Dark Wizard: Rise! My undead army!

Two hourglasses later, Lynn stood in the center of the canyon. His dimensional space and the Ring of the Dead were completely filled, and even the Bone Ring he carried with him was filled with several.

He looked around.

Death Valley, a perilous place that once deterred countless students and caused a surge of souls, has now become a true "dead land".

There was no more moss on the rock face, no more wailing ghosts in the cave, and even the concentration of negative energy in the air had decreased significantly.

For at least a few years, this place will be just an ordinary, barren valley.

"It's time to go."

Lynn mounted Megatron, recalled all the other undead, and prepared to return to the academy.

I've gained so much from this trip; I need to process it properly and transform it into real strength.

Megatron strode forward, carrying his master out of the canyon and quickly heading towards the academy.

…Half a day later, under the dim light of the Eternal Night Graveyard, five figures wrapped in dark gray apprentice robes cautiously approached the entrance to Death Valley.

The leader was a pale-faced third-class apprentice who tightly gripped a bone staff engraved with detection runes.

He was followed by two men and two women, all of whom were only second-class apprentices. Their breathing was unstable, indicating that they had only recently been promoted.

"Senior Brother Noah, are we really going in?" The only female apprentice in the group asked, her voice trembling.

"Our mentor only told us to collect 'soul moss samples,' but didn't mention going into Death Valley..."

"Shut up, Lillian." Noah turned around and glared at her.

"Soul moss only grows best in the crevices of rocks on the outskirts of Death Valley. If you fail to complete the mission, your resource quota for next month will be halved. Are you going to take responsibility?"

Lillian dared not speak again.

These junior apprentices rely entirely on completing tasks assigned by the academy and their mentors to obtain their monthly cultivation resources. Losing even one month's worth of resources would severely hinder their cultivation.

Noah took a deep breath and summoned a bone raven to investigate.

This is the standard procedure for Bone Spire apprentices when carrying out dangerous missions—first use cheap undead to scout ahead and reduce risk.

After all, there are plenty of bone crows in the Evernight Graveyard; you can catch them as many as you want.

Several pairs of eyes watched intently as the bone crow flew into the canyon.

Noah, a third-class apprentice, had not learned skills such as "shared vision of the dead" and could only wait for the bone crow to return after its reconnaissance.

One minute, two minutes, three minutes...

The bone crow successfully passed through the entrance, circled low over the outer edge of the canyon, then flew back and landed on Noah's shoulder, letting out a soft "caw".

—No abnormalities.

Noah frowned. After all, the bone crow didn't have much intelligence, and its detection wasn't very reliable.

He controlled the bone crow to fly in again, this time instructing it to fly low and hover around the edge of the canyon for observation.

If the bone crow can return safely while flying at low altitude, it means that it is indeed quite safe inside.

Ten minutes later, the bone crow returned.

—No abnormalities found.

They encountered no undead attacks, and didn't even detect a trace of soul energy fluctuations.

"Something's not right," Noah murmured. "According to the Academy's 'Eternal Night Graveyard Ecological Atlas,' the density of the undead in Death Valley should be at the 'extremely high' level."

"Even if an apprentice just cleaned it up, there shouldn't be not a single wandering ghost left..."

It's too safe, which is actually the biggest anomaly!

Even if the undead in Death Valley fight fiercely, they shouldn't all perish together, right?

Another male apprentice in the group whispered, "Could it be... that a level 4 Calamity-level being has been born?"

These words made everyone turn pale.

One of the unspoken rules of the Eternal Night Graveyard is that native undead of formal wizard level (Cataclysmic level or above) are considered "unpredictable and dangerous units" before the academy has "given them a heads-up".

They don't abide by the tacit agreement of "not attacking apprentices first"—in fact, many newly promoted Calamity-level undead do their first thing is to hunt down nearby apprentices to devour their fresh flesh.

"The Bone Raven's detection level is too low; it may not be able to detect the existence of a level 4 Bone Raven."

Noah's voice was a little hoarse. "But if it's true... if the few of us go in, we'll just be throwing our lives away."

He recalled the tragedy at the "Stinking Swamp" three months earlier.

A six-person apprentice team accidentally trespassed into the territory of a newly promoted level 4 "Swamp Lord" and was dragged into a quagmire without even being able to send out a distress signal.

Later, the academy sent a formal wizard who casually dismantled the unruly lord and retrieved a few soul tablets.

"Let's retreat." Noah turned around decisively. "Mission failure is better than losing our lives here."

"But what about the mentor..." Lillian wanted to say something more.

"I'll explain," Noah interrupted her. "Just say that the ecology of Death Valley is abnormal, and there's a suspected birth of an unregistered level 4 Calamity-level undead. I suggest that the academy send a formal wizard to investigate. Our mentor won't blame us."

The five people breathed a sigh of relief and almost jogged away from the canyon entrance.

Two days later.

At the Bone Spire, a new record has appeared on the "Abnormal Area Report" section of the mission lobby:

[Area]: Death Valley (Coordinates: Evernight Graveyard - North District - 74)

[Abnormal Description]: The undead density has plummeted to "zero", the ecological structure has collapsed, and there is a suspected birth of an unregistered level 4 calamity-level undead. It is recommended to send a certified wizard to investigate.

[Reporter]: Noah (Second-level Apprentice in the Necromancer Class)

[Note]: I have abandoned the "Soul Moss Gathering" quest and applied for a quest exemption.

The butler behind the counter glanced at the report, casually stamped it with "to be verified," and tossed the record into a pile of files to the side.

There are more than a dozen reports like this every month of "suspected LV4 birth", but only one or two of them actually need to be dealt with.

As for Death Valley...

"Let's talk about it when we have time."

He muttered something to himself and turned to deal with the more urgent "war supplies dispatch order".

It's just a gathering place for the undead, and even if a calamity-level undead were to be born, it wouldn't cause any trouble.

War supplies are different; they affect the outcome of the entire war and determine the rise and fall of the Bone Spire Academy. They cannot be taken lightly.

The deacon simply issued a notice informing the apprentices of the strange occurrences in Death Valley and then ignored it.

The anomalies in Death Valley were thus temporarily put on hold.

...

Lynn was completely unaware of all this, as he was currently returning to the academy along a main road.

Megatron was incredibly fast, his calamity-level pressure spreading outwards without stopping.

Lynn's senses were fully activated, and he had a clear understanding of everything within an 800-meter radius.

If they encounter an undead that interests them, Megatron will take a detour and capture a few of its babies to increase the diversity of the undead army.

Now that they possess power, the entire Eternal Night Graveyard wasteland is at their disposal.

Just then, a familiar figure entered my senses.

Lynn was slightly speechless; it was Mary, whom he hadn't seen in a long time...