Spirituality and Soul Nature

After his rest ended, Huo Ling resumed his studies.

First, he used three of the five first-tier spell exchange vouchers the academy had given him upon enrollment to obtain several spells.

They were Language Comprehension, Mage Shield, and Light Injury Treatment.

These were all relatively practical spells that essentially every mage needed to learn.

With a little over ten potential points remaining, Huo Ling prioritized learning Mage Shield.

After all, the Spirit Realm was not a particularly safe place. Protecting his personal safety was the foremost priority.

Mage Shield could help Huo Ling greatly.

Spell Effect: After casting, forms a shield infused with magic power around the target's body, capable of resisting minor attacks.

Casting Time: 3 seconds

Spell Cost: 30 mana points

Armor Strength: 150 points

Spell Duration: 15 minutes

Maintenance Cost: 20/15 minutes

Shield Restoration: 1 mana point/5 armor points

Mage Shield was an enhanced, upgraded version of another spell, the zero-tier Lesser Defensive Armor.

This spell provided all-around defense without blind spots. Naturally, it consumed more mana, but it was worth it.

Calling up his status panel, Huo Ling checked his latest attributes and skills:

Name: Huo Ling

Bloodline: Human

Rank: First-tier Black Iron Mage (First Stage)

Skill: Dark Breath Meditation Method

Zero-tier Spells: White Bone Fangs... Minor Injury Treatment

First-tier Spells: Bloody Skeleton, Bone Shaping, Wraith Modification, Bone Revival, Bone Armament, Bone Cone, Mage Shield

Secret Art: Seed of the Bone Graveyard

Potential Points: 3.5

Huo Ling's strength had improved tremendously. Aside from mastering these seven first-tier spells—

his zero-tier spells had also been strengthened. Most of their casting times had been compressed to under one second, and their effects had improved as well.

Take White Bone Fangs, for example:

Spell Effect: After casting, releases one to three White Bone Fangs, which briefly hover before attacking the enemy.

Casting Time: 1 second

Casting Cost: 2 mana points

Spell Range: 30 x Spirit

Spell Strength: 11–15 points

Overall, these zero-tier spells had been enhanced across the board. Their casting times had shortened, and their effects had grown stronger. In the past, he could only release a single White Bone Fang.

Now, depending on how much mana he infused, he could fire either one or three White Bone Fangs.

Moreover, each one had become more powerful, and their range had increased.

If Huo Ling went into battle now, White Bone Fangs could fire continuously like a rifle.

All preparations were in place. The next step was the most crucial one in increasing Huo Ling's strength.

Huo Ling passed through the portal and arrived in the Spirit Realm once more.

This time, he had come to create his capable assistants: skeleton warriors.

Of the seven first-tier spells he had mastered, five were for creating skeleton warriors. He could not let those spells go to waste.

Huo Ling went downstairs and slowly made his way toward the place where he usually hunted walking corpses.

He manipulated his spiritual power, probing both sides of the road for traces of walking corpses.

His spiritual power quickly detected more than ten walking corpses hiding inside a building.

Huo Ling went upstairs. Within his mana space, spell runes took shape.

In less than a second, three White Bone Fangs hovered at his side.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—"

The White Bone Fangs tore through the air with faint whistling sounds.

"Pfft."

"Pfft, pfft!"

Three walking corpses were directly blasted in the head by Huo Ling's spell.

A tiny point of light flew out from one of the walking corpses and shot straight toward Huo Ling.

Next, Huo Ling cast a spell on the sturdiest of the walking corpses.

Bloody Skeleton!

A gray spell sank into the walking corpse's body, and it immediately began to change.

It was as though tiny black holes had appeared inside the corpse. Its flesh and blood gradually withered away.

A few minutes later, all that remained was a humanoid skeleton covered in blood-red patterns.

Then Huo Ling continued casting.

Bone Shaping!

During this walking corpse skeleton's growth, perhaps due to fights with other creatures or perhaps because of congenital deformities, its bones had not developed perfectly.

Once the spell was cast, the skeleton began to undergo minute adjustments under Huo Ling's control of mana.

Its skeletal structure became more balanced. Its once sideways-curved spine was also restored under the effects of mana.

Hidden injuries in some of its bones were healed as mana carried the essence of flesh and bone from other areas over to repair them.

Immediately afterward came the third spell.

Wraith Modification!

The spell left Huo Ling's hand, and he drew a wraith bearing the appearance the walking corpse had possessed while alive from its bones.

With the help of mana, he repaired the wraith, continuously imprinting it with various spell runes to stabilize it and strengthen its power.

Next, he infused the wraith with the basic skeleton soldier combat techniques recorded in the spellbook. Once that was finished, Huo Ling stuffed the wraith back into the skeleton.

The soul was something all living creatures possessed.

According to the understanding of the Spirit Realm, the soul was divided into two parts.

The first part was spirituality, and the second was soul nature.

After a creature died, its spirituality would leave its body. If it had worshipped gods in life, or entered into some kind of contract with evil beings such as demons or devils—

then its spirituality and soul nature would fall into the hands of the gods, demons, or devils.

If it had held no faith in life and signed no evil contracts, then its spirituality would return to the River Styx.

It would sink within the River Styx, continuously absorbing soul power, until one day it was reincarnated—or remained forever sunken in the River Styx.

The second part was soul nature.

After a creature died, this part would not leave the body. Soul nature recorded the creature's memories from its entire life.

If the creature had not worshipped gods or entered into evil contracts, this soul nature would remain within its dead body.

As the corpse decayed, it would gradually disperse, eventually returning to heaven and earth.

Huo Ling's spell, Wraith Modification, was used to alter the soul nature left behind in a creature's corpse.

Once this spell was complete, it was time for the most critical step.

Bone Revival

As Huo Ling cast the spell, a strand of spirituality from the River Styx in the undead plane was summoned and entered the skeleton before him.

"Pfft!"

A blaze of undead fire lit up inside the skeleton's skull.

The skeleton before him had successfully revived, becoming a new undead creature—a skeleton of the undead race.

Soul power flowed from the flames within its skull, spreading through its entire body along the bones. Then, under the effects of that soul power—

the skeleton stood up once more. It moved its bones, its jaw—left with nothing but teeth and bone—opening and closing incessantly.

When the skeleton's soul fire sensed Huo Ling, it dropped to one knee. Its bones collided, producing a series of "clack, clack" sounds.

It lowered its head, and a message emerged from its soul fire.

"My lord, thank you for granting me new life... I will fight for you until my soul fire is extinguished!"