As Nyx approached the skeleton Gronir spoke: "If you want to devour one, you will have to take control first. This exercise is for you as well, Nyx."

Nyx stopped and looked at the teacher. Then she looked at me.

"You heard him Nyx. Training first, snacks later!" I told her.

Nyx did not look happy but she complied. She focused on one of the skeletons.

"What about my undead?" Kaito inquired. "I do not wish to keep this thing. Shall I simply release it?"

"You can, if you want to. Those undead are not very efficient, as you have discovered. However, they do contain a lot of necrotic mana. It is possible to improve them over time and it might lead to an evolution." Gronir replied.

"Evolution? Like tier three?" Tom asked, sounding excited.

"First they would need to become tier two. A tier three evolution is possible but would take a long time, if it ever happened. No, the interesting part here would be tier two. That is much more likely and could happen within a few years. If they evolve it will improve their mana flow and might lead to interesting mutations. They could gain inherent powers. It is a bit of a gamble, to be honest. Often nothing too interesting emerges." Gronir explained.

"Would it not be better to use a fresh corpse and enhance that to get a good undead? There are a lot of potions that can help, for example." I wondered.

"Indeed." Gronir replied. "Having undead naturally evolve has led to some discoveries but we have improved necromancy to a point where we can create better undead ourselves. At least better than those tier one. Natural undead are interesting once they have evolved. So you would be better off to try and capture exotic tier twos. Which is a dangerous thing. They are usually not just waiting around for you to take control."

"So why do we learn to control them? If it is better to make your own undead anyway." Tom asked.

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"Because you might find yourself in a situation where it is useful. In the army you could have a friendly necromancer in your unit fall. Grabbing their undead before they hurt our troops is important, for example." Gronir pointed out.

I had not considered that. Assassinating a necromancer with a large army would turn those undead loose. That was a major risk for the army. Did they have protocols for that?

Leo looked at me. "So a skilled necromancer could raise undead, release them and hand them over to someone else?"

Gronir stroked his beard. "In theory, yes. There have been necromancers who sold undead. It is a way to bypass elemental limitations. Like, you could purchase a draugr without being able to create one. It is a safer way than to hunt for one in the wild. However, you still need to be powerful enough to control them. And it has been shown that your own creations are often more attuned to you and therefore are more mana efficient. It is not just about a properly created undead."

"Koyuki, can I buy a cat?" Tom asked, suddenly.

"Um, I can't give tier threes away." I replied. Not that I would in any case. Unless the tier three requested it.

"It would be better if you two focused on your joint casting and made your own undead." Gronir told the twins.

A crunching sound interrupted our conversation. Nyx was sitting inside the cage, devouring a skeleton. The other skeletons ignored her.

"I see Nyx has successfully controlled one." Gronir mused.

Nyx ignored us, enjoying her meal. Her tail was held high as she chewed the bones. Watching her I had a question: "If they have a lot of necrotic mana, they must be great meals for other undead, right?"

Gronir nodded. "Indeed! This means that any higher tier undead who has naturally evolved might feed on the lower tiers. It helps them evolve even further."

Suddenly another revelation hit me. "A lot of that mana inside them is used to sustain them, right? Because they don't have a link? Partially they have so much mana because they have a full stomach?"

Gronir smiled. "Yes. Natural undead have to eat, just like the living. They either need to absorb necrotic mana from the air, or they have to devour something. Usually they devour the living, mind you. Only more intelligent undead tend to feed on other undead. Those skeletons have formed in an area with natural death mana. That means they are fully fed. They have lost some of that during transport and if you kept them locked in a cage they would eventually decay."

"I think I will leave the devouring to Nyx." Hatsumi said, looking at the skeletons.

"Vampires tend to devour things with blood. I am not sure if you could absorb the death mana from the bones. You might have to bite them…" Gronir mused.

"I will pass, thank you." Hatsumi declined.

"Curious. How do dullahans devour things?" Kaito asked.

"That I do not know, but I would be happy to find out." Gronir replied with a grin.

Kaito focused on the goblin skeleton. He stepped right in front of it. I also noticed that the uncontrolled tier one undead ignored my undead. I guess they only reacted to the living.

Kaito reached with his arm through the cage, touching the goblin. Then he summoned his frostfire. It started to engulf the skeleton. Slowly the bones dissolved inside the frostfire flames. Kaito took one hand and lifted his head from his neck. Then the flames were sucked into his neck. He put his head back on. "Huh. That was an interesting experience." He commented.

"Fascinating." Gronir replied, while watching closely.

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