Looking at his status, Ethan found several things he deemed important, things he needed to focus on improving if he wanted to become much stronger than he was now.
First, he had to obtain a skill similar to [Undead Graveyard], one that would allow him to store and carry his [Undead Spirits] with him at all times.
His greatest weapon was his Undead Spirits, especially the Undead Mirror Spirit, which could reflect the attributes and skills of any target.
His summons could become as powerful as a legion in an open-world dungeon or a team-raiding dungeon, where he would have enough time to recharge his spiritual energy and continuously summon them.
But if he were ever caught in a tight situation or a field-control battle, where time was not on his side, he would be utterly screwed.
While he could rely on his Undead Knights to fight, their attributes were too average, and any mid-grade professional could defeat them without much effort.
Ethan had confirmed this when he joined the raid team to clear the [Skeletal Chamber] dungeon, fighting alongside professionals like Jonathan, whose profession was [Flame Swordsman], the hammer-wielding man, and others.
Not only that, he also learned how each of their professions fought.
With his summons fighting alongside them, Ethan was able to compare their capabilities in real time, which gave him a fairly accurate understanding of his own abilities as a summoner.
Any professional of Jonathan's level, regardless of class, could defeat Ethan's Undead Knights single-handedly without facing any difficulty.
For one, his Undead Knights did not possess strong attributes.
Secondly, unlike his Undead Spirits, they did not possess any skills of their own, which was yet another problem he knew he had to address.
Another issue lay with Ethan himself.
Aside from his spiritual energy, his personal physical attributes were pathetically mediocre at best.
While it was true that spiritual energy and sense were the core strengths of his profession, that did not mean he was doomed to remain weak forever.
There were many ways for awakeners to increase their non-core attributes.
Ethan desperately wanted to improve his strength, stamina, and dexterity so he could fight with a sword in hand instead of always standing behind his summons.
He was ashamed to admit it, but he had begun to feel useless.
The only truly valuable thing about him seemed to be his summons, not him.
And even though he was the one who summoned them, it still felt as if he was not doing enough, or at least not trying hard enough.
At the very least, not enough to satisfy his own conscience.
He had already begun thinking of ways to overcome his shortcomings, and for that, he needed those [Skill Enhancement Cards].
With them, he could increase the capacity of his [Undead Graveyard] skill and enhance his Undead Knights, maybe even grant them skills of their own and boost their base attributes so they would no longer be as ordinary as they were now.
"First things first, let's acquire a skill."
Ethan raised his hand, which glowed with the faint green energy of the undead.
"Let's see how long it takes to clear a strong tier-1 dungeon on hell difficulty."
Ethan began by summoning his 20 Undead Knights from his [Undead Graveyard].
Then, he used his high spiritual energy reserves to activate [Summon Undead Spirits], summoning six undead Wood Spirits.
The moment they appeared, he ordered them to use their [Bloom Beam] on him.
Within seconds, his spiritual energy was fully recharged.
Ethan immediately used it to resummon more [Undead Wood Spirits], who also activated their skill on him, replenishing his spiritual energy back to its limit.
This cycle continued for over an hour as Ethan repeatedly summoned more undead, gradually forming a massive legion under his control.
By the end of it all, there were
100 Undead Wood Spirits,
120 Undead Fire Spirits,
120 Undead Lightning Spirits,
120 Undead Earth Spirits,
120 Undead Ice Spirits,
120 Undead Dragon Spirits,
120 Undead Wind Spirits,
120 Undead Water Spirits,
and 300 Undead Knights.
---
[Undead Water Spirits]
[Level: 9]
[Skills]
-Water Manipulation: The spirit can freely generate, shape, and control water at will.
-Tidal Wave: Summons a massive surge of water that crashes forward, knocking back enemies and reducing their movement speed.
-Soothing Veil: Wraps all targets in a dense layer of water-type energy, increasing resistance to fire-type attacks, reducing fatigue and stamina consumption, enhancing resistance to negative status effects, and boosting all healing received.
-Water Chains: Creates binding chains formed from concentrated water energy that restrain and immobilize the target.
---
[Undead Wind Spirits]
[Level: 9]
[Skills]
-Wind Manipulation: The spirit can freely generate, shape, and control wind, allowing it to create cutting gusts, focused wind blades, or compressed air bursts at will.
-Wind Burst: Releases a burst of condensed wind energy. Upon impact, it explodes into an expanding sphere of wind that sweeps everything in its path.
-Wind Blessing: Surrounds the summoner and all allied summons in a layer of wind-type energy, increasing movement speed.
-Wind Blades: Summon one or more blades of wind that slice through flesh effortlessly. The fewer the blades summoned, the greater their power.
---
The Undead Wind Spirits and Undead Water Spirits were the only spirits he hadn't used until now, aside from the Undead Morpher Spirit, which only possessed one skill called [Disguise] and wasn't particularly useful.
"They're more support-oriented than combat, which is good, since all the other spirits focus on magic and control," Ethan muttered as he glanced at his summons, which numbered in the hundreds.
They looked quite imposing.
"Did I overdo it again?" Ethan wondered.
"Let's see if I can reach the last record," he said, giving a command.
His summons fell into formation, with the Undead Knight leading the Undead Spirits behind, ready to provide support, and Ethan, the lord of this legion, at the very back, surrounded by Undead Dragon Spirits whose sole job was to protect their lord as the legion began to advance.
Within a few meters of entering the forest, they came across monsters.
---
[Forest Snake]
[Level: 10]
[Skills]
-Venom Bite: Bites the target, injecting deadly venom that instantly weakens them and gradually leads to death.
-Tail Attack: Swings its massive tail to strike one or more targets.
-Constriction: Coils its long body around the target's neck or body to immobilize and crush them.
---
"The lowest-level monster in this dungeon is level 10. So what about the elite monsters? And the boss monster… looks like it's going to be tough." Ethan glanced at the snakes.
There were two dozen of them gathered in the same area.
Some were coiled tightly around the massive branches of the tree, others slithered across the ground, while a few appeared to be concealed beneath the layer of soil and grass.
Regardless of where they lurked, all of them were enormous, resembling mutated anacondas.
The moment they sensed Ethan's presence, they immediately prepared to attack.
They hissed menacingly, baring sharp fangs that dripped with green venom.
Without hesitation, Ethan issued a series of commands in his mind, which were instantly transmitted to his summons.
The water spirits moved first, activating their [Soothing Veil] skill.
A layer of water energy formed around Ethan and his summons.
In the next instant, the effects of the skill rapidly grew denser and stronger as, one by one, all 120 undead water spirits activated the same skill.
Their effects stacked upon one another, amplifying their power on Ethan and his summons by 120 times.
Next, the undead wind spirits activated their support skill, [Wind Blessing], enveloping Ethan and his summons in a veil of wind energy. The effects made Ethan and his summons feel lighter and faster than before.
All of the wind spirits used this skill simultaneously, granting Ethan and his summons 120 times the skill's effect.
The moment the undead wind and water spirits activated their abilities, the undead wood spirits were ordered to cast [Verdant Blood] on them, replenishing their spiritual energy.
Through this coordinated support, Ethan and his summons barely felt their spiritual energy reserves depleting, allowing them to maintain complete skill self-sufficiency.
The Undead Wood Spirits continuously replenished the spiritual energy of Ethan and his summons while passively regenerating their own energy through the [Wood Heart] skill, which absorbed spiritual energy from the surroundings for themselves.
The forest snakes didn't wait for Ethan to make the first move.
They charged at him immediately. To reach him, they first had to face his legion of summons.
Another command went out from Ethan.
About 100 undead knights rushed forward, moving to intercept the incoming snake monsters.
Before the two sides could clash head-on, more skills were unleashed. Ethan's spirits acted in unison, targeting the snakes one after another.
A dozen fire spirits activated their [Heat Wave] skill.
Waves of fire energy spread in every direction, burning everything in their path and dealing fire-attribute damage.
"Let's try the skills of the new summons," Ethan commanded.
At his order, a dozen water spirits activated [Tidal Wave].
Waves of cool water energy surged outward in all directions, crashing through the battlefield.
But then, without warning, both the [Heat Wave] skill and the [Tidal Wave] skill began to weaken.
Ethan narrowed his eyes, sensing that something was off.
"Why are the skills suddenly weakening?" he muttered.
He focused more closely and quickly discovered the reason.
The fire energy released by the fire spirits was disrupting the water energy released by the water spirits, and the water energy was interfering with the fire in return.
"I can't believe I didn't consider elemental affinity before using the skills," Ethan muttered, slapping his forehead.
The opposing water and fire skills canceled each other out, leaving the undead knights exposed as they faced the forest snakes head-on.
The snakes' massive bodies slammed into them with brutal physical force.
Fangs sank deep, biting and tearing into undead flesh as the knights began to take heavy damage.
...
[A/N: If you enjoyed the chapter, please consider adding it to your library and supporting it with some Power Stones. Arigato!]