Chapter 290: First function of the bone staff
Han Shuo’s name spread all throughout Ossen City in just a short few days. Thanks to his identity as an archmage necromancer and his deed of killing Leah Cain, this proved his strength. Uhtred used the fact that Han Shuo had recovered the blueprint to bestow upon him the title of count.
Uhtred also awarded him a gorgeous mansion in the northern part of the city, which included guards, maids, servants, and all that one could possibly want. The mansion had more than a hundred rooms of various sizes.
Even though Han Shuo had yet to officially receive the title of count, this didn’t stop others from admiring and wanting to make friends with him. The gorgeous mansion already belonged to him from the moment he had left the Garden House.
Over the next couple of days, dignitaries from various noble houses came by to pay their respects to him. Unfortunately, the steward kept saying that the owner had yet to move in. Those who had come to visit could only leave their gifts behind.
Although he was currently the center of attention, Han Shuo himself actually didn’t know about the situation going on outside. He flew alone to the mountain behind the Babylon Academy of Magic and Force after leaving the Garden House. There, he opened up the transportation matrix and returned to the cemetery of death.
Han Shuo had reaped many benefits from his battle with Leah Cain. He slowly digested the experience from this battle as he gradually recovered his magical yuan and mental strength. Han Shuo’s body reached its peak condition by the time evening came. He immersed himself in the bloodlust realm, his deep red pupils furiously circulating with magical yuan.
After a few days passed like this, Han Shuo’s deep red eyes gradually returned to normal. He heaved a soft sigh, “Just one more step. It’s a pity that this step seems to be an unbreakable bottleneck. I really don’t know what’s going on.”
Han Shuo could faintly sense that he’d soon break out of the bloodlust realm. However, he couldn’t bridge the gap no matter how much effort he put in. Breakthroughs in magical cultivation required opportunities and comprehension. Perhaps the day that Han Shuo became spontaneously enlightened, he would directly break through into the next realm. He could instantly succeed once he firmly grasped this step.
Blind, stubborn practice wasn’t a good idea. When Han Shuo felt that he could no longer advance by relying on arduous training, he immediately stopped practicing demonic magic. He took out the tri-colored bone staff after some thought.
At this point, Han Shuo was certain that this bone staff was the result of the Eye of Darkness transforming, as the top of the staff and the Eye of Darkness gave off the same feeling. When Han Shuo focused his mental force into the bone staff, he could use it to successfully open the cemetery of death.
This bone staff was much more intricate and ancient compared to the white bone staff that Han Shuo had taken from the Calamity Church. The three different skulls seemed to contain three different kinds of power. Han Shuo could subtly feel this every time he grasped the bone staff.
The bone staff was, without a doubt, a treasure that belonged to the cemetery of death. Shaking the staff a little, Han Shuo muttered, “Let’s try out this bone staff.”
“Souls of the fallen soldiers, heed the dark herald’s call and reveal your existence!” Han Shuo waved the bone staff and chanted an elementary skeleton summoning incantation. The tri-colored skulls on the bone staff suddenly shone brightly upon being infused with his mental force. A row of sixteen skeletal warriors appeared out of thin air afterwards.
Han Shuo was momentarily dazed, shocked even, as he looked at the sixteen skeletal warriors. Mental strength at the grand magus level would only result in eight skeletal warriors being summons when using the white bone staff. But when he cast the spell using this bone staff, he’d unexpectedly reached the highest level of the skeleton summoning spell – level five. The number of summoned dark creatures had straight up doubled.
“This is too amazing!” Han Shuo exclaimed involuntarily. He started chanting the incantation to summon evil knights. When he had finished chanting, two evil knights appeared on the ground.
“Twice the results!” Han Shuo was utterly delighted. He then tried summoning the hate warriors and zombie warriors and achieved the same results. The number of summoned creatures had doubled when he used this bone staff whilst chanting the incantations.
After a successful experiment, Han Shuo couldn’t help but continue and try incantations for Canopy of Necromancy and Acid Bog. He discovered that the area of effect for both spells were now twice as wide.
“Good stuff! This is really good stuff!” Han Shuo caressed the bone staff, never wanting to let go of it. He hadn’t expected this bone staff to be so magical. It’d doubled the potential of the spells and increased his power by another level.
The bone staff was designed in an odd fashion and seemed quite ancient. In addition to doubling the power of necromancy magic, Han Shuo subtly felt that this staff hid several other secrets within it as well. It was a pity that he had no other methods to test it besides using it to release necromancy magic.
A white light flashed in the transportation matrix in the cemetery of death. Emily’s figure appeared within the light. She opened her mouth to speak as soon as she saw Han Shuo, “I knew you’d be here!”
The transportation matrix leading to this place was stationed in a corner of the graveyard. Han Shuo was accustomed to arriving at the cemetery of death by using the hidden location in the mountains behind the Babylon Academy of Magic and Force. Only Emily knew this habit of his. When she went there and saw the magic sticks in the corner of the grave, she immediately knew that Han Shuo must’ve headed to the cemetery of death.
“Oh, what brings you here?” Han Shuo smiled upon seeing Emily appear and pulled her into his embrace.
“Hurry and return to Ossen City. His Majesty the King has prepared to bestow upon you the title of count. Everything is ready and waiting for you to return to Ossen City. Who knew that you’d disappear for a few days? Even the Dark Mantle couldn’t find a single trace of you. Master Candide is very anxious, so he asked me to help him find a way to contact you. I guessed that you were at the cemetery of death, and it seems that I wasn’t wrong!” Emily rolled her eyes at Han Shuo in explanation.
“So that’s the case!” Han Shuo replied, then asked with a strange chuckle, “So His Majesty intends to grant me the title of count?”
“Yes. In addition to the title, he’s also bequeathing upon you a mansion in the northern part of the city and ten thousand gold coins. Candide seems to have prepared everything for you already, and it only awaits you to take it!” Emily said.
“Fantastic. I didn’t think that giving Leah Cain a beating could bring such great benefits. Heh heh, it seems that noble titles really aren’t so hard to get!” Han Shuo said with a smile before activating the transportation matrix and returning to the Ossen City with Emily.
Mt. Ordas, the Dark Mantle headquarters.
“Stinking brat, why don’t you disappear for ten more days huh?” Candide scolded with a dark face upon seeing Han Shuo appear.
“I was slightly injured after my fight with Leah Cain, so I had no choice but to recover first, so I returned a bit later.” Han Shuo lied, and smiled at Candide and congratulated his mentor. “Congratulations Master Candide, I heard that His Majesty the King bequeathed upon you the Medal of Bravery two days ago. Congrats congrats!”
Candide’s gloomy face finally revealed a hint of a smile when Han Shuo mentioned this, but he quickly recovered and said with a stern expression, “Alright alright, let’s not talk about this anymore. Give me your badge. His Majesty has ordered me to promote you to a rank one Dark Sun envoy. Little brat, your luck is truly too good!”
“Let’s go, come with me to meet His Majesty. His Majesty will bestow upon you a noble title and grant you a territory!” Candide said before leading Han Shuo through the secret transportation matrix in the Dark Mantle headquarters that led directly to the Imperial Palace.
Not long after, King Uhtred summoned the various nobles of Ossen City to gather in the middle of the spacious Lancelot Imperial Palace. He granted Han Shuo an audience and read the proclamation to begin the ceremony, “Bryan aided the Lancelot Empire many times in defending against foreign enemies… I bestow upon you the title of count, a mansion in the north of the city, and ten thousand gold coins. I hope you will continue to make great contributions to the Empire!”
“My thanks to your Your Majesty!” Candide had reminded Han Shuo of what to do and say earlier, so Han Shuo sincerely voiced his gratitude at this moment.
“Mhm, Brettel City in the furthest east shall be your territory. Brettel City is vast but extremely chaotic. I hope it will soon be restored to order under your leadership!” Uhtred raised his voice to speak loudly.
Several nobles revealed surprised expressions when they heard the territory would be Brettel City. It seemed that this city was very famous.
“Thank you, Your Majesty. I will definitely take good care of Brettel City and help restore the city to the order that it should possess in the Empire!” Han Shuo respectfully replied.
“Good. This shall be it for today. You are all dismissed!” Uhtred glanced at Han Shuo several times over before waving his arm to signify the end of the meeting. Everybody left one by one.
