Returning to his senses, Fang Zhou continued, "As for the lack of skills, I will do my best to develop them diligently.
I have derived Skeleton Series skills from the skeletons.
By extension, can we derive Corrosive Poison Series skills from zombies, Flesh and Blood Series skills from vampires, Soul Series skills from ghosts, and so on?
However, these are for later discussion and require a certain level of strength as support.
For now, the priority is to perfect the Skeleton Series skill tree."
Su Xinyan nodded; she naturally agreed with Fang Zhou’s assessment.
She then asked, "Regarding the third issue you mentioned, how should we deal with the problem of undead mana eroding the body?"
Fang Zhou countered, "Instructor Su, you seem to have no such troubles. How did you resolve it?"
Su Xinyan waved her hand and said, "My method cannot be replicated, so it doesn’t provide much reference value.
My father sought many heavenly and earthly treasures from the Mythical World to nurture my flesh from my birth, which barely neutralized the erosion of undead mana.
Ordinary undead mages simply do not have such conditions."
Ah, having a legendary father is indeed a luxury.
Upon hearing Su Xinyan’s answer, Fang Zhou frankly said, "I don’t have any ideas at the moment."
He naturally wasn’t worried about the issue himself, as he had a skeleton clone that could continuously replenish attributes, rendering him unconcerned about undead mana eroding his body.
However, if the undead mage profession is to become truly great, this erosion issue certainly needs to be addressed.
At this moment, Su Xinyan stood up and handed Fang Zhou a document.
"This is the project proposal approval form; you can apply for up to three projects at a time.
According to what you just said, the first project is to perfect the undead mage meditation method.
The second project is the development of the Skeleton Series skill tree.
As for the third project, if you don’t have any ideas, I suggest you consider developing universal skills.
If we can develop practical universal skills from the undead mage’s professional skills, it can strongly demonstrate the profession’s potential and significantly enhance our influence, thus attracting more resource allocation."
With abundant experience in this area, Fang Zhou had no reason to refuse Su Xinyan.
As for the direction of universal skill development, it quickly occurred to him, after his encounters over the past month with many physically disabled instructors at Sea City Military Academy. He said, "Instructor Su, what do you think about setting the third project to focus on strengthening human bones?"
Upon hearing this, Su Xinyan’s eyes lit up, and she said, "Your idea is good, somewhat aligns with my previous thoughts, ahem, similar to my previous idea.
You’ve also met Chen Qingshan, Shen Hongyu, and these instructors who retired due to injuries. Though they received treatment from the [Priests], their lost limbs cannot be restored and are only replaced with mechanical prosthetics.
Both their cultivation and combat effectiveness have been greatly affected.
If you can derive skills from the Skeleton Series to strengthen or even restore human bones, it would be great news for everyone in the Human Alliance."
That’s precisely what Fang Zhou was thinking.
Instructors like Chen Qingshan and Shen Hongyu are heroes of the Human Alliance, who can only serve as instructors at the military academy after being retired due to their injuries.
If a universal skill to regenerate lost limbs can be successfully developed, allowing them to return to health and restore their combat power, it would benefit both Fang Zhou personally and the Human Alliance as a whole.
Of course, the difficulty of this task is certainly very high.
But Fang Zhou is confident that with enough skill materials and a little help from his attribute panel, he can overcome any obstacle.
Afterwards, Fang Zhou consulted Su Xinyan about some details of applying for scientific research projects. Under her guidance, he submitted three project applications from his personal terminal and uploaded some preliminary results.
Soon, Fang Zhou received a response.
The Meditation Method project, [Skeleton King Meditation Method], successfully passed the result assessment. In addition to the original reward of 100 contribution points, he also received an extra 50% research fund bonus, totaling 150 contribution points.
Within the Skeleton Series Skill Tree project, [Skeleton Arrow Rain] and [Skeleton Wings] also each received 150 contribution points.
Additionally, previously uploaded [Skeleton Flying Spear], [Skeleton Shield], [Skeleton Shackles], and [Domination Skeleton] each got a reimbursement of 50 contribution points as a research fund reward.
What delighted Fang Zhou even more was that the apprentice-level skill materials he had exchanged from the Human Alliance Skill Library for deriving Skeleton Series skills, such as [Fireball Skill], [Touch of Corrosion], [Aging Beam], and [Mana Sprint], were also refunded by 50% contribution points through the public expense reimbursement process.
From 11 apprentice-level skill materials, a total of 55 contribution points were returned.
After all these operations, Fang Zhou’s accumulated contribution points soared from 500 points to 1250 points.
Seeing the massive contribution points displayed on the personal terminal, neither Fang Zhou nor Su Xinyan, a Legendary Woman and Golden Powerhouse, could help but open their mouths slightly in astonishment, eyes wide open.
More than 1000 contribution points may not mean much to Su Xinyan now,
but remembering her early apprentice days when her total contribution points didn’t exceed double digits.
Looking at the energetic, calm Fang Zhou, the usually self-assured Su Xinyan unexpectedly felt a twinge of jealousy deep inside.
Hmph, the waves of the Yangtze River push forward!
Seems this front wave of hers is indeed about to be overtaken by Fang Zhou, the back wave.
She subtly ground her teeth, forced a smile on her face, and asked, "Fang Zhou, how do you plan to spend these contribution points?"
By then, Fang Zhou had calmed his inner excitement.
He humbly said, "Before advancing to Black Iron level, it would be very difficult to derive new Skeleton Series skills.
So, while these contribution points may seem plentiful, they are non-renewable.
Please, Instructor Su, guide me on how to best utilize these contribution points to the fullest?"
Su Xinyan was visibly pleased by Fang Zhou’s respectful and obedient attitude.
She squinted her eyes slightly, carefully considering for Fang Zhou, and replied, "First, naturally, based on project needs, exchange for a large number of apprentice-level skill materials.
For example, although your [Skeleton Flying Spear] is already quite good, its skill power, range, and spiritual power consumption have room to grow.
If you can learn from the mature attack skills of other magic professionals like [Wind Blade Skill], [Ice Spear Skill], [Earth Spear Skill] and combine their strengths, you’ll undoubtedly achieve significant improvements.
Similarly, your [Skeleton Shield] provides a good defensive effect against direct attacks, but it cannot effectively defend against indirect attacks such as the Abyss Demon Child’s magic-devouring talent.
This aspect can also be supplemented by other magic professionals’ skills. I remember the [Telekinesis Master] profession has a [Telekinesis Shield] skill that addresses this deficiency.
[Skeleton Shackles], [Skeleton Arrow Rain], [Skeleton Wings], these skills are similar in this regard.
Hmm? Why are you looking at me with that expression?"