A Vampire Transformation Ritual of this level was naturally insufficient to create intermediate vampires comparable to Vampire Lords, the Level 4 undead unit.
But for Moros, it was just right.
He had never intended to provide those elites with any particularly advanced Vampire Transformation Ritual.
After all, Fuyuan City's elites wanted to become vampires only in pursuit of immortality and eternal youth.
Even the most ordinary vampires could easily fulfill those desires.
It was just that these lowest-tier vampires had far too many flaws.
Bloodthirsty, afraid of sunlight, garlic, running water, and silver, with physical abilities only slightly stronger than the limits of ordinary humans.
In fact, aside from immortality and youth, vampires of this level were inferior to ordinary humans in many respects.
But he was not using it on himself or anyone he cared about. Why would he care about the fate of the vampires he created?
Besides, from the very beginning, Moros had never intended for vampires to survive into the next generation.
Under such circumstances, weaker vampires better served his interests.
I hope this experiment brings me enough data and inspiration.
Moros silently thought.
That was right. Besides using it to win over this planet's elite class, Moros had another reason for bringing out the initial version of the Vampire Transformation Ritual.
It was to collect valuable data and lay the foundation for his future research into more advanced Vampire Transformation Rituals.
From the Finality that destroyed the world to the next era of civilization lay a vast span of fifty thousand years.
Even legendary mages found it difficult to cross such a long stretch of time without relying on life-extending spells or potions.
Those without foresight would surely face immediate worries.
To live until the next era, Moros had to make preparations.
In the Ashan World, spellcasters of the Graveyard faction had relatively easy access to methods of seeking long life.
They could transform into liches through the Endless Night Ritual, or choose the Vampire Transformation Ritual to become vampires.
Both were viable paths to extending one's life.
And compared to emotionless liches without blood or tears, vampires, who could still savor the beauties of the human world, were clearly more suited to Moros's needs.
However, when it came to the Vampire Transformation Ritual he would use on himself, Moros naturally sought perfection.
To that end, he had to gather vast amounts of data and thoroughly study and master the more profound and complicated High-level Vampire Transformation Ritual.
Two days later.
In a little-known secret laboratory on the outskirts of Fuyuan City.
Materials were piled up like mountains here, while all manner of cutting-edge technological equipment filled the room.
The former had been meticulously prepared by Fuyuan City's elites according to the material list Moros had provided for the Vampire Transformation Ritual.
Even these elites, standing at the pinnacle of power in the city cluster centered around Fuyuan City, had expended no small amount of effort to gather those materials.
As for the cutting-edge technological equipment, the elites had specially arranged it after obtaining Moros's permission.
They hoped to use those instruments to capture every subtle detail of the ritual, allowing them to gain a deeper understanding of its secrets.
The elites' ambitions were obvious. They yearned to glimpse the mysteries of Moros's power through today's ritual, even fantasizing about mastering the Vampire Transformation Ritual and escaping his control.
Yet Moros merely wore a mocking smile at their ambitions and said nothing.
If this complicated ritual could be replicated through only a few simple observations, why would Vampirism, this Battle Spell, have a casting level as high as Level 5?
Not to mention that these elites had not even mastered the most basic magic knowledge. Trying to touch the core of magic through the observation of a few technological instruments was nothing more than a fantasy.
But Moros also knew that, given the nature of these elites who stood above countless others, they would not turn back until they hit a wall.
Therefore, he had no intention of stopping them.
When Fuyuan City's elites proposed observing the upcoming Vampire Transformation Ritual, he even agreed without hesitation.
After all, if they did not experience despair firsthand a few times, how could these elites willingly serve him?
Well versed in human nature, Moros knew that only when these elites truly recognized their own insignificance and helplessness would they cherish the Vampire Transformation Ritual he offered all the more.
Only then would they become his loyal lackeys, running themselves ragged for his interests.
Standing in the center of the ritual site, Moros used invisible hands of magic to carve the final magic rune into the prepared obsidian.
Then he asked the test subjects—no, warriors—who were about to become the first batch of vampires on this planet.
"Then, ladies and gentlemen, are you ready to step into a new life?"
Cooperation and Howitzers
The Vampire Transformation Ritual personally presided over by Moros proceeded extremely smoothly. Under the might of magic, sixteen men and women of different ages successfully transformed into the lowest-ranking Childe-class vampires.
Although vampires of this level were the weakest and lowest-ranked beings in the vampire hierarchy, without even independent autonomy, they still possessed physical abilities equivalent to Level 2 warriors.
Together with the long lifespans and eternal youth possessed by every vampire, this Vampire Transformation Ritual left Fuyuan City's elites quite satisfied.
With such success as a foundation, what followed naturally fell into place.
In order to secure more vampire transformation slots, especially slots that would allow them to successfully transform themselves, Fuyuan City's elites all extended olive branches to Moros, offering him unprecedented support.
Although Moros could now directly Dominate Human through the power of magic, the functioning of modern society required enormous resources and manpower.
Even if he temporarily controlled these elites using the Battle Spell Puppet Master, such domination would be difficult to sustain.
At the very least, for the continuous collection of resources such as lumber, ore, and crystal, that amount of time was clearly far from enough.
But now, with the elites' sincere cooperation and willingness, Moros could put the resources of the Pre-Collapse Civilization to work for himself.
He had previously conducted experiments and confirmed that resources extracted by the Pre-Collapse Civilization could be converted into the resources required by Graveyard City.
Although the conversion process was inefficient, it was still an extremely valuable discovery.
Moros had already occupied every wild resource building in the Demiplane, which meant that Graveyard City's resource production rate had reached its peak.
Against such a backdrop, the resources extracted by the Pre-Collapse Civilization became especially precious.
Thanks to this additional supply of resources, Graveyard City's finances achieved a historic transformation from deficit to surplus.
This change not only provided a solid economic foundation for Moros's future path in magic, but also meant that the Undead Legion under his command could expand at an unprecedented rate.
Tomb of the Lost indeed possessed the miraculous power to increase Graveyard City's unit production by 50%, but turning those increased recruitment slots into actual undead units required enormous amounts of Ashan Gold Coin and rare resources.
Furthermore, Moros had to consider the units recruitable from wild unit recruitment buildings, as well as the additional costs needed to promote those units into their corresponding advanced forms.
Not only that, he also had to reserve sufficient resources for his magical experiments.
Learning magic was extremely expensive. If Moros had not possessed a small Demiplane roughly the size of a province on Earth, he likely would not have been able to sustain his path in magic.
Taking all those factors into consideration, the actual number of undead units Moros could recruit each week was rather limited.
More units existed as recruitment slots in their corresponding unit recruitment buildings, waiting for the right moment to be turned into real combat power.
But now, everything was different.
With the resources provided by Fuyuan City's elites, Moros could not only turn all his accumulated recruitment slots into actual undead units, but also advance far more smoothly along the path of magical learning.
And with resource collection as a cover, Eden's becoming a major shareholder in XX Entertainment Company was naturally concealed.
After reaching a partnership with the elite class of the city cluster centered around Fuyuan City, the resources Moros could mobilize instantly increased countless times over.
Previously, he could only obtain what he needed by throwing money at it. Now, with a single word from him, the resources he needed would arrive as promised and be placed before him.
Even more notably, many valuable items that had once been beyond his reach now fell into Moros's hands as well.
For example, the killing machines currently displayed before him—the standard-issue 155MM Howitzers used by the regular army of Mu Continent.
Though there was only one artillery battery of them—six guns—to Moros, they were still precious war machines he had once found impossible to obtain.
Of course, these treasures, pulled from a military base near Fuyuan City by the city's elites under the pretext of retirement, were old-model weapons that had not undergone Collapse Energy modification.
Even Fuyuan City's immensely powerful bureaucrats found it difficult to get their hands on the new 155MM Howitzers modified with Collapse Energy.
The commander of the troops stationed near Fuyuan City was indeed greedy for money and lustful for women, but since he had become the military commander of an entire region, the major general knew very well which things could be touched and which could not.
For those old cannons that had not undergone Collapse Energy modification, he was willing to "retire" them for stacks of green banknotes. But when it came to those newly assigned heavy guns modified with Collapse Energy, the major general did not dare entertain the slightest thought of laying hands on them.
Even so, those old 155MM Howitzers were still sensitive equipment. Without the channels of Fuyuan City's elites, Moros would never have been able to touch their cold barrels.
As for the black markets and darknet usually used for arms smuggling, they had no confidentiality worth mentioning when it came to weapons and equipment of this level.
To ordinary people, the black market and darknet were like clouds in the sky, distant and unreachable. But to Mu Continent's military, they were merely flea markets for disposing of obsolete or unwanted supplies.
Even so, the military remained cautious when handling such materials.
Weapons with immense destructive power, such as 155MM Howitzers, would be handled by designated personnel even if they were outdated models, rather than casually tossed into flea markets.
That was not difficult to understand.
Even an old 155MM Howitzer without Collapse Energy modification had a lethal radius of nearly five hundred meters when firing high-explosive shells.
That already exceeded the area of a standard football field.
Without deep connections, who could possibly obtain such a devastating weapon from the military?
But Moros did not care about the story behind those six howitzers.
Before the handover personnel sent by Fuyuan City's elites, he openly unfolded a Demiplane passage leading to the Graveyard territory.
In fact, Moros's ability to open portals had long been an open secret among the upper rulers of Mu Continent and even the entire Pre-Collapse Civilization.
The undead army that had once ravaged Y City before ultimately being wiped out by the military was powerful proof of that ability.
At that moment, under the necromancer's command, a strange force made up of Skeleton Archers and Plague Zombies struggled to drag all six 155MM Howitzers, including their towing vehicles, into the Demiplane.
Moros very much wanted to know whether these modern artillery pieces could replace the current long-range war machines of his Undead Legion—the ballistae—on future battlefields.
If they could, that would be wonderful.
Thoughts on Going Premium
This was the second time I had written a premium-release note.
Just as the title said, this book was going premium as well.
First of all, thank you all for your support.
Without you, this book could not have made it this far.
Special thanks to: Masked Fool 45 Sister, This Avatar Has Been Harmonized, Venti, and Lonely Dove for your support.
Having fan value before going premium truly left me both surprised and honored.
I would also like to thank my editor, Orange. Their help has been substantial.
To express my gratitude to everyone, I will release more chapters after it goes premium.
Probably around six chapters. After all, I am not writing full-time, so I cannot handle much more than that.
As for updates, after going premium, I will release two chapters every day, just like my previous book, at exactly noon.
Additionally, at the beginning of every month, I will release two extra chapters.
As for more than that, we can only see when the time comes.
Lastly, what should I say?
Friends who think this book is decent, then...
Please subscribe. Your subscriptions are my greatest support.
Here, I promise all readers that no matter how poorly this book performs, I will finish Moros's story.
Readers who have read my previous book should be able to understand that.
All right, that is all. Let us encourage one another, everyone!
PS:
Generational Upgrades in war machines
Before you continue