Reinforcement (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

The enemies that had infiltrated Gu Xi's squad were something akin to shadows.

At first, they lurked within people's shadows, mimicking the movements of their chosen target through the shadow's actions.

Then, slowly, they would step out from the shadow and replace the person being mimicked.

In a large group, you might not even realize what was happening before you'd already been swapped out.

By the time you reached the end, you might suddenly discover that out of everyone, you were the only living person—the rest were all ghouls.

But that didn't work with Gu Xi's group.

Don't underestimate Gu Xi's group of over a hundred, nearly two hundred people—most of them were skeletons.

If Gu Xi hadn't noticed at first, it would have been fine, but the moment he mobilized the skeletons, he immediately spotted something off about the shadows trailing behind them.

Gu Xi decisively gave the order.

"The enemy is right beside us, kill!"

The skeletons didn't even need to turn around. The moment they spotted a suspicious skeleton or shadow, they struck with a single blow.

[Skeleton (Summoned Creature) kills Ghoul Shadow (Level 1), you gain 1 point of experience, Battle Squad gains 1 point of experience, Summoned Creature gains 4 points of experience.]

[Skeleton Warrior (Summoned Creature) kills Ghoul Shadow (Level 1), you gain 1 point of experience, Battle Squad gains 1 point of experience, Summoned Creature gains 5 points of experience.]

[Skeleton (Summoned Creature) kills Ghoul Shadow (Level 1), you gain 1 point of experience, Summoned Creature gains 7 points of experience.]

[...]

As more and more Ghoul Shadows were killed, Gu Xi noticed thumb-sized black beads appearing on the ground.

While keeping pace with Luna, Gu Xi still had time to reach down and pick up some of the beads.

[You obtain Ghoul Qi Bead (White) *1]

[Ghoul Qi Bead (White): A bead imbued with ghoul energy, each one equivalent to ten days of a ghoul's power condensed. Can be used to trade with ghouls or to strengthen ghoul, demon, and undead units.]

Gu Xi crushed a Ghoul Qi Bead in his hand, and a wave of icy, sinister energy washed over him.

This energy wasn't like the Negative Energy or soul energy a Necromancer needed; instead, it had a feeling that pulled one toward becoming a ghoul.

Gu Xi felt he could absorb some of this energy, but not too much—absorbing too much would turn him into something neither human nor ghost.

At the same time, this stuff could be used to boost his skeletons' strength a bit.

But the quantity couldn't be small, and if his skeletons absorbed this Ghoul Qi Bead, they would also undergo mutations.

So Gu Xi simply shouted, "Pick up the Ghoul Qi Beads from the ground. For every three, give one to me, one to the battle squad, and keep one for yourselves. If there's no battle squad, keep both."

Hearing Gu Xi's command, the skeletons quickly picked up the Ghoul Qi Beads from the ground and began handing them among themselves.

Those that needed to be handed over to Gu Xi were all passed up through the Skeleton Heads, while those belonging to the battle squads were kept with the Skeleton Heads.

After receiving these Ghoul Qi Beads, the reactions of the several Skeleton Heads varied.

The skeleton from Gu Xi's first battle squad hadn't forgotten what his specialty was. After getting over ten Ghoul Qi Beads, he poured them all into the dagger held reversed in his left hand.

As he poured all the Ghoul Qi Beads into the dagger, that dagger actually transformed into a black Recurve Blade.

On the surface of the Recurve Blade, some serrated teeth patterns appeared.

It was clear that this weapon, besides the original barbed function of the dagger, had gained slashing and pulling attack effects.

Once the Skeleton Head's weapon changed, the weapons of the ordinary skeletons in the battle squad also transformed.

All the weapons visibly became identical, clearly indicating that the left-handed Recurve Blades of this battle squad would be much sharper in attacks.

But not all battle squads used the Ghoul Qi Beads on their weapons.

The squad wielding Two-Handed Swords didn't strengthen their Two-Handed Swords.

Instead, they all absorbed the beads into the Skeleton Head's body.

Gu Xi initially thought the Skeleton Head wanted to strengthen himself first.

After all, the number of members each battle squad could carry was closely tied to their captain's level—for every level the Skeleton Head gained, the battle squad could add at least two more members.

But Gu Xi never expected that the Skeleton Head absorbed all these Ghoul Qi Beads not for himself.

As all the Ghoul Qi Beads disappeared within the Skeleton Head's body, a ding sound rang in Gu Xi's ears.

[Battle Squad 2 shifts toward the ghoul direction, squad trait increased, all members' attack +2.]

This made Gu Xi's eyes light up. He hadn't expected it could be played this way.

Just as Gu Xi was about to order the remaining two Skeleton Heads to do the same, he found that they had already consumed all their Ghoul Qi Beads.

This left Gu Xi quite speechless. I gave the order, but did you have to be so fast?

Fortunately, their choices were all based on their own situations.

Battle Squad 3, the one wielding Long Spears, did the same as Battle Squad 1—they used the Ghoul Qi Beads to strengthen their weapons.

The length of their Long Spears visibly increased by about a meter.

At the same time, the spearheads became much sharper.

Battle Squad 4 made the most unique choice. The Skeleton Head actually used the Ghoul Qi Beads to strengthen both of his arms.

Now all the skeletons in their squad had both arms visibly blackened, and when they held their swords and shields, their movements were noticeably steadier.

Gu Xi said nothing more about the changes in the Battle Squad.

He put away the Ghoul Qi Beads that had been handed up and stuck close behind Luna.

The skeleton troops kept watch over each other; every single one of them was now brimming with energy, eager to run into more Ghoul Shadows again.

After all, they could all feel the enhancement the Ghoul Qi Beads had given them.

So what they wanted most now was to snatch a few more Ghoul Qi Beads and make themselves even stronger.

But the Ghoul Shadows had also realized that Gu Xi's group was not easy to deal with, and none of them appeared near Gu Xi anymore.

At the same time, the skeleton Gu Xi had sent to scout the figures in the mist returned.

Gu Xi looked the skeleton up and down and found that it was still his subordinate, unaffected by the eerie presence, and there were no signs of battle on it either.

Clearly, it had gone into the mist and encountered no enemies.

This puzzled Gu Xi a little, but he didn't ask further, because Luna had already led them to a two-story building in the city.

The building in front of them was much like the other small houses in the city—fifteenth-century architecture, stone walls with wooden doors and windows, just a bit old-fashioned in style.

From the surroundings and the structure, it was clear that this building was a residence.

Though he didn't know why Luna had come here, Gu Xi trusted that her instincts were right.

When Luna stopped, Gu Xi waved his hand.

"Surround it!"

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