1 - Chapter 1

The metal raven circled the tower and hovered outside the window of the top room. A short incantation came from the room, opening a corner of the invisible barrier in front of the window and the raven hurriedly got into the room and landed on the top of the bookshelf.

“Mentor, I have come to see you.” it said in a young woman’s voice. “I’m under the tower. I’ve brought you something.”

Necromancer Burris said ‘mhm’ and continued to bury his head in the sheepskin scroll. The metal raven flew out from its place, slowly descended, and landed on the forearm of a blonde lady. She made a gesture, and the bird turned into a silver ring, which was firmly put on her left hand. After all the black runes on the gate of the tower faded, the woman lifted her robe and climbed up the steps. A floating disc glowing with blue light was waiting for her in the tower.

On the top floor, the woman stepped down from the floating disc and knocked politely on the door in front of the study. The man in the room said: “Come in”, but the woman hesitated. She clenched her fist gently and prepared an attack spell in the palm of her hand.

“I said, come in. What are you waiting for? You see, I don’t need makeup.” The voice in the room urged.

The woman’s eyebrows twitched: “What? Are you…?”

“Think my voice is different?” The mentor seemed to see through her mind, “You will understand when you come in and take a look.”

The woman opened the door. The study was no different from what she remembered. It was still wide and slightly messy, and full of herbal scent. The only difference is the person sitting in the pile of books, her mentor, the owner of the tower –Necromancer Burris.

Burris was eighty-four years old this year, but the person at the desk… was a pale youth who looked less than twenty years old.

“Estel [1], do you need to be surprised for so long?” asked the suddenly younger mentor.

The woman quickly kept her dignified expression and carefully walked into the study. “Mentor, have you changed your body?”

“mhm, it’s changed. ” Burris got up and moved to the sofa. “It happened suddenly; I didn’t have time to tell you in advance.”

“Is there anything wrong with your body? ”

The mage sighed: “My joint disease has become more and more serious recently, and I also have chest discomfort. A few days ago, I had a sudden angina pectoris…. those old bones are probably dying, I am in danger of sudden death at any time. Time was running out, so I quickly found a corpse and moved my soul…”

Estel sat down opposite her mentor and looked him up and down: “Mentor, excuse me for asking…. Why did you choose this body? ”

Burris looked down at himself: “He was a kitchen worker who died of drinking too much alcohol. He was only nineteen years old. When he came to work, he signed an agreement and was willing to donate the body to me with compensation after his death, and his relatives in his hometown would receive payment.”

Perceiving his apprentice’s frown, Burris waved to her: “what else do you want to ask? Ask me. I am not your lifeless father, and I won’t blame you for offending.”

So, Estel said the truth: “This body is young enough, but haven’t you noticed… he doesn’t have ears?”

Burris sighed. “Of course I noticed it. Make do with it. Wearing a hood can barely hide it. Alas, this child was born with a disability.”

“Don’t you mind that he is missing a hand?”

Burris raised his broken wrist on the right: “He was young, but he put his hand into the meat grinder when he was drunk. It was a pity that this hand could only be cut off.”

“Don’t you mind… that he doesn’t even have… hair? ”

The mage put on his hood painfully: “Of course I knew that for a long time. It’s nothing. Anyway, I almost have no hair. Just like the problem with my ears, I can hide it with a hood. At least this child’s face is still relatively normal, isn’t it?”

The beautiful female apprentice’s eyes were filled with compassion, and it made Burris uncomfortable, so he took the initiative to explain: “This is just a temporary container for my soul. My own body is kept in an Arcane golden coffin. I will use it again. This current body is just a transition, not a long-term solution. After all, he is missing a hand, which is not convenient.”

“Even if it’s just a transition, at least you could find a healthier corpse…” Estel said.

The mage shook his head: “I have a lot of healthy corpses here, but I can’t use them for such trivial things. As for their function…you know, Estel.”

The apprentice’s eyes lit up: “You mean… that army of chimeric golems?”

“Yes.” Burris handed her a mirror, which revealed the scene under the tower at this time: space magic expanded the room into a training ground, where there are at least thousands of flesh and blood demons standing in the field. They have the characteristics of several different creatures: human, half-dragon, orcs, trolls, half- wolf beasts… And each of them was tall and strong, and equipped with sophisticated weapons.

Looking at this army, Estel covered her mouth subconsciously. Even as an apprentice of a necromancer, she never thought of seeing the army of chimeric golems with her own eyes.

She returned the mirror to her mentor and said with a tremor in her voice: “By the Three Good Gods, this is really…. amazing…”

Burris said dissatisfiedly: “My dear, you are a necromancer, please don’t call the Three Good Gods so freely, they are not our gods.”

“It’s just an expression, after all, I always have to talk like this…” Estel’s eyes became more excited. “Mentor, have you found the entrance to the Marsh of the Dead, so you have this army fully equipped?”

Burris’ eyes became serious: “Yes, I have found the entrance. Next, I will open a passage and summon the gate directly to the door of the mage tower.”

Estel excitedly replied, “As long as you successfully cross the Marsh of the Dead, you will see the Skeleton King!”

“Yes, I have been waiting for this day for a long time… ” The ‘young’ old mage frowned slightly and rubbed the cover of the magic book with his left hand, “When I was young, I had seen Skeleton King. He was cursed and could not leave the Marsh of the Dead. Every hundred years he would be free for seven days…. More than sixty years ago, I was fortunate enough to meet him in those seven days. I exchanged a contract with him. If I could find a way to liberate him completely in my lifetime and let him return to our world, he would become my ally and share his strength and knowledge with me.”

Estel was even more excited, this is simply a legendary event, probably the elders of the Arcane Association have never experienced it. “Mentor, when are you going to act?”

Burris smiled: “Today. I have formed an army to deal with the danger of crossing the Marsh of the Dead. Estel, I need you to join me. I have mastered the way to lift the curse of the Skeleton King. This method requires the assistance of others… and you are the best candidate for assistant.”

After speaking, Burris stretched out a hand to the apprentice, and Estel leaned forward and helped up her mentor who had no right hand, ears, or even hair. The two went to the door and stood on the floating disc, slowly descending to the bottom of the tower.

Burris first opened the gate of the mage tower and pointed his staff to the basement. The door of the basement then turned into a transparent gas, and the golem army marched through it. A few tall monsters with Troll features were in charge of leading the battle, followed by undead horses and cavalry, as well as a large number of archers and infantry.

The army filed out from the gate of the mage tower and stood by in the open space. The two mages boarded the chariot and were protected by the army in the middle position. On both sides, there were several golems especially responsible for close protection. Estel discovered that the chariot was carrying the Arcane Golden Coffin mentioned by her mentor. There was a crystal window on the top of the coffin, through which Burris’ original body could be seen.

“You…” Estel wanted to say in particular: You even put on make-up and the technique turned out to be quite good… Of course, she didn’t say that, but changed it to something more meaningful. She asked: “Mentor, do you intend to let the Skeleton King do something to your original body?”.

Burris said, “Yes. The power of the Skeleton King is superior to the necromantic magic. Maybe he can help me strengthen this old body…. I don’t want to give it up completely. After all, the matter of body and soul coherence is very important.

After speaking, Burris raised his arms and began to chant into the air. The incantation overflowed from his palm, forming a thin thread, and danced with his spells. With the slight movements of his fingertips, he manipulated the incantations, making them entangled and intertwined, and gradually formed a thin plane.

The more the plane weaves, it becomes thicker in volume, forming an arched gate standing on the open space. Burris put down his hand, stretched out his staff and made movement with it. With a squeak, the door opened.

On the other side of the door was the cinereous Marsh of the Dead. In that world, there is no difference between day and night. The setting sun and the night sky were separated from each other, and the ground was always covered with dust and no grass grows there.

At Burris’s command, the golem army began to cross the gate and march toward the other world. Estel was a little nervous, holding the arms of the chariot tightly in both hands. Burris kindly comforted her: “Don’t be afraid, it will go well.”

Estel bit her lip: “Mentor, I didn’t know in advance that this plan would be implemented today, so…the spells I prepared are not perfect.”

Burris laughed: “It’s okay, I don’t need you to prepare any spells. You are so honest; don’t think about it. If I plan to let the two of us fight desperately, then why should I spend so much time to create such an army?”

Estel frowned. “Isn’t it because we’re going to encounter enemies?”

“We will encounter enemies. We will encounter obstacles that are native to this plane. They are creatures formed by the energy of the undead. They have no mind at all and will kill outsiders. But this is a very small plane. There are not many native creatures. We have enough troops. ”

Just then, a cavalry troop appeared on the distant horizon. The horseman, dressed in withered bone armor, rode a dark horse like a shadow, dashed toward the golem army at full speed as soon as he appeared. After getting closer, the mages discovered that the weapons of these riders were actually on their bodies. During the charge, their right arms extended a few feet and sharp scythes grew on the top.

Burris set up a spherical barrier around the chariot. As for the battle, he intended to let the demonic army solve the problem by itself. His army has an absolute advantage in number. If it were a war between humans, maybe the number does not equal to victory, but the golems and the mindless dead are not the same: they are not afraid of death, do not know pain, will not surrender, and will not take care of any tricks and scams. Their mission is to kill the enemy, only carry out tasks, and will not be influenced by other things. So, in this case, if the abilities of individual creatures are similar, then the advantage in the number of groups is very important.

While the golems were fighting, the undead horse was still dragging the chariot forward. After a while, there was a complete silence outside the barrier. At least half of the demon troops were lost, and none of the scythe cavalry was left. With the protection of the barrier sphere, the mages were not affected by the battle, and even their robes were as clean as before. Estel knew that her mentor’s spell would last a long time. As long as he doesn’t take the initiative to dispel it, she estimates that the sphere would last forever.

“This can’t go on like this.” Estel looked around, “Mentor, did you bring a restoration scroll? Just the two of us can’t repair so many golems…”

“Why repair them?” Burris looked at her, “That’s how consumables are used.”

“But… we have lost too many golems! This wave of attacks has passed, but if there are a few more…”

Burris smiled and said: “Silly child, it’s okay. Didn’t I say this is a very small dimension, we have found the place we are looking for.”

He raised his staff and pointed it forward. The clouds and fog in the front were thicker, forming a cylindrical wall that completely obscured the line of sight, a bit like a slow-moving typhoon eye. Burris said that was the place where the Skeleton King resided. He lived in the black tower constructed by the fog of death and was both a master and a prisoner.

With the help of his apprentice, Burris stepped out of the chariot, lifted the coffin with magic, and let it slowly follow behind him. Standing under the tower made by the fog of death, he raised his head in awe: “From here on, we have to abandon the army and go in ourselves. By the way, Estel, how long have you been my apprentice?”

Estel thought for a while, “I was about thirteen when I first met you? Eleven years have passed. Why do you suddenly think of asking this?”

Burris said: “There is something…I have asked others, but I have never asked you. Now I’m going to ask – Your Highness Esteline Passia, how much are you willing to pay for magic? Facing the infinite unknown mystery, are you willing to offer everything before the god of the Arcane?

They had already reached the fog wall, and one more step was enough to get into the tower. Estel stopped and looked at her mentor in confusion. She didn’t understand why Burris suddenly mentioned these things, why he suddenly called her full name and honorific title.

Estel thought for a while and decided to tell the truth: “I don’t know, mentor. I’m still young and my vision is too narrow to answer this question hastily.”

Burris sighed and motioned for Estel to move on. As they stepped into the mist side by side, Estel glanced Burris’s profile with the lingering light. Her mentor had a calm smile, but she felt a shudder.

T/N:

[1] Her name in Chinese is written as 艾丝特 as a short form of 艾丝特琳. Actually, the first usually means Esther, a given name, but her full name should be something like Estherine/Esteline or any other variant. I am not sure on this, so I went with Estel and Esteline because I could not find anything about her full name on the web and I even asked my Chinese friend but he didn’t know, So if anyone knows please tell me.