Preparation

Having learned Basic Wisdom Spell, Rhode's reading speed with the spellbook increased noticeably.

Before long, Rhode closed the book and began digesting the contents within it.

The first half of the spellbook recorded Alot's insights on practicing the control of the undead and meditation, while the second half contained various spells; additionally, most of the remaining pages were blank.

Carefully recalling the written contents and cross-referencing them with the knowledge he learned in his past life, Rhode felt a sudden influx of new knowledge in his mind, and after checking the system log, he found that it was indeed so.

"By reading the spellbook, you have learned the tier-one spells [Magic Arrow], [Great Slowing Spell], [Body Protection Shield]."

"[Magic Arrow Lv1]: Tier-one magic. Consumes 6 mana, fires a magic lightning bolt to strike the enemy, dealing 16 damage. Experience required for upgrade: 20."

"[Great Slowing Spell Lv1]: Tier-one earth magic. Consumes 6 mana, reduces an enemy's speed by 2, duration 22 seconds, experience required for upgrade: 10."

"[Body Protection Shield Lv1]: Tier-one earth magic. Consumes 5 mana, reduces incoming melee damage by 10%, duration 22 seconds, experience required for upgrade: 10."

"By reading the cultivation insights of other mages, you have mastered some knowledge regarding the control of Undead Creatures; you can continue to master it on your own, or spend 80 experience points to master it directly."

The damage a spell could deal, as well as its duration, were both related to the caster's own spirit attribute.

When he first woke up in the tomb, Rhode's spirit attribute was only 2. Afterward, due to obtaining a series of speed achievements, Rhode's current spirit attribute was 6, and his spell effects had received a certain enhancement.

According to Rhode's estimation, his current spirit attribute should only be at the apprentice level, far lower than Alot's stats.

Even so, Rhode was still quite satisfied, because he hadn't actively allocated attribute points into spirit; relying entirely on the attribute bonuses brought by achievements, his spirit attribute had increased.

Rhode knew that once he was able to perform deep meditation, his spirit attribute would still experience a leap.

What Rhode cared about the most was not the effects brought by learning these spells. Due to his experience from his past life, the effects of these spells didn't seem mysterious to him; instead, the final message caught Rhode's attention even more.

Rhode glanced at the attribute panel, and after killing the Magic Apprentice and other Undead Creatures, he currently had a total of 215 experience points.

The amount of experience points reached the level required to raise his class rank, but Rhode chose not to upgrade; instead, he chose to spend 80 experience points to learn the skill [Mental Mark] used to control Undead Creatures.

Creating the undead and controlling the undead required two completely different skills.

Creating the undead relied on the necromancer's handling of corpses, as well as the special skill Soul Summoning. Soul Summoning was the signature skill of a necromancer and required skill points to learn; the vast majority of Undead Creatures were transformed through Soul Summoning.

Controlling the undead only required a common skill [Mental Mark]; this skill could be acquired using experience points, or by learning related knowledge on one's own.

The principle behind the skill [Mental Mark] was not complicated, but it required prolonged practice after understanding the principle; after mastering it with experience, Rhode skipped the practice process and could use it directly.

It was said that this skill was originally developed by archmages to control unliving golems, and later became widely circulated due to its use by necromancers.

Rhode learned this skill precisely to deal with the Wolf Pack below. Rhode remembered that before entering the tomb, the Necromancer Apprentice had first sent two Skeleton Warriors into the tomb.

Since the apprentice had already died, after learning this skill, Rhode could directly control these two Skeleton Warriors!

Relying on [Mental Mark], a necromancer could control masterless low-tier Undead Creatures, but it wasn't as useful against Undead Creatures with self-awareness.

With these two Skeleton Warriors drawing fire and distracting the Wolf Pack, Rhode could rely on his swordsmanship to eliminate this pack of wolves one by one.

When considering ways to deal with the Wolf Pack, Rhode had also thought about utilizing the corpses originally in the tomb to minimize the risk. Rhode could activate the Walking Corpses that the apprentice Alot hadn't activated.

But the prerequisite was that Rhode had to learn Soul Summoning.

Soul Summoning was a unique skill exclusive to necromancers; after learning it, ordinary players would be forcibly assigned to the Necromancer Faction, and their choice of profession upon advancement would be restricted.

Rhode felt some hesitation in his heart regarding whether or not to learn Soul Summoning.

In the game of his past life, most of Rhode's adventurous experiences were in the mage nation of Brakada, and his understanding of necromancers came mostly through game forums.

Brakada was extremely hostile to necromancers, and once he learned Soul Summoning and entered the Necromancer Faction, those experiences would likely all become unusable.

After a brief hesitation, Rhode's mind was made up, and he chose to learn Soul Summoning.

Rhode understood that for his current self, Soul Summoning was the most effective way to enhance his strength, not only to deal with the Wolf Pack before him, but even more so to deal with future enemies...

Even if he didn't learn Soul Summoning now, in order to enhance his strength in a short period of time, he would have to learn it eventually.

Besides, Rhode had the confidence that even without following the old path of his past life, possessing two lifetimes of gaming experience and having the attribute bonuses brought by speed achievements, he could likewise become a high-tier powerhouse.

Rhode used his last 1 skill point to learn Basic Soul Summoning.

"Soul Summoning is a unique skill exclusive to necromancers. Confirm whether to learn? Yes/No"

Unusually, the system sent a prompt before Rhode learned Soul Summoning, a treatment that no other skill had.

Clearly knowing what side effects learning Soul Summoning would bring, Rhode chose to learn it.

(Basic Soul Summoning: Through learning necromancy spells, you no longer believe in the boundary between life and death. Death is no longer seen by you as the end of life, and you have stepped through the doors of the world of the dead. You can awaken the dead, but relying solely on your own power seems a bit difficult.)

"You have obtained the speed achievement [Necromancer]"

"[Necromancer]: Learn Soul Summoning. Basic reward: Necromancer Faction favorability +10%, Good Race Faction favorability -50%. Upon advancement, you can only choose classes related to the Necropolis. Equipping reward: Soul Summoning level +1."

Seeing the equipping reward behind the achievement, Rhode's eyes lit up.

Soul Summoning consumed his own mana heavily at low levels. For a necromancer at the apprentice level, if he didn't borrow external Death Energy, he might exhaust his entire mana pool without being able to awaken a single Skeleton Soldier.

Because of this, raising the Soul Summoning level by one—whether it was reducing mana consumption at low levels or saving a large number of skill points at high levels—could be said to make this equipping reward very practical.

Compared to that, the other positive effect of increasing necromancer favorability was mostly useless.

Even if favorability was negative, in order to squeeze and exploit the value from you, necromancers would still issue various quests to you. And even if favorability was positive, when contending for resources, a necromancer wouldn't abandon hard-earned benefits just for a little bit of favor.

After allocating points into Soul Summoning, all preparations were complete. Rhode stored his weapon into the Space Ring, and at the same time looked toward the dim entrance of the tomb, preparing to make his move.