Dark Wizard: Rise! My undead army!

Inside the Hall of the Mark of Truth, Lynn was deep in thought about the stigmata that represented his identity.

Hmm... Since I am the master of all things, the mark must naturally encompass all things, and in the end, all things will return to one.

I remember there was a very classic pattern in my past life that represented the starting point of "all things returning to one" and the origin of everything.

Thinking of this, Lynn withdrew his gaze and raised his right hand again.

His spiritual power condensed in his palm, and grayish-white light flowed from his fingertips, outlining a pattern in the air.

A Tai Chi symbol with a distinctly Western fantasy style appears on it.

The center is a circle, representing the primordial chaos of "Tao gives birth to One," with black and white yin-yang fish embracing each other within the circle.

The yin fish has a deep, dark gold background, while the yang fish is a bright, luminous gold-white. The two are connected end to end, forming a complete yin-yang cycle.

The eight outer golden branches spread outwards like bare roots, representing the extension of "three giving birth to all things." Each branch carries a derived rule, ultimately weaving the underlying logic of countless worlds.

Lynn withdrew his hand, and the gray-white pattern floated in mid-air, slowly rotating, carrying an inexplicable "Taoist charm" that attracted everyone's attention.

This mark... it's something!

Lynn watched for a while and then nodded.

It's alright, simple yet sophisticated.

From then on, this mark represented his identity.

When carrying this mark on missions, others can immediately recognize it as the mark of a Saint Mark Wizard, saving a lot of trouble.

The mechanical voice sounded again.

[The Stigmata Mark has been recorded. Lord of All Things, Lynn, the Stigmata Mark has been confirmed. Shall we send a promotion notice?]

Before Lynn could answer, Sersi's voice rang out first, making the decision for him.

"Tower Spirit, send a notice to all formal wizards and above in the academy: Lord of All Things, Lynn, has been promoted to Saint Mark and is now listed as a core combat force of the academy."

The ripples on the surface of the crystal ball spread even faster, and mechanical sounds echoed throughout the hall.

[Received, notification has been sent.]

At the same moment, the voice of the tower spirit, through the soul link network, spread to all the official-level and above wizard nameplates in the Bone Spire.

At that moment, all the plaques of formal wizards and above inside the Bone Spire vibrated simultaneously.

A repository for human remains.

[The Skeleton King] Victor was standing in front of the bookshelf, flipping through an ancient book left behind by an ancient necromancer.

He has recently been studying the construction methods of ancient undead, hoping to find clues to improve the coordinated combat capabilities of the skeletal legions.

Although ancient witchcraft knowledge was somewhat backward, some ancient witches had wildly imaginative ideas.

However, due to the imperfections of the witchcraft system at the time and the lack of knowledge, many ideas could not be realized.

Now, after tens of thousands of years of development and the invasion and absorption of knowledge from various worlds, the wizarding system has become extremely sophisticated, and perhaps some good ideas can be put into practice.

Now, Mentor [Undead Overlord] Negras shines brightly on the battlefield against the Endless Abyss, standing firm on the battlefield like a pillar of strength.

As an apprentice, Victor will eventually have to stand on the front line and fill the war mill with the undead legion.

Just as he was marveling at the ancient wizard's ideas, the Void Nameplate at his waist trembled.

As his thoughts focused on the nameplate, a message entered his mind.

[Congratulations to Lord Lynn, Lord of All Things, on your advancement to the Saint Mark. Effective immediately, you will be listed as a core combatant of the Academy.]

Victor's gaze sharpened slightly as he read.

"Lynn? That little apprentice from back then has also become a Saintly Mark?"

Back when Lynn first entered the academy, he even competed with Marfa for Lynn, but unfortunately, in the end, that old madman Gregor got the job.

At the time, I just thought he was a lucky guy with good talent. I never expected that this kid would cultivate so fast and get the Holy Mark so quickly.

Tsk... What a pity, why isn't it one of their own apprentices?

Otherwise... his Titan skeleton project would have been completed long ago.

...

Ghost Market, a shop of gears and bones.

Harold was squatting behind the counter repairing a damaged construct core when, halfway through the repair, the nameplate on his waist vibrated.

He put down the screwdriver, picked up the nameplate, glanced at it, and his hand trembled, causing the nameplate to fall directly to the ground.

No... Lynn has been promoted to a Stigmata?

How is this possible?!

I spent over a hundred years cultivating to finally reach the third-ring wizard level, how come this kid already has a holy mark?

He swallowed hard, picked up the nameplate, and wiped the dust off it.

"Stigmata... I, Harold, have actually managed to befriend a Stigmata Wizard..."

He stood up, walked around behind the counter twice, sat down, and then stood up again.

"No, I need to prepare a generous gift—Holy Marks! How many Holy Marks are there in the entire Bone Spire?"

He rubbed his hands together, already thinking about what to give as a gift.

...

Inside Marfa's laboratory, Alphonse, the long-absent school heartthrob, sat in a corner, holding a cup of hot tea.

His face was much whiter than before, his lips were a pale color, his eyelashes had grown longer, and his fingers had become thinner.

The already noble and elegant prince has become even more... gentle and beautiful?

He wore a deep purple robe embroidered with fine silver runes, a modified sorcerer's robe that Marfa had made for him, capable of accommodating the fluctuations of two souls simultaneously.

As for why there are two souls...

Alphonse was all alone; the rest area was empty, with only him sitting there.

He picked up his teacup, took a sip, and put it down.

Even though he was still sipping his tea, a woman's voice came directly from his body.

"Little Fangfang, super breaking news!! Lynn, who owes you magic stones, has been promoted to a Saintly Mark!"

That was the voice of the ghost girl, who, after completely merging with Alphonse, became one body with two souls, indistinguishable from one another.

Alphonse opened his mouth, and the voice was male.

"I saw it; there's a notice on the nameplate."

"Also, don't talk nonsense outside in the future. Those magic stones were my personal sponsorship to him. There's no such thing as owing him anything."

The woman's voice rang out again.

"You were once a genius on par with him, but now he has reached the Saint Mark, and you're still stuck in the first ring."

Laughter squeezed out of the same throat, tinged with schadenfreude.

Alphonse's voice was extremely calm.

"He is him, and I am me. Besides, my ambitions lie elsewhere. If it were truly just about becoming stronger, why would I have chosen Marfa as my mentor?"

The woman gave a soft "heh".

"Aren't you jealous of those who entered the university in the same batch?"

"What good is jealousy?" Alphonse put down his teacup, stood up, and walked to the window.

Outside the window was the perpetually dark sky of the Eternal Night Graveyard, with nineteen holy marks slowly rotating above the clouds.

He tapped his fingers lightly twice on the window frame. "He has his path, and I have mine to uphold."

The woman's voice was silent for a moment, then she chuckled softly. "You seem quite open-minded, but... I like it."

This time, his voice was much gentler, with a hint of apology.

If it weren't for my own shortcomings, Xiao Fangfang would probably be even more amazing than she is now.

Alphonse smiled faintly, having made his decision.

Now that her soul and emotions have been restored, the next step is to find a way to restore her physical body.

The Bone Spire has no shortage of corpses and various methods for crafting high-level undead, but what he wants is a real body.

A body with flesh and blood, capable of feeling warmth...