Necromancy

**Necromancy** is the art of creating Undead. Undead have a **blood core** instead of a mana core (the purer red/less black, the stronger the undead). A **Necromancer's mark** or the **imprinting process** is necessary as a safety measure but also as a way to feed the Undead through the caster's mana.

Tier 1 to 3 spells are considered basic/lesser Necromancy. Tier 4 and 5 spells are either advanced/higher Necromancy, which requires joining the Griffon Kingdom Armed Forces or the Queen's Corps to be taught, or Forbidden Magic. As only the Crown is allowed to have an army, turning oneself or others into a Lich or vampire is considered Forbidden Magic and a capital offense.

Unlike true mages that mix light and darkness magic when they raise Undead, fake mages need a **mark** to control them. Lesser Undead created with human magic can bear more than one mark. That makes them unable to attack both the new and the old master. Since their nature is to blindly serve, the inner conflict kills them. Greater Undead can use its will to refuse the second mark, since they possess an ego.

## Lesser Necromancy

**Lesser Necromancy** creates temporary Lesser Undead using corpses. Lesser Undead are usually used as a guard, for manpower, or as scouts. It is very useful for rangers and mages who fly solo. Undead cannot be controlled with one's mind because they don't have one of their own. The caster has to sense and manipulate the mana residing in the carcass.

Lesser Necromancy can create Lesser Undead such as Skeletons, Skeleton Knights, Zombies, etc. Skeletons are simple and only require raw energy regardless of source, while other creatures can require living flesh or blood to sustain their existence if the necromancer's energy is unavailable.

### True Magic

The caster needs to create the **Necromancer's Mark**, a pseudo blood core made of darkness magic with a spark of light magic (even First Magic) at its center. It serves as an imprint to create a bond between the undead and its maker which ensures its loyalty. The better the necromancer, the less energy is required, but the effects are short lasting and will dissipate once they run out of mana. Lesser Undead created with human magic can bear more than one mark from multiple masters, and will still serve their master(s) after being de-summoned.

True magic Necromancy can allow the caster to envelop their creations in a layer of darkness magic, making them almost invisible.

### Fake Magic

The caster creates a dense fog of darkness energy that goes in and out of the corpse/skeleton until the fog is absorbed by the residual mana core. Since fake mages have no concept of a mana core, they rely on the lingering energies the mana core leaves which dissipates after about 5 days. Before the process is completed, a second light spell is required to mark the Undead, as well as a spark of life force to bind their essences. Lesser Undead created with fake magic can bear more than one mark, which makes them unable to attack both the new and old master, and due to their nature to blindly serve, the inner conflict kills them.

An undead without a mark is called an "aberration" and will go on a rampage, usually targeting the necromancer first. The bond allows necromancers to temporarily transfer their consciousness inside their creations, but it is not without risks - the necromancer's body is helpless for the entire duration, and the mage themselves lose all other senses in this form aside from sight and hearing. Additionally, they can't use magic and if something happens to the Undead before the mage returns to their own, the resulting shock can incapacitate them for hours.

The duration of Lesser Undead depends on the spell tier and the strength of the creature. If the body is too small, instead of getting infused by darkness magic it just gets destroyed. Fine tuning it requires too much mana, and even if one manages to succeed, the stored energy would only last a short while. For this reason, rodents are usually preferred over insects.

#### Possession

Necromancers can also possess their creations by transferring a sliver of their life force. Possession enables them to see, hear, and speak through their creation as if they are there. It doesn't consume mana, but the longer the technique is used and the further they are from their real body, the more focus is required. While possessing an undead, the necromancer cannot use magic and their own body is helpless. If the corpse is destroyed during possession, the mind can experience mild damage enough to cause unconsciousness for several minutes. Despite the mark forcing the creation into submission, the undead's hatred for the living will attempt to reject its creator's mind.

## Higher Necromancy

**Higher Necromancy** is used to create Greater Undead (e.g. Nyka) and requires a corpse (the fresher the better). A live subject can be used, the only difference being an enormous and useless amount of pain to the subject, and all bodily fluids being sucked into the blood core. Darkness magic is infused like with Lesser Undead, but as soon as the blood core starts to form, light magic needs to be injected until the balance between light and dark is reached. Only then can the blood core be grown using both elements at the same time until the undead comes to life. It's an incredibly delicate process, as a single mistake can lead to a crazy beast or destroy the corpse. Unlike naturally created undead, created Greater Undead have souls of their own and are new lifeforms completely unrelated to the corpse' previous existence.

Higher Necromancy is similar to Forgemastering - creating Greater Undead requires a lot of mana and each corpse can only be used once. Magic circles increase the odds of success by saturating the atmosphere with darkness energy, making it easier for it to condense into a stable blood core.

Higher Necromancy can also create Lesser Undead capable of lasting forever or even superior creatures capable of independent thought. The drawback to using higher Necromancy for lesser undead though is that the imbalance between dark and light magic animating their bodies is too severe and the dark energy will turn the undead into dust if the caster doesn't feed the creatures with the proper amount of light energy.

Greater Undead carry with themselves the deepest emotions linked to its death and will follow their primary instinct if not given a Necromancer's mark. Greater Undead possess an ego, and thus can use its will to refuse a second imprint, thus only serving one master.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Chapter 110: Necromancy Lesson (2)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Chapter 188: A Different Perspective
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Chapter 211: Tough Lessons
4. ↑ Chapter 210: Hidden Agenda (2)
5. ↑ Chapter 553: Troubling Dead (Part 1)
6. ↑ Chapter 391: Failsafe (Part 1)
7. ↑ Chapter 225: Body Swap
8. ↑ Chapter 106: Desperation (2)
9. ↑ Chapter 365: Idiocy (Part 1)