Ryu’s figure vanished out of sight, leaving the youths below in a state of shock and even rage. Those that had been laughing previously had difficulty even breathing at this moment.

Among the crowd, the First Brother of the Three Pupil Eclipse Sect watched on expressionlessly, his face tinged with a small bit of red. However, the large mat of sweat that blended into his violet robes on his back painted a completely different picture.

From beginning to end, Ryu had hardly spared them a glance. Even before his advancement, he didn’t believe they were a threat to him. As things stood now, they were even more insignificant.

First Brother swept his gaze away, pausing on Sarriel and Niel for a moment. In the end, he focused on his own matters, choosing to remain silent as he trudged forward, his eyes sparkling with a stoic determination.

**

“~Gigi..”

Little Gem hopped up to the top of Ryu’s head, her little wings beating as fast as she could move them as she tried to lift up into the air. After a moment, she gave up, her adorable pink tongue hanging out as she tried to catch her breath.

Ryu smiled lightly, allowing Little Gem to do as she pleased. He was already certain that she would grow to be quite spoiled, but he didn’t have the fortitude to reprimand her for causing trouble. Plus, with his protection, as far as he was concerned, she could do as she pleased.

Soon, Ryu came to the first barrier.

A shimmering light twinkled into existence and it became obvious to Ryu in an instant that the trials of the Nether Palace weren’t meant to be taken alone like this. At the very least, it seemed like this trial itself was prepared for the assault of multiple individuals.

Though only a single figure seemed to be forming, Ryu could feel and see formless energy swirling about, prepared to introduce as many of these figures as would be necessary.

Despite not having invested any Primordial Yin into his Heavenly Pupils this time, Ryu felt that his eyes were still far sharper than they had in the past. He had never thought that is poor Mental Realm talent had been a bottleneck for his Heavenly Pupils… Or rather, he had never thought that they were related.

It was clear that there were many things that his comprehension of were still too shallow in.

Just then, a strong suppressive pressure landed upon Ryu. He felt that his bodily strength was sapped and his control of qi had been wrested away. The only portion of himself that seemed to be functioning normally was his Mental Realm.

It seemed that this trial wanted to test him as a Necromancer and nothing else.

Ryu felt that this sort of pressure was one his current self could ignore and even suppress back. After all, this trial was designed for youths of a certain strength. But… He chose to oblige.

Ryu pointed a slender finger forward, tapping at space.

‘My control needs some work.’ Ryu thought to himself.

“~Gigi!” Little Gem seemed to sense that Ryu had made a mistake and began to laugh, her sparkling white eyes curving into crescents as though she was about to fall asleep.

Ryu chuckled. He had indeed made a mistake.

The ten Lower Skeleton Warriors turned to face Ryu, kneeling in unison while completely ignoring the figure that had formed. It was a good thing that this spirit didn’t seem to have any intelligence or emotion of its own, or else who knew how it would react?

Ryu pointed toward one of the Skeleton Warriors. “Devour.”

The Lower Skeleton Warrior slammed a bony fist against its ribcage. Then, without another wasted moment, it leapt onto the warrior closest to it, its jaws opening wide as it took a massive bite out of its skull.

Ryu watched indifferently as this occurred.

The most efficient method to increase the strength of a Skeleton Warrior was to have them devour their own kind. To accomplish this, one would usually have to hunt them down in the Nether Realm because it would be too inefficient otherwise.

Summoning Skeleton Warriors took a lot of stamina, especially when you were new to Summoning Necromancy. Doing something like Ryu and being capable of casually summoning ten should be impossible. And, by the time a Summoning Necromancer could accomplish this, mere Skeleton Warriors would be useless to them. After all, the strongest of them were only comparable to the Peak of the Path Extinction Realm.

As for the more elite Skeleton existences, it wasn’t so simple to evolve into them. It was more efficient to simply find and contract them in the Nether Realm. But… Ryu had a feeling he might have an easier path toward that as well.

The other Skeleton Warriors didn’t resist. Even their instinct toward survival was completely suppressed. It was as though Ryu’s word was law to them, completely overwriting whatever level of autonomy they had once had.

In just a few minutes, the Lower Skeleton Warrior had devoured them all. For every bite he took, the pale blue skeletons of the target turned into motes of light, fusing with his body.

‘Interesting. After devouring nine, it’s still quite a distance away from becoming a Middle Skeleton Warrior. It took up about 5% of my stamina to summon ten of them. Devouring nine brought one up to about 10% of the way to the next evolution.

‘Getting a single Middle Skeleton Warrior wouldn’t be a problem, then. Getting more will take some time, though. Replenishing Stamina here also isn’t very easy…

‘Alright. One Middle Skeleton Warrior should be enough to plow through these trials anyway. It should take between 80-85 and that’ll take up about half of my stamina.’

Once Ryu made his choice, he acted. The spirit might have been confused as to why he didn’t attack, but this feeling wouldn’t last.

The moment the Middle Skeleton Warrior appeared, the first trial was obliterated.