Intensive Training

Standing before the Mass Grave, Liu Zhi watched the corpses trying to crawl out of the ground. A sudden feeling came over him, and he realized what the Mass Grave was for.

While his thoughts wandered, several corpses had already managed to crawl out.

They were all ordinary skeletons, nothing but dried-out frames of bone. Their bones were a somewhat dull yellow and looked rather brittle.

After crawling out, they didn't leave the Mass Grave. Instead, they wandered aimlessly around the area.

Liu Zhi noticed that dark Yin energy was constantly flowing into their bodies from beneath their feet.

After thinking it over, Liu Zhi headed toward the Mass Grave. He noticed that some arms still covered in rotting flesh were struggling to crawl up from inside it.

These were probably the zombies or walking corpses mentioned earlier.

As he approached the Mass Grave, a control panel suddenly appeared before him. It was the control panel for the Mass Grave, and could only be activated from a certain spot in front of it. Once he moved away, it would disappear automatically.

Here, Liu Zhi saw a character-creation interface, which already contained four different kinds of undead.

[Shattered Bone Crawler: A skeleton with only its upper body left. It has no use beyond serving as a sacrifice or as material for repairing other skeletons.]

[Wandering Skeleton: A soulless skeleton sustained purely by Yin energy. It wanders the Mass Grave by instinct and only performs tasks when ordered. Once its orders are complete, it returns to wandering around its original spot.]

[Walking Corpse: A wandering corpse whose muscles have not completely rotted away. It is less likely to fall apart than a Wandering Skeleton and can be put to work at heavy labor.]

[Skeleton Soldier: A skeleton that has slowly developed intelligence. It kills its own kind to strengthen itself and has some combat ability.]

After looking over the four kinds of undead, Liu Zhi more or less understood how the Mass Grave worked. It provided skeletons and walking corpses to serve as materials and labor. What came of them depended on each person's own research.

The Wandering Skeletons and Skeleton Soldiers before him looked almost identical at first glance. The only difference was that the Skeleton Soldiers carried bones taken from other Wandering Skeletons or Shattered Bone Crawlers.

Liu Zhi noticed that many of the Skeleton Soldiers were holding the spine of a Shattered Bone Crawler, as if it were a flail.

Liu Zhi casually summoned a few Skeleton Soldiers and had them fight one another. He soon discovered, somewhat helplessly, that their combat skills were nothing special. They paid no attention to defense at all, simply swinging their weapons at each other.

Their weapons had been torn off other skeletons, too. They broke after just a couple of blows, offering little advantage. The only good thing was that weapons like these were everywhere.

After a moment's thought, Liu Zhi understood. The Skeleton Soldiers recruited here were really just basic templates. Once summoned, they still needed a Necromancer to provide weapons and equipment.

"That'll do. I can prepare a few obsidian spears and equip them with those. Skeleton Soldiers are pretty agile, so they'd be a good choice as either javelin throwers or pikemen."

Muttering to himself, Liu Zhi prepared to have the Mass Grave produce a batch of Skeleton Soldiers, so he could fill out his Undead Army first.

But just then, he noticed a small plus sign beneath the four kinds of undead.

Liu Zhi tapped it and found that a new object, shaped like a grave mound, had appeared in the character-creation interface. When he focused on it, he could see a skeleton writhing inside.

Then Liu Zhi realized that he seemed to be able to put things into the skeleton.

For instance, he could give it a weapon or a piece of equipment so that it would emerge already armed.

Or he could give it a certain amount of Yin energy, making it naturally stronger than other skeletons.

But that wasn't the most important part. What mattered was that Liu Zhi noticed he could infuse a skeleton with any skill he knew, at the cost of a certain number of skill points.

For example, Liu Zhi had initially spent 30 experience points to learn [Sailor's Basic Swordsmanship Level 1]. If he was willing to spend another 30 experience points, the skeleton could also learn [Sailor's Basic Swordsmanship Level 1].

This gave Liu Zhi an idea.

He selected a skeleton that had not yet crawled out and spent 60 experience points to raise [Sailor's Basic Swordsmanship] and [Sailing Skill] to Level 1.

Sure enough, a new prompt appeared.

[Prompt: The skeleton meets the requirements for the Secondary Profession of Sailor. Train it as a Skeleton Sailor?]

"Yes."

Liu Zhi made his choice without hesitation.

At his command, a new skeleton crawled out from beneath the grave mound. At the same time, its new appearance was added to the selection interface.

Liu Zhi examined the skeleton closely. It didn't look much different from the others. Its arm bones were noticeably thicker, and its bones were covered in patches of water rust.

[Skeleton Sailor: A skeleton transformed from a deceased sailor. It still remembers Sailor's Basic Swordsmanship and Sailing Skill, making it suitable for fighting on the water. Each recruitment costs 60 experience points.]

Seeing this, Liu Zhi was somewhat tempted. He glanced at the other two sword techniques he knew, then at his remaining experience, gritted his teeth, and opened the selection menu again.

This time, however, the result wasn't what he'd hoped for. The two new skeletons were still Skeleton Soldiers. One had learned [Z-Secret Sword Level 1], and the other had learned [Indigo Chasing Wind Swordplay Level 1]. They might be able to use those sword techniques in battle, but they were still just Skeleton Soldiers without a profession.

"Forget it. I thought I might be able to train a new unit."

After sighing, Liu Zhi began looking into how to make walking corpses. But compared with the plentiful skeletons, there weren't many corpses he could use to create walking corpses.

After searching for a long time, Liu Zhi found only two test subjects. In the end, he turned just one of them into a Walking Corpse Sailor, establishing it as a new unit. He'd wanted to turn the other into a swordsman, but walking corpses moved too slowly. Giving them either of the sword techniques would be a waste, so he had to abandon the idea.

Still, this had taught Liu Zhi how to use the Mass Grave. It seemed that, besides combat units, many other Secondary Professions could be trained here.

That was good news for Liu Zhi. At least he wouldn't have to worry about his Nether Palace being empty.