.
I placed the coffin within the prepared magic circle and filled the circle with demonic energy.
Beside the magic circle, a mountain of carefully selected orc bones, inscribed with runes over several days, lay piled high.
After a final check, I confirmed the preparations were complete.
Plop-
I placed the Soul Shadow, which I had kept separate to prevent it from being overly saturated with demonic energy, into the coffin.
Then, I amplified and arranged the demonic energy using Eloset’s Staff, and with the activation word, completed the spell.
[T/N: bro thinks hes Sung Jin-Woo lmaooooooo]
The coffin vibrated faintly as the spell took hold.
Then, the bones around the magic circle began to stir.
Resonating with the magic circle, they floated one by one and attached themselves to the coffin.
Normally, such elaborate preparations wouldn’t be necessary.
With a high-quality corpse, my skills would have been sufficient with minimal preparation.
If I wasn’t aiming to enhance its potential, the activation word alone would have sufficed.
However, I was still lacking.
Even on the verge of 6th circle, I was still a 5th circle necromancer.
Just as a peak Expert was one step away from Master, and just as ten or twenty Experts couldn’t match a single Master, I shouldn’t be able to create a Skeleton Knight Banneret.
Even attempting it should result in failure, and I would bear the consequences.
However, I had created undead beyond my capabilities before.
It was possible because I possessed skills far exceeding my circle, and because I could make the necessary preparations.
‘And luck was on my side.’
This time was no different.
The conditions were favorable.
That’s why I could attempt this, even if it was a bit elaborate.
Crack, Bang!
The attached bones shattered the coffin and were absorbed into the corpse.
Fizzle-
Black water stained the ground, and the bones attached to the corpse began to compress.
The runes inscribed on the bones glowed black.
Being a 5th circle necromancer, I compensated for my shortcomings with various methods.
I supplemented the insufficient demonic energy density with the magic circle, the prepared demonic energy, and the staff’s amplification, and I compensated for the insufficient arrangement of demonic energy with runes.
Having maximized the quality of the corpse, I had done everything I could.
The bones compressed, taking shape.
The forming Skeleton was already clad in bone armor, and its size seemed 1.5 times larger than the original corpse.
Hummm
My five circles resonated intensely.
Then…
As the Knight Banneret neared completion, the wall that had been hindering me shattered.
An ominous red light flickered in the Knight Banneret’s eyes, and my control, reaching its limit, struggled to contain the undead.
If it was completed at this stage, I wouldn’t be able to control it properly.
However, I wasn’t worried.
The wall was already breaking, and…
The sixth circle was slowly forming.
6th circle.
The level I had reached in the past.
While I was at the peak of 5th circle then, and now I was at the beginning of 6th, the difference wasn’t significant.
I was much stronger now than I was back then.
Back then, I lacked proper equipment, but now I had the staff, corrupted sacred relics, my undead, and capable companions.
Reaching this level without a contract with a demon king was an immense advantage in itself.
While I was examining myself, the newly created Knight Banneret knelt.
-My lord, a name.
“Do you remember your name from your previous life?”
-It’s hazy.
Perhaps due to using multiple orc corpses, its memories were fragmented.
And since it was created at 5th circle, not 6th, some deficiencies were inevitable.
However, its performance seemed unaffected.
“Entin. Let’s call you Entin.”
-Thank you.
There was no special meaning to the name. I simply chose the first one that came to mind.
‘I’ll place Nenson and Lengvin under Entin’s command.’
Reaching 6th circle significantly increased my control capacity.
It was incomparable to before; I could even make all the undead currently under the Centurions’ command my direct subordinates and still have room to spare.
However, I had no need, nor intention, to do so.
In fact, I was planning to place the Centurions themselves under another’s command.
An undead to serve as a senior Centurion.
Naturally, I would choose a capable undead with decent combat abilities for this role.
‘I have the materials.’
The high-ranking Expert’s corpse. I still had that.
Having broken through and stabilized my new circle, I didn’t need elaborate preparations like before.
I created a magic circle around the coffin and placed the prepared armor and Soul Shadow inside.
Then, I amplified the demonic energy with the staff, arranging it according to the undead I intended to create.
The coffin trembled at my activation word, and the lid opened as the armor flew inside.
Perhaps due to reaching 6th circle, the staff had also unlocked further.
The magic circle glowed brighter.
A rattling sound echoed as intense demonic energy erupted, and the undead rose.
Then, its head fell off.
A heavily armored, headless knight.
A Dullahan.
-I greet my master.
“State your name from your previous life.”
-Gagar. My name was Gagar.
Unlike before, its memories seemed relatively intact.
“What did you do in life?”
-I was a mercenary. Shamefully, I was executed for theft.
“I see.”
It seemed the royal family had procured him in a hurry.
“When you were executed, was there a warlock nearby?”
-There wasn’t.
Indeed, if there was a warlock close to the royal family, they wouldn’t have acted so carelessly.
“You may keep your name.”
-Understood.
Perhaps due to my increased level, Gagar seemed even more deferential than the other undead.
Not that the others were disrespectful, but his attitude was subtly different.
“Gagar.”
-Yes.
“You will serve as the senior Centurion.”
-It is an honor.
“I’ll place the two Centurions under your command, and I’ll assign you Skeleton Warriors as I create them.”
-What are my orders?
“You will drive out and hunt monsters. Your objective is territorial expansion.”
-To secure territory for my master. A glorious task.
“Entin, you will do the same. While I only have two Knights to assign you for now, I’ll add more as your control capacity allows.”
If possible, I wanted to create skeletal steeds for them as well.
Entin knelt and bowed his head at my words.
‘I’ve used up all the corpses from selling the sacred relic.’
All that remained were the Soul Shadows…
‘Should I… enhance the Bone Golem?’
I could use the Dullahan, the senior Centurion, to manage numbers.
I could use the Knight Banneret to create an elite force of knights.
I had the Elite Living Armors, including Baldur, for the front lines.
And for the rear, I had the Mummy Priests, Skeleton Mages, Annelise, and myself, a 6th circle necromancer.
‘With Kayla protecting me, Athena for support, ambushes, and reconnaissance, and Orie’s ghost army…’
If I added large undead like the Bone Golem to the mix…
‘That would be more effective than adding a few Specters.’
It required further consideration.
There were still some gaps in my forces. They weren’t complete.
However, having reached 6th circle, it wouldn’t take long to fill them.
If everything went according to plan, even the Holy Empire wouldn’t be able to hinder me easily.
They wouldn’t be able to harm me without sending a proper army.
Due to the distance and the limited forces they could deploy without attracting the attention of the Six-Kingdom Alliance, even if they found me troublesome, they wouldn’t be able to harm me with their limited resources.
‘At least in this place, I don’t have to worry about anyone.’
All this was possible thanks to the chain of events that had unfolded without the Holy Empire’s interference.
Otherwise, they would have intervened at least once, and I would have been under constant surveillance.
However, that hadn’t happened, allowing me to reach this point much more easily than anticipated.
Of course, I hadn’t even entered the Barren Lands yet.
With the joy of reaching 6th circle, I returned to my companions.
“Over here! Not there, over here! That slowpoke isn’t listening!”
I followed the sound of their voices and found them in the middle of construction work.
“Ah, Kayla.”
I looked around and asked,
“Why is everyone inside the castle? Are you taking a break today?”
-Kayla forbade us from leaving the castle.
The answer came from Orie, not Kayla.
-She said close protection was difficult while you were working, so she ordered us to focus on defending the castle and stop clearing the surroundings.
It seemed they had decided to prioritize defending the castle since they couldn’t provide close protection.
Indeed, checking the locations of my undead, most of them were patrolling the castle’s perimeter.
It seemed she was being considerate.
-By the way… you succeeded?
Being directly connected to me, she immediately sensed my breakthrough.
Orie smiled brightly, congratulating me.
Kayla also smiled and congratulated me.
“Then, as you promised…”
“Indeed. We’ll slowly conquer the Barren Lands.”
“We’ve been waiting. Everyone will be delighted.”
“We finished clearing the surrounding area long ago.”
“Oh, Do Inha. When did you arrive?”
Mutre, who had been using the Bone Golem to move things around the castle, hurried over.
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