The first thing Michael did was give a simple command.
Immediately, the massive wolf nodded in acknowledgment and slammed his forelegs into the ground. Thick vines erupted from the earth, twisting and weaving together at blinding speed until a large, enclosed dome formed over the clearing—hiding Michael and the ninety-plus undead surrounding him.
He didn’t do this for secrecy.
He did it because he knew what was coming.
At present, Michael had 104 contracted undead.
Eleven remained stationed in Aurora, guarding his family’s home.
Three more—Prince, Lucky, and Gale—stood apart.
Spartan, who had once occupied a contract slot, no longer did. His situation was... different now.
Michael inhaled slowly.
Then he did something he had never attempted before.
He evolved them all—at once.
The decision came from both necessity and impatience.
Evolving ninety undead individually would take hours, possibly days. And he didn’t have that kind of time.
So, he did it in bulk.
The moment his will confirmed the action, his evolution points drained like a burst dam.
Thousands vanished in a blink.
And around him, a wave of white light erupted.
Each undead—whether beast, humanoid, construct, or insect—began to glow.
It wasn’t speech, but a sound. Raw, unfiltered pain and instinct. They twisted and writhed, their bodies thrashing violently within the dome. Limbs cracked. Bones warped. Auras surged wildly.
Far more intense than evolving one or two at a time.
Yet Michael stood calmly, arms folded as the glow lit up his face.
He’d expected this much.
What he hadn’t expected... was what came after.
Necromancers had a unique trait—when one of their undead advanced a rank, it created a feedback loop that strengthened the summoner. That was already something Michael understood.
It wasn’t one undead evolving.
And among those, nearly all had been at just the right level for a rank-up to trigger the feedback immediately after their evolution completed.
A tremor ran through Michael’s body.
Raw and overwhelming.
Stats surged into him. Feedback loops stacked on each other, like an avalanche of strength crashing down from every direction. He staggered slightly, bracing a hand against his thigh.
His vision blurred for a moment, and his heartbeat pounded in his ears.
He hadn’t fully thought this part through.
Michael had always been careful about maximizing feedback. His key undead were leveled to the peak before evolving, ensuring the evolution would trigger a rank-up and maximize stat gain.
He deliberately hadn’t.
Because there were limits.
Experience was finite.
There was only so much EXP he and his undead could share. And evolution, by itself, already granted a solid increase in strength.
Rather than wasting experience to push the lesser undead to their level caps—experience that could instead fuel his own growth or empower his elites—Michael had chosen efficiency.
It was better that they be slightly weaker, so long as they remained strong enough to keep up.
It was that strategy that had allowed him to field ninety Rank 2 undead at once.
But in his excitement, he had underestimated one thing:
Even if they weren’t maximized, every single one of those undead had just advanced a rank.
And now, that feedback was flooding his body like a tidal wave.
His vision swam again.
Stat points kept pouring in.
And it wasn’t done yet.
Michael grit his teeth as he clenched his fists and forced his body to remain standing.
Inside the vine dome, the light of ninety evolutions still pulsed like a rising sun.
He could feel himself changing right alongside them.
[Your Strength stat has increased! x**]
[Your Agility stat has increased! x**]
[Your Constitution stat has increased! x**]
[Your Intelligence stat has increased! x**]
The moment the others evolution ended, Michael immediately called out his status panel.
[ Name: Michael Norman ]
[ Class: Adept Necromancer ]
[Strength: 135.75 (+85)]
[Agility: 166.51 (+100]
[Constitution: 191.12 (+95)]
[Intelligence: 227.32 (+25)]
[Attribute Points: 0]
[Your body is overflowing with power!]
[Your body is overflowing with power!]
[Your body is overflowing with power!]
[You haved gained the skill {Bull Strength}]
[You haved gained the skill {Limit Burst}]
[You haved gained the skill {Iron Skin}]
For the first time since his awakening, Michael got lucky—gaining not just one, but three new skills purely from his stat increases in his non main stat which was intelligence.
Suddenly, the panels in front of Michael started to flicker crazily.
[Advancement Quest: Have 10 Rank 2 Undead – Progress: 10/10]
[Your Rank Advancement Quest has been completed.]
[Do you wish to advance to Master Necromancer now?]
[Advancement Quest: Have 10 Rank 2 Undead – Progress: 11/10]
[Special circumstances have been observed regarding your Rank Advancement Quest.]
[You have exceeded the limit.]
[Creating a one-time Limit Break quest based on the conditions met.]
[Advancement Quest: Have 20 Rank 2 Undead – Progress: 11/20]
Time Limit: One Year.
Reward: Extra levels and other rewards depending on the overall situation surrounding the advanced undead.
And it didn’t stop. It continued.
[Advancement Quest: Have 20 Rank 1 Undead – Progress: 21/20]
[Special circumstances have been observed regarding your Rank Advancement Quest.]
[You have exceeded the limit.]
[Creating a one-time Limit Break quest based on the conditions met.]
[Advancement Quest: Have 30 Rank 2 Undead – Progress: 21/30]
Time Limit: Six Months
Reward: Extra levels and other rewards depending on the overall situation surrounding the advanced undead.
And it didn’t stop. It continued yet again.
[Advancement Quest: Have 30 Rank 1 Undead – Progress: 31/30]
[Special circumstances have been observed regarding your Rank Advancement Quest.]
[You have exceeded the limit.]
[Creating a one-time Limit Break quest based on the conditions met.]
[Advancement Quest: Have 50 Rank 2 Undead – Progress: 31/50]
Time Limit: One Month
Reward: Extra levels and other rewards depending on the overall situation surrounding the advanced undead.
And it still didn’t stop.