Chapter 97: Chapter 96: Rune Evolution
Translator: 549690339
Gusu City.
Bai Qi’s home.
Secret realm.
A dozen or so skeletons were arranged neatly in a row, motionless except for the flickering soul fire in their eye sockets, proving they were not sculptures.
“No wonder the Federation prioritizes the Undead Catastrophe over other disasters. The high-ranking undead really suppress the low-ranking ones to an exaggerated extent.”
Looking at the obedient skeletons under the influence of Alpha’s intimidation skill, much like docile rabbits, Bai Qi officially realized the distinct class differences among the Undead department creatures.
“Luckily Alpha had grasped the intimidation skill before the fight with Zhang Kai. Otherwise, it might not necessarily have been a match for that dead brute.”
Feeling a bit relieved, Bai Qi put on the rune glasses, took the rune engraving knife, and headed towards the first skeleton.
“Schuck, you’re in charge of collecting the experimental data. Alpha, remember to keep these guys in check.”
The day he returned to Gusu City, President Qin gifted him fifteen skeletons for Bai Qi to experiment on. Bai Qi, delighting in these free test subjects, gladly accepted them all.
“Let’s try the first set of runes.”
Bai Qi pushed his glasses up and started to carve on a skeleton with his engraving knife.
Compared to Red Flame Iron, the skeletons’ bones were significantly more fragile. Bai Qi didn’t feel much resistance.
However, Bai Qi noticed that as he carved with his knife, his spirit power flowed naturally into the runes.
“Apart from a beast’s energy, can a Beast Master’s spirit power also serve as a source?”
Bai Qi had a faint speculation. But his hand slipped due to this distraction, ruining the half-finished rune.
As expected, carving runes required delicacy. Only Alpha, who was single-minded, could spend a whole day on it.
Bai Qi took a breath, calming his heart to start carving again.
This time there were no issues. A brand new rune soon formed under Bai Qi’s hand.
“Hmm, it flows like a cloud and flows like water. It has a master’s touch.”
Looking at his first creation, Bai Qi nodded in satisfaction.
“Generic Rune: Harden, Similarity: 67%, Beast Master, you still need to work hard.”
Just as Bai Qi was self-satisfied, Schuck’s cold electronic voice suddenly rang out, immediately grounding Bai Qi back to reality.
“Tsk… That’s what’s wrong with mechanical life forms, not knowing how to be tactful.”
Bai Qi clicked his tongue, glancing at Schuck a little annoyed, then turned to Alpha, “Alpha, let it guide the energy to activate the rune.”
Clack clack.
(Alright.)
Alpha nodded, approached the skeleton, and with a flash of the soul fire in its eye sockets, the skeleton shook a little and looked at the rune on its arm puzzledly. However, it didn’t perform the next step.
Clack clack.
(Master, it seems to not understand your command.)
Bai Qi was silent. The skeleton’s intellect was too low. It didn’t even know how to guide its energy value?
Looking at it this way, Alpha was pretty clever.
It was just a bit silent usually.
“Forget about it, Alpha, you activate it.”
With a resigned sigh, Bai Qi stepped aside and let Alpha activate it.
Alpha nodded, grabbing the skeleton’s arm, cautiously letting in a trickle of energy, and the Harden Rune lit up. A faint sparkling glow also gradually enveloped the skeleton’s arm.
This was almost identical to a beast’s hardening technique.
“Schuck, test the effect of hardening and record the duration.”
Bai Qi directed Alpha to stop the energy, then let Schuck step forward. After some fiddling around, Schuck quickly gave feedback.
“It’s basically similar to the hardening technique in effect but its power is very low. If you could reach a 100% similarity, Beast Master, we should be able to enhance the effect to a beginner’s proficiency level.”
Is it just at a beginner’s proficiency level?
Bai Qi couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed. Hardening was a common technique. Many beasts could master it with training. If the effect was only at a beginner’s level, it was a little mediocre.
“Forget it, at least it proves that runes can be promoted among skeletal creatures.”
Bai Qi consoled himself and immediately started on the second rune.
This time, to avoid the previous embarrassment, Bai Qi practiced a few times on a board beforehand, confirming that there were no problems before he started.
“Shading Rune: Camouflage, Similarity: 89 %, with an extremely high similarity, congratulations Beast Master.”
Listening to Schuck’s compliments, Bai Qi nodded in satisfaction, then signaled for Alpha to come up and activate it.
Bang!
Just as Alpha injected its energy into the camouflage rune, the skeleton’s whole body instantly cracked, and then exploded into countless fragments.
Clack clack.
(Boss, I’m sorry, it wasn’t deliberate.)
Seeing the skeleton explode in its hands, Alpha immediately lowered its head, apologizing to Bai Qi in a somewhat wronged tone.
“No problem, there must be an issue elsewhere,”
Alpha’s control over energy is accurate, it wouldn’t overload the energy value. The so-called problem would lie within the runes.
Bai Qi patted Alpha’s head, contemplated over the scattered fragments on the ground for a moment, then moved to another skeleton soldier and again carved a concealment rune on it.
“Alpha, you give it another try.”
Alpha nodded, carefully injecting energy into the skeleton.
This time, the skeleton didn’t explode. Its form slowly blended with the surrounding shadows.
If the issue wasn’t the nature of the rune itself, then it must be the quantity of runes.
Bai Qi took out the engraving knife and carved a hardening rune on a second skeleton, before asking Alpha to activate it.
Sure enough, the skeleton soldier exploded into fragments.
“Can they only bear one rune? No, it should be that they can only bear one kind of rune at a time, and it seems to be related to the level too.”
Alpha had already applied multiple runes in actual combat before. During the battle with Gu Shan, it had etched numerous explosion runes onto four Bone Cages – if it were purely limited by quantity, Alpha would have exploded long ago.
But with this understanding, Alpha would need to be cautious when using runes in the future.
With this thought, Bai Qi summoned two more skeleton soldiers for testing. The results matched his expectations. A skeleton soldier could only withstand one kind of rune. Exceeding one would inflict unbearable damage on itself.
However, if both the growth level and bloodline level improved, the number of runes it could bear should increase. Alpha was a clear example of this.
“At least something significant was found, but the cost was a bit heavy.”
In just over ten minutes, four skeleton soldiers were exhausted. Bai Qi seriously doubted whether these skeleton soldiers would last until his lunch.
“Let’s test whether the runes of other attributes can take effect.”
Looking at the remaining eleven skeleton soldiers, Bai Qi temporarily set aside his experiments with shadow runes and started testing other attribute runes.
“Let’s try the ice attribute rune first.”
From the runes provided by the Rune Rubik’s Cube, Bai Qi selected an ice clan rune called ‘Lower Temperature’ – a relatively simple one.
Bai Qi had tried this rune before; it can lower the temperature within a certain range. As for its effectiveness, it could barely serve as an air conditioner.
After several consecutive engravings, Bai Qi got the hang of it, the speed and quality of his engravings noticeably improved. Quickly, he etched ice attribute runes all over the skeleton soldier.
“Alpha, this time try to test the limit of the skeleton soldier.”
Alpha nodded, the icy blue energy spread from his fingers to the skeleton, igniting the first rune, then the second, the third…
Soon, all the runes on the skeleton were lit, and a chill began to emanate from the once ordinary skeleton.
Success!
Seeing the successful demonstration of the skeleton soldier’s ice-based skills, Bai Qi nodded in satisfaction.
He had been worried that the skeleton soldier, lacking the ice-based powers of Alpha, would be unable to trigger the ice runes. But now, it seemed that he had been overthinking.
Creak creak.
(Master, it seems this skeleton soldier is actively absorbing my energy. Should I stop it?)
Bai Qi was about to test the high-level ice runes when Alpha suddenly sent this message.
“Is it absorbing your energy? Can these things backlash?”
Bai Qi frowned slightly, about to let Alpha stop supplying energy, when Schuck suddenly advised him otherwise.
“The energy flow in the skeleton soldier is very stable and seems to be undergoing some kind of change, I suggest you watch it a little longer, Beast Master.”
Schuck’s spirit power swept across the skeleton soldier, quickly grasping its status, and promptly projected an energy value change graph of the skeleton soldier into the air.
“The equipment I have is still too basic to detect more detailed data. I suggest you grab more materials as soon as possible, Beast Master. I need a significant upgrade.”
“Oh…”
Bai Qi nodded somewhat blankly, feeling a bit disgruntled.
Who exactly is the Beast Master here…?
Suddenly, the skeleton soldier stopped absorbing Alpha’s energy. An icy blue energy gradually seeped out of its runes, gradually covering its entire body, and the temperature around the skeleton soldier dropped rapidly.
If before it was like a refrigerator preservation layer, then now it was more akin to the freezer compartment.
Crack.
Once the frost subsided, the figure of the skeleton soldier was revealed, but its body was no longer pale white. It had turned a faint blue, and the previously etched runes had all disappeared.
Looking at the skeleton soldier in front of him, constantly radiating cold air, Bai Qi was rather surprised. Schuck timely presented updated data about the skeleton soldier.
[Name]: Ice Bone
[Nature]: Ice Clan, Undead Department
[Bloodline Level]: Mid-level Servant
[Description]: An undead born in frost, its attacks can carry the power of freezing.
“Is this… an evolution?”
Bai Qi couldn’t help but exclaim when he saw the data that Schuck presented.
The runes actually facilitated the evolution of the skeleton soldier?