Breath of the Undead

Chapter 1: The Necromancer's Employment

Chirp chirp chirp!

As the faint sound reached him, the half-asleep Gu Xi opened his eyes.

Pinching the stone in his hand, Gu Xi looked towards the dark corner of the cell, where a skinny rat was sticking its head out.

In the direction the rat was heading, some crushed black bread lay on the ground.

Lifting his right hand lightly, Gu Xi focused intently on the rat's movements.

Just as the rat darted forward, Gu Xi swung his arm, and the stone struck the rat's head.

*[Killed rat (small animal), gained 0 experience points!]*

Gu Xi ignored the fleeting information before his eyes. With unimaginable speed, he grabbed the rat killed by the stone.

"What's that noise?"

Footsteps came from outside the cell. Gu Xi pressed the dead rat against his body, leaned into the corner, and pretended to sleep with his eyes closed.

Two men in black robes and hoods hurriedly approached the cell door. One of them glanced at Gu Xi in the corner and said viciously.

"Kid, if you want to die early, just tell me directly, and I'll send you off right now."

Gu Xi didn't even lift his head, lowered it further, closed his eyes, and acted as if he hadn't heard them, ignoring the shouting men outside.

Meanwhile, his hands behind his back didn't stop moving. Holding the dead rat in his left hand, his right hand made a grabbing motion towards the rat. A small pale white light cluster emerged from the rat's body.

*[You have completed the soul extraction ritual, obtaining soul fragment*0.1]*

"Got it," Gu Xi thought, a slight smile appearing on his lips.

Seeing his smile, the two men outside grew even angrier.

"You're still smiling, doing it on purpose! Open the door, let me cut this guy to pieces." One of the men shouted as he drew his sword, looking for the key to rush in and teach Gu Xi a lesson.

The other man, realizing the urgency, quickly held him back.

"Forget it, he won't last long anyway. No need to lower ourselves to the level of this human sacrifice."

Gu Xi didn't pay any attention to this. By now, nine identical soul fragments had swiftly appeared in his hands.

This was the result of his self-rescue efforts over the past period.

Gu Xi was a player from a world where gaming was a way of life. Recently graduated, he hadn't completed his job transition, so he was still a newbie.

However, his job direction had been decided back in college: Necromancer.

He entered this game to complete his job transition task.

On the first day in the game world, before even understanding his task, he was knocked out from behind and thrown into this pitch-dark cell.

In this lightless place, Gu Xi had no idea how long he'd been imprisoned.

All he knew was that occasionally someone would throw some black bread inside to keep the prisoners from dying.

Other than that, no one cared.

To save himself, Gu Xi tried many methods.

But because he was captured as soon as he arrived in this world, he had no materials on hand.

The only way out was to catch a few rats and piece together soul fragments.

Now that the tenth soul fragment was in hand, Gu Xi decided not to pretend anymore.

Holding all the soul fragments, Gu Xi pulled out a scroll from his game backpack.

This was his job transition task.

Originally, Gu Xi should have used the soul fragments to summon a powerful undead at a cemetery or graveyard to serve as his contracted undead, thus starting his path as a Necromancer.

But now, Gu Xi had to abandon that plan.

Having any undead under his contract would suffice; strength didn't matter anymore.

The important thing was to transition into a Necromancer and use the Necromancer skills.

Gu Xi's actions were quite obvious, and the two men outside noticed.

"What are you doing? Hand over what's behind your back."

They became anxious. Even the one who had been holding back his companion hurriedly searched for the key.

But it was too late. As Gu Xi activated the scroll in his hand, a chilly breeze arose in the small cell, and a cold aura crawled onto the two men.

Gu Xi stopped pretending. He opened his eyes, flipped his hand, and tore the scroll. A small girl, about 1.3 meters tall, emitting a faint white glow, with a bob haircut, appeared in front of Gu Xi.

The girl had a round face with hollow black eye sockets and held a bronze mirror about 30 cm in diameter. The back of the mirror was covered with numerous rotating gears, with eyes of various sizes blinking continuously.

It was unclear who was the soul and who was the entity.

The girl floated about 10 cm off the ground as she moved.

Floating in front of Gu Xi, she opened her mouth.

"Big brother, did you summon me?"

Her voice was like water dripping on ice, extremely chilling.

As soon as she spoke, not only did the two men outside freeze, but even Gu Xi, who summoned her, felt a chill.

Gu Xi tried hard to recall the knowledge he learned in class, raised his head forcefully, and stared at the girl's hollow eyes. Before he could speak, the girl opened her mouth again.

"Big brother, did you summon me?"

This time, her voice was even colder.

Gu Xi quickly reacted, extending his hand and seriously saying to the girl.

"I'm Gu Xi, and I hope to make a contract with you, borrowing your power to become a Necromancer."

As he spoke, a light blue light cluster, a complete soul, flew from his hand.

Hearing Gu Xi's words, the girl's face showed a look of surprise and eagerness.

"Me? I really... can, I am willing to become your contracted undead."

She quickly hid her joy and pointed at the soul cluster.

Gu Xi followed, quickly touching it with his right index finger. As they did, the scroll Gu Xi tore flew up and burned to ashes in front of them.

*[Ding! Contract with undead successful. Player 629SHD2S0FXC30 officially becomes a Necromancer.]*

With this notification, all previously locked features became available to Gu Xi.

**Name: Gu Xi**

- **Game ID:** 629SHD2S0FXC30

- **Class:** Necromancer

- **Level:** 1 (0/1000)

- **Talent:** Not activated

- **Status:** Health (105/310, hunger, weakness), Mana (220/450, insomnia, mental confusion)

- **Attributes:** Strength 3.2, Agility 3.3, Constitution 3.1, Intelligence 4.5, Perception 3.7, Charisma 3.6

- **Class Skills:**

- Summoning Ritual Level 1 (0/100), consumes 1 mana, 1 soul unit, and 1 corpse, 25% chance to summon an undead for battle (level 0, skeleton, unlimited growth, unlimited number)

- Lesser Corpse Explosion Level 1 (0/100), consumes 5 mana, uses 1 corpse for explosion, explosion power is 50% of corpse's life force

- Lesser Bone Shield Level 1 (0/100), consumes 5 mana, 1 soul unit, and 1 corpse, releases three bone shields for automatic defense, shield life force is 25% of corpse's life force

- **Active Skills:** Throwing Level 2 (18/200)

- **Passive Skills:** Undead Knowledge Level 3, Undead Contract Level 1, Magic Knowledge Level 4, Basic Science Level 3, Basic Reading Level 2, Basic Copying Level 2

**Name: Luna (Contracted Undead)**

- **Species:** Ghost

- **Level:** 1 (0/1000)

- **Talent:** Mirror Movement

- **Status:** Health (110/110), Mana (150/150)

- **Attributes:** Strength 1.2, Agility 1.3, Constitution 1.1, Intelligence 1.5, Perception 1.7, Charisma 1.6

- **Skills:** Icy Touch Level 1, Banshee's Wail Level 1, Vigilance Level 1

*[Player 629SHD2S0FXC30 has completed the job transition task. Do you want to exit the game now? If not, you can leave at any time from a safe zone!]*