Reborn with a Necromancer System
Chapter 147: The Back Alley Alchemist

Chapter 147: The Back Alley Alchemist

Kai left Kleo to her slumber, though she’d be unable to sleep for the next several hours.

The city welcomed him with cold silence and long alleys steeped in crime and grime. The perfect hunting ground.

It didn’t take long.

A man stumbled into a torchlit corridor behind the brewery in the West Wards, clutching a bloodstained coin pouch. Two others followed, arguing over the best escape route.

’My first rats of the evening.’

Kai quickly threw up his barriers before stepping closer.

They didn’t notice Kai until the bone lances pierced three of the men’s legs, crippling them in place.

Screams erupted.

The fourth tried to run, but a spear made of compressed shadow pierced him before he could turn the corner. Not that he could have. The barriers would have broken his nose if he ran headfirst into them.

Kai stepped forward, his eyes blank.

One of the wounded men looked up and whispered, "It’s... It’s the Slayer."

Kai paused, briefly amused. ’Slayer? The name’s a little on the nose, but it works.’

"Don’t flatter me," he said, before snapping the man’s neck and turning the man into a zombified version of himself with a flick of his hand.

He moved on, turning the other three in the alley into undead before looking for more to add to his strength.

It didn’t matter what they were. Young or old. Man or woman. If they were thieves, slavers, bandits, or just caught in the wrong crowd, he killed them.

Their bodies fed his army. Their souls swirled into his grasp.

[Life Essence: 1,018 / 115,000]

Too low.

For the next eight hours, he hunted. He turned his enemies into undead and replenished his life essence with one or two victims at a time, making sure to take in more than he was using.

He cornered a smuggler hiding under a bridge with crates of fake artifacts.

He stormed a den of black-market surgeons that specialised in organ harvesting.

He even burned down a trap-filled hideout near the edge of the eastern slums after its owner, a masked fence, offered him an crystal filled with souls in exchange for mercy.

"No deals, no survivors." Kai had whispered, before using Shade to slice the man’s throat open.

Even literal rats didn’t escape. At one point, he walked through a sewer and sent his undead rats ahead of him to rip apart their living cousins. Every kill brought his essence higher.

By dawn:

[Undead Army: 796]

[Life Essence: 109,934 / 115,000]

He stared at the numbers and allowed himself a slow breath. The sun was rising. His power had nearly recovered. More than ever before, the army within his shadow was... growing.

But it was too bright now. Magic, especially necromancy, in daylight was risky. He could feel the divine itching at the edge of awareness, probing the city, looking for any necromantic activity.

So, even if he erected his barriers, if a random passerby caught a glimpse of Kai reanimating corpses, that would spell the end for him.

So, he strolled toward the Merchant’s Ward, heading for the Silver Eagle’s Rest. He explored the alleys behind the inn until he saw a small etching on the stone wall. A cramped alley existed beside it, and Kai followed.

The door to the alchemist’s place was hidden in a narrow alcove at the end of the alley. It had a twisted iron frame marked with strange, rust-coloured powder and glyphs that were magical in nature, but seemed to be of custom design.

He entered without knocking.

As Kai stepped into the alchemist’s shop, the door shut behind him with a wet thud, sealing the air like a tomb.

The room was dimly lit by hanging orbs of greenish flame suspended in rusted iron cages. Shelves warped with moisture lined the walls, bowing under the weight of cracked jars filled with organs, pulsing parasites, and powders that shimmered like ground bone. Skulls, some human, some not, peeked out from burlap sacks in the corners, their sockets stuffed with dried herbs or glowing blue fungus.

The scent hit like a wall to the face.

It was acidic and sour, like vinegar left to rot with rotting meat. Beneath that, the heavy stench of preservatives, formaldehyde, brimstone, and bitter cloves, curled in Kai’s nostrils, layered with a faint but unmistakable undercurrent of blood and bile. Somewhere deeper in the shop, something was cooking: a smell halfway between boiled leather and burnt sugar, nauseatingly sweet.

The floor creaked with every step, sticky in some places, gritty in others, as if half the ingredients had been spilled and left to congeal. One of the jars on the counter twitched.

The only clean surface was a polished slab in the center of the shop, lit by a single pendant lamp. On it sat a few strange, glowing tools: a scalpel carved from obsidian, a chisel made of bone, and a pair of tongs still steaming from their last use.

It was a place that didn’t usually welcome guests. It preferred to dissect them.

The alchemist looked up from a jar filled with something quivering and translucent.

Kai stepped forward. "Do you have the paste?"

"I did assume it would be you."

The man gestured to a dark wooden box, sealed in crimson wax and wrapped in chains.

"Pure extract from a gelatinous cube, magically stabilised. Rub it on whatever magical item, and it will lose its ability to cause any magical effects."

"For how long?"

"What is it needed for?"

"To prevent anti-magic from working."

"Hmm.. for about two hours, give or take a few minutes."

"Perfect."

Kai picked up the box and tucked it into his coat. The chain jangled softly.

"How much?"

"I’ve already been paid for."

Kai tilted his head. "By who?"

The alchemist just grinned. "We all have our secrets."

’I doubt Kleo could have paid for it... And I haven’t told anyone else about this... What’s going on? She said it was a rare. Rare would mean expensive. If someone knows my plans, should I cancel them? No... It needs to be done as soon as possible.’

For a moment, Kai debated killing him. But something about the man’s aura, it felt anchored. Artificial. Warded a dozen times over. Killing him, if it were even possible, might set off things he wasn’t ready to handle. Magical repercussions that could end Kai’s life.

"Very well."

He turned to leave.

"One moment, customer," the man said, adjusting his monocle.

Kai frowned. "What?"

The alchemist studied him more closely. "You’ve got the eyes of the divine on you. I felt it the moment you walked in. It’s like standing next to a funeral pyre watched by angels."

Kai’s mouth twitched. "Who the hell are you?"

Kai couldn’t hold back anymore.

"Just a lover of potions and poisons and salves and ingredients. Someone who has seen the world change, and a person who knows much more than you ever will. If you ever see me again, I may give you my name, but for now, indulge me. Why are they watching you?"

"They’ve taken an interest in me. Can’t imagine why."

The man chuckled darkly. "So much for indulging me. Perhaps it’s because you’re amassing an undead army big enough to rival a holy crusade? Or because your shadow is leaking necrotic energy like oil from a cracked lantern?"

Kai stayed silent.

’This man... Is dangerous.’

The alchemist held his gaze for a while longer. Then: "You’re not fond of their attention. There may be a way to shield you. Truly. Wholly. Completely. Something stronger than barriers."

Kai crossed his arms. "And what’s the cost?"

"Something very specific. A soul. One that was never meant to be yours. A borrowed soul. A stolen future."

Kai considered that for a moment. The fact the man knew he could give him a soul put him on edge.

Then, quietly: "No thanks. I’ve already figured out how to protect myself with barriers. They haven’t failed me yet."

"Yet," the alchemist echoed, smiling in a way that made Kai want to draw his blade. "Very well. But when your barriers collapse and divinity comes down on you like a thunderstorm, come seek me out. I’ll be waiting."

"Sure. Whatever..."

Kai turned to leave again, the paste in his coat pocket still.

"Oh, and Kai?" the alchemist called, wiping his hands on a stained towel.

Kai stopped at the threshold.

’He also knows my name? If I ever see him outside of this place, I’ll kill him.’

"When they come for you... be sure to die interestingly. I have so few case studies of gods interfering directly. You might be a first."

Kai didn’t reply. The door shut behind him like the lid of a coffin.

’How does Kleo even know someone like that? What’s with everyone knowing who I am? Aliza, the prince, this alchemist? It’s like the world is plotting to have my identity thrown out in the open.’

He considered their relationship and the truth behind the alchemist’s identity on the way back to the Eldridge estate.