Building the Strongest Undead Empire from Scratch - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Darkness descends
The first day in Eldoria has wrapped up.

[Lord: Alex]

[Power Level: lv4 Standard (can be increased by personal and troops’ kills)]

[Territory Level: lv4 Initial Castle]

[Troops: undead race]

[Equipment: Grim Reaper’s Scythe]

[Health Points: 150]

[Mana Points: 30]

[Strength: 9]

[Stamina: 8]

[Agility: 9]

Stats are nearing ten points, Mana Points haven’t increased, but Health Points are up by fifty.

Another round of joyful leveling up!

As evening falls, Alex watches her Skeleton Soldiers return loaded with loot, a charming smile playing on her lips.

So far, Alex hasn’t spotted any signs of native forces nearby.

The area is mostly populated by low-level wild creatures, the toughest being level three—mostly wild boars, rabbits, chickens, and antelopes, which stand no chance against Alex’s undead army.

Of course, the frost dragon on the snowy mountain is an exception.

Alex needs to level up fast to capture that frost dragon from the snowy mountain and make it her mount.

“Riding a dragon, just thinking about it feels epic!”

While tirelessly casting Undead Summoning Magic, Alex fantasizes about the moment she’ll dominate the world.

As the sky darkens, Alex finishes summoning all the wild creatures and sits down, panting, disassembling their bodies back into the Warehouse.

Currently, the Warehouse holds a total of 900 units of food. Although just a dozen skeletons managed to gather 500 units in the morning, Alex knows the wild creatures around her castle aren’t infinite.

After a morning of hunting, the number of wandering creatures around the castle has noticeably decreased.

Gathering 900 units of food in one afternoon is quite a haul.

The magic crystals have reached 155 pieces, but there are still no Essence Shards. Alex guesses that higher-level creatures might drop Essence Shards.

The skeleton army has gained new members, now boasting 2 lv4 Skeleton Warriors, 10 lv3 Skeleton Warriors, 67 lv2 Skeleton Soldiers, and 150 lv1 Skeleton Soldiers.

Most of the lv1 Skeleton Soldiers are summoned using undead magic and can only maintain a lv1 status, unable to level up.

[Skeleton Warrior]

[Race: undead race]

[Loyalty: 100% (Never Betray)]

[Life Tier: Standard]

[Level: lv4 (can be increased by killing enemies)]

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

[Mana Points: 0]

[Strength: 18]

[Stamina: ∞]

[Agility: 12]

[Growth Limit: Commanding level]

The lv4 Skeleton Warrior’s Strength has increased by three points and Agility by two points compared to lv3.

Alex noticed something odd; it’s been a day, and she still isn’t feeling hungry.

Maybe it’s related to some undead lineage she’s awakened, inheriting traits from the undead race.

That’s Alex’s guess anyway, because what normal person doesn’t get hungry after a whole day? At first, Alex thought maybe she just wasn’t eating enough.

Alex puts up 900 units of food for sale again at the All-Races Fair Trade.

[Hamburger initiates a trade!]

[One unit of food for forty units of wood or twenty units of stone.]

[Remaining quantity: 900 units.]

As soon as Alex’s offer hits the market, it grabs the attention and astonishment of the crowd—900 units of food isn’t something you see every day.

“Damn, Hamburger’s at it again!”

“LOL, I’ve already traded for a hundred units.”

“Dude! Are you a quick shooter or what? How’d you trade so fast?”

While Alex is enjoying the banter in the World Chat, a new system alert pops up.

[Blood Moon in the sky, darkness descends!]

[Nightfall brings double strength to wild creatures and a risk of higher-level creatures appearing.]

“Guess it’s just a rage mode at night, huh? Does double the stats mean double the loot?”

Alex isn’t too worried about any high-level creatures showing up; after all, there’s nothing around, and high-level creatures can’t just appear out of nowhere.

Besides, the undead race is immortal!

“Keep up the good work, go back out and hunt!”

Why not make the most of an undead with infinite stamina?

The first seven days of newbie protection are crucial for pulling ahead of other Lords.

The World Chat continues its heated discussion, though the topic has shifted from Hamburger to the nightfall.

As Alex watches the flashing system alerts, she zones out for a moment, and by the time she snaps back to reality, all 900 units of food have been sold.

Alex ends up with 18,000 units of wood and 9,000 units of stone.

Alex went straight for the upgrade after checking the stash.

[Castle Level: lv5]

[Health Points: 30k (Invincible)]

[Territory Area: 3 square miles]

[Feature: Within the territory, the Lord has the power to see everything, along with the ability to Disassemble and recycle stuff at the Warehouse.]

[Special Building: Maiden’s Wardrobe]

Next level up needed 8k wood and 4k stone.

Peeking into the Warehouse, Alex saw there was still 12k wood and 6k stone left—enough for another level up.

She was already getting hyped about unlocking a new special building at Castle lv6.

[Castle Level: lv6]

[Health Points: 40k (Invincible)]

[Territory Area: 4 square miles]

[Feature: Within the territory, the Lord has the power to see everything, along with the ability to Disassemble and recycle stuff at the Warehouse.]

[Special Building: Maiden’s Wardrobe]

Next upgrade: 10k wood, 5k stone.

[Congrats to the Lord on reaching Castle lv6, scoring a random special building blueprint.]

Just as Alex guessed, every three levels up, you snag a special blueprint.

She grabbed her reward and checked out the blueprint details.

[Special Building Blueprint: Bone Throne.]

[Building Level: Monarch level]

[Feature1: Boosts troops’ loyalty to the Lord.]

[Feature2: Within the territory, boosts the strength of the Lord and troops by one level (effective below Monarch level).]

[Feature3: Inside the castle, boosts the experience gained by the Lord by 1.5 times (effective below Monarch level).]

[Building Materials: 10k wood, 10k stone, 100 magic crystals, 10 Essence Shards.]

“Nice, snagged a Monarch level blueprint this time, looks super fancy,” Alex grinned, glad it wasn’t some random junk.

Alex checked out the three features of the Bone Throne, and man, they were killer—especially the part about boosting her XP.

“Speeding up the leveling fun, hehe…”

All the Skeleton Soldiers in her territory got an instant upgrade, with over a hundred of them jumping to lv2 temporarily.

“Give it a week, and I’ll show all the lords the might of the undead wave!”

Alex flicked a strand of white hair behind her ear, all confident.

But this whole boosting troop loyalty thing, she didn’t quite get it—felt a bit useless. Her Skeleton Soldiers were already 100% loyal.

And those building materials? Way too pricey. Ten Essence Shards? She hadn’t even seen one, let alone owned any.

Despite the darkness creeping in, the Blood Moon hanging over the lords’ heads still cast a faint red glow, adding a touch of eeriness to the dark lands of Eldoria.

Now, Alex’s territory stretched over 4 square miles, a diameter of about 8 square miles. For a lord who just landed on Eldoria, that was pretty impressive.

Suddenly, Alex sensed another creature entering her territory. All she could see was a white figure, about the size of a wild boar, way off in the distance.

Too far to make out clearly.

“Right, I can check the info since it’s my territory!”