This Is Quite Interesting

If each True Word Character were separated individually and then recombined.

There was no need to say more—this was the combination Zhou Xu could currently think of with the highest success rate!

Almost at the same moment he spoke this string of True Word Characters, an invisible force spread out once again, causing the thirty-nine skeletons scattered around them to emit a dense series of "click-click" sounds, as though they had been instantly tempered by the power of the True Words.

At that moment, the visual change brought about by the thirty-nine skeletons before Zhou Xu's eyes was completely obvious.

Before, the skeletons had stood there all loose and limp, even crooked and twisted. They looked as though the slightest collision would knock them flat, or even smash them apart.

But now, things were different. Their postures had clearly become upright and proper.

On skeletons, this change in posture reflected an increase in the strength and toughness of their limbs.

At that moment, Zhou Xu understood. The skeletons he had raised earlier through Skeleton Control could not truly be considered skeleton soldiers. They were merely ordinary skeletons.

But the skeletons raised through the upgraded Skeleton Soldier Control were the real skeleton soldiers!

A change to a single True Word Character had directly upgraded the True Word itself.

But correspondingly, the consumption had increased as well.

Zhou Xu could still vaguely sense this consumption. Every time he used a True Word, he felt as though something within him were being siphoned away.

That had already happened when he used Skeleton Control to raise thirty-nine skeletons.

Now, after he had changed the True Word to Skeleton Soldier Control and activated it again, that sensation had become much more distinct, proving that the consumption had increased.

At the same time, it was not as though these skeleton soldiers would exist permanently until they were destroyed.

In fact, every second that these skeleton soldiers existed, they continuously consumed his strength. Compared with the power consumed when he activated the True Word and raised them, however, this ongoing drain was much more negligible.

But even such a negligible drain could not be ignored if it continued for long enough.

After realizing this, Zhou Xu quickly adjusted his thinking.

It seems I can't blindly pursue the number of skeleton soldiers. I also have to consider how long my strength can keep them fighting. I must find a balance.

Looking at it from another angle, if I only want to wear down my opponent at high frequency during the early stage of a battle, using the more economical Skeleton Control isn't out of the question.

With this thought in mind, Zhou Xu glanced at Zhou Chongshan.

"Chongshan, put the stone ax on the ground."

After receiving the order, Zhou Chongshan did not waste words and immediately did as instructed.

Once the stone ax had been placed down, Zhou Xu began trying to issue an order to one of the skeleton soldiers.

"Pick up the stone ax."

Upon receiving the order, the skeleton soldier immediately stepped forward, bent down, and lifted the stone ax.

The sight made the former members of the Black Moon Tribe watching nearby cry out in surprise.

In their impression, the skeleton soldiers controlled by their former chieftain had been completely incapable of using weapons.

Skeleton soldiers were naturally fearless of death. Aside from their limited strength and relatively fragile bodies, their main weakness was that their attacks lacked lethality.

But once equipped with weapons, there was no doubt that the lethality of skeleton soldiers could be greatly increased.

After that, Zhou Xu tried having the skeleton soldiers assume several attack formations.

Sure enough, after officially upgrading from "skeletons" to "skeleton soldiers," their ability to carry out commands had clearly become stronger. It even felt as though their intelligence had increased.

However, they could still only form some simple formations. As for relatively complex formations, those were indeed still beyond their capabilities.

Fortunately, that was already enough for Zhou Xu.

Next, I need to see how strong these skeleton soldiers are in battle.

With that thought, Zhou Xu directly called out one of the tribe's warriors.

"I want to confirm the individual combat strength of this skeleton soldier. Fight a match against it. For safety's sake, use wooden clubs as your weapons."

If Zhou Chongshan had participated, the victory would certainly have been overwhelming and offered no basis for comparison. Zhou Xu would not have been able to see anything, so he had deliberately chosen an ordinary warrior from the tribe.

When the other man heard that they would only be using wooden clubs, he naturally felt no fear. He picked up a wooden club and walked out.

There was no need for further explanation. The surrounding tribespeople naturally formed a circle and began watching the spectacle.

Sure enough, the way people gathered to watch the excitement was more or less the same in every era.

Every one of them wore an expression of keen interest. Thinking about it carefully, in this primitive era with hardly any entertainment, this truly was a rare form of amusement for them.

The unexpectedly large crowd made the tribal warrior tense up all at once.

If he lost this badly, wouldn't he be humiliating himself completely?

At that thought, the tension in his heart made him become even more cautious from head to toe.

But Zhou Xu had no intention of letting them stalemate. He immediately signaled for the skeleton soldier to advance with its wooden club.

When the tribal warrior saw the skeleton soldier take the initiative to attack, his nervousness grew even stronger. Facing the blow, he hurriedly raised his club to block.

The next second, with a muffled bang, the two wooden clubs collided. After the tribal warrior froze for a moment, his heart immediately settled. He raised his wooden club and shoved forward, relying on his brute strength to ram the skeleton soldier into a stagger and nearly knock it to the ground.

Clearly, during that brief exchange, he had already realized that the skeleton soldier was not very strong.

Taking advantage of the other party's loss of balance, the tribal warrior did not hesitate. He immediately pressed the attack, sweeping his club sideways and knocking the skeleton soldier completely to the ground.

If that blow had struck an ordinary skeleton from before, it would probably have smashed it apart on the spot. But the skeleton soldier's frame was clearly tougher than that.

Although it had been knocked down, its skeleton remained intact, and its movements were not affected in the slightest.

At the same time, it could not feel pain. After being knocked down, it immediately crawled up from the ground using both hands and feet, waved its wooden club, and launched another attack.

Compared with the skeleton soldier, however, the tribal warrior's physical abilities were superior in every respect.

Moreover, the skeleton soldier's attacks were extremely monotonous and simple. Aside from swings and thrusts, it had nothing else, making its moves easy to read. Relying on a physical strength greater than an ordinary skeleton's, the warrior took several more blows, but in the end, the skeleton soldier still could not escape being beaten to pieces.

In the eyes of the onlookers, the tribal warrior had won with complete ease.

But only Zhou Xu knew that the greatest advantage of an individual skeleton soldier had not been brought into play at all in this one-on-one fight.

The greatest advantage of an individual skeleton soldier was that it did not fear death. That advantage could only be fully displayed when it wielded more lethal weapons and fought the enemy with its life on the line.

Not to mention, skeleton soldiers generally would not fight individually. Most of the time, they would charge forward in a swarm.

Regardless, after this fight, Zhou Xu was still quite satisfied with the skeleton soldier's performance.

At the same time, it had verified his earlier line of thought.

Sure enough, True Words can be combined and used freely! This is quite interesting...