My starting summon is a small skeleton

Regarding Little Skeleton's next evolutionary path and tactics, Lu Wuke had it all figured out.

He planned a multi-layered tactical strategy for Little Skeleton.

Normally, use Ordinary Undead Magic, and in critical moments, unleash the Big Thunder Magic Skill.

He aimed to forge Little Skeleton into a standard Magic Skeleton, creating the illusion that it could surely be killed in melee combat.

But when enemies actually got close, Little Skeleton would surprise them with a big club swing.

If the club wasn't enough, wasn't there the "Charging" skill? Smash them with a big phone!

One smash with a big phone, and Little Skeleton would erupt with power.

Opponents would think Little Skeleton's tactics were only two-tiered when, in fact, it had four layers!

If such a strategy took shape, there'd be no doubt it would make all opponents question their life choices.

Lu Wuke himself was thrilled by this strategy, let alone how others would react.

However, the realization of this multi-layered tactical strategy was still a ways off, as his own Little Skeleton hadn't even evolved yet. Lu Wuke needed to work out the evolution plan.

Well, after improving Little Skeleton's Quality, Lu Wuke would get to work on this evolution plan with Li Kai and Wang Dashan.

For the evolution plan of the Little Skeleton Mage Series, Lu Wuke started with those cases where Mages evolved by chance coincidences.

He had a pretty good hypothesis about the conditions for Little Skeleton Mage evolution after half a month of research.

First and foremost was mastering Magic system skills!

At least one Magic system skill must be mastered, and the more the better.

Secondly, it was necessary for Little Skeleton's spiritual power to reach a certain level and cultivate an interest in Magic system skills.

Thirdly, the environment of the evolution had an effect and required some auxiliary materials as well as a ritual to stimulate evolution.

The first two were tasks for Lu Wuke to handle himself.

He had almost completed these preparations.

In terms of Magic system skills, after further improving Little Skeleton's Quality, Lu Wuke spent 10 points on the intranet to purchase a training plan for the basic Undead Magic Skill "Bone Teeth."

He had a coupon, but he didn't use it—using it for just 10 points would be too wasteful.

Once he acquired the training plan, it took Lu Wuke only half an hour to digest it before he started teaching it to Little Skeleton.

Lu Wuke thought it would take Little Skeleton a long time to pick up on Magic system skills, but to his surprise, Little Skeleton caught on quite quickly. Although it didn't particularly like switching from melee to ranged combat.

It felt that beating Tuantuan with a baseball bat was better. It really enjoyed the 'thud, thud, thud' sensation.

Lu Wuke was well-prepared for this.

He found a large number of Mage-themed anime shows for Little Skeleton to watch.

Little Skeleton was still a child; it didn't have strong likes or dislikes. If it didn't like something, just show it some anime, and it would be happy.

This approach was quite effective, and Little Skeleton quickly fell in love with the Mage profession, which looked very cool.

The downside: by watching too much of this violent, show-offy Mage anime, Little Skeleton was a bit influenced and became somewhat chuunibyou.

It even once asked Lu Wuke why people in the shows would sing during a fight, while no one sang when Little Skeleton fought?

It even asked Lu Wuke if he could sing for it during a fight.

At that moment, Lu Wuke was at a loss for words.

This little guy hadn't even evolved yet, and it already wanted to incorporate its own BGM?

If it evolved, would it not ascend to new heights of chuunibyou?

Nevertheless, although Little Skeleton was a bit chuunibyou, the progress in learning "Bone Teeth" was impressive. It mastered Bone Teeth in a day, and in three days, it had increased its proficiency to "Skilled."

This pace was much faster than when it learned Melee Skills.

If Lu Wuke hadn't been so busy recently, leaving no time to teach Little Skeleton, he would have considered giving it another new skill.

However, Lu Wuke's hectic schedule was nearly at an end.

In fact, his mind was entirely focused on Little Skeleton's evolution. What he was busy with was related to the third condition of Little Skeleton's evolution: the environment, materials, and the ritual.

After spending three days working with Li Kai and Wang Dashan on this condition, Lu Wuke finally achieved some results.

And today was the day to test the outcome of his efforts.

...

Inside Li Kai's studio.

At the center of the studio, 13 little skeletons' heads were arranged in a circle.

At the very center of the circle was a set of intricate lines drawn with fresh Blood, with a clump of black Flames at the core.

It looked quite eerie.

A bit of a gloomy atmosphere lingered.

This was the setup Lu Wuke had created for Little Skeleton's evolution. Although it didn't look that big, the expense was not small, with the biggest cost being the black flame in the center.

This was something Lu Wuke had ordered online, costing him 500 points, which made him wince with pain.

"Hope it works; otherwise, those 500 points are down the drain.

If I lose those 500 points, I'm turning Little Skeleton into a soup and drinking it!"

Lu Wuke said grimly before giving commands to Little Skeleton, which was curiously looking at the circle, "Go, move towards the center of that circle, but don't touch the black Flames!"

The black Flames were the switch for evolution. Once touched, Lu Wuke's plan would officially commence; the flame would be rendered useless whether the evolution was successful or not.

With 500 points on the line and no guarantee of a hundred percent success, Lu Wuke absolutely wouldn't allow Little Skeleton to touch it.

To ensure Little Skeleton didn't act rashly, Lu Wuke could only threaten severely.

"If you touch it, you're never playing on a phone again in your life!"

At those words, Little Skeleton immediately jolted, its bone hands quickly behind its back. Its little skull began nodding furiously, then shaking, desperately signaling to Lu Wuke that it would definitely not touch the black Flames.

"Go on then!"

Only after confirming that the little guy understood did Lu Wuke let it proceed.

Watching Little Skeleton carefully approach the circle, Lu Wuke, along with Li Kai, wore expressions of hopeful anticipation mixed with tension.

Wang Dashan quietly nudged Li Kai, "Do you think Mr. Lu can succeed this time?

Is his approach correct?"

As a staunch supporter of Lu Wuke, Li Kai firmly nodded, "Definitely!"

"Yeah, I think so too!"

"Poor Han, just making conversation for the sake of it. When two Lu Wus got together, who would say Lu Wu wasn't up to par?

If anyone said Lu Wu wasn't up to par, they'd get an earful from them!

These two squatted to the side, full of anticipation as they watched, although they both knew that this was just one of Lu Wuyi's experiments and not a preparation for evolution. Still, it was Lu Wuyi's move, and their expectations were high.

As it turned out, it seemed like they were getting their hopes up for nothing.

Because when Little Skeleton entered the circle, there wasn't any particular reaction at all.

Lu Wu didn't have Little Skeleton do anything special, just had it walk around the circle once before coming back out.

This left Li Kai and the others feeling pretty confused.

At this moment, after Lu Wu felt Little Skeleton upon its return and fell into a brief silence, he waved at them, 'Uncle Li, Uncle Wang, come over and give me a hand.'

The two men exchanged glances and came over.

'Mr. Lu, could it be that our preparation was insufficient, and we need to add something more?'

They thought it must be the case, the most logical explanation.

After all, they hadn't noticed anything different about Little Skeleton just now.

Given the circumstances, either the preparation wasn't right, or the experiment had failed. But in the hearts of the two Lu Wu fanboys, Lu Wu couldn't possibly fail, so they assumed the former.

'No, there's no need for further preparation. Just handle this, and it'll be fine.'

Lu Wu said this while carefully collecting the black Flames, and then he went back to his workbench to continue his research.

This left Li Kai and Wang Dashan utterly baffled.

What's the situation? Did Mr. Lu's experiment really fail this time?

It looked like it had!

Li Kai and Wang Dashan looked at each other, first with some disappointment, but quickly admiration and deep reverence for Lu Wu shone through their eyes.

'Mr. Lu truly lives up to his name, recognizing that the experiment has failed with just a glance, and accepting the failure with equanimity. Who else but Mr. Lu could exhibit such grace?'

Li Kai admired, with Wang Dashan nodding in agreement.

Well, what to say, who says middle-aged people don't fanboy or get obsessed?

If they do, there's not much room for the young folks.

And on Lu Wu's side, his attention was completely focused on Little Skeleton, or more precisely, on Little Skeleton's attributes.

In fact, his experiment hadn't failed at all.

After Little Skeleton had walked around the circle, his Name had gained an additional 'Advanced' option.

...

Evolution Scheme: Skeleton Mage (Optimizable)

Evolution Conditions: Master one Undead Magic Skill, a single instance of low-level Undead Flames

Evolution Process: At a location rich in Undead energy, use 13 Little Skeleton heads as a medium and pig's blood as a catalyst to construct a Basic Undead Ritual. Through the ritual and touching the Undead Flames, evolution can be activated.

Evolution Effect: There's a seventy-something percent chance that Little Skeleton can complete the evolution and randomly acquire a Talent.

...

It wasn't easy, not at all. Lu Wu had studied for half a month and tinkered for three days, spending hundreds of points on experiments, and finally, he had developed this advancement scheme.

However, although Lu Wu had developed this scheme, he did not plan to let Little Skeleton advance just like that.

After all, this was just the most basic scheme. This scheme could still be optimized and polished.

With the knowledge Lu Wu had now, he could at least bring this scheme up to the 1.0 or even the 2.0 standard.

Since this was the first time Little Skeleton would evolve, Lu Wu wanted to give him the best.

Moreover, in this scheme, Little Skeleton's 'hack' hadn't been activated yet, which was unacceptable. Lu Wu had to make good use of this hack.

It's already there, how could he not make the most of it?

But, for the following research, Lu Wu wouldn't need to conduct any more experiments since he could now use his own 'hack.'

What he needed to do was to take this scheme as a foundation, supplement it with relevant knowledge, and then further optimize the plan.

That meant what Lu Wu needed now was to seclude himself for intensive study.

Additionally, the related research work on Li Kai's side could also come to a stop.

Yes, regarding this, Lu Wu informed Li Kai and the others without delay.

The two Lu Wu fanboys had just gone through deification, so when Lu Wu mentioned halting the related research, both were perplexed.

What's this situation?

Could it be that after one failure, Mr. Lu was ready to give up?

How could they, the two Lu Wu fanboys, carry on and keep up their admiration?

They hurriedly urged Lu Wu not to give up!

They said a single failure didn't matter and they believed in Lu Wu's Talent and ability to succeed eventually.

This put Lu Wu in an awkward position.

All he could do was scratch his nose and explain: 'Well, my experiment just now didn't fail, actually. It's already successful.'

'What?'

For the first time, the two Lu Wu fanboys were somewhat skeptical; was Mr. Lu teasing them?

Lu Wu had no choice but to take out the initial version of the scheme and explain it to them.

After half an hour of explanation, Lu Wu had a deeper understanding of the scheme and even noticed some blinds spots he hadn't seen before, which was very beneficial.

As for the other two, they were a bit lost.

After all, given their intellectual gap, even if Lu Wu explained everything to them, it was difficult for them to fully grasp.

At this point for them, whether they fully understood it or not wasn't important, what mattered was that from Mr. Lu's explanation of the scheme, which sounded very powerful, they realized that Lu Wu's experiment seemed to have really succeeded.

This made the two Lu Wu fanboys very comfortable.

They were right, after all, Mr. Lu is Mr. Lu, how could he possibly give up partway? They had underestimated Mr. Lu due to their own lack of insight.

Indeed, Mr. Lu was still the strongest.

............

Hmm, Nu Xiao has grown a bit longer!

Next chapter at midnight,"