Undead Bone General

"Evolution Points: 1.26"

The battle against the Gray Wolf yielded no small gains in Evolution Points, surging from 0.88 to 1.26 in a short span. This suggested that points were generated rapidly during combat, possibly... also tied to how the Little Skeleton's potential had been pushed to its limit in this fight.

Regardless, it was a good thing.

Mu Yuan summoned the Door Panel Skeleton before him. One of this skeleton's arms had been shattered, but the soul fire in its skull still pulsed healthily—it was an optimistic skeleton.

At this moment, the Evolution Points were faintly glowing.

Mu Yuan dragged this peculiar force and applied it to the Door Panel Skeleton. This time, there was no failure; instead, a prompt appeared: 'Evolution Points -1.'

The next moment, the power of miracle bathed the Little Skeleton. It had just shown a flicker of shock when its entire form—its entire skeletal self—dissolved into light.

Wrapped in white radiance, the Little Skeleton's figure began to stretch taller, broaden wider, its build seeming to grow more robust.

Soon, the glow of evolution began to recede, and the transformed skeleton's new form was revealed before Mu Yuan.

This was a large skeleton, about 1.8 to 1.9 meters tall, standing a head taller than Mu Yuan's game character, let alone compared to those frail, hunched Little Skeletons that might not even reach 1.6 meters.

Not only was it taller and sturdier, but the newborn skeleton also wore a full set of armor, including a helmet, breastplate, and battle skirt. Its cleaver was no longer rusted and pitted but smooth and gleaming, and in its left hand, it held a round shield.

Admittedly, this gear wasn't luxurious, but it was leagues above its previous beggar-tier outfit.

"Prompt: 'Little Skeleton (Normal ★)' has evolved into 'Skeleton Soldier (Normal ★★★)'"

"Prompt: Skeleton Soldier has learned the skill 'Cleave'."

Just after evolving, this skeleton—whose expressions were far richer than the others—stared dumbfounded at its own body. It reached out and patted its gray-black armor, producing a resounding thud.

Good sound meant good armor.

Even a two-star Spearman was far fiercer than a Little Skeleton. Mu Yuan was eager to see how a three-star Skeleton Soldier would perform. Setting aside everything else, he was already satisfied with this armor—other Little Skeletons with their rusted cleavers would struggle to even break through its defense.

The equipment gap was enormous.

And the Skeleton Soldier's improvement over the Little Skeleton was evident in every aspect.

"Come on, let's test your strength and speed."

Mu Yuan called over another dazed Little Skeleton as a test subject. But standing side by side, the difference in height and build was stark—if the big skeleton put even a little force into it, the Little Skeleton would likely go flying.

So, the Skeleton Soldier approached a large tree and suddenly threw a punch with all its might.

Thud—

The branches shook violently, and leaves fluttered down in a shower.

Then the Skeleton Soldier kept pounding, thud thud thud, one blow after another, utterly oblivious to pain... Oh, skeletons don't feel pain, but this was too straightforward.

Mu Yuan quickly called it to stop.

"Now test your speed. Run at full sprint."

Mu Yuan could only observe from afar at his computer, unable to see with perfect clarity, but he could still tell that the Skeleton Soldier moved with swift strides, its running speed several times faster than a Little Skeleton's.

It simply couldn't be compared to a Little Skeleton.

So, Mu Yuan brought himself into it. Ruthlessly, he ordered his own character to sprint a hundred meters and compared it to the Skeleton Soldier. He quickly found that...

"Little Skeletons are weak in speed—they hobble along, and even at full sprint, they're only as fast as a normal person's brisk walk. Their agility is even worse. Setting aside their advantage of being unafraid of injury, a Little Skeleton's overall quality is inferior to an ordinary human."

"But the Skeleton Soldier is different. At full sprint, it's at least at the level of a national athlete, and it never tires."

Was an un-upgraded, merely normal three-star unit this fierce already? No wonder it was said that top-tier units could overturn seas and rivers.

Compared to its full sprint, the Skeleton Soldier was rather stiff in small-scale dodging and evading—after all, it wasn't an agility-type unit.

Even with its increased speed, its most suitable combat style remained largely the same: accumulating advantages through a trade-blow-for-blow approach.

After running some tests on the Skeleton Soldier, Mu Yuan found that it could easily defeat several Little Skeletons in a one-on-many fight.

Truly bearing the demeanor of a general.

Moreover, he hadn't forgotten that the Skeleton Soldier had also learned a skill during this evolution.

Cleave.

"Try out this skill."

"Understood. Skele."

A dialogue bubble actually popped up above the Skeleton Soldier's head, giving Mu Yuan a start.

Soon, Skeleton Soldier prepared itself. At first, it seemed a bit uncertain, frequently glancing at Mu Yuan with a look that begged for guidance.

"Trust yourself. As a leading skeleton, you need to learn to figure things out on your own, so you can set an example for the others. You understand, right?"

The Skeleton Soldier nodded vigorously, bang bang bang.

Mu Yuan then watched from the side as the Skeleton Soldier fumbled and learned on its own... After all, he didn't know either. Don't ask him how to use the skill—he didn't even know what the skill was. It hadn't been mentioned in any guide posts, and he guessed skills were a more advanced topic.

Using a skill wasn't easy, as it involved the manipulation of energy.

After pondering for over ten minutes, the skeleton with the Appearance of an Emperor gradually found its way. It raised its battle blade, and wisps of black mist began to gather along the edge. The dark energy coated it as the Skeleton Soldier charged for seven or eight seconds. Finally, it swung the blade with force, slashing at the Gray Wolf corpse serving as a target before it.

Boom—

Like a hot knife through butter, Gray Wolf's tough hide and bones offered no resistance as the blade cleaved clean through. The sword-light, laced with black energy, didn't even lose momentum, carving a few shallow marks into the earth.

So overwhelmingly strong. So overwhelmingly strong.

"This skeleton truly has the bearing of a general."

Not only that, but after unleashing that Cleave, the Skeleton Soldier stood still in contemplation, pondering, deliberating, refining.

Its intelligence had always been higher than other skeletons, and after evolving, it had improved significantly. After mulling it over for a while, the second Cleave it unleashed had a noticeably shorter charge time.

"Not bad."

Mu Yuan was satisfied.

Of course, this was inseparable from his excellent guidance as its lord. If he hadn't fully unleashed the Skeleton Soldier's subjective initiative, letting it learn to explore on its own, how could it have progressed so swiftly?

Two Cleaves had consumed the vast majority of the energy within the Skeleton Soldier's body. It couldn't manage a third.

After all, it was still a first-level baby. Mu Yuan understood that well.

He watched the Skeleton Soldier, still lost in thought, practicing diligently, full of promise for the future, and mused that he should give it a name. He couldn't keep calling it Door Panel Skeleton or Skeleton Soldier forever.

After all, it was destined to become a great general of the territory.

A great general couldn't go without a name, could it?

"Stand tall. I shall bestow upon you a true name."

"Since you are an undead by birth and a skeleton by form, let your name be... Deathbone!"