My destination is the Arvilgen Forest on the northwestern part of the duchy, that has some places where Crystal Fiber Flower grows.

I had to walk there, and the center of the duchy was far away. My first stop is at Argent City, that is the heart of the county where Red Stone Barony is located, the Argent Heart County of the Argent family. I plan on taking a caravan from there towards Arvilgen Forest.

Argent city is a hundred and thirty miles from here, or a little more than 200 kilometers. With my new healthy body, I can walk twenty-one miles in eight hours. It will take a little more than six days to get there.

I had no horse since those are expensive and I have gone bankrupt to buy the supplementary ingredients for the Magic Ritual Circle. So my two bags were still over my shoulders.

For the first two nights, I camped on the fields with the tent I bought in the town, nothing bad happened until now, which is normal.

It's hard for bandits to attack single people with no horses, carriages or retainers since they are hard to spot. Even if some bandits did see me, I would be ignored since I didn't wear fine clothes or looked like a n.o.ble in any way. I was only cleaner because Lord Angus let me borrow a bottle with a Clear Water spell for bathing, drinking and was.h.i.+ng my clothing, which is good since I am not used to be without bathing for a long time.

But… Something happened at noon of the third day.

"Looks like you have company."Said Sixth with a devilish chuckle.

I was resting when he said that, that's when I saw a group of twenty-three people coming towards me wielding either swords or daggers and donning thick fur clothing.

The twenty-odd people stopped in front of me, and a tall man with big muscles went forward with a big sneer on his face.

"White-faced n.o.ble pig! Hand over your stuff or face me and my boys' blades to your neck!"The man said.

Getting up, I looked at him with my usual poker face.

"I am not a n.o.ble. I'm just a commoner traveling towards Argent City in search of a job. I have nothing on me but rations and my clothing."I said.

Besides rations and clothing, I really had nothing else. Even my gold was already spent on the materials I bought, all of which I left stashed in my room.

The bandit looked at me and snorted.

"Hmpf! You aren't a n.o.ble you say? How the h.e.l.l are you so clean then you motherf.u.c.ker?! Do you take me for someone stupid?"He said.

He was indeed stupid for trying to rob a n.o.ble, even a b.a.s.t.a.r.d n.o.ble with no inheritance, but I wouldn't say that to his face.

"No, sir! I really am just a peasant!"I said, still not showing my fear.

Seeing my poker face, the big bandit took it for arrogance and said nothing, only swinging his sword towards my chest with monstrous strength.

Seeing that, I fell backward and landed on my b.u.t.t. Thankfully, the sword didn't hit me, and because of that and I successfully avoided death.

But when the sword swung past me, I could feel a gush of air that sent me rolling backward for two meters, making my body ache all over.

When the dizziness pa.s.sed, I looked again at the big bandit that was smiling in satisfaction. My face now showed true fear, and I almost peed my pants from the shock.

"Uh… What bad luck!"Sixth said.

He said that because the man was able to form that gust of air with a swing of his sword, so even though he wasn't a martial artist, he was surely training to become one.

Out of pure reflex and fear, I waved my hands in the air forming three weird motions.

When I noticed that nothing happened and that my hands were trembling, my fear increased even more.

"Caml yourself! Those trembling hands can't even hold a paperweight, much less weave mana."

The bandit looked at my attempt to cast a spell while laughing, he probably thought I was trying to beg for forgiveness but was too scared to do so.

Calming myself, I repeated the gestures again, slowly this time.

When I completed them, three vortexes formed, one on each of my hands and another on my forehead.

Those vortexes became three white shadows that flew towards the big bandit in front of me in the same speed as a crossbow bolt.

Spurt

Blood gushed from the bandit's chest, as he fell to the ground.

"That one just kicked the bucket for sure."Sixth said with an entertained smile.

Both, me and the bandits were stunned because of the sudden fall of the big bandit, but my hands didn't stop even though I was scared and shocked, they moved involuntarily in the way I had prepared to beforehand regardless of my shock.

That a big stroke of luck, since I was too afraid to think and that involuntary reaction saved me since the gestures now were taking longer to execute.

When the other Bandits managed to react, I had already finished my motions and two vortexes appeared from my hands, sending some kind of black mist into the air, making the bandits stop their charge in fear.

The mist entered the Big Bandit's body through his pores, and his skin turned pale, his muscles convulsed and his body trembled in constant spasms for a few seconds before stopping.

Right before the eyes of the shocked twenty bandits and me, the corpse of the big bandit got up.

"You forgot to say: RISE MY CHILDREN!! Like a necromancer should… Even though it's just one."

Ignoring Sixth's remark, I looked at the rising bandit.

He looked exactly like when he was alive, but the three things on his chest, which looked like white arrows, were still stuck on it; but the wound wasn't bleeding, only the bloodstains on the fur clothes remained.

The Bandit took hold of his sword and ran towards the bandits, swinging towards the nearest one and beheading him…

But that wasn't all.

The swing was followed by a black wave of energy that could be seen by the naked eye and beheaded all of the other bandits. The energy continued for a meter after killing the last bandit before dissipating.

"OP. There's really a big difference between people who can use mana and those that can't." Sixth said, slightly unsatisfied with the fast fight. I never paid attention to his remarks, since until now, I was really afraid of dying.

After killing his previous companions, the bandit sheathed his sword and walked towards me. He was a head taller and I immediately felt pressure from him.

But that towering figure suddenly lowered its height, kneeling in front of me with his hand on his chest, lowering his head in subservience.

"Ghoul Warrior, Albert, pays his respects to his liege, Lord Knight."He said, not looking at me directly in the eye.

This man, Albert, was a Ghoul Warrior raised from a martial artist in training. He completely entered the level of Apprentice Martial Artist after becoming a ghoul.

His skin was pale from the blood that was replaced by necrotic energy, the wounds that revealed only flesh, leaked a black mist…

He was the first man I ever killed, and my first undead.