She Professed Herself The Pupil Of The Wiseman (LN) - Volume 11 - Chapter 7

Chapter 7

AFTER COPYING Soul Howl’s research, cutting up the sheet, and binding it into a notebook, Mira received a well-timed report from the Spirit King.

“Miss Mira, the vessel is complete.”

“Ooh. Understood!” she replied, then called to Soul Howl, “I’m told they’re done.”

“Got it.” He stopped cutting his own paper, gathered the pieces haphazardly, and approached Mira. When the summoner held out her hand, he silently took it.

Through their link, Mira and Soul Howl heard the Spirit King and Martel.

“Apologies for the wait,” the Spirit King said. “If it’s any consolation, you’ll be excited to learn this turned out even better than I expected.”

“We put all of our love into it!”

“I think it’ll be great,” Soul Howl replied. “What do I have to do?”

“Well, I will now synchronize the vessel we made with your mana. Just feel for when it connects. When it does, infuse your mana as you would while spellcasting. As you synchronize, Martel and I will make adjustments. Don’t let go of Mira’s hand at any point,” the Spirit King instructed.

Soul Howl held Mira’s hand tight and closed his eyes to focus. “Okay. Do it.”

“Let us begin!” the Spirit King’s voice boomed. The marks of his blessing appeared all over Mira. Soon, they traveled through Mira’s hand, stretching to Soul Howl.

Mira simply watched. She was nothing but a relay at this point, so there was nothing more she could do besides pay attention and understand what was happening.

The vessel successfully connected to Soul Howl, accepting his mana, and an unfamiliar feeling struck Mira instantly. An odd presence was inhibiting Soul Howl’s mana. She could tell instinctively that it was a fragment of the penalty for defying nature—the burden of his spell—which was transferring from him to the vessel.

“It’s done. I can tell you’re Mira’s friend; your control over your mana is incredible.” Their attempt to transfer the burden had seemingly been successful. After praising Soul Howl, the Spirit King added, “This ought to be a good way to kill time.”

“I just hope it works!” Martel sounded happy too.

When asked what he meant by “kill time,” the Spirit King explained that the vessel he’d created would allow him to observe the burden he undertook. His research might enable him to find a way to suppress it and return to the material world.

“Goodness me. I have to say, this is all thanks to you, Soul Howl. Without your theories, I would never have come up with this. Thank you.”

“I thought I was supposed to thank you. If I helped out, though, then that’s great.” Soul Howl grinned sheepishly. To him, the Spirit King seemed awfully free for someone supposedly confined in the Spirit Palace.

It was worth celebrating the fact that the Spirit King might find true freedom, but that was a different matter. To bring things back on topic, Mira told Soul Howl, “If this worked correctly, your advanced magic should be unsealed. Do you feel a change at all?”

“Yeah. It feels like a weight’s been lifted off my shoulders. I think this might just be successful.” Soul Howl closed his eyes for a moment, seeming to feel a difference.

“Soul Howl, try an advanced spell as a test for me,” suggested the Spirit King. “I did pull it off you rather forcefully, which may have disturbed your mana. Let’s check.” Though this task had ended surprisingly quickly, it was difficult even for the Spirit King, and he wouldn’t feel at ease until he saw that Soul Howl’s mana was stable.

“Yeah. We should make sure.” Soul Howl’s advanced magic had been sealed away for the past few years, so he assented, ready to regain his sense for it. “All right. Time for a long-awaited reunion.”

Standing, Soul Howl held his hand out in another direction. When he did, an enormous amount of mana flowed from his body.

Into this casket I place your memory, a thousand-night tryst in hell.

How long will pass in this hopeless dream, this bleak otherworld?

A boat adrift on dark seas passes through the gate, yearning for warmth.

The ferryman searches alone for light in the darkness.

By his side, a corpse long cold. Your empty, unmoving husk.

Gently do I scoop a single innocent soul from the brine—and to you, I offer a kiss of awakening.

[Necromantic Arts: Hadean Cycle – Martyr’s Rebirth]

When Soul Howl activated his spell, mana particles condensed in front of him. They gradually materialized in the shape of a human. A body formed, garbed in clothing and partially protected by armor. Finally, a giant battle-ax appeared in the body’s hands.

The figure moved to clutch the battle-ax, then stood there expressionlessly.

Soul Howl looked it up and down. “No problems here,” he murmured, relieved. 

The burden was gone, and his advanced necromancy had been successful. Through it, he had created a beautiful maiden with vacant eyes. Her pale skin lacked life, and her face betrayed no sign of thought, yet her presence was supernatural. The battle-ax she held, her clothes, her accessories—all of them exuded legendary-tier power.

The maiden’s long blonde hair was tied to one side. A tiara adorned her forehead, and her body was covered in light armor reminiscent of the Valkyrie sisters.

“Ooh, incredible!” piped up Mira, who had known the maiden a long time now. “And look how you’ve customized her.” She was amazed by how much the corpse’s attire had changed since she’d last seen it.

Flattered, Soul Howl answered proudly, “No duh. She’s my top fighter, after all.”

The spell he’d cast, Martyr’s Rebirth, could be called the pinnacle of necromancy. It relied on another spell known as Martyr’s Coffin, which created a coffin, as the name implied. Every coffin needed a corpse to go inside it, of course, and Martyr’s Rebirth produced a golem based on the corpse in that coffin.

A powerful person’s corpse could bolster one’s forces on its own. Even if the golem perished, the corpse itself would be intact, so the wielder could recreate the golem as often as their mana allowed.

That didn’t differentiate the spell much from other necromancy, aside from the fact that the corpse remained undamaged. Still, Martyr’s Rebirth was potentially a necromancer’s ultimate trump card due to its key trait: grave goods. A necromancer placed not just the corpse inside the coffin but various weapons and accessories to function as sacred objects. Those would greatly strengthen Martyr’s Rebirth.

Selecting grave goods wasn’t simple. There were limits on what you could place inside. Spirit weapons, artifacts, demonic and holy swords, refined equipment, and other items with latent power were forbidden. Essentially, the items couldn’t have any special attributes. Their materials were restricted as well. A simple principle was that you could only put copper, iron, or silver inside.

In this world full of strange and mystical things, those with plain, powerless weapons eventually plateaued. Even a master’s skills couldn’t overcome that. What you could do, though, was simply power up the items you deposited into the coffin. 

That power-up process was vital to necromancers. All they had to do was defeat undead monsters to amass something called “spiritual bondage” within the coffin. Spiritual bondage could power up the grave goods and the corpse.

And, once the grave goods had been powered up a little, they could essentially be upgraded. That expanded the range of things you could place inside; you could expand it even further by repeating the process. Essentially, increasing your spiritual rank allowed you more luxurious gear.

When Mira looked at the golem maiden with that in mind, she noticed that everything adorning her was truly luxurious.

“But I can’t quite call this perfect,” Soul Howl added.

“Hm? You can’t?” As far as Mira could see, the maiden looked fine. 

Soul Howl, however, claimed that one of her grave goods was a little flawed. Apparently, one item necessary to boost her stats was stuck at the rank-up ready stage. Unfortunately, the Demon’s Blessing debacle had begun while he was upgrading her, leaving his work half-done. Now she could only output about 50 percent of her power.

“Hrmm. We can’t exactly send her into battle like that.” Mira understood the entire process to a degree thanks to one of Soul Howl’s lectures long ago, and she grasped the poor situation. The golem maiden would’ve been a major boon fighting at full power, but unfortunately, it was clear that they couldn’t send her into battle against the Machina Guardian for the moment.

Soul Howl didn’t seem worried, though.

“Ah, my beloved Irina, how I’ve missed you.” He hugged the golem, his true nature finally showing. “I never thought I’d get to see you again so soon. Oh, Irina, you’re just as cute as I remember.” He caressed the golem’s cheek, madness in his eyes.

When Soul Howl was unable to use advanced magic, he couldn’t even cast Martyr’s Coffin, let alone Martyr’s Rebirth. Therefore, this reunion between the known lover of the undead and his favored first so-called wife had been years in the making.