The Goblin Shaman died so violently that Mu Yuan did not even have time to check what level this rare-grade Shaman had been.
Still, it could not have been very high.
The highest-level Great Goblin nearby was only Level 6, so he assumed the Goblin Shaman was Level 7.
"Level 7. That's actually quite high. It has already entered the 'Late Apprentice' realm, and the Shaman is a powerful one-star rare troop. It's truly terrifying."
But it did not seem that terrifying?
Under Deathbone's cannonball-like bone spear throw, let alone a Level 7 Shaman—even a Professional Grade Shaman might not survive being hit.
Shamans were fragile, after all.
The Great Goblins, on the other hand, were incredibly tough. Even when a Skeleton Soldier's battle blade struck them, it could not cut very deep before getting caught in their heavily knotted muscles.
So the other Skeleton Soldiers rushed over and hacked at them as well.
After being buried beneath a storm of blades, the last two Great Goblins with blood-red eyes finally fell, dying just as violently as their Shaman.
As the dominant force within a radius of two or three kilometers, the Goblin Camp had made so much noise during the battle that few monsters dared come to investigate.
Their fear of the Goblin overlord had already been carved into their bones.
Even if some heedless beasts came running after catching the scent of blood, they would merely become souls beneath Deathbone and the other skeletons' blades.
Mu Yuan began counting his spoils.
Apart from the unexpectedly appearing Goblin Shaman, the number of other Goblins was roughly what he had estimated earlier—there were dozens of them.
Killing dozens of monsters at once naturally yielded an extremely rich harvest.
Deathbone, along with Bone Two and Bone Three, who had gained a little intelligence, transformed into busy little bees, constantly picking up scattered Soul Sand and bringing it to him.
This battle had also killed quite a few high-level troops—five Great Goblins and one Goblin Shaman—which produced a considerable amount of Remnant Souls.
It had been a glorious victory.
The Soul Sand, fine as grains of sand, piled up before him. It slowly gathered together, forming a gorgeous fragment of a gemstone.
Soul Sand: 101.5g
And the Remnant Souls...
"Three Random Remnant Souls, and two Goblin Remnant Souls... What bad luck. But I actually got a Three-Star Remnant Soul."
Remnant Soul (Great Slime) Description: Using this Remnant Soul will 100% recruit the Common Star Three-Star Troop Great Slime.
"The evolved form of a Slime—the Great Slime."
"It's somewhat similar to the Skeleton line. Ordinary Slimes are useless, practically synonymous with weakness, but Great Slimes are quite impressive. They're among the best of the Three-Star Troops, possessing enormous size and weight. They can both tank and control—meaning they suppress enemies with their weight and exercise powerful control."
"Besides, Slimes can more or less be considered noble elemental creatures."
Mu Yuan had considered the choice of his main troops long ago—or, more precisely, one or two days ago.
He possessed a little bit of evolution ability, so he had to follow a troop-specialization route. He could not recruit a Skeleton Soldier from the east and a Musketeer from the west.
But specializing solely in the Skeleton line would not work either. A single troop type had too many limitations and obvious weaknesses, making it easy to counter.
"Ranged troops such as Archers are highly practical and even more advantageous in defensive battles. Unfortunately, Archers are Two-Star Troops, and their ranged nature drives up the price of their Remnant Souls. They're barely any cheaper than Three-Star Remnant Souls."
"If I want to make use of my evolution ability, I need to work from quantity, because the number of Evolution Points produced by Skeleton Warriors and Skeleton Soldiers still isn't much higher than that produced by Little Skeletons... After studying it for these past few days, the rules of evolution are clearly—using quantity to create quality."
"It's like mobilizing the strength of an entire race to produce one or two emperors."
Under these circumstances, Mu Yuan needed troops that were both good and cheap, and Little Skeletons were one such option.
"Not only that, I also have to consider the troops' daily maintenance."
Most troops were made of flesh and blood. Human troops such as Archers and Female Musketeers were no different from real humans in appearance and internal structure, aside from lacking intelligence.
They needed to consume food every day and get sufficient rest. If that could not be guaranteed, their condition would become unbalanced, causing their combat power to decline. In severe cases, they might even wither away.
In a sense, troops were delicate things as well. Players not only had to command them in battle but also carefully maintain and nurture them every day.
Thus, even Whale Players did not dare to purchase Remnant Souls without limit. They could afford to buy them but not raise them; even if they could raise them, they could not look after them all.
And the more of a Whale Player someone was, the more they longed to possess troops that had awakened self-awareness, since those troops could take a great many tasks off their hands. However, Whale Players might be able to buy relatively rare troop Remnant Souls, but they could never buy troops with self-awareness.
That could only depend on luck.
Perhaps it could also depend on cheats?
According to the information, Slimes seemed to need only tree leaves to meet their nutritional needs. They were quite easy to raise and suited Mu Yuan's requirements rather well.
The only pity was that Slimes had no ranged attacks and could not fly.
But Great Slimes were enormous. Perhaps one could be used as a mount? A mattress?
As for the last of the legendary Three Useless—the Goblin... Mu Yuan shook his head. No Goblins. They were ugly. Rejected.
After putting away the Remnant Souls and Soul Sand, Mu Yuan did not leave either.
This was the Goblin Camp. Apart from these "monster drops," it also contained quite a few valuable supplies, such as the Wooden Spears of the Goblin Spearmen.
While picking up the Soul Sand, Deathbone had collected the Wooden Spears long ago as well. They were an important reserve of strategic weapons.
It had discovered that compared to close combat, ranged attacks were safer and more stable.
If it could kill an enemy directly from ten thousand meters away, would that not make it extremely safe?
But how to detect an enemy from ten thousand meters away and kill it was a problem.
Deathbone fell into deep thought.
Guarded by Bone Two and Bone Three, Mu Yuan proceeded cautiously.
He also ordered Bone Six to scout farther ahead, checking for traps and whether any Goblins were still clinging to life.
He was not afraid of death. He was merely being a little more cautious.
"Great Goblins rely purely on their fists to fight. They have no equipment apart from a tattered pair of leather pants. I don't think this troop is any good."
"But this Goblin Shaman..."
There was no longer an intact corpse of the Goblin Shaman. Fortunately, Deathbone had thrown its spear at the Shaman's body. The crooked Skull Staff the Shaman had been holding was undamaged and had merely fallen to the side.
The main body of the staff looked like a section of withered tree branch. Several fist-sized skulls hung from it, resembling bloody trophies the Goblins had stripped from somewhere.
Was this really a treasure?
But after picking it up, Mu Yuan's eyes lit up. Shaman, oh Shaman, I wronged you. You're a good monster.
Shaman Staff (Rare) Description: A crudely made, ugly staff carrying a lingering foul smell, but with decent practicality. It can slightly enhance the wielder's mental power and mental recovery speed, and comes with the 'Fireball Spell' skill.
This was not Standard Equipment but a treasure equipment with special abilities.
But... wasn't Fireball Spell a skill innate to Shamans?
Mu Yuan switched over to the Tai Xuan Forum to look up some information. Only then did he discover that the skills a Goblin Shaman might possess were Bloodthirst Technique, Hound Wolf Summoning, and Witch Doctor Technique.
As for which skill a Shaman actually possessed, that depended on the individual. Different individuals had different skills. Some rare individuals might even awaken skills outside those three. Others might possess no skills at all and be pure blank slates.
"The Shaman Staff smells foul and is a little dirty. It's also an offensive piece of equipment, so it's unlikely I can manifest it in the real world for use. It wouldn't be suitable to sell right now either... I wonder if Deathbone and the others can use it? Undead have mental power too, so logically, there shouldn't be a problem. Skeletons aren't afraid of foul smells, either. At first glance, it actually seems quite suitable."
As he pondered, Mu Yuan entered the Goblin Camp.
The environment inside was even worse and more disgusting than outside, like a massive slaughterhouse. All kinds of dry bones and chunks of corpses lay scattered everywhere. If he had entered in person, Mu Yuan estimated that he would have vomited up everything he had eaten the night before.
Even though he was merely sitting in front of his computer, separated from this world by an entire universe, he still felt sick.
These Goblins were truly disgusting.
But only the Goblins were disgusting. The treasures they had plundered were innocent. For the sake of world peace, Mu Yuan had to pack up these innocent treasures and take them away, rescuing them from their misery.
Notice: Obtained 33.6g of Soul Sand. Notice: Obtained some Common materials. Notice: Obtained equipment 'Amulet (Common)'. Notice: Obtained special item · Inheritance Stone (Rare).
By the time Mu Yuan returned to his territory, the sky over Baijiang City had already gone completely dark.
After making a rough count, he had obtained more than 200g of Soul Sand today, along with more than ten Remnant Souls. He had become rich overnight, so to speak.
"It wasn't for nothing that I worked so hard all day. At least it wasn't wasted."
Mu Yuan reached out and grabbed the last handful of sunflower seeds, then took a few gulps of ice-cold Sprite, bringing the day's hard work to an end.
1/3. Three chapters today; the remaining two will be updated this afternoon and evening. Please add the book to your favorites and follow it. If you could also leave some monthly and recommendation votes, that would be even better ^_^. A new week has arrived, and even a minor author like me wants to climb the new-book rankings _(:з"∠)_.
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