"Ugh, what a bunch of trash!" Arlo scoffed at the three skeleton monsters, doubting they could pose any threat to the wild bulls. Still, since he had summoned them, he figured he might as well test their abilities."Charge! Take down the wild bulls!" Arlo commanded.The three skeleton monsters responded immediately, rushing toward the wild bulls. Arlo's eyes lit up in surprise—they were surprisingly fast, lacking the sluggishness typical of Level 5 skeletons."Maybe these skeletons aren't completely useless," Arlo thought, a hint of anticipation creeping in.But hope is often fleeting, and reality is harsh. The skeletons executed a three-hit combo on a bull, but the damage displayed above the bull's head was a meager -1, -1, -1. The enraged bull countered with three swift charges, smashing the skeletons to pieces with no resistance."Trash! Absolute trash!" Arlo fumed, his earlier expectations dashed. He began questioning his choice of profession. "What's the point of summoning a million of these useless things if all they do is die?""Foolish master!" Unlike Arlo's frustration, Caiyi, his mischievous companion, was furious and tugged at his hair. "These skeletons are beginner-level creatures! Their stats are only 100 attack, 50 defense, and 200 health. How could they possibly defeat a Level 15 wild bull?""Ouch, ouch, ouch!" Arlo shielded his head. "Caiyi, how many times have I told you? Stop pulling my hair! What if I go bald because of you?""Hmph!" Caiyi released his hair with a snort. "Serves you right!"Arlo rubbed his sore scalp. "I can handle Level 30 monsters now, but these skeletons are utterly useless. What am I supposed to do?""Idiot master," Caiyi retorted, crossing her arms. "These skeletons are just at the beginner level. Once you improve your skills, their power will grow as well. There are intermediate, advanced, master, and ultimate levels. At intermediate, they can go toe-to-toe with bulls. At advanced, they can fight Level 30 monsters. Master-level skeletons can handle Level 50 creatures, and ultimate-level ones can take on Level 80 beasts. The higher the level, the more skeletons you can summon. Intermediate lets you summon 10, advanced allows 50, master permits 100, and ultimate enables 500.""Wow, that's awesome!" Arlo's eyes sparkled with excitement, practically drooling."See? Now you understand how powerful necromancers are," Caiyi said smugly. "And skeletons are just the most basic summoning skill. Later, you can summon stronger undead creatures. The strongest, a Death Dragon, can even challenge Level 100 divine beasts.""Whoa! Necromancers are incredible!" Arlo exclaimed, wiping his mouth. "Alright, I'll train these skeletons to the ultimate level. Let's see which monster dares cross me then!"Summoning a skeleton cost only 10 magic points. With Arlo's 2400 magic points, the cost was negligible. Plus, he already had over twenty magic potions from leveling up to 10, so he felt no pressure at all.To his delight, a single summoning attempt increased the skill proficiency of "Summon Skeleton" by 0.5%. By summoning 200 times today, the skill could reach the intermediate level, making the skeletons capable of challenging wild bulls."Charge! Keep charging!" Arlo summoned skeletons over and over, sending them to their doom. (Skeletons: "Why are we so unlucky?") Meanwhile, he repeatedly cast other spells like "Deep Wound," "Venomous Poison," and "Bone Cage."After two hours, the 200th summoned skeleton fell to a bull, and the skill "Summon Skeleton" finally reached the intermediate level. His other skills also improved significantly. "Venomous Poison" reached 65% proficiency at the beginner level, and "Bone Cage" was at 83%, just 17% short of upgrading.Summon Skeleton: Intermediate 0%
Costs 50 magic pointsSummons 10 Bronze Skeletons for combat assistance
"Ha! Finally leveled up!" Arlo burst into triumphant laughter.Caiyi smiled. "Master, your skeletons have evolved into Bronze Skeletons. Why not test their strength?""Let's do it!" Arlo eagerly spent 50 magic points to summon 10 skeletons. Unlike the bare-bones beginner skeletons, these new ones came equipped with gear—a machete and a shield—making them look much more formidable."Finally, some proper equipment! And 10 of you now? Let's see what you're made of. Charge!" Arlo directed the Bronze Skeletons into the wild bull herd, and this time, the results were promising.The skeletons' blades struck the bulls, dealing -100 damage. When the bulls counterattacked, the skeletons only took -100 damage, remaining standing.Arlo quickly checked their stats: Attack: 250, Defense: 200, Health: 500.Compared to beginner skeletons with 100 attack, 50 defense, and 200 health, the improvement was massive. Plus, the number of skeletons had increased from three to ten. Arlo couldn't stop grinning."Caiyi, you were right! These intermediate skeletons can fight bulls head-on!""Of course!" Caiyi said proudly. "Master, with these skeletons, you can safely use your Beast Taming skill. Look! Some bulls are already below 30% health.""Where?!" Arlo scanned the field, spotting three bulls surrounded by his skeletons, their health dropping below 20%."My skeletons, don't kill them!" Arlo yelled, rushing in to kick the skeletons away. Then, with a sly grin, he approached the weakened bulls and used his beginner Beast Taming skill.A green mist flowed from his hand into one bull. Moments later, the bull glowed green and approached him, nudging his chest affectionately with its massive horns."So this is Beast Taming? Incredible!" Arlo was ecstatic."Congratulations, Master!" Caiyi cheered. "Now tame the other two before they die!"Arlo nodded and quickly tamed the other two bulls, though their higher levels meant only a 30% success rate. Even with his high luck stat boosting his chances, it took four attempts to capture both."My luck stat is amazing!" Arlo thought, pleased with his 32 points of luck.After that, Arlo began his grand plan to tame the wild buffalo. Five hours later, all five hundred buffalo were subdued and became Arlo's summoned beasts. However, since his beast-taming skill was already at the maximum level, there was no room for improvement in that area.What did improve, though, were several of his necromancer skills. By using his necromancer abilities to assist the bronze skeletons in bloodletting the buffalo, Arlo managed to level up some skills. The Summon Skeleton skill advanced to Intermediate Level at 13%. It had taken just two hours to upgrade from Beginner to Intermediate Level, but it took another five hours to reach 13% proficiency within Intermediate Level. As expected, skill progression became increasingly difficult at higher levels.Additionally, Deep Wounds advanced to Intermediate Level at 3%, Venom reached Intermediate Level at 1%, and Bone Cage rose to Intermediate Level at 5%. The effects of these three skills also saw notable improvements:Deep Wounds (Single-target skill): Intermediate Level 3%. Costs 30 mana points. Increases the damage taken by the target by 40%.Venom (Single-target skill): Intermediate Level 1%. Costs 30 mana points. Inflicts severe poison on the target, causing a toxic state that reduces their health by 30 points per second for 20 seconds.Bone Cage (Single-target skill): Intermediate Level 5%. Costs 30 mana points. Creates a cage of bones that immobilizes the enemy for 5 seconds."Hehehe..." Arlo chuckled with satisfaction. Not only had several of his skills leveled up, but he had also acquired a five-hundred-strong army of buffalo. Just imagining those five hundred buffalo charging in formation against other monsters... what a scene it would be!Caiyi flew down from above Arlo's head and floated in front of him. "Master, you've been fighting for over ten hours now. You should take a break.""Has it been over ten hours already?" Arlo muttered. In this session within the Dream Space, he had leveled up from Level 6 to Level 10. Excluding the seven to eight hours spent taming the buffalo herd, it had taken him only six to seven hours to gain four levels. The credit for this rapid progress naturally went to his Deadly Poison Mist. Unfortunately, Deadly Poison Mist couldn't be upgraded. While it was highly effective against lower-level monsters, it would become less useful as his level increased. Moreover, activating Deadly Poison Mist required the use of the Skeleton Staff as a medium. In the future, this skill was likely to end up shelved and forgotten.A wave of exhaustion hit him, and Arlo stretched lazily. "Caiyi, I'm heading back. See you tomorrow.""Alright," Caiyi replied. She watched as Arlo's body vanished from the Dream Space. With a soft sigh, she glanced at the newly respawned buffalo before ascending into the sky and disappearing herself.Although Arlo had spent over ten hours in the Dream Space, only an hour and a half had passed in the real world. He had entered the Dream Space at 10 PM and exited at 11:30 PM. However, there was a notable difference this time—his clothes were gone, replaced by a fiery red snakeskin outfit. Now, Arlo's only annoyance was figuring out what to do about his clothing situation.