Another World: When a Necromancer Possesses the Banner of Ten Thousand Souls

Li Xingyao took out a storage box from his tactical backpack, opened it, and took out the low-level star core. The crystal felt slightly cool to the touch, and he could clearly feel the star energy contained within it. The star vortex within his body began to stir with anticipation.

Li Xingyao activated the "Circulation Meditation Technique," guiding his own stellar energy to surge forth and slowly envelop the star core in his palm. At the same time, a wisp of pure spiritual energy, like the most skillful key, cautiously probed into the complex and intricate energy structure within the star core.

Om-!

As if a switch had been flipped, the star core in his palm suddenly erupted with a surge of stellar energy, instantly rushing into the meridians of his arm! A feeling of expansion and tearing followed. This external energy was somewhat different from his own stellar energy, circulating within his meridians as guided.

"Ugh!" Li Xingyao groaned, tiny beads of sweat instantly appearing on his forehead, his body involuntarily tensing up. His cheek muscles twitched slightly as he maintained the operation of the "Circulation Method," his mental energy highly concentrated, guiding the flow of star energy within his body.

Each cycle is like shedding that foreign feeling and merging into its own gentle stream of stellar energy, making it more powerful and refined.

It was a long process. Sweat quickly soaked through his clothes, leaving dark stains on the soft mat beneath him. Time seemed to lose its meaning; only the stellar energy within him drew Li Xingyao's full attention.

The light of the first star core dimmed, turning into a small clump of useless ashes.

The second star energy surged in again, the process repeated, but Li Xingyao's absorption efficiency improved slightly.

The third one... As the star energy in the body increases, the meridians seem to become more resilient under the nourishment of the star energy, and the speed of circulation has also increased.

When the energy of the tenth star core was completely absorbed, Li Xingyao was soaked through as if he had been pulled out of water. His training clothes were completely drenched in sweat and clung tightly to his body. He was panting heavily, his chest heaving, his face stiff, but his eyes shone with an alarming brightness, filled with the exhilaration that followed exhaustion.

Ignoring his physical exhaustion and mental depletion, he immediately focused on sensing the stellar energy within his body.

His body was brimming with unprecedented stellar energy! It was a complete transformation compared to before!

1988 Star Energy!

Mid-stage peak! Only 12 points away from the 2000 star energy needed for an advanced professional!

The immense boost brought a joy that washed away all fatigue and weakness like a tidal wave. The ten star cores, each providing an average of about 142 performance points with an absorption efficiency of about 78%, resulted in a total gain of nearly 1115 points, slightly lower than Li Xingyao's estimate!

However, the slight difference in star energy is insignificant! It's not far from his plan.

"So close! Just a hair's breadth away!" Li Xingyao thought to himself, his eyes burning with intense emotion.

He can still perform three deep meditations today. Even if each meditation only increases his star energy by 1-2 points under normal circumstances, he will definitely advance to a high-level professional by the day after tomorrow at the latest! An eighteen-year-old high-level professional! This is almost impossible for a child who grew up in a public family.

Li Xingyao took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his excitement, and turned his gaze to the Ten Thousand Soul Banner that was quietly floating in his sea of ​​consciousness. Soul Power: 1454 points.

"I can't waste this cultivation opportunity to recover my star energy." Adhering to his consistent principle of maximizing efficiency, Li Xingyao focused his mind once again. Although his body and mind were extremely exhausted, acquiring soul power was also very important, so he had to force himself to start absorbing soul power.

call!

Absorb! +10 Soul Power!

Once the star energy is nearly depleted, use the "Circulation Method" for meditation to restore the consumed star energy and increase the maximum star energy limit...

After meditation, summon again! Devour!

Li Xingyao, like a tireless machine, repeated this process. Each time his star energy was depleted, he would meditate to recover. He persisted and completed three deep meditations. With a base of 1988 star energy points, the efficiency of his soul power absorption increased significantly.

As the final deep meditation ended, the sun was already setting outside the window, and the golden-red afterglow cast long shadows on the floor through the training room window.

Li Xingyao slowly opened his eyes, feeling the more condensed star energy within his body: 1991 star energy and 2104 points of soul power. He smiled with some relief, knowing that his hard work and perseverance had paid off.

Although he was exhausted, Li Xingyao thought of another problem.

The next stage of the Myriad Soul Banner requires 10,000 soul power, and he has a strong premonition that the next stage might require 100,000 soul power. As his strength increases, his soul power consumption also increases.

Relying solely on this method to acquire soul power is too limited in its source and will affect his efficiency. This will become a bottleneck restricting his growth in strength.

"We need to add some additional sources of soul power," Li Xingyao muttered to himself, his voice particularly clear in the empty training room.

Several thoughts flashed through his mind, but physical and mental exhaustion made Li Xingyao give up thinking about it and decide to rest first and think about a solution tomorrow.

Furthermore, upon promotion to advanced level, citizen privileges will be upgraded to Lv.4, unlocking the highest level of information databases, excluding those held by high-ranking government or military officials.

Having planned out his next steps, Li Xingyao put everything aside and prepared to rest. He got up and stretched his limbs and back, which were stiff from sitting cross-legged for a long time; his bones made a slight "crackling" sound.

Stepping out of the training room, the neon lights of Tianjing City were already lit up outside the window. The colorful holographic graphics intertwined in the air, outlining the bustling yet cold silhouette of this steel jungle. Li Xingyao's gaze reflected the city lights, his eyes flickering slightly.

Tomorrow will be a new beginning.

early morning.

Li Xingyao's eyelashes fluttered as he slowly opened his eyes. The bedroom's smart system sensed his awakening, and the curtains rose silently, like a drawn veil. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, the urban jungle of Tianjing City came into view.

Morning light streamed through the bedroom window, casting warm rays onto Li Xingyao's face. He lay there somewhat dazed, the sunlight like warm silk covering his body, every pore seemingly opening up, greedily absorbing this long-lost tranquility.

After finishing his meditation last night, Li Xingyao did nothing but follow his body's most primal desires. He took a quick shower and went straight to bed. This was the first time he had gone to sleep so early since waking up for his new job.

The long period of deep sleep was like sweet spring water nourishing parched land, washing away the mental tension from Li Xingyao's outdoor activities, the continuous battles, and the fatigue accumulated from his cultivation.

A sense of lightness and clarity, as if his soul had been cleansed and permeated his entire body, gave him a feeling of unreality, as if he were in another world.

He lay in bed, gazing out the window at the city awakening in the morning light. This was the place where he had lived for seventeen years, a place both familiar and dear to him.

There was a time when Li Xingyao found the routine and conventional life utterly boring. But after experiencing battles in the wild, witnessing the carnage, and feeling the survival of the fittest in nature, returning to this bustling yet peaceful city brought an indescribable sense of tranquility to his heart.

"So, peace and stability are humanity's most fundamental desires," Li Xingyao murmured to himself.

The famous quotes about cherishing peace that he had read in books in his previous life now truly resonated with him. If this world didn't possess stellar energy, if he hadn't awakened his professional talent and gained the right to pursue power, an ordinary, peaceful life might not have been such a bad thing.

A hint of mockery crept onto his lips. Melancholy and sentimentality were never his style. Now that he had embarked on this extraordinary path, there was only one way forward. Those fleeting sentiments, like morning dew, would quietly evaporate as the sun rose.

I got up and got out of bed. The water in the bathroom, with its just-right temperature, slid over my skin, dispelling the last bit of sleepiness.

Li Xingyao changed into clean home clothes and walked to the dining table. He set out the synthetic nutritional meal; the familiar recipe, the familiar smell, bland yet providing the energy his body needed.

Picking up the cutlery, I chewed mechanically, but my thoughts involuntarily drifted back to the restaurant called "Guanlanxuan".

The exquisite bone china tableware, the tender and juicy rhinoceros steak, the colorful alien fruit and vegetable salad, and Lin Wei's bright and beautiful face under the soft light... all formed a stark contrast with the nutritious meal in front of them.

The class differences brought about by wealth, status, and power have been magnified to the extreme in this era. Li Xingyao took a deep breath, suppressed those distracting thoughts, and focused on quickly finishing his breakfast.

After satisfying his physical needs, Li Xingyao began preparing to complete yesterday's plan. Instead of entering the training room as usual, he went to the study desk in the corner that had been with him throughout his student years.

This table holds the weight of his entire academic journey, from a naive child to a seasoned professional. It's been almost two months since he's sat here like this.

He pulled out a chair and sat down, lightly tapping his fingertips on the smooth, virtual touchscreen on the desktop. A deep blue holographic screen instantly unfolded before his eyes. He brought up the search system and began preparing to look up the information he wanted.

"Advanced Skills Database", "Advanced Professional Cultivation Experience (Public Version)", "Detailed Record of Otherworldly Geography", "Star Beast Encyclopedia"... a series of catalogs unfold like a scroll.

Without hesitation, Li Xingyao clicked on "Summoning System - Necromancer - Advanced Skill Library Preview".

On the screen, data streams flowed like a waterfall, with text descriptions, dynamic demonstration models, and even some publicly available combat video clips appearing alternately.

【Death and Decay (Advanced Skill)】

Effect: Select an area and unleash pure death energy. All creatures within the area will be continuously affected by the "Life Drain" effect, which is based on the caster's death attribute. Their life force will be forcibly stripped away and transformed into a weak death aura to nourish the caster or undead units within the area.

Within the spell's range, undead units receive a significant boost to their movement speed, attack power, and defense (the boost percentage depends on the caster's level and skill level).

Difficulty: S-level (Extremely High). Involves basic interactions with the laws of death and the construction of a regional energy field, requiring extremely strong mental control and a profound understanding of the elements of death. The fastest person to master this skill in the Federation's records took 14 months.

Demonstration clip: In the scene, a high-ranking necromancer, whose face is obscured, stands on a scorched battlefield, waving his staff. Centered on him, the land within a 500-meter radius is instantly shrouded in a layer of bleak gray, and countless transparent gray roots emerge from the air, piercing into the bodies of the few remaining wounded star beasts below.

The star beast let out a mournful howl, withering and decaying at a visible speed. Meanwhile, the soul fire in the eye sockets of the several undead beside the mage suddenly blazed brightly.

[Bone Altar (Advanced Skill)]

Effect: Consumes a large amount of star energy and mental power to summon and construct a temporary altar composed of pure bones, with the user or a designated powerful undead creature as the core.

Within the altar's influence area, the caster's spellcasting speed and mental recovery speed are greatly increased, and the altar's core undead unit can be temporarily granted a "bone sacrifice" ability—sacrificing other undead units within the altar to instantly restore the core unit's severe injuries or temporarily increase the target's maximum star energy.

Learning difficulty: S- (High). Requires stringent precision in constructing stellar energy circuits and precise control of sacrificial energy flow. Fastest mastery time: 9 months.

Demonstration clip: A phantom image of an altar made of massive, ferocious beast bones appears, with a heavily armored death knight at its center. At the mage's command, several ordinary skeleton warriors at the altar's edge instantly disintegrate, transforming into streams of gray-white light that flow into the death knight's body.

A deep, bone-revealing wound on the Death Knight's chest rapidly healed in the gray light. At the same time, the greatsword in his hand erupted with a blinding, pale light, and with a single swing, he shattered an alloy target simulating a high-level shield in front of him!

[Withered Land (Advanced Skill)]

Effect: Deeply "deadly" contaminates the selected area. The earth loses its vitality, and vegetation withers and decays instantly. Within this area, the physical and stellar energy recovery rates of all life forms except undead creatures will be severely suppressed, and they will continuously suffer from a slight mental erosion (generating negative emotions such as fear and panic).

The effects on plant life or organisms dependent on the natural environment are doubled.

Learning difficulty: S-level (high). The key lies in the connection between the Dying Will World and the partial coverage of regional rules. Fastest mastery time: 13 months.

Demonstration clip: A lush forest, under the spell of a necromancer, its verdant leaves rapidly turn yellow, curl, and wither, and its vibrant vines dry up and break as if drained of moisture.

Several wood-type star beasts, their fur camouflaged with green, that were hiding among them let out panicked howls, their movements becoming noticeably more agitated and disorderly, their eyes filled with fear.

One skill model after another changed on the screen, the cold descriptions, along with the processed visuals, were like stamps, imprinted on Li Xingyao's heart.