Soul Summoning (2)
Green's heart raced as he watched a Skeleton Soldier crawl out of the Magic Array amid shimmering light and shadow.
The Skeleton Soldier was unusually tall, with thick bones like steel. It wore leather armor and a helmet, with a Short Sword and shield strapped to its back. It was the very Skeleton Soldier Green had recruited from the Graveyard.
"Excellent! Undead creatures from the Graveyard really can be summoned into the real world!" Green nearly shouted. As the Magic Array vanished, the Skeleton Soldier stood before him. He immediately stepped up to touch and squeeze its bones. The white bone felt cool beneath his fingers, and it lacked the rotten stench he had expected from an Undead creature.
As Green touched it, the green Soulfire in the Skeleton Soldier's eye sockets flickered. It seemed deeply unwilling to be touched, and malice lurked in its Soulfire. But Green held a natural power over it, and it dropped to one knee in submission.
"Too bad this room's so small. I can't see how strong it is." Green felt a twinge of regret, then used [Reverse Necromancy] to send the Skeleton Soldier back to the Graveyard.
After successfully using Soul Summoning for the first time, Green had learned the spell. All that remained was to practice until he could cast it in the snap of a finger and deal with any sudden trouble.
Early the next morning, Green was tired but still buzzing with excitement. He had spent the whole night summoning the Skeleton Soldier and sending it back, practicing Soul Summoning while testing how many spells he could cast in succession and how long his Magic Power took to recover once exhausted.
The results were barely satisfactory. As a Novice Necromancer Apprentice, Green could cast [Soul Summoning] twelve times in a row, meaning he could summon twelve Skeleton Soldiers. Once his Magic Power ran out, it took roughly three hours to recover. As for the first problem, raising the level of [Soul Summoning] through practice would reduce its Magic Power cost. The progress had been good: after just one night, his Soul Summoning had reached [LV2], increasing his casting speed and reducing its cost. But he was far less pleased with the second problem. Taking three hours to recover his Magic Power severely limited how long he could keep fighting. At the root of it all was his lack of a Meditation Method.
A Meditation Method was fundamental to a mage. If spells were techniques, a Meditation Method was the inner discipline that strengthened a mage's mental power. With stronger mental power, a mage could store more Magic Power and recover it faster.
Unfortunately, Green had no Meditation Method to practice either. Meditation Methods were even more precious than spells. Unless one inherited a master's Legacy or attended a proper magic academy, it was difficult to obtain an advanced one. That was why Green had not brought it up when he met Doctor Wilkins. He would never have gotten one out of him, and the request would only have annoyed the doctor.
"Being a self-taught mage isn't easy! I don't have a thing I need." Green shook his head and sighed. Fortunately, he still had one hope: building a Magic Guild in the Graveyard should give him a Meditation Method.
But building a Magic Guild was expensive. It required a full two thousand Psychic Energy—enough to recruit four hundred Skeleton Soldiers, the strength of an entire battalion. After using the energy he had absorbed from the Wind Blade Bracelet to unlock the Graveyard, Green had only 25 Psychic Energy left.
"Forget it. I'll focus on what I can do now!" Green returned to the Graveyard and spent the remaining 20 Psychic Energy in one go, recruiting five Skeleton Soldiers. His current fighting strength now far exceeded that of an ordinary Novice Necromancer Apprentice.
An ordinary Novice Necromancer Apprentice who learned Soul Summoning could summon only one or two Skeleton Soldiers, and their strength depended entirely on luck. With bad luck, even a successful casting might bring forth a Skeleton Soldier missing an arm or a leg. Green had no such worry. His Skeleton Soldiers came from the Graveyard; whatever their fighting strength, they were at least well equipped and had all their bones.
Green had another idea, too. Because he had the Graveyard, he was unlike other Necromancers, who summoned Undead creatures almost at random apart from the specific ones bound to them by Contract. The Undead creatures in the Graveyard were effectively his standing army, so he began thinking about replacing the Skeleton Soldiers' equipment. At this world's level of weaponry, even Knights used Enchanted Rifles. Short Swords and shields looked downright shabby by comparison. If he ever had the chance to equip the Skeleton Soldiers with Enchanted Rifles, their fighting strength would surely double.
For now, it was only a rough idea. Putting it into practice would take preparation on several fronts. Buying the weapons alone would cost a great deal of money, and he still did not know whether equipment given to the Skeleton Soldiers could return to the Graveyard with them.
Green was impatient by nature. The moment an idea struck him, he put it into action. He used [Soul Summoning] again and summoned a Skeleton Soldier from the Graveyard.
He wanted to run an experiment: remove the Skeleton Soldier's leather armor, dress it in some clothes, then send it back to the Graveyard.
When Green tried to remove its leather armor, he could clearly feel it resisting. The Skeleton Soldier was tall, the armor fit tightly, and its buckles had rusted fast. After struggling with it for ages, he gave up and settled for taking its round shield. As for the Short Sword, the Skeleton Soldier gripped it so tightly it would not let go for anything. Green then grabbed a book from the table and tucked it inside the leather armor. He cast Reverse Necromancy and sent the Skeleton Soldier back to the Graveyard.
As soon as the Skeleton Soldier disappeared, the round shield it had left behind shuddered slightly and began decaying before his eyes.
Green hurried into the Graveyard and found the Skeleton Soldier he had just summoned out. He could not help feeling delighted: the book was still tucked safely inside its leather armor. That meant any weapons he gave his Skeleton Soldiers in the future could be brought in as well. Then inspiration struck. If he could bring things in, did that not make this vast Graveyard a storage space he could carry with him?
The experiment was a success, and Green was in a good mood. He settled down and turned his attention back to raising the level of [Soul Summoning].
Green also discovered that when he used [Soul Summoning], he could sense neither Void Spirit Energy nor the Death Arcane Plane—only the Graveyard. That meant he could not use Soul Summoning to call forth random Undead creatures like an ordinary Necromancer.
He had wanted to try a random summoning and compare the result with a Skeleton Soldier from the Graveyard. Since he could not, he had to abandon the idea.
In the blink of an eye, evening arrived. Green had spent the entire day practicing [Soul Summoning], casting it again and again until his Magic Power ran dry, then entering the Graveyard's Town Hall to rest.
Green found that when his Magic Power was exhausted, he could lie down on his bed and send his mind into the Graveyard, which was as good as sleeping. Staying in the Town Hall also had an effect somewhat like meditation, speeding up his Magic Power recovery. He could now refill it in two hours.
For the time being, this discovery made up for Green's lack of a Meditation Method and let him practice [Soul Summoning] faster. In a little over ten hours, it rose another level.
Yet when [Soul Summoning] reached [LV3], Green had no chance to celebrate. A stabbing pain suddenly shot through his head. He struggled to breathe, and his muscles spasmed. The sensation was agonizing. It took seven or eight minutes to ease, and then he felt wetness beneath his nose. His ears rang and itched. He wiped at his nose and ears, and his hand came away covered in blood.