For the past two years, Tris had spent every afternoon with Waled. She had likely spent more time with him than his sister or mother. She prided herself on being the one who knew Waled best. Yet, even she was stunned by his recent achievement. If she was shocked, the other vampires in the alchemy lab and armory were even more astonished.
These vampires had all systematically studied necromancy. Many of them were even responsible for creating tomb guardians. They knew how much time it took to learn such skills. Never had they heard of anyone who could master the entire process of creating a tomb guardian after just one demonstration.
Just how much of a genius would one have to be to achieve such a feat?! The vampires' first reaction was disbelief, but they couldn't deny the evidence. After all, every alchemy lab had monitoring crystals that recorded events. The recordings couldn't be fake. Their third reaction was to cheer, lifting Waled high into the air and tossing him up in celebration. They kept this up for a while before reluctantly setting him down.
By the time the vampires finished their celebration, it was already six o'clock. Tris's teaching hours were over, and the vampires working in the armory were also off duty. As they continued to praise Waled, they left the basement and the castle. Tris, too, was escorted out by Waled.
After seeing Tris off, Waled reflected on the day's gains. Although the process had been a bit perilous, even forcing him to reveal one of his hidden cards, the final result was quite satisfactory.
He had now mastered the necromantic art of creating tomb guardians. This meant that the thousands of high-quality skeletons he possessed could be transformed into a formidable fighting force at any moment. Waled's future prospects had suddenly expanded, and his mood brightened considerably. This sense of joy persisted even during dinner, and the more he thought about it, the happier he became.
"Hmm... If I use the Knight's Codex, I could convert some of them into Black Knights. And if I use the family's treasured Blood Grail to further elevate those Black Knights into Blood Grail Knights, I'd truly be set! Thousands of Blood Grail Knights—such a force would rival even Sylvania at its peak."
At this thought, Waled couldn't help but chuckle.
"What's so funny? You look silly," Isabella complained, seeing Waled laugh.
"Nothing, just thought of something amusing," Waled replied, then focused on his dinner, not wanting to dwell on it further.
After dinner, Waled didn't follow his usual routine of heading to the library or his study to read. Instead, he went down to the alchemy lab to practice and create a few more tomb guardians.
As he walked, he mused, "These days, someone as naturally gifted and hardworking as me is a rare find. If someone like me can't succeed, who can?" Talking to himself, Waled entered the pitch-black basement and quickly activated his magical vision.
The underground armory and labs, bustling during the day, were now eerily quiet. But Waled didn't mind. He went straight to the lab he had shared with Tris earlier, remembering that the three skeletons—including the dwarf and the greenskin orc—were still there. Their unique bone structures would be an excellent learning opportunity.
However, Tris hadn't yet taught him how to handle dwarf and orc skeletons. Despite his confidence, Waled didn't think he could succeed on his first try. So, he decided to start with the human skeleton to practice. Once he was more familiar with the process, he would move on to the dwarf skeleton, which was closer to human, and finally tackle the orc skeleton, which resembled a large beast.
Having just created a tomb guardian a few hours ago, Waled was even more skilled this time. In less than three hours, he completed the process.
Watching the tomb guardian's hollow eyes ignite with phosphorescent flames as it saluted him, Waled felt a surge of accomplishment. He directed the tomb guardian to stand beside the two he and Tris had created earlier, then began studying the dwarf skeleton.
Dwarves were called dwarves for a reason—they were short, typically standing between 1.2 to 1.3 meters tall, with a few reaching 1.4 meters. Despite their height, dwarves were incredibly robust. Living dwarves were stocky and muscular, with arms as thick as a human's thighs and legs as wide as a human's waist. Their barrel-shaped bodies made them resemble cylinders.
This compact, muscular build gave dwarves nearly limitless strength. Even a dwarf child could match the strength of an adult human. An average dwarf soldier was stronger than a trained, elite human knight.
If ordinary dwarves were this strong, imagine the elder dwarves who had lived for thousands of years. Some of these elders, with beards twice their height, could even wrestle ogres and trolls bare-handed, making them seem like monsters. Like elves, vampires, and dragons, dwarves were a long-lived race, their strength increasing with age.
Even after death, dwarf bones were incredibly dense. In a previous lesson, Tris had explained that dwarf bones were exceptionally dense and grew denser with age. There was once a vampire who had processed the skeleton of a dwarf elder said to be over six thousand years old. The resulting skeleton was even stronger than adamantine.
The dwarf skeleton before Waled was that of an ordinary warrior, aged two to three hundred years. Its bone density wasn't as extreme, but it was still harder than granite. Waled picked up the dwarf's skull, which was twice the size of a human's, and marveled at its weight—it felt like a solid block of stone.
"Pity, dwarves have always been few in number. And since they can't ride horses, they don't have a knightly class, so they can't provide materials for creating undead knights," Waled muttered, shaking his head, then began studying the skeleton.
A dwarf looked like a human who had been compressed and stretched. Their bones were similarly shaped, so the magical runes and arrays inscribed on them had to be stretched and flattened. Otherwise, the process was the same as for human skeletons. However, the underground armory didn't produce armor or weapons tailored for dwarf or orc skeletons, and Waled didn't know how to make them himself, so he had to skip that step.
Despite the lack of reference and it being his first attempt, Waled still managed to complete the tomb guardian in just two hours. He was quite satisfied with the result.
After infusing enough pale magical wind of necromancy, a chubby tomb guardian appeared. Unlike the standard tomb guardians, this dwarf looked comically round, almost laughable. Its shorter stature also made it stand out, creating an obvious weak point if placed in formation with other tomb guardians.
Waled shook his head, knowing this tomb guardian's lifespan would likely end tonight. After showing it to Tris tomorrow, he could destroy it, grind it into bone powder, and reshape it into a standard skeleton. Although the dimensions were slightly different, the volume of dwarf bones was comparable to that of humans.
However, as Waled directed the chubby guardian to stand in the corner, he noticed something odd—there were three standard tomb guardians from the day and one from tonight, but the corner now glowed with eight pairs of phosphorescent eyes!