A white light began to envelop the skeleton, bathing it with the power of a Supreme Skill!
It began to course through Michael's veins, with all eight elemental mana mixing together to create Unity.
As the words left his mouth, he came into contact with the Necrotic energy in the skeleton.
And just like with a normal living being, his Supreme Skill began to change and evolve the very mana structure of the skeleton, infusing it with the mysteries of Unity mana.
The Dark and Poison mana that was innately present in the skeleton began to be bombarded with Unity, with all elemental mana, and forced the Light mana to enter into the orbit of the Necrotic energy.
The Dark and Light mana that was supposed to cancel each other out, began creating a bond with each other other than destruction! The mysterious and contradicting relationships of the Unity mana somehow allowed the two to coexist within each other's orbit.
All the knowledge gained from observing the skeleton affected the awakening of this skeleton. Michael was sure that if he didn't know how Necrotic energy worked, he wouldn't have been able to awaken the undead creature even if he tried.
Slowly, the corrosive power of the necrotic energy began to be tamed, with it no longer destroying the limited consciousness inside the undead skeleton.
Every point of power inside the skeleton's ribs, all his 9 stars of mastery, began to be changed fundamentally as Light mana began to be infused in its entirety.
then…BOOM!
A shockwave of light exploded out from the skeleton, making Michael take a step back.
Even he was slightly blinded from the sight. It felt like he was looking directly at the sun. After all, this was the first time that he had ever awakened something this powerful.
After a few more seconds, the light subsided and the only thing that remained in the tomb was a normal looking skeleton standing upright.
The strings of necrotic energy surrounding the undead was gone, and only its bluish green eyes of light remained.
Michael thought he was looking at a normal skeleton from the school laboratory.
"Where…where am I?"
The skeleton looked at his hands. Even without a face, his expression of overwhelming confusion and uncertainty was clear.
It looked at Michael. "Was I…dead?"
He could only awkwardly nod his head. "Yes you were. You are standing on your tomb."
The skeleton looked around and saw the architecture of his own 'tomb'. His eyes showed no glint of recognition.
"I see…then can I assume that you are the necromancer that revived me from my death?"
"Technically no. I found you here as an undead creature, and I…awakened you. Do you remember who you are?" he asked the skeleton.
If Sir Jon's words were to be believed, then this tomb was the final resting place of General Grievous. It would be a wise guess for him to say that this was probably Grievous himself, in the bones.
"I…don't know. I have no recollection of who or what I was before," the skeleton said. "But…"
The skeleton then looked at his own bones. It couldn't help but try to grasp at an invisible sword in his hands. Just imagining it in his palm gave him a sense of…home.
"I was probably a great warrior in my past life," the skeleton said. "I can tell that my body is built for war. Wielding a weapon in my hand is as natural as it is breathing."
It then looked its own body, confused as to how it could move and talk of its own volition.
"Even though I know nothing about my past, I do know that an undead creature has no mind of its own. It only knows commands and destruction."
It then looked at Michael. "Are you a God?"
"No, no," he replied, showing his hands innocently. "I just have special powers."
"Hmmm… I do not know how much time has passed since my death, but magic seemed to have progressed much further than I anticipated. After all, even the grand wizards of our time cannot do what you have just done. At least…I think so."
The skeleton seemed perplexed at its own words, as if it didn't know why he knew that fact.
After a few seconds, the skeleton shook off its confusion and faced Michael.
"You are the only reason why I am alive right now," said the skeleton. "I can feel it. My very soul is indebted to yours."
"Nah. I just wanted to see how necromancy works," he said. "You're free to do whatever you want to do."
"If so, then please take me in as your companion. Even though I am nothing but bones, I still remember how to use it. My mind, if I even have one, is filled with knowledge of the past that may prove useful to you.
I have only one request. I wish to see the world as it is now. Even if everything had changed after I died, I am still clinging to the hope that something would rattle my brain and make me remember who I was before."
The skeleton's sincere request made Michael sympathetic. After all, if the Goddess hadn't allowed him to retain his memories after his reincarnation, he would also feel frustrated, feeling as if his whole life was missing from him.
"Sure, you can join us."
Michael wasn't going to reject a 9-star general from the ancient times. And judging from what the skeleton said, it seemed to at least remember some of its powers from before.
"Wait a minute!" said Fudge as he jumped out of Michael's shadow.
"Who are you, oh slimy one?" asked the skeleton.
"I am the esteemed pet of Master, the very first and only companion! However, since you seem a little bit strong, I am willing to let you join us…on one condition."
The skeleton immediately kneeled in front of Fudge. "I will treat you as my senior," he said.
"Hohoho! I didn't know you were such a nice guy! I'm fine with this now, Master!"
Fudge laughed like a maniac and jumped on top of the skeleton's skull.
Michael didn't know if he should tell Fudge that he was stepping on a 9-star realm fighter…but whatever. He seemed to be having fun and the general didn't seem to mind.
"By the way, what do you want to be called? I heard that your name was General Grievous or something."
"Hmm….that name means nothing to me," he said. "I will have to defer this to you. After all, you were the one who gave me my second life. It is also fitting that you give me my second name."
"Grieve it is then," he said.
The skeleton nodded and accepted Michael's name. Fudge then congratulated his junior and began telling him all about the rules and regulations for a junior to follow, including being respectful and the senior having first dibs in Michael's head pats.
"I guess we better head out. The chamber is about to collapse."
With all the necrotic energy absorbed by Grieve, the tomb no longer had any mana to sustain the lifespan of the pocket dimension.
The hallway had already collapsed from the previous fight with unawakened Grieve, so the portal back out was blocked.
Thankfully, Michael didn't have to worry about that.
Fudge lent one of his clones to Grieve, allowing all three of them to teleport safely back out of the tomb.