After reading the comments from the top player and seeing the other top rookies racing against time, Mu Yuan felt a little anxious as well.
But anxiety was useless.
Behind those top whale players stood Eternal World lords and real-world financial conglomerates. They could keep charging forward. Even if they encountered an accident and fell into the abyss, they could at least preserve their lives.
Ordinary players like him could not. Every step had to be considered carefully. One wrong move could lead to total ruin.
All he could do was develop his territory while remaining steady and making the greatest possible use of his time.
Mu Yuan browsed through the information one by one. Many of these outstanding rookies' actions left him deeply impressed.
He paid particular attention to the rookies within Baiyun Province.
Their birthplaces on Eternal Continent would be in the same region as his. If he wanted to make the rankings during the trial and compete for the world's gifts, these people would be his competitors.
"Rookie 'I Have the Bearing of an Emperor.' Reason for review: Extremely strong micro-management ability. Once achieved a flawless victory by annihilating more than twenty enemies with eight Three-Star Troops. Outstanding personal ability."
"Rookie 'Shatter the Darkness with Thunder.' Reason for review: Possesses a hidden commanding talent. Under his leadership, his troops can unleash even greater destructive power than usual."
"Rookie 'In the Name of Li.' Reason for review: ...Possesses innate talent, has already recruited a Rare Troop, and has repeatedly achieved brilliant victories against superior numbers."
"..."
The information in these reviews of outstanding rookies, provided by the top intelligence merchant, mostly came from the rookies themselves and had been verified.
Unlike an unremarkable nobody like Mu Yuan, some Game Second Generations with powerful backgrounds and extraordinary achievements since childhood had long attracted great attention in the supernatural circles.
Indeed, Eternal World's selection mechanism was completely random. However, Game Second Generations with "special talents" were an exception and had a fairly high chance of being chosen.
"If both parents are supernatural players with considerable strength, their children have a certain chance of being born with special abilities. For example, spraying water, telekinesis, or flight; extending an archer's range; or forming a Mental Link with troops to control them remotely."
"Civilian Players also have an extremely, extremely small chance of possessing talents. Most of these are latent and must be slowly unearthed as the player's rank continues to rise."
Mu Yuan stroked his chin. "Sure enough, I only possess a tiny bit of special evolutionary ability. I definitely don't have any cheats."
Apart from these prodigies, both male and female, who had always been the center of attention, some rookies had also taken the initiative to disclose their information.
Their purpose seemed to be...
"To build momentum?"
"So they can obtain more investment?"
Of course, Mu Yuan had no interest in that. Apart from resources he could get for free, he wanted nothing. He only wanted to be a quiet Personal Lord.
Perhaps because the top intelligence merchant's post had received official recognition, quite a few rookies had shamelessly recommended themselves in the comments.
They were not all outstanding rookies.
The weaker ones hoped to receive a little investment to help them pass the official Resource Assessment and then break through the Lord Trial.
The stronger ones hoped to make the rankings. Being reviewed by the top intelligence merchant would be a great acknowledgment for many rookies.
They would soon receive invitations from major corporations, become CEOs, and reach the pinnacle of life.
One rookie left a message below:
"This lord has recruited a Rare Skeleton Warrior! [image1.jpg] [image2.jpg] Take a look—is it strong and handsome? Who else can compare?"
Mu Yuan clicked on the pictures. They showed a majestic Skeleton Warrior wearing silver-gray full-body armor, holding a greatsword and carrying a bone spear on its back.
Another player had recruited a Rare Troop—and it was a Skeleton Warrior at that.
But something seemed wrong.
Below the post was a crowd of envious players.
"Paying my respects to the great one from the front row."
"Great one, please remember me."
"This great one hasn't even made the review rankings yet? Looks like we have a dark horse!"
"Not just a dark horse. This is a top-tier dark horse!"
"There are dark horses every year, but this year's arrived early."
"Hold on." While the rookies were all showering him with praise, an old player stared at the pictures and pondered for a while before saying, "Isn't the aura of your Skeleton Warrior a little lacking? Its sword grip is wrong too. And it's a bit short."
Mu Yuan noticed it as well.
At first, he thought Deathbone was simply different from the other Skeleton Warriors. That was normal, after all. He was the future Undead Bone Emperor.
But after examining it carefully, he realized that this warrior looked... a little like a Skeleton Soldier.
"Why is your Skeleton Soldier wearing a Warrior Armor?"
An old player said, "This is obviously just a Common Star Skeleton Soldier wearing armor specially imitated to look like Warrior Armor. I almost fell for it."
"Even if your imitation armor is perfect, a Skeleton Soldier is still a Skeleton Soldier. It's skilled at using battle blades, and the bone spear you equipped it with is nothing more than a prop... Skeleton Soldiers don't possess any throwing skills. It probably doesn't even know how to hold a bone spear."
But setting all that aside, this Skeleton Soldier wearing warrior clothing was... actually rather handsome.
Its combat power was probably more or less higher than that of an ordinary Skeleton Soldier.
After all, it was a Skeleton Warrior—the youthful edition.
Mu Yuan pondered. "I failed to exploit the bug before, so I couldn't stockpile equipment. But looking at it from another angle, if I have enough money in the future and forge a set of armor like this for a Skeleton Soldier, could it reduce the points consumed during its evolution?"
Perhaps he could try it once he had money. But not now.
A set of armor that could be sent into the game world would not be cheap.
Wait, there were also the cross-world transportation taxes... Thinking about it this way, it was even more expensive. Exploiting bugs really was difficult.
The night passed without incident.
Mu Yuan ate fruits and cultivated in the real world, while Deathbone ate Soul Sand and cultivated in Eternal World. Everyone had a bright future ahead of them.
The next day,
Mu Yuan woke up early in the morning. He continued arranging for himself and Deathbone to venture out, explore, and gather resources, making full use of their time.
Once they returned from the expedition and the game characters had grown tired and needed to rest, Mu Yuan prepared to go out.
"I need more Little Skeleton Remnant Souls. Ideally, I should also buy some Cultivation Materials that can assist cultivation and improve Deathbone."
Things like Abundant Fruit, for example.
There were countless similar cultivation and auxiliary cultivation materials. He had lacked the means before, but now he had more than one or two hundred Soul Sand, along with some material treasures. No matter what, he had to buy Deathbone some supplements.
He did not need to catch up to the whale players, but at the very least, he could not make things hard for the child.
Mu Yuan piled up all the Remnant Souls and materials he might sell in front of the Lord Altar so they would be convenient to take. Watching Deathbone study techniques, he wondered, "Should I summon Deathbone to the real world? Although the overall environment of the Xuan Kingdom is relatively safe, having strength in my hands would still make me feel more secure."
Most importantly, after several days of strengthening, Mu Yuan felt that he was ready. He would not be drained physically.
Since that was the case, who could resist the temptation of seeing their own skeleton's heroic bearing with their own eyes?
He said to Deathbone, "Bone, I prepared a Monster Compendium, a Military Tactics manual, and Nine-Year Compulsory Education for you. How about it? Interested in coming over here for a look?"
Deathbone eagerly nodded with a series of clacks.
Since that was the case, after Deathbone handed its work over to the other skeletons, Mu Yuan drew it into the Lord's Mark. At the same time, he drew Bone Three in as well.
The moment they were brought in, he sensed an unseen connection spanning Blue Star and Eternal World.
He was somewhat surprised.
He had actually tried this before. At that time, when he drew Deathbone, who was still a Little Skeleton, into the Mark, the unseen connection had been extremely weak. He had also sensed that if he truly summoned Deathbone to the real world, his feeble mental power and body would be drained.
But now...
"It feels much easier. The connection is far stronger than before."
"The connection with Bone Three isn't weak either. It's several times stronger than when he was a Little Skeleton, but it's still far weaker than Deathbone's."
"Could this be related to evolution? Because of the evolution, the connection between Deathbone and me has become much closer, so the difficulty of summoning him has naturally decreased."
Since that was the case...
Mu Yuan closed the window and drew the curtains tightly.
He took a deep breath and stood in the center of the room, holding a fingernail-sized fragment of Soul Sand.
With a light flick, the Soul Sand shot into the air like a coin.
"By my name, I call upon—
"Future Skeleton Emperor, Lord of Bones, Master of Death, Ruler of the Underworld, Guardian of the Other Shore... Deathbone, manifest in reality!"
His deep voice echoed through the bedroom as profound patterns emerged from thin air.
The wind began to surge as well.
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