In the following weeks, Dezen was focused on making spells, that will allow him to modify his undead effortlessly. Surprisingly for him, he even started feeling pleasure from that process, what improved the quality of his work.
The firsts spells, that were automatically making the modifications for him, were quite simple - they were making their skin and bones harder, muscles stronger and so on. Then, he tried creating spells that will make his undead more agile and improve their senses. He also had a few ideas for things too advanced for him now, so he decided to keep them for the future.
Dezen was using these spells mostly on his undead bugs, since doing changes manually would be too tiring and time-consuming, in comparison to the results. It was also because the bird, fox and snake already underwent some modifications. Thus, they didn't have too much space to improve now.
This whole process took him a few weeks, during which he finally got the ability to cultivate. It was significant, because not only it let him grew in strength faster, but also let him realize something about necromancy.
***
Every day, after doing the modifications, Dezen was focusing on his soul. This was the way to check if the mage can cultivate - if no, nothing will happen, if yes, the mage (he/she needs to have his/her eyes closed) will see their soul, like it was in front of them.
Sitting on his bed, he smiled when this happened, and even opened his eyes, out of joy, but only for a moment. Quickly, Dezen once again focused on his soul.
It looked like a transparent, brown mass, with two glowing spots, one was light green, the second light blue. They were representing the magics Dezen has. The green one, was necromancy, while the blue one was primal magic, the magic that everyone gets, when they become a mage. It is used to create other magics, and its mana can be transformed into different kinds. The primal magic is also used to create useful spells, such as telekinesis, or matter creation.
Controlling his mana, he started merging it with the energy of the same magic. The first was necromancy. The energy representing it was miniscule, but in the process he could see it slightly growing. Satisfied, he started with the primal magic. At the end, Dezen noticed, that its growth was a little smaller than necromancy's. Not much, but visibly, even in this scale. He has never heard about magics, having different cultivation speeds, and he would definitely know about this. It is because he already informed the church he wants to join, about necromancy, and they sent him set of questions he has to fill. After he does it, they will check to see if it is really a new magic, or he is lying. Such a set would surely have question about cultivation speed, if it existed.
Nervous, he headed to the church in his village, where he will be able to ask about this.
After listening to him, the priest was puzzled and confused. However, he believed Dezen and contacted The Church of Alen, to which he belongs, and soon, mage was sent to investigate it.
After waiting a minute or two in the church building, a blue vertical crack in the space appeared, widened and a male with black hair came out of it. He looked at Dezen, and, after greeting, asked him over 10 questions, to check if he is not lying.
When he was sure, he used some spell on Dezen, thanks to which he got to know the measures used on the energy in soul, and how to count amount of mana. The spell also let him precisely do calculations and measurements. After Dezen did them, and shared the results, the mage looked at him a little worried and said.
- Your primal magic develops slower than it should. On the other hand, necromancy does it normally. I will take you to one of our facilities, where you will be closely inspected. - Not telling anything more, the man grabbed Dezen's arm, and teleported them. For Dezen it was sudden and inconvenient, but he realized it is something important, and so he didn't complain.
They both appeared in some luxury office, where a young woman was sitting, like she was waiting for them. The man informed her what he learnt, and then she asked Dezen to sit down.
Dezen obediently sat on a couch, and let the woman touch his head, what was begging of the examination. The woman seemed really focused, so he just stayed there without a word, but at some point, she asked him to try to help her. Thanks to it, Dezen wasn't bored and didn't felt awkward.
All that help was happening in his soul, so he wasn't aware of the surroundings, nor that more people came, until he felt them also trying to examine him, to find the reason of that flaw and possible solution. Unluckily, they all failed, after something between 4 and 5 hours.
When they ended, Dezen and the woman were left alone, both sitting on the other sides of her desk.
- Unluckily, we did not manage to find any solution for that problem. We are not even sure what is the cause, as there is no soul magic, that would let us really examine you. At least not yet. You probably do not know, but over the years, there were countless attempts to create it. Even now, we try, but by so far we have almost no results. Anyway, we believe that the necromancy itself is the reason, what would mean it is the only magic that normally can affect soul. Therefore, we would like to recruit you to our church, to see if in the future you will be able to develop necromancy to the point, where it could be treated as soul magic. You will be guaranteed everything you need to live and magic resources, to learn most of the known magics, along with the knowledge.
The woman stopped, letting Dezen think about this, before continuing.
- If you are afraid of your life, we will guarantee you safety. You can live in one of our fortresses, and you will be given enchanted items for protection. That means, you will not have to fear specialities of various magics, such as space magic and its ability to shatter space, ignoring physical and magical protection, other than space magic's.
Dezen thought for a moment before responding.
- I could try to develop primal magic the most, to change its mana to mana of different kinds. This way I will not have to care about development of other magics, but I will probably need magical resources for this. Many resources.
For the first from the begging of the conversation, the woman's expression changed, from friendly to thoughtful.
- You mean, the flaw gets worse?
- Yes. I am not a mage for a long time, but I think so. Before, I just ignored it, thinking it was some kind of... Hallucination? That I am wrong, something like that. But now I am sure. I- - He stooped, a little ashamed. - did not mention it earlier because I did not have a chance. I hope it is not a problem
- I see... - Changing her expression to friendly once more, she said. - That will not be a problem, do not worry. As long as you work for us, we will guarantee the needed resources, though in the distant future it could change a little. Maybe 50, or 60 years. Anyway, even if necromancy doesn't turn out to be a soul magic, you will still remain one of us, with the similar conditions. However, if you do not want to join the Church of Alen, for any reason of yours, you can still work closely with us. The choice is yours.
Dezen lowered his head, looking at his hands that were laying on his legs, thinking. Joining the Church of Alen was really tempting, but he didn't believe they will let him get his revenge. However, it was the only organization he really wanted to join. The only one that really cares about normal people, and could be called "forces of good", and Dezen really wanted to be one of them, but not until he avenges his father, and all the other people that have to suffer because of the nobility.
Slowly and gloomy, he responded.
- I will choose to work closely with you. Perhaps I will join the church in the future, I am not sure.
The woman smiled and stood up.
- Let it be. Before I send you home - Saying this, he walked towards a closet and took out the contract. - we have to sign this contract. Of course, you can back off whenever you want. You will soon get the first batch of the resources. When you develop more, you can contact us via church in your village, or any of our facilities. If you chose the latter, you will need this. - She handed him a token emitting yellow light. - It is a sign you are our ally. It will also allow you to easily meet me.
- Since we are going to meet again, could I know your name?
- Viola. I am bishop. You can call as you want. And what is yours?
- Dezen. - He bowed a little. - It was a pleasure to meet you.
Dezen got teleported back to his home village, where he told his local priest what happened, before going back to his home, thinking about his future.
There were surely countless criminals who wanted to kill nobles of his country, but only with well known magics, they couldn't do this. Although, not everyone was as determined to do this as he, and some of them, who want to kill nobles, have to have lesser known magics, maybe even such that only they know, they still couldn't do this. However, Dezen believed he had a bigger chance to succeed with necromancy, wanting to partly rely on its speciality, than if he abandoned it. Not entirely, because he is aware that nobles surely have magics that are special, only for them. He will have to find out what are they, and master them, to the point where their specialities won't be a threat to his life.