A/N: Alright guys! To answer some things, I believe Chronomancer is something you can only get when you're more than level 70 as Ainz mentioned that was when you'd need countermeasures to it, so he probably won't get it right away.
Azukka, Ainz was kind of involved in her creation since he changed her character sheet sort of.
Thanks for the class suggestions, but Ainz is still going to be mainly a necromancer and relying on summons more initially to keep himself out of danger. I guess that kind of already fits with what was suggested in the reviews anyway though.
I don't plan on making this fanfic M rated, so there won't be any detailed 18+ scenes. Such stuff will only be implied, not described in detail.
Lastly, I'd like to say that I disagree with people saying that Ainz acted as he did only because of his Undead nature. Ainz has been shown to prefer being good to being bad, where possible, and as such probably fits more along the course of a "neutral" character rather than a pure evil one. Also, he was brought up as a normal member of society in the world of 2138, right? As in he knows that stealing and killing are wrong, like anyone else would.
Even in the side story though, he occasionally mentions being okay with stealing if it would suit his purpose. He wouldn't do that to his NPCs obviously- so that means that he does have some code of ethics and something, probably his undead nature, or karmic rating, or even something like the skill Dark Wisdom (it is called "Dark Wisdom" for a reason- maybe it makes you tend to evil?) was influencing him. Even if he grew up poor, he must have had a good concept of morals drilled into him.
He has none of that in this story though.
All said and done though, I'm glad a lot of you are enjoying this!
Suzuki groaned. This was not working out well for him.
He was level fifty-six. Someone who had a maximum arsenal of at least 172 spells, out of which barely over a hundred were being used. Out of them only three were eighth tier spells, despite the fact that he was just a level off from growing to level fifty-seven and about to gain access to ninth tier spells.
They were: Summon Undead 8th & Death thanks to his levels in Necromancy, and Dark Pulse thanks to his levels in Umbramancy.
This would not do. It didn't matter how powerful your stats were as a magic caster, a spell that was very good in one situation could be absolutely terrible in another. As such, a variety of spells was a crucial component of a caster's strength. A magic caster with a limited spell selection was like a warrior who fought with one hand tied behind his back.
It wasn't out of a lack of effort- it was just that he didn't like any of the choices that were given to him. And it appeared that the progression system of this world was being far more stingy with the spells it was going to let him learn that it had been earlier, much like it was in Yggdrasil.
The spells he could learn were not worth learning in his opinion.
This, combined with the fact that he didn't have any good items, meant that even now he probably couldn't beat any of the Pleiades aside from maybe Entoma in one-on-one combat.
He would deal with this in Yggdrasil by purchasing or winning certain books, or completing certain quests, or fighting certain bosses- things he couldn't do in this world.
What of the spells of this world? While watching someone cast Magic Board Suzuki found that the option to learn it appeared in his mind- he didn't of course, but the reason he could learn it so easily was most likely because it was a first tier spell. He couldn't do it with some of the stronger spells he had witnessed up till now, but as it was, none of those spells would have interested him anyway.
If things continued like this, at level one hundred, he would have an arsenal of only 240 spells or so.
As it was, studying new spells didn't really suit him- he was not a wizard, but a sorcerer after all, and his magic should've come from within.
No solution to this predicament came to him.
As he was pacing around thinking of this, he noticed a large procession of carriages carrying the flag of the Royal Family. It was one of the few emblems that Suzuki had bothered to memorize since coming to this world. No doubt these were the first of the may carriages to come carrying grain to this city in preparation for war with the Empire. The emblem of the Royal Family was enough to deter any thieves and as such only an absolute idiot would dare to steal from them.
A person that stupid probably didn't even exist in this world, let alone the Kingdom.
Suzuki had spent most of the week doing nothing, given how shaken he was by his experience with the demon tree. He had even woken up in a cold sweat the first two nights, but now the nightmares seemed to be gone.
The world however, was marching forward as usual. And no matter how he felt, he would be swept aside if he didn't also march forward along with it.
Seeing the carriages planted the seeds of an idea in his head. "Albedo- I want to run some experiments outside the city. Fine?"
Albedo, who had been silently walking beside him, nodded as she understood.
The two of them ducked into a dark alleyway where they wouldn't be seen- Suzuki cast an anti-divination spell just in case and confirmed no one was watching them.
The two of them weren't in this dark place for reasons that many onlookers would assume- as a matter of fact while the two of them had made out several times with Suzuki even occasionally copping a feel, Albedo still hadn't met the requirements to ride her Bicorn.
Part of the reason for that was that Suzuki's guilt had returned- it had been one thing for him to act when he had been overwhelmed by emotions back then when he first kissed her, but no matter how much he regretted doing it now there was no way to close Pandora's Box.
He really did in fact like Albedo very much. For one, she practically carried the team.
Since Suzuki had learned Greater Teleportation this meant that they could travel far more easily now. Teleportation had been deemed to be too risky to be used, but with a new reliable spell, they could get around to places in the blink of an eye. As a matter of fact, it was really the only thing that Suzuki felt he contributed to their team, meaning he was basically acting as a glorified taxi service for the two of them.
Albedo still would probably be considered to contribute 98-99% to the success of their team- but despite this she still considered any success they gained to be due to "Suzuki-sama's unparalleled wisdom and leadership!"
It was for the purposes of teleporting away from any prying eyes that they had ducked into this alleyway.
Suzuki grabbed onto Albedo's waist- and honestly speaking it probably would've been far easier for Suzuki to take their relationship further if Albedo didn't seem so... eager to start all the time. It made him remember that he was the one who had changed her settings to be like this... then again on the other hand if he hadn't she might've still been like this...
He shook his head to clear his thoughts. His feelings for Albedo were clear, but his thoughts on whether or not it was alright for him to proceed were very mixed.
He then focused on their destination.
They appeared in the forested regions a few miles north of E-Rantel they had visited earlier on a mission to clear out a horde of monsters. Suzuki was sure that after they had cleared the area, other monsters must've migrated to the area.
Sure enough, they ran into a group of monsters just forty feet away. Strictly speaking, being Adamantite adventurers, they shouldn't have been hunting such weak creatures and leaving them for others, but Suzuki needed to test a few theories of his.
There were three ogres accompanied by about twenty goblins, who had probably been enslaved by the ogres.
Not that it meant that Suzuki would grant them any mercy.
"Death!" Suzuki said, and the spell killed one of the ogres instantly. His necromancy-based skills were not boosted due to any racial levels as they would've been had he been Momonga, but given the vast level difference between them the spell was pretty much guaranteed to succeed.
The loud sound of the ogre hitting the ground distracted the group of monsters so that Suzuki could now cast another spell. "Summon Undead 8th!"
A Grim Reaper appeared. It was a monster that was somewhat similar in appearance to a Doom Lord, but it didn't have its ability that drained its HP or a crown atop its head.
It did however, have an area-of-effect ability that could cause instant death and a number of other negative statuses, but it had no need to use it as its scythe cut through the monster horde like paper.
"Excellently done, Suzuki-sama," Albedo said. Suzuki was pretty sure that Albedo would even praise the way he pooped in the morning if he ever allowed her to be inside the bathroom with him (which she had insisted on after she had become even more protective of him following his injury at the hands of the demon tree). Suzuki didn't see killing such weak enemies as anything worth praise though.
Suzuki had not come here just to test those spells though. "Create Undead!"
This third tier spell made a zombie out of the corpse of one of the ogres. Based on what he had read about necromancy in this world, this zombie would be a permanent summon unlike in Yggdrasil where it would've eventually vanished.
Now what to do... he could use the spell over and over to zombify the others, or he could instead have the zombie ogre zombify them. The first method would involve wasting a bit of mana, but in the second method, if the original ogre was ever destroyed the other zombies would be too.
Perhaps he should try something else for now. He moved over to a slain goblin. "Create Low Tier Undead!"
It was a skill he had gained recently after he beat the demon tree. He only had four uses of it a day rather than the twenty he had as Momonga, and from experience, he guessed he would gain the skill Create Mid Tier Undead when he passed level sixty if he assigned more levels to his necromancy classes.
An Elder Lich rose from the corpse of the goblin. Suzuki then created a Skeleton, Bone Vulture, and Wraith with his other three uses for the day, and then simply zombified the others with Create Undead.
"Now..." Suzuki muttered to himself. Would these undead vanish in forty minutes like in Yggdrasil? Or would they remain in this world like the zombies did?
He had summoned a few of these weak undead when he had been in his hotel room, but he had not used any corpses and they had vanished. As such, it was only a matter of time.
When an hour had passed and the undead still stood, Suzuki was satisfied. Now to move on to the next part of the plan.
He had been able to create zombies for a long time, ever since the incident at the graveyard as a matter of fact, but he hadn't as he didn't see any use for them. Now, however, that had changed given he could teleport.
"Albedo, what do you think of this idea?" Suzuki asked her. "I think that we should make a sort of hideout of ours away from prying eyes, somewhere like where we fought that demon tree."
While they were in good graces with the Kingdom, this could change and they might need to run away someday. It was something Suzuki had thought about when he had seen the hideout where he had fought Brain Unglaus. He could even return to such a place to recover his mana if he ever ran out in the middle of a battle through teleportation.
Only thing was that before, there had been no good locations close to them and it was going to be hard to maintain such a place.
Now that he had a number of workers and a lich to supervise them, as well as the ability to travel long distances in an instant, such a thing should have been easy to accomplish.
"Indeed, it is a wonderful idea, Suzuki-sama!" Albedo said. "We could easily create a place rivalling the greatest palaces in the world!"
Suzuki wasn't sure about whether or not Albedo really thought this was a good idea or if she was just going along with him, but if she didn't outright oppose it, it was probably fine.
"Alright then, let's go there!" Suzuki said. His summons did their best to try and touch some part of him so they would be teleported with him, but it was clear that it would take him two or three trips to transport everyone.
The land where the tree had been was still mostly barren, but Suzuki felt that they could get enough trees from the surrounding area.
"So we should start digging here, no?" Albedo asked.
Suzuki was snapped out of his thoughts. "E-Eh? Dig?" He had thought about building a cabin or something of the sort.
"Indeed- we can create another little Nazarick for ourselves here!" Albedo said while clutching her hands together and flapping her wings. She seemed to be daydreaming about something.
"A-Ah," Suzuki said as he realized that Albedo had misinterpreted part of what he had said. She seemed to think that he wanted to recreate Nazarick in some way.
With that said however, a tomb was not such a bad idea. It would be easier to hide as it was under the earth, and less vulnerable to aerial attacks. Not to mention they would probably not need as much material then. "Right... but should it really be 'of Nazarick' then? Should we call it 'The Great Tomb of Suzuki Satoru' instead?"
He laughed, but then he turned to see that Albedo was no longer smiling. She instead had a wistful air about her. "Suzuki-sama... please don't say such things."
Suzuki quickly realized that he had said something very wrong, but as he racked his brains he couldn't figure out what it was. He had heard from the other guild members who had spouses or girlfriends was that it was often hard to figure out what it was that a woman was upset about, something that seemed to be joked about in this world as well.
This was the first time he had encountered it himself.
"A-Albedo, what's wrong?" he asked.
"What you said, the idea that you would one day be buried here," Albedo said, her eyes now downcast. "The thought that you and I would one day be separated... I can't bear to think about it..."
Tears now moved down her face and splashed gently across the ground.
Suzuki had no idea how to proceed.
He was quite inexperienced, and so relied on what his instincts told him. He pulled out a handkerchief and offered it to Albedo. "Albedo... I'm sorry. That was just an offhand comment I made... I'm sorry that I upset you like that... and I'm not going anywhere anytime soon..." With nothing else he could think of to do, he lowered his head.
Albedo's alarmed voice reached his ears. "Suzuki-sama! Please raise your head! It wasn't your fault- it was mine for being emotional! Please, let me apologize!"
Albedo almost got down on her knees when Suzuki stopped her and embraced her. "It's not a problem... Albedo..."
They stayed like that for a few minutes before separating.
When they did and after Albedo wiped her tears, she swore to herself that she would find a way- some way, of making her lover immortal just like she was, even if she had to destroy the entire world to achieve it. She would pave the path to grant him a life that would not fade with time, this she swore to herself.
"Alright, Create Lesser Item," Suzuki said and made a shovel, afterwards making a few more. He motioned over to the lich he had summoned. "Start having them dig a large labyrinth in a suitable place, alright?"
"As you command, Master," the lich said and bowed.
Even though his workers were undead, it would probably take several weeks for even a single floor to be made, especially as Suzuki wanted to assign some of the undead to another purpose- something he had thought of when he had seen the carriages carrying grain to the Kingdom.
"If we're all done here, let's go visit Carne one more time," Suzuki said.
A/N: Hope you guys are liking the story up till now! Thanks for reading guys!