Chapter 89: An odd phenomenon in the molded spirit realm
“Mister Duke, you’re too polite. Go ahead and ask whatever you’d like to know.” Fanny passed a chair to Duke and smiled faintly.
Duke glanced over Han Shuo’s body and then naturally looked back at Fanny, as if not minding Han Shuo at all. He didn’t take the chair that Fanny passed over and only said politely, “I won’t be sitting, I’m just here to ask you a small question. I’ll leave after I’ve asked it. Master Fanny, you’ve studied necromancy magic all this time. have you ever heard of the ‘Eye of Darkness’?”
On the side, Han Shuo silently observed Duke and noticed that after he said these words, his gaze was tightly fixed on Fanny, as if was trying to glean some clues from Fanny’s facial expression.
Shaking her head, Fanny’s expression was perplexed as she asked Duke instead, “What is this ‘Eye of Darkness’? Does it have something to do with the necromancy major?”
“Heh heh, it’s just a small tool. I’m not too certain of the specifics either, that’s why I wanted to ask you. Since you don’t know as well, forget about it. My apologies for disturbing you.” Duke wore a gentle smile having delivered this line after entering through the door. He nodded towards Fanny and walked towards the door again. When he reached the door, he seemed to suddenly thought of something again and asked carelessly, “Oh right… Master Fanny, I’ve heard that the library of your necromancy major is shared with the dark major’s? The necromancy major was once greater than the dark major many years ago. Do you not have your own standalone library?”
“Heh heh, Mister Duke you’ve said so yourself that it was many years ago when the necromancy major was at its peak. The magics that necromancers can now grasp are limited and there aren’t that many books on display.” Fanny laughed lightly and then paused. She said indifferently, “Oh, right, I’ve heard that there’s a secret library within our school. There are forbidden texts from all the various majors within that library, preserved secretly with authorization from the Empire. I’ve only heard about it from one of the other teachers and have never known where this secret library was hidden.”
“I see, then I’ll be taking my leave. I’ll be taking up residence within your Academy for the immediate future. May I inconvenience you with any other questions I may have?”
“I’ll be happy to be of service!”
It looked like Duke hadn’t recognized Han Shuo. The former hadn’t paid any attention to Han Shuo after his initial glance when he walked into room. Han Shuo rejoiced inwardly after Duke left.
“Alright, what questions do you have?” Fanny flicked a glance at Han Shuo after Duke left and asked with ill temper.
His space ring lit up faintly, Han Shuo brought out the questions that he’d previously organized . He sat down naturally in the chair that Duke hadn’t occupied just now, and started with his first question.
As an adept necromancer, Fanny had a very complete grasp of theoretical knowledge. Questions that had troubled Han Shuo for quite some time were all easily resolved through Fanny’s explanations.
“Summoning zombies is a bit more troublesome than skeletons because the volume and weight of zombies are greater. You’ll need to expend more mental strength when summoning them. In addition to this, controlling zombies is also more complicated than skeletons. The bodies of zombies are much more durable than skeletons. If you wish to agilely control them, you must practice repeatedly…” Fanny’s voice was gentle as she concentrated on pointing out a few things to take note of when summoning zombies.
When Fanny finished explaining, Han Shuo’s brow knit fiercely together as he sank into a state of contemplation. Fanny didn’t make a sound as to not disturb Han Shuo when she saw that he was deep in thought.
After a while, Han Shuo exhaled easily and smiled, “So it was an issue of insufficient coordination between the deployment and retrievement of mental strength. I’ve grown accustomed to summoning skeletons and am used to using the same amount of strength to communicate across the other dimension. It looks like this was the core of the problem. I think I understand now.”
After those words, Han Shuo started reciting the incantation to summon zombies again within Fanny’s vision. When the first incantation finished, the figure of a zombie flashed through the air and then immediately disappeared. Han Shuo wasn’t in a hurry as he tried to control the amount of his mental strength, but still hadn’t succeeded after four or five tries.
Fanny’s face wore a gratified smile as she watched Han Shuo. She understood that Han Shuo had already understood the meaning of her words and was searching for the appropriate amount of mental strength through practice. Once he felt the proper amount of mental strength, he would be able to completely summon a zombie.
“Never mind it, you don’t need to practice for now. Your direction is definitely correct, and you just lack a bit of repeated practice. I think you’ll be able to fully grasp the magic of summoning zombies when you are able to fully control your mental strength. Bryan, it’s only been two or three months, yet you’ve already reached the level of novice mage. I’ve never heard of such speed in all my years of teaching in the necromancy major.”
“Then how do I compare to Fitch?” Han Shuo temporarily gave up further practice beneath Fanny’s encouragement and chuckled honestly as he looked at her.
“It feels so unnatural to see your honestly smiling face. Don’t act dumb in front of me anymore. Oh, I’d forgotten about Fitch until you mentioned him. He seems very off right now, I’m worried that he’ll hold a grudge and purposely create trouble for you. Be careful.” Fanny first rebuked Han Shuo, and then spoke to him with a tone of concern.
“Don’t worry, if Fitch is really that gullible, I think the person who would end up worse off will surely be him.” Han Shuo shrugged his shoulders and paid Fitch’s grudge no mind. To be honest, he really didn’t think much of the journeyman mage Fitch now.
“Bryan, I knew that you’d be here, come here. Master Fanny, I have a few matters to discuss with him, hehe.” Lisa’s voice traveled in from outside at this moment as she walked towards Han Shuo as soon as she came in. She grabbed Han Shuo’s wrist and dragged him outside.
As Fanny watched Han Shuo get pulled away by Lisa, a bit of anger seemed to grow out of nowhere in her heart. It was as if someone had seized something precious to her, and she didn’t feel quite happy about it.
“How do you know my cousin?” Lisa asked as she dragged Han Shuo to a little courtyard behind the school library.
Han Shuo liberated his shoulder from Lisa’s hand and looked at her in confusion. “Your cousin? Who is he?”
“Lawrence! He’s learning martial arts in our martial arts school. He came looking for you previously, but you weren’t here. Who would’ve thought that he’d immediately come looking for you as soon as you’d returned this time. How do you know him?”
So it was him. This Lawrence was a bit odd. He had the same master as Phoebe, but attended class at the Academy. Also, he currently possessed the strength of a journeyman swordsman. Han Shuo weighed all of this privately.
As he lowered his head, Han Shuo happened to see Lisa’s chest next to him. Her chest had originally been quite flat, but now blossomed into shapely curves. The well-rounded look noticeably illustrated that she had quite a figure.
“Eh… Lisa, are you wearing more clothes than usual today? Why do I get the feeling that you’ve filled out quite nicely?” Han Shuo snuck a glance at Lisa’s chest and unknowingly let these words slip.
“What, what do you mean by that?” Lisa had been walking when she heard Han Shuo’s words. She was so startled that she almost fell over. Her little face then reddened as she stared at Han Shuo with her question.
“Your chest was flat before, with nothing there, but now it looks bumpy. Did you pad it with something?” Han Shuo thought internally, but his words were directly reflected in his speech. He opened his mouth and responded with this incredibly honest internal dialogue.
Extraordinary rage! Lisa glared vehemently at Han Shuo and reached out her small hand and gave Han Shuo a firm pinch. She gritted her teeth and said, “You said such a thing and now suspect that I’ve padded my chest. Do you want to die?”
Han Shuo was horrified as he suddenly realized what he said. He thought those words had only stayed in his heart just now, and according to his modus operandi, he would’ve only kept them in his heart. He would never have caused so much trouble for himself by voicing thoughts that would only anger the other person.
But who could have known that reality would be so strange. It was his inner thoughts, but Han Shuo hadn’t given any thought to the consequences and just let it all out. This made Han Shuo feel exceedingly odd.
At the same time, a strand of cool sensation suddenly suffused with his mind. Han Shuo’s body shuddered slightly, and he then understood why such words slipped out from him before. It must be because the magical yuan had started creating some strange phenomenon after entering the “molded spirit” stage.
He smiled wryly at Lisa with her teeth gritted as he calmed himself down inside. He privately admonished himself to be careful and to not say anything random again. He finally laughed dryly at Lisa,” I’m sorry Lisa, i was just joking with you. I hadn’t thought that you really started developing. I’m truly happy for you.”
“You’re such a bad person to say such things to someone!” Lisa immediately blushed and explained in a low voice, “I should be the one thanking you instead. I followed the methods that you prescribed. Umm… this is so embarrassing. Anyways, that’s what happened!”
Shaking his head in silent laughter, Han Shuo had completely forgotten the ways he’d imparted onto Lisa before for developing her breasts. Who would’ve thought that they would actually have an effect? This made Han Shuo feel rather awkward and put on the spot.
“Hi Bryan, how are you?” At this moment, Lawrence happened to see Han Shuo and Lisa from across the courtyard and greeted them from afar.
Lisa’s hastily took in a few breaths to calm her reddened face and snuck a glance at Han Shuo, saying softly, “Lawrence’s father is a great finance minister of the Empire. He is on very friendly terms with His Majesty. It will benefit you greatly if you have increased contact with him, I won’t be disturbing you then.”
Lisa seemed to be greatly afraid of Lawrence seeing her reddened face, and after saying these words she fled towards the training fields with small running steps.
The son of one of the Empire’s finance ministers! Han Shuo gave a slight start as he thought privately that the Academy was indeed full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. It would seem that many future nobles would be training in the various majors of the Academy.
“I’m quite good. I’ve heard that you came looking for me twice? Heh heh, were you planning on spending five gold coins for me to get beaten by you all day?” There wasn’t only Han Shuo and Lawrence in the courtyard, there was also a few students from other majors in the distance, reading books in groups of two or three or leisurely tanning themselves in the sunlight.
“If you’re willing to, I don’t mind spending another five gold coins, heh heh, but I think you would definitely not be willing now!” Lawrence leaned against a stone railing and was quite at ease as he spoke to Han Shou.
“Who says I’m not willing? The only thing is I don’t need five gold coins. As long as you’re willing to let me fight back, I’ll agree to practicing with you. I was beaten up quite severely by you last time and really want to save face!” Han Shuo smiled faintly and also leaned leisurely against the railing as he spoke to Lawrence with an interested expression.
“Oh, that’s not a problem. I can practice with you after we’ve concluded our business here and see if you’re really as strong as Phoebe says.” Lawrence also looked quite interested as he stood up straight and smiled.
“ Alright then, I’d like to hear what business you have with me? The two of us shouldn’t have any interaction at all, so what have you come to discuss with me?”
Looking around, Lawrence kept his voice down when he discovered that no one was paying them any attention. He looked at Han Shuo with bright eyes, “My little junior sister said that you seem to be able to get your hands on black iron ore. If this is truly the case, I’d like to purchase some from you. It doesn’t have to be much, just an amount at the size of a fist will do. I was going to ask little junior sister to buy some for me, but I felt that since we got to know each other last time and I’m truly curious about you, I’d like to be friends, so I’ve come to find you myself!”
Han Shuo looked at the very sincere Lawrence and thought that since he was the son of a great finance minister for the Empire, he must have a lot of money.
