Chapter 57: Chapter 57: Upgrade Undead

Aiden let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding.

He stepped forward slowly, every movement sending sharp reminders of the wounds scattered across his body. Blood had dried stiff against his torn clothes. Some cuts had closed slightly, but others were still fresh. He couldn’t afford to waste strength.

With a flick of his fingers, he summoned another basic-grade undead.

“Gather wood,” Aiden muttered.

The skeleton obeyed instantly, disappearing into the trees. Aiden knelt beside the deer, wincing as his knees hit the forest floor. He pressed a hand against the animal’s side. Still warm.

Good.

The undead returned quickly, arms filled with dry branches and fallen twigs. It piled them together under Aiden’s silent instructions. He arranged the wood carefully, building a small fire pit between a few stones.

He struck a spark.

After a few tries, the fire caught. Thin smoke curled upward, weaving through the trees. The flames flickered weakly at first, then grew steadier, crackling softly as they consumed the dry wood.

The smell of smoke mixed with blood and earth.

Aiden cleaned the meat as best as he could with what little strength he had left. It wasn’t perfect, but it would do. He skewered strips of flesh onto sharpened sticks and held them over the fire.

Minutes passed.

The scent of roasting meat filled the air, rich and heavy. His stomach growled loudly this time, and he almost laughed at how desperate it sounded. He hadn’t realized just how close he was to collapsing again.

The two undead stood guard nearby, unmoving, like a dark sentinel carved from night itself.

Aiden stared into the flames while the meat cooked. His reflection from the puddles of water flickered in the firelight, pale face, tired eyes, dried blood on his cheek.

He didn’t look like the same person anymore.

He didn’t feel like the same person either.

When the meat was finally done, he didn’t wait. He tore into it, ignoring the heat, ignoring the way his hands shook. The taste was rough and slightly burnt, but to him, it was the best thing he had ever eaten.

With every bite, warmth slowly returned to his body.

After some time, he finally finished eating. He sat there for a while longer, staring at the dying fire until it burned down to embers. The forest had grown quiet again. Even the wind seemed softer now.

He had already unsummoned the two undead earlier. No point keeping them out.

The cave felt emptier without them.

Aiden didn’t leave. He couldn’t. His body was still in bad shape, deep cuts across his arms, bruised ribs, and a long gash along his side that throbbed every time he moved too fast. Running again in this condition would just get him killed.

So he stayed.

He rested, he slept in short intervals, waking at every small sound. The forest wasn’t safe. It would never be safe.

After another day passed, he finally felt a little better.

Not fully healed, but no longer on the brink of collapse.

Aiden stood at the mouth of the cave, looking out at the endless stretch of trees. The air was cooler this morning. Sunlight filtered through the branches, casting long shadows across the forest floor.

“I need to get out of here,” he muttered.

But if his memory was right, this forest wasn’t just filled with wild beasts. It was home to several bandit groups, men who preyed on travelers, merchants, and anyone unlucky enough to pass through.

Aiden’s eyes darkened slightly.

Bandits.

People who killed for money.

People who wouldn’t hesitate to hunt him down if there was a reward.

“Might as well make use of them,” he said quietly.

If they were going to be enemies anyway, he could at least turn them into experience.

Before moving, he closed his eyes and opened his status.

A faint translucent screen appeared before him.

[Name: Aiden (Level: 11)]

Class: Necromancer (Death God — Locked)

Basic-Grade Summon: 12

Bronze-Grade Summon: 3

Iron-Grade Summon: 0

Silver-Grade Summon: 0

Gold-Grade Summon: 0

Legendary-Grade Summon: 0

Mythical-Grade Summon: 0

Summon Slot Available: 15/19

Skills: Lord of the Dead, Bone Shield, Bone Spear, Undead Reinforcement, Undead Sight, Possession Command

Passive Skills: Mana Channeling, Necrotic Sustain

Skill Points: 2

Aiden was about to close the status screen when something clicked in his mind.

Level 11.

He froze.

“Right… Level 10.”

At Level 10, necromancers were supposed to unlock new skills. He had been so busy these past few days that he completely forgot. A bitter smile tugged at his lips. Almost dying had a way of scrambling priorities.

He focused again and navigated toward the Buy Skills section. The translucent screen shifted in front of him, lines of text rearranging themselves. But before he could open it, his eyes caught something new.

A tab he hadn’t seen before.

Upgrade Undead.

He frowned.

“That wasn’t there before.”

Curious, he selected it.

The screen darkened slightly, then changed. Three figures appeared, their images clearer than the rest.

Bonefist, Skullbreaker, and Vayne.

His three bronze-grade undead.

Unlike the basic-grade summons, mindless skeletons with identical frames, these three were different. They had presence.

Below Bonefist’s image, a new line appeared.

Current Stage: Body Tempering

Upgrade Available → Qi Sense Stage

Cost: 20,000 Gold Coins

Aiden blinked.

Then blinked again.

“Twenty… thousand?”

He had expected it to be expensive. Bronze-grade undead weren’t cheap assets. But, he sure didn’t expect to pay Twenty thousand gold coins to push Bonefist from Body Tempering to Qi Sense.

“That’s a lot.”

He crouched near the cave wall, leaning his back against the cold stone as he stared at the screen. The number didn’t change. It wasn’t a mistake.

Twenty thousand.

“So the next stage after Body Tempering is Qi Sense…” he muttered.

That alone was valuable information. Until now, he only had a rough idea of cultivation stages based on rumors and what he’d seen in the city. Body Tempering strengthened the flesh. Qi Sense meant sensing and manipulating energy.

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