Building the Strongest Undead Empire from Scratch - Chapter 129

Chapter 129: Specter King
[Blood Moon in the sky, darkness descends]

Night fell once again on the continent of Eldoria, and Alex returned to her castle. The creatures on the outskirts of the Dark Forest were now too weak for her, most being Standard level, with only the highest leaders barely reaching low-level Commanding.

Today, the specters brought no news from the snowy mountain, as if it had suddenly fallen silent.

This struck Alex as odd. She didn’t believe that the Hobgoblins and werewolves had just taken a stroll through the snowy mountain and left.

Stretching as she walked into the castle, Alex had already stashed the uncomfortable black robe into her ring.

With the undead forces needing to pull back, Alex wasn’t gaining much experience without going out to fight.

White Rock Mountains had nothing but the Silverbeard Clan dwarves. It wasn’t that Alex didn’t want to attack them; she was genuinely afraid that next time, a Monarch level dwarf might show up, equipped with Monarch level gear. That would be a nightmare.

Dwarves were master forgers, and Alex had never seen a dwarf without equipment.

So, she could only hope to break through from the Dark Forest side, hoping the undead would kill more enemies at night, allowing her to enjoy the triple experience boost while lying in her castle.

Alex wasn’t missing any opportunity for experience. She even started snatching Ice Cream’s food, eating some elite food herself. Even if it only gave her two points of experience, it was still experience.

“Forget it, I’ll sleep first and deal with it tomorrow.”

Alex stripped off her clothes, preparing for a relaxing bath.

It had been over ten days, and Alex figured that by now, the lowest level Lords should be at Commanding level. She wondered how many Lords had disappeared from this world over these days.

She also wondered when this ordeal would end. Sometimes, Alex fantasized that this was all just a dream.

After her bath, Alex slipped naked into bed, shaking her head to clear her thoughts. She smoothed her hair, pulled up the covers, and went to sleep.

Time: 06:00 AM

Alex had developed a fixed biological clock, waking up at six every morning.

If she remembered correctly, today was the thirteenth day. Tomorrow—no, tonight—the leaderboard would refresh again. Alex was somewhat looking forward to it.

She got out of bed and walked to her wardrobe. Opening it, she saw a white camisole.

Alex was silent, feeling as if the wardrobe was hinting for her to wear it.

She looked down at herself, realizing her breasts weren’t as large as she had imagined.

So, even if she danced in that camisole, she wouldn’t have to worry about exposing herself.

However, Alex decided against wearing it. She planned to venture deeper into the Dark Forest today, which would inevitably involve combat, so a skirt was out of the question. She opted for her usual attire.

Ten minutes later, dressed in casual clothes and draped in the same black robe from yesterday, Alex was ready to head out.

Before leaving, she checked the Warehouse. Another five thousand iron ingots had been produced, indicating the dwarves hadn’t been slacking.

She glanced at the seven thousand corpses outside the wall, half of which had already been summoned. Alex quickly Disassembled the remaining corpses.

Luckily, it had only been a day. If it had been two more days, the corpses would have started to rot, and the stench would have been unbearable. Alex would have had to throw them all into the Blackwater Altar, even if it meant losing the double summoning bonus.

Alex clicked Disassemble within the castle, processing four thousand corpses, leaving only three thousand.

The pile of corpses outside the wall instantly halved. Alex gained 3k magic crystals, 300 Essence Shards, nearly four thousand pieces of Standard equipment, and a few Commanding level items.

She tossed all the Disassembled equipment to Chi-Chi, as it was of no use to her.

“Perfect, I have 350 Essence Shards now. Time to upgrade the Barracks.”

Alex upgraded her Barracks by one level.

Apart from the higher cost for the next upgrade, there wasn’t much change. The next level required 350 Essence Shards and 35k magic crystals, an increase of fifty and five thousand, respectively.

The benefit was that the summoning quantity increased from thirty to forty.

Early on, with fewer materials and lower levels, the upgrades were significant. Later, with more materials and higher costs, the upgrades became less impactful.

After upgrading the Barracks, Alex remembered she hadn’t summoned today’s troops yet. She headed to the Barracks to do so.

As the green light filled the room, today’s troops were freshly summoned.

Bone dragons, specters, zombies, zombie titans, Destroyers—there was a bit of everything.

Of course, there were also the ten adorable Acolytes she received daily.

Just as Alex finished summoning and was about to leave, she noticed a strange figure emerging.

?!

Alex turned back to see an undead floating in the air, also draped in a black robe. Blue flames burned within the robe, with no physical body, and its eyes glowed from within the hood.

Alex could tell it was a specter, but it had distinct differences from ordinary specters.

“Your most loyal servant greets you, my Queen.”

Those who could speak did so, and those who couldn’t, Alex didn’t mind.

“What is this?!”

Alex was incredulous. Often, the best luck came when she was least expecting it.

As the Barracks level increased, the chances of summoning a race king also increased.

Alex couldn’t wait to check its attributes.

[Specter King (Unnamed)]

[Race: Undead race]

[Loyalty: 100% (Never Betray)]

[Life Tier: Standard]

[Level: lv5 (Can level up by killing enemies)]

[Health Points: Undead trait, immortal as long as the soul fire burns]

[Mana Points: 110]

[Mind: 55]

[Stamina: ∞]

[Agility: 50]

[Growth Limit: Divine level]

[Active Skill: Soul Storm, Soul Blade]

[Passive Skill: Heart of the Specter]

“It’s really a Specter King!”

Alex had guessed it. It looked like a specter, so it had to be one.

She quickly glanced at the two Active Skills—one was an area attack, and the other boosted combat power.

The Passive Skill was similar to John’s, allowing all specters to remove their level cap. Even specters summoned by Alex and necromancers could continue to level up.

Sweet, Alex thought. She desperately needed to boost her strength, and the Specter King came at the perfect time.

Looking at the blue flames burning within its robe and eyes, Alex decided to name it.

“Azure, from now on, you’ll be called Azure!”

“Thank you, my Queen, for the name.”

In high spirits, Alex took Azure to the Dark Forest.

Such a small, agile figure was the perfect choice.

Alex realized she needed to allocate resources more effectively. She couldn’t let the undead kill indiscriminately anymore.

She was already lv7, while Arthur and John were only lv3. This disparity couldn’t continue; she needed to focus resources on the top-tier units.

When she reached Monarch level, if they were still mid-level Commanding, they would be useless.

Alex had nearly a hundred Commanding level undead, with many stronger than the three kings, but they couldn’t level up.

She decided to focus on Arthur, John, and Azure.

If they grew strong, they would be as powerful as Lords. In contrast, ordinary undead of the same level had more limited abilities and couldn’t match them.

Alex had been too casual in her development. Now, she needed a proper plan.

She led John, Azure, and some Commanding level Shadowghast Knights and Ethereal Wraiths deeper into the Dark Forest.

Meanwhile, Chi-Chi, determined not to be a burden to Alex, led her beasts to the nearby swamp.

The Dark Forest was too dangerous, so the swamp became her leveling ground.

Despite some losses, the rewards were substantial. Chi-Chi felt she was adapting to this world.

Hiding was not an option; to grow stronger, she had to kill.

Chi-Chi earned money by selling the equipment Alex gave her. While ordinary gear was worthless to Alex, who had thousands of magic crystals, it was valuable to Chi-Chi.

A single piece of ordinary equipment could sell for two magic crystals. Alex had given Chi-Chi thousands of Standard items and a few Commanding level ones.

Chi-Chi sold them all, earning thousands of magic crystals. It was the first time she had seen so many.

She used the magic crystals to upgrade her Barracks, significantly speeding up her development compared to hiding in her castle.

Chi-Chi had reached lv7, close to Sophie’s level. The Red Blood Gorilla that had accompanied her from the start was now lv9, just a step away from breaking through to Commanding.

Chi-Chi knew to funnel all experience to the Red Blood Gorilla, accelerating its growth.

During the day, the beasts hunted, and at night, they rested in the Time Chamber. Chi-Chi believed she would soon catch up to Sophie.

However, the beasts couldn’t mine or gather stone. While she could upgrade the Barracks with magic crystals and Essence Shards, she lacked resources to upgrade the castle.

This frustrated her. If she traded magic crystals for wood and stone, she wouldn’t have enough to upgrade the Barracks. Collecting magic crystals herself was too slow.

Chi-Chi was in the sky, directing her beasts to attack a tree monster, a lv1 Commanding level creature, the best target for her to kill with low risk and high reward.

Finding one was rare, so Chi-Chi was excited, shouting commands to her beasts.

“Go, kill it! Red Blood Gorilla, what are you doing? Use your hands! Do I need to lend you a stick?”

Ding!

[You have a new private message!]

The system notification popped up, blocking Chi-Chi’s view.

[Big Boobs]: “Chi-Chi, it’s Luca!”

“Brother!”

Seeing the name, Chi-Chi was certain it was her long-lost relative.

Chi-Chi laughed and cried, overwhelmed with joy. In this foreign world, nothing was more comforting than knowing her family was alive.

Ignoring her beasts, Chi-Chi started chatting with her brother, sharing all her experiences.

She laughed through her tears, learning from Luca that their father was alive, though their mother was still missing.

Luca had formed an Alliance near the desert, a relatively safe area, and had survived the beast tide thanks to the Alliance.

Luca urged Chi-Chi to join him, but she hesitated. Miss Alex had been good to her, and she had already submitted, making it impossible to leave.

Still, Chi-Chi was content knowing her family was alive and in contact.