...

Lynch, of course, wasn’t thinking about such Legendary Equipment.

All he wanted were some Low Tier items, like a "Corpse-Storing Pouch," a "Skeletal Bracelet," and so on.

They were inscribed with special Negative Energy Arrays, forming a small space suitable for Undead Creatures to enter a state of slumber. Not only could these items house Undead Servants, but they could also slowly nourish their Soul Fire.

However, such equipment was invariably expensive. Furthermore, with the Holy Light Church suppressing Necromancers both openly and in secret, very few of these items ever made it to the open market.

Of course, this wasn’t a new problem for Lynch.

In fact, he had needed such an item ever since he returned to the academy two months ago.

Therefore, back when he went out to deal with the Black Corpse’s belongings, he’d asked several shops to inquire about such items for him, including his good dwarven friend and the Elf proprietor of Blackthorn.

Unfortunately, two months had passed, and with the academy’s examinations fast approaching, there was still no word.

Soon, Lynch arrived back at his private dormitory.

Just as he was about to push open the crude wooden fence, he noticed a letter in his mailbox.

Lynch picked up the letter and saw a blackthorn emblem on the envelope. His heart skipped a beat. He hastily broke the wax seal, pulled out the letter, and unfolded it to read.

The Elf proprietor’s elegant and neat handwriting filled the page.

The contents of the letter were roughly what he had expected.

In two days, at midnight, an underground auction would be held at a location outside Saint Roland City. A piece of Low Tier Undead Space Equipment called the "Skeletal Bracelet" was going to be on the block. The starting bid was about a thousand Gold Coins, but the letter advised Lynch to bring at least fifteen hundred.

The Elf proprietor offered to act as a sponsor to get Lynch a spot at the auction, but it would cost a fifty Gold Coin referral fee.

After reading the letter, Lynch felt a mix of joy and anxiety.

The joy, of course, came from finally having a lead on the item he desperately needed to store his minions. The anxiety came from the price—fifteen hundred Gold Coins was no small sum.

He had certainly earned a good amount recently, but he had also spent a lot on Awakening Potions and Focus Potions to level up quickly. Including what was left from selling his previous loot, he only had about seven or eight hundred Gold Coins on hand.

Back in his dorm, he carefully took stock of his assets.

Besides his Gold Coins, he also had a few pieces of Low Tier Magic Equipment: the Aqua Pendant, a Soul Slave Ring, a Skull Staff, the Banshee’s Kiss, and the Lightning Ring.

The Aqua Pendant wasn’t essential and could be sold, but it would only fetch one or two hundred Gold Coins at most. He couldn’t part with any of the other items.

’Looks like I’ll have to find another way to get the money.’

「The next day」

Lynch sprang into action.

First, he made the rounds among the Necromancer apprentices he knew. Relying on the goodwill and prestige he’d built up, he quickly raised about three hundred Gold Coins.

Next, he paid a visit to the dwarven blacksmith, Gordon Copperbeard. After sharing a round of drinks and listening to an earful of fantastical adventure stories, Gordon—despite being short on cash from expanding his "Water of Life" production—readily lent him two hundred Gold Coins.

All told, including the planned sale of the Aqua Pendant, the funds Lynch could muster came to just about fifteen hundred Gold Coins.

Things could change in a heartbeat at an auction; that amount of money wasn’t enough to give him peace of mind.

The "Skeletal Bracelet" was critically important. Lynch was determined to get it, no matter what.

As he was racking his brain, the images of three young women suddenly flashed through his mind.

’They all seem to be from noble families,’ he thought. ’They must be quite wealthy, right?’

"Don’t tell me the shortcut to power is really just living off a woman?" Lynch sighed, looking up at the heavens.

But he’d always been thick-skinned. When it came to increasing his power, a little shame was nothing.

Without hesitation, he quickly penned a letter. In it, he mentioned a couple of little inside jokes that only the four of them would know, and said he’d missed her terribly these past two months.

He then explained that he was short on cash and needed to borrow a thousand Gold Coins.

He added that, for personal reasons, it wasn’t convenient for them to meet at the moment.

All in all, it was a string of smooth lies.

He sealed the letter, found Maurice, and instructed him to be sure to deliver it personally into Avril Grant’s hands.

Then, Maurice went.

In less than an hour, he was back.

Then.

Maurice fell to his knees with a THUD. He kowtowed three times—THUMP, THUMP, THUMP—and exclaimed, "Godfather, please teach me your ways!"

Lynch gave him an annoyed kick. "Out with it."

Maurice dusted himself off and got up. He carefully pulled a reply letter from his coat, along with an unsigned bearer check from the Imperial Bank. The amount written on it was a staggering one thousand Gold Coins.

Maurice’s hands were trembling. He’d never seen so many Gold Coins in his entire life.

What’s more, Lynch had just written a single letter, and that cold, beautiful noblewoman, Miss Avril Grant, had obediently handed over a thousand Gold Coins. It was a god-tier skill!

If he, Maurice, had that kind of talent, why would he bother being a Necromancer’s apprentice? He’d just go marry into a noble family as a live-in husband!

"Alright, scram," Lynch waved his hand.

Just as Maurice was about to obey and leave, Lynch’s gaze turned cold. "If a single word of this gets out," he warned, "you can look forward to becoming one of my Skeleton Servants."

The sleazy apprentice, Maurice, felt a chill run down his spine. He quickly swore a solemn oath, then carefully scrambled out of Lynch’s private dormitory.

Outside the small courtyard.

Maurice couldn’t help but pump his fist, muttering excitedly, "Lynch is so damn amazing! That idiot Leon Hollis isn’t even worthy to drink Lynch’s bathwater."

Meanwhile, Lynch carefully put the check away. He stuffed the reply letter into a drawer without even glancing at it.

Without looking, he could roughly guess what was written in the letter.

With the thousand Gold Coins from Avril, Lynch’s financial situation eased considerably.

However, Lynch didn’t let his guard down. Black market auctions attracted all sorts of dangerous people. Winning the item he wanted was only the first step; getting it home safely would be the real challenge.

For this, he made thorough preparations.

「Two nights later」

The moon was hidden and the stars were sparse.

In a dense forest outside Saint Roland City, an ancient castle stood.

Lynch wore a set of old black Mage robes, his hood pulled down low, and his face was covered with a black cloth. He was wrapped tightly from head to toe, revealing only his eyes.

He didn’t approach the castle directly, instead stopping in the surrounding woods.

With a flicker of his will, his Bear Goblin Skeletons, undead goblin champions, and the Black Corpse—which he had retrieved from a temporary hiding spot—all dispersed without a sound. These core assets, which couldn’t be sent to the Netherworld, each found a place to lie in ambush.

On the far edge of the forest, Bone Mage and Red Rabbit commanded over a hundred Skeleton Servants, fanning out to form an encirclement. If things went south, they could at least create enough chaos to give him a chance to escape.

As for Bone Jade and Bone Valor, they were on standby in the Netherworld, ready to be summoned at any time.

This was mainly because, before he’d transmigrated, Lynch had read far too many web novels.

He knew that in those stories, the protagonist getting ambushed and robbed after a black market auction was an extremely common trope. He had to be fully prepared.

Once his forces were deployed and he’d confirmed there were no prying eyes, he straightened his robes and strode toward the ancient castle.

Two guards stood at the castle entrance. They were clad head-to-toe in heavy black armor and gave off the faint stench of blood. Clearly, they were hardened killers.

Lynch put on his most seasoned demeanor and calmly walked forward. Without a word, he handed over an invitation imprinted with a special Magic Mark.

One of the guards took it and, after a careful inspection, stepped aside to clear the way. "Go on in," he said in a low, raspy voice. "The auction is in the main hall of the lower level."

Lynch nodded, took back the invitation, and strode into the castle’s entrance hall.

But just as he was about to walk towards the stairs leading underground.

Suddenly, a crisp and pleasant female voice came from behind him.

"Excuse me, Necromancer. Please wait a moment."

Lynch froze. A chill went down his spine. ’This is bad...’ he thought.

...