Chapter 255: Necromancy Skill of the Black Witches!
"It's an old Black Witch dwelling!" Rui said in a trembling voice.
"Teacher, why don't you rest for a while. You must have been injured pretty heavily, for even your voice is trembling," Ayrin said in a concerned manner as he gazed at Rui.
"Idiot…" Stingham looked at Ayrin with contempt as he said, "Teacher Rui is clearly just a little thirsty."
"……"
It was complete silence as everyone nearly faceplanted into the ground.
"You idiot! Is your only purpose on our team to crack jokes and look stupid?!"
Rinloran was at a loss of words as he glared at Stingham, "Do think at it's every day that an arcane team can discover a Black Witch dwelling from the Magus Era?"
"This house is from the Magus Era?" Ayrin felt sweat cover his forehead as he heard Rinloran's words.
Even he, who had grown up in a small town like Cororin, knew very clearly that the Magus Era referred to the chaotic time period following the Era of the War with Dragons.
During that era, various beliefs had sprung up all over the place as many so called magi led people astray through preaching of divinity and fate. It wasn't until the establishment of the Kingdoms of Doa and Eiche that order was restored as the magis' lies were exposed and they gradually declined.
"This is a Black Witch dwelling from the Magus Era?!"
Only several moments later did Stingham completely process what had just been said as he suddenly felt his body tingle. He shouted, "It's so old! How is it still standing?"
"This can't be good!"
Stingham continued as he screamed, "The Black Witches are considered some of the most terrifying magi. It's rumored that anyone who approaches one of them or their dwellings will suffer horrific curses and extremely bad luck."
"Idiot! My worst luck is being on the same team as you," Rinloran coldly berated in his mind.
"It's only a baseless rumor."
Rui seriously shook his head as he comfortingly said, "Of all the magi during the Magus Era, quite a few wanted to be like lords and have their own territories which they managed and governed based on their own interests. Of these, there were naturally some very evil ones, but there were also many who did not differ very much from today's arcane masters. It is an undeniable fact that some magi contributed greatly to the studies of potions, Draconic, and domains."
As Rui spoke, a lightbulb flashed in Ayrin's mind as he abruptly shouted, "Teacher, if I remember correctly, during the battle, Hanson and Neilson said that you used some of the Black Witches' techniques?"
"Correct. Our Holy Dawn Academy has spent quite a lot researching magi techniques. Many of the ancient scriptures found in Cattail Library originate from magi of the Magus Era."
"Then it's possible that there is some ancient skill left here?" Ayrin excitedly asked.
"Very possible!" Rui energetically nodded.
Even the calm and composed Rui couldn't help but feel excited.
Such a well-preserved dwelling of the Black Witch, it was likely the first such specimen within the Kingdom of Eiche!"
Even if there were no scriptures or books containing techniques or skills, all of the containers and apparatus here alongside the materials contained within were already of incredible value to research focused arcane masters.
"But Teacher Rui, what happened to the Black Witch who used to live here?" Ayrin curiously asked.
Although the inside of the room was cluttered like a gnome shop, the various items seemed to be placed in an orderly fashion as per the owner's habits.
If not for the fact that they had already determined that this house was extremely old, perhaps they would have felt as if they had stumbled upon the house while the owner had gone out for a stroll.
"Based on our research on the Black Witches… Black Witches were very solitary people. The vast majority of them were reclusive researchers who would occasionally solve issues for people if they were paid the right price. Naturally, they were all very powerful people. But although they were scholars, they still believed in fate and rebirth. Thus, at the end of their lives, they would choose to either bury themselves alongside their skills and wait for their fated rebirth after a thousand year sleep or merge themselves with a tree through some kind of special skill and continue to 'survive' alongside the tree. That's all we currently know. For the rest, we'd have to find one of them to ask."
"Then they must have died. I've never heard any story about a Black Witch actually coming back to life," Stingham quietly muttered. But regardless of what was said, he still felt uneasy.
"Even the idiot knows rebirth is impossible. Of course it's impossible," Rinloran sneered.
Stingham immediately burst into rage as he shouted, "Rinloran, what did you just say?!"
Rinloran didn't even look at Stingham as he replied, "Idiot!"
"Alright, calm down. You guys stay here while I go and check the place out."
Rui normally never intervened or managed the three, but after the current discovery, he had become incredibly serious and stern. Everything here was a precious research piece. He didn't wish for anything to be accidently destroyed by Stingham.
……
……
"There's actually a skill?"
"There were books and scriptures?!"
"Are there any which are especially cool?!"
Several minutes later, everyone's eyes lit up as they gathered around Rui.
Rui had found several scrolls in a glass cabinet beside the desk.
Several of them were just notes filled with unrecognizable scribbles, but there were a few which were clearly skill scriptures as they contained detailed charts of arcane energy flow alongside thorough explanations!
"World of Water!"
"A domain type taboo skill?"
"It really is a domain type taboo skill!"
Just the contents of the first skill scripture which Rui unrolled was enough to cause everyone to go nuts.
No only were domain type taboo skills incredibly powerful, they were also extremely rare in Doraster. Even the most powerful families and academies only had a few domain type taboo skills hidden away.
"If this skill is used, then the battlefield will become one of water!"
Ayrin immediately understood the usage of this taboo skill. It drew on the water vapor in the surrounding area and gathered it all together to form a domain of water around the caster and their enemy.
"It's not cool at all!" Stingham complained by himself.
Everyone else quickly realized the usefulness of this "World of Water." By trapping an unprepared opponent in water, they wouldn't be able to breath, and their vision and movement would also be affected. It would greatly hinder an opponent's invoking of arcane skills.
"Teacher Rui, hurry up and see if there are any cooler skills!"
Due to Stingham's urging, Rui carefully picked up the other scrolls and opened them all up atop the desk.
"Ghost Boundary!"
"Death's Energy: Shadow Ball!"
"Zombie Pit!"
"Far Sight!"
"Zombification: Grafting Technique!"
As the striking skill names rang out in succession, Rinloran's expression immediately changed, "So many death related skills! This Black Witch must have been a necromancer?"
"It really seems like it!"
Ayrin couldn't help but take a deep breath.
Necromancers were existences who used corpses to display skills.
However, because using others' corpses to invoke skills was considered cruel and evil, and thus generally shunned in Doraster, there were very few arcane masters who would study necromancy. Only within the midst of the Evil Dragon Followers could one find any particularly powerful arcane masters who used necromancy.
Amongst all necromancy skills, the most well-known were undoubtedly "Witch's Dragon" and "Bone Cataclysm." The former allowed one to summon a controllable corpse dragon from dragon bones whereas the latter was a powerful domain type taboo skill which caused bones to surge up from the ground in a large area and turn into an army of skeletons.
Ayrin was currently skimming through Ghost Boundary. The skill used arcane energy to absorb a portion of death energy from corpses to create several ghosts which would then wander around a set area and patrol it. Upon finding a target, these ghosts would chase and attack until all arcane energy was exhausted.
"Zombification: Grafting Technique!" This Black Witch actually had a taboo skill like this!"
Rui was absolutely shocked by his discovery.
"What's wrong Teacher?" Ayrin immediately asked as he, along with everyone else, saw Rui's shock.
"This Zombification: Grafting Technique is one of the stronger necromancy skills from the Magus Era. Through using this skill, one can merge a corpse with a heavily injured arcane master or giant beast to create a controllable zombie chimera!"
Rui took a deep breath as he slowly said, "Not only does this taboo skill allow one to instantly kill a heavily injured enemy, but it also allows one to turn their enemy into a controllable zombie to continue their assault!"
"Such a strong arcane skill! I wonder if I can learn it!" Ayrin immediately shouted.
"You really are a deviant!"
Stingham immediately backed several steps away from Ayrin as he pointed at Ayrin and shouted, "This is clearly such a perverse and evil skill, yet you still want to learn it?"
"Evil? But I don't think so?" Ayrin scratched his head, "It's only evil towards my enemies. Furthermore, it might be quite useful in critical situations."
"For some unknown reason… perhaps it is because their blood is extremely different from today's humans, but it is very difficult for us arcane masters to learn the skills of Black Witches. But if it's you, Ayrin, perhaps it is possible."
Rui's pupils intensely quivered as such a thought emerged in his mind.
"There's Far Sight as well?"
When Rinloran first saw this Far Sight skill, he assumed it was fake prophecy type skill. But as he skimmed across the scroll, he immediately discovered that this Far Sight was actually a high level reconnaissance skill. When used, this skill would form two eyes, allowing one to see far off into the distance for a short period of time. This vision couldn't be obstructed by anything, not even darkness or fog. It would be as if one's spiritual sense had greatly expanded outwards.
"Death's Energy: Shadow Ball… Hey, isn't the Fire Caracal Lord's corpse just sitting over there? Perhaps we can extract some energy from it and form this shadow ball right now?" Ayrin's voice rang out once more.
"So what, you idiot. Or are you going to quickly learn this skill right now?" Stingham sneered as he glanced over.
This skill could only be used to extract death energy from creatures which had recently died. It would take that energy and combine it with the user's arcane particles and arcane energy to form a shadow ball outside the user's body.
The unique part of this skill was that this shadow ball could then be used as a permanent means of attack or defense.
However, the scripture clearly stated that this technique couldn't be used on a corpse which had been dead for more than two hours.
"Let me try!" Ayrin immediately shouted in excitement.