There Was Always a Bigger Fish

Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes weren't stupid. After falling for the same trap too many times, they began avoiding Armory Camp, that Land of Death.

But they weren't as cunning as humans, and they couldn't escape the huge hand intent on hunting them down.

Medivh sent Transcendental Skeletons carrying sealed barrels of blood to skirmish across the wasteland, luring in and killing Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes.

Armory Camp didn't send everyone out at once. Instead, several Combat Skeleton squads took turns going out to hunt.

The other Combat Skeleton squads guarded Armory Camp, making sure no enemies could sneak up on them and that they could suppress any treacherous magic beast tribes immediately.

With Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes rampaging across the Odyssey Region, the non-combat Skeletons either scavenged the remains of creatures killed by the mosquitoes on the wasteland or stayed at Armory Camp, making bricks and building the walls and Underground Warehouse.

During the Mosquito Plague, Medivh kept busy, tirelessly crafting all kinds of Skeletons in the Underground Fortress.

The Mosquito Plague lasted for more than a month. By the time the Bloodthirsty Mosquito Swarm fled back to where they had come from, it had already been two months since Medivh had asked about the story of the Golden Bell.

Medivh hadn't taken any time off during those two months. He'd worked at full capacity, smelting Skeleton parts and assembling them to revive all kinds of Skeletons.

Thanks to his hard work, the Skeleton population at Armory Camp had exploded.

Over those two months, Medivh crafted 325 Grey Bone Skeletons, 236 White Bone Skeletons, and 164 Green Bone Skeletons.

Among the Green Bone Skeletons were six Transcendental Skeletons: four Flame Skeleton Knights, one Earth Skeleton Knight, and one Flame Skeleton Mage.

The Skeleton Knights had been assembled from the smelted remains of human knights found on the Ancient Battlefield, while the Skeleton Mage had been revived from the smelted remains of a human mage unearthed there.

Through Suixin's Voice of the Soul, Medivh restored the historical knowledge carried by the Transcendental Skeletons.

The Flame Battle Qi Breathing Technique still only had its first volume, but the number of Flame Battle Techniques had increased from three to five.

From the Earth Skeleton Knight, Medivh obtained the first volume of the Earth Battle Qi Breathing Technique, along with three earth-element battle techniques.

The Flame Skeleton Mage held the Fire Skull Staff in one hand and the Magic Bone Book in the other. Like the other Combat Skeletons, it had Bone Armor by nature.

The Flame Skeleton Mage's Magic Bone Book recorded five fire-element spells and three general-purpose spells.

Medivh couldn't learn the fire-element spells, but he could learn and use the general-purpose ones.

The Flame Skeleton Mage had powerful mental strength and could speak directly with Medivh, without needing Suixin to relay its words.

Under the Flame Skeleton Mage's tutelage, Medivh learned the general-purpose spells Cleanse, Mage Hand, and Magic Shield.

Cleanse needed no explanation. It was simply a support spell for cleaning away dust.

Mage Hand was a simple way of using one's mana through mental strength to grasp objects.

With Medivh's current mental strength and mana, he could only pick up small objects. Crushing someone to death was beyond him.

Mage Hand was merely a support spell. True offensive spells were elemental variants, such as Flame Grasp and Death Grasp.

The Flame Skeleton Mage knew Flame Grasp. Once Medivh advanced to become a full-fledged mage, he could try studying it to see if he could create a Death Grasp spell.

As the name implied, Magic Shield was a spell that used mana to protect oneself.

After learning the three general-purpose spells, Medivh finally looked a little like a proper mage.

During the Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes' rampage, the Skeletons at Armory Camp hunted them and absorbed their magic beast blood and refined blood essence, gaining a tremendous boost.

All the Transcendental Skeletons at camp took that final step and advanced to low-level first-rank Skeleton Knights, Skeleton Mages, and Spirit Cat Warlocks.

Among the Green Bone Skeletons, six Skeleton Warriors, three Skeleton Rangers, two Skeleton Assassins, and one Skeleton Farmer awakened their Bone Spirit Power and advanced into low-level first-rank Bone Spirits.

Armory Camp now had 469 Grey Bone Skeletons, 328 White Bone Skeletons, 290 Common Green Bone Skeletons, and 34 Transcendental Green Bone Skeletons.

By the time Medivh had been a Pioneer of Odyssey for eight months, Armory Camp's Skeleton population had exceeded one thousand.

A thousand Skeletons who never slept and never tired made for a highly efficient workforce.

The brickworks hadn't stopped during the Mosquito Plague, and construction in the Wall District had continued the whole time.

With construction proceeding in sections, the north wall was already finished, the east and west walls were more than halfway done, and thirty percent of the south wall was complete.

At the current pace, the high walls of the Wall District would be joined up within another month. Armory Camp would then be entirely enclosed by them and far more secure.

"Moo..."

After more than a month in their care, the herd of magic beast cattle had mostly recovered.

Medivh sent a Transcendental Skeleton to draw some blood.

With dozens of first-rank Skeletons watching them, the herd's leader let out an uneasy bellow.

Their panic soon subsided when they realized that the Skeletons weren't going to slaughter them for beef, but only wanted to take some of their blood.

Medivh understood sustainable development. He wouldn't kill the goose that laid the golden eggs for a momentary gain. He only took a small amount of blood, not enough to affect the cattle's growth.

"Moo!"

Once the leader understood Medivh's intentions, it let out a cheerful bellow.

It was only some blood. They could take it. As long as no one wanted to eat them, everything was fine.

The herd of magic beast cattle had no obvious elemental affinity. Since they had a pair of large horns, Medivh named them Big-Horned Oxen.

Big-Horned Oxen were huge and clumsy.

An ordinary Big-Horned Ox stood four meters tall at the shoulder and measured five meters from head to rump. A first-rank magic beast Big-Horned Ox stood six meters at the shoulder and measured eight meters long.

When Big-Horned Oxen charged out, they were like tanks. Under normal circumstances, they had few rivals in the Odyssey Region, but they couldn't do anything about Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes.

Seventy-four had fled to Armory Camp, including five first-rank magic beasts. The rest were ordinary Big-Horned Oxen whose magic beast bloodlines had yet to awaken.

After drawing the blood, Medivh used it to cultivate Green Bone Skeleton Rangers.

The magic beast blood drawn from five Big-Horned Oxen awakened the Bone Spirit Power of two older Green Bone Skeleton Rangers, advancing them into first-rank Bone Spirit Rangers.

This was sustainable cultivation. They could draw blood about once a month, producing two Bone Spirit Skeletons each time.

Medivh left the ordinary Big-Horned Oxen alone, hoping that more of them would awaken their magic beast bloodlines and provide him with magic beast blood.

After the blood was drawn, Medivh had the Logistics Skeletons bring the Big-Horned Oxen high-quality fodder as a reward.

After the Mosquito Plague, food was scarce in the Odyssey Region, because large numbers of beasts had been killed or migrated elsewhere.

But this didn't affect Armory Camp. Medivh's subordinates were Skeletons that didn't need to eat. The only ones who consumed food were him, Audrey, the Alien Maid, the Big-Horned Oxen, and the other grazing animals kept at camp.

The Big-Horned Oxen and other herbivores could feed on grass from the wasteland, so they weren't short on food.

When the Mosquito Plague broke out, Armory Camp had hunted many beasts fleeing through the area.

Their meat was stored in the Underground Freezer Medivh had made from Cold-Horned Deer Magic Cores.

At their usual rate of consumption, it would take years to finish the meat in the Underground Freezer.

Food shortages weren't a problem at Armory Camp.