It wasn’t until late at night—under the resentful gaze of his cousin—that Michael finally let Lily go.
“Lily! You’re massaging my back again tonight!” she shouted as she stomped out of the training room.
Her voice echoed through most of the building.
Michael could only shake his head, half amused, half resigned.
The moment he stepped out, the automated cleaning bot whirred to life and began wiping away the sweat and grime coating the training floor.
Outside the training room, Michael closed the door behind him and extended his senses slightly, letting his awareness spread through the building.
There were three genuine life signals inside—himself, his aunt, and Lily.
But that didn’t mean the house only had three residents.
However, who else but his undead would he allow to stay indoors?
Aside from Lily and Beginning—his two oldest undead companions and the ones most familiar to his family—there were a few others.
Outside, stationed around the property like ornamental statues, stood several undead. Unless a supernatural paid close attention, they wouldn’t notice anything strange. Most people just assumed they were oddly designed security sculptures.
Inside, though, was a different story.
Thanks to Lily’s questionable sense of aesthetics, the household was now populated with female orc undead dressed in maid outfits.
Michael didn’t originally have this many female orcs. But after accepting a particular task from the Hunter Guild—and taking deliberate action during it—he’d acquired a decent number of female goblin corpses.
Don’t get the wrong idea.
Michael had no strange fetishes.
He simply wanted more mages in his army.
Some might think it was a waste of valuable military personnel—but Michael didn’t see it that way.
For example.
As Michael passed by his cousin’s room…
“Lily,” Michael heard his cousin speak. “Tsk, looks like I have to give you a new name.”
“D-don’… e-eed…” came the soft, broken reply from within.
Okay, she still spoke weirdly—but that didn’t change the fact that she was speaking.
This was the result of giving high-intelligence undead not only the opportunity to observe and learn, but also encouraging them to apply what they’d absorbed.
Progress wasn’t fast, but it was steady.
Michael had already started noticing small shifts in behavior across his more intelligent undead—little gestures, responses, even expressions. Of course, none of them had gained the emotional depth a living being would, but there was something… something sparking beneath the surface.
It was subtle.
But it was real.
Especially with Beginning and Lily, who had been around the longest.
Like Lily… she had started humming.
It wasn’t always in tune, and it wasn’t anything recognizable—but it was music.
Michael had no idea where she’d picked it up. Maybe from the TV. Maybe from his cousin. But the fact she was even capable of mimicking sound patterns was huge.
And perhaps more importantly… she had favorites.
Michael continued walking through the hallway, letting the familiar presence of his undead fill the space with a quiet, eerie comfort.
It was strange.
The more time passed, the less he saw them as just tools.
They were still weapons—make no mistake—but some of them were beginning to take on identities of their own.
As he stepped out into the moonlit garden, the night breeze greeted him with cool fingers brushing against his face.
Michael walked toward the open space in the garden and casted a spell.
“{Undead Summoning}”
A second later, the air shimmered and darkened above the summoning circle.
The portal to the Netherworld tore open without noise.
A heavy foot landed on the ground, then another.
From the swirling blackness stepped Spartan, his summoned high-human undead.
“Master,” Spartan greeted, kneeling with one fist to the ground. “Are we training again?”
Michael gave a small nod.
Being able to summon Spartan was also one of Michael recent wins.
Not only was this undead now summonable, it was also the same for his undead griffin.
Though the two had given Michael some levels of difficulties before he succeeded.
Michael stepped back, rolling his shoulders as he stared at Spartan.
“Yes,” he said simply. “Same rules as before. No weapons, no spells. Just bodies.”
“Yes, Master”
The moment the words left Spartan’s mouth, Michael shot forward.
A sharp breath, a tightened core, a pivot of the hip—his fist came in low, followed by an arcing kick toward Spartan’s ribs.
The high-human undead blocked with ease, absorbing the impact without moving an inch.
But that wasn’t the point.
Michael wasn’t trying to overpower Spartan.
He was trying to grind.
Thanks to the advantage in his hands, in two days Michael was able to raise the Mastery of his Basic Martial Arts skill to intermediate level.
His Spearmanship skill was also approaching Advanced Mastery.
For hours, Michael and Spartan moved beneath the moonlight—striking, dodging, countering.
Each session started the same: bare fists and feet.
The world around them faded—no sounds but breath and the soft shuffle of feet on grass.
Time ticked away.
By the time the first rays of dawn kissed the horizon, Michael finally stepped back, raising a hand.
“That’s enough.”
Spartan stopped mid-motion.
“Yes, Master.”
Michael didn’t respond, but simply dismissed Spartan back to the Netherworld.
Back in his room, he stripped and stepped into the bathroom.
Steam clung to the mirror as Michael stepped beneath the spray, letting the water sluice the grime from his body.
After drying off and putting on fresh clothes, Michael walked over to his bed and laid down.
His breathing slowed.
His body went still.
And in the next heartbeat, his consciousness shifted.
Back in the Land of Origin, a pair of green eyes opened.
Michael exhaled.
It was already bright outside.
As usual, by this time, Ace and Lia were no longer in the house.
Michael didn’t know where they went, nor did he care.
Whenever he needed them, he informed them beforehand.
And today, he had no plans for them.
Even if he did, they would’ve been of no use.
That was because he was heading once again into the core area of the capital.
It was finally time to give Mage Lian an answer.