The official training begins~!

"...not that important, but the common thing connecting all the undead is that they don't have the sense of taste, at all. And that basically sums it up for today's dose of theory."

Priest Gael said, closing the book and leaning back into the chair next to Zorey.

The two of them were sitting in the empty dining room, having annexed a table as a makeshift classroom since the early morning.

"Mhmm... what are we going to do now, teacher...?"

Zorey nodded his head and asked while rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"Practice, of course... is what I want to say, but it seems that you didn't have enough sleep... Was it nightmares? I told you that it's okay to seek me whenever you are in trouble."

"Nnnh... no... no nightmares at all. Tehehe~... Just... I didn't sleep for too long..."

The blond-haired priest said proudly but then leaned forward and pointed out while looking at the dark bags under the black-haired boy's green eyes.

"Ah! Too excited because of all the emotions with registration and receiving a Class to be able to fall asleep, huh? I get it. I get it."

"Nnnh..."

Gael perked up and laughed, patting Zorey's back in understanding, to which the boy responded with a sleepy voice that could be either confirmation or denial.

"Even so, you better wake up because you will be trying out the appease undead Skill today. Follow me."

"Nnn... huh...? Ah! Yes, teacher!"

The blond-haired priest patted the boy's back once more before standing up and beckoning him encouragingly, making Zorey flinch and get up hurriedly with the rejuvenated glow in his eyes.

The master and the apprentice were moving from the east to the west wing of the Temple, greeting the other priests they passed.

"Gealusiusar~! Do you want me to help you teach the kiddo about healing skills? You ain't good with them, so let this big sister help you out!"

One of them – a red-haired woman with tanned skin, not even taller than young Zorey stopped and greeted them with a jovial smile.

"Hello, Brigittaliana~ I will pick you up on the offer but not today. My new apprentice can already see malice, so we're going to start actual training in the basement!"

Gael greeted her back and answered with a bright smile, tousling Zorey's hair, all proud.

"No way! A little prodigy, eh? Good for you, Zoreylion! See you two later. Wahwahwah~!"

The red-haired woman gasped and showed the black-haired a thumbs-up before going back on her way laughing.

"Umm.. teacher...?"

Zorey looked after her for a moment before looking up at Geal and asking with a look of confusion on his face.

"Yes?"

The blond-haired man nodded at him encouragingly.

"I think that I remember that when I met that lady yesterday, she was introduced as Brigitta and not Brigittaliana..."

"Oh, that! Don't worry."

Zorey asked awkwardly, working his brain and trying to figure out why his memory didn't match what just happened, but Geal just chuckled and waved his hand dismissively.

"Brigitta is a half-dwarf, and dwarves have this cultural thing with them that they make each other's names longer to show affection. You know, instead of nicknames and all of that."

The blond-haired man explained and continued leading the black-haired boy.

"Ooohhh...! I see! Teacher, she must like you a lot. She made your name really long!"

Zorey gasped in understanding and smiled brightly at his teacher.

"... ha... yeah, but there is liking, and there is Liking..."

"...huh...?"

Geal let out a long sigh and muttered in a dispirited voice, surprising his apprentice.

"Nothing. Don't mind it."

Gael waved his hand dismissively and started walking more briskly.

Soon, they reached a door leading to the spiral staircase leading to a wide corridor lighted up with torches burning with cold blue flames.

"...!"

As he took his first step into the area and had Gael move to the side and stop blocking his view, the first thing Zorey did was take a step back.

What, for others, looked like an eerie and cold basement with creepy lighting showed itself as a hallway full of black mist just coiling around and covering the ceiling, making it look distorted and unstable.

Each of the doors on both sides of the hallway had whisks of the black mist floating up – with the exception of the last one on the left, from which the black mist was literally pouring out like a mountain stream.

"If you wondered why there is malice in the Temple, this is the answer. We keep some undead here for training purposes, although some of them are here because of the necromancers' request. Don't worry about it."

Gael explained, shrugging his shoulders with a reassuring expression.

"This is your training room for the practice sessions from today on. The undead you will be practicing on is right here, and you do have the Sacred Ground buff, so it shouldn't be a difficult job."

He pointed out while walking towards the closest door with just a few whisks of black mist sipping through.

"It still will take a few attempts to complete it, so don't be discouraged even if it will take you over a week to appease what's inside."

"...nnnnh... It's okay if it takes a week... I understand... teacher..."

Gael added while Zorey swayed from side to side, rubbing his eyes again, trying to get rid of the sleepiness.

*click*

"Zorey. Focus."

"Yes...!"

The blond-haired priest snapped his fingers and said while leaning down his head, causing the black-haired boy to flinch and straighten his back as he called out hurriedly.

"Just like what we read today, the proper procedure of appeasing the undead is to figure out what the source of their malice is. If it can be easily resolved – that's great. But if not, it's best to..."

"...to put them into an enclosed location that separates them from the outside world so they are cut off of whatever is stirring them up..."

The teacher began, and the apprentice finished the scene.

"Exactly. That part has already been done. What's left for you is to use the lesser prayer to weaken the malice even more and then free them from their chains to appease the undead. When used on an actual undead and succeeding, the prayer-type skills that priest of death like us have access to allow some degree of communication with the undead. The thing is, the degree to which you will be able to communicate with the undead will depend on your aptitude and the monster's state. For example, you can just experience seeing some images that the monster wants to show you – or you could actually hear it say a few words... well, the meaning of its growls will be conveyed to you."

"... yeah..."

Gael basically repeated what he had already taught Zorey during the study session earlier on, and the boy began to doze off again, barely mumbling words of understanding.