The effect of {Undead Revival} was straightforward.
It revived a corpse as an undead.
However, reviving a corpse could fail in three scenarios.
First was the mastery of the skill.
The success rate of {Undead Revival} depended heavily on its mastery level.
{Basic Mastery} was 20% success rate.
{Intermediate Mastery} was 50% success rate.
{Advanced Mastery} was 80% success rate.
{Perfect Mastery} rarely fails.
At {Perfect Mastery}, effects of a skill were said to evolve, but Michael was far from that level.
With his {Intermediate Mastery}, Michael's chances of success were only 50%.
Second was the strength difference.
Reviving a corpse also depended on the difference in strength between the necromancer and the corpse.
The {Mastery} level of {Undead Revival} wasn't everything.
If the strength difference was too great, reviving a corpse was likely to fail.
Forcing the process could even result in a backlash against the necromancer, as creating a contract with an undead required sacrificing a part of their soul.
This sacrificed fragment served as the link between the necromancer and the undead if the revival succeeded.
That fragment was represented as a contract slot on the Awakener panel.
The contract slot was essentially a representation of the necromancer's soul's strength.
As a necromancer grew stronger, their soul also became more powerful, creating additional contract slots.
A necromancer capable of gaining five extra slots per level had an exceptionally strong soul, which was a testament to their talent.
However, it wasn't as though individuals from other classes lacked strong souls. They did, which allowed them to create undead as well. But this was where the uniqueness of classes came into play.
Everyone could cook, but a non-chef could rarely match the skills of a master chef whose life revolved around cooking.
Or, as people said on Earth, it came down to a "skill issue."
The third factor was mana, which was directly tied to the strength of the corpse being used to create an undead.
Reviving a lion would require far more mana than reviving a rabbit, where the consumption might be barely noticeable.
Without sufficient mana, even the highest skill level would result in failure.
The stronger the corpse, the higher the mana consumption.
This was one of the reasons Necromancers were an intelligence-based class, alongside their role as a variant of mages.
This was why Michael always referred to himself as a fake necromancer.
Of course, the most important factor at the end of the day was the completeness of the corpse.
You couldn't create an effective undead from just the torso or fragmented remains. Attempting to do so would result in a defective undead.
Fortunately, the corpses Michael obtained from the Association were all intact, bearing only the scars of the battles that had brought them down.
Michael stared at the first forest wolf corpse in front of him.
Its green body was massive, even for its level. At only level 2, it stood almost a meter tall if upright.
Michael had brought three forest wolf corpses, all common rank two stars, with the highest being level 7. That one looked like it could stand as tall as him—Michael being quite tall at 5'9".
Fortunately, it wasn't an ironclad rule that stronger monsters always had larger bodies.
If unranked monsters were already his height, Michael couldn't imagine the size of higher-ranked ones.
Of course, this didn't mean there were no colossal strong monsters.
Michael remembered logging into the Supers Association forum for the first time and watching a Demigod Cultivator take down a hundred-meter-tall beast.
Michael cleared all distracting thoughts from his mind and took a deep breath to steady his nerves.
Once ready, he fixed his gaze on the forest wolf corpse before him and spoke in a firm, steady voice.
"{Undead Revival}"
Just like whenever he used {Basic Shot}, Michael immediately felt an instinctive awareness after casting {Undead Revival}, and both his hands began to move in mid-air.
Mana gathered at the tip of his fingers, forming a greenish-black light.
This was Michael's mana signature.
While mana itself was colorless, everyone had a unique signature that appeared when they used it.
Michael's was the eerie greenish-black light emitting from his fingertips.
Though surprised by the sight, as this was his first time casting a magic skill—which was, in fact, a spell—he focused on the awareness that accompanied {Undead Revival} and followed the movements it guided him to.
His hands moved swiftly in mid-air, and a greenish magic circle, filled with strange symbols, formed in front of him.
As the circle neared completion, Michael could feel his mana draining, but it remained manageable for now, as he hadn't reached the main part of the ritual yet.
Suddenly, the magic circle shrunk and shot into the body of the forest wolf.
A greenish-black gas started to emit from its corpse.
Immediately, Michael felt his mana draining rapidly.
The consumption only stopped after about 30% of his mana was used up.
However…
"I failed."
Reviving the forest wolf corpse as an undead had failed.
Though disappointed, Michael wasn't too downhearted.
He had expected this outcome, which was why he had started with the level 2 forest wolf corpse.
While necromancers could level up their undead, if he had started with the level 7 forest wolf and failed three times, reviving the level 2 one would take more time to reach the same level.
Of course, simply placing the level 7 corpse last wouldn't guarantee success.
But now that he had cast the skill for the first time, Michael had gained experience.
He didn't check his skill panel, but he was sure his proficiency level had improved slightly.
"I still have mana, so let's continue. But {Undead Revival} really drains mana, and this is only for a level 2 corpse."
Michael silently decided that after this, he'd raise his Intelligence stat.
He had 18 attribute points now, so it should be enough.
After resting for a while, Michael continued.
"{Undead Revival}"
A while later…
Michael finally succeeded.
Though he was panting slightly from mana exhaustion, Michael gazed at the standing forest wolf in front of him with an excited smile.
Its eyes were completely white, and its once green fur was now a pale, sickly grayish-green.
Feeling the connection with the undead, Michael commanded it to perform basic actions.
As he did so, he called up his panel in his mind.
'Status'
---
[Name: Michael Norman]
[Class: Necromancer Apprentice]
[Level: 5]
[EXP: 114/800]
[Strength: 2.5]
[Agility: 6.4]
[Constitution: 4.3]
[Intelligence: 8.5]
[Attribute Points: 18]
[Skills: Undead Summoning, Undead Revival, Detect, Basic Shot]
[Talent: Infinite Evolution]
[Class Skill: Contract Slot{1/10}]
[Gift: Mark Of Origin]
—
Sure enough, a contract slot was now taken.
"I finally have an undead!" Michael exclaimed, a wide grin spreading across his face. "Bye-bye, fake old me!"
Michael was gleeful. Fortunately, it only took him two tries to create an undead, and he hadn't wasted $4000.
But not even a few seconds later, Michael calmed down, his eyes drawn to another section in his panel.
"I wonder if there's a change now," Michael muttered as he turned his focus to view his Talent.
[Talent: Infinite Evolution]
Evolution Points: 4
Evolvable:
Undead Forest Wolf Lv. 2 (Sufficient evolution points, Can be evolved)
"Huh?" It took a second for Michael to fully react.
"It really did need me to have an undead before it works!" Michael roared in laughter, excited as he examined what his talent could do.
Talents were said to be incredibly useful, and Michael was especially hopeful considering the dominating name of his own.
"Undead Forest Wolf level 2? Isn't this my undead?" Michael confirmed, turning to look at the Forest Wolf in front of him.
[Undead Forest Wolf Lv. 2]
[Rank: Common★★]
"As expected," Michael muttered before returning his focus to the panel.
"Sufficient evolution points to evolve my undead? What does this mean?"
As soon as Michael thought about it, the content on the panel shifted.
[Undead Forest Wolf Lv. 2]
[Rank: Common★★]
[Evolve to Common★★★ for 1 Evolution point?]
"Wait, hold up?!"