After finishing the day’s practice, Edmond left the basement, grabbed a few pieces of white bread, and returned to his room.
Since his teacher had been away for the past few days, he had to handle his own meals.
He didn’t know how to cook, but fortunately, the white bread was ready-to-eat and didn’t require much preparation.
Compared to his previous food, white bread was already quite good.
In his room, Edmond ate the white bread while summarizing his failed experiences in a notebook.
After finishing the bread, he put down his quill and picked up a small mirror to look at himself.
The mirror reflected a boy’s thin face.
The boy had handsome features and a well-defined face, but his complexion showed an unhealthy paleness.
However, his eyes were exceptionally bright.
During these days, Edmond’s living conditions had improved significantly.
Besides soft white bread, his daily meals included various kinds of delicious roasted meat.
Pork, beef, chicken—it was always different.
He didn’t know where his teacher got them from.
In addition, there was plenty of fresh fruit.
Furthermore, he slept in a comfortable, warm bed every night and could take hot baths whenever he wanted.
Even the ill-fitting black robe was made of an extremely smooth fabric.
These were conditions he wouldn’t have even dared to dream of before.
Under such excellent conditions, Edmond’s originally frail body was quickly filling out.
Although he was still on the thin side, he no longer looked like he would blow away in a gust of wind as he did when he first arrived.
Although the surrounding Necrotic Magic was very dense, Edmond had only just started his cultivation and hadn’t yet absorbed it into his body.
Therefore, the magic’s influence on his body was currently minimal.
After examining himself in the mirror, Edmond put it down with satisfaction.
He placed great importance on his appearance and had made up his mind that his future undead would never look hideous.
Although the terrifying and gruesome appearance of his teacher’s zombies could indeed intimidate enemies, Edmond felt it was completely unnecessary.
It would be better for them to look normal.
Who would want to spend all day with ugly, disgusting undead, unless they were a complete psychopath?
Afterward, Edmond began his Meditation.
In addition to repeated practice, a stronger Mental Power could also accelerate the speed of learning Spells.
After all, the stronger the Mental Power, the more magic one could control, and the control would become more precise.
For instance, the Ghost Fireball that Edmond cast now was already significantly more powerful than when he first started.
The reason was that he could control more magic to construct the Ghost Fireball’s Spell Structure.
…
Just like that, Edmond lived alone in the small building for eight days.
Just as he felt he was about to master Skeleton Summoning, his teacher returned.
“Teacher, you’re back.”
At the entrance of the small building, Edmond spoke joyfully as he looked at Arnold, who was completely shrouded in a black robe.
Arnold nodded with a smile and then used his Mental Power to control the four zombies to walk inside.
The four zombies were draped with various parcels, and two of them were even dragging bulging large bags behind them.
The bags were covered in mud, leaving a faint trail on the floor.
Edmond guessed that the bags likely contained the corpses his teacher had found.
When the bags were opened, sure enough, there were three corpses inside, still covered in a lot of dirt.
The other bags contained purchased daily necessities.
Arnold also took a parcel from a nearby zombie and opened it, revealing clean clothes inside.
“These clothes I bought based on your size,” he said, his voice still raspy but carrying a hint of warmth.
“Try them on and see if they fit.”
For the past few days, because he didn’t have suitable clothes, Edmond had been wearing an ill-fitting robe.
Although the robe felt very comfortable, it was ultimately inconvenient.
Looking at the clothes being handed to him, Edmond was stunned for a moment, and then his heart warmed.
He quickly reached out with both hands to take them.
“Thank you, Teacher.”
Arnold smiled and said nothing.
But at that moment, his expression suddenly changed, and he began to cough violently.
“Cough, cough, cough—”
The black robe on his body slipped down slightly due to the violent coughing, revealing his skeletal frame.
Ashen skin clung tightly to his ribs, rising and falling with the rhythm of his coughing.
Seeing this, Edmond didn’t care about the new clothes in his hands and placed them directly on the ground.
He then reached out to support Arnold and asked with concern:
“Teacher, what’s wrong?”
Arnold covered his mouth with his hand and coughed for a long while before slowly stopping.
When he stood up straight, a patch of bright red blood was visible on his palm.
Seeing the blood, Edmond’s pupils constricted, and his tone became urgent.
“Teacher, what happened?
Are you injured?”
Arnold shook his head, indicating that nothing had happened.
But Edmond clearly didn’t believe him.
Although his teacher’s health was usually poor, it was never like this.
He was coughing up blood.
After a few failed attempts to brush it off, Arnold had no choice but to tell Edmond what had happened.
It turned out that while he was secretly searching for corpses for Edmond, he was unexpectedly discovered.
That person gathered a large group of people and blocked Arnold as he was about to leave.
Arnold wanted to explain, but he was caught red-handed; there was no way to lie his way out.
Out of options, he had to cast Spells to scare them away.
However, because he had to carry the corpses and the zombies weren’t exactly fast, he had to cast several Spells in succession before he could successfully escape.
At this point, Arnold’s tone became somewhat helpless.
Originally, it wouldn’t have been so difficult to escape; he could have just cast a Spell to kill someone, and the others would have surely retreated in fear.
But the key was that he wasn’t that kind of person, so he could only use Spells over and over again to intimidate them.
When those people saw that Arnold didn’t strike them directly, they were scared at first, but eventually, they closed in with pitchforks.
By the time he finally escaped, Arnold’s Mental Power was nearly exhausted.
In desperation, he could only absorb magic into his body through Meditation to quickly recover his Mental Power.
And it was precisely because the Necrotic Magic entered his body that his already strained frame finally reached its limit.
After hearing this, Edmond didn’t know what to say for a moment.
Should he say his teacher was too indecisive?
Or blame those people for being too aggressive?
It seemed no one was truly to blame.
Then, with Edmond’s support, Arnold went to the second-floor bedroom and reclined on the bed.
“Teacher, please rest here for a bit.
I’ll go organize the things you brought back.”
After saying this, Edmond turned to leave.
But Arnold suddenly reached out with his withered hand and grabbed him.
“Teacher, what is it?”
Arnold pointed to the bedside, signaling Edmond to sit down.
Once Edmond sat down, Arnold remained silent for a moment before slowly speaking.