Anomalous Skeleton Head

Besides, the Skeleton Martial Soul itself did not even have a skull part yet. How could he possibly shape Black-Purple Ghost Fire into the form of a skull out of thin air? With a dejected sigh, Xia Liang stood up and stretched his body, stiff from sitting.

Humanoid Black-Purple Ghost Fire with a degree of intelligence—he had traded his looks for that.

At first, he might not have been especially handsome, but at least he had delicate features. After his Undead Attribute upgraded, however, his face became as gaunt as a corpse's skull, always giving people the impression that he was listless and steeped in deathly gloom.

If he could not look handsome, then at least his fighting style had to be cool, right? Summoning countless intelligent skulls to aid him in battle—the sight of that would definitely be awesome.

That was also Xia Liang's motivation for wanting to turn Black-Purple Ghost Fire into skulls.

But things did not go as planned.

A shadow?

As Xia Liang stretched his stiff body, he suddenly noticed that beneath the moonlight, his shadow on the ground was making the same movements.

There was nothing strange about a shadow imitating its owner's actions.

What Xia Liang found strange—almost bizarre—was that the shadow stretching on the ground looked exactly like a Stick Figure.

Compared to humans, Stick Figures did not have such complicated body structures. They were usually depicted as entirely black, with heads like match heads and bodies and limbs like thin rods.

Put plainly, a Stick Figure was simply a human drawn in a minimalist style.

The relationship between a Stick Figure and a human perfectly corresponded to that between Black-Purple Ghost Fire and a skull.

In animation production, it was difficult to create a character with refined facial features and a vivid image.

But if one only wanted to make a Stick Figure, that was a very simple task.

The same principle applied here.

Shaping Black-Purple Ghost Fire into a structurally complex skull was as difficult as climbing to heaven.

But if he merely turned Black-Purple Ghost Fire into a minimalist skull, it would be as easy as making a Stick Figure.

Xia Liang immediately sat cross-legged on the ground, closed his eyes, and focused. Before long, he entered a meditative state.

In his mind, he had yet to open a Spiritual World. At present, there was only pitch-black darkness.

With his Spiritual Power intensely focused, Xia Liang began attempting his earlier idea, shaping Black-Purple Ghost Fire into a minimalist skull.

First, he drew a round head within the Black-Purple Ghost Fire, then etched out a pair of eyes and a mouth. He did not need to worry about the skull's texture or the contours of its various parts. Thus, a simplified skull burning with Black-Purple Flame was complete.

Using this image as a prototype, Xia Liang activated his Undead Attribute. A mass of Black-Purple Ghost Fire the size of a human head appeared before him.

Through the fusion of Soul Power and Spiritual Power, the Black-Purple Ghost Fire wriggled bit by bit, continually changing toward the image fixed in Xia Liang's mind.

The next night.

Just like the night before, Xia Liang began another day of effort to shape Black-Purple Ghost Fire into the image of a minimalist skull.

About two shichen passed.

It was now close to midnight, and the stars and moon shone brightly in the sky.

His Spiritual Power was depleted once more, and his Soul Power was nearly exhausted as well.

His meditation ended. Xia Liang opened his eyes, his breathing somewhat hurried. But when he looked up at the Black-Purple Ghost Fire floating in midair, his breath suddenly caught, and his pupils involuntarily dilated.

The Black-Purple Ghost Fire before him had not dispersed. Not only that, its form had changed.

Although it differed somewhat from what he had imagined, he had succeeded at last.

The Black-Purple Ghost Fire had truly become a minimalist skull!

Only, no matter how he looked at it, this minimalist skull was an oddity.

The Anomalous Skeleton Head floating before Xia Liang had a round black head burning with Black-Purple Flame, a pair of large white eyes with small black pupils, and a mouth with two fangs.

It did not look frightening in the least, unlike the skulls in his memories. Instead, it gave off the feeling that it loved playing pranks.

After staring at the Anomalous Skeleton Head burning with Black-Purple Flame for a long time, Xia Liang finally came to his senses. This Anomalous Skeleton Head actually looked rather distinctive.

If someone passed by, they would surely think it was some sort of Ghost-type Soul Beast capable of floating, not a dreaded skull.

Xia Liang raised his right hand, and the Anomalous Skeleton Head slowly flew into his palm.

What should he call this palm-sized Anomalous Skeleton Head from now on?

A simplified skull evolved from Ghost Fire—should he call it Little Ghost Head? Xia Liang immediately rejected the name. He felt Little Ghost Head sounded as awkward as little fellow.

Or perhaps, Super Undead Nightmare Skull Head I? Xia Liang rejected the name he had just thought of once again.

A round black head burning with Black-Purple Flame, a pair of large white eyes, small black pupils, and a mouth with two fangs.

Why did it seem like he had seen it somewhere before?

For a moment, Xia Liang could not remember. So he simply stopped thinking about it.

With a squeeze of his right palm, he crushed the Anomalous Skeleton Head in his hand into Black-Purple Aura, which dissipated.

Like Black-Purple Ghost Fire, this kind of Anomalous Skeleton Head was a combination of Soul Power, Spiritual Power, and the Undead Attribute. Essentially, it was a type of energy body. After dispersing, it only needed more energy to be created again.

Naturally, like Black-Purple Ghost Fire, the Anomalous Skeleton Head was an object of extreme yin and could only be summoned at night. Even if summoned during the day, it would not survive more than a few breaths.

It seemed that unless he solved the problem of its fear of sunlight, Black-Purple Ghost Fire would have enormous limitations no matter what form it took.

Two days later.

Teacher Mo had successfully applied to Dean Ding for his resignation, and Dean Ding had also approved Xia Liang's Early Graduation.

After returning to Guowan Village, Xia Liang explained the situation to the nearby villages that had given him a Work-Study Student quota, then submitted his resignation to Boss Cui of the Fish Roast Restaurant.

Boss Cui wanted to keep Xia Liang, his cash cow, but given that Xia Liang was already a One-Ring Soul Master and had Teacher Mo, a three-ring Battle Soul Elder, backing him, he agreed to the resignation.

It was noon.

Under the blazing sunlight, four people walked out of Nuoding City one after another.

One of them was Teacher Mo. Another was Xia Liang, who looked thirteen or fourteen years old but was actually only eight.

Two women followed alongside Teacher Mo and Xia Liang. They were Teacher Mo's wife and Sister-in-law.

After handling their respective private matters, the four gathered at Nuoding City's entrance.

"A Liang. This is your warrant. From today onward, you are a member of our Mercenary Group."

As he spoke, Teacher Mo handed Xia Liang a token.

Taking the token, Xia Liang saw that its material and shape were exactly the same as the warrant used to enter the Soul Hunting Forest. A red character for "Speed" was inscribed on it.

It was said that such tokens originally came from the Soul Hunting Forest and served as identification for members of a certain Mercenary Group.

"The character 'Speed' engraved on the warrant means speed. Our Mercenary Group is called the Speed Reach Mercenary Group."