Reborn with a Necromancer System - Chapter 107

Chapter 107: On the Road
Kai and Kleo kept their heads down as they moved through the busy streets of the Citadel. Kai’s illusion held steady with his black hair, brown eyes, and square jaw that made him look older and rougher than his true age.

Still, every time they passed a patrol of city guards in gleaming bronze and navy blue, Kai felt a prickle of tension beneath his skin.

“Don’t look at them,” he murmured under his breath as they passed a pair of guards chatting near a weaponsmith. “Just walk.”

Kleo adjusted the hood of her cloak and nodded silently. Her eyes flicked toward the guards, then away just as quickly.

They kept walking.

They stopped first at a tucked-away store near the edge of the market district. The wooden sign read Tavric’s Tackle & Trek in peeling paint, and inside they found an aging man with clouded eyes who gave them little trouble and asked fewer questions.

Piton spikes. Rope. Flint. Metal attachments for boots. A small collapsible shovel.

All basic hiking and climbing gear, cheap and functional.

Then, at two separate stalls along the food market, they bought enough jerky, salted fish, dried fruit, and nuts to last them over a week. The vendors were friendly enough, but Kai noted one stall owner glance between Kleo and him with a smirk that lingered a second too long.

He ignored it, but filed the face away in his memory. Just in case.

If Kai saw him again, nobody ever would.

By the time they exited the outer gates of the Citadel, the city walls cast long shadows behind them. Kai let out a breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding.

“That was… tense,” Kleo said.

“It was, and probably will be for a while,” Kai replied. “Until the world forgets our faces or we change them completely, this is how it has to be. No sudden movements, no unnecessary questions. Don’t show magic unless you have to. That goes especially for my necromancy.”

Kleo glanced at him. “I wasn’t the one accruing undead rats last week for some sort of information network.”

He cracked a faint smile. “I was discreet.”

“Not really. You reanimated one near a café.”

“It was small. It was dead. And that small amount of necromancy wouldn’t be noticed by anyone. Even when we’re out of the citadel, I have rats everywhere with shared senses sigils to keep an eye on things. They keep getting pretty close to seeing Firra as well.”

‘It drained my resources. My bone chalk and my life essence are wearing thin, but it was worth it.’

She nodded and elbowed him lightly, but the worry in her eyes never fully faded.

—

They set off north toward Hollowcrag Ravine, the quest scroll tucked into Kai’s bag. He had read it twice already, and still felt unsure about how much of the League’s expectations he planned to follow.

The quest was technically meant for a group of Silver-sigil adventurers, which neither he nor Kleo were. But if they succeeded, if they cleared it cleanly and returned with proof, the League wouldn’t care. Probably.

“Probably,” Kai muttered to himself as they walked.

Kleo looked at him, but left her curiosity to herself.

The open road was a relief.

Nobody to hide from. No studies, training, stress. Just the dirt and gravel beneath their feet, rolling green hills around them, and the occasional copse of trees offering shade. The Citadel was a grey smear on the horizon by the second day.

—

On the third night, a pack of wild dogs came snarling out from the brush while they rested. They had likely caught the scent of jerky and fish from Kleo’s bag.

Kai examined them. Their ribs showed, and most of the fur on them was patchy and wiry.

‘Thirteen dogs. I’ll have a snack on the road.’

Kleo reacted first, drawing her small blade, but Kai stepped in before she could strike.

‘Please…. Work. Shade!’

A miserable dark figure rose from Kai’s shadow. A mere fraction of the power it once had, but it still felt like Shade.

Shade looked demonic against the light of the campfire.

It stumbled forward, confusing the dogs. One retreated towards Kleo and she cut it down with her daggers effortlessly.

While the dogs nipped at Shade, Kai raised a hand. A new spell he’d been practising in secret and usually of a smaller scale.

‘Bone Lance.’

Spikes of bone shot out of the ground around the dogs.

The fight was over in less than a minute. One dog pierced through the skull, two more skewered by several bones. Kleo dealt fatal blows to two more. With strengthening magic, Kai quickly crushed the skulls of three more dogs before the rest fled into the bushes they came from.

Kai bent over the corpses. He deconstructed all of them but four for more life essence, and turned the others.

‘Mass Raise Undead.’

Veins of unnatural blue lit beneath their fur, and moments later, they stood, stiff and silent, awaiting command.

Kleo made a face. “Do you have to? Didn’t you say not to use the magic?”

“I can’t help it. Every soldier might make a difference, and they’ll make good scouts,” Kai replied. “We’re not alone out here. I’d rather they take an arrow than we do.”

They marched silently the next day, undead dogs trotting ahead like grim little sentries.

—

By the fourth evening, they reached a roadside hamlet. Four buildings and a sloped, creaky inn that looked like it hadn’t been renovated since it was first built who knows how many years before.

They entered the inn cautiously.

The innkeeper, a squat woman with silver braids, took their coin without much comment. Five copper pieces for a shared room with a window, a straw mattress, and a pitcher of water that tasted like it had sat in the sun too long.

Kleo took the bed and curled up almost immediately, sighing into the rough pillow.

Kai sat on the floor with his back against the wall, staring out the window into the dark fields.

She stirred. “Aren’t you going to sleep?”

“I don’t need much. Necromancer thing.”

“Right…” she yawned, pulling the blanket up. “You sure you’re okay on the floor?”

“I’ve slept in worse places. Ruins. Cages.”

“You know I understand. It’s really okay if you join me here.”

He sat in silence for a moment while she looked at him from the mattress, then Kleo spoke again. “Thanks. For earlier. In the city.”

Kai glanced over. “You held it together. That’s what matters. Next time, though, beat them to a bloody pulp.”

“I still hate pretending.” Her voice was muffled by the blanket. “Hiding. Lying.”

“So do I,” he said quietly. “But it’s better than being dead.”

A moment passed between them.

“Or worse.”

Kleo didn’t ask what he meant. And Kai didn’t elaborate. They both knew there were worse things.

He spent the next hour in thought, listening to her breath while she slept, reviewing spells in his mind, considering their route, the ravine, and the way Tiff’s eyes had narrowed ever so slightly when he and Kleo had grabbed that quest off the board.

Kai knew she noticed. He didn’t care.

They would have to be sharper now. Smarter.

News of the princess’ death could travel quite far.

If they made even one mistake, this quiet night in a nameless inn might be their last.

[Name: Kai Tensen |

Age: 15 Years |

Specialisation: Necromancer |

Rank: 7 |

Awakening Requirements: Sacrifice 100,000 Life Essence (57,141/100,000). Consume a soul of Sovereign rank or higher |

Life Essence Stored: 5,013/27,500 (2,750/2,750 – Phylactery Reserves) |

Mortality Deviance: 5/10 |

Artifacts: Abyssal Band |

Souls Absorbed: Winfried Drummond (Greater), Angelica Trunsdale (Greater), Nameless Guards (2, Petty), Nameless Inquisitors (3, Lesser), Arcane Wolf (51, Lesser), Iron Bear (13, Greater) Deer (101, petty) |

Undead Army: 540 (Joran (Brawler), Rhea (Commander), Finn (Flight Unit), Merri (Shadowsworn), Voltis, Zephyr, Kael (Splitspeed Rogue), Ralts (Chaos Lich), Joe (Death Knight), Princess Aliza of Forne, Arcane Wolf (2), Skeleton Novice Fire Mage (12), Skeleton Novice Shadow Mage (10), Skeleton Novice Elementalist (3), Skeleton Warrior (38), Skeleton (186), Skeleton Child (109), Zombie Warrior (41), Zombie Sprinter (9), Zombie Shambler (52), Ghast (13), Shadow Death Knight, Lesser Lich (2), Grave Maw, Grond, Undead Rat (81), Undead Pup (4) |

Tethered Souls: 1 – Kleo Carmine |

Languages Translated: Imerian, Salan, Forebearers (46%) |

Skills: Mana Manipulation, Mana Tempering, Mana Sense, Shadow Manipulation (Advanced), Strengthening Magic (Moderate), Elemental Magic (Minor), Combat Arts (Intermediate), Shadowmeld, Precision Targeting (Magic), Death Sense, Murmurs of the Departed, Shadow Decoy, Sigilcraft (Fortification, Elemental), Aura of Undead |

Spellcasting: Intermediate |

Spells: Raise Undead (Moderate), Thrall Control, Shadow Conjuring, Bull’s Strength, Frozen Touch (Contact), Frozen Zone (Area), Icicle Javelins (Ranged), Searing Touch (Contact), Wall of Flame (Moderate), Wither, Gravebound, Wall of Ice (Moderate), Mass Raise Undead (Lesser), Tether the Fallen, Ice Prison (Minor), Shadow Weapons, Flamethrower, Tempered Shadows, Shadow Space, Speed Sigil (Lightning), Power Sigil (Fire), Aura Sigil (Ice), Undead Enslavement, Chaos Sigil, Darkness Sigil (Shadow), Chaos Shadow Barrier, Control Sigil (Anti-Chaos), Flight Sigil, Shared Senses Sigil, Bone Lance]

“I missed my birthday? I guess it passed while we were in cages.” He breathed a little deeper and looked over his information. “With the amount of undead I have. Could I take on the church?” Kai mused to himself.

Kai squashed the idea. One young girl decimated his undead with the swing of a sceptre imbued with divine magic.

If he faced dozens of even hundreds of divine magic users, he’d be joining Orlin in the world beyond.

‘I need to be cautious. This could be my last life.’

Kleo wriggled to get comfy and moaned unintelligible things in her sleep.

Kai sighed and rested his eyes.