34: Chapter 34 Tier 2 Troops

Xu Qin stopped in front of the Undead Forge.

This building had already been completed while he was out fighting.

Xu Qin opened the operation panel of the Undead Forge.

[Function 2: Material Decomposition]

Currently decomposable: Animal Hide/Thick Hide

Conversion ratio: 10:1 (10 Animal Hides → 1 Magic Crystal Fragment)

He took a glance at the inventory of the bone vault.

Animal Hide/Thick Hide: 28,460 pieces.

"Input 20,000 pieces."

[Confirm decomposition: Animal Hide × 20,000]

[Decomposition complete!]

[Obtained: Magic Crystal Fragment × 2,000]

Adding the previous stock and the scattered minerals collected while out.

Current total Magic Crystal Fragments: 2,068.

Xu Qin looked at this number.

He remembered himself in the early hours of the morning, still worrying about 6 Magic Crystal Fragments.

"...So good."

With the Undead Forge, Magic Crystal Fragments, the resource that once choked his progress, had completely become a thing of the past.

As long as there was Animal Hide, it was fine.

And this kind of thing, Animal Hide...

Every time he cleared a stronghold, he would haul it back in piles.

Even other byproducts from killing monsters in the future could all be converted into core construction materials.

"Alright, time to get to work!"

Xu Qin opened the building list and his gaze swept over the levels of the nine main buildings.

bone melting furnace Level 3.

soul hall Level 3 (Upgrading to Level 4, 2 hours and 12 minutes remaining).

bone vault Level 4.

Dark Altar Level 2.

bone workshop Level 2.

Cursed Temple Level 2.

Undead Forge Level 1.

Bone Watchtower Level 1.

"Upgrade everything to the highest level possible."

Xu Qin began to click the upgrade button repeatedly.

First were the three Level 2 buildings...

Dark Altar, bone workshop, Cursed Temple.

Upgrade directly from Level 2 to Level 3.

[Dark Altar Level 3 upgrade requirements: Stone × 500, Iron Ore × 180, Magic Crystal Fragments × 30, Soul Energy × 4,000]

[bone workshop Level 3 upgrade requirements: Stone × 400, Iron Ore × 120, Wood × 200, Bones × 400, Soul Energy × 2,500]

[Cursed Temple Level 3 upgrade requirements: Stone × 350, Magic Crystal Fragments × 20, Bones × 300, Soul Energy × 3,000]

Upgrade!

Then there were the two new Level 1 buildings.

Undead Forge upgraded from Level 1 to Level 2.

Bone Watchtower upgraded from Level 1 to Level 2.

Upgrade!

bone melting furnace upgraded from Level 3 to Level 4.

Upgrade!

Six confirmations in a row.

[Consumed (Total): Stone × 2,450, Iron Ore × 580, Wood × 450, Bones × 1,400, Magic Crystal Fragments × 110, Soul Energy × 22,000]

Xu Qin looked at the resources deducted all at once, his eyelids twitching.

Yesterday, these numbers would have drained him dry.

But now?

He glanced at the remaining resources panel.

Soul Energy: 56,800 / 80,000.

Bones: 5,240.

Magic Crystal Fragments: 1,958.

Stone: 4,860.

"No pressure at all."

Six Acolytes scattered simultaneously, rushing towards their respective buildings.

Purple energy light rose from six directions at the same time.

Xu Qin stood with his hands behind his back, watching the busy Acolytes, planning the subsequent rhythm in his heart.

After the soul hall finished upgrading to Level 4 and the other buildings reached Level 3, he could start pushing for Level 4.

Then...

He walked to the Level 4 Graveyard and clicked on the unit promotion interface.

[Unit Promotion: Tier 1 → Tier 2]

[Promotion scope: All Tier 1 Undead Army units under the lord's name (including troops out on missions, taking effect simultaneously)]

[Promotion cost: Meat × 2,000, Bones × 2,500, Magic Crystal Fragments × 500, Soul Energy × 5,000]

After reading the cost list, Xu Qin opened the bone vault.

Meat 26,000, Bones over 5,000, Magic Crystal Fragments 1,900, Soul Energy 56,000.

More than enough.

"Upgrade!"

[Consumed: Meat × 2,000, Bones × 2,500, Magic Crystal Fragments × 500, Soul Energy × 5,000]

[Unit promotion in progress...]

[Promotion scope: The entire army of 6,284 Tier 1 Undead Army units is simultaneously promoting to Tier 2...]

Boom!!!

The purple soul energy orb at the top of the obelisk suddenly expanded.

A visible purple-black ripple spread outward from the center of the territory.

Then Xu Qin heard movement coming from beside him.

Clack clack clack!

The five Skeleton Soldiers guarding the Graveyard began to change simultaneously.

He saw that the bone longswords in the hands of the Skeleton Soldiers had grown more than ten centimeters longer, and the blades shimmered with a faint, ghostly blue light.

On their left arms, the bones expanded outward, forming a white bone shield half the size of a person.

Two curved bone horns broke out from the top of their skulls.

Their mandibles extended forward, growing two downward-curved fangs.

The entire skeletal frame was a whole size larger than when they were Tier 1.

Ding!

[Skeleton Soldier · Tier 2]

Attack Power: 12 (+9) (Physical - Slash)

Defense: 8 (+6)

Health Points: 35 (+30) / 65

Loyalty: 100 / 100 (Eternally Loyal)

Morale: None

Traits (New):

Bone Shield Block (Passive): When receiving frontal physical attacks, there is a 20% chance to completely block the damage.

Fight to the Death (Passive): After Health Points reach zero, there is a 15% chance to survive with 1 HP, continuing to fight for 3 seconds.

Xu Qin looked at the brand-new Skeleton Soldiers and couldn't help but praise them.

"Good, good, good, they're getting cooler and cooler."

The previous Skeleton Soldiers were, frankly, just a pile of white bones holding a broken blade.

Now?

Longsword, bone shield, horns, fangs.

This is what you call a Skeleton Soldier!

He turned his head to look at the other remaining units in the territory.

The bone claws of the Undead Sand Jackals became longer and more curved, and bone spur armor grew on their forearms.

The chest armor of the Undead Minotaurs became nearly twice as thick, two upward-curving bone spurs appeared on their shoulders, and their horns turned from grayish-white to pitch black.

At the tip of the bone staff held by the Lich, a circle of surrounding bone fragments appeared, and the staff itself grew half as long again.

"They've all changed."

Xu Qin looked at the unit panel again.

[Undead Sand Jackal · Tier 2]

Attack Power: 28 (+9) (Physical - Rend)

Defense: 13 (+6)

Health Points: 75 (+30) / 105

Traits (New):

Rend Enhancement: After an attack hits, it adds 5 points of Bleed damage, lasting for 4 seconds.

Pack Hunting Instinct Enhancement: For every friendly Undead Sand Jackal within 5 meters, own Attack Power +1, stacking up to 5 times.

[Undead Minotaur · Tier 2]

Attack Power: 32 (+9) (Physical - Heavy Strike)

Defense: 18 (+6)

Health Points: 110 (+30) / 140

Traits (New):

Tough Physique Enhancement: When Health Points are below 30%, Defense is doubled, and the unit is immune to Stun.

Bone Hammer Shock: After a heavy strike hits, there is a 40% chance to stun for 1.5 seconds.

[Undead Scale Lizard · Tier 2 (Elite)]

Attack Power: 55 (+9) (Physical - Bite/Assault)

Defense: 27 (+6)

Health Points: 220 (+30) / 250

Traits (Enhanced):

Death Bite: Bite adds 6 points of Shadow Erosion (ignores defense), marks target for +20% damage taken, reduces movement speed by 20%, stacking up to 3 times.

Undead Scale Armor: Physical damage reduction 20%.

...

Xu Qin finished reading the Tier 2 panels for all units in one go.

For all units, the base three-dimensional stats skyrocketed.

Attack power increased by an average of 30% to 40%.

Defense increased by nearly double.

Health points go without saying.

The most critical thing is that each unit has gained an additional trait.

"This is the gold standard of Tier 2."

Xu Qin closed the panel and let out a long breath.

The previous Tier 1 Undead Army relied on quantity to crush enemies.

Now Tier 2... is crushing with both quality and quantity simultaneously.

He imagined the scene of over 6,000 Tier 2 Undead charging together.

"Wait a little longer, perhaps I will be able to go head-to-head with a Dragon Race lord."

Xu Qin smiled and sat down beside the obelisk.

There were more than three hours left until the Dark Altar reached Level 3.

Once the Level 3 Altar was built, the Hero slots would become three.

By then...

Xu Qin turned his head to look at the Skeleton Soldier.