Bone Graveyard

Next, Huo Ling stored the five skeletal warriors in his secret art: Bone Graveyard.

This secret art was one of the defining features of the Dark Breath meditation method.

Compared to other necromancers, when the skeletal warriors they created traveled through the Spirit Realm, they had only two choices.

First, leave the skeletal warriors in the Spirit Realm. But that also meant they could not be used in battle on Blue Star or other planes.

Because summoning a skeletal warrior to battle on Blue Star, or in a part of the Spirit Realm far from where it was located, would consume an astonishing amount of mana.

The second method was to send the skeletal warriors to the Undead Plane.

Within the vast void of the Spirit Realm floated quite a few higher planes. Some were elemental planes, home to elemental creatures of the four great elements—wind, fire, water, and earth.

There were also various celestial planes. These positive-energy planes were inhabited by all kinds of celestials, such as the Aici Celestials and various angels.

The Undead Plane was one such plane as well. It was one of the lower planes of the Spirit Realm, filled with death spiritual energy, where tributaries of the River Styx flowed.

Mages could teleport skeletal warriors to the Undead Plane, then use it as a transit point. Whether summoning them to Blue Star or elsewhere in the Spirit Realm, the mana expenditure would be far lower.

At the very least, it was much better than directly using a spell and mana to create a skeletal warrior from scratch.

What was summoned from the Undead Plane counted as the mage's own summon, so there was no limit on combat duration.

However, the drawbacks were obvious as well. The Undead Plane was full of danger. If things went wrong, a skeletal warrior might be seriously injured in some battle, or even have its soul fire devoured by another undead creature.

Thus, placing skeletal warriors in the Undead Plane came with both advantages and disadvantages.

Huo Ling's Bone Graveyard secret art was different. It took the advantages of the Undead Plane while casting aside its drawbacks.

For now, this Bone Graveyard secret art could store five skeletal warriors for Huo Ling.

As Huo Ling's mana circulated through his body, passing through this secret art space, his Black Iron mana could continuously temper those skeletal warriors and slowly increase their strength.

When Huo Ling needed the skeletal warriors stored in Bone Graveyard for battle, summoning them no longer required additional mana. This greatly enhanced his ability to fight sustainably.

The only drawback of this secret art was that its space was too small. If he wanted to expand it later, Huo Ling could only continuously fill it with mana and gradually enlarge this secret art space.

Still, it was a very worthwhile trade.

Just imagine it—when Huo Ling expanded this secret art space until it could hold dozens, even hundreds, of skeletal warriors.

With a single call, one man could become an army, drowning his enemies beneath a sea of bones.

Just thinking about that sight made his blood surge!

Huo Ling crushed the Blue Star Beacon and returned to his school dormitory, then sat down in meditation.

He decided to strike while the iron was hot and learn the other two spells as well.

Language Comprehension

Spell Effect: After casting, the target can use the spell to understand the languages of intelligent creatures in the Spirit Realm, while accelerating the speed at which they learn that Spirit Realm language.

Casting Time: 8 seconds

Casting Cost: 25 mana

Duration: 30 minutes

Casting Range: 10 × Spirit

Sustain Spell: 10 minutes/5 mana

The second spell: Healing Light Injuries

Spell Effect: After casting, communicate with natural energy to heal the target's light injuries. It can stop bleeding, and its effects can stack.

Casting Time: 5 seconds

Casting Cost: 20 mana

Casting Range: 20 × Spirit

Healing Light Injuries was a rather practical spell for mages. Its effect was much better than Minor Injury Treatment.

It could heal a wound up to fifteen centimeters long. For larger wounds, it could also stop the bleeding.

At the same time, this spell could stack as well. Just two Healing Light Injuries spells could achieve the effect of the Silver-tier spell Healing Moderate Injuries.

This spell was not particularly effective on internal injuries, but it could still stop internal bleeding.

With this spell, most injuries encountered during adventures in the Spirit Realm could already be dealt with.

After learning these two spells, Huo Ling summoned his status panel to check his latest data:

Name: Huo Ling
Bloodline: Human
Rank: Tier 1 Black Iron Mage (Stage 1)
Tier 0 Spells: White Bone Fangs... Minor Injury Treatment...
Tier 1 Spells: Bloody Skeleton, Bone Shaping, Wraith Modification, Bone Revival, Bone Armament, Bone Cone, Mage Shield, Language Comprehension, Healing Light Injuries
Secret Art: Bone Graveyard 5/5
Potential Points: 13

By now, he had successfully mastered nine Tier 1 spells. His combat power had begun to take shape.

Just last night, Huo Ling had felt that his strength was already quite good, only to suffer a blow immediately afterward.

After spending Potential Points to learn and understand two core courses and two elective courses, Huo Ling had added several more electives to his schedule.

Today was one of them: Enchanting and Maintenance of Enchanted Equipment.

It was a large class, attended not only by freshmen but also by quite a few upperclassmen.

At least several hundred people sat in the large classroom.

Huo Ling's class monitor, Dantai Yishuang, had also come to take this elective.

After greeting her, Huo Ling took a seat several rows from the back.

As the teacher on the podium explained the creation and appraisal of various enchanted items in simple, accessible terms,

Huo Ling could not help turning his gaze toward Dantai Yishuang in the front row.

Looking at her earrings, hairpin, necklace, bracelet, and wristband,

Huo Ling drew a deep breath, unable to help being shocked by her worth.

Enchanted equipment was generally made by mages. After using magical materials to create the base of an item,

the mage would use special materials or solutions to enchant it. Most enchantments were various supportive spells.

Such as: Basic Mana Recovery, Mage Shield, Eagle Eye, Ring of Repulsion.

Some could also increase the wearer's attributes, such as strength or Spirit.

There were also enchantments favored by combat professionals, used on weapons: Sharpness! Sturdiness! Lightness! Armor Piercing! Lifesteal!

Some equipment also carried offensive spells, such as Scorching Ray, Summon Celestial Creature, Kinetic Cone, Frost Ray, and the ever-versatile Fireball.

All such enchanted equipment was extremely valuable because it could be used repeatedly.

After an enchanted spell was used, the equipment could absorb spiritual energy on its own to restore it, or mana could be infused into it to speed up the recovery of its spell uses.

That was why this kind of enchanted equipment was so expensive—its price was more than twenty or thirty times that of spell scrolls.