Zhao Lun didn't expect the excavation to go so poorly.
After only a few attempts, his skeleton minions discovered that there was a large stone underground, around thirteen to fourteen meters in diameter, completely blocking their way. They couldn't dig straight down at all.
Faced with this, Zhao Lun had no choice but to order his skeleton minions to dig around the stone, hoping to bypass it and create a tunnel leading down to uncover the mysterious presence that had called out to him.
However, this meant a much larger task at hand. It might take two or three days to get through, especially since his skeleton minions were clumsy. Meanwhile, his head was still aching, so to make the process more bearable, Zhao Lun decided to pause the excavation and take a break. He wandered around the area with his minions for over two hours, gathering enough food supplies for himself and his skeleton minions before returning to continue digging.
After devouring the soul fires of four or five skeleton mages, Zhao Lun's soul fire began to heal. There was still a faint sting, but the worst of the pain was over.
As the saying goes, a full stomach leads to idle thoughts. With his skeleton minions doing the heavy lifting, Zhao Lun found himself with some free time. He became curious and focused his attention on the Level 4 Greatsword Skeleton.
"Hey, can you understand me?" Zhao Lun picked up the skull of the Greatsword Skeleton and examined it, speaking with curiosity.
Stare
The Greatsword Skeleton stared back at him blankly, its expression vacant. However, its soul fire flickered with intelligence, which Zhao Lun easily noticed. It was clear that this skeleton was different from his other minions.
No matter how Zhao Lun tried to communicate, the result was always the same—he was met with a vacant stare. Frustrated, Zhao Lun decided to attempt a different approach, hoping to use the Servant spell to establish a connection and communicate through it.
To ensure his safety, Zhao Lun had two of his skeletal archers stop digging and keep watch over the surroundings.
Once everything was set, Zhao Lun placed the Greatsword Skeleton's skull on the ground and began chanting the incantation for the Servant spell.
"Servant!"
Ten seconds later, with a wave of his hand, a gray stream of energy surged from Zhao Lun's soul fire and shot toward the skull of the Greatsword Skeleton, quickly entering its mind.
"Out!" Zhao Lun commanded.
As soon as the gray energy entered the Greatsword Skeleton's soul fire, Zhao Lun immediately sensed a rough and strained call, followed by a violent backlash from the skeleton's soul fire.
"Ah! Damn it, how is this thing so strong? Didn't they say Servant doesn't work on undead below level 5?" In just three seconds, the gray energy was shattered by the Greatsword Skeleton, and the backlash from the failed Servant spell caused Zhao Lun to stumble.
"Ugh, I don't believe this!" Zhao Lun, realizing he wasn't seriously injured, charged forward again.
Crack!
In the same pattern, three seconds later, Zhao Lun was sent flying once again.
After several failed attempts, Zhao Lun finally gave up, slapping the Greatsword Skeleton's skull in frustration.
"Damn bastard, I don't believe it! Once I hit level 3, I'll have you under control!" Zhao Lun muttered as he pulled a soul fire from a nearby skull and tossed it into his own skull. He enveloped it with his soul fire, then, just as he was about to mutter more threats to the Greatsword Skeleton, he froze.
A moment of ecstatic joy flashed in his eyes, as the soul fire in his skull suddenly vibrated with energy.
"I knew it! I knew my luck was good!" Zhao Lun felt the new magic transmitted through his soul fire and went into a frenzy of joy.
This time, the magic he received was a Level 1 spell—Earth Spikes, an elemental attack spell.
It seemed that the poor skeleton mage had crossed paths with Zhao Lun at the wrong time. It was taken down by Zhao Lun's skeletal archers, but had it survived, it would have been a formidable opponent. With its level 2 magic and the power of Earth Spikes, it could have easily defeated a Level 3 melee skeleton.
Zhao Lun quickly analyzed the magic formation and incantation embedded in the soul fire. He was clear on the spell's power. If it hit a skeleton directly, only the previous Level 4 Greatsword Skeleton would have been able to withstand it and survive. The power of this spell was immense.
Being a mage enthusiast, Zhao Lun couldn't contain his excitement. Compared to the failure of the Servant spell, his joy at acquiring Earth Spikes made him forget all about the earlier frustrations.
After deciphering the magic formation and incantation of Earth Spikes, Zhao Lun, in his fervor, dove headfirst into studying it. For a moment, he completely forgot about the mysterious summoning and the Greatsword Skeleton. His obsession with learning the spell showed just how deep his fascination with magic was.
Zhao Lun was naturally talented in the magical arts. Of the spells he had learned, Stun, Blindness, Servant, and Magic Missile, two of them were innate spells. The other two, Zhao Lun had mastered in a matter of hours.
However, Earth Spikes was presenting a challenge. After spending over ten hours studying it, he managed to inscribe the magic formation into his soul fire, but the incantation still took him twenty to thirty seconds to recite, far longer than his usual two seconds for a spell.
But it wasn't entirely Zhao Lun's fault. After all, skeletons didn't have vocal cords. His method of chanting was through vibrating bones, which naturally made the process more difficult. But considering his current progress, it was just a matter of practice.
At this point, Zhao Lun finally snapped out of his magical trance and looked around. To his surprise, there were now over twenty new skeleton heads lying around. His minions had slain some passing skeletons while he was absorbed in his research.
Looking at the scattered skulls, Zhao Lun sighed. His minions' intelligence was so low that they couldn't even follow a simple order to separate different types of skeleton heads.
"At this rate, I might as well do it myself!" With a grumble, Zhao Lun swiped the skulls aside. Suddenly, an idea struck him.
"Wait, why can't I just do it myself?"