A New Power

Crystal missed being able to talk to another person already. She hated that she had to kill Damien, one of the few people who had treated her well in the past six years.

Crystal pulled out one of Damien's books. No title. It detailed the process of creating a sentient undead. Damien's words echoed in her head. She had the soul of a Necromancer, according to him. Does that mean she can do this? Well, there was only one way to find out.

She returned one of the undead to its dead state. He didn't have much rot, so he was still relatively pleasant to look at. She then began the process.

It involved writing up a mock personality, etching it onto a blank soul, and shoving it in the corpse. Not graceful, and deeply heretic, but Crystal had done worse at this point. She took one of the soul crystals Damien had collected and used it to fulfill the material requirement.

She wanted a loyal knight. One that would follow her every call, her every order, with zero hesitation. She also wanted him to be wise in battle. She wasn't very tactical, so she wanted someone to fill that slot in her shambling party.

After an hour of pure focus and sweating, the undead rose. He looked at Crystal, and to her relief, spoke.

"I await your orders, my lady."

She was so relieved that she collapsed and fell asleep. The undead, who Crystal had given the name Dominick, caught her. Crystal then slept until dusk…

When she awoke, a camp had been made and a small amount of food was being prepared. Dominick had taken to commanding the undead in her stead. That was good.

"Oh, you've awakened my lady!" Dominick said.

"Dominick, you can call me Crystal if you want. Also, I'm amazed you set all this up," Crystal said.

"Anything for you, Lady Crystal," Dominick said.

Crystal didn't enjoy his whole personality. It was her first attempt, so some quirks were to be expected, but going from a loyal knight to a simp was something she wasn't fond of.

She ate her modest meal. Damien wasn't a good cook, but Dominick's cooking was a new level of plain. What was even in it? Well, it was hopefully edible, so she ate it anyway. She made a mental note to look out for any dead, dying, or desperate cooks on her travels.

Speaking of random people, Crystal spotted a crashed carriage. Dominick hadn't wanted to loot it until Crystal woke up. Looting was one of the few joys Crystal had at this point.

Well, she approached the carriage and looted it, but there wasn't much of anything. The only thing of worth was a status plate, and even then every city has one.

Status plates could quantify one's power and put it into words and numbers. It wasn't the most accurate thing, since even one's mood can change one's effective stats, but it was still a good overview of what someone was capable of. Out of curiosity, Crystal tried to use it, and read her status:

Name: Crystal Stren

Race: Human

Strength: 6

Dexterity: 8

Endurance: 10

Mind: 15

Magic: 20

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Basic Magic

Death(Necromancy): Induce Fear, Raise Dead, Soul Drain

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Advanced Magic

Death(Necromancy): Mass Raise Dead

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Titles

Survivor

Wow. The average number in a commoner's status was 5, and most fully trained soldiers have physical stats of 30. From what she recalled, mages need a magic stat of 50 to be recognized as royal mages. So, her guess was that 20 was above a novice but below an experienced mage. Seemed about right. Her title was obvious, but she was surprised that Mass Raise Dead was considered Advanced magic.

Well, that wasn't extremely helpful, as it didn't reveal any blessings or anything about her special soul Damien had mentioned, but she could check her status whenever now. Even if statuses weren't the hard truth, that might come in handy.

Regardless of her status, she was still left without a proper place to study again. If she was going to be studying, she needed a place to study, of course. As she raised the bodies of the people who were once in the carriage, she wondered; what place could a Necromancer even dwell in that isn't some beat-up shack like Damien had? She didn't want to stay there since people knew about it, but if push came to shove. a roof was a roof.

Regardless, she took two more soul crystals out of her pack and set aside two bodies. They were the last blank souls that Damien had prepared. She wanted her brothers back, even if they were cheap imitations. She'd dismiss them when she found the real versions, but for now, this would be enough.

She tried her best to make their personalities close to the original. Novan would be a hard-headed and strong fighter, while Bradvar would be a timid and smart advisor. After hours of strenuous focusing, her fake brothers rose.

"Thank you for reviving us, sister," Novan said.

"Y-yeah, thanks Cryssie!" Bradvar said.

Ah, they may have been cheap copies, but they were just as good as the original in terms of how they acted. Crystal fought back the voice in her head telling her that this was an awful coping mechanism.

"Thank you, dear brothers," Crystal said. "Come, we have much to do."

She now had three sentient undead, who would follow her beck and call: Novan, Bradvar, and, of course, Dominick.

"Lady Crystal, we spotted a village not too far from here. What are we to do?" Dominick said.

Crystal considered her position. If she was too flashy, she'd be hunted down and gutted like a fish by adventurers. Of course, she needed more power and more presence to search for her family, since danger lurked around every corner. They're far from the capital, though, so:

"I want to scope it out," Crystal said.

Heading over to a hilltop near the village, Crystal and her company observed the village. It was still the dead of night, so it was quiet. There were no buildings nearby, and there were no grand-looking buildings within the village itself. The village did have night lights, stone roads, and nice-looking wooden houses, however. No lights were on inside the houses, so everyone was likely asleep.

"It looks like a nice, quiet place," Crystal said.

She didn't want to go about massacring people without any reason at all. As such, she wanted to try to co-exist with them or avoid it entirely. That said-

"I have an idea," she said.

She fully intended to pick out the scum of the village for research and development of her skills. It was a necessary sacrifice, but she didn't want anyone to suffer loss as she did. The prison looked to be on the outskirts. Surely, with the combined efforts of Bradvar, Novan, and Dominick, they could kidnap some of them. Crystal would look for a place to stay in the meantime.

The plan began. Well, ultimately she would do nothing, it was all on the trio of undead.

After finding a cave that seemed to be a former bandit hideout, Crystal peered in. It was empty and disheveled. Had the bandits been chased out? The beds were ruffled and bedsheets were everywhere on the floor. There were cells, there was a dining hall, and it was a shockingly complete base for something in a cave. Crystal figured it was likely something else before bandits had infested it if they even had at all.

Crystal lay on one of the beds and retired for the night, as it was easily 1 or 2 am at that point, thus leaving Dominick, Bradvar, and Novan in charge.

"Alright," Novan said, "I'm leading this right?"

"What?" Bradvar said. " Hell no! I'm the smart brother, so I get to be in charge right?"

"No, no," Dominick said, "I believe I am in charge. I am the first one She raised, after all."

The trio stood around, not sure of what to think.

"...Rock paper scissors for it?" Novan asked.

Well, that was a civil way to go about it. Rock, paper, scissors…

Bradvar shot paper while Novan and Dominick shot rock. That was that, Bradvar would be in charge of the plan.

"See?" he said. "I *am* the smartest!"

"I think you're just the luckiest," Novan said.

They left behind the mindless undead and approached the prison by themselves. It's not like collecting a prisoner or three would require a massive crowd.

The prison had exactly two entrances: one was guarded and one wasn't. They snuck to the backdoor and got in easily.

Once they were in, it was obvious why the backdoor was unlocked. There were guards on the inside. Well, they were asleep, so it didn't matter. The cell doors themselves were made not from wood or metal, but some kind of plant stock. So, as quietly as they could, Novan and Dominick ripped a few open and took the sleeping people inside. Three in total, since one cell had two people. They then ran away, leaving the people none the wiser… At least, they thought so anyway.

After a needed rest, Crystal woke up. She didn't feel like leaving, so she read one of Damien's books to see if there was a useful trick for this situation. Ah-ha, telepathy. Necromancers are connected to those they raise, and if one has a sentient undead under their control, they can communicate with them over long distances.

[Dominick, can you hear me?]

…

[Yes, Lady Crystal, clear as your name.]

Well, that was a shitty pun.

[How'd the plan go?]

[Well, the prison itself was easy enough to break into. The cells aren't very secure, but they're good enough to stop vagabonds, I suppose. It went without a hitch.]

[As expected of you three.]

Crystal spent the next few months studying and experimenting. Eventually, the prison ran dry, so they took to kidnapping travelers, merchants, and villagers who wandered out too far. Crystal hadn't made anything other than a mindless zombie, even after all that research. At some point, she managed to make a zombie that groaned, but that was about it. It didn't seem like the villagers or travelers knew anything about her village, either. Well, when she was getting burned out, she would just change subjects, and learn some new spells. Novan and Dominick were even teaching her basic fighting skills, although her current skill was barely enough to fight a single wolf.

Crystal then used the status plate, to see how she'd grown over the months:

Name: Crystal Stren

Race: Human

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 18

Endurance: 25

Mind: 25

Magic: 40

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Skills

Martial: Warrior's Spirit

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Basic Magic

Death(Necromancy): Induce Fear, Raise Dead, Sense Life, Soul Drain

Death(Sangromancy): Leech

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Advanced Magic

Death(Necromancy): Mass Raise Dead, Soul Pierce, Raise Advanced Dead

Death(Sangromancy): None

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Combination Magic

Agony (Death+Dark): Cage of Agony

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Titles

Survivor

Well, her stats had certainly risen. Especially her Magic. Controlling what's now over 200 zombies must be the cause. Her new spells were fancy, but she'd barely used them. Warrior's Spirit, which helped to stave off exhaustion, was proving to be an extremely useful tool for an insomniac researcher. Crystal was surprised that she was able to learn Cage of Agony. Combination Magic, of which 36 kinds exist, was notoriously difficult to learn. Did she maybe have a high affinity for both Death and Dark?

A knock rang out at the door, interrupting her thoughts. She had added a door to the front entrance to try and prevent passersby from having a casual look inside of the cave, though it was very shoddy, since none of her undead knew how to make doors, and she didn't either. At the door were three people; a priest, a middle-aged woman, and a young, spry man. All looked to be noble.

"You honestly thought you could fool us, Necromancer?" the priest asked.

Yep. She had figured that someone would notice the kidnappings or the presence of the undead eventually. Well, while she still has a minor benefit of the doubt…

"I'm not sure what you mean?" Crystal said with an innocent tone.

They weren't buying it. They had condemned her long before coming here.

"Your undead weren't very good at kidnapping," the priest said. "Everyone was aware of what was happening but left it alone because they were scared, and you were kidnapping criminals. But you've begun to kill the innocent, and that is something I cannot overlook."

Crystal was deeply, deeply disappointed in her aides. They assured her it was going without a hitch, but she needed to try to make a stealthy undead.

The priest raised his hand, and suddenly, a strangling sensation went through Crystal's entire body. She was paralyzed.

"Be cleansed, evil-doer," he said.

What the hell? Was this holy magic? Crystal wasn't sure what she should do- no, what she *could* do to stop this. She called out to all of her undead, for someone, anyone, to stop what was happening.

…

…

But nobody came.

"Your servants of evil won't help you now. My Holy Magic has made sure to disable them. Everyone in the village has been made aware of your-"

Just as the priest was about to finish his sentence, a loud screech rang out, followed by screaming and the sound of flesh being ripped apart. Crystal didn't know what happened since her eyes were closed. She slowly opened them and saw a very mauled priest and a very hungry Ghoul. Oh, right, that was a thing.

Crystal had used Raise Advanced Dead exactly once, to see if it could further her power. In the end, it didn't work quite as she thought, but she did get an Undead with a bit of a mind, so it was something. Certainly more promising than anything else she's done so far.

Ghouls were special in that they needed to eat, and they enjoyed the raw flesh of Humanoids. Crystal had been feeding it the occasional unfortunate person, but apparently, she hadn't gotten around to it lately. That or Ghouls are just gluttons. Either way, the priest's bones were laid bare, and the other two were just forced to watch.

They weren't too much of a hassle to take down. Crystal breathed a sigh of relief and decided that she needed to be more careful. That was a pure stroke of luck, and those wouldn't last very long. She needed to tread carefully since there were still people far more powerful than her out there.

[Dominick.]

She needed to pivot her plans.

[Yes, Lady Crystal?]

[Seems that the villagers figured us out. We need to make sure to leave no trace. I... Don't want anyone to suffer like me.]

[Understood, ma'am.]

If she was going to eradicate a village, then she would annihilate it. She knew all too well the pain of being left alone, and with some generous use of Sense Life, she would make damn sure that nobody felt the same pain she had. Sure, she was doing comparatively fine now, but those three years of pure agony and isolation were three years spent in what felt like hell.

Crystal was surprised that they didn't try to contact the imperial army. Maybe they were too far out? Either way, she decided to raise all the villagers as Advanced Dead, and while that certainly solved the problem of her zombies being weak, it created a new issue: Ghoul food.

The village had a population of about 500. Meaning she had about 700 undead now. ~200 zombies, ~400 Ghouls, and ~100 miscellaneous undead she was going to have to check Damien's compendium for. The priest in particular was raised as some kind of magic-using undead. Maybe raising a holy caster as an undead causes something special? Crystal wasn't entirely sure. Crystal was surprised that she didn't feel tired at all. Was that the power of her "special soul" that Damien had mentioned? If it was, then she was truly blessed.

Either way, she now had a supply crisis. Well, the village had food and carriages, so she had supplies and the means to carry them, but they were limited. However, she had something else to worry about: Dominick, Novan, and Bradvar were still just zombies. Was there a way to evolve them? Could she maybe transfer them?

…Yes, that was it.

She set aside three bodies. Two belonged to well-trained guards, and the third belonged to the local librarian. There weren't any scholars, so it'd have to do. She then used Soul Drain on Dominick but focused the soul into her palm. A small soul crystal was produced. So that's how Damien did it, huh?

She took Dominick's soul, put it in one of the guards, and cast Raise Advanced Undead. It was much easier than raising him the first time since the soul was already etched into. And, when she was done, Dominick was raised as an Advanced Undead. Seemed like his mind was intact, too.

Repeating the process with Novan and Bradvar, she had given them a new life, to make sure her trusted aides were up to par with everyone else. After some thorough investigation and reading, it seemed that Dominick was a Draugr, an Undead prided for its relentless endurance and ability to spread undeath like a contagion. Novan became a Dread Knight, which was a very durable Undead with fear-related abilities. Bradvar, however, became a Lower Lich. Crystal wasn't aware she could have liches on her side, lower or otherwise, but having a knowledge-obsessed and magic-proficient undead would surely be an asset.

Seems that the other mystery undead were also half Draugr and half Dread Knights. Crystal thought that child undead might result in something different, but it was just a smaller undead in the end. The priest was raised as a Holy Lich which, to Crystal, sounded like the most unfortunate oxymoron. Regardless, she wanted to run before anyone came by. However…

"How the hell are we supposed to be covert, now that we have almost 1,000 undead?" Crystal asked herself.

She had certainly gone on quite the rampage, and now she wasn't sure why. There were other options, but Crystal had jumped at the easiest one. She had amassed a small army, essentially a battalion of undead, and yet she wasn't exhausted at all. Magic was supposed to exhaust her, right?

"Cryssie, I have an idea!" Bradvar said suddenly. "It's like it just got shot into my head!"

"Alright, shoot," Crystal said.

"We managed to find a map of the area nearby, and it seems like there's a dungeon," Bradvar said. "Let's take it for ourselves!"

Dungeons are man-made structures that were abandoned and infested with monsters. The kingdom's decree was that anyone who cleared a dungeon had a right to live in that place, but she wasn't all too sure how well that'd work for Necromancers, who are deemed criminals of the state. Well, it was certainly worth a shot, plus Crystal wanted to test out raising monsters as undead. When she thought about it, there was a feeling deep in her chest that she had to go there. Just like the feeling six years ago. Was her Necromancer's soul reacting to something?

"Alright," Crystal said. "I'm no adventurer, nor am I experienced in any of this, but let's see what we can do, alright?"

"Worry not," Dominick said, "We will be sure to protect you, Lady Crystal."

To the dungeon, they went. Crystal had found a cart in the village and therefore rode it with undead pulling it. They went on dirt roads in the flat, grassy plain, since they were in a low population density area, so nobody would find them.

The dungeon was, however, quite a ways away, so Crystal had plenty of time to think. She liked the idea of having her own home, but the simple matter was that her ghouls were a huge issue; furthermore, she needed people to reanimate, and she still had a mystery to solve. It seemed like the dungeon was kind of in the middle of nowhere, much like everything in the southwest, so she wasn't all too sure how all that could even work out.

Well, she would think of something. Worst-case scenario, she gives up all her ghouls and has to wait for a chance to get more test subjects. In the best-case scenario, she learns how to summon an Undead without needing a body. That was some advanced magic and had a whole list of restrictions, but it was possible.

After a couple of days of travel, which was an activity that Crystal had begun to resent before she was able to just rest in a cart they looted from the village, they arrived. It was made faster by the cart since they could continue to travel through the night, as Crystal could just sleep in it.

Crystal looked upon the dungeon. It was a decent-sized fortress, with crumbling cobblestone walls around it. The pull in Crystal's chest grew stronger. She *had* to conquer the fort.

"Are you guys ready?" she asked.

Dominick, Novan, and Bradvar nodded.

"Well," Crystal said, "let's get ourselves a place to sleep."