“I save everyone in my family. It’s hard to lose friends, but your relatives can never be replaced.” That was the answer the first person gave.

“Hmm, that’s logical enough. Very well, you pass this round. Ah, perhaps I should add a rule. Nobody can repeat any of the previous answers, so be original. Now, the next person.”

“I-I only have my parents and one sibling. I pick three family members and two friends.” With that answer, they fell dead to the floor.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. So any relative outside your immediate family is worth less? Truly, you mortals don’t know the meaning of shame. Next.”

The same line of thinking entered the minds of everyone there. If nobody could save their whole family now, then what kind of answer were they supposed to give? Was it the answer itself that mattered, the logic behind it, or the mix of both? But if both, was there still a difference in how much one mattered over the other?

“I pick all five of my friends. None of my family members are alive, and I was kicked out of my clan by my extended relatives. My friends are the only support I have, so I choose to save them.”

‘Of course, of course. You can’t save the already deceased, and if the rest don’t want you, then you owe them nothing. You too have passed. Now for the next one.”

The next three tried to give their own answers, and attempted to spin unique justifications for them. However, the dragon did not approve of any of them, killing each one of them. Now it was down to Emil and one person after him, and then that round of the game would be done.

‘What do I say? I can’t repeat any of the answers that passed, but nothing else has worked. Six variations of the combination of friends and family and the logic for them got taken already. Gods help me, please. If you let me live, I’ll drop out of school and join a monastery and live my life out as a cleric.’ To Emil, it felt like every answer he thought of had already been used by someone else. But to simply remain silent and not give a response would mean being killed, just like that.

In the mere seconds that followed, his mind worked harder than it had ever before. There were only two qualifications it needed to use to form an answer. Something unique, and pleased the dragon. The only two that had passed had picked all of one group, and had used logic the monster had agreed with.

Emil’s shirt became soaked with sweat as he feverishly poured over every word from the dragon’s prompt. There had to be a clue somewhere in there, a key, anything that could give him an idea of what to say and remain alive.

The dragon itself was an undead, skeletal being. A creature of immense magical might and mastery over the arcane, with full control over their own ability to use magic. Powerful enough to instantly kill them just by willing it. It was something ancient, so ancient that none of them had ever heard of its kind before. Was there something hidden in those facts that he could use?

It was then that something clicked. Seven words from what it had said for the question. It wanted an answer that pleased it, that was the only thing that mattered. He had no better option, so all Emil could do was stake his life on amusing the dragon with his answer.

“I pick none. The question said I control their lives, so I’ll take that literally in the same way you currently control ours. I take their lives for myself.” Emil shut his eyes, hoping that his death would at least be painless.

The dragon didn’t say anything, but nor did it immediately kill him off. So when Emil opened his eyes again, he saw that it only stared at him. It picked itself up from the ground, and trudged closer to them. The remaining four humans winced, from the terrible sound of hundreds of bones scraping against it each other as it moved. When the undead monster was close enough, it lowered its skull down until it was right in front of Emil.

All he could see were its row upon row of teeth. Each tooth was long as his arm. If it didn’t use magic to instantly kill him, the dragon could just as easily crush and rip him apart with its fangs. But even though its eye sockets were not outside his vision, now more than ever before, it felt as though it was able to see and study every bit of his mind and soul.

“Yes… perhaps. There is some potential in you. The other two have slightly more, but your personality is a little more compatible. The next one… less of both.” The man who was supposed to have answered after Emil dropped dead. Whatever the dragon was thinking of now, it was seemingly no longer interested in the original question and game.

“Ah, you have the least knowledge about dungeons, it seems. Yet you came out here seeking an artifact purely to improve your performance in your studies? How… desperate. You’re the first group in a long, long time that I have met. But in the distant past, there were others who answered the question I gave. A few gave me the same answer as you, but in their hearts, they did so out of arrogance and hoped to outsmart me. But you gave it in the hopes it would amuse me, and used a decent line of thinking to reach that assumption. Hmmm, I’ve made my decision.”

The only other two members of the group were then killed as well. Of their original team of fifteen, Emil was now the sole survivor. He heard buzzing behind him, and couldn’t help but glance back. In the little time that had passed, the body of the Combat Mage had already been covered in a swarm of insects. Nothing would be left of those that had died here. Their bodies would be reduced to nothing but food for the bugs.

“Now, you’re the only one that’s left. For that, I shall grant you the honor of knowing my name. I am Alterum, the last of the dragons. I know your name already, little mortal. But you may speak it and introduce yourself properly. Tell me a few things about yourself.”

“I… my name is Emil Prodit. I am an Apprentice Mage at First Light Academy. I am the eldest brother of five, and my Grade is C+. My best skills are Summoning and Illusion magic, but my specialty is the former.”

“C+ Grade? Ahh, I see it now in your mind. You mortals actually did something rather clever. You managed to devise a system to keep track of your progress, such a thing didn’t exist during my time. It seems there are two types of magic skills: general knowledge dedicated solely by a level, and specialties with both a level and tier. What a fascinating idea.” Alterum stepped back again from Emil.

“But you are probably wondering what will happen to you now. Do not worry, I will allow you to live. Well, spiritually speaking, but we shall get to that later. For now, since your kind is seemingly ignorant of dragons and our history, I shall give you a summary of why I am here. Long ago, the gods you worship and my species split the world between us. They had the land and seas with you mortals, while we ruled the sky. Jealous of us, the envious gods gathered their strength and launched a war. One that we inevitably lost, with our smaller numbers.” The dragon looked up to the ceiling, and was quiet for a moment.

“None of my kind were spared. As we fell, one by one, they stole our strength for themselves before killing my brothers and sisters. When there were only a few of us left, I was the leader. I knew that inevitably, we would be defeated as well. So I made a decision. They took our power while we still lived and breathed. But for as much strength as there is in the magic of the living, I knew there was more in the magic of the dead. It was against our customs to use such magic, its existence had always been secret knowledge known to only a few. But I knew that I could make a choice. And I chose to kill them myself and become the ultimate expression of undeath.”

The dragon stomped over to the edge of the cavern, and whipped its skeletal tail against the wall. Like a gong that had been struck, a powerful ringing blasted out and echoed around. There was a gash was left in the stone from where the tail had slashed it. But within moments, the wall seemed to become alive and mold itself over the damaged part.

“They could not kill me, death itself had lost its grip over my spirit. But I was still new to being undead, and lacked mastery over the art of death magic. As such, they sealed me away in this place. A prison meant to constantly adapt itself to me. With the intent that no matter what I did or how powerful I became, it would always be there to evolve and keep me contained. I hoped that one day, I would grow stronger than it. To reach a point where it would eventually meet a limit and no longer be able to keep up with me. But that day has not yet arrived, so here I remain. I sense a question in you, speak it.”

“Okay… but why am I still alive? I know I wasn’t the smartest or the strongest mage here. So even the other two had given you good answers, why did you kill them and not me instead? You mentioned I had some potential, but… potential for what?”

“Well, to become my servant, of course. The power I can immediately gain from you and your fellow mortals’ deaths would not be enough to set me free. I had initially just wanted some entertainment, but your answer gave me a far better idea. It is a pity that I had already killed the strongest in your team, he had more potential to grow in power, but proved to be unable to will himself past his fear. But in short, I see you as an investment I can make.”

“An… investment?” Emil asked, confused as to what that exactly meant.

“Yes, I shall offer you a contract. You can either accept it, or die here, it’s your choice. I can modify your soul, using this system of yours as a base. I can change you from being a meager Mage to becoming a Necromancer. Too much power at once would be too much for your mortal form to handle. As such, I shall give you just enough to start with, and allow you to cultivate it on your own. The growth in magical might you shall experience will be unlike anything you have felt before. For even a taste of the power of death is greater than any form of the arcane.”

“A Necromancer.” Emil slowly repeated aloud.

“Yes, a master over undeath. For now, you will be a mortal only able to use some of it. But as your body adjusts to the power, it will change as your strength grows. You will slowly become undead, but be far more than some mindless zombie. Your skin will become cold, your heart will be still and unbeating. You will no longer be able to taste with your tongue or smell with your nose. All aspects of life will become no more than memories.” The dragon continued to speak as it walked back to him.

But even that, with time, shall fade. Until one day, the very concept of having been a living being will feel foreign and strange. Instead, you will become so much more. In all of the history of creation, I have known only one other being who walked this path. It was a fellow dragon, who lived even before me. When he reached the final stage of this transformation and was its peak, he dubbed himself a ‘lich’.”

But what actually made it an investment, then? What could this ancient and powerful being possibly get out of giving him this power? Emil didn’t know, but he also didn’t want to ask about it aloud. For he didn’t want to seem as though he was being rude in his response to the dragon’s offer.

“Well, of course, I’m not making an offer for free. This will be a contract where I do expect something in exchange. I cannot break free of this place on my own. But this prison is only meant to keep me in, which is why you had such a relatively easy time entering it. If you gather enough power, you very well be able to destroy my prison from the outside. But freeing me alone won’t be enough. I do not know how much strength the gods have now compared to when I fought them. They very well may have only grown stronger as well. So you will also need to be my general and raise an army of undead to act as my footsoldiers in the future battles to come.”

“But how am I supposed to go about doing that? I doubt any of the other mages would appreciate me making a bunch of undead. Plus, if the word gets out, the gods might even intervene and just smite me if they recognize the power you gave me. Even if they don’t do so directly, there’s also just their clerics and paladins that might kill me, right?”

It was strange, he was suddenly fine with asking questions. As though some part of him had said that it was now okay to do so.

“Your concern is justified, but fear not. As I said, this power was a secret even during my own time. If anyone detects the presence of the undead, they will likely attribute it to a supernatural event, and not your work. And for the gods themselves to take notice, you will need to become powerful enough to be considered a threat to them. By the time you’ve reached that point, I will be free and they will stand no chance.”

Alterum reached a claw and lightly pressed it against Emil’s head.

“You shall build me an army, you shall forge a kingdom of undead for me to rule over. When I have overthrown the gods and retake the skies, you shall be the one who represents me on this mortal earth. You shall be beyond the boundary of mortals and their childish use of the arcane. Do you accept this offer? If not, then you shall die here and now.”

It felt like heavy weights were suddenly dropped onto his shoulders. Beads of sweat rolled off Emil’s chin and dropped to the ground. He had been fine speaking just moments before, but now his throat felt dry and tight. It took everything he had to force his next words out.

“I accept your offer.”