I became a legion lich

240 Practice and training

“What’s going on here?” he asked doubtfully, noticing that several demihuman skeletons were fighting each other, but that should be impossible. Skeletons were incapable of harming their peers unless ordered by a superior, but there was no reason for any of their generals to order them to do so.

“This is not a patriarch fight, just training.” Vanilla approached Athos and explained the misunderstanding.

“You call this training?” Athos asked as he pointed to the fight between an ogre and orc skeleton. Both were using weapons made of corrupted iron, but they were fighting with all they had, even using their racial abilities.

The ogre wasn’t using giganticization as there was still a large amount of light in the world energy and the orc’s rage wasn’t at its peak for fighting another skeleton, but it was still an extremely violent fight.

“That’s how demihumans train, patriarch. Nothing better than real combat to temper the body.” Vanilla spoke confidently, making Athos feel nostalgic, although he didn’t understand why.

“I understand that well. I was also taught to fight in real combat rather than training.” Athos spoke with a nostalgic smile, only for his expression to sink. He was suddenly discouraged and shook his head to rid himself of the depressing thoughts.

‘There is no reason to think about the past.’ He repeated to himself.

“I’ll get some free space somewhere and practice magic, so keep on training.” Athos spoke and waved his hand to say goodbye to Vanilla, but an incredibly strong skeleton ogre approached him and stopped his path.

“Who are you?” Athos asked while using death vision, noticing that the skeleton was in the sixth layer of life, immediately recognizing it. “You are the ogre patriarch I killed.”

.....

“I am... the ancient patriarch... of the ogre clan.... I came here... to make a... request.” The former ogre patriarch nodded in agreement and spoke as politely as he could, but Athos did not understand a single word.

“He wants to ask something of you, patriarch.” Vanilla translated.

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‘I really need to learn the demi-human language.’ Athos thought as he ordered Vanilla to act as a translator temporarily.

“Since when have you been corrupted and what do you want to ask of me?” Athos asked curiously.

“The commander...Treevor...granted me...a few dozen...skeletons...and asked me...many questions.” The ex-patriarch spoke, reminding Athos that the skeletons had interrogated the main demihuman leaders, as the spirits were still unconscious.

“And my...request...I would...like to...take...the position...of general...which is...empty...currently...my subordinates...are also...fit...for similar...positions” The ex-patriarch asked and knelt down.

Athos looked doubtfully at the ogre skeleton. before shaking his head in denial. “I’ve tasked Treevor with choosing the next generals, so you must report to him. You will be part of the expedition’s army and must report to him.”

‘I passed the boring tasks to Treevor so I wouldn’t have to do them myself. I don’t care who gets the general job since they’re leaving anyway and I’ll forget about them the second they’re out of my sight.’ Athos really thought.

“Furthermore, the next leaders will be chosen based on intelligence, rather than just raw power. Of course, strength is still a prerequisite, but we need a leader capable of commanding several soldiers. If you are confident in your intelligence, just talk to Treevor.” Athos finished speaking and walked away to finally find a place to practice magic.

“It was a good try to make an honest request, but our patriarch doesn’t care about that, just how useful we can be to him. Commander Treevor is a bit more lenient and will likely accept your request, seeing as you’re in sixth layer and used to be a patriarch.” Vanilla approached the ogre and offered a helping hand.

“How did you...become...a general? You are...weaker...than me...and yet...in...a...higher...position.” The ogre patriarch stood up and asked curiously.

“I was lucky. I was rescued by the patriarch when the army was much smaller and I assumed the position of general naturally.” Vanilla happily replied. “Even after obtaining new, more powerful undead, our patriarch found it troublesome to keep changing generals.”

“But...choosing...more powerful...generals...wouldn’t...make...the army...stronger? Isn’t...that...the...patriarch’s...goal?” The ogre asked as he pondered Vanilla’s words, but the latter denied it.

“Actually, the generals don’t make much difference. In a regular army, the generals would have to lead the army and pass on orders, but the patriarch himself or the commander can move the army using mind link, so generals’ roles are mainly advisors. of the patriarch.” Vanilla explained.

“Furthermore, in a large-scale battle like the last time, our personal strength makes little difference. Our power comes from our numbers, and the generals only assume command when we separate ourselves from the patriarch, like the undead who have gone to north.” Vanilla finished speaking and patted the ogre on the arm.

“I think...understood. I’ll talk...to the commander...now.” The ogre thanked Vanilla and left to find Treevor.

‘I shouldn’t have told him that the patriarch didn’t want to personally name the next generals so he wouldn’t have to remember their names. The patriarch forgets most things he doesn’t find interesting and the names of new subordinates are included.’ Vanilla thought as she watched the ogre walk away.

A few hundred meters away, Athos finally found a suitable spot, far enough away that the noise of the demihumans training wouldn’t disturb him, but close enough that he wouldn’t be attacked by monsters.

‘Let’s start with the magic of darkness.’ Athos thought and began to accumulate a small amount of darkness in his palms, before increasing the concentration of darkness a little at a time.

‘My magic is obsolete for my current power level, but dark magic is even worse. I have a few months of practice with the element, while I have almost five years of experience with the other elements.’ Athos thought as he found it difficult to control the growing amount of darkness, but he refused to give in.

Even though his control over magic and his sensitivity to mana had increased, darkness was still an unfamiliar element for Athos. He had already gained better control over darkness after curing several undead and their experiments, but it didn’t even compare to the control he had over the other.

“Luckily, now the darkness literally flows through my veins, so I’m learning to control it much faster than before.” Athos murmured, trying to form the darkness he had gathered and realizing how difficult it was.

The darkness was ethereal and it changed shape easily, but any lapse in concentration and it would become shapeless again. Athos was more or less used to this, since fire and air were similar, but the ratio was completely different.

‘This is a lot harder than it looks. When I practiced dark magic to heal skeletons before, I just had to spread the darkness or focus it in one place, but shaping the darkness is an almost impossible task.’ He thought in frustration as he tried and failed once again to form a perfect sphere of darkness.

Athos felt like reducing the concentration of darkness to make his job easier, but he persevered. The darkness was at a level suitable for his current core and he could feel that he was advancing and the darkness in his hands was less and less volatile, although it still warped from time to time.

After some trial and error, Athos was finally able to maintain a perfect sphere and increased the difficulty, trying to form a cube. He continued making several different shapes and increasing the difficulty with each step.

In less than an hour, Athos was able to form all the shapes he knew, in two hours he started to form simple weapons. In four hours, he was able to create a second weapon and keep it steady.

In eight hours, there were five spheres of perfect darkness around him. It was an incredible feat and progress in record time, but it required Athos’s full focus and a single moment of distraction would make it all go away.

‘Now comes the hard part.’ Athos thought and slowly began to move, stopping whenever the spheres of darkness threatened to warp. He was feeling a severe headache from using magic non-stop for nearly eight hours and would be forced to stop here whether he succeeded or not.

Athos moved slowly, but his full focus was on the spheres of darkness and he didn’t notice the uneven ground, stumbling stupidly and wasting all his hard work.

“Shit! So much effort to fail for such a dumb mistake at the end!” Athos exclaimed irritably, but he didn’t try to get up, he just spit out the earth that got into his mouth and threw himself on the ground abruptly.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. It was progress that would make even geniuses jealous.” Treevor sat beside him as he encouraged him, but Athos was so intent on his task that he didn’t notice the skeleton until it said something, squealing like a little girl in fright.