Saint Lor Academy students could skip most courses like history, court etiquette, and heraldry, except for crucial practical combat training.
"Rex, your corpse-handling skills have improved dramatically. Interested in earning some extra money while studying?"
"No thanks, I've got things to do."
Rex hurriedly left the classroom filled with various corpses and returned to his dorm. He hadn't brought his skeletons along the way — he didn't want to attract attention.
The Undead Creature Keeping Permit was mainly for dealing with inspections. Otherwise, any unauthorized minions appearing on campus would be confiscated by the school.
Back home, Rex skillfully locked the door and pulled out his black handheld console.
[Welcome back, Rex]
[First floor progress has reached 54%. Continue exploration?]
[Yes]
As consciousness and flesh reconstructed in the dungeon, this time seven skeletons stood behind him. They wielded iron spears, with three wearing iron-reinforced leather armor — their combat power had increased dramatically.
"Today's goal is to find the BOSS chamber!"
Rex had also changed clothes, wearing the bone charm and leather armor. After all, repairing damaged academy uniforms cost money — quite expensive too.
Rex led seven fully-armed skeleton warriors steadily through the dungeon.
Leather boots made dull sounds on the damp stone floor. The bone charm on his chest grew slightly warm, providing additional protection for his undead servants.
"Movement on the left passage."
Rex raised his palm, and the skeletons immediately formed battle formation — three armored skeletons in front, the remaining four spear-wielding skeletons spread in a fan shape.
Three ghouls pounced from the shadows.
But this battle was no contest. Spears accurately pierced their throats, and the fight ended before Rex even had a chance to act.
They defeated seven more ghouls along the way.
[Obtained: Rotting Poison Gland x2]
[Obtained: Worn Leather Gloves (Unranked)]
[Defense +1, Durability 10/20]
Rex put on the gloves, pocketed the poison glands, and continued exploring.
As they ventured deeper, the dungeon's structure began changing. The glowing moss on the walls gradually thinned, replaced by some kind of slime that reeked of decay.
"This smells like ten-year-old unwashed socks soaked in water with lemon juice squeezed in." Rex covered his nose and mouth. "Good thing we're close to the nest now."
Turning the final corner, a large door embedded with bones appeared before them. Pushing it open revealed rotting banners hanging from a thirty-foot ceiling, with countless white bones scattered across the floor.
At the far end of the hall, nauseating green mist seeped out, and they could faintly hear low swallowing sounds from within.
"This is it."
Rex took a deep breath and checked his equipment.
Iron spears intact, two Minor Mana Potions at his waist in the most accessible position, bone charm pressed against his chest, seven skeleton warriors at the ready.
The moment he pushed open the door, a system notification suddenly appeared:
[Warning! You have enraged the First Floor Guardian: Grom the Devourer]
[Name: Giant Ghoul (Elite)]
[Rank: Unranked]
[Attributes: Strength 7, Agility 3, Intelligence 2, Constitution 8]
[Special Traits: Toxic Claw Strike/Flesh Devouring/Ghoul Minions]
In the center of the dim BOSS chamber, a giant ghoul nearly ten feet tall was tearing at the corpse of its own kind. Tumor-like growths protruded from its rotting back. Hearing the noise, it slowly turned around, six glowing green eyes simultaneously locking onto Rex.
When Rex saw its face clearly, he nearly vomited — three mouths were arranged in overlapping patterns across that face.
"ROAAAAAR—!"
In the deafening roar, battle erupted suddenly. Grom's massive hind legs kicked off the ground, charging forward like a cannonball.
The front-line armored skeleton was instantly shattered, bone fragments flying everywhere.
Damn it, why doesn't this guy's agility match the status panel? Who could dodge something moving like a cannonball?!
"Spread out! Spear harassment!" Rex quickly retreated under his skeletons' cover, hastily hiding behind a collapsed stone pillar.
Grom suddenly grabbed a ghoul corpse and stuffed it into its gaping maw. With horrifying crunching sounds, the wounds inflicted by the spears actually began healing.
Rex thought calmly and issued orders: "Prioritize clearing the adds! Don't let it recover!"
The battle reached a stalemate.
Whenever Rex commanded his skeletons to kill ghouls, Grom would seize the opportunity to devour corpses and recover. When he concentrated firepower on the BOSS, newly summoned ghouls would disrupt their formation.
One by one, skeletons fell in the fierce battle.
Rex knew that continuing like this would lead to defeat. Just as a skeleton soldier killed a ghoul, he quickly ordered: "Throw the corpse over here!"
The ghoul corpse landed on the ground. Rex couldn't worry about anything else now — he commanded his skeletons to block Grom while he rushed to the corpse and used the only spell he had mastered.
"In the name of death, First Tier • Bone Summons!"
In the blink of an eye, a brand new skeleton climbed up.
Rex quickly handed it his spear, patted its shoulder, and pointed at Grom who was entangled with the skeletons: "See it? Take it down!"
The newly born skeleton's eye sockets flickered with undead flames. It raised the spear and charged forward fearlessly.
Rex finally discovered the truly disgusting aspect of necromancy.
Temporary conversion not only maintained his side's combat strength but also prevented the BOSS from eating corpses to heal. Grom's seemingly intimidating toxic claw strikes had no effect whatsoever on the fleshless skeletons.
The situation suddenly reversed!
After converting five more skeletons, Rex's mana was rapidly depleting. He quickly downed a mana potion — the cold liquid flowing into his throat instantly made the exhausted mana surge again.
When seven skeletons on the field surrounded their opponent, Rex noticed Grom's movements becoming sluggish. It had no corpses to eat, and its health bar was nearly empty.
"Now! Full assault!"
Rex personally threw his spear, driving it deep into that massive body.
The skeleton warriors seized the opportunity — seven spears simultaneously pierced Grom's throat. After a fierce struggle and an unwilling wail, the enormous body crashed to the ground.
[You have defeated the First Floor Guardian, Grom the Devourer]
[Obtained: Grom's Devouring Ring (Unranked • Excellent)]
[Effect: Intelligence +2]
[Obtained: Dungeon Key (First Floor)]
[Obtained: Return Scroll]
[Obtained: Enlarged Poison Gland (Consumable)]
Rex collapsed to the ground, gasping heavily. Of the seven skeletons, only five remained standing, with one missing an arm. Bone fragments littered the ground — all caused by the giant ghoul's death throes.
But when he saw the loot, his exhaustion vanished instantly.
"Worth it!" He slipped the ring onto his right hand and immediately felt his mind clear, the previous fatigue dissipating completely. This meant he could now control more skeleton minions simultaneously.
The giant ghoul's poison gland was quite large and was a consumable item.
[Material: Enlarged Poison Gland]
[Effect: Eating this slightly improves poison resistance]
[Evaluation: Fun fact — ghouls are immune to all toxins]
"Do I really have to eat this whole thing?"
Rex held the watermelon-sized Enlarged Poison Gland. Its surface was covered with purple-blue blood vessels, mucus constantly seeping from honeycomb-like tissue, emanating a pungent odor mixing rotting flesh and sulfur.
He swallowed hard. The slimy sensation from his fingertips made his stomach spasm. He hadn't vomited while fighting the giant ghoul, but now he really was about to.
"Can this thing actually be eaten?"
He pinched his nose and used a spear to cut open the poison gland's surface layer. Dark green fluid immediately gushed out, instantly corroding the ground with sizzling sounds.
The system evaluation mentioning ghouls' poison immunity now seemed particularly ironic, since humans certainly didn't have that talent.
"Eat it is — it can't actually harm me, right?!"
After taking three deep breaths with his eyes closed, Rex suddenly grabbed the poison gland and bit down hard with the bite force of an adult African hyena, tearing at it as if it were his mortal enemy.
The rotten pulp texture exploded between his teeth, fishy bitter juice flowing down his chin, the back of his skull buzzing as if struck by an iron hammer.
When he bit into the core on the second bite, some kind of fermented swamp gas smell shot straight to the top of his head, forcing him to brace himself with one hand to resist the urge to vomit.
"Ugh... this tastes worse than when corpse fluids splash in your mouth during stitching..."
Before Rex could finish speaking, a third, more violent wave of flavor completely overwhelmed his ability to think, mechanically swallowing the constantly regenerating poison gland tissue.
When the last piece slid down his throat, Rex's vision suddenly took on an eerie pale green tint, all the blood vessels under his skin bulging the same color.
[Activating poison resistance...]
[Constitution breakthrough critical threshold]
After the intense pain receded like a tide, unprecedented clarity swept through his entire body.
Rex was amazed to discover that those previously nauseating decay odors now carried a strange fragrance.
He instinctively called up his personal status panel. Data was jumping dramatically on the pale blue screen:
[Name: Rex Morthen]
[Class: Necromancer]
[Rank: Unranked]
[Attributes: Strength 1→2, Agility 2→3, Intelligence 4→6 (+2), Constitution 1→2]
[New Resistance: Minor Poison Immunity]
[Spells: First Tier • Bone Summons (Beginner/37%)]
[Minions: Skeletons x7 (Current max control: 12)]
[Equipment: Worn Leather Armor, Bone Charm, Worn Leather Gloves, Grom's Devouring Ring]
[Materials: Rotting Poison Gland x2, Return Scroll x1]
[Evaluation: You're doing great]
The cracking sound from his knuckles brought Rex back to reality. His previously thin arms now showed faint muscle definition.
What pleased him most was the intelligence attribute — combined with the Devouring Ring's bonus, the number of skeletons he could control simultaneously had nearly doubled.
"No wonder some third-tier necromancers like soaking in poison swamps, though they don't get chances to eat enlarged poison glands. This console is truly powerful!"
Rex wiped the residue from the corner of his mouth, consoling himself.
When he tried touching the ghoul corpse, the rotting flesh immediately turned pale and withered at his fingertips, all toxins automatically filtered and absorbed.
This way he wouldn't fear sneak attacks!
With a thunderous crash, mechanical sounds echoed from the dungeon's depths.
The bronze key grew hot in Rex's palm, and a hidden passage was revealed behind collapsed walls in the distance.
He was about to head to the second floor when he suddenly noticed Grom's corpse.
"Oh right, the giant ghoul is also a corpse. Perfect timing since I've improved — let me try First Tier • Bone Summons."