Necromantic Summoning

A race-exclusive Magic Artifact was utterly unwelcome to other races. At most, it could be dismantled, though there was no telling how much raw material could be salvaged. Besides, how much could those materials possibly be worth?

"It's worse than an ordinary wand. If we sold it... even as a Magic Artifact, it might not fetch ten Copper Coins!" Dean said regretfully. He had been delighted at the prospect of getting a Magic Artifact staff, only to discover it was worthless!

Dean held the wand with a bitter expression. Hadn't all their effort gone to waste? Plenty of their previous missions had been wasted efforts too, but this time was different. The four of them had infiltrated the Goblin Tribe's sacred grounds, only to come away empty-handed.

Even ordinary information cost more than a measly ten Copper Coins. In other words, this Goblin Scepter wasn't even worth bringing back. It could pretty much be classed as junk.

Yet Dean seemed to feel the scepter trembling even more violently in his hand. He wasn't sure whether he was imagining it, but the scepter he had barely managed to control before was now becoming impossible to hold!

Clatter!

Finally, Dean could hold on no longer. The scepter slipped from his hand and fell to the ground.

"Young man, how are you so weak? You can't even hold a wand steady. Watch me!" Kana burst out laughing. Without giving it much thought, she bent down and reached for the Goblin Scepter. Under normal circumstances, she would hardly be on guard against an inanimate object.

But just as Kana was about to grab it, the Goblin staff suddenly moved, swinging back to smack her across the back of her hand!

"Ow, that hurts! It really hurts! What the hell is this?" Contact sparked an instant reaction—no, an instant withdrawal. But a small red patch had already appeared on the back of Kana's retreating hand. That blow clearly hadn't pulled any punches!

"Didn't you say Low-Level Magic Artifacts only have rudimentary awareness? That all they can do is resist? How could it hit me? Dean, take it apart for me! Waaaah! Break it into a hundred little pieces." Kana rubbed the back of her hand and spoke viciously.

"Why don't you ask me to grind it into powder instead?" Dean ignored Kana's demand outright. What a joke. Did she think he had nothing better to do? It wasn't worth anything to begin with. Taking it apart would mean more effort for no reward. No way. Absolutely not, no matter what she says—unless she pays me a silver coin.

At that moment, Dean's attention shifted to the only large object inside the ruined temple: a Goblin statue!

The statue wasn't particularly big, only a size larger than an ordinary Goblin. Its carving was extremely crude, especially the lower half, which could only be described as a complete mess.

There were also some freshly exposed stone surfaces around the statue's middle, probably carved just a few days earlier.

"Unyielding Stone. This is Unyielding Stone. Ordinary people can't do anything to this rock. You can only chip it away little by little using mana!" Dean seemed to understand now. This statue was actually the source of the Goblin Scepter's power. It had enabled the scepter to fight back.

"You mean this stone statue might have been carved by generations of Goblin Shamans?" Kana took out her hand axe and lightly tapped the statue twice with the back of its head. Normally, a small corner should have chipped off an ordinary stone, but the statue remained utterly unchanged.

"Goblin Shamans don't have enough mana, so they can only chisel it once every so often. That's why carving this half-finished statue takes more than a dozen generations of shamans. It's another Goblin-exclusive object, much like the scepter!" Dean was growing interested. After all, something that developed life through such a long period of cultivation was quite miraculous.

The most pressing question now was what they should do. They definitely had to leave, but they also had to deal with the Goblin Scepter and the statue. Otherwise, the Goblin Tribe would produce another shaman.

"If you ask me, let's hurry up and smash it. We still have to chase that big fellow!" Kana said eagerly. She had already infused the hand axe in her grip with battle aura, wanting to see whether she could split the statue with a single blow.

"Save your strength. With that little bit of battle aura, you'd need at least three to five months to split the statue. We don't have that much time for you to keep hacking away!" Dean rolled his eyes. Since the statue could make the scepter fight back, it clearly possessed some ability to defend itself.

It wasn't reacting now, but what if it did? In any case, Dean couldn't let Kana do something with unpredictable consequences.

"A-actually, this little Goblin was pretty impressive. B-but he's already dead. Otherwise, he would definitely have become someone formidable!" Yanxi said, looking at the little Goblin. The Healing Magic he had just cast had startled all four of them. His talent was unquestionably that of a genius.

"True. Once this kid grew up, he might really have caused enormous damage to Blue Town. He definitely would've been much stronger than his mentor!" Lamore nodded in wholehearted agreement.

"So what? Geniuses always die young while they're still geniuses. The strong are the ones who are truly impressive." Kana patted her chest as she spoke. Dean and Lamore glanced at it, then exchanged a look. That made quite a loud sound. Sure enough... not much there!

Still, the three of them had reminded Dean of something very important: he also possessed a degree of Undead Affinity. Perhaps that could solve their current problem!

Dean closed his eyes and sat cross-legged on the ground. Within his mind, his consciousness reached out to the Infinite Eye.

As though it knew what Dean needed, the instant he made contact, a piece of information flowed into his mind—Undead Summoning!

It was summoning magic, but unlike the Giant Spirit Summoning Array, both its targets and the conditions required for summoning were different. The differences were enormous, with little common ground between them.

There were many categories within Undead Summoning as well. Dean searched for a while before finding the kind he needed. Of course, it too was called Undead Summoning.

He selected one set of conditions: he needed to sacrifice an object connected to the undead being summoned, as well as another object to serve as the summoning medium!

Of course, neither object could resist. As for what exactly counted as resistance, he would restrain them first and worry about that later!

Undead Summoning wasn't difficult. It was an introductory spell, and with his Undead Affinity, Dean naturally mastered it quickly. With the Demon Horn's assistance as well, everything was ready!

The most crucial step now was drawing the array. Since he was going to turn the little Goblin into an undead, the little Goblin's blood was naturally the best choice.

Before all the blood could drain away, Dean took out a writing brush and began drawing a summoning array centered on the little Goblin.

Kana and the other two quietly moved aside to stand guard for Dean. They didn't know what he was doing, but judging by his actions, he seemed to have found a solution.

Before long, the summoning array was finished. It wasn't quite properly drawn, and some parts weren't rounded enough, but none of that mattered. As far as Dean was concerned, it was already perfect!

Before the little Goblin's soul could dissipate, Dean began the undead summoning!

(End of chapter)