Chapter 1:

The metal raven circled the tower and hovered outside the window of the top room. A short curse sounded from the room, opening the invisible barrier in front of the window to a corner, and the raven hurriedly got into the room and landed on the high bookshelf.
"Teacher, I came to see you," it made a young woman's voice, "I'm under the tower, and I brought you something."
Necromancer Burris gave an "um" and continued to bury his head in the sheepskin scroll. The metal raven flew out from where it was, slowly descended, and landed on the forearm of a blonde lady. She made a gesture, and the bird turned into a silver ring, which was firmly put on her left hand. . After all the black runes on the gate of the tower faded, the woman picked up her robe and climbed up the steps. A floating disc glowing with blue light was waiting for her in the tower.
Ascending to the highest level, the woman stepped off the floating dish and politely knocked on the door in front of the study. The people in the room said "please come in", but the woman hesitated. She lightly clenched her fist and prepared an attack spell in her palm.
"I said, please come in. What are you waiting for? Seeing that I don't need makeup." The voice in the room urged.
The woman's eyebrows trembled: "What? Are you..."
"Think my voice is different?" The instructor seemed to see through her mind, "You will understand when you come in and take a look."
The woman just opened the door. This study was no different from what she remembered, it was still wide and slightly messy, and it was full of herbs. The difference is that the person sitting in the pile of books, her mentor and the owner of the tower-Necromancer Burris.
Burris is eighty-four years old this year, but the person at the desk... is a pale youth who looks less than twenty years old.
"Esti, do you need to be surprised for so long?" asked the suddenly younger mentor.
The woman quickly maintained her dignified expression and walked into the study cautiously: "Tutor, have you changed your body?"
"Well, it's changed." Burris stood up and moved to the sofa. "It happened suddenly, I didn't have time to tell you in advance."
"Is there something wrong with your body?"
The mage sighed: "Recently, my joint disease has become more and more serious, and the precordial area has also been uncomfortable. A few days ago, I had an angina pectoris...that old bone may not work, and I am in danger of sudden death at any time. Time is running out, so I quickly found a corpse and moved my soul up..."
Esther sat across from the mentor and looked at him up and down: "Teacher, forgive me to ask... Why did you choose this corpse?"
Burris looked down at himself: "He was a kitchen worker who died of drinking too much alcohol. He was only nineteen years old. He signed an agreement when he came to work. He was willing to donate the body to me for a fee after he died. The relatives in his hometown will receive it. remuneration."
Perceiving his apprentice's tangled face, Burris waved to her: "What else do you want to ask, ask, I am not your lifeless father, and I won't blame you for offending."
So Estee told the truth: "This body is young enough, but haven't you found... he doesn't have ears?"
Burris sighed: "Of course I found it. Let's make do with it. Wearing a hood can barely block it. Alas, this child is born disabled."
"Don't you mind if he is missing a hand?"
Burris raised the severed wrist on his right: "He was young, but he inserted his hand into the meat chopper when he was drunk. This hand can only be amputated, what a pity."
"Do you mind... he doesn't even... have hair?"
The mage put on his hood painfully: "Of course I knew it a long time ago. It's nothing, anyway, I have almost no hair anyway. Just like the ear problem, wearing a hood can block a block... At least this child's face is long. It has to be more upright, isn't it?"
The beautiful female apprentice’s eyes were filled with compassion, and Burris was seen as uncomfortable, so she took the initiative to explain: "This is just a container for temporarily containing my soul. My own body is kept in a secret gold coffin. I will use it again. The current body is just a transition, not a long-term solution. After all, he is missing a hand, which is not convenient."
"Even if it's just a transition, at least you can find a healthier corpse..." Esther said.
The mage shook his head: "I have a lot of healthy corpses here, but I can't use them for such trivial things. As for their function...you know, Esther."
The apprentice's eyes lit up: "You mean... that army of chimeric golems?"
"Yes." Burris handed her a mirror, and the scene of the tower underground at this time appeared on the mirror: the space spell expanded the room into a training ground, and at least thousands of flesh and blood golems stood densely in the field. There are characteristics of several different creatures in the body: humans, half-dragon descendants, orcs, trolls, half-wolf lycanthropes... and each of them is tall and strong, and equipped with sophisticated weapons.
Looking at this army, Esther subconsciously covered her mouth. Even as an apprentice of a necromancer, she never thought of seeing the army of chimeric golems with her own eyes.
She returned the mirror to the instructor, and said that her voice was trembling: "The three good gods are up, this is really... amazing..."
Burris said dissatisfiedly: "My dear, you are a necromancer, please don't call the three good gods when nothing is wrong, that is not our god."
"Spoken words only, after all, I always have to talk like this..." Estee's eyes became more excited, "Teacher, is it possible that you have found the entrance to the Marsh of the Dead, so you let this army stand by fully armed? "
Burris's gaze was serious: "Yes, I have found the entrance. Next I will open a passage and summon the entrance directly to the gate of the mage tower."
Esther answered with excitement, "As long as you successfully pass through the Marsh of the Dead, you will be able to meet the Bone Maharaja!"
"Yes, I have been waiting for this day for a long time..." The "young" old mage frowned slightly, and gently rubbed the cover of the spell book next to him with his left hand. "When I was young, I had seen the bone maharaja. He was affected. He could not leave the swamp of the dead completely because of the curse, he could only be free for seven days every 100 years... More than sixty years ago, I was fortunate to meet him in those seven days. I exchanged a contract with him, if I If he can find a way to completely liberate him in his lifetime and let him return to our world, he will become my ally, sharing power and knowledge with me..."
Esther is even more excited, this is simply legendary experience, I am afraid that even the elders of the Arcane Federation have not experienced it. "Tutor, when do you plan to act?"
Burris smiled: "It's today. I have formed an army to deal with the danger of passing through the Marsh of the Dead. Esther, I need you to enter the Marsh of the Dead with me, and I am master of the bones The way to lift the curse, this process requires the assistance of others... and you are the best candidate for help."
After speaking, Burris stretched out his hand to the apprentice, and Esther leaned forward and helped the tutor who had no right hand, ears, or even hair. The two stood outside the door and stood on the floating dish, slowly descending to the bottom of the tower.
Burris first opened the gate of the mage tower, and then pointed his stick to the basement. The door of the basement then turned into a transparent gas film, and the golem army queued out of the gas. Several tall golems with troll characteristics are in charge of the first battle, followed by undead horses and cavalry, as well as a large number of archers and infantry.
The army filed out from the gate of the mage tower, standing by in the open. The two wizards boarded the chariot and were protected by the army in the middle position. There are several golems on both sides dedicated to close guards. Esther found that the chariot was carrying the Secret Art Fine Gold Coffin mentioned by the instructor. There was a crystal window on the top of the coffin, through which Burris' original body could be seen.
"You..." Esther wanted to say in particular: You even put on yourself a make-up, and the technique is quite good... Of course, she didn't say this, but changed it to something more meaningful. Question: "Teacher, with your original body, do you intend to let the Bone Maharaja do something for you?"
Burris said: "Yes. The power of the Bone Maharaja is superior to necromantic spells. Maybe he can help me strengthen this old-fashioned body... I don't want to give it up completely. After all, the homology of body and soul is a problem. It's still very important."
After speaking, Burris raised his arms and began to chant into the air. The hair-thin curses overflowed from his palm and danced with his spells. With the slight movements of his fingertips, he manipulated the curses, making them entangled and intertwined with each other, gradually forming a thin plane.
The more the plane weaves, the bigger and thicker the plot, forming an arched gate standing on the open ground. Burris put down his hand and stretched out his staff to make a hook, and with a creak, the door opened.
On the other side of the door is the blue-gray marsh of the dead from other world. There is no day and night in the world. The setting sun and the night sky on the sky are separated from each other, and the ground is always dense with smoke and dust, and there is no grass.
Burris gave an order, and the golem army began to pass through the gate and march towards another world. Estie was a little nervous, holding the armrests of the chariot tightly with both hands, and Burris thoughtfully comforted her: "Don't be afraid, it will go smoothly. ."
Esther bit her lip: "Teacher, I didn't know in advance that this plan will be implemented today, so... the spell I prepared is not perfect..."
Burris laughed: "It's okay, I don't need you to prepare any spells. You child is so honest, and you don't want to think about it. If I plan to let the two of us fight desperately, then why should I spend so long? Time to create such an army?"
Esther frowned: "Isn't it because we will meet enemies?"
"We will encounter enemies. We will encounter obstacles that are native to this plane. They are creatures formed by undead energy. They have no mind at all and will kill outsiders. But this is a small plane, native Not many creatures, our army is enough."
As he was talking, a cavalry team appeared on the distant horizon. The rider, wearing a bone-colored full body armor, riding a dark horse like a shadow, dashed towards the golem army at full speed as soon as he appeared. After getting closer, the wizards discovered that the weapons of these riders were actually on their bodies. During the charge, their right arms stretched out several feet, and a sharp giant sickle grew at the top.
Burris set up a barrier ball around the chariot. As for the battle, he intends to let the golem army solve it by itself. His golem army has an absolute advantage in number. If it is a war between humans, perhaps the number does not equal victory, but golems and unminded dead souls are not the same: they are not afraid of death, do not know pain, do not surrender, and do not care about tricks and deceptions. The mission is to kill the enemy, only to perform the task, not to be influenced by other things at all, so in this case, if the abilities of the single creatures are similar, then the advantage in the number of groups is quite important.
While the golems were fighting, the undead horse was still dragging the chariot forward. After a while, there was a complete silence outside the barrier. At least half of the golem army was damaged, and there were no more giant sickle cavalry. With the protection of the barrier ball, the wizards not only were not affected by the battle, but even their robes were as clean as ever. Esther knows that the mentor's spell lasts for a long time. As long as he doesn't take the initiative to dissolve it, it is estimated that the ball can last forever.
"I can't go on like this," Esther looked around, "Teacher, did you bring the restoration scroll? We can't repair so many golems with the two of us alone..."
"Why repair them?" Burris looked at her, "This is how consumables are used."
"But... we have lost too many golems! This wave of attacks is over, but if we do it a few more times..."
Burris smiled and said, "Silly boy, it's okay. Didn't I tell you, this is a very small one, we have already found the place we were looking for."
He raised his staff and pointed it forward. The clouds and fog in front are thicker, forming a cylindrical wall that completely obscures the line of sight, a bit like a slow-moving typhoon eye. Burris said that was the place where the Bone Maharaja lived. He lived in the black tower constructed by the fog of death, and was both a master and a prisoner.
With the support of the apprentice, Burris got off the chariot, raised the coffin by magic techniques, and let it slowly follow behind him. Standing under the tower made of the fog of death, he raised his head in awe: "From here on, we have to leave the army and go in by ourselves. By the way, Esther, how long have you been my apprentice?"
Esther thought for a while: "I was about thirteen when I first met you? Eleven years have passed. Why do you suddenly think of asking this?"
Burris said: "There is a word...I have asked others, but I have never asked you. Now I want to ask—His Royal Highness Estelin Pacia, how much are you willing to pay for magic? Facing the infinite Mysterious and unknown, are you willing to offer everything before the of Austrian law?"
They have reached the wall of fog, and they can get into the tower with one more step. Estie stopped where she was, looking at her teacher in confusion. She didn't understand why Burris would mention these suddenly, why he called her by her full name and honorific name suddenly.
Esther thought for a while and decided to tell the truth: "I don't know, mentor. I'm still young and my vision is too narrow, I can't answer this question rashly."
Burris sighed and motioned Estie to move on. The two walked side by side into the clouds, and Estie swept Burris's side with the foresight. The instructor smiled calmly, but she felt a shudder.