The Story of the Golden Bell

The fox girls and rabbit girls in the camp watched the changes in the cat girls.

They had provided Medivh with intelligence about the ancient battlefield, but the location was far from the Armory District camp, so Medivh had no plans to excavate there for now.

"Hehe, what a bright sunny day!"

On the morning after finishing the ancient battlefield excavation, Audrey rubbed her eyes, looked at the warm sunlight streaming through the window of Medivh's room, and giggled.

Back at the camp, Medivh was in an excellent mood as he dealt with Audrey, who had been hanging around in front of him again.

Medivh kept his promises, and Audrey gleefully enjoyed her first big meal.

Her fantasy came true; bathed in sunlight like a lazy kitten, Audrey playfully nuzzled against Medivh.

Woken by her, Medivh met her gaze, stretched with a smile, and got up to tidy things.

After balancing work and rest and refreshing himself, Medivh focused again on refining skeleton parts and resurrecting the Time Skeleton.

Audrey was sensible and didn't disturb Medivh while he worked.

After her daily training, she put on her armor, mounted her horse, and patrolled the camp.

"Good morning, Sister Suixiang!"

When she ran into Suixiang, Audrey dismounted to greet her, unable to hide the pride in her eyes.

Medivh dealing with her first was the greatest recognition of her status.

Suixiang and Suixin had been very proactive lately, but Medivh only used them to ease his hands and relieve boredom—the crucial step had been achieved with her first.

No matter who won Medivh's favor in the future, they would have to call her "big sister" in her presence.

"Sister Audrey, good day!"

Hearing an unfamiliar form of address, Suixiang was startled at first, then responded with delight.

She had participated in last night's excavation and watched Medivh take Audrey away; she knew this guardian knight, who had been by Medivh's side from the start, was deeply favored.

Audrey's status in the camp was unquestionable.

The change in Audrey's address meant she acknowledged Suixiang's role as a maid and encouraged her to boldly serve Medivh.

While Audrey was teaching the cat girls, Medivh was busy refining skeleton parts.

He prioritized smelting the bones of Spirit Cat people suspected to be Spirit Rune Warriors, trying to create more Spirit Cat Skeleton Warriors.

A Spirit Cat Skeleton Warrior, when first resurrected, was below Tier 1, but as long as the Inheritance Spirit Rune was completed, it could take that final step and effectively become Tier 1.

Over the next half month, Medivh smelted a large number of Spirit Cat people bones, using the refined Spirit Cat skeleton parts to assemble and resurrect five Spirit Cat Warriors and one Spirit Cat Warlock.

This batch of Spirit Cat Warriors and the Spirit Cat Warlock further perfected the Spirit Cat Race's Inheritance Spirit Rune.

Spirit Cat Combat Techniques increased from six to nine, and the Spirit Cat Warlock's inheritance grew richer.

Those five Spirit Cat Warriors, after completing their Inheritance Spirit Runes, smoothly advanced to Tier 1 Low Grade, adding several more powerful fighters to the Armory District camp.

While assembling and resurrecting the Spirit Cat skeletons, Medivh also used the skeleton parts refined from ordinary Spirit Cat people bones.

The Armory District camp gained thirty-six Green Bone Skeletons, all combat types—warriors, rangers, and assassins.

Currently, everything in the Armory District camp was improving; the urgency they'd felt upon first arriving in the Odyssey Region was gone.

Between refining skeleton parts and resurrecting skeletons, Medivh didn't mind doing something to relax.

Those who helped him relax were sometimes Audrey, sometimes Suixiang and Suixin, and sometimes the affectionate little cat Suihua.

"Suihua, what's the meaning behind this bell?"

One day, Medivh toyed with the small golden bell tied around Suihua's neck and asked curiously.

The ringing earlier had immersed him, making him unconsciously speed up.

"This bell was given to me by Suixiang. When I was little, I loved running out to play. Suixiang was worried I'd get lost and not find my way home, so she tied this bell around my neck. That way, whenever it rang, she could find me."

Suihua spoke warmly about the bell's origin—a testament to their sisterly bond.

Originally, the Slave Hunter Group had only caught her; Suixiang was captured only because she followed the bell's sound to find her.

Suixiang always tried to shield her, but glancing at Suixiang, who was fast asleep from exhaustion, Suihua smiled and narrowed her eyes.

Suixiang was such an idiot—sometimes, she didn't need protection.

"I see."

Medivh listened patiently to their story, and by the time Suihua finished, he had rested enough.

Without continuing to tease the affectionate little cat, Medivh stretched and went to inspect the camp's construction progress.

With over three hundred skeletons working tirelessly, the Armory District camp was being built very quickly.

The outer twin-fortress-style buildings in the small block of the Armory District were already over seventy percent complete.

In a few more days, the Armory District's buildings would be finished.

The Residential District would be left for now; once the Armory District was done, they'd directly build the Wall District, enclosing the Armory District camp within high walls.

"Still short on manpower!"

Medivh was not entirely satisfied with the pace of the camp's construction.

Now that he had twelve first-tier skeletons, plus Medivh, Audrey, four non-first-tier transcendent skeletons, and several hundred ordinary skeletons, the camp's combat strength was sufficient.

He planned to focus first on producing a batch of Grey Bone and White Bone Skeletons for construction, completing the first large square district as soon as possible.

Both military strength and development had to be pursued simultaneously. Once the first district was built, he could enclose land and start agriculture and animal husbandry.

Time Skeletons could grow, and it was currently known that Magic Beast blood had a tremendous effect on advancing Time Skeletons to transcendence.

Once he enclosed resource zones one by one, he could raise Magic Beasts in those fortified enclosures.

He could also grow crops for food and herd cattle and sheep for meat.

Besides Magic Beasts, bones could also be cultivated.

Medivh was an archaeologist in his past life and had considerable expertise in properly preserving remains.

Over the past six months, all the thugs and foreigners he had eliminated were properly buried in designated areas.

Medivh would not waste materials. Those fresh corpses buried in the ground would accumulate historical depth over the years.

High-tier transcendent beings had long lifespans. In the future, Medivh's territory would have one fortified enclosure after another that created history.

In those enclosures, the fresh corpses Medivh acquired would be properly buried, accumulating historical depth beneath the earth.

Medivh would activate the bones as circumstances dictated, harvesting a batch of bone materials of predetermined age.

This batch of bone materials could be Grey Bone, White Bone, Green Bone, Blue Bone, Purple Bone, or even above Purple Bone.

With his goal set, Medivh threw himself entirely into refining Grey Bone and White Bone Skeletons.

With his mana as a Senior Mage Apprentice, refining several dozen Grey Bone and White Bone Skeletons a day was no problem.

The ordinary skeletons in the Armory District camp grew more numerous day by day.

On the fifth day of Medivh's immersive refining, the outer twin-fortress-style buildings of the Armory District were fully enclosed, wrapping the castle district within a double-layer wall, making it much safer.

The brick kiln, expanded several times, produced large bricks day and night for building the city walls.

The ordinary skeletons that completed the Armory District construction did not rest for a moment but went straight to the Wall District to dig the foundation trenches.

Medivh had already made the plans; the skeletons only needed to faithfully follow his blueprints.