Koyuki, the Necromancing Foxkin

“Meow.” Nyx agreed.

“You know, she helped too.” Helena said. “If Nyx hadn’t interrupted you, you would have gone for a skeleton.”

“Nyx is smart, but I doubt that she did it on purpose.” I argued.

“Well, you can’t see her smug face right now. Also, she is eying your ear. You might want to praise her a bit, so she does not start chewing.” Helena said.

I reached on top of my head and petted Nyx a bit.

“Anyway, we should inform Gronir about our new undead. I wonder what he can tell us.” I said.

Helena grinned. “No, first we need to show off! Skadi and Cassie are next door.”

“Oh, she is still making that potion to clean bones! We won’t even need it.” I said.

Helena shrugged. “You will need it in the future.”

My undead kept his ice armour. Since he did not have any clothes, magic had to suffice, for now. I had no idea if he would be running out of mana at some point. Was he pulling the mana from my core through our connection? I mean, that was how he stayed alive. But could he use the same mana for spells? Could he suffer magic fatigue? Another thing I had to ask Gronir.

Helena entered the lab first. “We have a surprise!” She announced.

Cassie was standing next to a cauldron. A liquid was bubbling inside. She had been talking with Skadi. Their conversation stopped when we entered.

“Surprise?” Cassie asked.

My newest undead was still outside. We stepped away from the door and he walked inside.

“What is that?” Skadi asked.

“We made it!” Helena said. “It can even do magic!”

“Both of you? Did you discover an affinity for death magic?” Cassie asked.

“Eh no, but Koyuki wanted to try something different. I circulated water through it, which she infused with death mana. Then she animated it after the body started changing.” Helena explained.

“I am not sure what he is. But he can summon ice armour!” I said.

“Is it an it, or a he?” Skadi asked.

“He is only a tier two. So it does not really matter what you call him.” I shrugged.

“Ah, so he is not really intelligent.” Skadi said.

“I have a question: Why did you circulate water through a dead body?” Cassie asked.

“I thought about how to get rid of the flesh. The normal spell can damage the bones, if not used correctly. My theory was, we could use death mana infused water. Helena did the circulating and I added the mana.” I explained.

“And I used our mana circulation as a blueprint.” Helena added.

“Does this mean that the necrotic water is his version of blood?” Skadi asked.

“I… I don’t really know what blood does…” I admitted.

“I think it feeds different parts of the body, like the flesh.” Cassie said.

“Oh. I have no idea if the necrotic water does that. But it seems that he can use ice magic.” I said.

We all looked at the undead, covered in ice armour.

“The ice magic is a bit obvious, yes.” Skadi said.

“Maybe he can manipulate the water inside him. Did he use that for his shield, or did he summon water?” Helena asked.

“I have no idea. He is not intelligent enough to answer that.” I replied. “But he is capable of talking! Well, I can tell him to say things.”

“Make him say something cool!” Cassie said.

Um. Hm. What should I make him say?

“Darkness shall consume you.”

“Acceptable. Nice deep voice, but a bit monotone.” Cassie said.

“Uhm, is this potion supposed to smoke like that?” Helena asked, while pointing at the cauldron.

“Wahhh.” Cassie screamed and began stirring. Then she threw some stuff into it. “I got this, I got this!”

Skadi was slowly stepping backwards.

The smoke stopped. The liquid bubbled gently.

“No worries.” Cassie assured us. “This is the cleaning solution, by the way. Not that you need it right now. But you can store it, it won’t go bad.”

“Are you giving your undead a name?” Skadi asked.

“I haven’t thought about it. I did not expect him to be something special.” I admitted.

“We should name him!” Helena said.

“Any suggestions?” I asked.

“Something intimidating. Maybe… Doombringer!” Helena suggested.

“Isn’t that a bit… silly?” I said. “Also, we don’t know how strong he is.”

“You could go for something normal. Make sure people underestimate him.” Cassie proposed.

“Give him a really long name and then shorten it.” Skadi said. “It could be something intimidating with a normal sounding acronym.”

“Maybe we should sleep on it…” I said.

“Yeah. Let’s take some time to find a suitable name.” Helena agreed.

“Different topic: You need clothes for him.” Skadi pointed out.

“I know. That is why he is using the ice armour. Do you think the academy can help? Or do we need to go to the city and find a tailor?” I asked.

“I am not sure if the academy has a tailor. But they have to get the uniforms from somewhere. At least they might be able to recommend someone. You need something durable.” Cassie said.

“It’s a shame that you don’t have a family crest. But you could at least pick colours you like.” Helena said.

“We could use your crest. You helped create him.” I suggested.

“If your undead wore her family's crest, it would suggest an official alliance.” Cassie said.

“I mean, we are friends. We are allies.” I pointed out.

“That is nice of you, but it would mean something more to nobles. They would likely think you are engaged to my family.” She explained.

I blushed. “Um…”

“There would be a lot of rumours. Especially since you share a room.” Skadi added.

“So, no crest. Normal clothes.” I said. “We should look for Gronir.” I tried to change the topic.

“We should also get food.” Helena said. “We skipped lunch. It’s already past 14:00!”

Cassie looked at the cauldron. “Sure, give me 15 minutes and I am ready. We can meet in the mess hall.”