Otherworld Bone Dragon Operation Guide

Chapter 5 Magic Waste
“The necromantic energy on me can be tracked, and there’s no way to escape,” the skeleton explained. “Luckily, you didn’t touch the skeleton mark just now, otherwise, once you became my master, you would also be tainted, and then there would really be no way to deal with it.”

"Undead fluctuations?" Su Ming stopped in his tracks. He raised his hand, communicating with the runes he had just obtained during the Spirit Awakening; a gray light began to flow across his hand. "You mean this?"

The skeleton was so shocked that it forgot to maintain its illumination spell. The surroundings darkened, leaving only the glow in Su Ming's hand. "This is impossible!"

"Galio just used Necromancer's Awakening on me—" Su Ming explained, finally understanding what Old Deng's parting gift was for. It was a deliberate attempt to corrupt him, to drag him down with him even in death!

"I know, I sensed the remnants of magic!" White Bone became agitated. "But you are an Elemental Celestial, there's no way you could become a mage!"

This time, it was Su Ming's turn to be confused.

“I already investigated when you came, and you can’t control any elements,” White Bone sighed, explaining to Su Ming, “That’s why I once considered you a warrior-like class.”

This is not surprising. Different places nurture different people. As an Earthling, it is reasonable for Su Ming to be a magical waste.

"Water, fire, wind, earth, light, darkness—I've checked all six," White Bone muttered. "In the realm of elements, you're like a stubborn rock." A magical fluctuation enveloped Su Ming, and White Bone probed again. "Still no, no feedback that any element has been manipulated!"

“But I’m casting a spell.” Su Ming shook his hand, tossing out the withering orb that had already taken shape. “Perhaps we should acknowledge the facts first, and then look for the reasons?”

The Bone Scholar sighed and pondered for a moment, "To use magic, one must manipulate the corresponding elements."

"Magical cybernetics." Su Ming now had this basic knowledge in his mind, and he had a sense of déjà vu when he read "Engineering Cybernetics".

“Often, spellcasters lack the ability to manipulate several types of elements,” the scholar continued. “The usual practice is to not use them. But some stubborn mages will use the influence and interference between different elements to forcibly call magical elements that they cannot control to cast spells, which is extremely inefficient.”

"So I'm indirectly manipulating the dark element?" Su Ming asked.

"Indirectly?" White Bone sneered. "How can it be indirect? You should at least have some kind of elemental manipulation power, no matter what. What kind of strange thing is this!"

"So, what I awakened is an element outside of the six elements?" Su Ming asked.

“There are only six magical elements, nothing else,” White Bone denied his idea.

"This world was constructed by the gods using nine elements," Su Ming countered, searching his memory.

“The other three are conceptual elements—time, space, and life. That’s the realm of gods, beyond the control of mortals,” the skeleton replied, continuing to ponder. “So where does the problem lie? But we’re not in a hurry now; we can think about it slowly.”

Su Ming immediately understood that Bai Gu meant he had no chance of escaping and there was no need to teach him magic formations anymore.

He glanced at the ground; the symbols of the dimensional transfer array were densely packed, with a preliminary estimate of over 3. He couldn't even tell whether the regret of impending death outweighed his relief at not having to attend the array class.

"Am I destined to never clear my name?"

“Although I don’t understand the process, please respect the resentment of a holy mage before his death,” the skeleton said. “Keep a calm mindset. For example, think of it this way: when you met Galio, you weren’t pierced by one of his bone spears, so everything that happened afterward was a gain.”

"Thanks for the comforting words," Su Ming said dejectedly. "There's something I don't understand. We're powerless to resist right now, aren't we?"

"Hmph. I'm considered a fairly powerful spellcaster, but the opponent was a huge group," the skeleton muttered resentfully, clearly indicating that the previous experience was unpleasant.

"Then why do you say there are still a few days left?" Su Ming asked, puzzled.

"Uh, okay, I am a traitor. After hearing my news, my people said they would come to punish me in person, so the Temple of Light had no choice but to besiege them and wait for them to arrive." Su Ming didn't know where to begin complaining. How could someone make an entire temple legion obediently turn into a cheering squad, someone she had offended to the point of wanting to kill them no matter how far away they were, and someone who should have been on her side?

“Before, I wondered why you had to die; now I wonder why you’re still alive,” he said to the skeleton.

"Thank you for the compliment!"

****
Su Ming took out instant noodles, a thermos, and his own insulated cup from the carriage; the previous ordeal had left him hungry. Even in dire straits, food was still necessary.

"Would you like to try some food from my world?" Su Ming added water to the instant noodles and asked Bai Gu, "Where is your original body again?"

“I am an undead creature, I don’t eat.” The skeleton paused for a moment before answering, clearly thinking about the problem. “My true form is at the top of the tower. Don’t come up. The temple will throw spells at you from time to time, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to protect you.”

"I see." Su Ming indicated that he understood. "Is there a spell called 'language proficiency'? Wouldn't it be a burden if we were always in sync mentally?"

Language is the most basic bridge for communication, and learning it is never a bad thing, especially when there are convenient methods.

“Fortunately, our psychic powers are very compatible, so synchronizing is quite effortless,” the skeleton replied. “To understand the language, you need some dead people—oh, there are some ready-made.”

A string of blue magical runes fell from above and began to drift erratically throughout the tower.

“It’s hard to find material that is fluent in language, and it’s rare to find more than a dozen fresh corpses here that have received in-depth education,” the skeleton explained.

Magical runes floated above the corpses, beginning to absorb the remaining traces of knowledge in the dead's brains.

“These are Galio’s dead subordinates,” Su Ming understood. “But do we need so many?” he asked, puzzled.

"Yes, it's a common problem with memory-based spells; less than one-tenth of the transmitted data is retained."

With the first stage of the spell completed, Su Ming saw the scattered magical runes returning from all directions and converging into a ring.

"Open your heart and don't resist."

The flowing rune ring landed on Su Ming's head. It went smoothly; Su Ming only felt a slight tightness in his head, and then everything returned to normal.

"The spell will last for a week, and language knowledge will be gradually imprinted into it. However, after it ends, you will need to consolidate your learning. Generally, you can master it permanently in about a month."

Although it's already very fast, but—

"So long? Then I must have died long ago." Su Ming asked hurriedly.

"Yes, that's why I didn't give it to you before."

"Then why use 'Miss White Bone' now?"

"I'm just bored," the scholar complained. "You still can't figure out why you can cast spells."

"..."

(End of this chapter)