21st Century Necromancer

Chapter 17: Chapter 17: Ritual Requirements

After breakfast, she took off Chen Yu's shirt and put her own clothes back on. It was then that Jounouchi Hiromi said goodbye and left Chen Yu's home.

"Mr. Chen Yu, I've already sent Inomata-san's medical records to my friends abroad, and they should be able to find a way to help, so don't worry too much." Standing at the door of Chen Yu's home, Jounouchi Hiromi finally had the time to discuss her purpose for coming. "And even if my friends abroad can't help, I know a surgeon whose skills are considered the best in all Japan, famed for never failing. Her surgeries have never been unsuccessful. If no one else can do it, she will definitely find a way!"

Hearing Jounouchi Hiromi speak like this, Chen Yu did not believe that her friends could actually help, but he still nodded and sincerely thanked Jounouchi Hiromi, "Thank you, Hiromi. Naoki's issue has nothing to do with you, yet you've been so eager to help... I really don't know what to say, just that I'm truly grateful for your help, Hiromi."

"What are you thanking me for between us? Are you saying you wouldn't help me if I needed it?" Jounouchi Hiromi reached out to touch Chen Yu's cheek, her eyes brimming with warmth and tenderness, and said with ineffable gentleness, "Even though I'm not yet ready to marry you, I am your girlfriend now, aren't I? Isn't your affair also mine? Helping you is the least I can do, right?"

"Hiromi..." Chen Yu, looking into Jounouchi Hiromi's affectionate eyes, suddenly didn't know what to say. Since obtaining the "Multiverse Universal Necromancy Spell Compendium" in middle school and never having been in a relationship, he was as hesitant as a child when it came to matters of the heart. After a long pause, he finally said to Jounouchi Hiromi, "I'll walk you out; it's not easy to catch a ride from here."

Hearing the words that took Chen Yu so long to muster, Jounouchi Hiromi couldn't help but let out a giggle but eventually let him walk her to the bus stop.

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After seeing Jounouchi Hiromi off, Chen Yu returned home. Even though her visit had disrupted his original plans and forcibly entered his life, gaining a girlfriend still made him very happy.

Back in his own country, strict school rules and his secret necromancy craft meant he had never dated. In Japan, there were already fewer women at the University of Tokyo. Besides, he had buried himself in the laboratory, working on anti-cancer potions with Inomata Naoki and never participating in social gatherings, so naturally he didn't meet any girls.

If it hadn't been for Jounouchi Hiromi's initiative and persistence, Chen Yu probably would have stayed single.

However, despite solving his single status, the most urgent issue for Chen Yu was still his promotion to Official Mage.

What he needed for his Promotion Ceremony to become a Certified Necromancer wasn't complicated, after all, it was just an upgrade from Mage Apprentice to Official Mage, not like the Lich transformation ritual that required many items. What was needed was merely a cemetery rich in negative energy, ritual candles commonly used for necromancy, at least the equivalent weight in flesh of an adult as a sacrifice, and a few human skulls to place the ritual candles.

The cemetery brimming with negative energy was, rather conveniently, right next door. Though not ancient, Kawakami Cemetery could be traced back to the Meiji Era. During the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, thousands of unidentifiable victims were buried here. While nearly a century of accumulation didn't compare to ancient battlefields where tens of thousands had perished, the cemetery still boasted a substantial amount of negative energy, especially with two other cemeteries not far off.

It was this very feature that had originally attracted Chen Yu to live here. Over the years, his practice of necromancy had absorbed some of that negative energy, but it had hardly made a dent in the nearly hundred years of accumulation. Hence, choosing Kawakami Cemetery as the ritual site posed no problem.

As for the ritual candles, Chen Yu had previously stockpiled a batch because he wanted to summon an Undead Warhorse. More than a dozen ritual candles would not be used up in one ceremony, leaving plenty for him to summon the Undead Warhorse even after the Promotion Ceremony.

While human skulls were a touch taboo, they were not impossible to obtain. Japan had the highest suicide rate in the world, and Tokyo was home to over a tenth of Japan's population. The death and disappearance rate, though negligible compared to the total population, was still an alarming number. It was well known that Japanese police extracted dozens of suicide victims' bodies from Aokigahara Forest annually.

And those were just the bodies that were found. As for those undiscovered, it was anyone's guess. Through certain connections, Chen Yu had been able to collect a number of suicide victims' bones each year, which accounted for the skeletal remains soaking in the jars in his room. Therefore, he was not lacking in human skulls.

What truly troubled Chen Yu, however, was the sacrifice that required the flesh and blood of a full-grown living person.

The most suitable sacrifice for the ritual would obviously be a living human, but that was beyond the ethical lines Chen Yu was willing to cross. Fortunately, the ritual was not overly demanding about the sacrifice. As long as the amount of flesh equaled that of an adult human, it would suffice.

A normal adult's body weight ranged between 50 and 70 kilograms. If not limited to the living, such an amount of flesh wasn't too difficult to acquire. Not to mention, the daily turnover at the seafood markets was substantial, and buying a few dozen kilograms of fresh fish was no problem at all. Although it might cost several hundred thousand yen, for a surgeon like Chen Yu, this wouldn't be an unaffordable expense.

However, procuring living creatures was a little more problematic. Dozens of kilograms of living fish could indeed be purchased and afforded, but where would one keep so many live fish? And transporting them was also inconvenient. He couldn't just ask someone to help transport dozens of kilograms of live fish to a cemetery, right? Such suspicious behavior would certainly attract the police.

"Do I have to ask Naoki for help again?" Chen Yu hesitated. Inomata Naoki's family ran a horse ranch in Kyushu and didn't just raise horses; they had other livestock too. Procuring one or two plump sheep or livestock of sufficient weight would be enough, but Inomata Naoki was not in good health and probably needed hospitalization. It was clearly not an appropriate time to ask for his help.

After much hesitation, Chen Yu decided to visit the market himself to see if there were any alternative solutions.