Chapter 74: The little skeleton that wants to soar and fly
The first glimmers of dawn appeared in the sky after using the transportation matrix to return to the cemetery of death.
One full day and night had elapsed since his departure, and he hastened to move to the “Original Demon Cave” and infuse more fresh blood and magical yuan, finally breathing a sigh of relief after he did so.
The operation of the “Original Demon Cave” must not be halted for even a day. If fresh blood and magical yuan weren’t infused everyday, then the work of the previous twenty some odd days would be in vain.
Planting his butt firmly on the ground, the fighting aura that had rushed into his body from Darnell’s blow finally slowly started rampaging through his body. A sudden impact brought an upwelling of blood to Han Shuo’s throat – he almost spat out a mouthful of fresh blood again.
Happy instead of startled, he abruptly stood up and threw his head back in laughter. He quickly strode out of the cemetery of death, towards the waterfall that he used to train his magic. Han Shuo braved the long river rushing down and sat down in his usual place. His body wobbling strongly in the beginning, Han Shuo quickly sank again into his training mode.
For the next seven days, apart from infusing the “Original Demon Cave” with fresh blood and magical yuan at periodic intervals, Han Shuo stayed beneath the waterfall to train his magic.
Han Shuo’s strength improved in spades in the midst of harsh training. Leveraging the fighting aura that Darnell had left within his body and the violent force of the waterfall, Han Shuo reforged the meridians and bones of his chest, waist, and stomach. When Han Shuo felt that Darnell’s fighting aura no longer remained within him, he could clearly feel that his own body had emerged in an unprecedentedly better state.
In the next few days, Han Shuo halted all magical training and spent his time looking after the “Original Demon Cave” and studying the “Beginner Magics of Necromancy”. He was now fully able to recite the latter from memory, and had basically committed it to memory.
Han Shuo had noted the parts in which he didn’t understand. As he continued to use the round, green ball to meditate, his mental strength grew with each passing day. Under his continual experimentation, he finally released the “Agony of the Soul” magic one day. Han Shuo was overjoyed and elated at that time. He understood that over the accumulation of several months and his greatly increased mental strength, he had finally graduated from the ranks of magic apprentice to being a novice mage.
A novice mage in necromancy could grasp the three magics of “Agony of the Soul”, summon zombies, and bone spears. Except after trying for quite a while, Han Shuo had only happened to cast “Agony of the Soul” by mistake. He was unable to release the other two magics of summoning zombies and bone spears no matter how he tried.
He connected that fact to the other of not being able to understand many parts of the “Beginner Magics of Necromancy”. Han Shuo understood that only perusing books was not the fastest nor best way to increase his knowledge of magic. It looked like he should look for Fanny and inquire about the areas he didn’t understand, as well as pick up the weapon forging materials that Phoebe had promised him, along with the black gold ore.
But before he’d return, Han Shuo still planned to finishing refining the “original demon”. The Original Demon Cave had been operating for a full 34 days and would be complete in two more days. Han Shuo was in no rush to leave immediately, and thus went to the dwarves’ village to socialize with them.
He came back to the mining cave again and mined for the entire day, obtaining a small piece of black iron ore and a couple pieces of iron and copper ore.
Han Shuo understood from Phoebe that black iron ore was a very rare and very valuable ore. He could often only obtain a very small piece after mining for an entire day. Therefore, he directly stored the black iron ore within his space ring. When he returned to the cemetery of death afterwards, he threw all the iron and bronze ores into a space storage room within the great hall.
“Haha, this is interesting indeed. With these three “original demons”, I have three extra pairs of eyes. If I let them loose, I will no longer be afraid of being followed and ambushed. If I use the three “original demons” to assassinate others, it’ll be an absolute nightmare for my enemies!” Han Shuo laughed wildly as he repeatedly used his will to release and withdraw the “original demons” from and into his body, practicing tirelessly.
At this moment, the little skeleton, that had been lying in the “Original Demon Cave” all along, suddenly stood up, slowly climbing out of the pit. The seven bone spurs on its back actually started flapping furiously as its body shot towards the sky with a strong push from its legs.
The seven bone spurs on its back were divided into two rows, like the wings of an insect, with the remaining one pointing down at its butt like a tail. As it shot towards the air, it capered shakily, with the two rows of bone spurs whirring furiously and its tail wagging continuously. It seemed to be the steering wheel of a bike in helping him move agilely through thin air.
When the tail-like bone spur moved to the left, the little skeleton’s body would also shift to the left. When the bone spur waved to the right, the little skeleton’s body would fall to the right. It looked quite amazing!
Han Shuo was gobsmacked as he looked at the little skeleton descend in a wobbling fall, his face full of shock. He didn’t know how to react in the span of that moment.
After a while, the little skeleton fell from midair with a crack as the bones of its body emitted a long string of creaking sounds. The little skeleton seemed to be dazed from the fall as it staggered around in circles after picking itself and the bone dagger up, as if it was drunk.
“Damn brat, you’ve only learned how to walk for a few days and now you want to fly?!” Han Shuo felt a deep pain in his heart as he looked at the little skeleton’s current state. He hastily walked up to the little skeleton and knocked on the little skeleton’s bright, smooth forehead.
An interesting thing happened! When Han Shuo knocked down with his finger, the little skeleton immediately stopped its drunken staggering and sat down hard like a child. It even extended a finger to scratch its head, seemingly unable to comprehend what it did wrong.
Han Shuo had protected the little skeleton with great care ever since first being summoned by Han Shuo. Under the continual refinement of his magical yuan, it started to display human-like behaviors. Han Shuo’s feelings towards the little skeleton was far more than those he felt for anyone else in this world. He was worried to death when he saw it fall from high up in the air.
Han Shuo breathed a sigh of relief when he verified, with his own eyes, that the little skeleton hadn’t shattered, and that it had only been rattled by the fall with nothing else worse for the wear.
After looking over it carefully, he suddenly realized that a few specks of dark red could be found within the inky blackness of the little skeleton’s originally dark bones. It was no longer that pure, deep black. If it wasn’t for his careful gaze, he likely would have been hard pressed to discover it.
“Eh, this is strange. The ‘Original Demon Cave’ was original meant to refine a small demon chief. He purposefully squirmed his way in and even had an expression of leisurely enjoyment. His body had undergone some changes as soon as he left the pit, and even wanted to imitate those demon generals in my body and fly. Looks like this brat has changed again. I wonder if these changes are for the better or for the worse. Even I don’t know what this brat is now.” Han Shuo carefully stared at the little skeleton in close observation and muttered to himself.
After a round of deep musings, in which Han Shuo realized that he couldn’t understand the little skeleton’s changes, he shook his head and thought no further. Looking at the now normal “Original Demon Cave” since the “original demon” general had emerged from it, Han Shuo started an incantation and sent the little skeleton back to the other dimension.
With his injuries recovered and the three “original demons” refined, and even the little skeleton recovering its mobility, Han Shuo traveled back to Ossen City through the transportation matrix when he thought of the incomprehensible magical knowledge and the black gold ore that Phoebe owed him for his services.