"Notification: Your troop, 'Archer (Common ★★),' has bathed in the light of miracles and undergone a transformation. It has been promoted to 'Strong Shooter (Rare ★).'" "Notification: Your Strong Shooter troop has learned the skills 'Charge Arrow' and 'Triple Shot.'"
As with the Guard's evolution, the promoted Strong Shooter also possessed two skills. This was probably standard for the Rare Troop Types in his territory.
However, the Strong Shooter's two skills were fairly common.
On the forums, the standard skills for Strong Shooters were usually one of these two.
After leveling up, the Strong Shooter wore leather boots and a light suit of armor that covered her so thoroughly that not even a sliver of skin was exposed, making it almost impossible to tell whether she was male or female. She also wore a gray helmet, carried a battle bow over a meter long, and had a short knife at her waist. Although her equipment was nowhere near as luxurious as the Imperial Guards', it still looked expensive. If he had ordered a set like this from another lord, he had no idea how much Soul Sand it would have cost.
"Not bad. Really not bad."
Mu Yuan was quite satisfied, and he believed Deathbone was satisfied too. The Undead Bone General loved this kind of ranged, underhanded profession.
"However, the Strong Shooter's level is still too low. To truly make good use of her, I still need to raise her level."
"Let them cultivate slowly."
Following the territory's usual practice, Mu Yuan prepared to give the first Imperial Guard and the first Strong Shooter code names, so they would be easier to distinguish.
He began burning through his brain cells.
Suddenly, the Imperial Guard spoke. His voice was low, almost a murmur.
"Lu... Six..."
"What did you say?"
"Number... Six... Six..."
Mu Yuan had initially thought the Imperial Guard possessed the Appearance of an Emperor and had awakened self-awareness upon evolving once. But that was not the case. The Imperial Guard merely continued repeating the same words in a murmur.
Beside him, the newly evolved Strong Shooter was the same. She kept muttering, "Ten... Seven... Seventeen..."
They might have developed a little intelligence, but they were still far from truly awakening self-awareness. The only words they could say were these few, while everything else was indistinct.
"But what do Lu Six and Seventeen mean? Are they some kind of identification numbers?"
"Could it be that the troops have secrets from their previous lives?"
Although he could not figure it out, Mu Yuan did not dwell on it. He was still a newbie who had been in the game for less than eight days. He had neither the ability nor the inclination to investigate the mysteries of the world.
Once he became stronger, the veil of mystery would naturally lift on its own.
Since they kept muttering those two numbers, he decided to name the Imperial Guard Lu Six and the Strong Shooter Seventeen.
Deathbone, Dolei, Falcon, Lu Six, Seventeen.
His forces were growing larger and larger.
That night, Mu Yuan stayed up until three or four in the morning. Even so, he was still full of energy the next day, feeling that he could pull several all-nighters without any trouble.
That was the charm of the Nine Profound Nurturing Fluid!
Mu Yuan was even tempted to exchange for more. The effects of this nurturing fluid only began to diminish after three consecutive doses.
The true top-tier second generations had probably already guzzled down several bottles.
Unfortunately, he could no longer afford it. His remaining Contribution Points were needed everywhere.
The next day, Mu Yuan began using the Soul Crystal Coins in his hands to purchase Remnant Souls on the forums. He mainly sought Falcon, Little Skeleton, and Slime Remnant Souls. As for Guard and Archer Remnant Souls, they were too expensive, so they were not on his purchasing list for now.
He did not purchase them particularly quickly, and occasionally sold some Remnant Souls and materials at retail.
He also sold the Shaman's Inheritance Stone. It fetched a price of 1.8 Soul Crystals, considerably less than a Remnant Soul of the same class. Who could blame the Shaman for being a little too ugly?
Even with the income, Mu Yuan still could not purchase many Remnant Souls. He needed to use his Soul Crystal Coins to order Standard Equipment.
He placed an order with a reputable transcendent group for Skeleton Soldier armor, bone spears for throwing, battle bows, shields, and so on.
He was extremely stingy when ordering. All the various types of equipment combined amounted to only a dozen or twenty sets. Only the consumable bone spears and feathered arrows were ordered in slightly larger quantities. Even so, they cost him more than two Soul Crystals, not counting the Cross-Dimensional Fee for delivery into the Eternal World.
"It really burns money!"
"No wonder they say the path of a Personal Lord is difficult. Managing a territory really does make money, but most lords who choose the personal route are crushed by all sorts of expenses before they even reach the stage where they can earn big money."
Mu Yuan had no choice but to exchange some more Soul Crystal Coins with Contribution Points, because he still had places where he needed to spend money.
He had several plans.
For that, he needed to change residences. He could not operate freely in his current old house, and he did not even dare summon Deathbone there.
For the entire day, Mu Yuan barely managed his game territory at all, leaving everything to Deathbone—management, exploration, and battle.
He busied himself with moving and purchasing supplies.
He sold some Soul Sand in exchange for Xuan Country Coins, then rented a detached villa from the Association specifically for players. It included facilities such as an Underground Training Ground and offered a high degree of privacy.
Soon, Mu Yuan quickly packed his computer, phone, clothes, and other belongings, completing the move and settling in within a single day.
"Renting is fine, but buying is unnecessary."
After all, once lord players reached a certain stage, they could personally enter the Eternal World, which was also beneficial for their future self-improvement. He had heard that true Advanced players spent most of the year in the Eternal World.
Having a residence there was far more important than having one in the real world.
He heard that housing prices in some major cities had already risen to astronomical levels.
After finishing the move, Mu Yuan ordered another batch of supplies, wiped the sweat from his brow, and sat down in front of the computer.
At that moment, in the Eternal World, Deathbone was still leading the troops in exploration, working hard to earn money and support the household.
Under his instructions, Dolei was diligently training the skill 'Liquid Shaping' that it had awakened yesterday.
Dolei possessed two skills. Leap Attack was fairly straightforward. Even after mastering it, all it could do was make its jumps faster and its plunging strikes more accurate.
Liquid Shaping was different. Like the neighboring Undead Rebirth, it was an Advanced Skill with many possible applications and tremendous potential waiting to be explored and developed.
Yesterday, Dolei had learned to use Liquid Shaping to form arms for attacking enemies.
However, Mu Yuan felt that the fundamental reason Dolei had instantly learned to form arms was that it needed hands to pick things up.
"Shaping can form arms and armor. It can also make Dolei itself expand or contract, allowing it to change shape freely."
It was like a lump of modeling clay, constantly kneaded and reshaped according to its own will.
Perhaps one day, it could shape itself into Dolei armor and let him wear it, or even condense liquid wings.
However, Dolei was not yet capable of such delicate operations.
During the training process, Mu Yuan also discovered some flaws in Liquid Shaping. It could indeed be kneaded into any shape, but it was limited by Dolei's own body. No matter how it was shaped, it remained soft.
Even if it formed the appearance of rock armor, it could not change its core nature.
Most of Dolei's destructive power came from the impact of its enormous body.
It had no trouble dealing with ordinary Goblins and Goblin Spearmen, those fragile enemies. A single slap from its massive hand could swat them away like flies, one after another.
But if it had to deal with thick-skinned Great Goblins, Dolei's attacks would have a hard time taking effect. Of course, even when a Great Goblin's punches landed on Dolei, they could at most make its body ripple.
If the two sides fought, they could battle for three hundred rounds until the stars and cosmos were destroyed without either being able to defeat the other.
"Dolei's weakness is that it's too soft. But if—if Dolei could be both soft and hard, it could use its shaping skill to create hard armor for itself, easily resisting sword and blade attacks. It could also harden its palms when attacking, increasing the damage of its strikes."
"It could even shape condensed liquid into spikes, then harden the spikes the instant they came into contact with an enemy, creating truly sharp weapons and piercing the target through in one blow."
The idea was perfect. All that remained was to make Dolei hard.
But how could it become hard?
"If Dolei devoured enough steel, would it become as hard as steel when shaping itself?"
Mu Yuan felt that this was worth trying.
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