Necromancer, But Before the Collapse: Chapter 5

This realization quietly took root in Vill-V's heart, her smile blooming like the morning sun, bright and warm.

"alt=Vill-V/

Chapter 7: Level 2 and Firm Resolve

When the melodious school bell rang, signaling the end of kindergarten, Emma stood at the kindergarten gate, waiting for her precious son.

She looked forward to Moros running out of the school gate like other children and throwing himself into her arms.

However, as Moros slowly walked out of the school gate, Emma was surprised to find him waving goodbye to a unique little girl.

It was a little girl with two-colored hair, her special hair color making her stand out from the crowd.

Emma stood quietly to the side, not immediately stepping forward to interrupt them.

She observed Moros' interaction with the little girl, feeling quite satisfied.

This was precisely her intention in sending Moros to kindergarten—to help him open up and build friendships.

As a mother, Emma knew her son was unique.

He was somewhat distant from his peers, but that didn't mean Moros lacked emotional needs.

Little Moros needed friends, people to share his joys and sorrows with!

Therefore, seeing Moros make a friend made Emma incredibly happy.

On the way home, Emma asked her precious son.

"Little Moros, did you have fun with that little girl with two-colored hair today?"

"Yes, Mom, her name is Vill-V, and we're friends."

Hearing this, Emma was quite surprised, as she knew how high her son's standards were for friends.

At least none of the children in their neighborhood had managed to become Moros' friend.

"Well, as long as you're happy."

Despite her surprise, Emma had no intention of interfering with her child's social life.

She simply smiled and gently stroked Moros' head before taking him to the waiting car parked in the nearby spot.

Since meeting Vill-V, Moros no longer viewed attending kindergarten as a reluctant act to avoid disappointing his mother.

He began to genuinely look forward to his kindergarten life, anticipating every day he would spend with Vill-V.

Under these circumstances, Moros and Vill-V's friendship naturally deepened with each passing day.

They played together, studied together, and shared their joys and sorrows.

However, Moros was not entirely immersed in happiness.

He was acutely aware of the responsibilities he carried and the challenges of the future, so he never relaxed his demands on himself.

Moros voluntarily increased the intensity of his daily magic studies and meditation, striving to improve his strength.

He understood that only the strong would have the freedom to choose in an era heading towards its end.

If he didn't want to regret it in the future, he had to push himself now.

Although the intense study and meditation left Moros feeling tired, they also brought him substantial experience rewards.

In just six days, Moros filled the last portion of his experience bar.

[Level Up!]

[Life Strength increased...]

[Mana +1]

[Select Skill: Attack / Dark Magic / Enlightenment]

Recovering from the exhilaration of his increased Life Strength, Moros began to analyze the pros and cons of each of the three options.

The first to be ruled out was [Attack].

A mere 5% attack bonus, and only for melee, was not worth Moros wasting a precious Hero Skill Slot on.

For an ordinary quality hero, there were only six Hero Skill Slots, and Moros was no exception.

Furthermore, the Necromancer class itself came with [Necromancy].

In other words, Moros only had five Hero Skill Slots that he could personally allocate.

Therefore, he had to choose his skills carefully to avoid wasting valuable slots.

Of course, self-taught skills were not bound by Hero Skill Slots.

However, the difficulty involved was another matter entirely.

Torn between [Dark Magic] and [Enlightenment] for a long time, Moros ultimately chose the latter.

As a Necromancer, he would eventually need to choose both skills.

But some things were more important than others.

For Moros's current situation, a skill like Enlightenment, which can increase his own growth speed, is what he needs most right now.

As Moros's thoughts flowed, the Enlightenment skill appeared in his hero skill slot.

[Enlightenment]: Increases the experience points obtained by the hero and improves spell power with upgrades.

Moros was ecstatic at the activation of the Enlightenment skill.

What Enlightenment brought was not just an increase in growth speed.

At the same time as the skill was activated, it also infused Moros with a lot of knowledge related to this skill.

With just a cursory glance, Moros found quite a bit of very useful knowledge and secret arts within this information.

Methods for practicing cultivation by replacing sleep with meditation, training methods to improve brain computational power, and how to make characteristic magical incense to increase meditation efficiency...

Although the knowledge infused by the beginner Enlightenment was relatively superficial, it was already considered extremely precious for a level 2 transcendent.

If this level of magical knowledge were in the world of Ashan, it would be enough for a beginner mage to risk their life for.

He had really struck it rich!

With an excited heart, Moros entered his demiplane in his true form for the first time.

He had already delayed for a full 3 years. After realizing that the world he was in was the previous civilization from Honkai Impact 3rd that was annihilated by the Herrscher of the End, Moros had made up his mind to start conquering the wild buildings scattered throughout the demiplane.

Reality was different from games; heroes leading troops on expeditions had no damage immunity.

Considering this, Moros had never stepped out of his Graveyard city in the past 3 years.

Now, with Moros's level reaching 2, his life strength had also climbed to the level of an ordinary adult.

At this moment, he could no longer suppress the urge to send out troops to conquer wild buildings.

Moros knew very well that the previous civilization had not lasted very long in the face of the Honkai disaster.

From the Third Great Honkai, which marked the emergence of Honkai, to the annihilation of the world by the Herrscher of the End, it would not exceed ten years.

This amount of time was not generous for a mage's cultivation.

To possess the ability to control his own destiny in the future, Moros had to take certain risks now.

Stepping into the ruined city that had been transformed over 3 years, no, perhaps it was more appropriate to call it a Graveyard city now, Moros walked directly towards the Tavern.

Although no heroes would visit the tavern located in the demiplane, the intelligence it could provide was not discounted.

As the saying goes, "Know yourself and your enemy, and you will win a hundred battles." To obtain information about the monster troops occupying the wild resource buildings, it was worth spending some gold.

Spending a few hundred gold coins, Moros easily obtained intelligence on the defenders of all basic resource buildings within a day's journey from the Graveyard city in the demiplane.

After reviewing the intelligence bought from the tavern, Moros had a more in-depth understanding of the enemies he would face.

It seemed he couldn't achieve it all in one go...

Thinking this, Moros pushed open the tavern door and headed towards the Blacksmith.

Chapter 8: Assembling Troops and Capturing the Lumber Mill

Purchasing war machines other than the Medical Tent at the Blacksmith did indeed cost three times the price, but Moros didn't care and resolutely paid 7250 gold coins to acquire three battlefield implements.

Compared to the importance of capturing resource buildings, these gold coins were insignificant in his eyes.

After upgrading the Village Hall to the Town Hall, Moros's daily gold income had increased from 500 gold to 1000 gold.

It was this leap in income that allowed him to be so extravagant at this moment.

[Ballista]: Evolved from the crossbow, the powerful ballista can launch ultra-long-range attacks.

[Medical Tent]: The emergency tent is a valuable tool for any type of army – wounded soldiers or creatures can be brought here for treatment.

[Ammunition Cart]: Loaded with arrows of various specifications and sizes, the ammunition cart can be found in any well-equipped army's supply train.

After putting away the three war machines with the hero template, Moros strode out of the Blacksmith and headed towards the four troop recruitment buildings standing in the Graveyard city.

[Boneyard], [Crypt], [Ruined Tower], and [Vampire Mansion].

Prior to this, apart from a small number of Skeleton soldiers and Zombies recruited to clear the city ruins, Moros had not recruited any other undead soldiers.

As the master of the demiplane, Moros knew very well that there were no real enemies in this demiplane created by some great existence.

Even if those monster troops occupied wild buildings, they would not attack his territory.

Under such circumstances, Moros naturally had no need to recruit undead troops.

But now, the situation had changed.

To conquer the closest basic resource buildings to the Graveyard city, Moros needed to raise a passable undead army.

Through the intelligence bought from the tavern, Moros already knew the details of the monster troops occupying the Sawmill and Ore Pit.

Those were not the ridiculous small teams of dozens of people from the game.

The monster troops occupying these basic resource buildings were of a scale no less than a thousand, which was why Moros had restrained his desires until today.

Of course, this was also because Moros had allowed them to occupy the wild buildings for too long.

If it were when he had just become a lord, the scale of these monster troops would not have been much larger than in the game.

With all the gold accumulated over three years depleted, Moros found himself at the head of a massive undead legion.

3120 Skeleton Archers; 1980 Zombies; 855 Ghosts; 175 Vampires.

Considering the element of surprise, an undead force of this magnitude could directly defeat a fully armed, brigade-level armored unit.

Wielding such a powerful army, Moros was filled with ambition.

He firmly believed that this time, he could sweep away the enemy forces occupying the target's outdoor structures, laying a solid foundation for the future development of his Graveyard city.

Following the guidance of the demiplane map, Moros, riding in a carriage pulled by Skeleton Warhorses, led his vast undead troops toward the objective of this expedition.

The closest structure to the Graveyard city was the [Lumber Mill].

"I didn't dare to take risks before, so I let you exist, but now, you should become the sustenance for my growth!"

Gazing at the [Lumber Mill] in the distance, occupied by thousands of [Peasants] and hundreds of [Conscripts], Moros excitedly ordered the undead army to begin deploying.

Since his side held a numerical advantage, Moros naturally intended to fully utilize it.

Therefore, he arranged his formations according to the military formation knowledge he had learned at the Mage Guild, striving to maximize their combat effectiveness.

The efficiency of undead units was beyond question.

At Moros's command, the undead army rapidly deployed, forming an offensive front line that symbolized death.

If not for the fact that Ghosts and Vampires could fly, the battlefield surrounding the [Lumber Mill] would likely be unable to accommodate the clash of over ten thousand troops from both sides.

With the sheer numbers of the undead army commanded by Moros, as their formations spread out, they were also discovered by the peasant and conscript monster troops.

For any ordinary force, facing such a massive enemy would inevitably lead to panic.