Building the Strongest Undead Empire from Scratch - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: I’m so smart
“The rabbit corpse is still here, so can I just keep summoning forever?”

Alex waited another five minutes, all hyped up, and tried summoning from the rabbit corpse again.

[Summoning Failed]

Mana Points 17/20.

“I knew it; how could there possibly be such a good thing? I just wasted three Mana Points for nothing.”

Once the cd was over, Alex immediately used her undead magic on the nearby wild chicken corpse, and just as she expected, this time the summoned Skeleton Soldier was level 2, with its level locked.

“Disassemble, disassemble!”

Alex hit the Disassemble button on both the rabbit and chicken corpses.

[Rabbit corpse successfully Disassembled, obtained 10 portions of rabbit meat, 1 rabbit skin]

[Chicken corpse successfully Disassembled, obtained 5 portions of chicken meat, 1 magic crystal]

“Whoa, jackpot! The level 2 chicken dropped a magic crystal. Looks like higher-level creatures have a better chance of dropping magic crystals.”

“Y’all go fight some more, and remember to bring back the bodies!”

Alex commanded the skeletons in front of her.

Alex crouched down and started crunching numbers. Mana Points 20, takes 20 minutes to fully regenerate, skill cooldown 5 minutes, skill costs 3 points.

“30 minutes for 6, an hour makes 12, and in an eight-hour day, that’s 96! Plus ten daily summons from the crystal, that’s over a hundred Skeleton Soldiers a day, seven hundred in a week!”

“Time to go full zerg rush!”

Alex stood tall, raised her hand confidently.

“Chickens are easier to kill, rabbits work too. Right now, the Skeleton Soldiers are low level, taking on boars isn’t efficient.”

Alex entered the castle and headed to the Warehouse, looking at the neatly stacked food in the corner.

The food stored in the Warehouse stays exactly as it was when put in, never spoils—that’s a pretty sweet deal.

Alex planned to have the Skeleton Soldiers level up by fighting monsters first. That way, both the Skeleton Soldiers and she could level up and potentially get more troops.

Once they had the numbers, gathering resources like wood and stone would be a breeze.

“Lol, I’m a genius!”

Alex was just chilling, squatting on the side, watching her Skeleton Soldiers hunt while peeking at the World Chat where other Lords were bragging. Honestly, that chat was the only entertainment around here.

But Alex was kinda puzzled,

This is the All-Races Battle Royale, a survival game, folks!

Are all these Lords really that chill? Shouldn’t they be freaking out about how to get back to Earth? Don’t they need to gather resources? Don’t they eat?

Why are they all just trash-talking in the World Chat?

Alex’s head was buzzing with questions, and she really wanted to ask, but she was afraid of being labeled a weirdo by these folks.

People in this world sure are quick to adapt…

Meanwhile, at the All-Races Fair Trade, many Lords were listing resources for trade.

Alex, bored out of her mind, clicked to check it out.

One portion of food for ten portions of wood or five portions of stone.

At the end of this trade info, there was a gray horizontal bar.

And there were other messages too.

One portion of food for twenty portions of wood or ten portions of stone.

This trade had a green upward arrow at the end.

Alex got it—the gray bar probably represented the system-set market price, and the green upward arrow meant it was overpriced, a heads-up that Lords would be at a loss with such trades.

But on the flip side, some Lords were offering twenty pieces of wood for one portion of food, marked with a red downward arrow.

That meant you’d score a bit if you traded with this Lord.

But Alex noticed something—trades offering wood or stone for food were snapped up almost instantly, while offers of food for wood or stone just sat there, untouched.

What does that tell you?

It shows that these Lords, right at the start, find food super precious, so they’re willing to pay several times the price.

On the other hand, trying to trade basic materials for food? Hardly anyone’s biting.

Because Alex’s troops are undead, and hey, undead don’t need to eat! But the other Lords aren’t so lucky—they not only need to feed themselves, their troops need grub too.

Alex was just hanging out, watching her Skeleton Soldiers do their thing, when she caught something interesting in the World Chat.

Turns out, if troops go hungry, their loyalty drops. Who knew?

It’s wild to think about how much grub those Lords who summoned dragons or Titans must need early on.

Most Lords can scrape together enough food for themselves and their troops, but that leaves zilch for trading. Plus, they gotta hustle for stone and wood too.

But here’s the kicker—Alex only needs to keep a bit of food for herself; the rest she can trade off!

This way, she can quickly stock up on stone and wood.

Her Skeleton Soldiers aren’t just good for leveling up—they also bring in stone and wood.

“Pretty slick,” she thought.

Alex spotted a business opportunity and jumped right in.

In her Warehouse, she had 120 portions of wild boar, 10 portions of rabbit, and 10 portions of chicken.

Each portion was about a kilogram, enough for a Lord to have a hearty meal. For Alex, though, a portion was more than enough.

“But what’s the right price?” Alex pondered, chin in hand, scrolling through the market rates.

“Every man for himself, right? I’ve made up my mind!”

[Hamburger initiates a trade!]

[One portion of food for forty portions of wood or twenty portions of stone.]

[Remaining quantity: 100 portions.]

“People are marking up two or three times the price, so why not four times? Plus, I’m dropping a hundred portions on them, bam!”

With billions of people in this game world, Alex was sure someone would bite.

She continued to squat by the castle gate, refreshing the trade info like a boss.

In less than ten seconds, a bunch of messages popped up.

[Successful trade: one portion of food for twenty portions of stone]

[Successful trade: ten portions of food for four hundred portions of wood]

[Successful trade: twenty portions of food for eight hundred portions of stone]

…

Just seconds after Alex listed her stash, all 100 portions of food were snapped up. She raked in 2,000 portions of wood and 1,000 portions of stone. The goods were automatically transferred to her Warehouse.

Upgrading the castle only needed 1,000 wood and 500 stone. Time to level up!

Alex pulled up the castle interface and hit upgrade without a second thought.

[Castle Level: lv2]

[Health Points: 6k (Invincible)]

[Territory Area: 1 square miles]

[Feature: Within the territory, the Lord has the right to oversee everything, along with the ability to Disassemble and recycle the Warehouse.]

[Special Buildings: None]

[Upgrade Requirements: 2k wood, 1k stone]

“Doesn’t seem much different—just more HP and a bigger turf,” Alex mumbled. She was hoping for some cool new features, but nada.

Feeling a bit let down, she went back to scrolling through the World Chat.

“Wait, am I famous now?” Alex noticed a lot of chatter about her.

[SirLaughsALot]: “Hamburger is so clutch, I’m literally eating shit here, and she had a hundred portions of food!”

[NotARobot]: “@SirLaughsALot, did you fill up? How’s the taste?”

[BaconWrapped]: “I’ve got some trained elf slaves here, wanna trade for some food?”

[BigEarBull]: “@BaconWrapped, take a closer look; I suspect that Hamburger’s Lord is a lady. Keep your elves for yourself.”

[KingOfTheForest]: “Anyone else got food? I’ve got loads of wood to trade!”

[CtrlAltDefeat]: “Why can’t we see Error404 anymore? Why aren’t they talking, did their troops eat him?”

[BlackTiger]: “Stop yelling, someone else just listed food for sale!”

Seeing this, Alex also checked out the marketplace and noticed a Lord named “Flame Spirit” had listed 30 portions of food. Shortly after, another Lord called “King Ultraman” listed 50 portions of food.

Both were charging four times the going rate, just like Alex had. She guessed these guys probably summoned troops that didn’t need to eat, just like hers.

“Flame Spirit” made sense to Alex—probably elemental troops that don’t require food. But “King Ultraman”? What’s up with that? Did he summon actual Ultramen as troops?

With billions of players worldwide, it’s inevitable some would summon powerful troops like Behemoths, Trolls, Titans, Dragons, and of course, those that don’t need food like Vampires, Demons, Golems, Elementals, and Plants.

Even if people summoned these types of troops, they’d still be a drop in the bucket compared to the global player base. Even if all these players started selling food, the market could totally handle it without affecting Alex.

And since it’s only day one, most Lords are still scrambling for food. Maybe in a few days, food won’t be as big of a deal, but for now, it’s prime time.

“Alright, time to roll up the sleeves and get to work!”

Alex was all fired up.