After class, Fang Zhou returned to his dormitory. He sat on his bed and carefully considered how to use his remaining 10 contribution points and 20 Soul Power.
The Skeleton Clone's combat ability was sufficient for now. Perhaps it was worth redeeming a key Magic Professional skill for his main body. Fang Zhou opened the Human Alliance Skill Library and browsed through the universal Mage skills.
That's the one! [Calm and Relaxed]!
This skill passively increased a Magic Professional's Spiritual Power recovery speed and could actively restore a certain amount of Spiritual Power on command. Whether for practicing and increasing Skill Proficiency or for boosting sustained combat ability in a real fight, [Calm and Relaxed] was an indispensable Divine Skill for any Magic Professional. If Fang Zhou obtained [Calm and Relaxed], he would be able to cast [Summon Skeleton] more times each day, which would in turn accelerate the growth of his Skill Proficiency.
Having made his decision, Fang Zhou didn't hesitate. He spent his last 10 contribution points on his personal terminal and quickly received a [Calm and Relaxed] Skill Book. Then, just as before, a projection demonstrating the cultivation technique appeared before him.
The only drawback of [Calm and Relaxed] was its extremely high learning difficulty. Some Magic Professionals with average talent couldn't even learn it within the one-month validity period of the Skill Book. However, for the exceptionally talented Fang Zhou, this was hardly a problem.
Attribute Panel, add the points!
Sure enough, the Skills Bar on his attribute panel immediately changed, displaying 'Learnable Skills (+).' Fang Zhou focused his attention on the "+" symbol.
"Learnable Skill Material detected. Consume 10 Soul Power for a quick start."
"Begin learning?"
Fang Zhou confirmed immediately. "Begin learning!"
As the Soul Power was consumed, Fang Zhou once again entered the familiar state of a Burst of Inspiration. The casting principles and spell model from the [Calm and Relaxed] Skill Book flashed continuously in his mind, as if he had practiced them thousands upon thousands of times.
"Successfully learned skill: [Calm and Relaxed]!"
[Calm and Relaxed] (Apprentice, Beginner): Slightly increases Spiritual Power recovery speed. Active use immediately restores a small amount of Spiritual Power. Its cooldown, active effect, and passive effect are all determined by the user's Spirit Attribute and Skill Proficiency.
Fang Zhou was curious about the new skill's practical effect and wanted to test it out. He immediately cast [Summon Skeleton].
As his Skill Proficiency with [Summon Skeleton] had improved from [Beginner] to [Master], the strength and number of skeletons he could summon had both increased. He could now choose to summon 30 of the weakest newborn skeletons or a smaller number of slightly stronger ones. Fang Zhou needed to strike a careful balance between the individual strength and the total number of skeletons. For a quantitative analysis, he summoned only the weakest newborn skeletons this time.
A series of black vortices appeared, and one by one, Soul Fires ignited within them. Thirty skeletons stood neatly arranged before Fang Zhou. Though their bodies were frail, their numbers alone were enough to inspire despair.
At this point, Fang Zhou's Spiritual Power was depleted. He immediately activated [Calm and Relaxed]. As the skill was cast, a weak stream of Spiritual Power surged within him. Fang Zhou continued to cast [Summon Skeleton], and another four skeletons crawled out from the black vortices.
Looking at the 34 skeletons before him, Fang Zhou felt a surge of elation. Based on the experiment, actively using [Calm and Relaxed] could restore one-tenth of his Spiritual Power. Combined with the passive recovery, [Calm and Relaxed] provided him with an additional one-fifth of his Spiritual Power every day. That meant he could increase the daily cast count of [Summon Skeleton] by one-fifth, which would naturally accelerate his Skill Proficiency improvement by the same amount. Fang Zhou now eagerly anticipated what kind of skill the system would deduce for his Skeleton Clone when [Summon Skeleton] reached the [Instinct] level of proficiency.
He practiced commanding his Skeleton Army a bit more until his Spiritual Power was completely drained, at which point he dismissed the 34 skeletons back to the Undead Realm.
With 10 Soul Power left, Fang Zhou had no intention of saving it. According to Instructor Lu Hu's instruction during the practical combat class, any kind of battle revolved around five key elements: attack, defense, control, movement, and enhancement. Currently, his main body's offensive capabilities, which included [Summon Skeleton] and [Skeleton Flying Spear], were already quite adequate. However, the other areas of defense, control, movement, and enhancement were complete blanks.
Of course, the other apprentices from his cohort were in the same situation. They were newly awakened recruits, after all; even a prodigy couldn't be expected to build a complete combat system overnight. Yet, given Fang Zhou's prudent nature, he placed a higher priority on defensive skills.
In the Human Alliance Skill Library, the only defensive skill available to Apprentice-tier Undead Mages was the universal Magic Professional skill, [Mana Shield]. However, the nature of undead mana was not highly compatible with the spell structure of [Mana Shield], so its effect could only be described as barely satisfactory. An ordinary Undead Mage would have no choice but to use [Mana Shield] as a stopgap measure.
But Fang Zhou had a better option.
He focused his attention on the "+" after 'Inferable Skills' on the attribute panel.
"Detected that a Clone's skill has reached [Instinct] proficiency. It can be used as Skill Material to deduce an Unknown Skill for the main body. Estimated cost: 10 Soul Power."
"Begin inference?"
A faint smile touched Fang Zhou's lips. "Begin inference!"
As his Soul Power hit zero, countless flashes of inspiration erupted in his mind.
Since undead mana can be condensed into the shape of a spear, it can naturally be formed into a shield as well.
"Skill Inference Successful: [Skeleton Shield]!"
[Skeleton Shield] (Apprentice, Skilled): Condenses a shield of bone that orbits the body, providing effective defense against physical and magical damage. Shield strength is determined by the user's Spirit Attribute and Skill Proficiency.
Reading the skill description, Fang Zhou nodded in satisfaction. The new skill was created, and it even came with [Skilled] proficiency right away. This filled a major gap in his combat system.
Fang Zhou glanced at his main body's attribute panel, a sense of accomplishment welling up inside him.
[Name] Fang Zhou
[Profession] Undead Mage
[Tier] Apprentice · Lower
[Attributes] Strength 1.5, Agility 1.3, Constitution 1.3, Spirit 2.5
[State] Soul Split
[Equipment] None
[Skills] Skeleton Meditation Method (Master, Modifiable), Summon Skeleton (Master), Skeleton Flying Spear (Skilled), Skeleton Shield (Skilled), Calm and Relaxed (Beginner)
More gratifying than the changes to his Four-dimensional Attributes was the fact that he now had five skills listed on his attribute panel.
With just these five skills, my combat power is already enough to crush Ye Fan and Gu Zhiqiu.
After reviewing his skill system once more, Fang Zhou decided that his next priority would be to improve the [Skeleton Meditation Method].