Cloud Raising Little Zombies: Chapter 35

NECROMANCER GOD’S CULTIVATION

35. [Undead Contract Spell] turns each skeletal figure into one of your possessions, quite satisfying.

A blood-red moon hung high in the ashen sky. On the wasteland below, countless pale human-shaped skeletons wandered aimlessly.

Having grown accustomed to seeing rotting zombies, Ye You actually found these dense white skeletons rather pleasing to the eye.

He stood up, sensing the air was thick with undead energy.

Without needing to meditate, undead elements naturally flowed into his body, replenishing the mana he’d spent on casting the Level 0 spell, “Undead Realm.”

The undead elements here were more than a hundred times richer than those in the magic world.

If a necromancer practiced meditation here, their cultivation speed would increase by that same hundredfold.

However, since humans are living beings, taking in too much undead energy would likely erode their life force, gradually turning them into undead creatures.

Ye You didn’t mind this side effect; as a zombie, he was already considered an undead being.

A pale skeleton slowly approached him.

Ye You watched it curiously, making no move to step aside.

He could feel that all of the skeleton’s energy came from the ghostly blue flame in its skull.

Could this flame be like a zombie’s crystal core, something he could dig out and eat? He wondered what it might taste like.

The skeleton, as if sleepwalking, walked straight into Ye You’s right shoulder.

Ye You didn’t move, but the skeleton stumbled back a step from the impact.

Its empty eye sockets shifted in his direction, and Ye You heard a roar echo in his mind.

The skeleton raised its long, bony claws to scratch at him.

Ye You lifted his hand, catching its arm bone just before the claw reached him.

With a snap, he broke the skeleton’s bone cleanly.

The skeleton seemed enraged, swiping its other hand at Ye You’s arm, which was holding the bone.

Ye You grabbed the swinging arm and kicked it to the ground.

The skeleton, knocked down, wriggled to rise.

Ye You crouched down next to it.

Just as it tried to bite his leg, he reached out and twisted its skull off.

【Too brutal! No, no, my Zai Zai is so cool and powerful!】

【So, this is an undead creature? You Zai says this kind of creature, I can take on ten at once.】

【Ten? Are you underestimating my Zai Zai? Let’s start at ten thousand—he hasn’t even used his powers yet.】

【I feel like I could handle this too! Let me have a turn!】

The skull, held in Ye You’s hand, kept snapping its jaws, trying to bite him.

A bit excited, Ye You pried open the skull with his bare hands, eager to scoop out that ghostly blue soul flame for a taste.

But as soon as he cracked open the skull, the flame floated out and quickly dispersed into the air.

Ye You: “…”

【Huh? Did it die? Did we get any loot? How much XP was that?】

【Looks like it doesn’t drop loot. Kind of kills my motivation to grind.】

【I’m motivated! Let me at it! I’m going to clear this place of monsters!】

Unimpressed, Ye You tossed the skull aside, set his sights on another nearby skeleton.

The soul flame was clearly the energy source for these skeletons, like a zombie’s crystal core. Surely, it was edible?

It must have been his “technique” for opening the “food box” that was wrong.

Ye You quickly broke several more skeletons.

He tried catching the soul flame the moment it floated free and swallowing it.

He tried wrapping it in undead mana and guiding it into his mouth.

None of it worked. The soul flames would dissipate within seconds once they left the skull.

Even when they dissipated in his mouth, he could barely absorb any energy.

【I must be losing it; is this not a leveling-up game but a culinary livestream?】

【Tears of disappointment are flowing from the corners of my mouth. I kind of want to taste that ghostly flame too—do you think it’s hot?】

After dismantling a dozen or so skeletons, Ye You decided to let it go for now.

He picked up the books that had come with him into the Undead Realm and started reading.

He began with 《Undead Creatures》.

The first page featured a simple line drawing of a humanoid skeleton, accompanied by a brief description:

“White Skeleton: Level 1 undead creature, equipped with sharp bone claws.”

The description was sparse, offering little useful information.

Ye You then opened 《Necromancy》. He’d already read the first page, so he turned to the second.

On this page, only one 《Necromancy》 was recorded:

Undead Contract Spell—for forging a contract with an undead creature to command it.

Ye You memorized the spell’s incantation, then looked at the countless wandering skeletons. At last, he thought, they might actually be useful.

He grabbed a nearby skeleton.

These skeletons tended to roam alone. 

As long as he didn’t touch any other skeletons while grabbing one, he could dismantle it right in front of millions of them, and they wouldn’t react.

To cast “Undead Contract Spell,” he had to penetrate the undead soul flame with his mental power and carve an imprint within it.

During this process, the undead’s soul flame would resist fiercely.

If a necromancer’s mental strength was insufficient, the undead creature could even deal a mental counterattack.

As an S-level psychic zombie, Ye You was highly skilled in wielding his mental power.

He snapped the skeleton’s arm, pinned it to the ground, and directed his mental energy into the soul flame within the skeleton.

As soon as his energy made contact, he faced fierce resistance; the skeleton’s willpower attacked his mind.

Ye You’s mental power transformed into a fist, relentlessly pounding the soul flame into submission.

After just a moment, the flame no longer resisted.

Ye You easily engraved the contract imprint within the skeleton’s soul flame.

The instant the contract was completed, Ye You sensed a spiritual connection between himself and the skeleton.

He could control it just as he controlled zombies in the post-apocalyptic world.

No, this connection was even more solid and steadfast than the link he shared with zombies.

A chill energy surged through the contract into Ye You’s body.

Ye You sensed that his capacity to hold undead mana seemed to have expanded, and now his mana was fully replenished.

He stood up and commanded the skeleton on the ground to rise.

But, missing its arms, the skeleton struggled and writhed on the ground, unable to get up.

Ye You glanced at the detached skeletal arm he’d broken, shifting his gaze away somewhat guiltily.

Since this skeleton was useless now, he’d simply switch to another one.

From then on, Ye You began forming contracts with undead creatures, taking care to avoid damaging them.

The live-stream viewers, noticing that Ye You was taming the skeletons, grew excited. They had been disappointed by the lack of loot drops but now felt renewed enthusiasm.

With each skeleton Ye You successfully tamed, the audience cheered and rewarded him with snacks.

Some even placed direct requests.

【Ten lollipops! I want the brightest white skeleton on the right! Contract with that one!】

Ye You no longer needed to contract each skeleton individually; instead, he spread his mental energy outward, allowing him to ignore any resistance from the skeletons and swiftly inscribe a contract mark within each flickering soul flame.

Estimating their mental strength, Ye You found these Level 1 skeletons were about as strong as ordinary zombies from the apocalypse world, which made his mental power overwhelming in comparison.

If he encountered an undead creature with a higher mental strength level, this method of contracting wouldn’t work as easily.

Turning each skeleton into his own property felt exhilarating.

Ye You’s mood improved significantly, even without consuming the soul flames.

Then, before he realized it, he had already contracted over ten thousand skeletons.

The livestream chat went wild, practically high on excitement.

With tens of thousands of skeletons surrounding Ye You, it looked as if a massive army were guarding a king.

【Is this the true terror of a necromancer? One person as an entire legion! The undead plague!】

【I can understand now why people fear the undead attribute; who wouldn’t be terrified when a necromancer can summon an army of tens of thousands with a wave of their hand?】

Ye You checked the time—he had been in the Undead Realm for three hours already.

If the time in the Undead Realm was synchronized one-to-one with the Magic Realm, then it should be getting dark in the Magic Realm.

The skeleton lady had mentioned there was a class tonight, so he needed to figure out how to return to the Magic Realm.

Ye You flipped through 《Necromancy》, skimming from the first page to the last, but didn’t see any spell for returning to the Magic Realm.

Did he have to stay in the Undead Realm indefinitely?

Ye You didn’t particularly mind. As a zombie, he didn’t need food or water like humans. With the spirit spring space and points shop available to him, he could always obtain crystal cores, so starving in the Undead Realm wasn’t a concern.

However, despite having the livestream chat for company, a world filled with nothing but undead creatures could eventually feel a bit dull.

Unconsciously, he flipped back to the first page of 《Necromancy》 and re-read the instructions for using the “Undead Realm” spell.

By wrapping himself in necromantic energy, he had entered the Undead Realm. What if he removed the necromantic energy surrounding him?

Acting on his thought, Ye You retracted the necromantic energy from his body.

A wave of dizziness hit immediately, and the world spun around him.

When the dizziness faded, he heard a rough voice exclaim, “When did you come in?!”

Ye You opened his eyes to see the dormitory ceiling, clean and relatively neat; he was indeed back in the Magic Realm.

The voice came from another person in the room—clearly his roommate, judging by the startled exclamation.

Ye You sat up and looked across the room.

Standing by the other bed was a tall, burly young man with brown hair, who resembled a brown bear standing upright.

The guy had been halfway through changing his clothes when Ye You turned to look at him, and he hastily adjusted his shirt down again.

Ye You glanced at the window; the sky wasn’t completely dark yet.

Unless he’d been gone for over a day, it seemed the time in the Magic Realm and the Undead Realm flowed almost one-to-one.

“Three hours ago,” Ye You responded briefly, addressing the exclamation he’d heard earlier.

The burly young man realized he was being answered.

Seeing Ye You’s calm demeanor, with a necromancy textbook in his hands, he recognized this as his roommate.

Though he still didn’t understand how he’d missed noticing someone in the dorm, he gradually relaxed his tense muscles.

Setting down the clothes he had been holding, the brown-haired young man introduced himself. “You’re my roommate, right? I’m Ted Hurt. You can call me Ted.”

Ye You was checking his schedule to see what class he had that night. Hearing this, he replied casually, “Ye You.”

The overly brief answer left Ted feeling a bit unsure.

Noticing that Ye You didn’t seem interested in further conversation, Ted silently noted the unusual name, then continued changing his clothes quietly.

The necromancy class schedule was straightforward, listing only the next three days of classes.

Tonight’s class included an introduction to the instructor, Basic Necromancy, and Undead Biology.

Looks like he would need to bring both books.

Thinking this, Ye You set down the schedule and looked up, only to see Ted in surprisingly refined attire that didn’t quite match his rugged appearance.

Ted looked uncomfortable, tugging at the white ruffles on his shoulders and adjusting the blood-red bow on his waist. After fussing for a while, he looked up, catching Ye You’s gaze fixed on the ruby-studded bow at his waist. Instantly, Ted’s face turned red as he stammered:

“Y-your uniform is on the table. The Skeleton Lady brought it over, saying we need to wear it for class.”

Ye You noticed a neatly folded uniform on his desk. Nodding in thanks to Ted, he picked it up and went into the bathroom to change.

【I’m ready for this.】

【Typing with both hands shows innocence.】

【Fuck! Mosaic!】

【What’s wrong with this game company? The Undead Realm’s graphic scenes are left unfiltered, but the whole screen gets pixelated when the streamer just changes clothes?】

【Right ah! Those skeletons are so explicit! Pure white bones everywhere! Why don’t they pixelate that?】

Ye You emerged from the bathroom in his uniform just as the Skeleton Lady knocked on the door.

Ted went to open it but quickly stepped back to the window on the opposite side of the room, looking like he might jump out any second.

“Class is about to begin. Follow me, gentlemen,” the Skeleton Lady’s voice resonated in their minds.

Ye You and Ted grabbed their books and headed to the door.

However, the Skeleton Lady stood firmly at the entrance, her soul fire flickering in her skull, casting a bluish glow from her hollow eye sockets as she fixed her gaze on Ye You.

“Ma’am?” Ye You took the initiative to greet her.

After all, his roommate—who resembled a towering brown bear—was currently huddled behind him.

“It’s only been a few hours, and you’ve already become a Level 1 apprentice mage. Impressive, with that S-level undead affinity,” the Skeleton Lady remarked with a chilling smile before moving on to knock on the doors of other dorm rooms.

Ye You followed her out.

He wasn’t surprised that she saw through his undead affinity level. He knew how to conceal his aura, and his plant-based and psychic energies were well hidden.

He hadn’t hidden his undead affinity because he thought his level was too low to bother.

The Skeleton Lady continued knocking on doors, calling out students.

As they headed toward the classroom area, Ye You counted his classmates. Including himself, there were nine students in total.

【Not many students in the Necromancy Department, huh.】

【The gender ratio is really unbalanced—only one girl. But that’s fine; our Zai Zai is the coolest, so he’s got a good chance.】

【What are you talking about? Zai Zai should focus on studying and aim for progress every day!】

The entrance to the necromancy classroom lay between the first and second floors, with a staircase leading further down into the depths.

The Skeleton Lady only escorted the students to the door.

The classroom was dark, with the only light coming from a few ghostly blue flames floating near the lectern.

These pale blue flames drifted slowly, like will-o’-the-wisps in a mountain cemetery.

“Y-Ye You, should I hold on to you? It’s so dark here; I don’t want you to trip,” Ted said, his voice trembling.

“I won’t trip,” Ye You replied calmly, but he allowed Ted to grab his hand anyway.

He could tell by now that his bear-like, muscular roommate was scared of ghosts—or rather, undead creatures.

Ye You’s night vision was excellent, making darkness no different from daylight to him.

Still, he controlled his pace, staying just a step ahead of his classmates.

“Lance, did you bring your night-pearl?” a student whispered to someone beside him.

“I didn’t,” grumbled Lance, the blonde boy, who continued muttering an incantation that had been interrupted.

As the spell finished, several wisps of blue flames suddenly appeared around him.

The sudden appearance of flames startled the surrounding students, who quickly stepped back with shrieks.

Surrounded by eerie blue light, Lance was now the brightest one in the room.

Smiling proudly, he raised his chin, directing the flames to light his path as he strode past Ted and Ye You, taking a seat in the center of the front row.

The classroom was large, but it had surprisingly few desks and chairs, arranged in three rows at different levels near the front.

【This looks like a mini theater—why does it feel like a haunted house?】

【That’s the power of lighting. Those flickering flames are super creepy.】

【That blonde guy can manipulate flames—our Zai Zai should learn that too!】

Ye You chose a seat on the right side of the second row.

Ted stood beside him, and when their eyes met, Ye You silently shifted over one seat.

Just as he sat down, a few strands of golden hair flashed past his view.

Turning his head, Ye You saw that the only girl in the necromancy class had taken the seat to his left.

With blonde hair and green eyes, Lucy gave him a soft smile, openly radiating her charm.

Suddenly, Ye You felt a surge of powerful necromantic energy. His gaze immediately shifted toward the lectern.

A gaunt, black-robed, dark-haired man had appeared at the front of the classroom.

With a cold, piercing gaze, the man surveyed the nine students, his slightly raspy voice breaking the silence:

“All right, now that everyone’s here, let’s begin.”

“I’ll introduce myself briefly. My name is Xiao Zuo. I’ll be your necromancy instructor, and, barring any surprises, I’ll teach you until you graduate.”

Xiao Zuo made no effort to get to know his students or encourage introductions.

Pointing his black wand—about as long as a forearm—at their books, he rasped:

“Open your Necromancy book to the first page.”

Ye You flipped open his book, finding the first page covered “Meditation Technique” and “Undead Realm,” which he’d already studied.

“I know some of you are already Level 1 apprentice mages. Feel free to ignore what you’ve already mastered, but the rest… heh.”

Xiao Zuo gave a cold chuckle, his wand slowly rotating in his hand.

Every student sat up straight, silent and attentive.

“Let’s start with the first spell, the most basic: the Meditation Technique…”

As he lectured, Xiao Zuo fixed each student with a chilling gaze.

【This teacher is terrifying. He’d make the perfect villain boss in any movie.】

【I’m sitting up straight in front of my screen, scared that if I slack off, he’ll point his wand at me, and I’ll drop dead on the spot.】

【Upstairs, properly freeload when sitting in on a class, take it seriously. Is it easy for us to get a real magic teacher?】

If you're enjoying the story don't forget to support the author! You can also support me on KOFI for site maintenance, raws purchase or as an energy boost~ 

Join discord to get notified whenever a new chapter is uploaded since I'm  incapable of keeping up with a schedule~