Chapter 4

"Diós, how can you show yourself to people like this!" Alegri, who was determined to leave the forest, looked helplessly at the skeleton warrior whose bones were rattling.

"Are you talking about my bony figure?" Diós, who was leading the way, tapped his own breastbone and said slowly, "If I could find a corpse, I could disguise myself as a regular warrior."

"Ah? I haven't heard that low-level skeleton warriors have such skills..." Alegri flipped through the *Low-Level Summoned Creatures Guide*.

"I am truly a dark knight," Diós said, almost exasperated, emphasizing, "A dark knight who is only a skeleton, he is still a dark knight!"

"Alright, alright," Alegri spread his hands and didn't argue with him, "Where can we find a corpse?"

Raising his head to feel the light and darkness, Diós pondered for a moment, "We will head northwest, bypass the western branch of the Dawn Mountains, and go to the Snoton Empire, where even necromancers are allowed to bring skeleton servants out on the streets."

Not understanding a word he said, Alegri could only nod. But thinking about their pitiful combat strength, he still asked doubtfully, "Hey, if we take this detour, what if we encounter fierce beasts?"

Diós's body suddenly stiffened, and he turned around to look at Alegri with a strange gaze for a long time before realizing, "Right, I forgot you have flesh..."

Shit! Alegri was furious, "You, do you have any solution at all?"

"Then..." the dark knight Diós asked seriously, "Brother, can you play dead?"

******

Every mage, regardless of their rank, can only have one permanent summoned creature, usually as their familiar, which is generally a flying creature with strong auxiliary and survival capabilities. Moreover, they sign a partial life-sharing master-servant contract, where the death of the familiar can only harm the owner but not kill them. Like Alegri, who signed a complete life-sharing equal contract with a low-level skeleton warrior (who claims to be a powerful dark knight), is a unique and unprecedented behavior.

Sadly, this was not Alegri's choice, and it all started because of a few weak gray-furred magic rabbits.

So now, Alegri, looking at Diós who was leading the way, had to chant a few times to cast a low-level mana shield on him to prevent both of them from dying.

Turning back to look at Alegri, Diós asked casually, "Since you can already smoothly cast Arcane Missiles and Mana Shields, you're not far from becoming a formal mage, right?"

Rolling his eyes, Alegri snorted, "Watch your step, don't attract any fierce beasts that could kill us both," After a while, he finally asked, "Hey, do you know how I can advance?"

"Ha," Diós laughed, "So you don't know how to advance?"

Asking a skeleton about his own profession's advancement was extremely embarrassing, Alegri's face turned green, and he ignored him.

"Which branch do you want to develop in?" After a moment's thought, Diós finally put aside his playful mood.

"What branches are there?" Alegri was a bit curious.

"Don't you know?" Diós couldn't help but want to mock him, but seeing Alegri's expression, he patiently explained, "Mages who manipulate ice, fire, lightning, and other elements can cause great damage. Mages who study time, space, astrology, and transformation wield mysterious powers. Mages in the summoning, necromancy, and nature branches are very rare... Of course, these are just rough explanations. High-level branches are passed down by powerful mages. Now, as long as you can reach the mid-level and I can basically recover my abilities, we should be able to protect ourselves..."

"So, what do you think is best for me..." Faced with the long speech from the skeleton, Alegri basically didn't understand and could only ask blankly.

"Are you a real magic apprentice?" Diós was helpless, "You need to look at your talent! No mage is proficient in only one type of magic, especially at the low level, where they often study multiple types. Choosing a branch now only represents your specialization direction, which depends on your talent."

Alegri was greatly embarrassed, he had never noticed any talent in himself. After much thought, he finally asked weakly, "Brother Diós, can you check if I can change my profession, like becoming a warrior?"

Diós stood there for a moment, and finally could only shake his head and sigh, "This is a disgrace to mages."

******

The next day, when they set off again, Alegri finally made the significant decision to follow a unique path as a mage.

The reason was simply a casual remark from Diós, "Mages can hide behind the team and secretly cast spells." The depressed Alegri suddenly had an epiphany and began to ask without hesitation about how to advance to a formal mage.

After listening to Diós's description, Alegri found that the method was not difficult. Magic apprentices can cast simple spells, but they must rely on incantations and gestures, and sometimes need the assistance of spell components. This is because magic apprentices do not have fixed magic circuits in their brains, so they can only construct a spell through these methods and then cast it. Therefore, casting each spell for a magic apprentice is a process of constructing a new spell. When a magic apprentice's mental power grows to a certain level, they can try to construct fixed spell circuits in their brain and directly call them when needed.

In simple terms, the difference between the two is like the difference between writing and woodblock printing.

Therefore, as long as one can construct a fixed circuit for a low-level spell in their mind and cast it without external assistance, they can be considered to have entered the realm of a formal mage.

"Is it that simple?" After listening to Diós's introduction, Alegri's confidence grew, and he flipped through the *Basic Magic Analysis* in his hands, looking for a spell with a relatively simple construction.

"Is this simple?" Diós shook his head, puzzled, "I am a warrior, I haven't tried it, but the mages I know say it's quite difficult."

"Turns out there are mages in your skeleton world," Alegri put down the spell book and responded casually. He stood up and said, "Watch closely, this is the moment of a formal mage's birth!"

Diós stood to the side, full of shock, wondering if he had encountered a magic genius. It usually takes several months for a magic apprentice to advance from reaching the mental power threshold. Advancing immediately after hearing about it is almost unheard of, at least at the legendary level. On the other side, Alegri lowered his head in deep thought, clearly solidifying a spell in his mind. Then, Alegri, dressed in tattered mage robes, raised his hands to the sky, his expression solemn, ignoring the shocked gaze of his summoned creature, and chanted:

"Radiant Light!"

Suddenly, a strong light burst from his body, illuminating everything nearby, as if a thousand-watt light bulb had been turned on in the dark forest.

Shit! Diós was greatly alarmed. He was not a true skeleton warrior, so he was not affected by the light, but dark knights are not light-loving creatures and even dislike it. But that didn't matter now. Seeing Alegri's posture and appearance, the power of this spell was not small.

He tried to endure the discomfort, focusing intently, afraid of missing anything. He saw Alegri's light continue to brighten, becoming brighter and brighter, like a super powerful light bulb, and then—

It went out.

Alegri's scrawny figure appeared from the light, wiping the sweat from his forehead and smiling proudly, "How was it, pretty good, right?"

Diós gradually recovered from the dizziness, full of confusion, "It's over?"

"Ah, it's over," Alegri nodded with a smile.

"What power does this spell have?" Diós felt his body, afraid that some part had been affected, but there seemed to be no abnormal reaction.

"Power?" Alegri was a bit puzzled, then smiled, "Power—did your eyes get blurry?"

"My eyes got a bit blurry from the light," Diós nodded honestly.

"That's it!" Alegri patted his shoulder and walked forward confidently, and after a long time, he heard the skeleton's exclamation from behind—

"Shit!"