Chapter 86: Mastering “Bone Shielding” and… “New Tasks”

The appearance—or rather, the “reappearance”—of the “Bone Shielding” magic was practically a “godsend” for low-level Necromancers. It was a milestone event in the history of Necromancy Magic. However, for Luo Yan, before his rebirth, he had only “heard” of it, and nothing more.

This was because by the time “Bone Shielding” was rediscovered before his rebirth, Luo Yan was already a high-level wizard. He had mastered a vast number of defensive spells to save his life. Did this exclusive defensive skill for low-level Necromancers have anything to do with him?

Fortunately, because he had once visited the ruins of ancients to seek inspiration for his research, Luo Yan had studied all the details of “Bone Shielding” back then. Although he had not learned it, he knew everything about it by heart. Otherwise, he would truly be crying tears of joy right now.

Sitting alone in his room, Luo Yan carefully recalled the casting key points recorded in the “Necromancer’s Codex.” He subconsciously muttered words while waving his hands gently in front of him. Forming signs, flicking fingers, fast-paced finger movements… According to the requirements of orthodox magic, incantations, hand signs, and mental frequency were a trinity, and none could be missing. However, true masters often mastered the small trick of “silent casting.” As for hand signs, it had been proven that once one became familiar with them, they could be simplified or even omitted. For example, Luo Yan simplified the hand signs of most spells into a “snap” of the fingers. But when first learning a spell, it was better not to try to look too cool.

—Looking cool is actually very hard work… (as Teacher Rumiko Takahashi said; she hasn’t died, right? XD)

At this time, thin heat flows of mana flowed through Luo Yan’s body. As his hand signs changed, the mana constantly changed direction. The transitions were very spiritual and were basically synchronized with the speed of the hand signs.

Luo Yan was currently completely immersed in sensing the elemental frequency of the “Bone Shielding” magic, so he did not notice the peculiar nature of his mana. Additionally, Luo Yan did not notice that compared to when he first started practicing, his mana was now more than twice as thick. Previously, the mana flow was at most as thin as a strand of hair, but now it was as thick as a small blood vessel. Furthermore, if he looked inward, he would find that the color of the mana heat flow had become much more restrained.

Given the current state of Luo Yan’s mana heat flow, it would normally take at least a year of Meditation to achieve. Yet, Luo Yan had only been practicing for less than half a year in total…

This was actually the result of Luo Yan’s hard exercise during this period. Luo Yan did not come from a background as a Martial Artist, so his understanding of this point was somewhat superficial. In fact, a strong physique did more than just improve the effects of Meditation; more importantly, it strengthened the functions of all organs in the body!

Whether it was Battle Aura or magic, both were built upon the foundation of the body. When the functions of the body’s organs were comprehensively strengthened, the effect of Meditation naturally received a full-scale upgrade. This was not just reflected in the speed of cultivation, but the speed of this comprehensive strengthening was very slow. It was a continuous and long-term process, so Luo Yan did not feel it yet.

After all, he was someone with the experience of a level seven Magister. After his hands flew like this for about one Magic Hour, a faint smile appeared at the corner of Luo Yan’s mouth. He had roughly mastered the “Bone Shielding” magic… No matter how legendary it was, in the end, it was just a level one magic. With Luo Yan’s experience as a level seven Magister, there was no reason it should take too long to learn a level one magic.

His hands suddenly flew in the air like a butterfly among flowers. If “Bone Shielding” had any weakness, the overly complex hand signs were definitely one of them. In Luo Yan’s view, the complexity of these hand signs exceeded the level of level two or three magic and had even reached the level of intermediate magic. This was perhaps one of the reasons why “Bone Shielding” was lost for a time. After all, no matter how good a spell was, if average wizards could not learn it, there was no meaning in passing it down.

With a soft “pop,” a burst of extremely holy white light appeared in Luo Yan’s hand. The dazzling feeling was almost intoxicating. Even Luo Yan, staring at the cluster of white light, felt somewhat entranced for a moment… However, just as the white light reached its peak, Luo Yan suddenly waved his hand, interrupting the operation of the magic and letting the white light dissipate into the air.

It couldn’t be helped. Bone Shielding, Bone Shielding—without “bones,” how could he “shield”?

As for why Luo Yan chose “Bone Shielding” as the first magic to learn, he naturally had his own considerations. In fact, regarding the three basic magics, if “Bone Shielding” were not an option, the one Luo Yan would have first considered upgrading with all his effort would definitely be the defensive “Shadow Mist.”

One must realize that a Magic Professional was never a Martial Artist. Even a battle mage could not truly charge on the front line like a warrior, swordsman, or knight. Protecting oneself safely and launching attacks from the rear was the royal road. After all, the summoning advantage of a Necromancer was there. From this perspective, spells with stealth or defensive properties were undoubtedly the most helpful for a Necromancer.

Calculating it this way, among the three basic magics, “Shadow Mist” was definitely the most important. Its bonus to a Necromancer’s combat power was definitely stronger than the other two, followed by “Poison Smoke,” and the worst was “Bone Fang.”

But now that he had “Bone Shielding,” the situation was different. The greatest characteristic of “Bone Shielding” was that there were two ways to increase its defensive power. The first was, of course, traditional magic upgrading. But besides that, the defensive power of the Magic Shield created by “Bone Shielding” was actually closely related to the degree of refinement and the quality of the chosen bone. If one could refine a piece of bone for a thousand years or use dragon teeth as material, the defensive power evolved from a level one “Bone Shielding” would definitely not be inferior to a level nine one.

In other words, “Bone Shielding” could be upgraded indirectly through this method!

Of course, Luo Yan could not have a thousand years to refine, and he estimated it would be difficult to find dragon bones to play with for now. However, he still had the ability to find a pile of high-quality Magic Beast bones to refine slowly. Therefore, he could work hard to upgrade the levels of “Skeleton Summon,” “Poison Smoke,” and “Bone Fang” while spending his effort refining the materials needed for “Bone Shielding.” This way, neither task would interfere with the other, which perfectly met his needs and maximized his benefits.

Only now, in addition to collecting “Tears of the Aurora Goddess,” mastering new Mental Strength and magic skills, upgrading existing magics, and trying his best to strengthen A Dai, Luo Yan had a new “special task.” That was to try and collect materials worthy of refinement. Adding this to “exercising the body,” “practicing Meditation,” “learning from Old Strom,” and “helping Dad progress as an official”… along with other “trivial” daily tasks, Luo Yan felt his head swell just thinking about it.

Other people’s chores seem to get fewer as they go, so why do mine keep piling up!! Someone was wailing in tears…