Chapter 57: Necromancer

"Not an Undead Mage, but an Undead Mage?"

Fang Yi revealed a look of surprise; he had vaguely sensed the aura of the undead, but he had not expected it to be an Undead Mage.

An Undead Mage is a relatively standard undead profession.

They can summon skeletons and wandering spirits from the Dead Realm to assist the caster in battle; although the overall vibe is rather eerie, it is still within the range of public acceptance.

But an Undead Mage, the moment one appears, is like a Laoshu crossing the street.

They also control skeletons and wandering spirits to fight,

but the difference is that a Mage summons ownerless wandering spirits naturally produced by the Dead Realm, while these practitioners do everything entirely by themselves.

Skeletons and wandering spirits mostly come from Graveyards and Mass Graves.

They are adept at experiments, utilizing the bones of the dead and the residual soul aura to fabricate one undead creature after another.

As for the reason they are unwelcome:

Just think, when your relative is killed by an enemy, other teammates decide to help you one after another.

A priest raises their prayer beads, releasing holy energy, determined to help you eliminate the villain.

A Berserker grips their twin axes to cheer you on.

A Thief emerges from the shadows to stand by your side.

Only the Undead Mage raises their staff to summon a pile of skeletons, then points at them and says, "I will help you slay the enemy, and your dead wife and parents—oh right, and your infant son, I've also crafted him into a vengeful spirit; he can contribute too."

At this moment, do you want to kill the enemy first, or do you want to kill him first?

However, thinking of Orochimaru's past trail of evil deeds, treating life like blades of grass, and the human experiments he conducted in cooperation with Shimura Danzo to crack the Wood Release, it felt like the Undead Mage profession was indeed more suitable for him.

Including how Orochimaru later used himself for experiments to abandon his human identity and become a white-scaled giant snake, completely forsaking all morals and bottom lines related to humanity, just to live on more perfectly.

"Undead Mage?"

Upon receiving the information, Orochimaru's mouth curled up, and he couldn't help but let out a laugh.

Limited by the weakness of the ninja world and the narrowness of his own horizons, he had only just learned that there was such a path suitable for himself.

Reviled by others, hunted by others?

In the face of absolute truth, what is there to fear from these trifles?

Orochimaru had long since betrayed his village and his former close friends; even this trip to the Chunin Exams was intended to personally kill his elderly former master.

He feared no shackles or gazes of human society; he only wanted to pursue eternal life.

Undead Mage,

playing with souls and flesh; even one's own soul and flesh can be modified to become an undying undead.

"Come."

Orochimaru used the profession item without hesitation.

Bursts of pitch-black smoke frantically burrowed into his body and soul; the pain made him unable to stop himself from wailing.

Finally, having completely finished the job change, Orochimaru lay on the ground, his whole body wrapped in mud-like flesh, looking like an evil ghost crawled out of the Abyss.

He stood up,

picked up the Necromancy Magic Wand dropped by the goblin zombie, glanced at the massive corpse, and said, "What a foolish creature, to actually fuse such filthy flesh into itself?"

The most basic knowledge inheritance related to the Undead Mage appeared in his mind.

The flesh and soul of a more powerful lifeform can create a stronger and more perfect creature.

From the text left on the stone slab, Orochimaru even caught wind of terrifying creatures called Dragons in certain worlds, with lifespans exceeding tens of thousands of years, possessing powerful abilities that could easily destroy a country.

He hurriedly logged into the game, and after appearing in the Novice Village, he quickly opened the Game Mall.

"Just as the game merchant said, can one only query high-tier items after reaching a certain level?"

Orochimaru searched the Game Mall full of anticipation, but found no exchange items for dragon remains.

The system prompted that his level was insufficient.

There was, however, a pile of Sub-Dragon remains—monster skeletons that had undergone a transformation after being contaminated by Dragon Blood, or possessed thin dragon bloodlines.

The cheapest one cost as much as two hundred thousand, which was simply not an exchange item he could afford right now.

"These goblins cannot be wasted."

Orochimaru took the previously collected skeletons out of his inventory, and bursts of purple-black undead energy poured out.

This was a skill he had Awakened after becoming an Undead Mage: 【Bone Resurrection】.

An evil ability that summons soldiers by consuming flesh.

The goblin hand bones, leg bones, and other materials were quickly consumed, finally fusing into a scarlet-skinned goblin two meters tall, similar to the one created by the goblin in the Shilianchang.

Orochimaru mocked himself: "I was just laughing at others, yet I didn't expect my own strength to be nothing more than this."

He possessed a Ghoul Bloodline.

Although it was a primary bloodline, it had a natural affinity for the death attribute and provided bonuses when mastering death-attribute skills.

Therefore, although the appearance of this scarlet goblin was similar to the one in the Shilianchang, its combat power was stronger.

This was the reason for the high price of bloodlines.

According to the route planned by Fang Yi, ordinary players only choose to save money to exchange for a Bloodline when they encounter a bottleneck in leveling up and are desperate to improve their strength.

Only a special player like Orochimaru, who is obsessed with eternal life, would be willing to spend a high price at the beginning.

【Purchase of Experience Capsule successful, purchase of Proficiency Capsule successful.】

Orochimaru was wealthy and imposing, buying a large number of capsules directly from the Game Mall without feeling a pinch.

The Bone Resurrection skill was upgraded to level 5 in the blink of an eye.

Profession skills can be brought back to reality without certification.

But skill creations cannot.

Just like if Orochimaru were to buy flesh materials from the Game Mall and then use a skill to manufacture an undead monster, the essence of this undead monster would still belong to the game.

Fang Yi would absolutely never allow players to exploit such a loophole.

【Certification Scroll purchase successful!】

Orochimaru did not care in the slightest; he purchased the Certification Scroll directly and successfully certified the Scarlet Goblin.

After finishing this series of tasks, he slowly woke up.

"Lord Orochimaru!"

The Sound Ninja Four hurriedly knelt on the ground, not even daring to look Orochimaru in the eye.

In the short moment the other party had lost consciousness,

his entire person seemed to have undergone a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering change; the aura radiating from his body was even more cold and sinister. If he had previously been like a venomous snake, he was now like a dead soul returned from the Abyss, emitting a thick, chilling aura of death.

Orochimaru's voice was hoarse as he spoke: "All of you, rise. Thank you for your protection."

That is what he said,

but in reality, as soon as he logged into the game after the trial ended, he had already exchanged for a protective barrier to prevent sneak attacks following the game's prompt.

He would not trust anyone, not even Kimimaro, whom he had raised since childhood, let alone four experimental subjects.

After getting a taste of the game, Orochimaru decided to change his plans.

Orochimaru stuck out his tongue and licked his chin, saying: "Tayuya, have your summoning beast send a secret message to the spies embedded in Konoha, saying that the plan needs to be slightly altered."

He himself now required a massive amount of wealth.

Only then could he continuously exchange for flesh and blood materials to create powerful undead creatures, and the Ghoul bloodline also required rewards to be exchanged into reality.

The Sound Ninja Village was too small; he had only sold it for fifty thousand in rewards.

He even began to regret his impatience; he should have kept the Sound Ninja Village to generate a steady stream of wealth, which would have allowed for a long-term flow.

However, it did not matter; the Konoha before him was sufficiently vast.

A string of encrypted, strange characters was written on Tayuya's summoning beast, which then vanished via summoning.

The establishment of the Sound Ninja Village also had Danzou's contribution.

The two were still in secret contact; all along, it had been Danzou using Orochimaru to seek benefits, but this time, he would also use Danzou to realize his own ambitions.

(End of this chapter)