Friends who often kill people know that killing is easy, but dealing with the corpse is difficult.
What Ivan had to do now... was to deal with this 'freshly made' corpse.
As Ivan turned on the light above the experimental table.
The rust-colored light poured down silently, illuminating the entire underground laboratory, and also the corpse of the young girl that Ivan had laid flat on the experimental table.
Ivan hastily recorded his first experiment in refining a Zombie in his notebook.
"Experiment Code: Zombie."
"First Record."
"The deceased is a girl approximately 14 years old, unable to determine bloodline from appearance, subcutaneous muscles are stiff and pale, no obvious external injuries, skin shows signs of corpse spots in the diffusion stage, meeting all conditions for refining a Zombie."
"Accidental Death due to heart disease... doesn't seem like it, it's a bit strange, more like excessive blood loss..."
Ivan silently recalled the contents recorded in the Raising Corpse Records.
Zombies originally had many restrictions, such as being born in a Yin year and Yin day, unable to see the sun, unable to hear rooster crows, fearing black dog blood, and so on.
However, after thousands of years of cultivation and evolution, the Corpse Raising Sect had long since remedied these shortcomings one by one, forming a secret technique called """Corpse Refining Art""".
Zombies refined with this method, except for still fearing things of extreme Yang and rigidity, have almost completely shed these weaknesses.
Ivan placed his palm on the girl's flat and smooth lower abdomen, the cold touch reaching deep into his heart.
The next moment, Ivan's mental energy mobilized surging energy, flowing through his palm into the girl's body, and began refining according to the method recorded in """Corpse Refining Art""".
It's working!
As the Raising Corpse Records took effect, the girl's corpse began to gradually change.
Her skin became increasingly pale and stiff, her nails grew long and sharp like a beast's, and she even grew interlocking Zombie fangs like sharp blades.
Fine cold sweat seeped from Ivan's forehead.
Once, twice... Each time the """Corpse Refining Art""" was fully cast, the girl's corpse transformed a little faster.
Repeating this dozens of times, each time Ivan's mental energy was depleted, he would not hesitate to enter a state of meditation, quickly recover, and then throw himself back into the complex refining process.
"Record: Four hours have passed, the hardening speed of the deceased's muscles and skin has slowed down, the refining is nearing the final stage."
Ivan stopped recording, put the pen aside, and with a hint of fatigue and anticipation, stared intently at the slender corpse.
It was a thin, naked girl, the outline of her bones clearly visible beneath her pale skin.
Her washed face could be considered delicate; when the corpse was acquired, it must have been treated with preservation and anti-odor spells, so the body was preserved quite well.
People in this Wizard world do not have the custom of burial for peace; randomly burying corpses can easily breed some unclean Ya Space monsters.
Therefore, the deceased are either sent into the crematorium to be burned to ash, or thrown into the salty sea tide to be swallowed — the latter is more popular, as spots in the crematorium also cost money.
The Necromancy School periodically and legally acquires some corpses with good spirituality and appearance.
Whenever this happens, the people queuing up to sell the corpses of their relatives can always completely block the road.
While deceased family members are certainly worth mourning, the gold pounds received are even more worth celebrating; it's simply a matter of 'need to add money'.
The girl's body had gradually turned to a color approaching White Jade, which is a characteristic of nearing refinement into a "White Jade Zombie".
According to the methods recorded in the Raising Corpse Records, a Zombie is divided into many levels according to the different stages of absorbing Yin energy and blood energy.
The first stage of a Zombie's formation is the White Jade Zombie, which possesses defensive power far exceeding that of ordinary people; ordinary knives and swords can no longer harm it in the slightest.
Further up are the Black Gold Zombie, Flying Zombie General... As for the legendary "Ba", it is only mentioned in a few strokes in the Raising Corpse Records, with unclear details.
Feeling that the time was almost ripe, Ivan bit his finger and used the blood from his fingertip to draw a blood charm on the girl's chest.
The blood charm instantly formed, silently merged into the pure white flesh, forming a dark red mark like a tattoo.
This blood charm is the fundamental way for the caster to control the Zombie; once there is a mistake, not only will all previous efforts be wasted, but it is also very easy to be backlashed by the out-of-control Zombie.
Fortunately, Ivan held his breath and focused, steadily completing this step.
The next moment, the girl who had been dead for a long time opened her eyes.
...
A bit cold.
This was Vivian's first feeling after waking up.
A bone-chilling cold surrounded her, but this coldness, like ripples on water, enveloped her, bringing a strange sense of security.
Vivian was a bit confused; in her chaotic mind, besides the name "Vivian", there was nothing else.
She didn't have much intelligence and could only act on instinct.
In Vivian's sensory world, there was only a warm shadow, like a torch, standing there, which naturally made her feel a sense of closeness.
That was Ivan's direction.
The blood charm had taken effect, making Vivian naturally recognize that Ivan was her master.
Ivan watched the Zombie girl in front of him, trying to issue commands and control her to perform certain actions.
The girl occasionally uttered a short, vague syllable, Vivian, which should be her name from when she was alive.
Ivan added a line to his experimental notebook.
"Subject transformation complete, retains only a trace of sentience, mostly acts on instinct, can obey simple commands, combat power unknown, pending testing."
After commanding Vivian to put on a large black cloak, Ivan began to test Vivian's combat power... strength test, speed test, and resilience.
The test results were better than Ivan had imagined.
Vivian's physical quality was astonishingly strong; she could easily bend metal objects, crush the ground, and her straight-line sprint was frighteningly fast...
In addition, Vivian's skin and muscles seemed to have a certain resistance to sword slashes and spell attacks.
According to the Wizard world's definition of such summoned creatures, Vivian had already fully reached the strength level of a One-Ring Necromantic creation.
Furthermore, due to Vivian's own spell resistance, most One-Ring Wizards might not even be her match!
Just then, the panel's prompt sounded at the right moment, making Ivan's spirits lift.
【Achievement Unlocked: Successfully refined the first Zombie using Raising Corpse Records】
【Obtained White Title: Corpse Driver】
【Corpse Driver: When fighting alongside Zombies, the power of the Zombies you control is increased by 20%】
This sudden reward was a pleasant surprise.
In the Demonic Cultivator Ancestor Simulator, there was also a hidden achievement system; completing various hidden achievements would grant titles of different levels.
Unfortunately, this 【Corpse Driver】 passive skill can only be triggered during combat, so Ivan couldn't test Vivian's upper limit of strength for now.
Putting the matter of the passive skill aside, Ivan began to consider his next course of action.
Refining a Zombie only enhanced his self-preservation ability, which was not of much help to his current predicament.
The academy's coercion was getting closer... Could he only choose to flee and leave Horton Port?
Ivan frowned; the criminal Wizard hunting team in Horton Port specifically hunted Black Wizards on wanted lists.
Being targeted meant living a life of licking blood from a knife's edge.
Unless absolutely necessary, he didn't want to take this path.
Moreover, by staying at Horton Wizard Academy, he could obtain more resource support...
Wizard research... Ivan glanced sideways at the Zombie girl Vivian standing beside him, and a vague idea suddenly emerged in his mind.
"""Corpse Refining Art"""... could it be transformed into a result of Wizard research?