Breakthrough (2)

The third kind was the skeleton soldiers crafted by mages themselves.

These skeleton soldiers, created through a combination of multiple spells, belonged to the mages as their private property.

These skeleton soldiers were undead creatures. They could absorb an enemy's flesh, blood, and soul power to continue growing stronger.

At the same time, mages needed only a small amount of maintenance mana to control these skeleton warriors.

While traveling or when they were not needed, mages could choose to teleport the skeleton soldiers to the Undead Plane.

These skeleton soldiers would absorb deathly spiritual energy in the Undead Plane and continuously grow stronger.

Then, in battle, they could be summoned back to the mage's side.

This was also the most commonly used type of skeleton soldier among spellcasters who specialized in necromancy.

They offered excellent value for money, could be kept permanently, and would continuously grow stronger.

Of course, if a mage had a suitable place nearby, these skeleton soldiers did not have to be teleported to the Undead Plane.

After all, sending skeleton soldiers into the Undead Plane carried risks as well.

There were countless kinds of death creatures in the Undead Plane. They constantly fought within it, devouring their enemies' bones and soul power.

If you teleported your summoned skeleton soldiers back to the Undead Plane, you had to be prepared for them to suddenly become stronger—or die.

Sometimes, the skeleton soldier you sent in had only just reached the Black Iron rank, but when you summoned it again, it had become a veteran high-stage Black Iron skeleton warrior.

Of course, where there was profit, there was loss. Sometimes, when you summoned it again, it had become a crippled skeleton soldier. That was not strange either.

With the breakthrough officially complete, Huo Ling briefly meditated to adjust his condition, then called up his status panel to inspect it.

Name: Huo Ling

Bloodline: Human

Rank: Tier 1 Black Iron Mage (Stage 1)

Strength: 5.3

Constitution: 5.1

Agility: 5.0

Mental Power: 15.3

Mana: 153/153

Skill: Dark Breath Meditation Method

Tier 0 Spells: White Bone Fangs, Ashen Mist, Touch of Fatigue, Lesser Defensive Armor, Lesser Eye of Surveillance, Lesser Wind of Acceleration, Minor Injury Treatment, Lesser Shadow Entanglement

Secret Art: Seed of the Bone Graveyard

Potential Points: 73.5

Looking at his rank, he had already attained the achievement of becoming a Black Iron Mage.

The Black Iron rank was likewise divided into nine stages. Stages one through three were ordinary, stages four through six were elite, and stages seven through nine were veteran.

Once his mana had accumulated to one thousand, he could begin preparing to break through to Silver.

But that was still far too early for Huo Ling. Looking at his mana, it was only 153. That was only because the surge of mana during his breakthrough had increased his mana by more than fifty points.

That was already quite good. It meant he had covered half the road through the first Black Iron stage.

While the iron was hot, his next task was to learn and master the spells in the spellbook.

Potential points, activate!

As soon as he began learning, he discovered the difference. In the past, a Tier 0 spell could be mastered with just two potential points, but Tier 1 spells already required ten points.

Still, this was within Huo Ling's acceptable range. He still had more than seventy potential points, enough to learn seven spells.

After picking through the spellbook, he selected six spells.

Bloody Skeleton, Bone Shaping, Wraith Modification, Bone Revival, Bone Armament, and Bone Cone.

He still needed to save some potential points to learn life-saving spells when he returned.

Of these six spells, the first five were all needed to create skeleton warriors. Only the last was a purely offensive spell.

[Bloody Skeleton]

Spell Effect: The caster casts the spell on a corpse. The corpse's bones will absorb the flesh and blood from the body, eventually fusing the essence of the flesh into the bones.

Casting Time: 5 seconds

Mana Cost: 15 points

Spell Duration: 5–10 minutes

[Bone Shaping]

Spell Effect: The caster casts the spell on the target's bones. Under the effect of mana, the bones will grow or shrink, becoming the appropriate size for a skeleton warrior's bones.

Casting Time: 5 seconds

Mana Cost: 10–20 points

Spell Duration: 5–10 minutes

[Wraith Modification]

Spell Effect: The caster uses mana to summon forth the wraith within the bones, implants a beginner version of skeleton warrior combat techniques into it, and stabilizes its wraith with mana.

Casting Time: 5 seconds

Mana Cost: 15

Spell Duration: 3 minutes

[Bone Revival]

Spell Effect: Through casting, revives dead bones and turns them into a Black Iron-rank summon, a skeleton warrior.

Casting Time: 4 seconds

Mana Cost: 20

Spell Duration: Until the target dissipates

[Bone Armament]

Spell Effect: After casting, the affected skeleton warrior will absorb the flesh, bones, and wraith energy of other corpses to craft armor and weapons for itself.

Casting Time: 5 seconds

Mana Cost: 20

Spell Duration: Until the target dissipates

[Bone Cone]

Spell Effect: Through casting, releases a Bone Cone. After hovering briefly, it attacks the enemy.

Casting Time: 3 seconds

Mana Cost: 15–50

Spell Range: 25 × Mental Power

Spell Power: 30–100 degrees

It took Huo Ling two days to successfully master these five spells, and the studying left him dizzy and muddled.

But the effort had not been wasted. His strength had now risen dramatically.

Moreover, he had not yet reached the peak of his current strength. At this moment, he had yet to obtain his own summoned skeleton warriors.

But now was not the time. Having just broken through, Huo Ling needed to return to Blue Star and rest.

At the same time, he needed to acquire a life-saving spell.

He stood up and, without the slightest hesitation, summoned the Blue Star Beacon. Crushing it, he returned to Blue Star.

Back on Blue Star, Huo Ling took out his phone. Now that he had broken through to the Black Iron rank, he needed to share his joy with his family.

He found his mother Bai Xiaolan's number and tapped to call her.

Meanwhile, Bai Xiaolan was sitting at the assembly line, working. Although Huo Ling had given the family the scholarship money he received in high school, she had not quit her job. She still wanted to earn more money to support her second and youngest sons until they made something of themselves.

"Ring ring ring~" The phone began to ring.

"Sister Bai, it's your son calling. Come answer it."

Hearing the ringtone, the assembly line supervisor stood up from the side, picked up the phone, and spoke.

At Bai Xiaolan's workplace, employees were not allowed to keep their phones with them. They were all placed together on a table nearby.

In the past, this team leader would never have spoken to her so politely. But ever since learning that Huo Ling had been admitted to Southern Heaven University, his attitude had improved tremendously.

Bai Xiaolan hurriedly put down her work, picked up the phone, and said, "Hello, son. What made you suddenly think of calling me?"

"Hello? Son, why aren't you saying anything? Did you run into some problem at school, or is your living allowance not enough?" Bai Xiaolan asked nervously.

For several generations, no one in the family had possessed supernatural aptitude. Bai Xiaolan had no idea how many resources cultivation required.

The other workers nearby also slowed their hands and pricked up their ears to listen.

The flames of gossip in their hearts blazed fiercely.

"Mom, I broke through and became a Black Iron Mage!"

That simple sentence nearly made Bai Xiaolan, who had already been feeling uneasy, lose her footing. Her legs went weak, and she nearly collapsed to the floor.

The supervisor beside her, who had been watching closely, hurried over to support her and said softly, "Sister Bai, what happened? Hang in there!"