Chapter 48: This Is Getting Interesting

If every single Mantra character was split apart and then recombined...

Needless to say, this was the exact combination Zhou Xu could think of at the moment with the highest success rate!

Almost the moment he uttered this string of mantras, an invisible force spread outward once again, causing the thirty-nine skeletons scattered around to emit a dense rattling sound of bones clashing, as if they had been instantly tempered by the power of the mantra.

At that moment, the visual change of the thirty-nine skeletons before Zhou Xu was completely visible to the naked eye.

Previously, when the skeletons stood there, they were all loose and slumped, even crooked and twisted, giving the impression that a casual bump could knock them over or even shatter them into pieces.

But now it was different. Their standing postures had noticeably straightened out.

This change in posture, when reflected on skeletons, indicated an enhancement in physical strength and structural integrity.

At this moment, Zhou Xu understood. The skeletons he had previously raised via "Skeleton Manipulation" could not be considered skeleton soldiers at all; those were merely ordinary skeletons.

And now, the skeletons he raised by virtue of his adjusted and upgraded "Skeleton Soldier Manipulation" were true skeleton soldiers!

A single change in a mantra character had directly granted this mantra an upgrade.

However, correspondingly, the energy consumption had also increased.

Zhou Xu still had a faint sensation of this consumption; every time he used a mantra, he could feel as if something was being drawn away from his body.

That sensation was already present when he simply used "Skeleton Manipulation" to raise thirty-nine skeletons.

And now, as he transformed the mantra into "Skeleton Soldier Manipulation" and activated it once again, that sensation became much more pronounced, sufficiently proving the increase in consumption.

At the same time, these skeleton soldiers would not exist permanently until destroyed.

In fact, every second these skeleton soldiers existed, they continuously consumed his power, except that this continuous power consumption was much more negligible compared to the moment of activating the mantra's power to raise them.

Yet even this negligible consumption could not be ignored if it lasted for a long time.

Realizing this, Zhou Xu quickly adjusted his train of thought.

[It seems I cannot blindly pursue the number of skeleton soldiers; I also have to consider how long my energy can sustain these skeleton soldiers in combat. I must strike a balance.]

[Thinking from another perspective, if it's just the early stage of an engagement and I want to consume the opponent with high frequency, using the more energy-efficient "Skeleton Manipulation" is also quite viable.]

With this thought in mind, Zhou Xu glanced at Zhou Chongshan.

"Chongshan, put the stone axe on the ground."

Upon receiving the order, Zhou Chongshan did not waste words and directly complied.

Seeing that the stone axe was properly placed, Zhou Xu began trying to issue a command to one of the skeleton soldiers.

"Pick up the stone axe."

Upon receiving the order, that skeleton soldier stepped forward directly, bent down, and lifted the stone axe.

This sight caused the onlookers from the former Black Moon Tribe to let out gasps of surprise.

Because in their impression, the skeleton soldiers controlled by their former chieftain were completely incapable of using weapons.

Skeleton soldiers were inherently fearless of death. Aside from their limited intrinsic strength and relatively fragile frames, their shortcoming was the lack of lethality in their attacks.

Once equipped with weapons, however, the lethality of the skeleton soldiers would undoubtedly be significantly enhanced.

Following this, Zhou Xu tried having the skeleton soldiers form some attack formations.

Sure enough, after officially upgrading from "skeletons" to "skeleton soldiers," their execution capability had clearly become stronger, and it felt as if their intelligence had increased.

However, they were still only capable of displaying some simple formations; as for relatively complex formations, those were still beyond their capabilities.

Fortunately, for Zhou Xu, this was already enough.

[Next, I need to test the combat effectiveness of these skeleton soldiers.]

Thinking of this, Zhou Xu directly pointed out a warrior from the tribe.

"I want to verify the individual combat power of this skeleton soldier. You will fight it, but for safety's sake, let's use a wooden stick as the weapon for the duel."

If Zhou Chongshan were to do it, it would inevitably be an overwhelming victory without any comparative value, and Zhou Xu wouldn't be able to discern anything from it. For this reason, Zhou Xu specially picked an ordinary warrior from the tribe.

Hearing that they would only use wooden sticks, the warrior naturally wasn't afraid. He picked up a wooden stick and walked out.

During this process, no extra words were needed; the surrounding tribe members naturally formed a circle to watch the spectacle.

Sure enough, this habit of gathering around to watch a lively scene was similar in any era.

Their expressions were full of interest. Come to think of it, in this primitive era devoid of entertainment, this truly was a very rare pastime for them.

This unexpected spectacle of onlookers suddenly made the tribal warrior tense up his nerves.

If he messed up here, wouldn't that be a massive loss of face?

The moment he thought of this, the nervousness in his heart put his entire state into a much more cautious mode.

However, Zhou Xu had no intention of letting him stall, directly signaling the skeleton soldier holding the wooden stick to charge forward.

Seeing the skeleton soldier take the initiative to attack, the tribal warrior felt his nervousness heighten further. Facing the assault, he hurriedly raised his stick to block.

The next second, accompanied by a muffled thud, the two wooden sticks collided. After a brief moment of surprise, the tribal warrior's heart settled completely. Brandishing his wooden stick, he pushed forward, using brute force to send the skeleton soldier stumbling back, almost making it fall to the ground.

Clearly, during the brief exchange, he had realized that the skeleton soldier's physical strength was not great.

Taking advantage of the opponent losing its balance, the tribal warrior did not hesitate and immediately pursued with a sweep, knocking the skeleton soldier flat onto the ground.

If this had been one of the previous skeletons, it probably would have been beaten apart directly, but the sturdiness of the skeleton soldier's framework was clearly a step above.

Although it was knocked down, its skeleton remained completely intact and it didn't suffer any impact on its mobility whatsoever.

At the same time, it felt no pain. After being knocked down, it immediately scrambled up using both hands and feet, waved its wooden stick, and launched another attack.

However, compared to the skeleton soldier, the tribal warrior's physical fitness undoubtedly held an all-around advantage.

Moreover, the skeleton soldier's attack patterns were extremely monotonous and simple—aside from slashing, it was just direct thrusting, making it very easy to anticipate. Relying on physical strength far superior to the skeleton, even though he took a few extra hits, the tribal warrior ultimately escaped the fate of being beaten apart.

From the perspective of the onlookers, the tribal warrior had won quite easily.

Yet only Zhou Xu knew that the single skeleton soldier's greatest advantage had actually not been brought into play during this duel.

One must know that the greatest advantage of an individual skeleton soldier was that it wasn't afraid of death. This advantage could only be fully realized when equipped with more lethal weapons and fighting desperately against an enemy.

Not to mention that skeleton soldiers usually didn't fight as individuals; they mostly swarmed forward in groups.

Regardless, after this round of combat, Zhou Xu was quite satisfied with the skeleton soldier's performance.

It also verified his previous train of thought.

[As expected, mantras can be combined and used at will! This is getting interesting...]