Koyuki, the Necromancing Foxkin

The next day we were on our own in the sewers, all we got was a map showing us our patrol areas. While we did get lost once or twice, we managed in the end and finished only 15 minutes late. Brian didn't seem too surprised, as we met him for the debrief, and so we finished our third work-day without any real trouble.

In the afternoon I started working on my new undead. I was told not to create another tier three and wait till my current links settled, so I had to stick with some modified tier twos.

"What shall we do with the shaman corpses? We have like five, I think." I asked Rose, as we stood in the lab.

"We can use the fact that they were mages to enhance their inborn abilities, right? What if we create some sort of support undead?" She wondered.

"Oh, you think we could give them an ability that strengthens others? Or even heals them? Hm." I pondered that.

"Creating an undead with a specific inborn ability is quite tricky." Gronir said, while stroking his beard. He was here to supervise my necromancy. "If you simply wanted a necrotic bite, or more generic enhancements, it would be easy but creating a healing undead? We would have to find the right way to manipulate the raise dead spell."

"You have discovered that undead are just a spell attached to a body, right? So can't you just add some things to the spell?" Rose asked.

"Ah, by now you have certainly seen enough necromancy to understand that it's a bit more complex. The raise undead spell can be manipulated and enhanced with runes, and you can add more mana to certain sections of a corpse, but we lack the expertise to design the whole spell." Gronir replied.

"Affinity wise we only need the normal death affinity, so at least there is that." I mused. Enhancing or healing undead was purely a death mana thing, although you could enhance an undead with a water affinity with some ice shields potentially.

"What if we just focus on them being able to help with mana? A lot of the undead healing is just providing them with resources to restore their body, right?" Rose asked.

Gronir nodded. "Undead in general heal by themselves and can regrow flesh or bones with enough mana. The necrotic heal mostly boosts that effect, however it directs the mana where it's needed, so it's more effective than just providing an undead with mana."

"Shieldssss would also help." Kyan added, from within my sleeve.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from NovelPhoenix. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

"Ah, it's easy to forget that Kyan is here." Gronir said, after a moment of surprise. "But I get his point, if you want to support your undead, preventing damage is an option. A large scale shield to intercept incoming spells or arrows can be quite handy. However, a tier two designed for that purpose isn't easy. Generally undead tend to have powers that support them personally and not an army. Of course, necromancers have modelled their spells after natural undead and they are not working together, unless controlled by tier three."

"For shields we would want an additional affinity, there isn't a good way to defend with death magic." I said.

Gronir nodded. "Our specialisation is good at killing, not at staying alive."

"Um, I just had a different idea. What if we create linked tier twos?" I wondered.

"What do you mean?" Gronir asked.

"They are going to be tier twos so they can't do a normal joint casting, however Kaito can use the frostfire from Goro to empower him. So a tier two can empower a tier three with the right affinities and if they are linked, Kaito helped to create Goro. Could we design five linked tier twos, who can share their mana for more powerful abilities?" I wondered.

"That is a fascinating question but even if you did they wouldn't be able to cast true spells as tier twos. All you would do is enhance the inborn abilities they get." Gronir stated.

"With the right commands and some oversight they might work well though." I said.

"Oh, if we can get the to buff the army that could be very interesting! And then we have a line of Andy's for the ranged firepower and a line of spear goblins in front! Rose said.

I nodded. "We could use the bugs, if I get more corpses, for our ranged troops, have the shamans as support, regular goblins at the front and maybe we use the assassins for some special attacks? We would need a leader for an assassin squad…"

"The headmaster was quite clear that you aren't supposed to create another tier three right now." Gronir said.

"I am sure Koyuki will get more eventually." Rose countered.

"I would like to add that if you create a tier three it counts as Koyuki's tier three, so don't get any ideas." Gronir warned.

"I feel like Kaito could lead them, he would be great!" Rose suggested.

"He likes to be my butler." I replied.

"He can be that and lead some assassins! It's not like he will do any butlering during a battle and I think he would enjoy it. They could also serve as guards at events." Rose suggested.

"You wouldn't be the first to hide an assassin or a guard among the servants. However, you need to be careful that you don't send the wrong message when you bring them to meetings." Gronir said.

"I guess, at least Kaito stands out, so no one can accuse me of hiding him. Anyway, how do we enhance the assassins?" I wondered.

"I would suggest some enhancements to their agility, you want them to be fast. Otherwise they should be good if you arm them right. You can give them poisoned weapons, for example. You could even have your vampires and Kyan help with the poison. There is also Cassie, who might have an idea or two there. Sadly you would need a light affinity to give them proper invisibility but goblin assassins have an inborn ability that helps them, maybe you get lucky." Gronir suggested.

"Ok, so we mostly make the assassins quicker but we still have to find the right way to enhance the shamans." I said.

"What if we use this new drug? It's supposed to help people with their mana right?" Rose asked.

"You mean aside from potentially killing them, impairing their reasoning and harming their body?" Gronir added.

"None of that would matter to an undead and I mean we used it for Kyan in a modified form." Rose replied.

"Sssss."

"We can ask Cassie if she can use it for a normal necrotic enhancement potion or something, we aren't going for a vampiric undead or so this time." I said. "For now, let's start with some assassin corpses."