“Alright, then we set off in two days. Use these next few days to prepare. As for your errand duties, I’ll ask the school authorities to temporarily hand them over to the other three, so no worries there.” Fanny smiled charmingly upon seeing Han Shuo agree. Her beautiful face was even more tempting and moving because of her smile, making Han Shuo’s heart lurch slightly.
Before he’d arrived in Bryan’s body, Han Shuo’s life could be categorized as a failure. Not only had he accomplished nothing professionally speaking, but his love life had also been in shambles. He still didn’t know anything about being with a woman, to this day.
Once he came to this world, Han Shuo’s self control had decreased and his various desires had increased due to practicing magic. Han Shuo was someone who’d died once before. The depressing and pointless morass of his past life had completely bound his past self. Adding to that was the weight of his family and his shy personality, which had resulted in him never daring to act on the evil thoughts that he dreamed up.
And now, in this completely foreign world, with his increasing strength due to practicing magic, many of his previous constraints had disappeared. He naturally wished to live without regrets and fully materialize all the daydreams that he had always buried deep in his heart.
And women, particularly beautiful women, had always caused an uncontrollable urge in Han Shuo’s heart.
Fanny was not only beautiful and mesmerizing, she also paid particular attention to Han Shuo’s well-being, and he was at the age that desired the fairer sex most ardently. He would naturally have unavoidable desires. With the principles of demonic magic demanding that a practitioner do as he wished, Han Shuo naturally viewed Fanny as the prey of his affections.
“Master Fanny, are the dark creatures we summon always different? Is it possible to summon the same creature after sending it back to the other dimension?”
Since Han Shuo had promised Fanny to accompany them on their outing, he started making preparations for his own affairs. Han Shuo had no advantages besides his summoned small skeleton that he could rely on.
Although he could still contact the skeleton within a certain range, it would likely be difficult to remain in contact with his current level of control over his mental strength once he set out, and they were separated by a vast distance. If the little skeleton got into any trouble because Han Shuo wasn’t here to control it with his mental strength, then things would get sticky.
Although Han Shuo was confident that he’d be able to send the little skeleton back to the other dimension, he didn’t know if he would be able to summon it again. Therefore, he wanted to solve this problem before setting out. As the teacher for the necromancy major, Fanny would naturally know more about these things. Just because Han Shuo had no way of solving his conundrum did not mean Fanny didn’t, hence his questions.
Fanny looked at Han Shuo in confusion as soon as his question was asked. Her sexy, full lips moved as she asked, “Eh, Bryan, why are you asking these questions? These are things that necromancy students should pay attention to. You shouldn’t care about these things!”
“Oh, that was Lisa’s question. I was just asking you for her.” Han Shuo nodded and spoke with a good Samaritan expression.
Fanny didn’t suspect a thing after Han Shuo’s response. She understood that Lisa often practiced necromancy magic on Han Shuo and thus, it made sense for Lisa to ask a question through Han Shuo. She thought for a while and then said, “So that’s the case… It’s not that one can’t summon the same creature after sending it to the other dimension, it’s just that there’s no need to do so.
Every time a dark creature is summoned from the other dimension, it, or a group, is merely chosen at random from a crowd of similarly leveled dark creatures according to the mental strength powering the incantation, and the chant itself. Because they are the same level of dark creature, their strength is roughly the same, and thus no one cares about these matters.”
“Then what should be done in order to resummon the same dark creature after its been sent back to the other dimension?” Han Shou thought quickly and asked a follow-up question.
Fanny carefully put away the magic scrolls on the pedestal and ran her beautiful, long fingers over the top of the pedestal. She frowned as she explained, “If you really want to resummon a dark creature that you sent back to the other dimension, then leave a magical brand on its body. Lock onto the original dark creature through the magical brand the next time you summon it. You can find the original creature this way and resummon it out of the other dimension.”
Han Shuo’s heart was immediately overjoyed upon hearing Fanny’s words, but his forehead creased in a frown as he muttered to himself. “So that’s the case, I wonder if Lisa knows how to leave a magical brand on a summoned dark creature.”
After looking at Han Shuo oddly, Fanny smiled and said softly. “Bryan, you truly are a very kind person. I know that Lisa has not been the friendliest to you, and the problems with your body resulted from her Agony of the Soul. Yet not only do you not carry a grudge, but you constantly think about her. There are very few who are as pure and kind-hearted as you these days.”
Pure! Kind-hearted! Han Shuo was speechless internally, but maintained an honest smile on his face. He scratched his head and said with some embarrassment, “I don’t think a grudge should be carried, no matter the reason. People will understand if you treat them kindly. Heh heh.”
Fanny laughed softly and nodded as she heard Han Shuo’s words, and said no more. She took out a thin piece of yellow paper from a nearby cabinet, and picked up a quill with her slender fingers, dipping it in ink and quickly scratching out something.
After a short while, Fanny had filled the thin paper with words, and she stuck the quill back into the inkpot. She handed the text-filled, thin paper to Han Shuo and smiled, “This is the incantation and method for leaving a magical brand on a summoned dark creature. Give it to Lisa, I think she will know what to do with her capacity as a novice mage.”
Elated, Han Shuo almost shook as he accepted the paper from Fanny. He nodded with a dumb smile, saying eagerly, “I’ll go immediately, Lisa will be very happy.”
Han Shuo left Fanny’s lab at an eager pace, clutching the thin paper in his hands as soon as he’d finished speaking.
“What an innocent little fellow. I hope that Lisa makes less trouble for him in the future because of this.” Fanny smiled slightly and said with some emotion upon seeing Han Shuo leave so urgently.
Midnight, the cemetery behind the Babylon Academy of Magic and Force.
““Oh endless darkness, turn into destructive bone arrows, and destroy according to my will, bone arrows!” A cuttingly sharp bone arrow materialized out of thin air as a lowly chanted incantation finished. Accompanied by a strident whooshing sound, it connected violently with the chest of the straw figure in front of it.
“Haha, I’ve finally successfully released a bone arrow!” Han Shuo laughed loudly and called out with pride after seeing that the bone arrow had neither broken in midair nor had been off course.
A lot of time had passed since the incident that had occurred in the cemetery last time. Han Shuo resumed his practice of the bone arrow magic whenever he was certain that no one would pay attention to the place.
During this time, his mental strength had increased at a rapid pace, particularly after the encounter with the strange ball. Since he hadn’t succumbed to that great calamity, Han Shuo’s mental strength had greatly increased. After repeated practice and enhanced magical knowledge, Han Shuo had finally mastered the low level necromancy magic of bone arrow to perfection, without any mistakes.
The little skeleton stood at attention in the distance, its empty eye sockets vigilantly patrolling the four corners as its head swiveled. It grasped the bone dagger with its right hand, and glowed with a cold, dark light under the moonlight.
He would be temporarily leaving the Academy for the outside world tomorrow with Fanny and co. The fact that Han Shuo had used Lisa’s name to ask Fanny some questions never came to light. After all, this was just a small matter, and Fanny wasn’t someone who would ask about every little detail. She naturally forgot this issue after one or two days.
Over the past few days, Han Shuo studied “The Foundations of Necromancy” and “The Descriptions of Dark Creatures”, as well as thoroughly reading and contemplating the words on Fanny’s thin paper. He was confident that he would be able to leave a magical brand on the little skeleton. He planned to do so before he left on the morrow, and started to plant a magical brand on the little skeleton according to his understanding.
The little skeleton patrolling off in the distance came speeding towards Han Shuo with a yank of his mental strength. The seven bone spurs on its back fluttered slightly in the air, seeming to add a bit of power, and causing the little skeleton’s body to actually lift above the ground for a bit as it ran. This surprised Han Shuo, thinking that his efforts in refining the skeleton had not been in vain. It was apparent that, just like him, its strength had continued to increase.
When the little skeleton came to a stop next to Han Shuo, he gathered his concentration in a way he never had before, curling his fingers upwards in the air. He then started to slowly recite the incantation found in Fanny’s notes.
“My loyal servant, in the name of the summoner, I leave upon you my eternal mark. Dark Seal!” Han Shuo suddenly felt his mental strength drain rapidly away upon concluding the incantation, and an inky black aura, the size of a fist, formed between his hands.
The mental strength needed by this Dark Seal was more than what he’d anticipated. It was only then that Han Shuo remembered something he’d overlooked — Lisa was a novice mage, and he was just a magic apprentice. Fanny’s method had most likely been tailored for Lisa’s mental strength, and hadn’t even considered the fact that a magic apprentice would be the one casting it.
Han Shuo felt a headache flare up as his mental strength was spontaneously depleted. He was involuntarily shocked by the feeling of something being drained away.
At this moment, the aura between his two hands abruptly drifted out, sinking into the little skeleton’s body between its two empty eye sockets. At the same time, Han Shuo felt extremely fatigued and sat heavily on the ground, panting heavily as he did so.
Suddenly, it was as if a corner of a veil had been lifted over the foggy memories left by Chu Cang Lan, and a portion of an incantation and memory became exceedingly clear.
The newfound memories had to do with harnessing magical treasure and the “Harnessing Magic Incantation”. This helped Han Shuo realize that he had gained better understanding of some part of Chu Cang Lan’s indistinct memories under somewhat bizarre circumstances.
A strange whooshing sound abruptly interrupted his thoughts, and Han Shuo subconsciously raised his head to search for the its source.
He was flabbergasted.
The little skeleton was waving the sharp bone dagger around in an airy dance. Cold light sparkled around the little skeleton’s body in dizzying waves underneath the moonlight. The bone dagger followed the movements of the little skeleton’s hand and stabbed multiple times at the straw figure, leaving it with the appearance of swiss cheese.
Han Shuo recollected himself after being dumbfounded, his face full of incredulous joy. He threw his head back to the heavens and roared, “Hot damn, I’m awesome!”