"I..." Han Shuo opened his mouth, but didn't have time to get a word out before Lisa unleashed a wave of pilipala punches with her girlish fists. She cursed as she hit him, "Damn you Bryan, how dare you kiss me. My first kiss was stolen from me by a lunatic! Oh my God, this is too scary. I'm going to kill you!"
Han Shuo's mind was also confused in the heat of the moment as he'd just kissed Lisa. It was Lisa's first time, who was to say that it wasn't Han Shuo's first time as well?
Fear showed on Lisa's face, and her bottom was injured, so there was no strength at all behind her girlish fists. Han Shuo felt no pain and wasn't even tickled by her blows. He didn't resist and raced through his mind trying to think of a way to stop Lisa from pursuing this matter any further.
Lisa seemed to get tired of hitting him after a while. Her eyes were a little red and puffy, and she glared at Han Shuo viciously. After staring at him for a moment, Lisa frowned and said coldly, "Bryan, I'll let you go if you just tell me one thing.
Momentarily stunned, Han Shuo asked dumbly, "Tell you what?"
"Why has your strength increased during this time? Before, you couldn't even avoid skeleton warriors, but now, even zombie warriors can't keep up with you. Even that idiot Bach was defeated by you last time. Claude's martial aura obviously entered your body this morning, but why didn't you die right away? Why all this?" Lisa stared at Han Shuo intently during her interrogation.
Han Shuo thought inwardly, "Uh oh" as his heart fluttered. His body had indeed become stronger thanks to the training of his magic yuan, but who'd have thought that Lisa would pick up on it so quickly.
He hastily considered a few options and then stupidly replied with a silly smile, "I, I don't know... Just that I ate some things recently that made me feel stronger."
Lisa's eyes flashed noticeably after Han Shuo finished speaking and she put her face next to his with every bit of interest. Fixing her eyes on him, she said, "What have you been eating? I won't pursue the matters of today as long as you tell me."
"Use magic reagents to mix lizard tail and aardwolf teeth... soak them in warm water for a day and then drink both. It will improve your strength." Han Shuo knitted his eyebrows and thought deeply for a moment, then delivered those lines with a naive smile.
Lisa's face wore a serious expression as she concentrated on Han Shuo's words. She repeated his words and then muttered to herself. "Huh? These disgusting things have this effect when mixed together?"
Han Shuo did not answer and just looked at Lisa with a dumb smile.
"Hmph. I'll let you go today and come back for the magic training next time." Lisa thought for a moment and picked herself up from the ground to leave, but then she said "aiyo!" and cursed angrily, "Damn Bryan, your kick was too strong. Why am I always so unlucky around you?"
Lisa cursed madly as she left the training room, rubbing her bottom with one hand. As soon as she'd left, Han Shuo quickly followed and made his escape before anyone noticed.
Later that evening, in the middle of the night, Han Shuo sneaked over to the rubbish dump. He first tried to use his mental power to command the small skeleton to show itself, but was unable to reach it. Unwilling to endure the stench of garbage, he searched the entire dump and finally found the skeleton at the bottom of all the garbage.
The small skeleton was crumpled under the rubbish, as if asleep, with no outward sign of life. Several bones were scattered from its chest and it appeared to be badly injured. Due to his connection with the skeleton, Han Shuo knew that the little skeleton had not been dumped. Han Shuo felt a wave of pity and guilt when he saw the skeleton's condition, knowing that it had ended up like this because it had received his order to take revenge on Lisa.
"Claude, oh Claude, just wait. One day I'll take my revenge on you!"
He grabbed the skeleton and cradled it before sneaking back to the warehouse under the cover of night. The skeleton's loose ribcage bones rattled against each other as he ran, making his heart wrench with pity once again.
Han Shuo carefully closed the door once they were back in the warehouse and thought for a moment. He put the small skeleton back into the wooden bucket and after some searching found seven pieces of broken bone. He put them into the bucket and channeled his magic yuan into them, forming the 'Magic Yin Concentration Matrix'. He attempted to repair the small skeleton's body using the method used to repair demonic treasures.
Unlike the severe weakness last time, Han Shuo felt much better this time after injecting his magical yuan into the bucket. It seemed that the amount of magic yuan had increased after digesting Claude's battle aura that morning. This triggered another line of thought in Han Shuo's mind.
Putting the skeleton safely aside, he retrieved 'The Foundations of Magic' from under his bed for further study. He had kept up his nightly studies these days, and not even thunder or lightning could distract him from his reading.
Even though this was only a basic book, with no mention of any major necromancy in its pages, it was still far too complex for a complete magical novice like Han Shuo.
Tonight, he cross-referenced 'The Foundations of Magic' with 'A Magical Dictionary', gradually losing himself in the books. But even with the help of 'A Magical Dictionary', he was still unable to understand some of the technical terms in their covers.
He let out a long sigh and put down the two books in his hand, thinking to himself that he had only begun to build up his understanding of magic in the last ten days. If he could fully comprehend all the material in the books, then there would be no point in the Babylonian Academy of Magic and Force continuing to exist. After some thought, he decided to take full advantage of his position and eavesdrop on the necromancy classes that were currently in session.
Han Shuo settled back into meditation after calming and clearing his mind. He wanted to make the most of every bit of free time to meditate and increase his mental strength. Before he knew it, he had meditated well into the night before falling asleep peacefully.
When he got up at dawn the next day, Han Shuo was full of vitality, as if his body was filled with boundless energy. The small skeleton in the wooden tub beside his bed was still and showed no signs of life. Next to the seven broken pieces of bone were seven small whirlpools with subtle hints of black light flowing in the water.
Looking closer, he saw that the scattered rib cage bones had rearranged themselves without anyone's knowledge. The skeleton's two empty eye sockets also seemed to be glittering with black light, looking quite eerie.
Han Shuo contacted the skeleton with his magic yuan and immediately felt that the skeleton seemed to be enjoying its newfound life. Feeling the same, Han Shuo smiled slightly and said to himself, "Oh, little skeleton, you're extremely lucky to be following me. I can continue to refine you as long as I have enough magic yuan, and you'll grow stronger as a result. One day, this Claude will get what's coming to him.
With the little skeleton still being refined in the wooden bucket, Han Shuo had to get up himself and dispose of yesterday's waste. After washing his face with cold water, Han Shuo vigorously dusted all the statues. After completing his duties, he received a piece of black bread and ran towards the necromancy classrooms in a good mood, broom in hand.
"In order to release magic perfectly, both the incantation and the hand seal are key. If the incantation is wrong, or the gesture is wrong, then you will not be able to cast magic. Magic is a mysterious power, the art of borrowing power from the elements on earth and in the sky by using mental strength along with mysterious incantations. Magic then finds its target through hand seals..."
The necromancy students listened to Master Gene either attentively or listlessly. A few windows away, Han Shuo listened with all his concentration, unconsciously waving the broom in his hand.
Gene was the same as Fanny, a necromancy adept mage as well as the Major's teacher. Gene mainly taught the basics of magic and was responsible for helping the students through the more difficult parts of the material. Fanny, on the other hand, taught the students how to supplement their attacks with necromantic magic and led the students in experimenting with necromantic magic.
All the other majors at the Academy not only had experienced mages as teachers, but even more knowledgeable and powerful magi (plural of magus) to hold down the fort. However, due to a lack of students in the Necromancy major, Gene and Fanny were the only two teachers, and only of the Adept class. This was partly because there was no need to devote too many resources to the tiny necromancy major, but also because necromancy had become unpopular, and the number of necromancy magi had fallen accordingly.
At the Babylonian Academy of Magic and Strength, students could graduate as long as they passed a gauntlet of exams. Of course, if students wished to continue their journey with the Academy, they were free to stay and study within the school grounds. Many majors would separate students into apprentice, novice and journeyman classes, but since there were too few necromancy students, all students were lumped into one class.
At this moment, Han Shuo was concentrating with all his might, and a trace of joyful glee could be seen in the smile on his lowered head. It had only been a few moments, but thanks to Gene's explanations, Han Shuo had already thought through some of the theories that had puzzled him endlessly. His lukewarm, old-fashioned tone was the soothing music of angels to Han Shuo's ears, and he lost himself in it.
Bam rang out as a student dressed in magician's robes suddenly fell in front of Han Shuo. His butt was stuck in the air as his face became intimately acquainted with the white marble floor. He grimaced in pain as he picked himself up, turned to glare at Han Shuo and said angrily, "Bryan, how dare you trip me with that broomstick."
"Ah... I was just sweeping!" Han Shuo immediately replied in a panicked, raised voice when he saw that the person was Fitch.
Fitch was 176cm tall and had light blue hair. His thin frame combined with a billowing mage robe made him look like a wrapped wooden stick. He was a journeyman mage in Necromancy Major and had long wanted to pass the tests to become an Adept. Unfortunately, he had failed several times, and rumour had it that he'd made another attempt. It seemed that he'd just returned.
Han Shuo had been enthralled by Gene's lecture on basic magic and had paid no attention to the broom in his hand. No wonder Fitch had stumbled.
"Eh? Fitch is back. Heh heh, have you failed again? Looks like you have to try a lot harder if you want to become an adept mage. I welcome your return. Bryan didn't do it on purpose, don't mind him! Gene laughed lightly in the classroom and spoke with hidden teasing.
Han Shuo was not in the least grateful that Gene had spoken up for him, but rather cursed him for sticking his nose in other people's business.
Fitch had a bad temper to begin with, but he wasn't really a bad guy. Although he had failed the Adept Mage exams on countless occasions, he still experimented tirelessly due to his great love of necromancy. Fitch was the leader of Bach and a few others, but normally he wouldn't bother with Bryan and the other errand boys.
However, both Fitch and Gene had a crush on Fanny. Fitch was trying so hard to get into the Adept class in large part because of something Fanny had said earlier, "I will only consider you if you become an Adept mage".
As a result, this teacher-student pair disliked each other intensely. If it wasn't for Gene's words, Han Shuo might have escaped further retribution, but now that Gene had spoken, it was bound to have the opposite effect.