Swinging fierce white bones collided time and again, tearing through the air’s humidity with the scraping breeze. Under the moonlight, in the skeletal arena, sinister Skeletons spectated with pale flames burning within their skulls, and vile Undead whispered in chilling tones, as if concocting some devious plot.

"Scrambled eggs with tomatoes," a Skeleton said, giving a thumbs-up to an approaching comrade, "My friend is from the Culinary Society, and I’ve traded precious ingredients from the City of Wandering for his service tonight. I never tire of this dish, scrambled eggs with tomatoes."

Another clash of white bones erupted in the arena.

A Lich sighed, "I can only try tomatoes tonight; I’ve already gone overboard with my meat intake at noon, why are Slime Balls also classified as meat?!" 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"Haven’t you read the latest issue of Gourmet Weekly? Slimes are condensed magical creatures, their nutritional value is high, and their protein content is five times that of beef. You might as well eat Minotaur meat."

A few Liches grew increasingly excited in their discussion, until a bone mallet fell, shattering the skeletons of three Liches.

Mr. Dragon stood behind them, holding a giant Bone Rod, reprimanding the students who had left their seats to pick up rolling skulls, "It’s class time now! You young deadlings better hurry up and learn from the honor student’s fighting experience, instead of doing mischief here. Eat, eat, eat; if I catch you again, I’ll stew you into a bone broth soup!"

The shattered ribs couldn’t be fitted back together; they had to wait until after class to be glued together with bone adhesive.

A Lich replied helplessly, "Teacher, it’s not that we don’t want to watch. The problem is that their fighting style is simply unattainable. Didn’t you say so yourself? It’s innate talent, we’re wasting our time just watching."

As if to prove his point, a Spirit Summoning Apprentice picked up his own rib and pointed towards the center of the ring.

"Teacher Dragon, how do you expect Plague Doctor to learn that?"

At the center of the ring, a nimble figure darted about, his white bones casting dragon and serpent shadows in mid-air as he fiercely struck his enemy.

His opponent was a... steel, Bone Tortoise.

A white Bone Shield formed a hemispherical bowl, overturned on the ground. In the barely translucent gaps, a figure stood within. Each time the white bones struck the shield, they emitted a fierce noise, but that was all they could do. The Bone Shield stood fast on the ground, its arrayed bone arms slightly retracting with each impact to dissipate force, leaving it virtually undamaged. Moreover, the shield was alive, slowly advancing in the arena, compressing the attacker’s space to maneuver.

It was like... like cavalry charging at a tank.

Mr. Dragon covered his face, recalling Plague Doctor’s first White Bone Spirit Summoning Studies class.

"Plague Doctor, as a White Bone Spirit Summoner, you must first learn to use a weapon."

"Sure, teacher," Nia emerged from behind him, transforming into a one-meter-wide and two-meter-tall tower shield, as if to say "I’m all set to take a beating."

"Teacher, I want to learn the shield!"

Mr. Dragon had grown gradually accustomed to the surprises brought by his favourite student.

"My student, how is a shield supposed to attack, though?"

In the ring, the Bone Tortoise had backed its opponent into a corner.

A roar erupted from within the bone shell, and the Nia-transformed Bone Shield suddenly flipped over, turning into a five-meter-high doorplate that harshly flung forward. With a smack, it sent her opponent flying out of the ring.

"The victor, Mr. Plague Doctor."

With a sigh of relief, Nia returned to her original form and bowed her thanks.

"White Bone Armor·Doorplate Armor Style. I yield!"

Up in the stands, the Liches watched Mr. Dragon in frustration.

Mr. Dragon looked at Plague Doctor and shook his head helplessly. White Bone Spirit Summoning Studies only allowed the use of one’s physical strength, and talent was also a form of physical strength. Just as he could rely on his undying nature to forsake defense and pursue only attack, Plague Doctor had merely utilized his own body flexibly.

However, Nia’s transformation ability, along with her own strength, had already made her a match for higher-order beings. For a Spirit Summoner to face off against a higher-order being alone would simply be courting death. To elevate oneself to rival a higher-order being, one would have to be at the professor level in White Bone Spirit Summoning Studies.

"But this Plague Doctor dude didn’t even think about improving his own ability to take a hit, even though enhancing one’s own bones is the essence of this class. Using an exoskeleton is totally heretical."

Yet, Mr. Dragon, aside from some complaints, had no other comments and even wanted to give Lyle an excellent grade. A good grade achieved by a student in a way you don’t fancy is still a good grade.

It could be considered surpassing the master, I guess.

Too bad I can’t pass on the demon-slaying martial arts I honed in the Black Abyss to him, firsthand.

"I was actually looking forward to having a nice brawl with the Plague Doctor kid."

Soon, Mr. Dragon, a bit wistful, announced the end of the class, letting the students clean up their bone dust and pack it to take home.

Shiny, whose leg had been broken, crawled over to Lyle.

"Boss! Boss! Use that thing on me!"

Lyle lifted up his palm with complete familiarity and placed it in front of Shiny.

Plague Messenger.

Heretical Growth.

Like blooming, Shiny’s broken spinal bone quickly grew new white bone, rapidly forming a new lower limb, although it was somewhat misshapen and didn’t match the original.

Heretical Growth could create irregular, twisted white bone on someone else. Shiny’s condition, after several experiments and adjustments by Lyle, was already quite close to the original.

Shiny stood up with a click and then with another ’click’ knelt down again.

"Ah, boss, there’s a bone spur growing in my left knee, and it’s stuck," Shiny said, quickly detaching the knee down and tossing it aside. "Boss, one more time, please."

Heretical Growth.

Shiny stood up as he wished, looking at the new bone and nodding with satisfaction. "There, just needs a little sanding and it’ll be good to use. Who cares about picking up those bone fragments, waste of time."

"Sanding still takes time, you know."

"But it’s much faster than playing Liches puzzle games. The Spine Wheel orders from the Demon Race have increased lately, my time is very valuable."

"Whatever, it doesn’t matter to me anyway."

Flexibility came over. "Plague Doctor boss, it seems like the Spine Wheel racing competitions have started to become popular among the Demon Race, and they want to invite us as special guests."

"The Demon Race, huh? Where are they inviting us to?"

"Do you even have to ask? To hell, of course."

"...What’s hell like?"

"They say the sky is filled with sulfur smoke, the ground is loose, the rock layers are exceptionally active, and stepping on it will make it burst. Magma, that is."

"Let’s pass, I’ve got some stuff going on lately," Lyle said as he headed towards Andrey’s teleportation portal.

"I need to see some old friends in the City of Wandering."