Chickens, chickens freaking everywhere, a world of chickens!
Jack sat in the dark as he trained, the feathery creatures circling around him and clucking like there'd be no tomorrow.
They stared at his hands as he generated and manipulated the bones. This was a small trick he had been doing whenever he had some time off.
Every day he had been improving, and now he had finally reached a new level. He suddenly felt himself breakthrough!
[Acquired: Bone Manipulation F!]
"There we go. About freaking time!" He grinned, mentally reviewing the next steps.
There were two main methods of raising the undead.
1. Raising an existing body
2. Creating one from scratch
As for which one was stronger…it was impossible to say.
It really depended on the state of the body (option 1) and if any extra magical catalysts were used (option 2). It was also possible to mix them both for maximum effect.
Still, the rarer/stronger the base body/ingredients were, the better the undead created. Of course, power followed skill. Only a powerful necromancer could raise powerful undead.
The main difference was:
Raising —> Cost less mana (Perfect for an army)
Creating —> More versatile (No need for corpses)
That said, the whole thing was fucking hard to learn. Humans just weren't made to control bones, not at all!
Even for Jack who had a shitload of experience, it had been highly troublesome. As he finally created his first chicken skeleton, he felt so damn proud!
The thing was crooked, falling in pieces and gross looking, but who fucking cared! He had made it and alone to boot!
"Woo!" (Wow!)
Moon Moon gave an encouraging glance. Its master was able to summon bones?! How awesome! Wouldn't he be able to summon meat soon?! Oh, this would be glorious!
Hell, even the chickens clucked in appreciation as they circled the thing with interest. Whether they understood that it was supposed to be a chicken was unknown.
But Jack wasn't done just yet. Now that he had a basic skeleton, the next step was to imbue it with a spirit. He would have to use demonic energy for this.
Luckily his demonic affinity was through the roof (at least for his level).
Demonic affinity + Past life experience = Turning the supposedly hardest step into a complete joke! GG EZ!
Jack addressed his chicken/wolf audience.
"Are you guys ready to witness a miracle? I will henceforth create life!" He then went full chuuni mode on the poor skeleton!
"From the darkest pits of Hell, I summon thee, Mighty World-Devouring Chicken spirit! Obey my command and manifest thyself in all your unholy glory! May you rain terror upon this world and all its inhabitants!"
As he theatrically chanted, he drove 25 mana worth of demonic energy toward the skeleton.
"Woo!" (Impressed!)
The bones shook, once, twice, thrice. Jack inwardly encouraged his creation. Keep shaking! C'mon, vibrate some more for me! You can do it!
But then it suddenly went deathly still. There went his first attempt. Perhaps he had underestimated the difficulty of—
— Shake! —
Suddenly, the creature rose!
It was wobbly, had trouble walking, but it was standing! Was this how parents felt the first time their kid walked?!
The creature's eyes glowed a beautiful purple as it gazed at its creator. Jack could feel that it was awaiting his orders. He slowly approached it but froze when he saw its name.
<Mighty World-Devouring Undead Chicken lv 2! ???>
Wait, what?! World-Devouring?! What kind of insanely OP name was that?!
The answer was….well, it was just a name. It seemed like the ritual he had done earlier had incorporated the naming portion.
Was this a new friend? Moon Moon lightly tapped it with its paw, its eyes full of curiosity and playfulness.
But what happened next caused it to jump back in fright. This slight tapping had been enough to make the skeleton crumble entirely!
— Shatter! —
"Woo?!" (Shocked and worried!)
What had it just done?! Master had painstakingly raised this new friend, and it had just destroyed it! Its tail went down in shame and regret. But then it felt its master warm hand on its head.
"Don't worry about it. That's what's great about skeletons; they can be remade over and over."
Human and wolf worked extremely hard.
1. Regenerate mana
2. Create undead chicken
3. Durability test with Moon Moon
4. Analyze what went wrong with every shatter and improve.
5. Repeat steps one to four with the relentlessness of an IRS agent!
At one point, the chickens suddenly learned to copy the wolf. This was expected. They weren't dumb chickens but mighty Chicken Gladiators!— or would be anyway.
Then all their efforts finally paid off!
[Congratulations!]
[Acquired: Necrocluckmancy F!]
"Fucking finally!" Jack exclaimed, ecstatic. It may have taken him the whole fucking day, but he had finally unlocked his first necromancy skill! (Kinda)
He couldn't help but gaze at the creature in front of him with pride: