After breaking through to Dou Zhe, Lin Ze immediately looked at the Bronze Mirror.
Sure enough, the information on the Bronze Mirror had changed.
[Mirror Master: Lin Ze] [Rank: Dou Zhe] (At the current rank, he can manifest four White Common Death Soldiers each day. They can be summoned by consuming Flesh Essence and are absolutely loyal.)
The number of Death Soldiers he could summon each day had doubled, reaching four.
"I wonder if the increase follows a fixed ratio or an exponential increase?"
"I hope it's exponential..."
"Otherwise, if it only increases by two at each rank, even after breaking through to Dou Sheng, I'll still only be able to summon a handful of Death Soldiers each day."
Lin Ze thought to himself.
"Too bad I've already finished manifesting them for today. Otherwise, I could have summoned two more Death Soldiers."
"I still need to test the Proxy Function. I hope its duration hasn't been cut too drastically."
Lin Ze spoke with some concern.
Strictly speaking, the Ordinary Death Soldiers he summoned were just ordinary people.
If ordinary people were considered Rank 0, Dou Qi Rank 1, and Dou Zhe Rank 2,
then lending his current strength to a Death Soldier would mean crossing two ranks!
Lin Ze was worried the Death Soldiers might not be able to withstand it.
There was only one way to find out.
Because of the previous tests, A-Da and the others had all already used the Proxy Function.
Of the two Death Soldiers keeping watch in Qingshan Town, only A-San had yet to use it.
You're up, A-San!
A-Da and the others, who were hunting on the outskirts of the Magical Beast Mountain Range, suddenly stopped.
Lin Ze took control of A-Da and ordered A-San.
"A-San, use the Proxy Function. Let me see your limits!"
"Yes!"
A-San nodded immediately.
The next moment, Dou Qi suddenly appeared inside A-San, who had been an ordinary person just moments before.
Somewhat clumsily, A-San gathered the Dou Qi into his fist.
At the Dou Zhe level, one still couldn't release Dou Qi outside the body.
That was only possible after breaking through the Acupoint barrier at the Da Dou Shi stage.
So A-San could only gather the Dou Qi in the acupoint on his fist. The milky-white Dou Qi glimmered faintly, its light rather weak.
Bang!
His fist slammed straight into the thick tree trunk beside him, so wide that a person could barely wrap their arms around it.
When A-San pulled his fist back, it was covered in wood chips.
This was only the strength of a newly advanced Dou Zhe, with pure Dou Qi that had yet to be cultivated through a Cultivation Method or transformed into an attribute, and it already had such destructive power.
Lin Ze watched from the side and nodded repeatedly.
Only after three minutes did A-San leave the Proxy State.
"The duration has dropped to three minutes? That's still acceptable."
Lin Ze went over to inspect A-San, who had suddenly collapsed to the ground.
He found that the backlash was even worse than when A-Er had endured ten minutes of his Dou Disciple Rank 9 strength.
A-San had even suffered internal injuries, not merely a day of weakness.
"Looks like I'd better keep the Proxy Function to two minutes, or even a minute and a half..."
"That should reduce the backlash on the Death Soldiers."
Lin Ze recorded the results of his Proxy Function experiment so he could develop it more effectively.
In Lin Ze's eyes, the Proxy Function was extraordinarily useful.
At his current, meager level of strength, it was hard to see its true potential.
But if Lin Ze became powerful in the future and reached the Dou Venerate or Dou Sheng realm, his Death Soldiers would also be able to unleash the terrifying power of a Dou Venerate or Dou Sheng at any time.
So he had to develop the Proxy Function more thoroughly.
However, all the Death Soldiers had already tried the Proxy Function today. He would have to wait until tomorrow to continue.
Lin Ze told two Death Soldiers to take good care of A-San, then released his control.
Fire Wolf Town.
Lin Ze got out of bed, planning to test his Dou Qi Attribute.
Tools for testing Dou Qi Attributes were fairly common.
Even those who didn't come from a clan had plenty of ways to get their attributes tested.
Lin Ze found a shop in Fire Wolf Town and bought some Magical Beast meat.
While he was there, he borrowed the shop's testing tool to check his Dou Qi Attribute.
When Lin Ze emerged from the shop with a sack full of Magical Beast meat, he looked neither especially pleased nor very disappointed.
His Dou Qi Attribute was Wind Attribute.
It was a shame it wasn't the Fire and Wood Attribute required of the esteemed Yao Clan alchemists, but Lin Ze didn't consider Wind Attribute a bad one.
Wind Attribute's traits were sharpness and speed.
And as the Bronze Mirror Master, Lin Ze could continually raise an army of Death Soldiers.
Once he truly got things going, the returns from the army-building approach would be considerable.
The only weakness of that approach was Lin Ze himself.
He could raise tens of thousands of Death Soldiers, but if he died, it would all be over.
The speed that came with Wind Attribute would clearly let him make a Strategic Retreat when faced with danger, even if he couldn't win.
As for Cultivation Methods, Lin Ze's parents had collected a few low-tier ones.
From what he remembered, they had a Huang Tier High Grade Gale Art.
That was already a very respectable rank.
After all, his parents had only been mercenaries making a living in a small town.
The Cultivation Methods they could get their hands on were generally no better than Yellow Tier.
And the Huang Tier High Grade Cultivation Method was something Lin Ze's parents had obtained by chance during an unexpected adventure in the Magical Beast Mountain Range.
"But that Huang Tier High Grade Cultivation Method was hidden near Qingshan Town. I'll have to send A-Da and the others to retrieve it."
Qingshan Town was a chaotic place. Even if you had a house, there was no guarantee the things inside would be safe, so many mercenaries had a habit of hiding their belongings.
Lin Ze's parents had kept some of their savings at home, but they had hidden important Cultivation Methods and the like in secret places.
That night, Lin Ze controlled A-Da and the others and had them retrieve the things his parents had hidden in a secluded spot.
Besides a few Cultivation Methods and Dou Skills, there was also a black Gold Deposit Card.
These ordinary Gold Deposit Cards had a maximum capacity of no more than five thousand gold coins.
It held the savings Lin Ze's parents had accumulated over many years of hard work.
Looking at the black Gold Deposit Card, Lin Ze took a deep breath and suppressed the emotions welling up inside him.
These were the last things his parents had left him.
As for the things at the Iron Blood Mercenary Group's headquarters, most of them had belonged to the group as a whole.
Weapons, tents, supplies, exploration tools, and the like.
But the Wolf Head Mercenary Group had seized them through trickery and force. Lin Ze wouldn't just let that go.
And after hearing what Mu Li had said today, Lin Ze had already set himself a small goal.
He would do his best to bring down the Wolf Head Mercenary Group as soon as possible!
And to reach that goal, strength was indispensable.
With that thought,
Lin Ze turned his gaze to the Cultivation Methods and Dou Skills before him.
One Cultivation Method was the one his parents had practiced, while another was the Gale Art they had obtained by chance.
As for Dou Skills, there was a Forest Piercing Movement Technique, suited for use in the forest.
Unfortunately, there were no Wind Attribute Offensive Dou Techniques among them.
However, he had practiced some Yellow Tier Offensive Dou Techniques during the Dou Qi stage, and they would still come in handy in certain situations.
"Next, I'll practice the Cultivation Method, train in Dou Skills, and increase my strength!"
Before you continue