Evil Spirit (2)

Building an Abandoned Tower to produce Ghosts in the Graveyard cost 2,500 Psychic Energy just to start. It also required the City Defense Fortress as a prerequisite, which cost another 2,500. That made 5,000 Psychic Energy in all. If Green built them himself, who knew how long it would take?

And that would only produce ordinary Ghosts. To obtain the elite Evil Spirit, he would have to upgrade the tower into an Evil Spirit Tower for another 2,500 Psychic Energy.

So when Green heard that a Ghost haunting Roddick might evolve, his interest was immediately piqued.

When Roddick learned that Green was interested in the Ghost, he was overjoyed. Eager to be rid of it as though it were a plague god, he hurriedly took out a porcelain bottle and handed it to Green.

Magic Runes were etched into the bottle. It was a Magic Artifact for sealing Ghosts that Roddick had bought from the Mages Association for a considerable sum of Gold Pounds. But the bottle was low-grade: it could only seal a Ghost temporarily and could not hold a true Evil Spirit. For Roddick, it was merely a stopgap, especially now that the Ghost inside had grown increasingly restless, as though it might evolve into a fiercer Evil Spirit at any moment.

As a Necromancer, Green specialized in dealing with spirits. And with the Graveyard at his disposal, the moment he took the bottle, a prompt appeared: "Trapped Wild Undead discovered. Recruit?"

Green had been prepared for a fight. To his surprise, he was offered the chance to recruit it directly—and the cost was zero!

An idea flashed through his mind. When he had encountered the Hard-Skin Ghoul, the Graveyard had offered him the choice to fight or recruit, but the recruit option had been unavailable. Only after fighting it and beating it half to death had he unexpectedly brought it into the Graveyard. This Ghost, by contrast, could be recruited outright without spending any Psychic Energy. The difference was clear: to recruit Wild Undead, the Graveyard required the target to be subdued or controlled.

Green had no intention of passing up the opportunity. He was about to select "Yes" and bring the Ghost into the Graveyard.

But just then, another thought occurred to him. He held back, pondered for a moment, then told Roddick to draw some blood and pour it into the bottle to feed the Ghost.

Roddick was dumbstruck. Feeding a Ghost human blood would hasten its transformation into an Evil Spirit! Worse, Roddick was the focus of its obsession. Once it transformed, he would be the first person it killed. But under Green's stern gaze, with a towering Skeleton Soldier watching him like a tiger eyeing its prey, he had no choice. He swallowed his objections, cut his wrist, and let out a bowl of blood. Green poured every drop into the bottle.

The bottle trapping the Ghost was a low-grade Magic Artifact that could barely contain it. As blood poured in, the Ghost went berserk, struggling and roaring. Seen through the bottle's mouth, the translucent figure darted and slammed about the cramped space like a headless fly. After absorbing the blood, its pale bluish spirit body slowly began to turn red, while its aura surged. The Ghost had already been on the verge of transforming into an Evil Spirit. The blood accelerated the process, and its rapidly swelling power battered the bottle with sharp cracks, as though it might shatter at any moment.

Green nodded in satisfaction. Ignoring Roddick, who was breaking out in a cold sweat, he fixed his attention on the bottle.

By now, Green was almost certain that the Ghost named Maxim had not arisen naturally. Some Necromancer must have recognized his unusual constitution, deliberately killed him, and turned him into a Ghost. Then that person had released him to grow stronger through bloodshed, intending to collect him once he matured.

A name suddenly came to Green: Cristiano!

That famous Necromancer from the neighboring city. Green had a feeling Cristiano was behind this Evil Spirit.

Seeing through the scheme, Green sneered. "Whoever planned this went to painstaking lengths, only to make a wedding dress for me." Then his expression tightened. The bottle was shaking harder. Blood had stained nearly the Ghost's entire spirit body; it was one step from becoming an Evil Spirit, breaking the bottle, and escaping. Green suddenly flung the bottle to the floor. Crack! The porcelain shattered, and a murky, dark-red figure shot out, lunging straight for Roddick, the man who had betrayed it.

Roddick was the focus of the Ghost's obsession. Now that it had become an Evil Spirit, its hatred ran even deeper. Of course he would be its first victim.

Green had anticipated that. The instant he smashed the bottle, he selected "Recruit" in the Graveyard.

The Evil Spirit had only just formed, and Green had smashed the bottle himself; it had not broken free. Although the porcelain had shattered, the Magic Circle formed by its Magic Runes did not collapse immediately. It held for just under half a second.

That half-second was all Green needed. While the Graveyard still recognized the newly evolved Evil Spirit as bound by the Magic Circle, he selected "Recruit" and brought it in.

That was the plan Green had devised, but he had no idea whether it would work. After selecting "Recruit," he watched tensely, ready to summon all his Undead Troops to attack if it failed.

At the same moment, bang! The Evil Spirit broke free of the bottle's lingering Magic Circle. But a new, more intricate circular Magic Circle appeared beneath it, rotating. Light welled up from the circle and wrapped around the Evil Spirit. It struggled fiercely, but the light held it fast. Then, with a sudden flash, it was dragged into the circle.

The next moment, a dark-red Evil Spirit appeared among the ruins of the Abandoned Tower in the Graveyard.

Like the Hard-Skin Ghoul before it, the Evil Spirit briefly seemed confused. It hovered motionless, Soulfire flickering where its eyes should have been, lost in thought. After a full two minutes, it began to move. Yet it no longer showed the same Frenzied Bloodlust it had outside. Drifting slowly and quietly, it resembled a jellyfish, with a serene beauty all its own.

Only Green knew how formidable this blood-tinged Evil Spirit was in battle.

Evil Spirit Maxim: Level 3 elite unit. Combat power: 11.9. Recruitment cost: 45.

Its combat power was a full 31% higher than that of the Level 2 elite Hard-Skin Ghoul and nearly twice that of a Gun Skeleton Soldier. It also possessed three spells: Spirit Body Concealment, Evil Spirit Wail, and Death Seal.

The first let it hide while invisible, the second attacked with ultrasound, and the third used its own malevolence to seal away part of an enemy's life force.

Green was delighted. He had not expected the Evil Spirit he recruited to come with three spells, especially Evil Spirit Wail and Death Seal.

The first, Invisibility Ambush, was an innate talent of Ghosts. The second and third were genuine necromantic spells.

Evil Spirit Wail was Second-Circle Magic. It attacked enemies with high-frequency ultrasonic waves generated by vibrations of the spirit body.

Death Seal was Third-Circle Magic. Possessing that spell was what made the Evil Spirit a Level 3 elite unit.