Chapter 173 - Chapter 172: Rune Second Stage Evolution

Chapter 172: Rune Second Stage Evolution

Translator: 549690339

Mystic Land.

The Laboratory.

“Connect this with a three-centimeter straight line, then take a 67-degree curved corner…”

While comparing with the runes, Bai Qi was instructing Alpha to gradually restore the runes on the body of the General Terracotta. His eyes were full of seriousness.

He initially thought he could handle the repair of General Terracotta himself, but he underestimated the hardness of its bronze body.

Even though his physical strength was far above a normal adult now, and he had the help of the Rune Pen from the Tower of Gratitude, he still couldn’t mark the body of General Terracotta. Eventually, he had to ask Alpha to do the job.

And Bai Qi had to admit, Alpha’s carving skills were indeed better than his. At least, Alpha had been repairing continuously for more than two hours here and he didn’t see Alpha make any mistake. He didn’t even tremble.

It seemed his use was diminishing.

Soon, Alpha repaired the last rune on General Terracotta’s body, while the computer beside them timely projected the complete rune structure on General Terracotta’s body.

“So, it uses the slave contract as the framework, filling it with various control runes to form a complete system. This is simply a primitive version of a mechanical control system.”

After careful scrutiny, Bai Qi suddenly understood.

Mechanics, puppets, terracottas, these three things seemed unrelated, but they were all products created by humans to confront fierce beasts.

It could be said that these three items represented the different technological levels of humans in three different eras.

As for who was superior, Bai Qi could not currently give an evaluation.

After all, with different historical backgrounds, the functions of these creations would also differ.

“However, even without an energy system and just relying on some runes, the ancients in the Era of the Emperor managed to animate the terracotta soldiers. They were really formidable. Or is there something I haven’t discovered?”

Bai Qi looked at the General Terracotta in front of him, who remained motionless even after the runes were repaired. He was deep in thought.

He had already used instruments to examine it earlier. There was no source of energy inside General Terracotta. Its entire body was cast with a kind of bronze-like metal. If it weren’t for the runes on the surface, it wouldn’t be much different from the statues in the museum.

“No wonder the terracotta soldiers, despite their power, didn’t survive. Unknown energy systems and high demands for intact rune systems indeed made it less convenient to build than the modular rune puppets from the Era of the Law Emperor.”

Bai Qi shook his head in regret, but a thought occurred to him as he saw Alpha standing beside him.

“Alpha, please call all the skeleton soldiers from the Mystic Land over here – Icicle, no, all of them.”

Alpha nodded. An invisible ripple of spiritual power immediately radiated outward, and after a short while, six skeletons of differing aura appeared in the lab.

Icicle, Steel Skull, Fire Claw, Hidden Sting, Poison Breath, Rock Armor.

These were the result of Bai Qi’s research on rune evolution. They had been kept in the Mystic Land building a base previously. Now that the base was completed, they had been left idle there.

Bai Qi observed the six skeletons for a while before he asked Steel Skull to step forward and lie down next to the General Terracotta.

Looking at Steel Skull, whose figure was around the same size as General Terracotta, Bai Qi’s eyes glowed. He immediately operated the instrument to construct a holographic projection of Steel Skull.

Then, Bai Qi dragged the rune projection extracted from General Terracotta’s body and slowly transferred it onto Steel Skull. After a round of editing, a brand new rune structure – with a similar overall structure but with vastly different details modified by Bai Qi – soon appeared before him.

“Alpha, engrave this onto Steel Skull. Remember not to interrupt halfway.”

Click click.

(Understood.)

Alpha nodded. After carefully observing Bai Qi’s new constructed rune structure, he immediately started to work on Steel Skull.

Because of his firsthand experience with restoration, Alpha’s inscription this time around was smooth. He swiftly carved the entire rune structure in no time.

Bai Qi meticulously inspected the result. Once he confirmed that there was no deviation, he told Alpha, “Try to operate the energy.”

Alpha nodded, transmitting Bai Qi’s instruction to Steel Skull. A black light immediately glanced across Steel Skull, covering its entire body.

“Just like this?”

Seeing that there was no change in Steel Skull, Bai Qi couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.

He thought some change might occur. It seemed he was thinking too much.

“Well, at least it verifies that amplifying simple runes into a larger system structure is feasible.”

Bai Qi shrugged. He was about to ask Steel Skull to leave when he noticed the emblem on its forehead, and a thought occurred to him.

“Alpha, try infusing it with spiritual power.”

Alpha nodded, pressing his palm on Steel Skull’s forehead and gently infusing a strand of spiritual power into it.

In an instant, the rune on Steel Skull’s forehead lit up and rapidly spread across its body. By the time the light gathered at the “Steel-forged” rune on its spine, Steel Skull was suddenly shrouded in a dazzling light.

Light of Evolution?!

Seeing the light from Steel Skull, Bai Qi was ecstatic.

As expected, the rune structure on General Terracotta was based on the Slave Contract. The kind of contract inevitably involved the soul, so using spiritual power to initiate it was the most reasonable approach.

But having Steel Skull evolve again was quite surprising.

Under Bai Qi’s expectant gaze, the Light of Evolution on Steel Skull eventually faded, revealing a much taller metallic figure.

Compared to its previous skeletal appearance, Steel Skull’s body was now mostly covered in metal. It even had a layer of metallic muscles covering its limbs. If it weren’t for the skeletal head that was still there, it would be difficult to associate it with the skeleton it was before.

Seeing this, Bai Qi immediately placed his hand on Steel Skull. He quickly obtained the information of Steel Skull’s new evolutionary form.

[Name]: ???

[Nature]: Steel Apartment, Undead Department

[Bloodline Level]: Low-level Elite

No race name, is this another type of new evolution form?

Bai Qi laughed at this sight, he didn’t expect to discover a brand new type of evolution, and it jumped straight from the mid-level servant to the elite, this is an unexpected surprise.

But the key point was, had he found the second stage evolution method for rune evolution?

Clack clack.

(Boss, I feel weird.)

Just as Bai Qi was about to study the brand-new evolution form of Steel Skull, Alpha suddenly sent a message.

“Weird?”

Bai Qi’s expression changed immediately upon hearing this, Luo Xiang had mentioned before that such a slave contract could easily cause a backlash, normal humans couldn’t withstand this, therefore Bai Qi let Alpha perform it.

In this state, could it be that Alpha was also facing backlash?

If even a third-order creature cannot bear it, what monstrosities were those ancient beast masters!

“Tell mewhat’s going on, is your soul damaged?”

The soul is the core of the undead, as long as the fire of the soul is not extinguished, other injuries are irrelevant. If this experiment damages the soul, it would be a big loss.

Clack clack.

(No, on the contrary, my soul seems to have grown stronger, and I seem to be able to control Steel Skull directly.)

“As long as you’re not hurt, but what do you mean by controlling Steel Skull, didn’t you originally…”

Bai Qi let out a sigh of relief, before he had finished speaking, he suddenly realized something. He quickly searched on Alpha and soon found a pattern similar to the contract rune mark in Alpha’s palm.

Did Alpha contract with Steel Skull?

Created a pet contract with a pet?

Bai Qi was dumbfounded as he looked at the rune in Alpha’s palm and then at Steel Skull, which was obediently standing next to Alpha. His mouth opened and closed, but he didn’t know what to say.

After a long time, Bai Qi slowly digested the information he had just discovered. He instructed Alpha to give Steel Skull a series of orders, which Steel Skull obediently followed.

Of course, Alpha could also accomplish these things before. After all, the lord has an unconditional suppression effect on the servant. But obviously, it is now even more fluid.

But what Bai Qi was more interested in was whether there was a relationship between Steel Skull and Alpha, like that between Alpha and himself, that could influence its growth.

“Alpha, you just said your soul got a bit stronger, are you sure?”

Alpha tilted his head thoughtfully, after careful contemplation, he nodded his head.

(Yes, I’m sure. It’s like some soul energy has appeared out of thin air, and I seem to be able to actively absorb energy from Steel Skull.)

Active energy absorption, doesn’t that sound a bit like the effect of ferocious beasts on beast soul warriors?

Right, the emperor’s slave contract was learned from the ferocious beasts, so it’s normal to have this effect.

“So, did I find a squeeze toy for Alpha?”

Thinking that he had done something similar to a ferocious beast, Bai Qi couldn’t help but laugh, then turned his gaze to the remaining skeletons.

“Since there’s already a squeeze toy, then let’s get a few more.”

Thump, thump, thump…

Feng Ye had been knocking on Bai Qi’s door for a long time, but got no reply. Seeing Chun Yushui passing by, he couldn’t help asking: “Uncle Chun, have you seen Bai Qi?”

Chun Yushui shrugged his shoulders and said, “I saw him enter his room this morning and haven’t seen him get out since. He is probably busy with some research.”

For people like them, who are always exploring secret realms, it’s normal to be caught up in research and go without sleep for days and nights, so Chun Yushui didn’t care much about it.

“That’s true. He did say something about researching ancient runes.”

Feng Ye nodded his head and was about to leave when Bai Qi’s door suddenly swung open.

“Eh, Bai Qi you…um, what happened to you?”

Looking at Bai Qi with a distressed face, covered all over with signs of being burned and frozen, Feng Ye was stunned.

Had Bai Qi’s room been invaded by a ferocious beast? Why does he look this way?

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Bai Qi scratched his head in embarrassment and said, “Cough, it’s nothing, just an experiment went a little wrong.”

“Experiment? What kind of experiment could make you look like this, did you fight with your own pet?”

Feng Ye laughed at his own words, but was surprised to see Bai Qi actually nod in agreement.

“Strictly speaking, I guess…”

Because he had to test whether the skeletons under Alpha’s contract had protective consciousness and was almost beaten to death, should it count as fighting with his own pet?