Necromancers are extremely terrifying when they aren’t insane!

Delighted by my handsomeness and new abilities, I left the room and went downstairs to the Inn's restaurant. (No need to mention my virginity, that will just make me sad.)

I sat on a table and stopped a passing waitress to ask for two portions of beef and a bottle of wine.

The waitress bowed and went towards the kitchen, the other people in the restaurant all looked at her with obscene expressions on their faces. Everyone on the inn was either a noble or a merchant with a lot of money, this world's upper class.

After a while, the waitress came back with my orders, and as she placed my food on the table, I noticed something when I looked at her bowing figure.

Surprisingly, It wasn't her big bosom that caught my attention, but a collar on her neck. It wasn't a magic collar like those of novels, but using a collar meant that a person is a slave.

Slavery wasn't banished here, nor would it be in the near future, as it is commonplace for a noble to have many slaves. They are used as a workforce for general tasks like growing crops or as soldiers. A war slave has no rights and can even be killed on a whim, but a slave that was native couldn't be abused or killed, unless they have been judged and stripped of their rights.

In this world the people didn't hold power, a hundred people can be easily killed by a knight, much less a noble. If a duke wants, he can just cast a spell and kill everyone in a big city without much effort. People were little more than convenient tools for the nobles, a way to not have to use mana for everything.

While commoners are unable to be as strong as a duke and even a large number of them can do little to one, if a hundred thousand people with good equipment charge, a hundred initiate Magus may be killed after having their mana depleted. Commoners made themselves useful in how easy it is to mass produce them. Some places with skilled magi even use spells to accelerate the birth of children.

After the waitress left the food on the table, she bowed again and went to another table to continue her job.

I ate for a couple of minutes before I saw Artmer entering the inn along with his entourage.

"Sir Artmer, come sit with me." I said, waving towards him.

When Artmer saw me, who looked like a handsome stranger, he still walked towards me with a polite smile on his face despite his confusion.

"Hello, sir. Please forgive me for my bad memory, but who might you be?" He asked after a short bow.

"Who am I?" I said, with my usual poker face. "We just met two days ago, how could you forget me?"

When Artmer heard that, he was shocked.

"Sir Vrygewig? Is that you?"

Seeing Artmer's shocked expression, I laughed in my mind.

"Yes. But there's no need to call me Sir Vrygewig. Just call me Vry, since it's shorter." I said, looking at him with my now red eyes.

Hearing that, he gave me a wry smile before sitting.

"Sir Vry… Vry, is it proper for you to come out without your mask?" He asked, not mentioning that I am a Dread Lord.

"It's okay. I advanced to Initiate Magus today after you gave me the Crystal Fiber Flower, I cast a Lesser Disguise spell on myself." I said, explaining the situation to him.

Artmer was startled by the sudden revelation.

"Vry… How old are you?" He asked with a slightly envious smile.

"I am twenty-one years old."

Hearing my nonchalant response, his envious smile became one of resignation.

"I thought you said you didn't have talent as a Magus…"

When he said that, I made two small gestures underneath the table, casting Lesser Create Telepathic Connection.

"I actually used to have only a Yellow Magus Soul…" I said in his head. "But I used a spell called Polar Death Cores to connect my Death core to my Magus Core, one of which can produce mana. My talent as a Magus will go as far as my talent as a Necromancer now." I explained.

"I do have a talent as a Magus, but it's really not worth mentioning." I said out loud with a humble tone.

The people around us heard my answer, and all became envious. An initiate magus at the age of twenty-one? That would require at least an Indigo Magus Soul! Someone that one day can become a count doesn't have a talent 'not worth mentioning'.

Artmer who heard both what I said out loud and my telepathic messages smiled wryly.

"I see. So you chose Illusion as one of your affinities?"

"Yes, It's my major affinity. Ice is my core affinity and enhancement is my minor affinity."

Artmer smiled and nodded, seemingly unaffected by that new piece of information, but his thoughts were flowing in a completely different direction, not at all calm.

Ice magic was known not for attack power, but for its detrimental abilities. While Illusion magic was known for a wide array of mysterious effects and Enhancement magic could turn even a commoner into a martial artist temporarily and grant them various boons such as resistance to elements and rock-hard skin.

It is hard to imagine who could fight an army of super undead while in a blizzard surrounded by illusions.

Usually, Death Lords are either insane people or insane monsters, their scheming was shallow and many would simply go on a rampage, diminishing the effect of their undead. Those were the most common Death Lords, and the easiest to deal with. They hardly ever advanced past the Knight level, or even live for more than a year or so.

However, there were also the Death Magi that also practiced traditional magic, which made them incredibly terrifying. Not only because of their magical abilities, but as well because they are able to infiltrate among the nobles and not be recognized as a necromancer. Aside from them, there were two other special existences among Dark Artists: The Doom Lords that practice both dark arts and the most terrifying Doom Magi that practice the dark arts and traditional magic.

In the western continent that is riddled with practitioners of the dark arts, aside from the Dread King, there are other two terrifying beings on the same level.

Demon King, that is also of the fourth level but practices Demonic Arts.

And the Doom King, that is a hundred times more vicious and cunning than the simple-minded Dread King and Demon King, even if he is only a third level Doom Magus.

The Demon King and the Dread King are powerful, but they are insane monsters that attack viciously with overbearing power, the Dread King has lost his dread trial to the fifth level, turning him into a undead with little to no sanity, while the Demon King isn't too intelligent either.

But both of them were much weaker than the Doom King.

He possessed a triple elemental Magus Soul, whose one of the attuned elements is ice, and has troops of many different kinds. Magi, Warlocks and even Daoists are his loyal subordinates, as well as his great Army of Undead.

The Doom King was the living proof that when someone has both, brains and brawl, they are much more terrifying than common muscle-men that are physically stronger. These were Artmer thoughts at that moment.

I had purposely told him so much so he would think like that, that way I could raise my own value in his mind.

...(Artmer's POV)

It had been two days since I met Vrygewig. He is a polite necromancer, and has a decent amount of cunning. At first, I thought he would be a simple bastard with a bit more prospects.

But in the end, he showed me he had further skills. The fact that he knew what to show and what to hide proved that. In a single day, he became a initiate magus as well.

I know about the Polar Death Cores spell, there were many necromancers that used that spell to increase their power. But that was usually the extent of it.

Even if they do know about traditional magic, and have magic circles themselves, as well as their ability to have innate knowledge of magic, knowing theory and being able to apply it are completely different concepts.

All Death Lords can cast necromancy spells and make Necromancy Magic Circles because it is imprinted on them on a instinctual level, but applying the raw knowledge of magic they have to being able to comprehend and activate magic circles? Many can do it, given enough time of course.

But Vrygewig is just twenty one, and it doesn't seem like he has been a necromancer for long, which means the time he has had that knowledge for isn't that long...

Yet he could already become an initiate magus and be able to cast spells?

That's the level of a genius, the kind that noble houses would nurture. And his growth will go as far as he can grow as a necromancer...

After analyzing all of this, I can only reach one conclusion.

This Vrygewig has the potential to become a frightening existence...

One which I will certainly rope in!