Persistence and Effort

"'Skeleton Soldier (Common★★★)' evolved into 'Skeleton Warrior (Rare★)'"

"Notification: Skeleton Warrior learned the skill 'Charge.'"

As the white light gradually faded, the newly evolved Deathbone—the Skeleton Warrior version—appeared before Mu Yuan.

He had grown a little taller. The armor that had once been covered in merit scratches had vanished, replaced by a more refined and ferocious set of silver-gray full-body armor, a Wide Blade Greatsword, and three bone spears strapped to his back that appeared to be throwing weapons.

As expected, every evolved troop got a complete upgrade.

This exquisitely crafted full-body armor looked superior to the old model, while the heavy, coldly gleaming Wide Blade Greatsword had an immensely imposing appearance. With Deathbone wielding it, he could probably cut the Wolf King in half with one stroke even without using a skill.

Moreover, the standard weapons equipped by Skeleton Warriors included three bone spears. Did this mean that Skeleton Warriors possessed a certain degree of ranged attack capability?

However, compared with the completely upgraded weapons and armor, Mu Yuan noticed one detail—the shield had disappeared.

This generation of skeletons no longer had shields.

Could equipment actually be lost?

Although that small round shield could not provide much defense, it was still equipment! Had Evolution Points actually cheated him out of a piece of equipment? Could he tolerate this? He could not stand this grievance!

Wait.

Mu Yuan stroked his chin. "Every evolution refreshes the equipment, so I wasn't too concerned about wear and tear before, but... my perspective was still too narrow. Since new equipment is generated during evolution, why don't I strip Deathbone's equipment off before he evolves?"

Rounding things off, that was the same as earning a whole set of equipment out of thin air.

That was a huge profit.

Mu Yuan did not know whether exploiting this bug would work, but it was at least worth a try.

In front of him, Deathbone was deep in thought, heartbroken and bleeding inside.

Where was his shield?

Where had that huge shield of his gone?

He turned around several times but could not find his shield.

Without a shield, this "thin" set of armor could hardly give him enough of a sense of security.

Deathbone felt somewhat uneasy.

Mu Yuan could not say that he had not anticipated this situation. He could only spout some nonsense: "Defending stubbornly is merely the inferior path of survival. Using strength to crush weakness and catching the enemy off guard to grind them to dust—that is the superior path of survival."

The soul fire in Deathbone's eyes flared.

I learned something new.jpg.

As usual, Deathbone began familiarizing himself with his new body after evolving. He tested himself with a hundred-meter sprint, hurdles, long jump, obstacle courses, and various other events.

You asked why the territory had special tracks for hurdles and obstacle courses? Naturally, Deathbone had tinkered with them himself during his spare time and turned them into a training ground.

The territory was not lacking in discarded materials.

After evolving, Deathbone, now a Skeleton Warrior, had an extremely fast sprinting speed and had improved significantly in agility. Even while wearing armor that was clearly not light, he moved as swiftly as a flying horse, easily clearing obstacle after obstacle. With the greatsword in hand, he swung it with astonishing agility, casually sweeping it out and cleaving a large tree in half.

Deathbone displayed his eighteen martial arts.

He then pulled out the bone spears from his back and gripped one tightly. He stared at a thick tree in the distance, but ultimately decided it would not do and shifted his gaze to another boulder.

That's the one. A suitable target.

Deathbone used Throw, and the bone spear struck the bull's-eye!

The bone spear tore through the air with a sharp whistle. Before Mu Yuan could react, it slammed into the boulder serving as a target in the distance.

The boulder exploded as if it had been struck by a cannonball.

All that remained was the bone spear, half buried in the earth.

That speed, that power... good grief.

Even the Wolf King would be killed instantly.

Deathbone looked very cool when throwing the bone spear, but his pose when pulling it back out was a little... Well, it was passable.

This ranged attack had more than enough killing power. Its flaw was that there were only three bone spears—in other words, Deathbone only had three shots.

Not only that, when Deathbone pulled the bone spear out of the ground, it had already suffered considerable wear.

Mu Yuan's mouth twitched.

"Looks like this set of equipment won't last until Deathbone's next evolution. Tomorrow, after I go to the Association and sell the Remnant Souls, I'll see whether I can order a batch of throwing spears."

Equipping troops with stronger and more suitable weapons and armor was also a player's responsibility.

Even if new players were poor, they still had to prepare at least some spare weapons. Otherwise, if their weapons broke at a critical moment in battle, human troops such as Spearmen and Archers would be forced to fight barehanded. That would be awkward.

As expected, Deathbone, now a Rare Troop Type, learned another new skill during his evolution. He was now a Rare Troop Type with two skills.

Charge was a skill that accumulated power over time to enhance the damage and destructive force of the next attack.

It looked ordinary at first glance, but it was actually extremely practical.

Cleave could only be used for slashing, whereas Charge could be combined with bone spear throws. By guiding the energy and continually charging power into the thrown bone spear... Mu Yuan found it difficult to imagine how powerful that spear would be.

Perhaps because he had already become so proficient with Cleave, Deathbone's first use of Charge appeared extremely polished.

He began studying it. While maintaining his movement, he slowly accumulated power, allowing him to suddenly deliver a critical strike to an enemy.

"Not bad. As expected of the great general of my army, Deathbone." Mu Yuan nodded.

Deathbone began researching again, combining Charge and Cleave to unleash his strongest strike.

He quickly figured out the knack of it. After practicing a few more times, he would probably be able to use it in battle.

"Not bad. As expected of Deathbone, who bears the Appearance of an Emperor." Mu Yuan was amazed.

Deathbone began researching a new direction yet again. This time, he did not apply Charge to offense, but instead chose to use it on his legs.

With the assistance of Charge, Deathbone shot into the air like a cannonball.

"Not bad. As expected of someone with the Appearance of an Emperor... my foot!"

Mu Yuan's eyes widened.

Was it me who had a cheat, or was it you?

Oh, Deathbone's cheat was his cheat too, so there was no problem.

Keep it up. Keep it up.

This was all thanks to Deathbone's perseverance and effort.

That night, Mu Yuan bid farewell to the reluctant Deathbone and controlled his game character into a repaired wooden hut that barely kept out the wind, entering a rest (×) hibernation (√) state.

He himself began his daily task of becoming stronger.

Consume Crimson Blood Fruit (1/1).

His skin turned bright red, and his body burned like fire. Mu Yuan gritted his teeth and endured it. Perhaps because he had the experience from last time, he did not find it as unbearable this time. Along with the discomfort, he even felt a trace of exhilaration.

After finishing his daily task, Mu Yuan washed up and went to sleep. He did not even feel like scrolling through his phone, becoming absurdly healthy.

After all, short videos and novels were too bland. How could they compare to the pleasure of personally wielding supernatural power and growing stronger bit by bit?

"Good night, today's me."

The next day, Mu Yuan woke up at six and felt increasingly energetic.

The Crimson Blood Fruit could only enhance a person's vital energy and improve their constitution, but Mu Yuan felt that his mental power had also increased.

"It should be related to Deathbone and the others leveling up."

"As a Contractee, a troop's level-up can send a little feedback back to the player. It isn't much, but small streams eventually make a river, and it still adds up to a decent amount... Slowly progressing through the feedback from troop level-ups is one of the main paths for players to wield supernatural power."

Mu Yuan pondered this.

Deathbone and the other skeletons had only risen one or two levels. In theory, it should not have been so obvious. The root cause was still Deathbone's advancement to the Rare level.

A Rare-level Deathbone could probably defeat ordinary Three-Star Troops at levels seven, eight, or nine in single combat without any issue.

Moreover, this was a Rare Troop Type that had advanced through his own efforts.

It was also related to how weak he currently was.

After washing up, Mu Yuan opened the game.

The territory had been extremely peaceful at night. His Lord's Mark had not sounded any alarms—the invading monsters had turned into test subjects for Deathbone and the other skeletons the moment they stepped into the territory.

"Deathbone commanded Bone Two and Bone Three to kill: Goblin ×3, Goblin Spearman ×3"

"Deathbone commanded Little Skeleton to kill: Goblin ×5"

Mu Yuan checked the situation.

Deathbone had made excellent use of the martial principles of using strength to crush weakness and numbers to overwhelm the few. Mu Yuan was very pleased.

However, so many goblins had actually come to deceive and ambush his weak territory in the dead of night. He would remember this grudge.