Chapter 110: Summon Skeleton Warrior, the embryonic form of the Nether Sea

【Blood Shield】

Proficiency: Entry-level Supernatural Grade: Second Rank

Effect: By consuming mental power, utilizing one's own qi and blood, or other blood magic medium, a layer is produced on the outside of the body, a shield composed of blood, used to resist impending attacks.

The stronger one's qi and blood or blood magic medium, the higher the defensive power of the produced blood shield.

……

「Looks not bad, let's go out and test its effect. 」

Su Hao nodded, left the room, and came outside the shelter.

Su Hao took out a drop of crimson essence blood as a casting medium and used the Blood Shield.

The next moment.

The crimson essence blood in Su Hao's hand quickly expanded and stretched, turning into a crimson spherical shield that enveloped his body.

Su Hao used Crimson Touch, summoning ten crimson tentacles that lashed toward himself.

Bang bang bang——! In a series of dull sounds, the ten crimson tentacles struck the Blood Shield hard from different directions.

When Su Hao was still a Supernatural First Rank, being struck by these crimson tentacles instantly tore his body apart.

However, this seemingly thin layer of Blood Shield, after being struck by the ten crimson tentacles, only suffered severe deformation and did not shatter immediately.

Only when the second wave of crimson tentacle attacks arrived was the shield successfully shattered.

「This defense is pretty good! 」

Su Hao nodded in satisfaction; through this simple test, he could basically confirm that this seemingly thin Blood Shield could not be broken by a First Rank Supernatural Being.

Even an ordinary Second Rank Supernatural Being would find it not so easy to break this Blood Shield.

Moreover, the Blood Shield is merely an uncombined skill; if a suitable material could be found and combined once, its defensive power would certainly increase further.

「Let's not rush this; first, let's look at another skill. 」

Su Hao reopened his personal information panel and directed his gaze toward the Summon Skeleton Warrior skill.

【Blood Shield】 is obviously obtained after becoming a Second Rank Blood Flesh Controller; then the remaining 【Summon Skeleton Warrior】 is obtained after becoming a Second Rank Bone Necromancer.

According to the description of Demon Bone Shatter, after using it there is a certain chance to obtain a skill the demon possessed in life.

Furthermore, this Summon Skeleton Warrior is not merely summoning ordinary skeleton monsters.

Therefore, Su Hao's anticipation for this skill is greater than for the Blood Shield.

……

【Summon Skeleton Warrior】

Proficiency: Entry-level Supernatural Grade: Second Rank

Effect: Consuming mental power, from sufficient white bone medium, summon a skeleton warrior.

The higher the Supernatural Grade of the white bone medium used, the stronger and more numerous the summoned skeleton warriors.

The number of skeleton warriors summoned simultaneously has no limit; only duration is limited. The stronger the user's mental power, the longer the skeleton warriors' duration.

After the duration ends, any skeleton warriors that have not died revert to white bone medium.

……

「No quantity limit; this is far stronger than summoning skeleton monsters. 」

Summoning skeleton monsters is one of the hallmarks of necromancers, but at Second Rank, the number of skeleton monsters that can be summoned simultaneously is also limited; you cannot summon as many as you want.

However, summoning skeleton warriors has no such numerical limit.

As long as there is mental power and sufficient white bone medium, skeleton warriors can be recruited endlessly.

However, if the summoned skeleton warriors are not even up to the standard of a Supernatural First Rank, Su Hao would not approve.

「Let's test what level the skeleton warriors are. 」

Su Hao closed the skill interface, took out a First Rank Skeleton Monster's carcass from his Storage Bag, and placed it on the ground.

Then he mobilized his mental power, communicated with the depths of the soul, and a black rune in the shape of a skeleton appeared.

「Summon! 」

The next moment.

Beneath the skeleton monster's carcass, a black magic circle appeared, black mist seeping out and enveloping the entire carcass.

After lasting about three seconds, as the black mist dissipated, five tall skeleton warriors wielding black spears stood on the ground, appearing before Su Hao's eyes.

These five skeleton warriors are about 2.2 meters tall, their entire bodies black-boned and extremely thick; even the thickness of a single arm bone exceeds that of an ordinary adult's arm.

Even the spears they hold are thicker than ordinary spears by a margin, making them look formidable.

Inside their skulls burns a black soul fire, silently gazing at Su Hao, awaiting his command.

「Ah? A single skeleton monster's carcass can actually summon five skeleton warriors?! 」

Su Hao couldn't help but frown slightly; he had originally been worried whether a skeleton monster's carcass could successfully summon a skeleton warrior.

As a result, not only were skeleton warriors successfully summoned, but from a single skeleton warrior's carcass, five skeleton warriors were summoned at once! More importantly, after summoning the skeleton monster, Su Hao's mental power consumption was only a couple of breaths, and it had already fully recovered.

This means that, as long as there is sufficient white bone medium, Su Hao can continuously summon skeleton warriors; he could even muster a skeleton army when he reaches Supernatural Second Rank! 「Could it be that these skeleton warriors are just dummies, which is why the consumption is so low? 」

Su Hao's brows furrowed slightly, then he looked at one of the skeleton warriors and opened its information panel.

These skeleton warriors are all Su Hao's summoned beasts; he naturally can view their relevant information.

【Skeleton Warrior】

Supernatural Grade: First Rank

Skill: Brutal Force Charge (charging forward at extreme speed, dealing impact damage to all enemies ahead.) Introduction: Excellent strength and defense, slow movement, no pain sensation, the skeleton warrior possesses combat strength superior to most First Rank Supernatural Beings.

……

「Ah? First Rank Supernatural? Or a First Rank Supernatural Skeleton Warrior with an innate skill? 」

Gazing at the skeleton warrior's information panel, Su Hao couldn't help but widen his eyes.

I merely expended a trifling amount of spiritual power, plus a skeleton monster corpse that can revert after the summoning ends, and summoned five First Rank Supernatural skeleton warriors?

Moreover, these skeleton warriors all come with innate skills as First Rank skeleton warriors; their actual combat power is even stronger than many First Rank Supernaturals—this is simply outrageous!

Afterward, Su Hao used Crimson Tendrils and Blood Shield against these five First Rank skeleton warriors, conducting a test that lasted an hour.

The reason the test stopped after an hour is that these skeleton warriors' summoning duration lasts only one hour.

After an hour, they reverted to being a skeleton monster corpse.

However, having a summoning duration of an hour is already quite good.

Moreover, just because the summoning time ends doesn't mean we can't continue summoning.

"Summon!"

Su Hao lightly snapped his fingers, and beneath the shroud of black mist, the five skeleton warriors reappeared before him.

As before, as long as Su Hao's spiritual power is ample and he has enough bone medium on his person, he can infinitely recruit skeleton warriors! Through this hour-long test of these skeleton warriors, Su Hao gained a deeper understanding of them.

Just as shown on the information panel, these First Rank skeleton warriors indeed possess First Rank Supernatural strength.

Although they cannot compare to Su Hao, this monster, they are still far stronger than many First Rank Supernaturals.

In a one-on-one fight, slaying First Rank monsters like the Bloody Butcher or Stone Golem is no problem.

The skeleton warriors' innate skill—Bull Rush—is highly practical; activating it requires only about one second of preparation.

After activation, they can charge forward up to one hundred meters within five seconds, dealing damage to all enemies along the way.

The charge's power is also considerable; ordinary First Rank Supernaturals basically have no chance to block it.

The only shortcoming is that the speed is still a bit too slow.

For ordinary people, covering a hundred meters in five seconds is impossible.

However, for First Rank Supernaturals, a hundred meters in five seconds isn't particularly impressive speed, and with the extra second of preparation, dodging this attack isn't very difficult.

However, while a single skeleton warrior's Bull Rush is easy to dodge, if five, ten, or a hundred skeleton warriors form ranks and launch Bull Rushes together, it becomes much harder to evade! Getting these mindless skeleton warriors to obey orders and charge may require some effort.

But for Su Hao, who possesses a twin soul and can multitask, this is really not difficult.

"Alas, what a pity—I don't have many skeleton remains left on my body."

Su Hao sighed helplessly; because he had run too fast earlier, only about ten skeleton remains were left on his body. Moreover, these skeleton armors can be refined into a Bone Essence, which is a good thing for increasing bone hardness.

If used by an undead creature, it also has a certain chance to increase affinity for the bone element, thereby enhancing the power of one's bone magic and raising resistance to bone magic.

"Huh? Given my current condition, can I use Bone Essence now…?"

Su Hao stroked his chin, wearing a thoughtful expression.

After Su Hao completed his advancement, his racial identity added a new race, Bone Demon, in addition to being human.

Judging by the name, Bone Demon is either a demon or an undead creature.

Moreover, Su Hao's bones throughout his body have turned black, and inside each bone runs a river of blood.

At the same time, Su Hao's blood, flesh, and organs are no longer necessities; even without them, they would not affect him in the slightest.

However, Su Hao is accustomed to living in human form, and cannot, nor would he, discard this body of flesh and organs.

But it cannot be denied that Su Hao is no longer purely human; whether he counts as an undead creature, he cannot determine.

"Just try it and you'll know."

Su Hao stopped pondering and immediately took out the Bone Essence he had refined the day before.

"No, no, I can't just use it up like that."

Just as Su Hao was about to swallow that Bone Essence, a sudden flash of insight struck his mind, and he halted his action.

Then, with a thought, he retrieved two First Rank skeleton monster corpses from his Storage Bag.

"Refine!"

The next moment.

The two First Rank skeleton monster corpses on the ground were instantly enveloped by a beam of crimson light.

With Su Hao's current spiritual power, refining a First Rank Supernatural item is utterly effortless.

Moments later, as the crimson light faded, a spherical bone the size of a pinky appeared on the ground.

Even after an undead creature uses Bone Essence, it only has a small chance to increase its affinity for the bone element.

To increase that probability, one naturally needs to synthesize first.

"Synthesize!"

Su Hao picked up the two Bone Essences from the ground and synthesized them together with the one in his hand.

As the golden synthesis light enveloped the three Bone Essences, forming a golden orb of light, a message suddenly popped up before Su Hao's eyes.

【Congratulations, the Synthesis Heart's proficiency has risen to Minor Accomplishment, daily synthesis count increased to five, you can now synthesize Fourth Rank Supernatural items!】

……

"Holy shit?! There's even an unexpected surprise!"

Su Hao slightly raised his eyebrows, his face showing delight.

After the proficiency level rose to Minor Accomplishment, the upper limit of synthesizable items increased from Third Rank to Fourth Rank.

The daily synthesis count also increased by one, now allowing five syntheses per day.

Although it's just one extra synthesis opportunity, for Su Hao this remains a huge boost, further shortening his development time.

Furthermore, after the proficiency increase, the time required for synthesis was greatly shortened.

Originally, synthesizing a First Rank Supernatural item took at least several minutes.

Now, synthesizing three First Rank Supernatural Bone Essences, after the quantity increase, takes less than ten seconds to complete.

As the golden orb burst with dazzling light, a bone as white as jade, the size of an infant's fist, hovered in Su Hao's hand.

【First Rank Withered Bone Essence】

Supernatural Grade: First Rank

Effect: After undead creatures consume it, it can increase bone hardness, raise their own bone element affinity, and there is a certain probability to obtain the passive skill — Wither.

……

"This doesn't mean that the effect of increasing bone element affinity has changed from a certain probability to 100%, right?"

After examining the appraisal results of the Withered Bone Essence, Su Hao nodded in satisfaction.

Although three Supernatural Grade First Rank White Bone Essences, after synthesis the Withered Bone Essence remains Supernatural Grade First Rank, and its usage is still restricted to undead creatures.

But even though they are both Supernatural Grade First Rank, the effect of the Withered Bone Essence cannot be compared to that of the White Bone Essence.

Even a Second Rank White Bone Essence cannot be compared to the Withered Bone Essence in effect.

After the White Bone Essence is synthesized into Withered Bone Essence, it undergoes a fundamental change in quality—not only is the effect of increasing bone element affinity enhanced, but the chance has risen from a certain probability to 100%.

Furthermore, after using the Withered Bone Essence, there is still a certain probability to gain the passive skill — Wither.

Although Su Hao learned from the appraisal of the Withered Bone Essence, he also does not know the effect of the Wither skill.

However, passive skills differ from active skills in that they do not require active use and can trigger automatically.

Even if the Wither skill is useless, it can still give Su Hao some benefit; in short, it will cause no harm.

However, all of this presupposes that it must be used by undead creatures.

"I hope the Bone Demon race can grant me the traits of undead creatures."

Su Hao took a deep breath, picked up the Withered Bone Essence in front of him, and stuffed it into his mouth.

He raised his neck and forcibly swallowed the round ball the size of a baby's fist.

The next moment.

That Withered Bone Essence then turned into a stream of white energy containing pure bone element, merging into Su Hao's bones throughout his body, gradually increasing bone hardness.

"Success!"

Seeing this, Su Hao's face lit up with joy, indicating that the Withered Bone Essence had begun to take effect.

After merging with this white energy, besides the increase in bone hardness, Su Hao also felt a noticeable rise in his affinity for bone element.

If at this time he were to summon a Skeleton Warrior again, perhaps the warrior's duration could be increased by three to five minutes, and its combat power could also be slightly boosted.

As for other effects of bone element affinity, Su Hao finds it hard to judge, since he currently has no other bone magic.

"Too bad, I didn't obtain the Wither skill."

After Su Hao finished absorbing the essence of that Withered Bone, there was still no skill notification, causing him to involuntarily shake his head.

Without saying, Su Hao was not overly disappointed; as long as he has enough Withered Bone Essence, obtaining the Wither skill is merely a matter of time.

To obtain enough Withered Bone Essence, he needs a large number of First Rank Skeletons, and the cemetery where Old Man Andrew resides just happens to have countless skeletons.

"It seems no matter what, I'll have to find time to go back to Old Man Andrew's cemetery again."

Su Hao nodded secretly, then stopped thinking further and returned to his bedroom.

After the proficiency of the Synthesis Heart increased, he still has one synthesis opportunity today; as for what to synthesize, he already has some ideas.

Put another way, the things he needs to synthesize these days have already been planned out.

After organizing, Su Hao divided the items on his person into two categories.

One type increases his own combat power, such as the Gravity Rock Axe, Blood Magic Tome, and Scarlet Touch—these equipment and skills.

The other type consists of Purple Gold Bamboo seeds and water purification devices, which benefit the long-term development of his territory.

With his strength increased, Su Hao can explore more dangerous areas and reap richer rewards, such as dark dungeons.

Developing his territory is equally important; the new world is now so vast that even just a patch of dark forest is larger than many countries on the original Earth.

To better explore the world and gain a foothold in it, he must develop his territory, strengthen the abilities of its members, and enable them to become self-reliant as quickly as possible.

However, relatively speaking, the current priority is still to increase Su Hao's own strength; only when his strength is sufficient can he better develop his territory.

Immediately, with a thought, he took out a white wolf pelt and a blood-red robe from his Storage Bag.

【Damaged Bloodstained Robe】 Once a divine artifact, now severely damaged and completely devoid of divine power, it retains only a slight enhancement to blood magic and a certain self-repair capability.

Furthermore, through normal means, repair is no longer possible.

"Normal means cannot repair it, but that doesn't mean the Synthesis Heart can't."

Su Hao smiled faintly, then immediately mobilized his mental energy to communicate with the Synthesis Heart rune deep in his soul.

(End of Chapter)