While the villagers and Aleric's zombies were sweating as they dug up old graves, Aleric sat in a corner and watched it happen.
"Master, as I promised, I will teach you a better spell than Lesser Raise Dead—Undead Slaves. It's a more advanced first rank spell, but I believe that you will be able to cast it. Then, you will be able to create an undead that can act without your direct control," the Spine Staff said.
"What's the large difference between spell ranks?"
"The higher the rank, the more powerful the spell is. There are seven ranks in total. In the Dark Spires, you'd be given the rank of an Apprentice since you can cast 1st rank spells, master. The great Xarvain is the Archmage able to cast spells of the seventh rank, but he likes to call himself Arch-Necromancer, because it is his most beloved school of Dark magic."
"How long did it take for him to get there?"
"A hundred and thirteen years. He is incredibly talented. But so are you, master!"
"A hundred and thirteen years? Was he an elf?"
"No, but his magic prolongs his life. This is another thing you can learn, master."
"Incredible… I never heard about other magic being able to prolong life. Well, we have at least a few hours to spend, Staff. Teach me the Undead Slave spell!"
The magical incantation recited by the staff was much longer than for the Raise Dead spell. Aleric spent almost an hour just remembering it and learning how to pronounce it correctly.
By then, the first corpse was dug out. It was one of the relatively fresh ones—someone's father—and there was still a lot of flesh left on the skeleton's bones.
The smell made the villagers gag and pray to the Light to save them from the blasphemy that was about to happen.
Aleric approached the corpse lying on the ground and touched it with the butt of the Spine Staff. The time made the body unrecognizable—just a pile of rotten meat and bones.
"Nouse jallen kulkemaan maklan palle ja tule palvjakseni ikuielisesti. Ole katteni jatke, nielevain tottinen olet. Sielusi on minun ottstaeeni ja haluini tulee sinun."
Not only was the incantation twisting Aleric's tongue, but the magic involved was also much more complicated in practice.
To give the undead slave an ability to act on its own, Aleric's Dark energy had to find the remains of its mind and soul lingering in the body. And although controlling his Dark energy felt as natural as breathing for Aleric, searching for this piece of soul still felt like trying to fill a sieve with water.
But he found it! A tiny piece of energy that Aleric's Dark energy grabbed and permeated. Then it spread to the rest of the body, filling it with power.
Aleric let out a breath and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. He felt breathless, and his mana reserve was half-empty after just one spell. All around, the villagers stopped working and paused to look at the scene with bated breath.
"Rise, slave," Aleric commanded.
With slow and clumsy movements, the zombie stood up. In the distance, gasps of fear were heard.
"Are you done gawking? Keep digging!" Aleric shouted at them.
Then he turned to his undead slave again. Although previously he had given it an order aloud, Aleric knew he could give them through his Dark energy. He could even directly control this zombie like his undead puppets.
But now, Aleric gave it a mental order and curiously watched the results.
Obeying, the zombie marched to a couple of Aleric's puppets that were unearthing a grave and began to dig with its bare hands. Its movements were slow, but still more assured than those of the puppets when Aleric was distracted.
Aleric was incredibly pleased.
He spent the rest of the day reanimating old bodies. It was exhausting, but the graveyard was a good place to recover mana, and all the exercise dramatically increased Aleric's mana reserve.
By sunset, his mana reserve was twice as large as when he started, and dozens of undead slaves stood in front of Aleric.
Now he had 20 undead slave zombies, counting the templar ones that he upgraded.
The templar undead slaves, as Aleric noticed, moved better than those made from old peasant bodies.
"The remnants of their souls remember some things from life, and these people were warriors. Their bodies are also better-preserved—it helps a lot," the Spine Staff explained when Aleric asked.
Besides the zombies, Aleric also had dozens of skeletons. Too many for him to count himself, because nobody has taught him how to count past 20.
Nobody, until the Spine Staff…
"There are 35 skeletons that were whole enough to raise as undead, master. Although these undead slaves will fall apart from a blow or two, they can at least distract an enemy. Also, don't worry, master. I know how to read, write, and count. I can teach you these things, too!"
Aleric scowled.
"On my street, only the accountant's sons were taught how to read… There's nothing strange about me not knowing it…"
"Of course, master. You are still infinitely more talented than any of the peasants in this country!"
Aleric smiled.
"This amount of undead should be enough to easily deal with any templar patrols that might attack me. But I can't stop at this. I have to keep raising undead, improve my mana reserve, and learn new spells if I want to stand against this kingdom. In the morning, I will leave this village."
Until then, Aleric spent another night in a soft bed, being fed delicious food by terrified villagers.
And in the morning, Aleric told them all to gather in the Broomwood's main square. He had one unfinished business with these people.
"People of Broomwood, I have to leave this place. But before I go, I have something to tell you…"