Novel Full Chapter 932: One Isn’t Enough
Chapter 932: One Isn’t Enough
The current Michael could condense his blood essence into ten large drops, and from each large drop he could produce three smaller ones.
He contemplated for a moment and decided to start with two large drops.
Michael extended one finger over the bowl. A dark red drop formed at the tip and he let it fall.
The moment it touched the surface of the blood below, the entire mixture darkened. The gold-green undertones spread outward from the point of contact like ink dropped into still water, threading through the collected blood until the whole bowl had taken on the same quality. The air above it grew noticeably heavier.
He let the second drop fall. The quality deepened further.
Michael looked at it for a moment. "That should be enough."
He stepped back slightly, giving himself a full view of the space he had prepared. At the center lay the corpse of the Rank 4 demonic supernatural.
Michael began to move.
He dipped his fingers into the darkened mixture within the wooden bowl. The moment his skin touched it, the blood responded faintly, rippling as though aware of him.
Then he crouched and began drawing the magic circle for the undead revival ritual from memory. Each stroke was deliberate. The smell of blood spread faintly through the air, though it was not unpleasant. Lines extended outward from the corpse, weaving into each other in complex patterns. Some formed loops. Others branched into smaller nodes before reconnecting at entirely different angles. At certain points Michael paused briefly to deepen a line or reinforce a junction, ensuring the flow would not break when mana was introduced.
Time passed quietly.
By the time he finally stopped, the entire open space had been filled. The circle was relatively massive, reflecting that it was a high tier formation. Size and scale alone did not guarantee a better grade, but they were still meaningful indicators.
Michael straightened slowly. The bowl behind him was completely empty. Not a single drop remained.
He glanced at the formation once more, a faint hint of satisfaction in his eyes. "Good thing I started with you."
His gaze shifted briefly toward the distance where the drake’s enormous body lay. If he had chosen that first, the scale of the formation alone would have demanded considerably more blood. Even in death the drake remained in its original form, not the humanoid state it had once taken. If it had reverted, the process would have been simpler.
That thought passed quickly. His expression shifted slightly.
"...I’m getting ahead of myself."
He hadn’t even succeeded with this one yet. Thinking about the next step before completing the current one served no purpose.
Michael exhaled slowly and refocused entirely on the circle before him. He extended his hand toward the formation and infused his mana into it.
The moment his mana entered the circle, the entire formation reacted.
A low resonance spread outward, followed by a flash of light. A deep eerie green glow surged through the lines of the circle, spreading instantly across the entire formation like living veins illuminating themselves all at once.
At the same time Michael felt the effect of his class take hold. Since the ritual counted as a dark art, its potency was boosted by fifty percent, raising it roughly half a grade beyond what the formation alone would have produced. The space around the circle dimmed slightly as the dark element within was drawn together and amplified.
Creating an undead involved matters of the soul. Had he been using the undead revival skill, there would have been no concern since he was intimately familiar with that method. But this was his first ritual at this level, and even with the knowledge and prior experience he carried, he remained cautious and deliberate in every movement.
A few minutes passed.
At the center of the magic circle, the corpse trembled faintly.
Just as Michael’s mana was nearly fully drained, the body opened its eyes. They White with no iris. Empty.
The moment they opened, Michael felt it. A clear and undeniable connection formed between him and the body before him, firm and immediate. At the same time a familiar notification surfaced in his mind as one of his contract slots was filled.
His lips curved slightly.
"Success."
The word left his mouth quietly, but the satisfaction behind it was plain. He stood there for a moment, watching as the Rank 4 body rose from the ground. Then he exhaled and stepped back before sitting on one of the raised roots Lucky had formed, and gave a simple command.
"Stand up."
The undead obeyed instantly, rising without delay, stiffness, or resistance.
"Come here."
Again it responded immediately, stepping forward without hesitation.
There was no instability, no rejection, no backlash. Everything was clean.
Michael observed closely. He had seen undead rise more than two thousand times, so the act itself was nothing new. But there was a difference this time. Among all his undead, this was the first at this level. The first Rank 4 existence under his control, and the only one for now.
Leaning back slightly, he studied it and felt the difference without needing any skill to confirm it. The presence alone made it clear that this was not something a Rank 3 undead could be compared to. Even at the peak of Rank 3, a clear qualitative gap remained between the two.
"So this is it."
Michael’s eyes narrowed faintly as a subtle pressure radiated from the undead, not directed or intentional, simply existing as a natural consequence of what it was. That alone would be enough to make a normal Rank 3 feel suppressed just from proximity.
His lips curved in quiet satisfaction. Not only because the ritual had succeeded, but because of what he now possessed.
"With this, I’m stepping into Rank 4 territory."
Not personally. But he now had a foothold, a foundation that allowed him to stand on more equal ground with the tier above him than he ever had before.
His gaze flickered briefly toward where the drake lay, then returned to the old man.
"One isn’t enough."