abcnovels
Chapter 117: Original Skill
Chapter 117: Original Skill
After surveying the area again, Reign realized that only the most recent kills were present, leading him to assume that they could not exist here permanently.
And his assumption was correct; dead corpses could not exist permanently inside his body.
Instead, they were transformed into nutrients for Reign and the system to utilize.
With this in mind, he hurriedly searched for the person he deemed worthy of being turned into a puppet.
"You're quite the treasure trove, aren't you? Even in death, you continue to give me a lot of things," Reign chuckled aloud, relishing in the sadistic pleasure of exploiting the deceased.
If he had the chance, he'd award Jayden with the "Kill of the Month" prize for his unwitting contribution to Reign's power.
Unlike the other souls, Jayden's soul remained indifferent and expressionless, devoid of any signs of pain or anguish.
Moreover, his image was very vivid and clear, almost human-like in its appearance, standing out among the rest.
Reign attempted to summon it by raising his hand and reaching out to touch the bone pile.
[System: Your Basic Bone Summoning is Level 1]
[System: You are currently limited to summoning only 1 puppet, with the likelihood of success decreasing as you attempt to summon stronger puppets.]
Seeing this, Reign decided to test things out first.
[System 35/1 ]
'So I need 35 slots to summon him?' Reign mused inwardly.
Considering Jayden's strength when he was still alive, he deemed 35 slots to be a fair price for summoning him.
"System, level up Basic Bone Summoning to max," Reign ordered confidently, eager to enhance his abilities.
Basic Bone Summoning I >> XX
After upgrading his skills, he made another attempt, and this time, he noticed a changed in the counter, signaling an improvement in his summoning abilities.
[35/40]
[System: Please decide your Summoning Catchphrase ]
'Summoning Catchphrase?'
As Reign contemplated his summoning catchphrase, he realized the importance of making it both impressive and original.
He envisioned coming up of something very original and iconic, unlike those fictional novel MCs who often resorted to copying more popular moves from others.
After a moment of reflection, he came up with a phrase that he believed captured the essence of his power and identity.
"Arise," he commanded, raising his hand as a black-red aura enveloped the pile of bones.
They began to vibrate and stirred, but ultimately fell back to the ground.
[Summoning Failed]
"Arise" He commanded again.
[Summoning Failed]
"Arise"
[Summoning Failed]
"Arise"
[Summoning Failed]
He repeated it over and over again, each failed attempt serving as a proof to the difficulty of summoning a powerful puppet.
"ARISE!!!" he roared, his voice more commanding and louder than before.
As if heeding his command, the bones flew into motion, assembling themselves into a humanoid form.
At first, it was just a skeletal structure, but then a red aura began to fill the vacant spaces of the bones, swirling like black smoke with hints of crimson glow.
The eye sockets glowed red, while arcs of lightning crackled around the bones.
A shadowy kimono-like garment draped over the bone body, completing the eerie transformation.
[Congratulation Host for Summoning your First Skull Puppet]
[With a high starting rank, the puppet deserved a name that reflected its strength and significance. ]
Reign pondered for a moment before deciding to name this puppet "Arc," inspired by the arcs of electricity enveloping its body, seemingly integrating into its shadowy, dark-red ethereal form.
[Ding]
============
Name: Arc
Race: Skull Puppet
Rank: Knight Grade
Strength :A-
Agility. :A-
Endurance : A-
Intelligence: F-
Energy: A-
Thunderstep
Thunder Strike
Thunder Flash
Thunder Slash
Thunder Sweep
============
"Nice," Reign smiled with satisfaction after reading the status, pleased with the puppet's capabilities.
While the stats may not match the real deal, Arc still boasted strength comparable to that of a Middle High Demon.
Besides, he had a feeling that there would be more opportunities for him to upgrade Arc in the future. .
**
'I still have 5 slots. Should I summon five weak puppets or save them' he pondered to himself.
After contemplating the pros and cons, he decided to save them.
With Arc in his arsenal, he felt confident in his fighting capabilities, knowing he had additional firepower at his disposal.
Plus, there was no one worthy of using the slots, and he didn't know when he would have the opportunity to increase his slot capacity, especially since it was currently locked at Level 20.
When he finished wrapping things up, with a mere thought, he found himself back in the clearing again.
He hadn't physically travel to that dark space; it was merely a manifestation of his inner mind.
Now, to test the skill in the real world, he raised his hands and visualized the summoning process.
"Arc," he whispered, his hands pulsating with dark red energy.
As he focused, the energy took on a more fluid form, dripping to the ground and spreading like a pool of black blood.
From this eerie pool emerged Arc, its skeletal form materializing first before its entire body coalesced.
It stood before him as a dark-red ethereal humanoid puppet, its face resembling a human skull, save for the burning black-red glow emanating from its eye sockets.
"This guy looks awesome," Reign thought to himself, admiring Arc's wicked sick character design.
The permanent shadowy aura enveloping its body and the red arcs of electricity running through it made Reign feel like his current form was subpar in comparison.
He could unleash dark red lightning from his body too, but he lacked the shadowy effect that gave Arc its unique combination of shadow, ghostly presence, skull-like visage, and lightning elemental essence.
'No, it's dumb to be jealous of a mere summon,' he mumbled to himself himself, shaking his head to clear his thoughts.
Reign redirected his focus to the task at hand, which was to test Arc's functionality and effectiveness in real-time combat.
"Walk 100 meters away and face me," he commanded, his voice firm and authoritative.
Arc nodded and followed his instructions obediently.
As Reign observed, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of annoyance.
The footprints left behind by Arc had a black-red shadow effect, almost as if it was constantly showing off with its array of special effects.
"Disable that footprint glow," Reign commanded, hoping that Arc would comply.
And fortunately, it worked.
'Good,' Reign sighed in relief. 'I thought I would be stuck with a puppet that had a permanent tracker behind its back.'
"Attack me with your Thunder Step and Thunder Slash," Reign ordered, preparing himself for Arc's demonstration.
Without question, Arc bent its knee and executed Thunder Step. Its speed was only about a quarter of the real deal, but it was still impressive.
When it reached Reign, it slashed its sword downward, filling the air with black-red electric arcs.
However, this time Reign didn't even feel intimidated. He simply raised his hand and caught the sword.
"Not bad," Reign nodded in approval, acknowledging Arc's performance.
He continued to test Arc's other skills, finding them all powerful. However, he soon encountered a problem.
It was too dependent on his commands, almost as if he were controlling an NPC using voice commands.
This meant that Reign could not maximize the puppet's full potential.
'Maybe it will become smarter after I raised it's rank ?'Reign thought to himself.
It was either that, or as he evolved further, his summoning would also grow stronger.