Undead Mage: I Have a Skeleton Clone-Chapter 483 - 350: Two Months of Bitter Training, Substantial Boost in Foundations!
For nearly two months, Fang Zhou ventured deep into the Corpse Hills, traveling to faraway places. Not only did he encounter several waves of mutated Undead Creatures, but he also discovered several new types of Undead Attribute resources.
Unfortunately, among all these mutated Undead Creatures, Fang Zhou only came across a single Mutated Tower Shield Skeleton Warrior that could be enslaved by his Skeleton Monarch skill. Fang Zhou named this new subordinate "Sain."
As for the Undead Attribute resources he discovered, he absorbed whatever he could on the spot. Once he reached his absorption limit, Fang Zhou would distribute the rest to his most promising intelligent subordinates, such as Tidamia, Verus, and Sain. Under his guidance, Sain, Tidamia, Verus, and the other Skeleton Warriors also began to show their respective potential. Seeing these subordinates perform so excellently in battle always filled Fang Zhou with a sense of achievement.
It was worth mentioning that his skeleton clone’s Strength attribute was now nearing 70 points, approaching the 80-point threshold that separated the Middle and Upper Ranks of Black Iron. With the increase in his Strength attribute, Fang Zhou’s combat style had become more diverse. His skeleton clone had not only finished learning all the Black Iron-level universal Combat Professional skills recommended by Instructor Lu Hu but had also accumulated a substantial amount of Soul Power that he hadn’t used yet.
This wasn’t to say that Soul Power had no use other than learning skills. Only recently, after accumulating a surplus, had Fang Zhou discovered another one of its important functions: it could be directly consumed to enhance Skill Proficiency. However, the cost of this direct enhancement was significant. Even though Fang Zhou had accumulated quite a bit of Soul Power, he had no intention of spending it this way for now.
According to his current calculations, upgrading an Apprentice-level skill cost the following amounts of Soul Power:
• 10 points to reach Beginner proficiency.
• 20 points to reach Master proficiency.
• 50 points to reach Skilled proficiency.
• 100 points to reach Mastery proficiency.
• 200 points to reach Perfection proficiency.
• 400 points to reach the highest level, Instinctive proficiency.
If one had the corresponding Skill Materials, Skill Insights, or related knowledge, the Soul Power cost could be reduced to a certain extent. However, for Fang Zhou’s main body, the Undead Mage, most of his key skills had been painstakingly deduced through his own intelligence and wisdom. He had already used all the necessary Skill Materials and knowledge reserves to arduously raise them to Perfection proficiency. The 400 Soul Power required to advance from Perfection to the Instinctive level was simply too extravagant, and Fang Zhou was reluctant to spend it. This Soul Power had been painstakingly accumulated by his skeleton clone, one point at a time, through countless arduous battles. Therefore, Fang Zhou was particularly cautious about investing all these precious resources into enhancing a single skill at once.
As for the skeleton clone, the Soul Power cost to enhance the proficiency of its Black Iron-level skills was ten times higher than that of Apprentice-level skills. Fang Zhou had no intention of doing so in the short term. After all, his main body was about to break through its bottleneck and advance to the Black Iron Tier. Upon advancing to a Lower-Rank Black Iron Undead Mage, many of his current skills would need to be replaced.
Fang Zhou knew that once he broke through to the Black Iron level, he would face an entirely new skill system. Many of his existing skills would become obsolete, replaced by more powerful Black Iron-level skills. Therefore, he had to reserve enough Soul Power to cope with this transition. Although Fang Zhou had already prepared thousands of contribution points for the Black Iron Stage, he would still need a large amount of Soul Power ready in advance to quickly master these new Black Iron-level Magic Professional skills.
After pondering the issue, Fang Zhou decided it was better to save his Soul Power for the Black Iron Stage rather than spend a huge amount to elevate a single Apprentice-level skill to Instinctive proficiency. After all, his methods for obtaining Soul Power were still relatively limited, relying mainly on his skeleton clone’s hunting. Once he managed to open up other channels for acquiring Soul Power, he could then consider such a luxurious expenditure. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎
...
In the Corpse Hills, Fang Zhou looked at his clone’s attribute panel:
[Clone] Skeleton Warrior
[Tier] Black Iron · Middle Rank
[Attributes] Strength 70, Constitution 66, Agility 68, Spirit 65
[Equipment] Corpse Long Spear +2 (Level 2 White Bone Stone x2), Corpse Armor +2 (Level 2 White Bone Stone x2)
[Marvel] Berserker Mark (Purple)
[Skills] Skeleton Monarch (Black Iron, Instinctive), Corpse Armor (Black Iron, Instinctive), Brutal Strike (Black Iron, Perfection), Heroic Charge (Black Iron, Perfection), High-level Weapon Specialization (Black Iron, Perfection), Block and Counterattack (Black Iron, Perfection), Victory Battle Cry (Black Iron, Mastery), Battle Qi Slash (Black Iron, Mastery), Vortex Strike (Black Iron, Mastery), Battle Qi Shield (Black Iron, Mastery), Vengeful Stance (Black Iron, Mastery), Horror Roar (Black Iron, Mastery), Trample (Black Iron, Mastery), Unknown Skill (Analyzing)
[Apostle] 2 (Sandro, Su Xinyan)
[Servant] Tidamia + Verus + Sain + 64
Contentedly clenching his bone fist, Fang Zhou led his sixty-plus skeleton underlings onward to continue exploring the Corpse Hills.
He had initially thought tonight would be an ordinary hunt, but Fang Zhou was pleasantly surprised to discover a brand new Mutated Dual-Sword Skeleton Warrior. This warrior appeared to have far greater combat power than Tidamia. With the speed of a thunderclap, it dealt with Fang Zhou’s No. 1 Team as easily as chopping vegetables. After clearing the battlefield, it swiftly absorbed the skeletal remains scattered on the ground and vanished from sight.
Fang Zhou would not let it get away. It was rare to find a mutated skeleton he could enslave, and this one had dared to attack his poor No. 1 Team, which had already been rebuilt multiple times. He immediately ordered his skeleton squad to track the Mutated Dual-Sword Skeleton Warrior, relentlessly pursuing the trail it left behind.
After over an hour of tracking, Fang Zhou and his skeleton underlings left the hilly area and entered a canyon. Ahead lay a deep canyon flanked by steep cliffs. Upon entering the canyon from the hills, Fang Zhou clearly felt a subtle change in the surrounding atmosphere. It seemed as though the aura of death pervading this canyon was purer and gentler. Moreover, there appeared to be an invisible barrier separating the canyon from the outside world.
Entering the canyon, Fang Zhou looked ahead. It was not large, perhaps two to three kilometers long and only two to three hundred meters wide. Standing at the entrance, he could see the sluggish figures of zombies wandering within. At the very edge of his vision, there was even a blurry building surrounded by hordes of figures!
Fang Zhou’s heart skipped a beat. He had been hunting in the Undead Realm for so long, but this was the first time he had ever seen a man-made structure. The existence of a building suggested that this place had once been visited by beings of high intelligence. However, after circling the canyon’s periphery, Fang Zhou found that the building was completely dilapidated, looking like a decaying ruin that had been weathered by the river of time for countless years.
After a moment of quiet contemplation, Fang Zhou moved as lightly as possible, leading his skeleton underlings forward while concealing their presence as they advanced into the canyon’s interior. The trail of the Mutated Dual-Sword Skeleton Warrior led deeper inside.
Fang Zhou’s current location was the canyon’s only exit. No matter what secrets this place held, as long as he cleared out the entire canyon, he was bound to find the hidden Mutated Dual-Sword Skeleton Warrior. His pace quickened as a sense of confidence grew within him.
