CHAPTER 159: CHAPTER 159: EXCLUSIVE CRYSTAL BALL, CHOOSING CONTROL SKILLS

"However," Su Xinyan leaned closer to Fang Zhou, her tone suddenly shifting, "you’re different, you little weirdo! Judging by the abundance of your Spiritual Power, I reckon you’ll break through to the Upper Apprentice Stage soon."

"How about this? If you can reach the Upper Apprentice Stage within two months, I’ll submit an application to the military academy to teach you alchemy ahead of schedule. How does that sound? Are you confident?"

Fang Zhou laughed softly to himself. I might know what she’s capable of, but it seems she doesn’t know my full measure. Two months? Who is she underestimating?

With the help of his skeleton minions, his skeleton Clone’s Attributes were growing several times faster than before. Combined with the assistance from the Life Crystal, he estimated he could successfully break through to the Upper Apprentice Stage in less than a month.

While thinking this, Fang Zhou put on a troubled expression and said with some indignation, "Instructor Xinyan, aren’t you making things difficult for me? I’m just a rookie who had my Awakening two months ago. How could I possibly break through to the Upper Apprentice Stage so quickly?"

Su Xinyan’s eyes darted around as she considered his point. Realizing she might be asking too much, she said, "Alright, then I won’t take advantage of you. How about we make a bet instead? I’ll repair this Sealed Bone Bell for you first."

"If you can break through to the Upper Apprentice Stage within two months, I’ll give you a Crystal Ball I used to use, one exclusive to the Undead Mage Profession."

Seeing a flicker of joy on Fang Zhou’s face, she added a crafty smile. "However, if you fail, you’ll have to give me this Bone Bell for my research."

As Su Xinyan spoke, she discreetly glanced at the Ring of Burning Fire on Fang Zhou’s finger. Pretending to be indifferent, she said, "That little gadget looks rather ingenious. We can call it a little sweetener. So, are you in or not?"

A Crystal Ball exclusive to the Undead Mage Profession? Instructor Su is truly a gift that keeps on giving!

Fang Zhou was ecstatic, but on his face, he wore the look of someone betting it all.

"Instructor Su, I’m in!"

Su Xinyan pursed her lips into a smile, as if she could already picture Fang Zhou’s rare, defeated expression. Based on her experience, the higher one’s four-dimensional Attributes, the more difficult they were to improve. Although Fang Zhou seemed to be just a hair’s breadth from the Upper Apprentice Stage, that tiny gap was as vast as the distance between heaven and earth.

Break through to the Upper Apprentice Stage in just two months? Dream on!

The two Undead Mages, one experienced and one new, exchanged a look, each brimming with confidence, yet neither knew who would have the last laugh.

Su Xinyan shook the Sealed Bone Bell in her hand again and waved at Fang Zhou. "Go and hang out with your little assistant for a while. I should have this fixed in about an hour."

Fang Zhou nodded and stood up. "Then I’ll be troubling you, Instructor Su. I’ll be back later."

Watching Fang Zhou’s confident back as he departed, Su Xinyan muttered to herself while looking down at the Sealed Bone Bell in her hand, "This will be mine soon enough, so what are you thanking me for?"

The thought that the unsightly ring on Fang Zhou’s finger would finally be gone put Su Xinyan in an inexplicably good mood. Humming an unknown tune, she sashayed into her Alchemy Laboratory.

* * *

Fang Zhou walked into his office just in time to see Bai Xiaochan, her shoulders bobbing as she yawned.

Slacking off on my watch?

Fang Zhou raised an eyebrow and let out a soft cough, startling the groggy Bai Xiaochan awake. She clumsily stood up. Seeing Fang Zhou walk towards her, she was suddenly struck by the same embarrassment she felt as a child when her father caught her slacking off on her studies.

Fang Zhou walked up to her and, looking at the messy papers on the desk, asked gently, "How is it going, Xiaochan? Any leads?"

Bai Xiaochan snatched a few sheets of paper and handed them to Fang Zhou, nodding repeatedly. "Yes, yes, I have some leads, Fang Zhou. I wasn’t slacking off, really. It’s just that you were with Instructor Su and hadn’t come out, so I couldn’t report to you. I got a little sleepy while waiting..."

After her brief explanation, she continued, "Just like last time with the Skeleton Shield, I’ve gathered all the Apprentice-tier Control Skills from both Magic Professionals and Support Professionals. I’ve excluded the ones you’ve already drawn inspiration from, as well as any others that weren’t particularly special. In total, I’ve selected ten useful Apprentice-tier Control Skills. Here’s some rough information. I’ll send you the detailed skill data through your personal terminal right away."

Fang Zhou pulled over a chair and carefully read through the papers Bai Xiaochan handed him.

**[Spirit Cage Skill]:** A control Skill exclusive to the Telekinesis Master Profession. Its advantage is its ability to form an extremely solid and stable restraining field, which has good control effects even on large-sized enemies. Its disadvantages, besides having a complex and difficult-to-master spell model, include high Spiritual Power consumption.

**[Silencing Demon Sound]:** A control Skill exclusive to the Chanting String Profession. Its advantage lies in its ability to inflict a silence effect on all enemies within a certain range, making it difficult for them to activate Skills or Talents. Its disadvantages are a long chant time and a short duration.

**[Weak and Powerless]:** A control Skill exclusive to the Punishment Priest Profession. Its advantage is the ability to place a single enemy in a powerless state, temporarily weakening their Agility Attribute and significantly reducing their movement and attack speed. The drawbacks are its high Spiritual Power consumption and the fact that it can be easily resisted by enemies with high constitution attributes. Even a failed resistance check will significantly reduce its duration.

Fang Zhou looked over the several other Control Skills and nodded slightly. This slacker, Bai Xiaochan, was surprisingly diligent this time and had done her homework thoroughly. Judging from the descriptions, these ten Control Skills were not much worse than Vine Entanglement, Spider Web Skill, or Mire Skill, which he had chosen when first creating the Skeleton Shackles.

Under Bai Xiaochan’s expectant gaze, Fang Zhou gently rubbed his chin and thought for a moment. His current Skeleton Shackles Skill was already a fusion of the essences of several Control Skills and could be quickly enhanced to its limit within the Apprentice Stage. He estimated that he could use at most two of these ten Skill Materials.

Since Instructor Su still needed some time to repair the Sealed Bone Bell, Fang Zhou decided to ask his little assistant for her opinion.

Bai Xiaochan, who had thought her job was done and was just waiting for her Contribution Points to roll in, hadn’t expected a follow-up test. A sour look crept onto her face. After thinking long and hard, she twisted her fair fingers and hesitantly replied, "Um, if I can only choose two... then setting aside the integration difficulty, I think Spirit Cage Skill and Silencing Demon Sound are good."

Fang Zhou gave her an encouraging look and asked, "Why those?"

Bai Xiaochan organized her thoughts and her answer became more fluent. "First, the Spirit Cage Skill. It doesn’t have a fixed form, meaning it can be freely combined, and it has great control effects even on large targets."