Dark Wizard: Rise! My undead army!

Feeling the cheers and jubilation coming from all parts of his body, Lynn belatedly realized the joy of his promotion.

After the core of the spirit is energized, both the "upper limit of the capacity" and the "efficiency of its use" for spiritual power are increased exponentially.

Lynn attempted to construct two level-zero spell models simultaneously—[Weak Soul Impact] and [Hand of Bones].

With a thought, the two models stabilized and took shape almost instantly, hovering around the energized spiritual core like two satellites.

Two spells cast instantly!

When released, it consumes very little mental energy, yet its power is nearly 50% stronger than before!

If one were to unleash a full-power apprentice-level spell, its power and speed would be far greater than before.

More importantly, he felt that his spiritual connection with the spirits in the Ring of the Dead had become clearer and stronger.

Originally, controlling seven level 2 undead was the limit, but now, he can reliably control at least twenty level 2 undead at a time!

Moreover, it will be easier to control, and the persistence and resistance to interference of the mental imprint will be greatly enhanced.

As for how many units a level 3 can control, that remains to be seen.

Lynn exhaled a long breath of stale air, which was mixed with pure negative energy particles.

He flexed his fingers, his knuckles making a crisp cracking sound, and a surge of power flowed through his body.

"Third-class apprentice..."

He muttered to himself, feeling the earth-shattering changes taking place in his body and mind.

From this moment on, he truly joined the ranks of the "strong" among the apprentices of the Bone Spire.

Even his senior classmate, who had been enrolled for two and a half years, had not yet reached this level.

The next day, Gregor was also extremely surprised to sense the lingering negative energy fluctuations around Lynn.

Although he knew that this kid's mental strength had reached the peak of the second level and could break through at any time, he was still amazed when the day actually came.

Having entered the third-class apprenticeship after only three months of enrollment, this is extremely rare in the academy's thousand-year history.

However... the transformation of the spiritual core energy is only the first step for a third-class apprentice, and cannot be considered a true third-class apprentice.

Lynn, having been exposed to a wealth of knowledge in the library, also understood this point.

So he humbly asked Gregor for the specific method of condensing the spiritual vortex after the spiritual core energy was transformed.

Gregor took this quite seriously, since everyone wants an outstanding disciple, so he explained the process in detail.

"The real key to creating a vortex of consciousness lies in 'transfer' and 'construction'."

Gregor's tone became more forceful.

"Your spiritual core is composed of countless more fundamental spiritual energy particles. After being energized, these 'building blocks' that constitute the core itself need to be precisely guided and moved so that they rearrange and operate according to specific energy flow rules!"

Gregor's fingers danced rapidly, sketching the shape of the spiritual core on the bone plate in his hand.

Subsequently, tiny dots were drawn by an invisible force, peeled off from the crystal structure, and began to rotate around a central point, gradually forming a nascent vortex.

"At first, you can only move a very small part to form a small vortex core. Then, using this core, you can continue to move more particles into this rotating system, while introducing external energy to fill and expand the vortex's volume and energy density."

The vortex he drew gradually grew larger and its structure became more and more complex, with delicate patterns representing the flow of energy appearing inside.

"Like a snowball, the more stable the core, the stronger the attraction, the faster the expansion, and ultimately forming a stable, efficient, and ever-evolving spiritual vortex!"

He stopped writing, pointed to the final, exquisitely crafted and magnificent vortex diagram, and looked at Lynn:

"This is the truly solid foundation! The size, stability, and energy conversion efficiency of the vortex directly determine your future achievements."

"The mass of the vortex can affect the strength of the 'Primal Magic Model' that can be inscribed in the future, and even the quality of the 'Fragments of World Rules' that you can capture and contain in the future!"

"Many fools just randomly fill the vortex, wanting to grow it as quickly as possible and condense it to enter the realm of a formal wizard. As a result, their foundation is unstable, and their potential is immediately exhausted when they reach the formal wizard stage."

Lynn stared intently at the diagram on the bone plate, the [Analysis] function already simulating the entire process in his consciousness.

He can "see" every minute step in the precise manipulation and rearrangement of those energy particles, and the final perfect energy flow cycle.

"Move the core particles... construct the initial vortex... gradually expand and fill it..." he repeated the key points in a low voice.

"Your talent is sufficient, and your mental control is also quite refined." Gregor's tone softened, carrying a hint of warning.

"But remember, steady progress is more important than being greedy for quick results. The core of the initial vortex must be absolutely stable. It doesn't matter if it's a little small at the beginning."

"Once the core is unstable, the entire structure may collapse during subsequent expansion. At best, it will cause severe mental damage and regression; at worst, it will damage the soul and turn one into an idiot."

"The lab has plenty of negative energy and it's a quiet place, so you can do it here. I'll set up a soul protection array for you."

"Thank you for your guidance, mentor." Lynn took a deep breath, firmly imprinting the diagrams on the bone plate and Gregor's words into his mind.

This is the first step in laying a solid foundation for my future as a formal wizard or even at a higher level, and it cannot be taken lightly.

With the aid of [Analysis] to gain insight into and control his own spiritual core particles, he might... be able to construct an even larger and more perfect initial energy vortex than the one depicted in Gregor's diagram.

"Go ahead, get yourself in the right state and start. Don't kill yourself, I'm counting on you to help me calculate those damn energy nodes."

Gregor waved his hand, refocusing his attention on his endless stack of data.

Upon returning to the compartment, Lynn did not immediately begin moving the particles. Instead, he ran the [Analysis] function at full power, using the model on the mentor's bone plate as a blueprint, and began endless simulations and optimizations.

He was prepared to proceed steadily, disassembling and analyzing each step of the vortex formation process, searching for the theoretically most stable, efficient, and promising perfect structure.

These things can't be rushed; it's worth it to stay as a third-class apprentice for a while longer.

After all, the more solid the foundation, the smoother the road ahead will be.

After being promoted to third-class apprentice, Lynn's panel was upgraded again, and he was now able to analyze five tasks at the same time.

Set the initial vortex condensation as an "optimization task" and let "analysis" run continuously in the background, while you begin to build the sorcery model.

...

(This chapter focuses more on cultivation, not to pad the content. This kind of cultivation system is difficult to read and even more difficult to write; each chapter is harder to write than three. It took a long discussion with the AI ​​to finalize the plan. The main goal was to make each stage of cultivation more reasonable. Initially, it was planned that a formal wizard would condense a spiritual vortex, but it was later moved up to the third-level apprentice stage, which is considered the "Foundation Building" stage. This allows the protagonist to use a cheat to form "Heavenly Dao Foundation Building," making it more reasonable for him to be so powerful in the formal wizard stage later. The pacing of these chapters is a bit slow, but the plot will be sped up later, and I will try to write it as excitingly as possible. Thanks♪(･ω･)ﾉ)