Building the Strongest Undead Empire from Scratch - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Undead Summoning Magic
These features reminded Alex of some strategy games she used to play, so she caught on pretty quickly.

Upgrading the castle seemed straightforward, just needing wood and stone. Based on typical online game mechanics, Alex guessed that later upgrades would probably require gems, mercury, sulfur, and the like.

She noticed the default Lord name in the top left corner of the page, “Undead Castle.”

Curious, she clicked on it and realized she could change it!

Ditching the generic castle names, Alex punched in a new, catchier name for herself: Hamburger.

Next, Alex opened the World Chat, where messages were zipping by so fast they were just a blur. Luckily, there was a pause button next to the chat, which she quickly used to catch her breath and read the messages.

[NotARobot]: “Hey guys, what kind of troops do y’all have?”

[CtrlAltDefeat]: “Why did I summon a lv1 slime that can only bounce? I want to complain, I need a restart!”

[Error404]: “Haha, I summoned an ogre, unbeatable from the start!”

[BaconWrapped]: “I recruited elves, not only are they powerful, but they also have big butts! Most importantly, they are very obedient, helping me out with a blowjob right now!”

[SirLaughsALot]: “Dang, I’m so jealous, I summoned a bunch of hyenas. They keep sniffing my butt.”

….

Alex peered at the World Chat, realizing just how uneven the playing field was. So much for a fair and square battle royale.

Some folks started off with hydras, while others got stuck with mere peasants.

“Ah, so it’s all down to luck, huh?” Alex mused.

There was a newbie protection period of seven days, but who knew how many would survive the beast wave after that.

Everyone started with a castle, and from there, it was all up to individual effort.

Clearly, the so-called protection period was just a safe window to beef up.

If she did nothing and just holed up in her castle, not only would the beast wave post-seven days likely overrun the city, but starvation would get her first.

Curious about the outside world and how her Skeleton Soldiers were faring, Alex stepped up to the castle gate.

Inside the castle, resources were non-existent; everything had to be sourced externally.

Knowing she was only level 1 and unlike her Skeleton Soldiers, couldn’t resurrect if killed, Alex cautiously stayed within the protective barrier.

Outside, the landscape was a mix of thickets and rocky terrain, with a few withered ancient trees and no visible water sources. In the distance, through the mist, a majestic snowy mountain loomed—undeniably white and several dozen miles from her castle.

That mountain surely held high-level monsters and rare materials!

Meanwhile, not far from her, Alex spotted her Skeleton Soldiers clashing with a group of wild boars.

The boars charged, scattering the Skeleton Soldiers, but their bone blades managed to stab into the boars’ backs.

Bleeding profusely and losing balance, the boars started crashing around wildly. Luckily, the Skeleton Soldiers had the advantage in numbers and could reassemble after being scattered, rendering the boars’ attacks virtually ineffective.

Eventually, ten Skeleton Soldiers teamed up and took down the boars.

[Your troops have killed a lv1 wild boar, gaining five experience points]

[Your troops have killed a lv1 wild boar, gaining five experience points]

…

One-on-one, a Skeleton Soldier versus a level 1 wild boar was no easy match, and the odds weren’t great. Even though Skeleton Soldiers don’t die, those boars, man, they just bolt when they can’t win, and the slow-moving Skeleton Soldiers can’t keep up.

Alex’s gorgeous face was etched with worry.

“Man, these Skeleton Soldiers are kinda weak sauce!”

But hey, Alex ended up bagging 30 experience points and leveled up to level 2, feeling all sorts of beefed up.

“Leveling up feels awesome!”

The Skeleton Soldiers that took down the boars also hit level 2.

Looks like that’s the sweet XP from knocking out enemies. Not a bad way to level up while chilling.

Soon enough, a few Skeleton Soldiers dragged back the boar carcasses. Alex looked at the dark-skinned boars and a prompt popped up.

[Found wild boar carcass, do you want to Disassemble it now?]

“Disassemble!”

[Wild boar carcass successfully Disassembled, obtained 120 portions of wild boar meat, 12 boar tusks, 6 boar skins, and 2 magic crystals.]

The boar carcass vanished in a flash, and the Warehouse got stocked with all the goodies from the Disassemble.

“Nice little haul, y’all keep taking out enemies and bring back the bodies!” Alex commanded her Skeleton Soldiers.

Out of 6 boar carcasses, only 2 magic crystals dropped; the rest of the loot was standard, with only the magic crystals being a random drop.

One boar carcass could be Disassembled into 20 portions of meat, 2 tusks, and a skin, with a level 1 boar dropping 5 experience points.

“Wait a sec, don’t I have some skill to summon undead too?”

Alex touched the bracelet on her right hand, which instantly transformed into a massive scythe.

[Companion Weapon: Grim Reaper’s Scythe]

[Quality: Commanding level weapon (upgradable)]

[Active Skill: Undead Summoning Magic (Tier 1)]

[Passive Skill: Attacks include soul strike and withering effects]

Checking out the pop-up info, Alex tapped on the description of the active skill.

[Undead Summoning Magic (Tier 1): Consumes 3 Magic Points to summon a Skeleton Soldier from a target corpse (cooldown 5 minutes)]

Alex had 20 Mana Points, meaning she could summon up to 6 times, netting her 6 more Skeleton Soldiers in half an hour.

Soon, notifications of her troops killing wild creatures popped up again.

[Your troops have killed a lv1 wild rabbit, gaining three experience points]

[Your troops have killed a lv2 wild chicken, gaining four experience points]

Alex immediately ordered one of the Skeleton Soldiers to bring back the bodies, eager to test out the undead magic.

Standing over the rabbit corpse, Alex wielded the scythe and used the Undead Summoning Magic.

Mana Points 17/20.

Mana Points regenerate at one point per minute, and after her first magic use, Alex got the hang of the regeneration rate.

A gray magic circle appeared under the rabbit corpse, and a Skeleton Soldier slowly crawled out from it.

“Whoa, it actually summoned a humanoid skeleton, and the corpse is still here!”

Alex looked at the dorky skeleton in front of her.

[Skeleton Soldier]

[Race: undead race]

[Loyalty: 100% (Never Betray)]

[Life Tier: Standard]

[Level: lv1 (non-upgradable)]

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

[Mana Points: 0]

[Strength: 6]

[Stamina: ∞]

[Agility: 5]

Alex also spotted a catch—the Skeleton Soldiers she summoned were locked at their summoning level.

Meaning, the Skeleton Soldiers she summoned couldn’t level up by killing enemies.

Based on her years of gaming experience, Alex guessed that the level of the summoned Skeleton Soldiers probably depended on the level of the corpse used.