My starting summon is a small skeleton

Quancheng No.3 Middle School, within Ye Qingxue's office.

A series of knocks echoed.

Ye Qingxue did not lift her head, continuing to examine the documents in her hand.

"Come in!"

The next moment, the door was pushed open, and a teenager walked in, standing respectfully in front of Ye Qingxue.

"You were looking for me, teacher?"

Ye Qingxue stopped what she was doing and looked up at the youth in front of her.

"Your recent training progress has fallen quite behind."

Upon hearing this, the youth panicked, "Teacher, I…"

"There's no need to explain. I am aware of your situation. Your grandmother has been seriously ill, and you've been taking care of her recently, which is an understandable reason for your lagging progress in training."

Lin Jianying, the youth, was startled, seemingly not expecting Ye Qingxue to be so easygoing.

Ye Qingxue did not bother with Lin Jianying's astonishment and continued, looking down at the documents in her hand, "However, though it's understandable, the fact remains that your training is not keeping up.

I hope you can manage this matter and find balance between taking care of your grandmother and training.

It's something you must handle well. After all, you're not alone; you have two teammates, and your lagging behind can impact them."

Lin Jianying nodded, "Rest assured, teacher, I will do my best to catch up with the progress."

"Hmm!"

Ye Qingxue did not say much else, just nodded to acknowledge she had heard.

She then continued with her work, leaving the office in an awkward silence.

"Um, teacher, if there's nothing else, I will go down to train."

Ye Qingxue nodded in response.

Lin Jianying touched his nose and turned to leave.

However, just as he was opening the door to leave, Ye Qingxue suddenly looked up and said, "Oh right, I will be conducting an assessment in 10 days. If you can't keep up with the progress, you'll have to leave your current small team and fall back to a second-line team!"

Lin Jianying was stunned, immediately turning his head to look at Ye Qingxue.

But she wasn't looking at him, and there was no intention of making eye contact, leaving Lin Jianying speechless and with no choice but to leave in silence…

...

Quan City, Great Graveyard Secret Realm.

Having stayed in the Great Graveyard environment for several days, Lu Wu had slowly become accustomed to its conditions, even with his inclination for cleanliness.

Recently, he had been able to walk on the ground and was no longer stuck on the shoulders of the Storm Giant Bear like he had been during the previous few days.

However, these past few days, Lu Wu had not touched Little Skeleton at all.

There was no helping it; the little fellow was too much trouble.

Moreover, combined with the inherent issues of the Great Graveyard environment, within a few days, Little Skeleton had successfully turned itself into a dirty mess, becoming a mobile source of foul smell.

Even so, it kept trying to cling to Lu Wu, to his irritation.

If it weren't his own, Lu Wu would have tossed Little Skeleton away long ago.

"Endure it, just endure a little longer. This little fellow is about to evolve soon, and once it does, I'll be relieved," Lu Wu comforted himself while rushing to the predetermined Evolution Point for Little Skeleton.

The Evolution Point Lu Wu sought for Little Skeleton was located in a basin surrounded by eighteen large graves, 15 miles east of the Great Graveyard Camp.

As the area was a basin and lower in elevation, the ground was filled with a black liquid.

Upon arriving, Lu Wu couldn't stand it and had to return to the Storm Giant Bear's shoulder, but Little Skeleton seemed particularly fond of places like this.

Seeing the site and hearing Lu Wu say he would let it go in, Little Skeleton was ecstatic, its Pupil Fire grew significantly brighter.

Its demeanor was much like an Er Ha who had just seen farmland, incredibly eager to jump in!

This time, Lu Wu did not stop it; it was already dirty, so he didn't care if the little guy got dirtier.

However, the owner of this place was not at all welcoming to Little Skeleton.

As Little Skeleton dashed towards the basin, a black Water Arrow was sprayed at it.

The assailant was clearly a professional, shooting precisely and viciously, aiming straight for Little Skeleton's forehead.

Luckily, Little Skeleton's reaction was quick, and it managed to raise a Bone Shield in time to block the Water Arrow.

Lu Wu nodded his head in satisfaction upon seeing this.

"Hmm, not bad, the training these past few days hasn't been in vain. Confronted with a sudden situation, the first reaction was to use a Spell to defend instead of Dodge.

Although the latter might save more energy, the former is more suited to Little Skeleton's design.

Now, Little Skeleton is a reserved Skeleton Mage.

While Lu Wu was nodding his head, Little Skeleton had already begun fighting with the master of the basin.

The opponent was a Summoned Beast of the Corpses Type.

An evolved form of a Corpse, it was an Elite Level Rotten Mage, just like Little Skeleton, also of the Magic type.

Both were mages, one Elite and one Ordinary, one had evolved while the other hadn't—Little Skeleton was decidedly at a disadvantage.

Over there, the Rotten Mage was screaming hideously, waving its arms continuously casting black Water Arrows.

Meanwhile, Little Skeleton was propping up its Bone Shield while countering with Bone Teeth.

The two mages were like two stationary turrets, neither moving, just bombarding each other with their attacks.

This made Lu Wu unable to help but criticize, "Why do battles between mages seem so lackluster? They're rigid to the extreme! Are these two competitors just not up to par?"

No sooner had Lu Wu spoken than he was proven wrong.

Suddenly, the Rotten Mage that had been mechanically hurling black Water Arrows let out a roar—a clear sign of a spiritual control skill—and Little Skeleton, its opponent, was immediately ensnared, its Pupil Fire dimming.

At the same moment, some black liquid that had fallen on Little Skeleton's Bone Shield began to move, quickly shaping into a black water python and instantly trapping Little Skeleton.

"Oh crap!"

Lu Wu was stunned on the spot, not expecting a wild creature to be so cunning.

Without further thought for mage this or mage that, Lu Wu decisively issued a command.

"Quick, use 'Charging'!"

At Lu Wu's command, Little Skeleton's bones flickered with electric light, not only breaking free from control but also, before being trapped by the black water python, making a quick Charge to close the distance.

But the black Water Arrow hadn't given up on its prey, biting down hard on the tail of Little Skeleton.

Simultaneously, the Rotten Mage swung its arm forward for another assault, several black Water Arrows barreling towards Little Skeleton's forehead.

The Rotten Mage opened its mouth again, clearly readying another control skill.

Lu Wu calmly gave the order.

"Use the Bone Shield, Charge, close the distance for me!"

Obediently, Little Skeleton, shield in place, charged through the Water Arrows, propelled by the speed boost from 'Charging + Charge,' and reached the Rotten Mage. It violently shoved its club into the Rotten Mage's mouth, interrupting the spellcasting.

Then, seizing the moment, Little Skeleton swung its club wildly, rapidly battering the Rotten Mage to near oblivion, on the brink of defeat.

Suddenly, Little Skeleton's Pupil Fire flickered with recollection, remembering that its master, Lu Wu, had instructed it to use spells in combat. It promptly halted its attack, stepped back a few paces, first constrained the now immobile Rotten Mage with "Bone Prison," then delivered a "Bone Spear" to finish it off.

This entire sequence followed the tactics laid out by Lu Wu to the letter—so standardized it was painfully rigid.

Rather than reprimanding Little Skeleton for its obviously self-deceiving behavior, Lu Wu paradoxically praised it, going out of his way to extol the precise angles, timing, and accuracy of its spells, showering it with crazy admiration until it was dizzy from the flattery.

And, truly, Little Skeleton believed that it had defeated the Rotten Mage with spells alone.

It expressed that spells were fun and that it especially enjoyed using them.

Clearly, this was a typical case of being bewilderingly hoodwinked.

In order to steer Little Skeleton towards the path of a mage, Lu Wu really did put in the effort.

After successfully hoodwinking Little Skeleton, Lu Wu started to get busy.

He directed the Storm Giant Bear and Little Skeleton to gather earth from the surrounding graves, elevating the center of the basin to create a platform.

Once the land had been raised, Lu Wu took the blood of the Earth Armor Pig and started drawing lines upon the soil.

After half an hour, a huge pattern composed of lines was completed.

Lu Wu placed the craniums of Summoned Beasts defeated by Little Skeleton in the Great Graveyard around the pattern and positioned a pig's head in its center. He then took out Undead Fire and placed it on the pig's head.

With this, Lu Wu's preparations were essentially done.

Having finished everything, Lu Wu retreated, calling back Little Skeleton—who was now soaked from playing in the water within the basin.

"Go on, go inside, and pick up that flame of Undead Fire!"

Little Skeleton had been frolicking in the water like a playful puppy, yet it was far more obedient than any dog; upon receiving Lu Wu's command, it curiously went into the pattern and picked up the black flame of Undead Fire.

"Boom!"

The moment Little Skeleton touched the Undead Fire, it exploded with a bang, and Little Skeleton caught fire.

Its clothes burned off in an instant, and even the cell phone hidden in its skeleton was destroyed.

Seeing its phone broken yet again, Little Skeleton was instantly upset, but before it could feel too aggrieved, the energy of the Undead Type surged toward it from the entire basin.

Enveloping Little Skeleton in thick black flames, it began tending towards solidification. Soon, Little Skeleton was shrouded in black fog.

Almost simultaneously, Lu Wu felt a chill surge through his brain.

Within this chill, Lu Wu vaguely sensed something in his mind.

Being experienced, Li Kai recognized at a glance that his teacher, Mr. Lu, was about to experience a spiritual advancement.

Li Kai was shocked—Summoners and Summoned Beasts all had levels, but Summoners leveled up slower than Summoned Beasts, usually needing to raise at least two Elite Level Summoned Beasts before advancing.

But Mr. Lu only had at most one, how was it possible that he was advancing so quickly?

Nevertheless, upon rethinking it, Li Kai found it natural that his extraordinary teacher, Mr. Lu, would level up faster than others.

...

I still have the feeling that some people will say I'm too brief, too soft!