3 A requirement of death

Necromancy was one of the reasons that the House of Ambrose found itself at such a low position today. The House was filled with powerful Warlocks and Witches at their peak, but an incident with Dark Magic made them the target of some very powerful families.

The powerful families targetted the most powerful magic in the House of Ambrose, and that was Necromancy. With the name of justice by their side, innocent members of the Ambrose name were called the criminals who went past the already questionable Necromancy and began dabbling in Dark Magic.

These attacks came in waves as their old enemies pounced at them, and eventually many magicians renounced their Ambrose name and left. Only a few loyal members remained, with Ian's mother being one of them.

The book titled Necromancer 101 was something his mother had reluctantly given him a few days ago as he turned 18 and was ready to begin learning magic.

It was the legacy that he treated with the highest respect as he recalled the stories of the powerful Warlocks in the history of the House of Ambrose. He remembered the famous motto of the Ambrose lineage that used to cause magicians to shake in fear a long time ago.

Ruthless, Strong, Loyal.

These were the qualities that defined the men and women carrying the name of Ambrose. So it was even more comical when under pressure from powerful families, so many Warlocks and Witches abandoned the house to escape downfall.

He would be different. Ian planned to start on the path of a Warlock with the three qualities in mind as he opened the thick black book. Necromancy was frowned upon across the hidden society until today, as the top ranks considered this magic on the border towards Dark Magic.

Ian did not care, as this was his family's most powerful tool, and he did not plan on letting it die out. The first page of the book was fairly blank, with only a few sentences standing out in the middle of the page.

[The study of Necromancy is the study of Death. If you have not had any experience with death, you cannot start on the path of Necromancy.]

Only a few words, but they stood out strongly on the blank page. When he tried to flip to the next page to see what other information there was, the page would not bulge. No matter how forcefully he tried to pry it open, it remained the same.

Ian leaned back on his chair as he tapped on the table in front of him, thinking. He had not met the requirement needed to even start on the path of Necromancy.

'Experience with death, huh?'

He thought back to the many history books he had read on how the Warlocks and Witches of the Ambrose house began their journeys as he knew what he should do.

He needed to kill.

As for what exactly he had to kill?

'Now that wasn't really specified, was it?'

A thin smile broke out on Ian's face as he closed the black book he couldn't continue reading and placed it back in his backpack. He gave his new extravagant dorm room another look around before he left, making sure the door locked behind him as he went out to explore this magical university before classes began tomorrow.

He walked out of the freshmen dorms and looked towards the many buildings all around him, watching the sight of young magicians moving around enthusiastically as others just like him were here for the first time.

His eyes moved towards a large banner right outside the dorms that had the locations of the entire campus listed, and he found the place he had in mind for his objective today. If you were in a magical academy that had all sorts of powerful and mystical things to explore, but you wanted to find a place where you could kill, where would you go?

Ian moved across the many young magicians walking around as he neared the location he was looking at in a few minutes.

'The Beastiary'

This location was not simply one where you could read about the many fantastic beasts that secretly roamed the world, but a place where you could actually see them. This was one of the largest repositories of magical beasts in North America. The sheer size alone would overwhelm many magicians that neared its doors.

Ian went through the large double doors and came face to face with a small reception area as sounds from various animals he had never heard of before entered his ears. He found a bored woman with a common witches hat focused on a book below her as she sat serenely while surrounded by droves of screaming beasts.

He went towards the girl and called out as he saw her head rising and her attention turning towards him.

"Hello, I'm here to apply for a butcher position."

His voice was steady as the Witch in front of him looked at him with perplexion and replied.

"Let me see your card."

He took out the card that had his name and ID engraved on it and handed it to her. She looked over it as her perplexion turned into surprise.

"You're a newly arrived freshman who hasn't even had your first class, and the first thing you do is to come to The Beastiary for a job that no students want?"

Ian smiled lightly at this as he nodded.

"So, there is an open position?"

"Yes. There are only a few butchers that work part-time. You can head to the back and find Greg, he'll let you know if there are any other beasts that need to be taken down today."

Yes. This was Ian's idea of how to quickly experience death. He had a significant amount of knowledge at his disposal with the libraries of books left behind in the remaining manor of the House of Ambrose.

The school they helped to build was among the many things that they talked about. The place he arrived in was The Beastiary, where magical beasts were kept while even more were cultivated to be enjoyed as meals for the deserving Warlocks of Witches.

To meet the requirement of death that was needed before he could peruse the book he brought with him, he would spend some time here.