At the same time, Fang Zhou's skeleton clone was also undergoing some changes.
His body seemed a bit sturdier, and the previously damaged parts had sprouted new bones.
Of course, the biggest change was on Fang Zhou's attribute panel!
[Attributes] Power 1.1, Constitution 1, Agility 1, Spirit 1
[Soul Power] 0.1
Fang Zhou clenched his bony hand, his heart surging with excitement.
The power attribute increased by 0.1—this must be the effect of [Skeleton Armament].
The Skeleton Race inherently grows stronger by devouring their own kind.
Most importantly, now he was gaining soul power as well.
If his guess was right, every time he killed an enemy, he could absorb their soul essence and convert it into soul power!
So, what could soul power do?
"Soul power, converted from soul energy, can be used for inference skills, potential enhancement, equipment enhancement, among other applications."
Fang Zhou's soul fire flickered—wasn't this just like the "Deep Blue, Attribute Points" system?
Cheat activated!
Crack.
Crack.
Fang Zhou's upper and lower jaws collided, letting out a silent laugh.
He already understood what he needed to do next.
Explore, kill, devour, evolve!
Accumulate soul power, enhance his main body and clones, and create his own legend in this Era of Myth!
Soon, Fang Zhou calmed down. He picked up a femur from the ground and carefully examined his surroundings.
Guided by skeleton instinct, he could clearly sense the intensity of the blood-red moonlight.
From previous experience, the blood-red moonlight seemed to be, for undead creatures, akin to the "Emperor's Liquid" from mythic legends—something that could awaken spiritual intelligence in supernatural monsters.
The denser the blood-red moonlight, the stronger the undead creatures should be.
You've got to pick the easy targets first—Fang Zhou waved his bone club and decisively moved toward the areas where the blood-red moonlight was weaker.
Soon, another broken, frail skeleton entered Fang Zhou's sight.
He repeated his trick, circling behind the skeleton.
Crack!
When Fang Zhou's femur snapped into two, this skeleton's skull was shattered, its soul fire extinguished, and its ashen bones scattered across the land just like the first one.
Fang Zhou once again placed his bony palm atop the pile of bones.
A familiar warm current surged into his body.
But this time, Fang Zhou didn't use the skeleton essence to enhance himself; instead, he tried to craft his own [Skeleton Armament].
To do a good job, you need the right tools first.
The bones picked up from the ground were too brittle—using them as weapons was rather forced.
Now that he had the [Skeleton Armament] skill, it made more sense to depend on himself and make a durable weapon.
The longer, the stronger—Fang Zhou wanted to forge a long spear of his own.
Just as humans are born able to breathe, and fish to live in water, [Skeleton Armament] was likewise an inherent ability of the skeletons.
Ordinary apprentice-level skeletons lack skeleton armament simply because they don't have the sense to use weapons.
With a thought, Fang Zhou felt streams of skeleton essence flowing in his body. In just a few breaths, a long spear appeared in his hands.
"You have successfully crafted equipment [Skeleton Long Spear]!"
[Skeleton Long Spear] (Gray Inferior): A long spear formed by condensed skeleton essence, able to slightly increase damage.
The spear was nearly two meters long, entirely pale, forged from the hardest bone material on Fang Zhou's body, with the tip showing a hint of sharpness!
In the Era of Myth, humans divided professional equipment into Gray Inferior, White Common, Green Excellent, Blue Fine, and Purple Zhuo Yue, among other levels.
As a skeleton armament, the durability and sharpness of the skeleton long spear was directly linked to the amount of skeleton essence Fang Zhou invested.
Right now, Fang Zhou was only just getting started and invested little essence, so the skeleton long spear was only on par with gray inferior equipment.
Once he invested more and more skeleton essence, the skeleton long spear would likely rival epic equipment, legendary equipment, maybe even the divine artifacts of legend!
This was a growth-type exclusive weapon, so he would have to distribute skeleton essence wisely between self-enhancement and weapon enhancement.
With the skeleton long spear, Fang Zhou stepped forward again onto his path of devouring and evolution.
Shhk!
Another skeleton's soul fire was pierced through, its bones drained of all essence.
Agility +0.1, Soul Power +0.1.
...
An hour passed.
On the land Fang Zhou had named [Burial Wilderness], a burly skeleton gripping a long spear was surveying his surroundings.
It stood about 1.7 meters tall, body all ash-white, soul fire pulsing vigorously. It was nothing like the newly born, frail skeletons across the land.
This was Fang Zhou's skeleton clone.
In just one hour, Fang Zhou had hunted dozens of skeletons nearby.
These skeletons not only greatly enhanced his four-dimensional attributes, but also brought him 10 soul power.
Now, the clone's attribute panel had become:
[Attributes] Power 3, Constitution 2, Agility 2, Spirit 2
[Soul Power] 10
Power, constitution, agility, and spirit—all four-dimensional attributes—had increased two to threefold, undeniably a huge gain!
Yet, Fang Zhou still felt a bit unsatisfied.
Because at first, he could absorb 0.1 attribute points from each skeleton.
Later, it dropped to 0.05 per skeleton.
Now, it took several skeletons to gain just 0.1 attribute points.
The returns from the [Skeleton Armament] skill were diminishing.
After all, for Fang Zhou now, the newborn skeletons around him were too weak to provide much essence.
"Maybe...it's time to explore deeper?"
The thought flashed in Fang Zhou's mind, but he immediately dismissed it.
Patience—just laying low and developing would make him stronger, so there's no need to rush.
At least wait until he's squeezed all the value from the weak skeletons at the edge, and his clone's attributes grow much higher; ideally, he could use soul power to learn a few skills, too.
Once he's fully prepared, then it'll be safe to head deeper.
Resolving secretly, Fang Zhou hoisted his skeleton long spear, dug a hole in the ground, and buried himself.
Continuous slaughter had left him exhausted—he needed some rest.
...
Sea City Military Academy dormitory. Fang Zhou opened his eyes. The soul-deep fatigue made him yawn uncontrollably.
He glanced at his main body's attribute panel, suddenly widening his eyes in surprise.
[Attributes] Power 1.2, Constitution 1.1, Agility 1.1, Spirit 2.11
[Skills] Skeleton Meditation Method, Summon Skeleton, Inference Skill (+)
Both the attributes and skills tabs had changed.
"All my main attributes are slowly increasing." A rather unbelievable suspicion popped up in Fang Zhou's mind.