Chapter 89: Meditation Method and Spellbook (Please Bookmark)

Lucky break.

The moment Liu Zhi saw the Fate-Spinning Spider Woman appear before him, he knew nothing could stand in the way of fortune now. She was plainly a being on the same level as the Corpse-Soul Naga.

She looked exactly like the statue he had seen before. Six metal spider legs rose from her back and held her at a height of about two meters, giving her, though she stood barely one meter sixty, an air of lofty superiority.

Her face was fairly attractive, her long golden hair left loose and hanging down on both sides of her shoulders, nearly covering her features. Her hands drooped before her body, gray-white fingers tipped with gleaming green claws, and she wore a long black robe edged with lace, the trailing hem concealing even her feet.

Her movements were like those of a hanged corpse dangling from a tree; when the wind blew, she swayed from side to side, and if she wished to move forward or back, she relied entirely on the metal spider legs behind her.

She looked nothing like a spider hero. Instead, she gave Liu Zhi the impression of Doctor Octopus walking upon the ground.

After appearing, the Fate-Spinning Spider Woman first nodded to Liu Zhi, then glanced at Vidnina, and stood beside him, her body rocking gently in the wind.

Liu Zhi had no desire to say anything about it. He still had more important matters to attend to. Compared with the two women before him, who seemed ill at ease with each other, what he valued more were the two booklike objects: the necromancer's meditation method and spellbook.

After all, ever since he had taken up the profession of necromancer, meditation and spells had remained Liu Zhi's deepest pain.

He took out the meditation method first and opened it carefully.

A notice appeared: the necromancer meditation method, the Eye of Rasha. The prerequisites for learning were the necromancer profession and 4.0 spirit. The conditions were met. Would he spend 3000 experience to learn it?

The Eye of Rasha?

At the sight of that name, Liu Zhi first thought of Tal Rasha. The name was quite familiar, though if he recalled correctly, Tal Rasha had been a Horadrim mage.

Still, when he thought about it, it made sense. Tal Rasha had sacrificed himself to seal Baal forever within Tal Rasha's Tomb, deep in the Aranoch Desert.

Calling him a necromancer could pass, too.

Having thought that far, Liu Zhi no longer doubted anything. He chose to spend his saved experience on the Eye of Rasha meditation method.

Yet the instant he began to learn it, he found that his spirit seemed to soar into the air. From the sky, through the eyes of a falcon, he looked down upon all things beneath him.

Then he kept flying through the heavens, from day into night. By day he flew over the world of the living, and by night he was somehow flying over the underworld.

Only after completing a full circuit did Liu Zhi finally come to his senses.

"Where's Tal Rasha, then? What is this supposed to mean?"

He could not help shouting, and then he saw the newly appeared prompt. He was left utterly speechless.

He had learned the Eye of Rasha meditation method, and it was now level 1.

Eye of Rasha, level 1: by meditating on Rasha's daily journey, one stimulates one's own spirit and comprehends Rasha's thoughts regarding the world of the living and the underworld. One gains mastery of the most basic meditation method. Spirit +1, mana conversion +50 percent.

Explanation: Rasha, being the strongest of solar creations, cannot ordinarily serve as the basis for meditation. However, one may instead meditate on his daily passage between the world of the living and the underworld to strengthen the meditator's spirit. As a necromancer, using the Eye of Rasha meditation method will, when absorbing the breath of the underworld, unconsciously grant partial command of solar power.

A solar creation, huh.

Only then did Liu Zhi understand why it had felt so familiar. This was not Tal Rasha at all, but a name transformed from the Egyptian sun god Ra.

At last he believed this was a form of protection. If the meditation method he had received had not been the Eye of Rasha, but a meditation method devoted to the sun god Ra, he would already have been burned into a fireball.

At the same time, he understood why he had drawn this meditation method. In his necropolis, there was a trace of divinity left by the Feathered Serpent, and within that trace of divinity lay the power of the sun.

Having understood this, Liu Zhi's gaze toward the necromancer spellbook changed as well. Perhaps the spells in this book would also suit his present situation.

Thinking of this, Liu Zhi placed his hand on the spellbook.

A notice appeared: necromancer spell, Blood Drain Touch. The prerequisites for learning were the necromancer profession and 3.5 spirit. The conditions were met. Would he spend 3000 experience to learn it?

Blood Drain Touch?

Liu Zhi paused, then reacted. This was a melee spell too. It seemed he was being told that his chosen path was not wrong: a mage was meant to charge forward with a longsword in hand.

With that thought, Liu Zhi chose to learn it. At once, a flood of incantations and methods for using Blood Drain Touch filled his mind. He realized he had been thinking too simply. Who said Blood Drain Touch could not be used at range? There seemed to be many possible variations.

He learned Blood Drain Touch, and it reached level 1.

Blood Drain Touch, level 1: attack an enemy and convert the life lost by the enemy into temporary life points for yourself, at a conversion rate of one third of the enemy's lost life.

Explanation: Blood Drain Touch has many different uses. In general, melee is the best choice, because the loss during conversion is lowest that way.

After learning it, Liu Zhi found a place to test it immediately. He swept his hand across the wooden sword, and a faint blood-red sheen appeared over the blade, the effect of Blood Drain Touch being attached to it.

He stood there carefully sensing it and discovered that, if left unused, Blood Drain Touch could remain attached to the longsword for at least fifteen minutes.

For Liu Zhi's usual fighting habits, that was enough to last through a major battle.

He beckoned to Vidnina. "Take out your sword. Let me try it."

Vidnina understood what he meant and drew her longsword, then held it out before him.

Liu Zhi swept his hand across the four longswords, and red light appeared on all four blades at once.

"It… feels… like… it… does… nothing…"

Vidnina had only just finished speaking when the Fate-Spinning Spider Woman, swaying behind Liu Zhi, said, "I think this is very interesting. Could you let me study it? The way you're doing it may not be ideal, but it could be useful for me. How about this: I send out a thread of spider silk, and you cast a spell onto it..."