Chapter 7: Using Methods Used to Refine Demonic Treasures to Refine Skeletons
“Bryan, I didn’t believe them when they said you were crazy, but now, even I am a believer. You — are — seriously — crazy!” Jack twisted his fat neck, shook his head, and sighed as he saw Han Shuo wearing a zealous expression and declare his desire to get f.a.n.n.y.
“Eh? Those are the snacks that Bach was using to fawn on Lisa. Haha, what a stroke of luck! I’ve never tried the delicacies that n.o.bles always snack on!” Han Shuo spied the snacks that Bach had forgotten in his hurry to leave and immediately sprinted over. He picked up the intricately designed snack box without saying another word and started munching on the contents without even thinking twice.
He tutted in surprise as he ate, “Tsk tsk. These are delicious. That fight wasn’t for nothing. Here, I borrowed half a piece of bread earlier, and now I’m returning a box of exquisite snacks. You made out like a bandit!”
“But this is Bach’s? “I beat up that punk, so now it’s mine!”
Jack, “…”
Han Shuo also felt a bit odd about this development as well. He felt that since he’d arrived on the Profound Continent and started training his magical strength, his appet.i.te had grown larger and his personality had also become bolder. He was doing things he hadn’t dared to do before, and his desires were actually growing as well.
“Bryan and Jack! You guys should be cleaning up the labs right now, but you haven’t even finished cleaning the statues! If you get us in trouble, you’re in for it as well!”
As Han Shuo and Jack were cooing over the wonderful taste of the exquisite snacks, two older errand boys walked up from behind them. The two of them were holding mops in their hands and began badgering Han Shuo and Jack, admonis.h.i.+ng them to hurry to the labs and start cleaning.
These two errands boys were around twenty years old and were over 170 cm in height. They were called Borg and Carey, and had gotten into the habit of bullying Han Shuo and Jack in recent years because the older boys were stronger. They even went so far as to s.h.i.+ft some of their own duties onto Bryan and Jack. Case in point? Cleaning up the labs.
“Not going!” Han Shou paid them no heed since he’d wanted to get out of that for the longest time. He felt stronger now and his confidence had skyrocketed since he hadn’t lost any ground in his fight with Bach. He was actually thinking that he felt a bit too full, and another fight was just the thing to aid digestion if the two kept this act up.
“Hah, not going? Bryan, you’ve really gone crazy, daring to talk back to me, the mighty Borg. Do you want me to beat some sense into you?” Borg clenched his right hand into a fist and gave a cold laugh while staring at Han Shuo.
“Ah, my head hurts!” Han Shuo’s body shook as he crouched on the ground, clutching his head. Jack had been about to head off to the labs to start cleaning, but paused and stood there unmoving when he saw Han Shuo pull the same trick again. He looked at Han Shuo expectantly.
“I don’t care if you’re real crazy or fake crazy, I’m going to beat you until you obey!” Carey had an even worse temper. He took three large steps forward and kicked in Han Shuo’s direction.
It was then that Han Shuo gave a great “Aiya!” as he suddenly jumped up, meeting Carey’s right foot with his chest. Han Shuo gave a great cry of pain and wrapped his hands around Carey’s foot, lifting it up and to the side. It was Carey’s turn to yell in pain as he stumbled to the side. His lips parted in a silent howl as he smashed into a statue.
Borg smiled faintly when he saw Carey rush towards Han Shuo, thinking Han Shuo was in for it now. Who knew that although Han Shuo had taken a foot to the chest, Carey seemed even worse for the wear.
“Yeah? How dare you fight back Bryan! Borg, let’s get him together, we’ll teach him a lesson today!” Carey climbed up, in quite some pain, as he rushed towards Han Shuo again, and called for Borg to join him.
Han Shuo continued to clutch his head and cry out in pain as he thought, I dared to hit even Bach, much less than you two idiots. He flailed his arms and legs around wildly, and even though he took a few hits, Carey and Borg weren’t much better off.
Han Shuo was already used to being beaten and had been improving his body by circulating the magical yuan according to the laws of the solid realm. He had no problem taking on Carey and Borg’s fists at all. On the other hand, Carey and Borg’s faces were already bruising up in some places. They looked worse off, in part due to Han Shuo’s improved strength.
The three errand boys were fighting fiercely and wildly on the side of the road. Carey and Borg’s bodies started to hurt more as the fight progressed, and their strength slowly waned, whereas Han Shuo only suffered from a minor bit of pain, and actually felt quite at ease. It was as if he had endless strength and he even started fighting more smoothly. In the end, it was Han Shuo who chased after Carey and Borg, pelting them with blows as they ran away with their tails between their legs.
“Hah! What a sweet fight! Jack, we’re not doing Carey and Borg’s duties anymore. Come tell me if they pick on you again, I’ll use them as a punching bag!”
Little fatty Jack was looking at Han Shuo in admiration as he tugged on Han Shuo’s arm. Jack laughed loudly and said, “Bryan, you’re amazing. You beat Carey and Borg by yourself, how did you do it?”
Han Shuo pointed to himself and said c.o.c.kily, “I have a brave heart!”
Han Shuo’s head did not hurt even once in the next few days. For reasons unknown, Bach did not immediately seek revenge on Han Shuo either. Han Shuo and Jack refused to do Carey and Borg’s work, but the two had nothing to say as they couldn’t even win a fight, in which the numbers were in their favor. They silently completed the duties that they were supposed to do.
Now that the little skeleton was taking out the trash in the morning, and the lack of a need to pick up Carey and Borg’s duties, Han Shuo suddenly had a lot more free time on his hands. He didn’t ask Jack to “borrow” more books of magic during this time, but turned his attention to thoroughly studying “The Foundations of Necromancy” in order to build a firm base of knowledge.
Han Shuo came to understand that his mental power was quite weak after extended studying of “The Foundations of Necromancy”. He began to concentrate and meditate every night after he returned to the warehouse. The little skeleton was the weakest, dark creature from the other dimension, and its intelligence was so low, that it could only function according to the summoner’s commands. Han Shuo had given it the command to stay in the warehouse during the day and only dispose of trash late at night.
Han Shuo was just about to settle into his regular meditation that night when he suddenly recalled the memories that the old fart, Chu Can Lang, had left in his mind. There were some related to mysterious records of refining demonic treasures. Han Shuo thought that although the demon magic he was training in was from a different world than the necromancy he was learning now, they were both dark magics and seemed to have quite a lot in common. Would it be possible to fuse the two?
As Han Shuo furrowed his brow and started to seriously rummage through the memories, he discovered that although Chu Cang Lan had left behind a trove of memories, quite a few of them were misty and vague. It was like viewing things through a thin piece of marbled paper and not everything was clear.
After a while of recollection, he suddenly remembered a method to refine demonic treasures. Han Shuo could only summon a weak skeleton due to his short period of study in necromancy. Since that was the case, he decided to experiment on the little skeleton.
Refining materials were first needed for refining demonic treasure. Since he was just experimenting for fun, Han Shuo decided to use the little skeleton as the main ingredient. There was some worthless fresh blood from low level magic creatures in the warehouse, along with other trash, such as bone powder, salamander tails, etc. They all became auxiliary materials for the demonic treasure.
Some unique demonic treasures required very complex materials that necessitated arduous trials to obtain them. It wasn’t even a certain thing that they existed in this world. Han Shuo ignored all of that and instead grabbed random items to fulfill his sudden impulse. He returned to the lab to grab a small bucket that no one was using, as well as various necromancy ingredients that were leftover from student use. He had no idea what they were.
Han Shuo stealthily crept back to the warehouse under the cover of night and carefully closed the door. He first put the skeleton into the bucket, and then just randomly dumped in all the low level monster blood, bone powder, salamander tail, and other materials, following it up with a solid bucket of water. There was now an ugly riot of colors in a bucket filled with an a.s.sortment of… things. Only the skeleton’s head showed above the water level, it was completely unaware of what was happening.
Han Shuo thought for a moment as he closed his eyes and slowly ran through Chu Cang Lan’s knowledge of refining demonic treasure. Apart from requiring a variety of ingredients, refining demonic treasure required setting up a specialized matrix. The pract.i.tioner also needed to train his magical yuan according to special method for several days or months. Some particularly strong demonic treasures even required training for a few years.
Of course, the current Han Shuo could accomplish none of this. He identified the easiest refinement method and dug out seven starkly-white bone spurs from who-knew-what-kind-of magical creature. He stuck the spurs according to the instructions denoted by the “Magical Yin Concentration Matrix”.
The “Magical Yin Concentration Matrix” was a type of demon refining matrix in Chu Cang Lan’s memories. The proper method was to first refine seven natal “yin demons”, and to use the seven yin demons in forming the matrix. Once the refiner poured in his own magical yuan, the seven yin demons would concentrate the magical yuan in the matrix according to the matrix instructions. The refining ingredients would slowly dissolve and seep into the main ingredient. The demonic treasure would finally be complete after 36 days of refining with the magical yuan.
In order to refine a yin demon, one must first have a ghoul. A ghoul was an innocent who’d died wrongly and was subsequently buried in a forsaken piece of land. Only if the soul was unwilling to depart was there a possibility of a ghoul forming. Special methods were needed to refine ghouls into yin demons, and it was naturally something that Han Shuo could not accomplish at the moment.
He stuck the seven bone spurs into the bucket as a subst.i.tute for the yin demons, and then squatted beside the bucket to attempt circulating magical yuan to his right middle fingertip. He then swiftly stuck his finger in the middle of the seven erected bone spurs. Although the bone spurs were a poor subst.i.tute, they were arranged correctly and thus could absorb a bit of magical yuan.
After who knew how long, seven small swirls abruptly formed on the surface of the water, with the seven bone spurs as the center.
Han Shuo relaxed inwardly when he saw the seven swirls form. He knew that despite randomly mucking around, he had somehow succeeded. Although he couldn’t fathom what the little skeleton would ultimately turn into, he was at ease and drifted off into a deep sleep after a bit of meditation.