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In fact, there are more secluded places deep within the Forbidden Forest suitable for setting up magic arrays.
He was just worried that some random wild beasts would bother him, like that guy with the upper body of a human and the lower body of a horse.
Oh, that wretched centaur!
Even now, Maurice still feels somewhat unhappy when he thinks about that conflict.
Don't let his appearance fool you, he holds a grudge very much.
"Alright, let's get to work."
Morris put down his backpack, which was filled with interstitial energy crystals. Since he didn't know exactly how much he needed, he simply brought all of his own stock.
About an hour later, the magic circle was completed.
Although the pattern is not much different from that of the magic circle for converting undead creatures, the visual impact of this size magic circle is astonishing.
A massive circular array, fifteen meters in diameter, spread out on the open ground. Its deep red patterns gleamed with an eerie luster, exuding a strange sense of oppression.
Morris always felt like a dark wizard conducting evil magical experiments.
Uh... it seems like there's nothing wrong with describing it that way?
Morris shook his head, clearing his mind of distractions.
Let's get the important business done before anyone finds out.
Chapter 63 Undead Creature Advancement Ritual
For his first undead creature advancement ritual, Morris wasn't planning on taking any risks, like canned food or fireworks.
After all, this ritual could be dangerous, and the success rate isn't 100%.
Therefore, he specifically brought the skeletal dog from his dormitory over.
Anyway, this skeleton has no thoughts, and Morris has no feelings for it. Even if it turns into dust after failure, he won't feel too bad.
It's just a loss of thirty Galleons... well, it still hurts a bit.
He couldn't even scrape together ten Galleons from all his possessions.
After everything was ready, Morris placed the skeletal dog he was carrying in the center of the magic circle.
It will only move when it receives a command from its owner.
Morris clapped his hands, and the previously motionless skeletal dog immediately had blue soul fire ignited in its empty eye sockets.
"Stay put and don't move."
He gave the instructions, then took a few steps back to make sure he was outside a safe area.
He then briefly closed his eyes and took a breath.
Three seconds later, Maurice opened his eyes and began to chant softly.
At the same time, the symbols in the center of the entire magic circle lit up one by one.
Gradually, all the patterns were stained with an eerie dark red.
In that instant, it was as if the whole world had fallen silent, leaving only Maurice's rhythmic chanting.
The skeletal dog stood in the center, nervously turning its skull.
Instinct told it that it should leave immediately, but Morris's command overrided everything, and it could only stand there frozen in place.
Finally, Morris finished chanting, and the entire magic circle glowed faintly, entering a state similar to standby.
He wiped his sweat and opened the backpack at his feet.
At this moment, the interstitial energy crystals inside the backpack seemed to be drawn by the magic circle and were trembling slightly.
Morris picked up a gap energy crystal and tentatively tossed it into the magic circle.
In an instant, the magic circle flashed red, and the energy crystals in the gap instantly turned into a mist that surrounded the skeletal dog.
"I see..."
Morris seemed to understand something.
He roughly understood the principle behind the magic circle.
Simply put, it involves gathering energy together and ultimately transforming it into a "catalyst" that allows undead creatures to advance.
What he needs to do now is to continuously inject energy into it.
Having reached this conclusion, Morris reached into his backpack with his right hand and began to shower the magic circle with gap energy crystals one after another.
Without exception, the energy crystals melted silently and turned into mist as soon as they came into contact with the red light of the magic circle.
As the energy increased, the fog became more condensed, and its color gradually changed from white to grayish-black.
After Morris poured most of the energy crystals from his backpack into the magic circle, a muffled sound came from the magic circle, as if something had exploded.
"boom!"
A violent current of air suddenly expanded from the skeleton dog as its center.
"!!!"
Morris hadn't expected such a commotion; his wizard robes were blown so hard they clung to his body, and his hood was pulled up, flapping loudly behind him.
He instinctively raised his arm to shield himself and squinted.
The thick, gray-black fog swirled, tumbled, and expanded within the magic circle, making it almost impossible for him to see anything.
"Very dangerous!"
Morris's inner alarm bells were ringing loudly.
However, curiosity about the ritual process ultimately outweighed the warnings.
He had to witness it all with his own eyes!
Morris gritted his teeth and, braving the raging air currents, slowly and laboriously made his way towards the center of the magic circle.
A few pebbles were swept up by the airflow, leaving tiny bloody scratches on his face, but he was oblivious and did not stop.
Finally, he managed to move with difficulty to the vicinity of the center, where the surrounding airflow subsided.
Now he can finally see the skeleton dog clearly.
The skeletal dog lay motionless on the ground, and the gray-black mist, as if it had found its target, was frantically drilling into its body.
As Maurice watched this scene, for some reason, he felt a sense of calm.
He simply sat down and quietly watched the skeletal dog's transformation.
Time passed second by second.
When Morris came to his senses, the fog had been completely absorbed, and the magic circle on the ground had disappeared.
The surroundings returned to complete calm.
"Woof!"
A dog's bark echoed in his mind.
It's a skeleton dog.
It stood up unsteadily, its appearance unchanged, except that the flames in its eye sockets burned even brighter.
"How do you feel?" Morris asked.
"Woof!"
Another cheerful call echoed in my mind, carrying a clear hint of intimacy and excitement.
Morris breathed a sigh of relief; it seemed the outcome wasn't bad.
"Have you gained any new abilities?"
The skeletal dog pointed at the skull in a human-like manner.
"Let me show you."
It seems that the skeleton dog's intelligence has also improved, at least it can understand his more complex commands now.
As soon as he finished speaking, the skeletal dog immediately turned its skull toward a tree beside it, and the flames in its eye sockets flickered.
"Swish! Swish!"
Two sharp bone spurs, each as thick as a forearm, appeared out of nowhere and instantly embedded themselves in the tree trunk, and then...
"Bang! Bang!"
They exploded one after another.
Wood chips flew everywhere, leaving two horrifying holes in the tree trunk.
"Cool!" Morris whistled.
After several more rounds of testing, he roughly figured out the skeleton dog's abilities.
Simply put, it involves shooting out explosive spikes.
The size of the spikes, the power of the explosion, and the range can all be freely controlled.
It's worth mentioning that the skeleton dog can create high-speed bone fragments when the bone spikes explode, resulting in secondary damage.
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