Level 1 Arrow Tower

As the ball of light merged into him, his aura surged rapidly.

His muscles began to bulge, and he steadily grew taller.

Amazingly, even the wounds on his shoulders began to heal and scab over rapidly. Before long, only a few scars remained.

[Advancement successful. The potential of one of your 'orc infantrymen' has increased to 'Common ★★'!]

[Attribute increases from this evolution: Strength +4, Spirit +2, Agility +3, Constitution +4]

This success came as no surprise. After all, advancing from one star to two had an 85% chance of success.

Failing that would have been incredibly unlucky.

But something unexpected happened when the orc went on to absorb the second soul.

His body trembled, and his rising aura abruptly stopped.

"B-boss... I... failed..." The orc lowered his head in dejection, scarcely daring to look his lord in the eye.

Shen Xing was a little taken aback, but he didn't mind.

The chance of advancing from two stars to three was 75%. Hellscream had already succeeded once, so it was only normal for this orc infantryman to fail.

"It's all right. Keep going." He took out the last complete soul and handed it over.

The orc infantryman raised his head, his eyes filled with intense gratitude.

"Th-thanks... boss... Orc... will definitely... succeed!"

He took a deep breath and slapped the soul into his chest again!

His aura kept rising, the muscles all over his body bulged wildly, and the stone axe in his hand transformed into an iron axe.

[Advancement successful. Potential increased to 'Common ★★★'!]

[New skill learned: Heavy Strike]

[Heavy Strike: Gather the strength of your entire body to deliver a heavy strike, dealing massive damage to a single enemy. Has a 35% chance to deal double damage and a 15% chance to deal triple damage. Cooldown: 25 seconds]

"Heavy Strike. A burst damage skill?" Shen Xing pondered.

Just as the talent's description said, [Life-Sacrifice Evolution] changed the direction a troop's evolution took according to the attributes sacrificed.

That was why Hellscream had activated [Wind Walk] and taken the agility route.

This orc infantryman was a pure strength-type troop, so he had activated a skill geared toward burst damage.

But when it came to combat strength, Hellscream was far stronger than this orc infantryman.

After all, he had received an additional 10-point agility bonus, making him nearly twice as fast as others of the same tier.

"Boss... I feel... full of strength!"

The newly evolved three-star orc was beaming with excitement, and his speech had become much more fluent.

"Good." Shen Xing smiled with satisfaction. "Starting today, your name is Gorehowl."

"Gorehowl..." The orc repeated it softly, then nodded excitedly. "I like that name. Thank you, boss!"

Having finished with the souls, Shen Xing turned his attention to the other spoils in his backpack. This time, it was an ancient piece of parchment.

Black lines traced the outline of a tower on it.

[Arrow Tower Blueprint]

[Level: 1]

[Footprint: 13 square meters]

[Attack rate: once every 1.5 seconds]

[Attack range: 100 meters]

[Effect: Automatically fires arrows, dealing piercing damage to tier-one creatures.]

[Construction requirements: Soul Stone ×10, Vinar Silver Coin ×10]

[Note: An arrow tower capable of attacking automatically. It can be built in the fog without being eroded.]

Chapter 12: Level 1 Arrow Tower

Shen Xing noticed the final note, and a thought stirred in his mind. "It can actually be built in the fog?"

"Doesn't that mean I can build a huge number of arrow towers around my territory, covering the area for hundreds of meters and keeping those monsters from getting close?"

Of course, making that happen would require an astronomical amount of materials, more than even those high-level players could afford.

But even if he couldn't cover the area around his territory, these arrow towers would still be immensely useful.

For example, he could build a few around the territory as outposts.

Whenever an arrow tower activated, it would mean a monster was approaching.

He could also build them near resource points in the wild, so he wouldn't need to send troops to guard them.

Shen Xing learned the blueprint without hesitation.

With a flash of light, the blueprint rapidly vanished from his hand as if it had been set ablaze.

A [Level 1 Arrow Tower] option appeared on the territory's [Buildings] interface.

Shen Xing decided to try out the construction function.

With a thought, the clear outline of an arrow tower appeared before him, moving along with his gaze.

When his gaze swept over an empty patch of the territory, the ground was green, indicating that he could build there.

When it swept over another building, it turned red, indicating that a building already stood there and he couldn't build.

"All I have to do is pick a suitable empty spot. That's pretty convenient."

Shen Xing wheeled himself to the village entrance, planning to build the first arrow tower there.

It was called a village entrance, but it was really just a gravel path with a few black wooden sheds on either side.

The first wave of monsters had attacked from this direction.

Building two arrow towers here would therefore provide effective fire support for his troops and ease the pressure on them.

In fact, there was nothing shielding the village at all, and monsters could attack from any direction they pleased.

The beginner's guide said this situation could be improved once the lords built walls.

[Spend Soul Stone ×10 and Vinar Silver Coin ×10 to build a level 1 arrow tower?]

"Yes."

The moment he clicked confirm, the materials in his backpack were automatically consumed.

The base of a tower appeared on the empty ground to the right of the path at the village entrance, and construction proceeded automatically.

[Construction underway. Estimated time: 6 hours 45 minutes...]

"Nearly seven hours? That's quite a while."

After remarking on it, Shen Xing started building another one on the left side of the path.

With the two arrow towers providing fire support at the same time, the territory would be much safer.

After he was done building, he clapped his hands and took the third item out of his backpack.

It was an ancient-looking scroll imbued with magical energy.

[Phantom Clone Scroll]

[Quality: Blue]

[Effect: After use, when you are about to receive a fatal blow, creates a clone on the spot and turns you invisible.]

"What a great item!"

Shen Xing was delighted. This scroll could save his life at a critical moment.

Treating it like a treasure, he put it back in his backpack, close at hand, and then took out an exquisitely crafted crossbow.

The crossbow was black all over, with brass gears set into both ends of its limbs. It felt substantial in his hands.

[Mechanism Crossbow]

[Quality: Blue (Excellent)]

[Description: A mechanism crossbow made by a craftsman. It is powerful and can deal considerable damage to tier-one creatures.]

[Effective range: 45 meters]

[Additional effect: Mechanism Repeating Crossbow (Activate the mechanism to fire 3-4 arrows in succession. Cooldown: 60 seconds)]

"Good stats, and the weight is right too. I can use it even while sitting in my wheelchair."

Shen Xing reflected that he finally had a means of attack.

He no longer had to be like before, only able to watch his troops fight in front while he stared helplessly from behind.

Unfortunately, he had found only 12 arrows in the wolf den this time, so he would have to use them sparingly.

And a crossbow like this wasn't something he could use as soon as he got his hands on it. It would also take a long time to practice.

After all, everything in this game was so realistic.

Both control over one's strength and accuracy with a weapon depended on the individual's skill.

Unless someone was a sharpshooter who regularly used crossbows in real life, it was impossible to expect them to hit every shot right from the start.

He wheeled himself over to a black wooden house where the orcs lived.

Then he used a stick to draw several circles on the door as a makeshift target.

Next, he moved some distance away, took out the crossbow, and loaded an arrow onto the mechanism.

"Click..."

The gears turned. Shen Xing raised the crossbow slightly, aimed at the target on the door, and pulled the trigger!

The arrow shot out with a whoosh and struck at lightning speed.

"A hit... my ass!"

The arrow had struck the window, missing even the door by a mile.

"Again."