Necromancer chopping down trees

Chapter 8 Contract with the Undead
"As you can see."

Wang Yue once again showed Sith his weapons and armor.

"I'm just a warrior passing by. I don't understand what dark energy is."

The skull opened its mouth wide, and black smoke came out of its mouth and floated to Wang Yue.

"It's great to be young. I envy you for having a perfect body."

Sis seemed not to have heard what Wang Yue had just said. He rolled back to Wang Yue and finally jumped onto his shoulders.

"Boy, in order to defeat the dragon, we have to use all our strength. As far as I know, necromancy does not belong to any system. I learned it from a blood-sucking... oh no, an ancient book."

In order to cooperate with Sith's explanation, the black smoke surrounding Wang Yue began to get closer to his body.

"See? Dark energy has a high affinity for you, which means you are very suitable for this new power."

[Experience gained: 800]

[Level Upgrade Current Level: 4]

The black smoke is the dark energy extracted by the Sith. Using it directly on Wang Yue is like an enlightenment.

Improving strength is called gaining power in the words of NPCs, and for players it is gaining experience points.

"Xiao Nuo, I didn't expect upgrading to be so easy."

"When NPCs improve their strength, they also absorb and transform the energy of the game world."

This is considered a triggered experience gain and can be seen as a task that can be completed immediately.

Looking at Wang Yue standing there in a daze, Sith on his shoulder hit his head hard.

"Ouch."

Wang Yue covered the side of her body that was hurt and looked at Sis angrily.

“The learning begins.”

After Sith landed on the ground, he began his teaching. Smoke spewed out of his mouth, and the surrounding bone fragments were swept by the black smoke, all turning into white powder.

"Watch it, I'm only going to show you once."

The skull rolled on the powder on the ground, and the shape of the magic circle slowly took shape. Finally, an enlarged version of the skull appeared under Wang Yue's feet.

"Simple, I remember this shape."

Wang Yue squatted down, grabbed a handful of white ash, and used her fingers to draw a mini skull on the palm of her hand.

【Dark Energy Extraction】

The white ash in his hand disappeared instantly, leaving a black skull mark on the palm of Wang Yue's hand.

[Mana Full]

"It looks a bit like a mage's meditation, but the effect is obviously faster."

Dark energy extraction is a means of quickly restoring mana, but at the cost of consuming the item that serves as the medium.

"You are such a genius."

Sith praised Wang Yue's talent highly, but Wang Yue did not pay attention to the noisy skull. He was asking about the system skill casting.

"Xiao Nuo, can I use the magic circle to cast spells like a real magician?"

"You've just done that."

"How is this different from voice casting?"

"Voice casting takes less time, but the effect after completion is not as good as using a magic circle."

In order to verify the system's instructions, Wang Yue first used [Summoning the Dead] to use up half of his mana.

"Oh? A summon constructed with dark energy, pretty good."

Sith looked at the [Basic Skeleton]. Although the summoned creature was only level 4, it was indeed created using the dark energy that represents death.

"Dark energy extraction."

Wang Yue pointed his palm towards the sky, and saw the skull on his palm flashing a black light, and the dark energy floating in the air was drawn into his palm.

He wanted to test the effect of the skill without consuming items, but the result seemed to be useless.

“It’s working, but the speed has obviously slowed down.”

The blue bar representing mana in the upper left corner of the interface is slowly getting longer, about three times the natural recovery speed.

"Don't show off, kid. Let's continue teaching."

Seeing that Wang Yue had already learned how to extract dark energy, Sith continued to teach more useful magic.

"It's time for the mission reward. It seems to be called Contract Summoning."

The skull continued to roll on the ground. He first wiped out the magic circle that extracted dark energy, and then rolled around the ashes to close it into a circle.

The circle was divided into three parts, Wang Yue stood on the left side, and the middle and right sides were empty.

"Your summoning technique is too ordinary. This is a more advanced summoning technique that I have learned."

"First-level summoning technique?"

Wang Yue raised his eyebrows. If he could learn a first-level skill before reaching level 10, it would be like adding wings to a tiger.

"Oh, this is the legendary tenth-level summoning technique. You can even summon the thirty-six demons in hell."

Hearing Sith's boasting, Wang Yue looked down at the simple magic circle with disdain.

The [Contract Summoning] formation he boasted about was nothing more than a circle cut into three parts by a vertical line. It was hard to tell how advanced it was.

"If this skill is really level 10, I'm afraid the demons in hell will never be able to sleep peacefully again."

Wang Yue twitched her lips, suppressed her smile and continued to listen to Sith's teaching of the tenth-level skills.

"The three basic elements of summoning are the medium, the caster, and the summon. They represent consumption, negotiation ability, and reward respectively. The essence is a contract."

Sith used his black smoke to display the outlines of several of the wizard's summons, including a powerful demon warrior, a sinister Satyr assassin, and a strange witch wizard.

Although both use dark energy, wizards can only make existing dark things become their servants, and cannot create new ones.

"Someone once told me that necromancy can create summoned creatures. If we reach a contract with a summoned creature, as its strength increases, the summoned creature will also evolve."

Sith signaled to Wang Yue to place the [Basic Skeleton] he had just summoned into the magic circle.

"Boy, place something precious in the middle, and both you and your servant will gain benefits."

The skull hit Wang Yue's waist, asking him to place the [Bone Spur] in the middle of the magic circle.

"I quite like this sword. I can't fight without my weapon."

Wang Yue immediately refused. There was no way the weapons would be wasted on this.

He suddenly thought of the most precious thing in his package. If he used the [Fifth-Level Bone Fragment], he would definitely gain unexpected rewards.

"This breath, could it be?"

When Sith saw Wang Yue take out the bone fragment from the package, the knowledgeable wizard immediately recognized the powerful energy attached to the item.

"The bone fragment is level three, oh no, at least level four. You are really lucky."

Looking at the small piece of blue bone on the ground, even the Skull felt a little distressed. He estimated that it would be a waste of a lot of energy for a kid with initial strength to cast a spell.

"Contract summoning is more complicated, repeat after me."

Sith jumped onto Wang Yue's head. He was thinking for a long time, and Wang Yue under him also felt his heart sink.

【Life and death coexist, and the mind is one. 】

【Suck my blood and eat my flesh. 】

【We share the same mind and know each other’s warmth and coldness. 】

As he finished speaking, the circle under his feet burst into black light waves, and the energy rushed straight into the sky. The bone fragments in the center of the magic circle were being melted, and the skeleton on the right side of the magic circle was covered in black smoke.

[Contract Summoning has been successful]

[Please name the summoned creature]

"It's so dark that I can't see anything. Why not just call him Goudan?"

Goudan's voice echoed in the fog, the light waves of the magic circle gradually weakened, the black smoke dissipated, and was replaced by a tall skeleton standing beside Wang Yue.

"Goudan, when you were born, the entire fog was whispering your name."

Looking at the skeleton that was taller than herself, Wang Yue knew that she had finally found a treasure.

There is a skull avatar in the upper left corner of the interface. On the right side of the avatar is the name "Goudan". Below the name are two long red and blue bars, representing health and mana.

[Goudan: The contracted summon of the necromancer Wang Yue, has inherited the vampire template]

【Level: 4】

After the contract, the skeleton is still a skeleton, but it is hard to say what it will look like in the future.

"That skeleton butler is not a skeleton?"

He picked up the [Fifth-Level Bone Fragment] from under the bed, and it was dropped by the [Skeleton Butler] who only appeared for a moment.

Wang Yue changed his mind and thought that maybe other people were vampires when they were alive, and after death they were summoned as skeletons by necromancers like him using their remains.

"I learned it, thank you for your teaching."

"Humph, I'm just returning a favor."

The new partner Goudan looks smarter than the cannon fodder Skeleton, but he is not very smart either. He is now following behind Wang Yue, mechanically keeping a distance as he moves.

"Now that we are stronger, can we seek revenge on that evil dragon?"

"The two of us are not enough. We need more help to defeat the blue dragon."

[Mission Objective: Find help in the shelter]

[Task Reward: Trust of the Living Dead]

Wang Yue stepped out of the foggy boundary, and a prompt for a new map appeared on the interface.

[Corrupted Forest: A forest that plunders the vitality of life, with endless trees to be cut down]

He saw trees scattered around not far away. The bark of these bare dead trees was dry and cracked, and the bark was black as if they had been dead for many years.

Ordinary people might let their guard down, but in fact these dead trees are terrible monsters.

[Dead Wood: A corrupted tree spirit that absorbs the energy of the dead]

【Level: 8】

When the level exceeds level 3, the monster's name will turn red, reminding Wang Yue not to provoke it easily.

"What a nuisance! And it's a forest of red monsters. No, why did the color change?"

When Wang Yue first saw the monsters’ health bars, they were red. But after taking another look, they turned yellow.

"Xiao Nuo, am I seeing things?"

"It is being tested. There are two pieces of information about the dead wood."

The system immediately sent two prompts.

Tip 1: The Undead Tree is an active attack type monster and has extremely strong recovery ability.

Tip two: Undead wood has an affinity for dark energy and is very suitable for building a necromancer's residence.

"I remember now. The weakness of the dead wood is dark energy."

Wang Yue looked at the boundless dead woods. They had no way of bypassing these high-level monsters, so rushing through was their only option.

"Compared to the skeletons in the fog, the attack power of these trees pretending to be dead is extremely low. But the trouble is that their roots have long grown into the soil. As long as there is dark energy in the soil, it will not be easy for them to die."

Sith saw so many trees and he was also worried about the obstacles that would appear.

"Humph, if I were in my prime, I could just use a normal shadow bomb to destroy this piece of rotten wood. What a pity..."

But the great wizard certainly has a way. He now needs to think carefully about how to get through the woods.

Seeing that the skull was still thinking, Wang Yue decided to test Goudan's strength.

"Goudan, go chop down those trees."

Wang Yue pointed at the nearest undead tree, and the fearless level 4 skeleton immediately rushed towards the level 8 opponent.

Goudan raised his bony palm as a hand knife and swung his legs mechanically alternately. Although he did not move fast, "Goudan" stepping on the soil was full of momentum.

"Stupid boy, get your summon back now. It will be a waste if it dies."

Before Sis could finish his words, Goudan had already approached the Undead Tree. He chopped at the tree trunk with one hand, and the huge sound echoed throughout the forest.

[Dog Egg causes damage: 2]

Goudan's hand bones did not leave any marks on the Undead Wood, but after the attack, the Undead Wood was still lifeless and showed no signs of counterattack.

"Won't these trees attack creatures with dark energy?"

To verify his idea, the skull rolled forward.

Before he got close to the [Dead Tree], black roots emerged from the ground and attacked him, but Sith sensed it in advance and dodged it perfectly.

"Don't commit suicide, come back soon."

Seeing that Goudan's damage was only minor, Wang Yue immediately used summoning magic to summon another [Basic Skeleton].

He did not send his men into battle immediately, but instead carved a magic circle on the ground with pieces of bone.

"Boy, what do you want to do?"

"Didn't you see? I want to contract and summon Goudan No. 2 to speed up the process of clearing the forest."

Sith stood in the way of his portrait and blew a puff of black smoke at Wang Yue.

"what are you doing?"

"Idiot, you can only have one contract partner at the beginner level. If you force the spell, it will only be a waste of materials."

This was indeed something Wang Yue didn't know. As the creator, he didn't even remember the existence of [Contract Summoning Technique]. He originally thought it was a common skill, but he didn't expect it to have so many restrictions.

"Xiao Nuo, send me a copy of the skill description."

"Okay, sending it."

Wang Yue dropped the bone fragment, stood up and remained silent.

Every profession has a so-called "contract" skill, such as a hunter making a contract with a beast, or a mage making a contract with an elemental creature.

According to the skill description, the pinnacle of the "Contract" skill is [Contract Summoning]. It obtains the purest power through the most primitive method. With each level up, the target that can be contracted increases by one.

"From this point of view, Sith may not have lied to me. This is a genuine tenth-level skill."

On the other side, Goudan led the newly summoned skeletons to chop hundreds of times, and finally successfully cut down a tree.

The moment the [Dead Tree] fell, the other trees around it seemed to wake up, their branches grew wildly, and their stumps became thicker.

"It's getting late."

Wang Yue looked up at the sky. It was already late at night, and the sky was filled with stars and the moon.

"Goudan, move the fallen tree here."

He shouted loudly to his younger brother in the distance, and two skeletons, one big and one small, walked towards him, dragging a half-chopped piece of [Dead Wood] and came in front of Wang Yue.

"You go collect the short branches, Goudan, you slice the stump with your hand knife."

The huge piece of wood required a lot of time to process, and Wang Yue took out the bone spur and poked the thick branches.

"Boy, what are you doing?"

"Don't ask about the Necromancer."

Wang Yue was already feeling sleepy. Although his mental and physical strength were normal, this was due to physical fatigue. He needed to build a shelter for himself to sleep as soon as possible.

In addition to the main profession, there are also secondary professions in the game. Each player can choose a non-combat secondary profession. For example, a blacksmith can smelt ore and forge weapons, which is very suitable as a secondary profession for a warrior player.

"Luckily, I know a thing or two about carpentry, so continuing my carpentry career in the game is the best option."

Based on Wang Yue’s current understanding of the Necromancer, the method of summoning skeletons to fight may require more assistance from the inscriptionist.

The inscription master can engrave an inscription containing a small amount of mana, which can stimulate a small amount of gain. This product with a wide coverage is of great benefit to summoning professions.

"But when it comes to playing games, interest is the most important thing."

After starting to process the wood, a prompt popped up immediately.

[Are you sure you want to make carpentry your secondary occupation?]

"determine."

After you have decided on a secondary occupation, you can still change it, but you will lose all proficiency in the current secondary occupation after changing it.

[Secondary occupation: Carpentry]

[Current proficiency level: 1 (apprentice)]

As long as you keep trying to process the wood, you can improve it just like your weapon proficiency, so Wang Yue immediately started processing the wood in front of him.

He spread the branches all over the ground, used wood chips as mattresses, inserted thick branches into the four corners and put them together, and finally covered a circle with thin bark, and the simple [bark tent] was completed.

[Carpentry proficiency improvement]

[Current proficiency level: 2 (apprentice)]

As the proficiency level increases, players can learn how to produce items from NPCs or dropped blueprints.

Carpenters can make protective gear such as shields, but they are more likely to make functional props such as [Bark Tent]. They are useless for players who pursue strength, but they are much more practical for Wang Yue who is in the game world.

"Sure, kid, this tent is pretty good."

Sith was jumping on the wood chips, and Wang Yue was exhausted. It was really laborious to sharpen the branches with a rapier, and now he could finally sleep peacefully.

"Stop jumping. We still need to cut down trees to clear a path tomorrow."

Wang Yue closed his eyes, his ears gradually became numb to the sound, and he soon fell asleep.

In the woods, because Wang Yue forgot to cancel the battle order, the tireless skeleton duo were still working hard to destroy the undead tree.

I've always wanted to play the Diablo II remake, but I don't have the time.
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(End of this chapter)