Necromancer Dreams of Mechs Chapter 37: Chapter 43

Read chapter 37 of Necromancer Dreams of Mechs by Magic on NovelPedia.

Chapter 37: Necro Mech R&D To say I was excited would be like saying your child’s birth or your first perfect score was “pleasant.” Melodramatic understatement. The rush that surged through me annihilated every emotion that had been crushing me. I felt like a child again, tearing open Christmas morning — only instead of a toy, Santa had handed me a fully functional suit of mecha armor. I would never forget that first day: the day I got my first mechanized armor. I had built it, worn it, played with it. That had been the best Christmas. Even now, that memory glowed in my mind, untouched by the years of loss that followed. Nothing good had come after that. I was still clawing through the grief of my parents’ deaths. But this feeling? This was a hundred times stronger. My hand hovered forward, brushing the glowing screen. It shifted before my touch, vanishing into a new display — a numbered list. [1. Current Necro Mech Minions] [2. Current Mechanized Necro Armors] [3. Minion Research] [4. Necro Tech Research] [5. Necro Tech Forge] A grin spread across my face. I dove into the first two options. The minions list gave me Chip, Crack, Highlander, and Stabby — the Necro Blitz. The armors list showed Bones, my Bone Walker. Nothing spectacular beyond their rarity and rank. Uncommon for Chip, Crack, and Bones. Rare for Stabby. Unique for Highlander. I pushed onward, self-conscious of my fumbling gestures with all my unranked minions “watching.” I learned to navigate with thought alone. Selecting [3. Minion Research], two glowing icons appeared. At the top of the screen shimmered the number 58 beside a swirling silver “S.” The first icon was an image of metal crawling up bone. [Necro Smithing | Level 0] Current Effect: Increase your understanding of combining necromantic materials with Necro Mechs by 0% . Higher levels unlock more intricate designs and superior results. Next Level Cost: 1 Spirit Points. I itched to dump everything into it, but 58 Spirit Points only went so far. Unsummoning minions could return points, but they’d only re-manifest as base bone fodder until I grew stronger. The second icon: a bone etched with circuits. [Necro Technomancy | Level 0] Current Effect: Increase your mastery of combining necromancy with metal manipulation, for both yourself and your minions, by 0% . Next Level Cost: 1 Spirit Points. “Technomancy?” I muttered, wrinkling my nose. “Yes,” Harold replied, flicking a tool off my workbench. My bone hand snatched it before it hit the floor. My metal cat glared accusingly before continuing. “Think of it as welding sorcery to weapons your world imagined but could never create. Magic makes them real.” I rubbed my chin — then yelped as Harold bit my gloved hand. “Hey, you metal wannabe-lion!” I growled, cradling it. “Pay attention. Time is not in our favor. Finish the research and forge review before the tutorial. This is the longest, most critical system for you to grasp. Do not drift.” “Got it.” He leapt down, tail twitching, leaving me with the glowing menu. I switched to [4. Necro Tech Research]. One icon: Bones in Bone Walker form. [Grave Titan Forging | | Level 1] Current Effect: +1% understanding of Necro Mechanized Armor design. Next Level Cost: 2 Spirit Points. Exciting — until I saw the pitiful “1%.” I sighed and selected [5. Necro Tech Forge]. The world blinked. My body vanished. I stood in a wireframe matrix, endless and sterile. “Welcome to the Necro Tech Forge, Allen,” a voice intoned. “At last, we speak.” The voice came from everywhere — deep, layered, harmonized like a chorus of gods and machines. A figure formed from wireframe lines, then muscle, then flesh, its gender shifting like flickering code. My mind strained to imagine what this Architect should be, and the form coalesced into my chosen image: a middle-aged woman with golden eyes, glasses perched on her nose, and the attire of a librarian. She looked herself over and smiled. “Curious. A librarian’s garb. Most boys your age imagine me