Necromancer, summoning 055? What the heck?

Chapter 295 The Vajra Appears in the Land of Udon Buddha: The First Trial of the Eastern Xia Shaman
What is the purpose of a shaman?

Why would Dongxia spend so much effort and time developing this "rough" or even "primitive" psionic application system for orcs when there are training methods for warriors and mages that are more suitable for human physiques?

First and foremost, it must be said that the family has a deep-rooted persecution complex.

There can't be anything in this world that I can't do, otherwise, I'll definitely be held hostage by others because of it.

That's right. Even if it's technology from another world, I may not use it, but I can't be ignorant of it!
Secondly, it is also related to the state of spiritual energy depletion on Earth.

Over the past few years, the [Compassionate Voyage] Engineering Department and the Eastern Xia military have jointly established several experimental [Starry Sky Special Forces] units to explore the warrior and mage training systems from the Starry Sky world. These units include martial arts special forces, elemental special forces, and more specific projects such as necromancy, magic circle construction, and item enchanting.

However, the results were quite uneven, or rather, far from meeting expectations.

The main problem lies with the mage class.

Lacking the support of psionic energy in the environment, the magicians carefully cultivated by Dongxia, due to their characteristic of having to mobilize external psionic energy as a supplement to their magic, presented an awkward scene of flourishing inside the laboratory while only a small seedling outside.

When magical effects are released in the external world, they not only fail to draw upon the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, but their effects are also greatly diminished due to rapid dissipation.

To put it bluntly, as the military commander put it, "They can create a Force 6 gale inside the psionic pod, but once they step outside, it's barely like letting out a fart..."

One solution to this is to use a magic circle to direct psionic energy, providing the psionic environment for the magician at the moment of casting a spell.

This is similar to an oxygen-free environment outdoors; if you want to start a fire, you need to bring your own oxygen tank to fill the surrounding area.

This consumes too much mana crystals. The Starry Sky Special Forces already need an abundant spiritual energy environment for their training process, which is equivalent to feeding them with mana crystals. Using them again during spellcasting is something that even the special forces themselves find very distressing.

Another option is to train more in martial arts and less in magic-based classes. After all, compared to magic classes that require drawing upon external spiritual energy, warrior classes, which gather spiritual energy within themselves, can better unleash their power.

For example, the special forces units that participated in the crackdown on smuggling along the southern border were all soldiers of rank one to two.

In Dongxia, the fancy ranking system of the Starry World was simplified, and lengthy titles such as "Bronze Pattern Warrior," "Golden Scale Swordsman," and "Sky Knight" were removed. Instead, based on the essence of their power, they were standardized as first-tier, second-tier, third-tier, and so on up to Nth-tier martial arts warriors.

Currently, the highest-ranking member in the entire experimental unit is a third-tier soldier who has successfully advanced, equivalent to the "Silver Armor" level in the Starry World.

It's said that he was sent to the east, which made everyone incredibly envious!
But as mentioned before, this is an experimental unit of Dongxia, and Dongxia has always kept it within a very small area.

The reasons for this are twofold. First, there is currently no hope of self-sufficiency in the area of ​​spirit crystals. We are heavily reliant on others and cannot promote it on a large scale. Therefore, we can only explore and iterate in small batches and wait for possible changes in the supply structure.

Secondly, it is necessary to strictly control this force, which is significantly beyond that of ordinary people, to avoid causing a natural class divide.

Even guns need to be strictly controlled, let alone superpowers like this. Once they are widely promoted, they will almost certainly create two classes.

Neither conscience nor morality is entirely reliable. The awareness of most people needs to be suppressed by the military system, and it is extremely difficult to suppress professionals who are at the pinnacle of military power.

The elders in the family reached a consensus: apart from the batch of soldiers selected by the military who had undergone multiple tests, were loyal and trustworthy, and had been clearly stated to never retire, no one else was allowed to come into contact with this special training system.

Even with the nascent [Purple Cloud] showing a slight sign of converting spiritual energy, the [Compassionate Voyage] Engineering Department is already frantically making contingency plans.

But no matter how much we try to prevent it, we still have to keep exploring. It's like nuclear weapons: we may not use them, but we can't be without them! What others have, I must have; what others don't have, I must also have!
The orcish shaman system is very unique, as it incorporates the psionic energy circulation channel within itself, essentially allowing it to replenish energy and cast spells within its own body.

Therefore, Dongxia conducted extensive explorations and experiments!
In the coming period, after the newly formed "Shaman Squad" in Dongxia confirmed that the shamanic spells had taken effect, Zhu Lei and his fellow "Shamanic Rune Engravers" would have to return to their original profession and resume their work as tattoo artists.

They need to add another camouflage pattern on top of these "rune arrays".

That's right, this is a rather special point about shamans. Once these psychic energy channels and circuits are established under the skin, the patterns on the body surface become unimportant.

Let alone adding patterns, even if the shaman priests of the Starry World are covered in wounds, they can still cast spells without being affected.

Therefore, by adding patterns to conceal them, not only do they look like real tattoos, but also in case the enemy obtains a photo, they will never be able to tell what these "rune arrays" originally look like.

This time, it's not just a test of craftsmanship, but also of aesthetic sense.

It must be said that these tattoo artists are really skilled at drawing on the human body. After modifying and adjusting the original rune patterns, they created more than a dozen different designs.

Zhu Lei personally sketched out several visually striking image enhancement schemes, such as "Dragon Soaring Through the Wild Clouds" and "Tiger Descending the Mountain to Smell Roses," which are highly visually impactful in terms of form and features.

Just as he was busy giving the soldiers "secondary body decoration", the commendation order from his superiors arrived. Zhu Lei was officially awarded the rank of lieutenant. As the first person to complete the talisman array tattoo and a typical representative who took the initiative to help many other tattoo artists, he was awarded a first-class merit.

The tattoo artists were awarded a collective second-class merit.

On the day they received their certificates, these tattooed men were all in tears.

"Send it back, send it back! I have to send this to my dad to see. That son of a bitch, I've been eating his 'bamboo shoots stir-fried with pork' since I was a kid. This time I want to see if he still dares to swing his belt at me!"

"Hey, you call your dad 'son of a bitch'? Is your family relationship really that harmonious?"

"Oh my god, my wife is considered a military dependent now, right? If my son gets bullied at school, will that be considered bullying a military dependent?"

"Of course it counts. You don't look that old, do you already have a son? How old is your son?"

"In seven more years, I can go to kindergarten!"

"..."

"Not born yet, right?"

With tears in their eyes, everyone was discussing the matter enthusiastically when the political commissar of the "Shamanic Rune Engraver" team walked in: "The leaders said today that we should celebrate our victory!"

"I have two announcements. First, everyone can make video calls home for as long as they want, but there must be a supervisor present. Please understand!"

"Also, there's a celebration banquet tonight with plenty of alcohol. You've been craving it for so many days without a drink, haven't you?"

The scene erupted in cheers. Just as everyone was boasting to each other, Zhu Lei, the chief engraver, spoke up.

Wearing goggles, Old Zhu practically pressed his face against the faux leather on the table, sketching the pattern, and slowly uttered a sentence.

"You should drink less alcohol."

"Those of us in this line of work know that if you drink too much, your hands will start to shake!"

"I want to do this job until I die! I'm quitting drinking from now on. Just letting you guys know, you can decide for yourselves!"

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Now that we have a team, the next step is definitely to conduct small-scale practical exercises.

The special operations team chose Dongwufo Kingdom in the south of Dongxia as its target. It was a country with numerous ethnic local armed forces, warlord separatist forces fighting each other, rampant telecommunications fraud, and a chaotic national governance system.

Leading the way was Lu Kai, codenamed 002, the top shaman of Dongxia, trained by Master Zhu Lei and a standout among the young warriors. The young man was already tall and strong, standing at 1.85 meters, with a well-proportioned and upright figure. Coupled with his angular and handsome face, he would definitely have been a promising candidate for an arts troupe or honor guard in the past.

However, even without taking off his coat, the tattoos that extend upwards to his neck and spread to his wrists on both sides exude a strong sense of fierceness, instantly transforming him from a handsome man into a menacing figure.

This is a five-person team. They don't use names for each other, only code names. 001 and 002 are two rune array shamans, and there are two professional warriors, 003 and 004.

They all came from the same training class. 003 and 004 were both failures in the previous shamanic rune array engraving experiment. After the first failure to establish the psionic channel, they could never be rebuilt. It can be said that they were tattooed with patterns all over their bodies for nothing.

Getting a tattoo is easy, but removing it is incredibly difficult. It requires forcibly breaking down the dyed, dead cells in the dermis layer beneath the skin, which then need to be slowly eliminated through the body's metabolism. This process is lengthy, slow, and causes significant harm to the body, and it's very difficult to achieve a complete removal.

The Eastern Xia Dynasty provided positive policy support to these "unshamanic rune array practitioners" and "experimental pioneers".

Having already honed their skills, these individuals quickly transitioned to the martial arts system. With ample spiritual energy supply, they rapidly progressed from preparatory to first-tier. 003 and 004, who arrived this time, were the two who started training earliest and made the fastest progress, and have already become second-tier warriors.

The team also brought along a multilingual translator and reconnaissance guide, 005.

The group quietly crossed the border and entered the northern part of Dongwufo Kingdom, into the territory controlled by a local armed force called the Double Knife Independent Army.

Among the chaotic and disorganized armed groups in the entire Dongwufo Kingdom, the Double-Blade Independent Army was a staunch force established and cultivated by the White-Headed Eagle. Its main purpose was to continuously create trouble for the surrounding environment of Dongxia.

The Twin Lion Kingdom, this troublemaker, dug a huge hole in the western border of Dongxia, and the Bald Eagle, as its legitimate successor and spiritual heir, is no less so.

They exerted continuous influence through various third-party organizations, creating a so-called "Bangwen National Alliance" in the White Elephant Kingdom. On the surface, it was under the banner of promoting national independence, but in reality, its purpose was to incite an independent force in the region.

Originally, their commotion had nothing to do with Dongxia. However, this force not only absurdly included a portion of Dongxia's ethnic groups and regions within their "national territory," but also directly sponsored the Double-Blade Independent Army, committing numerous atrocities against Dongxia.

For example, the booming fraud industry in Dongwufoguo is inextricably linked to them.

For example, under the guise of mineral development, the Bald Eagle directly reached a series of agreements with this local armed group, creating the so-called "industrial special rare soil mineral reserve strategy".

For example, whenever the relationship between Dongxia and the authorities of the southern countries improved and they tried to break through the geopolitical blockade, they would provoke a series of incidents, create turmoil, and even directly intercept transportation routes.

Previously, Dongxia had its own clear strategy and hadn't paid much attention to this guy, but now, the situation is different.

The objective of the special operations team led by 001 is to strike the garrison of the 103rd Military Region of the Double Blade Independent Army.

As they approached the enemy's base, 001 repeated the mission instructions.

"Two months ago, the armed forces of the 103rd Military Region under the Shuangdao Independent Army attacked an important transportation line that we were building, causing casualties among several engineers and construction workers."

“We have classified this incident as a terrorist attack, but the other side has categorically denied it because the incident occurred in Dongwu, making it difficult to collect evidence. So far, we have not been able to obtain direct evidence.”

001 is already thirty-three years old, making him one of the oldest members of the team, and he is also the instructor of this unit.

Although there are only five people here, special forces regulations stipulate that two people must form a Spark Team, and three people must have a dedicated instructor.

"Therefore, our mission is to go directly into the 103rd Military Region's base, find the real culprit and arrest him, collect relevant evidence, and, if necessary, carry out on-the-spot punishment."

"In terms of identity, we are undocumented residents from a lawless area, so be careful not to get involved with your family."

002 Lu Kai grinned, revealing a set of white teeth. Combined with the tattoo that almost reached his chin, his smile looked somewhat strange.

He brandished the deliberately aged, unmarked M16 assault rifle in his hand and said with a hint of sarcasm, "Instructor, don't worry. With our current outfits covered in patterns, no one would believe we're soldiers from China!"

"..."

That evening, a sudden encounter took place at the enemy's 103rd Military Region base. After failing to gather evidence from the side and being surrounded by the enemy, the special operations team decided to charge in directly.

This was the enemy's military command post. It had just rained, and the air was still thick with the humidity and stickiness of the mountains. The searchlight on the watchtower swept weakly across the muddy ground before illuminating the figures rushing towards them.

Number 003, a successful second-tier professional who took the lead, kicked the rusty iron gate of the enemy camp hard! With a chilling, metallic clang, the gate and its frame collapsed inwards!

As the alarm blared, the soldiers on the watchtower opened fire in a panic.

But it's of no use.

Shooting moving targets with firearms has a low hit rate, but it is terrifying because even a single hit can cause serious damage to an ordinary person's flesh and blood.

However, these individuals are equipped with three protective shamanic spells: [Petrified Skin], [Ancestral Armor], and [Iron Bones], as well as [Wild Wind Rush] to increase speed and agility, and [Bloodlust] to enhance strength and reaction time...

There were three Cybertronians in front and two Terminators behind them, their bodies gleaming faintly.

This is the result after more than a dozen improvements.

The original orc spellcasting perhaps inherited the idea that beasts fighting must have a strong momentum and explosive visual effects, which is full of golden light, red light, and crackling sounds... with full sound, light and electricity effects.

Not only is it conspicuous, but it also wastes psionic energy!

The Han Hai territory organized a large number of shamans from among the prisoners, and after repeated research and adjustments, they finally reduced the external effects.

At this moment, the rifle bullets that could easily tear flesh apart made a sound like hitting steel when they hit them, and sparks could be seen flying everywhere!
003 leaped several times quickly, without deliberately dodging, and entered the attack position at top speed. He raised his hand and fired several precise bursts with his automatic rifle, and the soldiers on the watchtower fell to the ground.

They can efficiently eliminate enemies at long range with bullets, and at close range, they can directly use their enhanced fists and feet. When encountering a group of enemies, they can throw a grenade and rush in to finish them off while braving the shrapnel. This exhilarating combat makes the special forces team's blood boil.

Having already roughly ascertained the current state of the firing positions, and without anti-aircraft guns to lay flat and heavy machine guns to bombard the ground, these few were unstoppable, like killing gods who had stepped out of mythology, sweeping through half of the military camp with unstoppable momentum, leaving behind a mess and wailing wounded soldiers.

When 002 Lu Kai finally managed to seize an opportunity amidst the chaos, picked up an enemy, and decisively knocked the unfortunate kid unconscious with a heavy elbow, he discovered that the gunfire throughout the entire camp had completely ceased.

It's unclear which soldier's mental defenses crumbled first, but they threw down their rifles, their legs gave way, and they knelt in the mud, frantically kowtowing and praying in the local dialect towards the five-man group, shouting wildly.

Soon, cries of lamentation filled the air.

"Angry King Kong!"

"Fudo Myooh!"

"God, spare me! Spare me!"

With the first, there is the second, the third...

In the dim light, a dark mass of people knelt down in the field. Most of them were captured youths, or even child soldiers. They were short and thin, huddled on the ground, trembling.

As their terrified gazes met, the special forces soldier's outer garment, torn in several places during the fierce conflict, revealed a hideous yet ornate tattoo covering most of his body.

The menacing tattoos seemed about to burst forth from his body, exuding a fierce aura that filled the entire camp, making it hard to breathe.

(End of this chapter)