Wizard: Surviving in the Steam Age with Points for Demon Hunter

Chapter 52 Little Ashi - Ghost

Max out the Undead Summoning spell runes first.

Without hesitation, Wayne opened the panel and selected the Undead Summoning Spell Rune to allocate skill points.

1/1,

[Undead Summoning Spell Rune Level 1 (1/1), upgrade?]

【promote.】

[Congratulations! Your Rune Knowledge: Undead Summoning Rune has been upgraded to Level 2. Effect: The success rate of drawing this rune is 20%.]

[Undead Summoning Spell Rune Level 2 (1/2), upgrade?]

……

[Undead Summoning Spell Rune Level 9 (9/9), upgrade?]

【promote.】

[Congratulations! Your rune knowledge has reached the maximum level for the Necromancer Spell Rune. Effect: 100% success rate in crafting this rune.]

[Congratulations on acquiring a max-level Rune Knowledge. Your Rune Knowledge beginner progress is 2/10. Special reward: Spirit Level +1.]

After the Undead Summoning spell rune reached its maximum level, all the details about the rune came to light before Wayne's eyes.

He can find the starting point and the ending point, as well as the best way to handle those tangled lines and nodes.

Ok?

What areas can be optimized?

Looking at the rune patterns in his mind, Wayne silently calculated, one, two, three... a total of twenty-three rune nodes that could be optimized.

Most of them add one or two extended loops next to important nodes.

"What's going on?"

Although he had found areas that could be simplified when the Soul Devouring Rune was at its maximum level, there were only two such areas in the Soul Devouring Rune.

However, there are twenty-three places where this necromancy spell rune can be simplified.

Wayne wasn't sure if these were mistakes, had some ulterior motive, or involved some kind of conspiracy.

However, several possibilities can be roughly deduced.

First, the school of thought kept its secrets, providing these intelligence officers with a censored version of the rune diagrams.

Secondly, these errors and omissions were deliberately added to ensure that the core runes of the school were not leaked, thus achieving absolute control.

The last possibility is that the rune was problematic from the very beginning... either the rune artist's knowledge was insufficient and the rune diagram was poorly made, or there was ulterior motive.

This is what is commonly referred to as "opening a back door".

Thinking this, Wayne took out his quill pen and tried to eliminate these problematic loops one by one.

It took nearly an hour for the new Undead Summoning Spell Rune to finally appear before him, which was only half the size of the original.

At the same time, as the analysis was eliminated, his understanding of the new rune diagram deepened.

It is clear which parts are the rune nodes of the contracted undead, which are the rune nodes that act on the original sub-body, and the small number of nodes that involve summoning...

"The extra parts are enough to make a new rune."

After a moment's thought, Wayne restored the removed loops, piecing them back together according to the original connecting nodes and lines, and then removed the parts that belonged to the summoning of the undead.

"It is indeed a new rune."

The reassembled rune pattern before them was not complicated; in fact, it could be described as extremely simple.

Overall, it is a standard six-pointed star with twelve major nodes and eighteen minor nodes.

However, at the center of the six-pointed star, hundreds of intertwined lines strangely formed an eye pattern, making the entire rune pattern look very eerie.

Wayne frowned as he looked at the rune. He didn't recognize it, nor did he know its purpose...

At this moment, a new notification flashed on the panel, its color being blood red.

[You have successfully created the Primal Rune of Death, Olane. Special Rewards: Survival Points +5, Spirit Level +2, Resilience Level +2.]

[You have learned the name of Death, Alanel. Alanel's awakening progress +1, current progress is 3/? ?. Special reward: Origin +1.]

[Note: The effect of the Ola Nair rune can borrow a trace of Ola Nair's primordial power to enhance the effect of the rune being buffed.]

Immediately afterwards, some information about the effects of runes appeared in his mind.

"The Origin Rune of Death, Olanael?"

It can borrow the original power of the Grim Reaper Olanael... Awesome!

Besides "awesome," he couldn't find a more appropriate word to describe his current mood.

Wei En stared at the rune diagram in his hand, muttering, "Just who is the one who created the necromancy rune? Why would they go to such lengths?"

The title of "Grim Reaper" is clearly not something an ordinary necromancer can covet.

What kind of incredibly powerful being would dare to draw such runes to steal... no, borrow, the primordial power of the Grim Reaper?

Moreover, the information displayed on the panel made it clear to Wayne that the original undead summoning spell rune did indeed have a backdoor.

But this is absolutely not some conspiracy theory; it's a genuine benefit that our ancestors worked for them.

That ancestor was definitely an invincible, top-tier figure.

Besides that, there was another thing that concerned Wayne—

That's the name of Death, Oranel. Even fewer people know it than González, who only has three people who know the name of Death...

If Wayne isn't mistaken, the other two are definitely not "human"!

"Now here's the question: if I know the same secret as two incredibly powerful individuals, does that mean I'm also incredibly powerful?"

The answer is obvious—the panel is the best.

If it weren't for the panel prompts, he might have already started imprinting the truly nerfed version of the Necromancer rune.

If that were the case, he wouldn't even have anywhere to cry...

As it turns out, curiosity is fine, but we should never arbitrarily deny the greatness of our predecessors.

However, Wayne was well aware of this.

He could do nothing but keep these secrets to himself.

We can't exactly make him reveal the names of Death, Olane, and González to the world, can we?

Doing so would indeed speed up the awakening process of these two big shots, but it would certainly bring them endless calamities.

There are many ways to die, but you can't be so eager to die, can you?

After a while, Wei En finally managed to dispel these random thoughts. "Why think so much? Improving our strength is the most important thing."

He has now learned the necromancy runes, and the next step is to imprint the runes on Little Asi.

In this way, he can use the undead summoning spell.

"Which brand should we apply first?"

Wayne looked at the little rascals floating in mid-air, who quickened their breathing after sensing his "malicious" gaze.

"Baba?"

"Then it's you."

Wayne looked at the little Axi who had spoken and gave him a "kind" smile. "Here, let me show you something good."

In these situations, it's obvious that whoever speaks first has the advantage.

Moreover, this little Axi had been with him for a long time and had the deepest affection for him, making it the perfect candidate as the original offspring of the necromancy system.

The little boys continued to scatter and run away, crying, "No, no..."

However, this time Wayne's goal was clearer: to grab that head and begin branding it with undead summoning runes.

This branding process went much more smoothly than the last one.

Wayne easily imprinted the complete necromancy spell runes onto the back of Little Asi's head, eventually forming a new rune pattern next to the Soul Eater rune between his eyebrows.

However, compared to the Soul Eater rune pattern, the Undead Summoning spell rune pattern is several sizes smaller.

To be more precise, it is only one-tenth the size of the Soul Devouring Rune pattern.

After everything was over, Wayne waited for a while and, seeing that nothing unusual had happened, he felt relieved.

The intense pain he experienced when branding the Soul Devouring Spell rune last time left a significant shadow on him.

Fortunately, that didn't happen this time.

Then Wayne grabbed Little Axi and examined him closely, especially the difference between the two rune patterns.

"Is this the difference between core runes and spell system runes?"

At this moment, little Axi timidly opened his mouth, "I, I..."

"Um?"

The little boy's eyes were no longer as innocent as before, but had become more lively.

Wayne asked tentatively, "Are you calling me Dad?"

"I'm calling Baba," Little Axi grinned, turning around with a joyful expression, "Baba, Baba..."

"You've really gotten smarter. Want to talk about something else?"

Wayne was also delighted, as this showed that the little Axis were capable of growing!

"Let's talk about something else, let's talk about something else..."

"Don't repeat what I said! I'm asking you, what do I usually call you?"

"Baba?"

A vein bulged on Wayne's forehead as he slammed his fist, imbued with mental power, into its head. "I'm asking you what your name is?"

Little Axi covered her head, looking at him with a wronged expression: "Ugh, Papa?"

"never mind."

Wei En gave up in despair; it seemed impossible to get it to admit that its name was Little Axi.

However, we can't just leave it like this...

"From today onwards, your name will be... Ghost."

The name "Ghost" is derived from "wanderer" and "dead spirit," referring to the necromancy system of the Ghost School. It can also be considered a name for this little Axi.

"ghost?"

"That's right, Ghost is your name. From today onwards, you are Ghost, and Ghost is you."

Little Ashi's expression was initially puzzled, but after receiving confirmation, it became exceptionally happy, flitting around another Little Ashi, "Ghost, Ghost, my name is Ghost..."

The other little Axi, however, looked at them blankly as before, clearly not understanding the changes.

After observing for a while, it continued to meditate, absorbing elemental power, "Reese..." (despair...)

Wayne looked at Ghost with satisfaction; he was teachable enough.

At least no stupid questions like "What is a ghost?" popped up.

He then opened the panel and browsed through it, wanting to see the specific effects of the necromancy.

[You have successfully imprinted the necromancy rune, learning the necromancy spell at level 1. Evaluation: This is roughly the starting point for a great wizard. Special Rewards: Spirit Level +1, Survival Points +2.]

[Note 1: Undead Summoning Spell Effect: Can summon undead creatures through a contract.]

[Note 2: Level 1 Undead Summoning Spell. Can select a level 1 undead creature whose Spirit level does not exceed the caster's own. Examples include skeleton warriors, ghosts, etc.]

"I see……"

He had previously been thinking about the criteria for determining whether spell levels and undead creature levels should match.

Now Wein knows that it's based on his mental level. As long as it doesn't exceed his mental level cap, he can perform a contract summoning.

His mental level has reached 39.2; it's unknown how strong the undead creatures he can contract are.

In the skill bar, the Undead Summoning spell requires 5 survival points to upgrade from level 1 to level 2, the same as the Soul Eater spell.

After a moment's thought, Wei En decided to add points directly.

It's a very simple principle: a level 2 spell is definitely more effective than a level 1 spell.

亡灵召唤法术1级（1/5）、亡灵召唤法术1级（2/5）……

[Undead Summoning Spell Level 1 (5/5), upgrade?]

【promote.】

[Congratulations! Your skill: Undead Summoning Spell has been upgraded to level 2. Effect: You can choose to contract an undead creature of level 2 or higher whose Spirit level does not exceed your own.]

Like the Devour spell, the level 2 Undead Summoning spell also requires 50 Survival Points to upgrade to level 3.

"Summoning the undead... I wonder what kind of creatures I can contract with?"

Wayne licked his lips, then with a thought, his mental power connected through his source to trigger the necromancy rune on the ghost's head.

The little ghost floating on his shoulder had a solemn expression, and opened its mouth to utter a Gonzálezian phrase, "Diagoraga!" (Summoning the undead!)

As the incantation echoed, a runic magic circle rose from the ground.

Energy flowed between the rune arrays, forming a bridge connecting the realm of the dead. A black vortex slowly circled the center of the array, gradually emanating a sinister aura.

Immediately afterwards, several strangely shaped black figures slowly appeared...

(End of this chapter)