Persistence and Effort

"Skeleton Soldier (Common ★★★) evolves into Skeleton Warrior (Rare ★)"

"Notice: Skeleton Warrior has learned the skill 'Charge'."

As the white light gradually faded, the reborn Deathbone in his Skeleton Warrior form appeared before Mu Yuan.

His stature had grown somewhat taller, and the armor that had once been covered in scars of merit had vanished, replaced by a more refined and ferocious set of silver-gray full-body armor, a Wide Blade Greatsword, and three bone spears slung across his back that looked like throwing weapons.

As expected, every evolution of a unit came with a complete upgrade in gear.

This exquisitely crafted full-body armor already looked superior to the old model, and the thick, gleaming Wide Blade Greatsword carried a powerful visual impact. With this greatsword in hand, even without using any skills, Deathbone could probably cleave the 'Wolf King' in two with ease.

Moreover, the standard equipment of the Skeleton Warrior now included three bone spears—did this mean the Skeleton Warrior had some ranged attack capability?

But compared to the fully overhauled weapons and armor, Mu Yuan noticed one detail—the shield was gone.

This generation of skeleton had dropped the shield equipment.

How could equipment be missing?

Though that small round shield hadn't provided much defense, it was still a piece of gear. Had the Evolution Points swindled him out of an item? Could he tolerate this? He couldn't take this injustice!

Wait.

Mu Yuan stroked his chin. "Every evolution refreshes the equipment, so I wasn't too worried about wear and tear before... but I was thinking too small. Since new gear comes with evolution, why don't I strip Deathbone's current equipment before he evolves?"

Roughly speaking, that meant earning a set of gear out of thin air.

A pure profit.

Mu Yuan didn't know if this bug would work, but it was worth a try.

Before him, Deathbone was deep in thought, heart aching, bleeding inside.

Where's the shield?

Where was his big shield?

He'd turned around and still couldn't find it.

Without a shield, this 'thin' armor alone couldn't give him enough security.

Deathbone felt uneasy.

Mu Yuan couldn't say he hadn't seen this coming, so he just spouted nonsense. "Hunkering down is just the coward's way out. Striking hard where the enemy is weak and grinding their bones to dust while they're off guard—that's the real coward's strategy."

Deathbone's soul flame flared.

Learned something new.jpg.

As usual, after evolving, Deathbone began familiarizing himself with his new body, running tests like a hundred-meter sprint, hurdles, long jump, and obstacle course.

You ask why the territory had special tracks for hurdles and obstacle runs? Of course, Deathbone had set up the training field himself in his spare time.

The territory was never short of scrap materials now.

After evolution, the Skeleton Warrior-grade Deathbone was fast in sprints and notably more agile. Even in his clearly heavy armor, he moved with swift steps, easily clearing many obstacles, wielding the greatsword with incredible dexterity, and with a light sweep, he cut a large tree in half.

Deathbone showed off his myriad skills.

Then he pulled a bone spear from his back, gripping it tightly. He stared at a sturdy tree in the distance, then thought better of it and shifted his gaze to another boulder.

You're it. The perfect target.

Deathbone threw the spear, hitting the bullseye!

The bone spear tore through the air with a sharp whistle, and before Mu Yuan could even react, it slammed violently into the boulder serving as the target.

The boulder exploded like it had been hit by a cannonball.

The bone spear was left half-buried in the ground.

Such speed, such power. Damn.

Even the Wolf King would be instantly killed.

Deathbone's pose when throwing the bone spear was cool, but the way he pulled it out was... passable.

This ranged attack had enough killing power, but the flaw was that there were only three spears—meaning Deathbone had only three shots.

Not only that, when Deathbone yanked the spear from the ground, it already showed significant wear.

Mu Yuan's mouth twitched.

"Looks like this set of gear won't last until Deathbone's next evolution. Tomorrow, I'll sell the residual souls at the association and see if I can order a batch of throwing spears."

Equipping units with stronger, more suitable weapons and armor was also the player's duty.

Even if a newbie player was poor, they should at least prepare some backup weapons. Otherwise, if a weapon broke at a critical moment in battle, human-type units like spearmen or archers would have to fight barehanded—how awkward.

The Rare-grade Deathbone, as expected, had learned a new skill upon evolving. Now he was a Rare unit with two skills.

Charge, a skill that builds up power over time to enhance the lethality and destructive force of the next strike.

Seemed ordinary at first glance, but was actually extremely practical.

Like Cleave, which can only be used on slashing attacks, Charge can be paired with Bone Spear Throwing. Guiding the energy, continuously building up the thrown bone spear... Mu Yuan found it hard to imagine the power behind that single spear.

Perhaps because he had already grown familiar with Cleave, Deathbone's first use of Charge appeared quite practiced.

He began to study it, slowly charging while maintaining his movement, allowing him to catch enemies off guard with a sudden critical strike.

"Not bad, worthy of being my general, Deathbone." Mu Yuan nodded.

Deathbone then started researching how to combine both Charge and Cleave simultaneously, unleashing a single devastating blow.

He quickly figured out the trick, and after a few more practice rounds, he would likely be able to use it in battle.

"Not bad, worthy of being Deathbone, who bears the Appearance of an Emperor." Mu Yuan was surprised.

Deathbone began yet another round of research. This time, instead of applying the Charge skill to offense, he chose to use it on his legs.

With the aid of Charge, Deathbone shot up like a cannonball, launching himself into the air.

"Not bad, worthy of being the Appearance of an Emperor... the hell!"

Mu Yuan's eyes went wide.

Did I cheat, or did you cheat?

Oh, right—Deathbone's cheat is my cheat. So that's fine.

Keep going, keep going.

It's all just Deathbone's persistence and hard work.

That night, Mu Yuan bid farewell to the reluctant Deathbone, guided his game character into a patched-up wooden hut that barely kept out the wind, and entered a state of rest (×) hibernation (√).

He himself began his daily strengthening task.

Consume Crimson Blood Fruit (1/1).

His skin turned bright red, his body burning as if on fire. Mu Yuan gritted his teeth and endured. Perhaps because of his previous experience, this time he didn't find it so unbearable. Amid the agony, there was even a hint of... pleasure?

After finishing his daily routine, Mu Yuan washed up and went to sleep, without even the thought of scrolling through his phone. Healthy as could be.

After all, short videos and novels were too bland—nothing compared to personally wielding supernatural power and growing stronger bit by bit.

"Good night, today's me."

The next day, Mu Yuan woke up at six, feeling even more energetic.

The Crimson Blood Fruit could only strengthen one's blood and improve their physique, but Mu Yuan felt his mental power had also increased.

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

"As a contractor, when troops level up, they give a little feedback to the player. Not much, but little by little, it adds up to a decent amount... Using troop upgrades to slowly improve through feedback is one of the main paths for players to wield supernatural power."

Mu Yuan pondered.

Deathbone and the skeletons had only leveled up once or twice. Logically, it shouldn't be this noticeable. The root cause was Deathbone's promotion to Rare grade.

A Rare-grade Deathbone could probably defeat ordinary three-star troops of levels seven, eight, or nine in a one-on-one fight.

Moreover, this was a Rare troop promoted through his own hands.

It was also related to how weak he currently was.

After washing up, Mu Yuan opened the game.

The territory was very peaceful at night. His Lord's Mark hadn't even sounded an alarm—the invading monsters had barely stepped into the territory before becoming whetstones for Deathbone and the other skeletons.

"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 perfectly demonstrated the martial spirit of using strength to crush weakness and numbers to overwhelm few. He was pleased.

But so many goblins had come in the dead of night to trick and ambush his weak territory—he made a note of this grudge.