Reborn with a Necromancer System - Chapter 78

Chapter 78: Willam
Kai sat at his desk, quietly engrossed in a thick tome detailing the intricacies of sigilcraft.

Title: Engraving Sigils on Your Heart

Although the name was a little off-putting, the content was well-worth the few looks he got while reading it in the library before taking it to his roon.

It was the only book Kai could rent for the entire month. A problem with being in E-Class. The pages were dense with symbols and theory, yet he found the challenge of understanding them oddly soothing. Though that peace was short-lived.

With a sudden thump, the book snapped shut with Willam’s hand on the cover. Kai blinked, his mind still halfway in the text, before looking up to see his green-haired roommate staring at him with a rare intensity.

‘What the fuck? What’s he want?’

“Mirlin! Why are you in e-class?” Willam demanded, his voice sharper than usual. “I saw everything. You threw up several barriers, weakened Emille’s spell, took no damage, and even the dirt from the ground didn’t so much as scuff your uniform. You deserve to be in s-class more than that meathead Emille.”

Kai exhaled slowly, collecting his thoughts. “Of course you were watching. Well, I have my reasons,” he said bluntly. “If you don’t keep all of that to yourself, I’ll make sure you regret it, though.”

For a brief moment, he considered whether threatening his roommate was the wisest course of action. But something about Willam’s erratic nature told him it wouldn’t matter much.

Willam leaned forward, eyes gleaming with something between excitement and obsession. ” Regret it? Then I’m moving to e-class as well!”

Kai’s head tilted slightly in disbelief. “What?” He left his mouth wide open while looking blankly at Willam.

“I can’t get along with those pompous assholes anyway. I’m not nobility, and I didn’t have an amazing master or anything. I only got into this school thanks to my father’s connections. You must be the same, right? I mean, obviously, we’re both skilled, but… Anyway, I’ll go talk to the headmaster now!”

Before Kai could respond, Willam was already heading to the door, muttering to himself about loopholes and regulations as he disappeared down the hall.

Kai slumped back in his chair, rubbing his temples. ‘What, is this kid ADHD? Is that even a thing in this world? I was going to use him for his library access!’

Kai continued reading his book in silence and, after a while, placed a heavy barrier on his dorm room door.

“This should be a good time for testing.”

Kai reached into his Shadow Space and pulled out a handful of dead insects.

‘Mass Raise Dead!’

His mana flowed towards the insects and their bodies twitched together like corn kernels in a frying pan, but then they went still.

‘Do insects not have souls? Is that what is required to raise the dead? I’ll have to do some more testing with some bigger insects. I wonder if there are arcane creatures that are insects. Even some adventurers might not have the bravery to face a giant undead spider or centipede.’

Hours passed and Kai finished his book before Willam returned. He took notes to try some new sigils out sometime soon.

At the door, Willam grinned from ear to ear like a cat who’d just swallowed caught a mouse or bird and dropped it by your feet.

“I did it,” he announced smugly, flopping onto his bed. “Got moved into e-class. Simple, really. Made some arguments about how my learning style wasn’t suited for s-class’s loose structure and how I’d thrive better with less free time. Headmaster didn’t even argue.”

Kai folded his arms. “And the limited access to the library? Won’t that affect your whole ‘seek all knowledge’ thing?”

Willam snorted. “Not a problem. I developed a memorisation magic that lets me recall anything I read with perfect clarity. As long as I get my hands on a book once, I never need to see it again.”

Kai raised an eyebrow, genuinely impressed. “That’s useful. Can you teach it?”

Willam rolled his eyes. “Possibly. It’s more of a custom spell. My own creation. But what can you give in exchange?”

“I’m sure you’d like to learn my Shadow Space spell? You did seem particularly interested in it.”

“It’s a deal!”

Kai hesitated, then nodded. “Okay. Shadow Space functions like a separate storage dimension, but there are specific rules. It’s not infinite, and there are restrictions on living things-”

“I knew it!” Willam interjected, leaning forward eagerly. “You do have set limitations! No living creatures, right? Space restrictions? What else can you tell me about-”

“Hold on a second! You’re doing it again.” Kai cut him off with a sigh.

Willam smirked. “Sorry. Continue.”

Kai shot him a wary glance but proceeded. “Objects inside remain in stasis. No decay, no time flow. However, the space has a limit on how much it can hold based on my own mana reserves. The more I expand it, the more it drains me. After expanding it, though, it seems to stabilise and require no more mana to stay expanded. I can adjust how I pull things out by marking objects, but it takes practice. The most annoying thing is that when I try and store larger things, it takes a lot longer.”

Kai thought back to the Ogre and how Ognacious might have caught him taking the corpse with him.

Willam listened intently.

After several minutes Willam expanded the shadow beneath his feet and separated it from his body, expanding it to the width and height of the room.

‘How-‘

Willam gave a dismissive shrug. “Huh. Interesting enough, but I’m more interested in broader applications. I plan to master spatial magic for teleportation, combat, and other storage techniques.”

Kai narrowed his eyes. “So you learned Shadow Space just for the sake of it?”

“Of course.” Willam smirked again. “I want access to all knowledge, remember? I’ll collect everything I can, whether I use it or not is another matter entirely.”

Kai exhaled through his nose.

‘He can use it better than me, and he only just learned it. Once he matures, he’d make a fantastic ally, or maybe an even better lich…’

Willam was erratic, intense, and his motivations were a tangled mess of curiosity and self-interest. But despite all that, he was useful. And in a school filled with nobility who wanted him gone, Kai needed all the allies he could get, especially if they were strong.

Even if they were unpredictable and unusual ones.