Koyuki, the Necromancing Foxkin

CHAPTER 351: Another Lesson

A few days later we had another necromancy lesson. The twins were already in the classroom, playing with their new cat. Rose, Hatsumi, Kaito, Garm and Nyx were with me. My group was two thirds of the class by now. I nodded at the twins as I entered.

"Koyuki! Thanks again for your help." Tim said.

Tom nodded. "Miri is great, we have been playing around with commands a lot."

The undead cat sat on the table. Her head moved around and her tail swished occasionally. She did not necessarily react to anything happening but she was not the unmoving undead you would expect from a tier two. She also wore a close-fitting orange collar. Since her neck were just bones the accessory was fastened tightly to ensure it stayed in place.

While I talked about Miri with them Leo strode in. He froze, as he saw Miri move. After staring for a bit he asked: "Have you created a tier three?"

"No, those are just commands." Tim explained.

"Koyuki helped us!" Tom added.

Leo was silent for another moment until he said: "You got Koyuki's help and all you made was tier two? Then you waste commands on that?" He pointed at the swishing tail.

"Miri is a lot of fun." Tom said.

Tim nodded. "We are learning quite a bit about commands too. What about your undead?"

Two human skeletons were flanking Leo. Both carried a halberd but nothing else stood out. If they were enhanced it was not obvious. He also had two skeletal wolves with him, both wearing spiked collars.

"Those two are the Ilestrian dogs who attacked us." Leo stated, while pointing at the human skeletons.

Garm titled his left head. "Are you confusing your undead? You pointed at the humans, not the wolves, which are not dogs either, but they are close enough."

"He was using 'dogs' as an insult." Hatsumi clarified.

"I fail to see the insult." Garm replied.

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"Dogs can be really fluffy." Rose mused and started to pet Garm.

Leo flinched slightly when Rose spoke. He caught himself quickly and his eyes became less friendly, but as usual he did not say anything.

"Hello students! Be seated." Gronir said, as he entered the room.

Everyone sat down and Gronir began his lesson: "As you know the school year is almost over. I will be judging your necromancy projects, although it does not seem to be a problem for any of you."

"Koyuki helped them with their cat." Leo stated. "And does not Koyuki herself get help from her friends? Is that allowed?"

"Koyuki does not get help from any necromancer. Raising an undead in a joint casting and adding an element is rather advanced necromancy. It is something we will study more next year. Remember that she has neither a fire, nor an earth affinity, yet she has created a vampiric undead, a vampire and a cat with a fire affinity." Gronir pointed out. "She has also demonstrated often enough that she can create undead by herself, even in combat. Another topic we will look at next year."

Tim raised his hand.

"Tim."

"Koyuki did not help with our joint casting, we rose Miri ourselves. She has only provided us with the spell. And we used alchemical enhancements provided by Cassie." Tim clarified.

Gronir nodded. "Getting help with your spells is allowed. The important part is that you are the necromancers raising the undead. Now your joint casting would be a problem if you were two normal students, however you are twins. I have seen your individual work and you are about the same when it comes to power and talent. Further, you have created a joint bond where no one is leading. Something rather hard to do, except for twins."

I raised my hand.

"Koykui."

"What is a joint bond?" I asked.

"This is rather advanced magic where an undead is equally bound to two necromancers. Both have equal control and can override each other's orders. It is something that is only advised if you truly trust each other. There are some upsides though. That way there is less strain on the individual necromancer and it allows you to control a more powerful undead. It can also allow you to feed the undead a bit more mana to speed up their evolution but that is still a lengthy process." Gronir explained. "A joint bond is rather rare to be honest. Most people would rather have their undead for themselves, or they will never meet someone they trust enough for that."

"Could you have a joint bond with someone who is not a necromancer?" I wondered.

"No, since you need to supply them with necrotic mana." Gronir replied. "I guess that is something else I should elaborate on: Your undead are fed through your link. They need mana to survive. However, a tier three has their own mana core. So you might ask: Why aren't they eating their own mana? Ultimately an undead exists because of the spell that keeps them animated. Even a tier three capable of creating other undead cannot control their own spell. Their own mana cannot truly connect to it, so they need to feed it with an external source. So while their mana can strengthen their body and empower their vessel, they still need food for the spell that keeps them undead."

"Could they raise an undead and devour it?" I wondered.

Gronir nodded. "That is way for a tier three to feed themselves. They can raise their own food, however they still need a corpse for that. And they can often gain more from feeding on the living. Some undead, like vampires, have a special diet. While they can exist by simply devouring others, blood is a lot more nutritious for them."

Rose raised her hand.

"Rose."

"But I can survive on Koyuki's mana, right? Is that like a vampire who lives only on devouring?"

"Not exactly. The mana a necromancer provides is highly refined, in a way. It also directly connects to your spell which makes it really efficient. That is why a small link can sustain an undead. Provided you do not need healing, in that case blood is really helpful. Or simply an undead healing spell." Gronir explained.

It made me wonder if there was a way to provide more highly refined mana to your undead to decrease the cost? Did it have something to do with the spell you used to create them? Rose was a bit more expensive in upkeep than my other tier three, however she was also bound partially through Hatsumi. Or 'anchored', as Gronir had called it. Had she been raised less efficiently? Undead were truly fascinating, I really loved necromancy.