Chapter 35: The Secret in the Dust
The wind finally stopped, and the moment it did, the object in the sandstorm also smashed down in front of Leon.
Taking a few steps back, Leon could finally see what was in front of him. It was a massive pig's head, about the size of a heavy truck's front. The entire pig's head was in a steampunk metal style. However, due to being tossed around in the sandstorm for too long, its outer layer had been almost completely worn off. The internal steam pipes and gears were severely damaged, and its eye sockets had become large, hollow holes.
The pig's mouth had a pair of tusks, each about the length of a person. It was clear that these tusks were critical to the pig's head, as they showed no signs of wear, even after being in the sandstorm.
After examining the pig's head from top to bottom, and confirming that there was no operation chamber inside, Leon jumped up onto the top of the pig's head.
Glancing at Quinn Ashford, who was not far away, Leon then pulled out his tools.
Summoning spells are a basic requirement for players of the dark attribute, as most mainstream dark attribute professions come with undead servants as standard. The only difference is the combat power and quantity of the undead servants.
The profession Leon originally chose had stricter requirements for undead servants. According to his plan, after his job transition, he would only be able to control three undead servants simultaneously at Lv1. Therefore, he had studied even more diligently in selecting and controlling undead servants.
Although his profession had changed somewhat after the instance, the requirements for undead servants had not changed at all—in fact, they had become even stricter.
After jumping onto the pig's head, Leon didn't rush to summon but carefully examined the details of the pig's head.
Finally, he carved a magic array at the top of the pig's head, then took out several items and placed them in the array.
With Leon's strength, an ordinary summoning spell didn't require drawing a magic array or using items. But Quinn Ashford's presence had raised some suspicion in Leon. He would rather waste some resources than risk failure here.
Thanks to Leon's caution, the summoning proceeded smoothly. The items he placed exploded when he chanted the summoning spell for the first time, forcing a large amount of dark energy to be drawn from the ground and flow into the pig's head through the magic array.
At first, Leon intended to use all his power for the summoning spell, but soon he realized something was wrong: there was no soul in the pig's head, meaning it had always been a dead object.
This posed a problem for Leon. Dark attribute players' summoning spells target items with souls, and even if the soul is lost, a new one can be substituted.
It's like finding a corpse that has been dead for many years. The soul may have long since dissipated, but by finding a suitable new soul, the body can move again.
However, the pig's head gave Leon the impression that it was like a teacup or some other lifeless object—something that had never contained a soul. No matter how skilled Leon was, he couldn't make the summoned soul stay in the pig's head.
Fortunately, when dark attribute players first learn summoning, they are taught to deal with various situations, and this was a relatively simple problem.
Without much thought, Leon made a quick decision, following the method he learned in school, slowly infusing the dark energy into the pig's head.
As Leon worked, he calculated the time and progress. He found that in about an hour, he could transform roughly one-fifth of the mechanical pig's head into an undead object.
Of course, Leon didn't believe that doing this five more times would fully convert the mechanical pig's head into an undead object. He noticed that when he stopped infusing dark energy, the undead transformation would gradually revert to its original state.
The speed of this reversal wasn't fast, but by this time tomorrow, about half of the energy would definitely be lost.
This raised another suspicion in Leon's mind. Since the pig's head had fallen from the sky, it was understandable that it had landed here today. But what about tomorrow? Could he find the pig's head as accurately then?
At this thought, Leon's mind stirred, and he made some adjustments to the summoning spell so he could track the location of the pig's head on his map.
Of course, Leon was still relatively weak, and since this wasn't his territory, he didn't dare to overextend. Thus, he could only track the pig's movements if it was within a two-kilometer radius.
After finishing everything, Leon checked the time and realized that almost an hour had passed. It was now around 4:30. The sky, free of sandstorms, was still a murky gray. The sun in the west seemed to be on the verge of setting but hadn't quite gone down yet. If it weren't for the slowly forming tornado nearby, Leon might have doubted whether time had moved at all.
Calculating the time, Leon made a small leap off the pig's head. Glancing at Quinn Ashford, who was still standing nearby, he noticed that Quinn wasn't paying attention to him but was staring excitedly at the pig's head.
From Quinn's expression, Leon could tell that the pig's head was an extremely important object. However, without all the information in hand, Leon had no idea what the pig's head's purpose was.
After another glance at Quinn, Leon noticed the sandstorm starting to rise again. He bent down and began making his way back to Aurelia Pinehold along the route he had come.
He had no interest in dealing with Quinn Ashford or discovering the key item here. He wasn't yet at the stage where he could monopolize all the secrets. Leon was a smart man, and he knew that those who knew too much often died the earliest.
After Leon left, Quinn Ashford stood beneath the pig's head, hesitating for a moment before taking something out of his pocket. But in the end, he put it back.
When the sandstorm rose again, and the fierce winds began lifting the pig's head, Quinn finally walked into the storm. However, he moved in the opposite direction from Leon, not toward Aurelia Pinehold.
As Quinn left, the sandstorm returned to its full force. The pig's head, which had been slowly rising, began tumbling in the storm once again.
However, Leon was no longer present. Had he been there, he would have noticed that with each tumble of the pig's head, some of the dark energy was knocked loose. Contrary to what he had thought, this energy didn't disappear but instead infused the surrounding sand, slowly transforming it into undead attribute sand.