However, the farmers and militia currently occupying the Lumber Mill were units from the Haven faction.
Although the morale attribute affected them, it was far from enough to make them collapse without a fight.
The farmers picked up their pitchforks and formed a dense formation together with the militia.
Skeleton Archers, volley!
Following Moros's command, the Skeleton Archers drew their bows and fired thousands of bone arrows at the clustered farmers and militia.
As the arrow rain tore through the air, the farmers and militia did their utmost to respond, swinging their pitchforks and spears in an attempt to knock down the deadly arrows.
This response was not entirely ineffective. Some of the arrows were indeed successfully knocked aside.
However, faced with arrows falling as densely as raindrops, large numbers of farmers and militia were still struck and fell into pools of blood.
The Skeleton Archers' attacks were considered weak among the many unit types of Ashan World.
Yet their power was no less than that of modern compound bows. Combined with the faint Death Mana wrapped around the arrows, a hit on an ordinary person had a fifty percent chance of being directly fatal.
After just one volley of arrows, nearly a thousand farmers and militia had fallen.
Seeing how effective the Skeleton Archers' attacks were, Moros could not help feeling a trace of regret over his earlier caution.
But if he had to choose again, Moros would still choose to march out only after gaining the ability to protect himself.
Skeleton Archers, continue the volley!
Under Moros's command, another wave of arrows poured down.
Zombies, protect the Skeleton Archers!
At the same time, nearly two thousand zombies roared as they pressed forward, forming a wall of flesh and blood before the Skeleton Archers to protect the fragile ranged unit.
Ghosts, Vampires, maintain altitude and prepare to dive at any moment!
The Ghosts and Vampires circled in the sky, ready to swoop down and attack at any time.
Moros's carefully arranged tactics turned the undead army into a precisely operating war machine, ruthlessly devouring the enemy's lives.
After the second volley, less than half of the already devastated farmer and militia force remained standing compared to before the battle.
The horrific casualties shattered the morale threshold of the monster troops, plunging them into chaos.
However, the monsters' chaos did not affect Moros's command.
While the farmers and militia hesitated to advance, the third and fourth waves of arrows descended upon their heads as well.
At this point, the outcome of the battle was already clear.
At the cost of consuming a large number of arrows, the undead army won this battle without suffering a single casualty.
Harvest and Explosive Growth in Strength
Glorious victory! Hero gained 8,848 experience points! Level up! Life force increased... Mana +1 Please choose a skill: Defense / Luck / Dark Magic
The moment the last militia soldier fell, his body riddled with arrows, a string of notifications popped up on the Hero Panel.
Slaughter truly was the finest nourishment for a necromancer's growth.
After just one major battle, the experience Moros gained was enough to raise him several levels.
The leveling system of Ashan World differed from that of Faerûn. Once one had enough experience, levels rose automatically; there was no such thing as deliberately suppressing one's level.
After making his choices, Moros successfully reached Level 7, and his Hero Panel underwent tremendous changes as well.
Level: 7 Attack: 0+1 Defense: 1+1 Mana: 5+3 Knowledge: 2 Skills: Necromancy (Intermediate), Enlightenment (Intermediate), Dark Magic (Basic), Summoning Magic (Basic), Destruction Magic (Basic)
Feeling the unprecedented power within him, Moros's smile grew brighter and brighter as he could not help sighing.
"Power! Power is surging through me!"
Clenching his fists, Moros could feel every cell in his body becoming active, cheering.
This was no illusion caused by a sudden surge in strength.
In essence, raising one's class level was a process of ascending to a higher level of life.
The leap from Level 0 to Level 1 symbolized an ordinary person's transformation into a transcendent being, while the leap from Level 10 to Level 11 represented an ordinary transcendent evolving into a creature of the Exemplar Tier.
As for the divide between low and mid-tier at Level 5 and Level 6?
Although there was already a gap in strength between low-tier and mid-tier professionals, their levels of life were the same.
Every increase in level enhanced one's life potential.
As that enhancement accumulated, one's level of life naturally ascended as well.
Take Moros's current physical condition as an example. After rising from Level 2 to Level 7, his physique, originally only comparable to that of an ordinary adult, had improved dramatically and reached the level of a Destiny B-Rank Valkyrie.
Do not underestimate B-Rank Valkyries. Such strength was enough to guarantee their victory against a Chariot-class Honkai Beast in a one-on-one fight.
Chariot-class Honkai Beasts might seem weak in games, but in the real world, they were anything but harmless.
Although they were still considered fodder within the Honkai Beast hierarchy, Chariot-class Honkai Beasts standing between ten and twenty meters tall required heavy artillery to destroy according to their settings.
With that comparison, one could understand just how powerful Moros's physical condition was at this moment.
Back to the matter at hand, after calming his excitement over his explosive increase in strength, Moros began handling the aftermath of the battle.
He gave the order to clear the battlefield, instructing the Undead Troops to gather the farmers' and militia soldiers' corpses.
At the same time, Moros himself arrived before the Lumber Mill under the protection of a small squad of Vampires.
Begin occupying the Lumber Mill?
Faced with the option that appeared on the Hero Panel, Moros chose yes without hesitation.
Immediately afterward, a progress bar appeared on his Hero Panel.
After a long ten minutes, the progress bar finally reached its end, and the Lumber Mill that had originally been occupied by monster troops finally fell under his control.
Lumber Mill: Each Lumber Mill under your control can provide 2 units of wood per day.
At that very moment, Moros knew that the development of the Graveyard City under his control had entered the fast lane.
War was fought with logistics and resources!
Whoever held the advantage in this area could remain victorious in every battle.
"Master, the enemy corpses have all been collected."
A Vampire flapped his Bat Wings and landed elegantly before Moros, reporting the progress of the battlefield cleanup.
Moros nodded lightly.
"Very good. Then let us go."
After glancing at the Lumber Mill, which had already begun operating normally, Moros returned to the battlefield from earlier together with the Vampire squad.
Necromancy!
Without any unnecessary words, the instant he saw the mountain of corpses, Moros began casting Necromancy.
Under Moros's chanting and gestures, vast amounts of Death Mana began gathering and spreading across the battlefield.
This mana surged and churned like a dark torrent, exuding a cold, deathly aura.
Controlling the surging Death Mana, Moros began awakening the remains of those who had died here.
As the spell progressed, the corpses of the farmers and militia gradually changed. Their flesh and fascia were eroded and corrupted, gradually exposing stark white bones.
"Crack~ crack~"
Amid the sound of bone grinding against bone, hundreds upon hundreds of Skeleton Soldiers rose to their feet.
These people, who had been fighting Moros's army with blades drawn just moments ago, had now all become Moros's loyal servants, obeying his commands and fighting for him.
This was the terrifying aspect of the necromancer profession. As long as they could keep winning, the army in a necromancer's hands would only grow larger with every battle.
With the experience of his first success, Moros's advance became increasingly effortless.
He led the undead army and successively conquered mine
pits, Lumber Mills, Gold Mines, and other wilderness resource buildings.
Against the monster troops guarding these buildings, his army was like an unstoppable force, crushing and annihilating them one after another.
When night fell and the sky darkened, Moros decided to lead his army back to the city.
However, after fighting all this time, the number of troops under his command had not decreased but increased instead.
Through a full day of battle, he had successfully achieved the strategic objective he had set before deploying his troops.
Thanks to Moros's hard work, his territory could now gain an additional 6 units of wood, 8 units of stone, and 1,000 gold coins every day.
This was nothing less than timely aid for the Graveyard City's future development.
In addition, Moros used Necromancy to transform the monster troops he had killed into a massive skeleton army.
The addition of this force further swelled Moros's strength.
It was not only his territory and army that benefited. Today's battles also raised Moros to Level 12.
Level: 12 Attack: 0+2 Defense: 2+2 Mana: 8+6 Knowledge: 3 Skills: Necromancy (Advanced), Enlightenment (Advanced), Dark Magic (Intermediate), Summoning Magic (Intermediate), Destruction Magic (Basic), Sorcery (Basic)
Simply looking at this Hero Panel made it possible to deeply feel just how ferociously Moros had harvested experience in today's battles.
The increase in level not only brought explosive growth to Moros's strength. More importantly, having successfully broken through the Level 10 threshold, he had entered the ranks of creatures of the Exemplar Tier.
In terms of lifespan, once those with human bloodlines ascended to the Exemplar Tier, they could enjoy at least two hundred long years of life.
As for physical condition, Moros now possessed the powerful physique of an A-Rank Valkyrie.
Partial Confession
After returning to Earth from the Demiplane, Moros was instantly dumbfounded.
The sun already setting in the west told him that the flow of time in the Demiplane had become equal to that on Earth.
During his previous explorations, time in the Demiplane had always passed far faster than on Earth.
It was precisely because of this that Moros had formulated a strategy to capture all the basic wilderness resource buildings within one day's journey of the Graveyard City.
But now, everything had changed.
What was going on?!
Faced with this sudden change, he had no time to think further. The urgent matter was how to explain to his parents that he had disappeared for an entire day.
Moros quickly organized his thoughts, considering how to make up a plausible excuse.
However, before Moros could fabricate a logically consistent lie, his parents—Emma and Frakt—appeared before him together.
"Little Moros, you had better explain where you went today."
Facing his father's stern gaze and questioning, Moros unconsciously shrank his neck.
He glanced furtively at his mother, hoping to receive some comfort and protection.
Before you continue