After taking the bundles off the skeletons, Edmond found a clean spot deep in the cave and spread out a soft blanket.
While he was organizing the things he had brought, he also gave an order to the skeletons to go collect some firewood.
However, Edmond had clearly overestimated their intelligence; they did not understand this task at all.
They could only stand there in a daze.
Seeing this, Edmond patted his head helplessly.
Undead created from corpses that had been stored for who knows how long were indeed not very capable.
There are differences in the strength of Undead; the more Necrotic Magic and soul used during creation, the stronger their final strength will be, and the more complex instructions they will be able to receive.
It is quite simple for Undead to improve their strength: one way is to absorb the Soul Fire of other Undead, and the other is to slowly improve while immersed in Necrotic Magic.
As for those stories where Undead improve their strength by devouring human souls, Edmond could only say:
“Low-level Undead like skeletons simply do not have this ability.”
The Soul Fire of Undead is indeed converted from souls, but to absorb it, the soul must be transformed first.
Either a Necromancer helps, or the Undead itself possesses the ability to transform it.
As for Edmond’s skeletons, let alone devouring souls, they could not even perform a simple task like gathering firewood.
Helplessly, Edmond had to multitask, personally controlling the four skeletons to collect firewood while organizing the supplies he had brought.
Thanks to the improvement in his Mental Power, this was not difficult for him.
Before long, all the supplies were fully organized by Edmond.
A simple bedroll had been set up in the deepest part of the cave, and Edmond planned to sleep there.
Clothes, books, and other items were all placed next to the bedroll.
The four skeletons had also collected enough firewood, which was piled up in the open space in the middle of the cave.
Edmond walked over to the woodpile and began to use his Mental Power to circulate the fire-attribute magic in the air.
Although his affinity for other magic attributes was very low, as long as his Mental Power was strong enough, he could forcibly use magic of other attributes.
Besides, it was just to start a fire, which did not require any Spell structure; he just needed to blend the fire elemental magic together.
“Whoosh~”
Soon, a ball of flame manifested out of thin air and landed on the firewood.
Looking at the bonfire that was gradually burning in front of him, Edmond could not help but sigh,
“I never expected that just yesterday I was sleeping in a warm and comfortable room, but today I can only sleep in a cold cave.”
He sighed and shook his head, but soon, he thought of his teacher—Arnold—again.
The fact that his teacher had driven him away today clearly indicated that the erosion of his spirit by Necrotic Magic had become very severe.
This meant that his teacher did not have many days left to live.
This was the reason why Edmond had chosen to live in this cave; after all, he would definitely have to collect his teacher’s remains later.
“Forget it, no use thinking about it.”
Edmond shook his head and stopped thinking about these things.
Then, he took a piece of white bread out of his bag and sat by the fire to eat.
Since bread was easier to store and carry, all the food he had brought was white bread.
In any case, the taste of white bread was actually quite decent, and it was very filling.
After dinner, Edmond sat on his bedroll and began to write down the contents of those few Spells by the light of the fire.
After a while, the sky outside turned completely dark, and a faint firelight shone from inside the cave.
The four skeletons stood guard at the cave entrance, while Edmond concentrated on writing in a blank book.
The content for the four Spells was not extensive, but the book “Introduction to Mages and Magic” contained a massive amount of information; Edmond would not be able to finish writing it anytime soon.
Therefore, after recording those four Spells, Edmond put down the book and pen and began his Meditation.
…
The next day, Edmond spent the entire day finally copying down the contents of “Introduction to Mages and Magic”.
Afterward, Edmond began to think about what he should do next.
If a mage wants to improve their strength, besides Meditation, they must constantly conduct research.
A Necromancer has an additional method: reviving Undead, because for every additional Undead revived, there are more contracts connected to their spirit.
As long as these contracts exist, it is equivalent to their spirit being trained every single moment.
However, Edmond currently had no other Spells to learn and no corpses available to revive Undead, so he prepared to continue studying the few Spells he had already mastered.
After all, Spells are simply the use of Spell structures to manipulate magic, and deconstructing these structures can help a mage understand the characteristics of magic more quickly.
It could even lead to the creation of new Spells.
After some consideration, Edmond finally selected Bone Spear to study.
Over the next few days, Edmond studied Bone Spear while practicing Meditation to improve his Mental Power.
At the same time, he also channeled Necrotic Magic into the four skeletons to improve their strength.
However, due to the surrounding environment, the concentration of Necrotic Magic was very low, so Edmond had to convert other attributes of magic instead.
And so, time slowly passed.
…
In the woods, sunlight filtered through the layers of leaves, casting mottled light and shadows on the ground.
A snow-white rabbit hopped out from behind a large tree.
It perked up its long ears and listened vigilantly to the surroundings; after confirming there was no danger, it lowered its head.
“Crunch~”
Using its incisors, it tore off a clump of tender grass from the ground and began to chew it in small bites.
While chewing, it glanced toward the cave not far away.
Over the past few days, a strange creature had frequently emerged from the cave.
Just as it was contemplating this with its small brain, a bone-white skeleton carrying a wooden bucket walked out of the cave.
The moment it saw the skeleton, the rabbit instantly fled into the distance.
Due to the presence of Soul Fire, the skeleton radiated an aura that the rabbit found repulsive.
The skeleton ignored the fleeing rabbit and instead slowly walked to the pool on the left side of the cave, drawing a full bucket of water.
Then, accompanied by the “clack” of bones colliding, the skeleton returned to the cave carrying the bucket full of water.
Inside the cave, Edmond was looking at his left hand with an excited expression.
A bone fragment was manifesting out of thin air on the palm of his left hand, and it was growing rapidly.