Mu Yuan clicked to view Deathbone's panel.
After a night of cultivation, the Undead Bone Emperor had also advanced by one level. It was now Level 4 of Grade Zero.
"Normally, a regular unit needs about an entire day to go from Level 3 to Level 4, but Deathbone had only just reached LV3 yesterday at noon."
"It was already leveling up relatively quickly. Now, it's even faster."
"As expected, after evolving to Rare One-Star, Deathbone's leveling speed has improved significantly again."
Only its speed had improved. The amount of Soul Sand it consumed could not be reduced by even the slightest bit.
But this was still something countless players... no, countless Whale Players dreamed of.
At this point, if Deathbone faced a Great Goblin again, it could easily shoot it dead from two hundred meters away.
Mu Yuan looked toward the Goblin Camp on the map, thought for a long while, then shook his head.
"Not appropriate."
"At this moment, if Deathbone led some Skeleton Soldiers and Little Skeletons, it would indeed have the ability to capture this camp."
"But why shouldn't I wait a little longer, evolve more Skeleton Soldiers, and then crush the Goblin Camp with overwhelming superiority?"
Of course, the Goblin Camp was too close to his territory and posed a troublesome threat. If he had the ability, he still needed to eliminate it as soon as possible.
Mu Yuan had not forgotten the grudge from the Goblins' sneak attack on his weak territory last night.
The Goblins had brought about their own destruction.
To continue evolving, Deathbone needed a full 25 units of Evolution Points.
It would be difficult for Deathbone to obtain a new form again in the short term, so Mu Yuan shifted his focus to evolving more Skeleton Soldiers.
Little Skeletons were mediocre among one-star units, rather underwhelming, whereas Skeleton Soldiers were outstanding among three-star units.
They feared neither death nor danger, and they were extremely well-rounded.
Mu Yuan's own Skeletons even possessed the Cleave skill. Defeating same-star units one or two levels higher, or even two or three levels higher, in single combat was not a problem.
"Today is the third day since entering the game. With Deathbone's guidance, Bone Two has finally grasped a little of the essence of Cleave... Perhaps it can master this skill today."
"If that happens, the territory will gain another promising warrior."
Mu Yuan silently recited Evolution Points.
Early in the morning, his Evolution Points had accumulated to more than two units, so he easily evolved two more Skeleton Soldiers. As usual, he named them "Bone Four" and "Bone Five."
The Skeleton Soldier ranks gradually grew.
The bad news, however, was that Mu Yuan's plan to "exploit a bug" had failed.
He had tried taking away the Little Skeleton's rusty Chopping Knife. As expected, the Chopping Knife was not optimized during evolution, but the price was that more Evolution Points were consumed.
There were gains and losses.
He could exploit it when necessary, but doing so constantly would only be counterproductive.
On the new day, Mu Yuan continued leading his troops out on an expedition.
He left Bone Two and Bone Four behind to guard the city, while he took Deathbone, the other two, and a few Little Skeletons into the Wilderness, continuing to slaughter enemies alongside Deathbone.
However, he avoided the Goblin Camp to the north. Instead, he headed south, exploring the pitch-black southern and eastern regions to build up strength for subjugating the Goblin Camp.
Inside the dense Giant Forest, Mu Yuan carefully and slowly explored ahead, guarded on his left and right by two Skeleton Soldiers.
Farther out were several Little Skeletons that could bolster their numbers and serve as bait.
Crack~!
A Little Skeleton stepped across the ground, snapping a dead branch with a crisp sound.
The noise immediately attracted the attention of the beasts nearby. The bushes rustled, and before long, several Gray Wolves pounced out from among them, only to be surrounded by Little Skeletons and Skeleton Soldiers that outnumbered them and looked far more terrifying.
Gray Wolves: "Σ(дlll)"
They died peacefully.
After sweeping up the dropped Soul Sand like a whirlwind, Mu Yuan quickly changed locations again. He was becoming increasingly skilled at this whole process.
One moment, he looked at the map; the next, he looked at his character's field of vision, constantly switching between the various interfaces.
Suddenly,
Deathbone, who was scouting at the very front, raised its right hand into a fist.
"Something's going on? Could it be a very powerful enemy?"
Mu Yuan did not know what was happening, but he trusted Deathbone's judgment. He immediately ordered the other Skeletons to enter a silent state.
He himself slowly moved forward.
There was no helping it. The other Skeletons lacked self-awareness. They walked with great, careless strides and simply could not lightly step over dead branches and fallen leaves.
Deathbone could.
Mu Yuan... could, too.
When he used the computer to control his game character, there were only a few limited control keys for moving up, down, left, and right, attacking, jumping, crouching, and so on. But he had discovered that as his consciousness fluctuated, the game character would also perform corresponding actions.
For example, flicking the Little Skeleton on the forehead.
For example, quietly pushing aside the bushes, holding his breath, and inching forward little by little.
Before long, Mu Yuan arrived beside Deathbone. Following its indication, he looked through the gaps between the leaves.
His eyes widened.
"What is that...?"
A tower more than ten meters tall, steeped in the vicissitudes of history, was half-hidden among the distant dense woods.
There was a huge hole at the top of the tower. Moss and vines covered the stone walls outside, yet Mu Yuan could still vaguely make out the exquisite carvings on the tower's exterior, as well as the gemstones embedded among them. Though they had dimmed, they still appeared extraordinary.
"This is an ancient building."
"But why would there be a building filled with traces of civilization like this in the depths of the Wilderness?"
After being exposed to the forums and the Player Association, Mu Yuan was no longer a complete novice.
The Eternal Continent did indeed have nations and civilizations, but civilization was located in the heartland of the continent. The places where new lord players spawned lay beyond civilization, in a savage land rarely visited by humans and crawling with monsters.
But because the new lords were in the wilderness, the surrounding regions had yet to be developed and were filled with treasures.
By contrast, many veteran players who stayed in the heartlands of human civilization might work themselves to the bone for an entire month and still fail to obtain much Soul Sand or Remnant Souls.
New lords faced danger, and passing the trials was difficult.
But from another perspective, if more and more newcomers could establish themselves and develop their territories, that would mean human civilization had advanced another step into the boundless wilderness, gaining greater strategic depth.
In such a sparsely populated savage region, the existence of a tower brimming with historical charm was indeed surprising.
Of course, the Ruined Villages where players initially descended did not count as traces of civilization.
They were the "Starting Strongholds" possessed by all new players.
Nor could the primitive wooden buildings built by the Goblins to the north be considered civilization.
"There's a rumor that the Eternal Continent once possessed a brilliant ancient civilization, but it was later destroyed in a great catastrophe. After that came the story of players being chosen by the World Great Will, descending into the Eternal World, and rebuilding civilization."
"Of course, this is only a legend. Its truth remains open to question."
Naturally, Mu Yuan wanted to investigate the existence of a civilized structure deep in the wilderness.
Perhaps he could discover some precious treasures.
Some veteran players had also reached a conclusion—the stranger and more unusual a place was, the more likely it was to contain high-level treasures.
At the same time, however, such places often concealed immense danger.
Thus, Mu Yuan had no impulse to approach at all.
He looked at Deathbone.
Deathbone clacked as it whispered into his ear.
Soon, Mu Yuan discovered the target Deathbone was pointing toward—a type of monster that looked like a statue, with gray-black bodies, ferocious faces, and a pair of bat-like wings folded behind them.
They appeared to be nothing more than dead objects, but according to Deathbone's judgment, they were alive and extremely troublesome.
Unless a dozen or several dozen Skeleton Warriors could throw Bone Spears at the same time, it did not recommend attacking.
Cautious.jpg!
Mu Yuan's expression also grew solemn.
The distance was too great for him to obtain information about the statue-like monsters in the distance. But having already paid to purchase intelligence materials such as A Compendium of Common Monsters and the Monster Compendium, Mu Yuan recognized the monsters before him at a glance.
The legendary rare-grade monster: Gargoyles!
And there was more than one.
"One, two, three... at least eight Gargoyles."
"They're rare-grade, and their levels might even be Professional Grade. We can't provoke them. We absolutely can't provoke them."
"How can monsters this powerful exist near a new lord's territory? This doesn't make sense!"
"Time to run!"
Mu Yuan followed his instincts and swiftly retreated.
He coveted the Ruined Tower protected by the Gargoyles, but he understood even more clearly how terrifying they were. Normally, monsters that were too powerful should not exist near a new lord's territory.
The Eternal World was ultimately not a real game, and all kinds of accidents could occur.
Sometimes even veteran players would die for no apparent reason.
Players who encountered accidents could only consider themselves unlucky.
The Gargoyles seemed to have sunk into a deep sleep, but Mu Yuan had no intention of testing them. He left decisively.
On the map, he marked the entire area with a red "×". He would settle this score later.
"Compared with these terrifying Gargoyles, Goblins and Great Goblins are absolutely sheep-level monsters."
"As expected, the waters of the Eternal Continent run deep. Let's go deal with the Goblin Camp we can actually handle."
Deathbone nodded deeply in agreement.
Thanks to "Not What You Said" for the tip~
Before you continue