Chapter 382. A Familiar Location.

  This week, I was scheduled to assist Professor Damrax Hillborough who taught necromancy for the academy. I didn’t have much experience with the undead, and I suspected he was more interested in my experience as a summoned being, or my pending world integration, rather than my limited knowledge of necromancy.

  His class was on the same floor as Melody’s so I could stop in and see her if there was spare time in my schedule. I counted her as a friend, and didn’t want to get too busy and ignore her. I’d done that in the past, ignored friendships and let them die on the vine. My life was different now, and I wanted to make sure I didn’t bail on my friends when things in life got busy.

  “Hello Professor Hillborough, I’m here to help this week,” I said as I entered the classroom. The students hadn’t arrived yet, and the professor was working at his desk at the head of the classroom. I was happy to see the classroom was normal enough looking, and I wouldn’t be assaulted by the stench of the undead for the entire week I was scheduled to help here.

  “Rico, glad you could join me this week. We’re going to keep you busy, so I hope you’re ready to go,” the professor said enthusiastically. I was still dragging a bit after my late night, but his enthusiasm was infectious, and I was looking forward to finding out what I could learn from him.

  “What will you need from me?” I asked.

  “I’d like to have you share your experience as a summoned being with the class. I know that you’ve probably already done that several times, but I think it’s good for the students to get an idea of the various summonings where you interacted with the undead. Also, I’d like to pick your brain about the undead and your home world,” Professor Hillborough said.

  “That’s not a problem, I’m happy to help in any way I can,” I responded. He told me a bit about his personal class as we waited for the students to arrive. The professor had a class that was similar in some respects to the Foe Commander class I’d had a while. He could tag various targets, and when they died, he would have a chance to get a chance to potentially recruit them as an undead minion.

  He was capped in the total number of minions, but like my barracks, he could mix and match what he’d gathered over the years, and form a party of undead that was the perfect fit for whatever situation he found himself in. His class was combat related, but it turned out the professor had several undead with other non-combat skills like I had with Clancy. When the students started to arrive, I found they were all second-year students and had a solid grasp of the basics of their classes.

  “We have a special guest here this week, class. I’d like to introduce you to Professor Kline. While he’s not a necromancer or an affiliated branch of summoning, he’s had some unique experiences that I think you will benefit from hearing about. You see, Professor Kline is a summoned being from a world that is pending integration into the system. Professor Kline, can you explain to the class how you were chosen to become a summoned being?” Professor Hillborough asked.

  It was a question I’d answered several times, so I was able to explain the unusual method the system had for selecting summoned beings. Some of my rather unusual summoning situations made for good stories, and the class both winced at my pain, and laughed at some of the stranger summonings I explained to them.

  Professor Hillborough then took over with his lecture for the day. It didn’t necessarily pertain to my Contracted Summoner class, but any insight into the undead was interesting. He went over various methods to heal and reinforce undead bodies. It turned out that for several types of necromancers, the undead they created were either resistant to, or took damage from traditional healing methods.

  There were special ointments that worked like healing potions, but instead of ingesting them, they would sprinkle them over the undead creature. There were also spells that served a dual purpose, harming living foes and healing the undead. At least for my current minion lineup, I didn’t have any undead, but the system seemed to allow my Health Bloom to heal them when they were my direct minion. I was sure that there were some system shenanigans going on there.

  At the very least, I was getting a good introduction on how to thwart undead that might be trying to heal themselves. I could now recognize common infliction potions that doubled as healing methods for the undead and had a better understanding of the types of spells that necromancers had access to. They were a powerful class, but not one I was interested in specializing in. After the lecture, the professor opened things up for questions from the class.

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  “Professor Kline, what is your home world like?” One of the students asked.

  “It was a world without mana, but not a primitive place. We replaced magic with technology and generally, it functioned well for us,” I said, explaining about electricity, vehicles, medicine, and the like.

  “If there was no mana, are there any undead in your world?” another student asked.

  “No, the undead didn’t exist, but my world did seem to have some connection to the system on a hidden level. It turns out that a lot of what is real in the multiverse was the stuff of legend back home. We only had one intelligent species, humans, but we had tales from our past of elves, dwarves and many others. As for undead, they were popular in entertainment meant to scare the viewer,” I explained.

  “So, you had no monsters, hostile undead, or magic of any kind?” a student in the back of the room asked. She was a human and one that was trying hard to look the part of a necromancer in her black robes and makeup that would make a goth back home proud.

  “No, though I must admit that some of my fellow Earthlings were monsters in their own right. We weren’t known as a peaceful lot, but I’d say that the good greatly outnumbered the bad,” I admitted.

  “It sounds like an interesting place to visit,” the young woman replied.

  “It’s changing fast, and will be integrated into the system soon,” I explained.

  “Yes, it’s too bad we can’t experience it before it becomes like everywhere else,” she lamented.

  “I don’t know about it becoming like everywhere else. My world is known for its ingenuity, and I suspect you’ll still find it remains a very unique place once we’re fully integrated,” I said.

  “That does it for this class,” the professor interrupted, noticing the time for today had run out. “Everyone be sure to thank Professor Kline for joining us today as you leave.”

  After the students had filed out, I chatted with the professor a bit. He had some good suggestions for dealing with various undead and even lent me a few of the texts they used in class. The texts covered various undead creation and also how best to destroy them.

  Just to be safe, I double checked what I knew about liches, verifying that what Tzes’zod had claimed about his phylactery was correct. While I didn’t tell Professor Hillborough any details about my personal space, we did discuss the challenges a lich faced when hiding their phylactery.

  They were essentially immortal, but only if their phylactery was safe. A powerful being like a lich inevitably created many dangerous enemies over the centuries. Those enemies could easily put a plan in place to defeat a lich and destroy the phylactery in one go, ending the creature. With the admission restrictions on the personal space I owned, I could see how valuable it would be for Tzes’zod to keep his phylactery hidden there.

  Before it got too late in the afternoon, I thanked the professor for the conversation and made my way to the headmaster’s office. It seemed that Headmaster Glorine was expecting me as the receptionist just waved me through after I explained who I was.

  Entering the headmaster’s office, I was still intrigued by the glowing figure in front of me. So far, Glorine was the only one of this strange, glowing species that I’d encountered. He gestured for me to sit in the overstuffed chair in front of his desk, and I declined the cup of tea he offered.

  “Adjunct Professor Kline, I can guess the reason you’re here to see me. I received an interesting quest yesterday, which happened to coincide with another event. Tell me, Rico, how has your experience at the academy been so far,” Headmaster Glorine asked.

  “Headmaster Glorine, I can honestly say that I’ve enjoyed it. The staff and the students are great, and it’s been one of the best experiences I’ve had since my life was changed by the system,” I said. It was true, and while I wanted to return home to help, I realized that I wouldn’t mind working at a place like the academy in the future.

  “I’m glad to hear that, Rico, and remember, while it’s just us, feel free to call me Glorine. There’s no need for excessive formalities among the staff. The system promised you a unique opportunity, and I believe we have one that your particular set of skills would be most suitable for,” Glorine said.

  “What can I do for the academy?” I asked.

  “It’s involving a student that was granted leave from her classes to deal with a personal situation back home. She was scheduled to return a few days ago but never showed up. I had one of our seers try to divine her location before we wrote her off as a no-show, but despite his skill, he couldn't find her. It was like there was some interference with the spell.

  “An inquiry was sent to her family, and they mentioned that there was a ransom letter delivered to them. The student has been kidnapped, and the family have requested the academy’s help. Given that their house has sent several successful students, and that the missing young woman was on way back here when abducted, I have agreed to help,” the headmaster said, pausing to take a drink from the steaming glass of tea on his desk.

  “How can I help in this situation? For my tier and rank, I honestly can say I’m good at what I do, but tracking down a missing student isn’t exactly in my wheelhouse,” I explained.

  “I think tracking her down might be easier for you than for almost anyone else I can send. The family now knows where she’s being held, and her location is the reason they can’t just send a powerful mercenary group to rescue her. Anyone they could send would fare poorly in the low-mana environment where she’s being imprisoned. You, on the other hand, have some experience dealing with these kinds of difficulties.

  “I believe, based on the information the system has provided, you may even have additional advantages at this location. You see, Rico, she’s being held on your home world, and I would like you to get her back.”