Two-Star Unit Lair: Skeleton Archers!

When the dust cleared, a shallow crater more than ten meters across came into view.

Hellscream was crouched on the ground, still holding his slashing pose!

The other orcs stared at the scene, rooted to the spot in complete shock.

Shen Xing's eyes lit up. The combination of the feather and Earth-Splitting Slam was indeed powerful.

An ordinary two-star elite would never have withstood that attack. It would have been killed instantly.

Even a three-star elite would probably have suffered serious injuries.

What was more, it was an area attack with an enormous range.

He could imagine Hellscream suddenly flying into the air during a head-on battle and bringing heavenly justice down on the enemy.

That would be quite a sight!

"All right, fill in the ground, then deal with this vulture."

Shen Xing continued, "Keep the feathers and beak. See if they can be made into anything else."

"Yes, boss!"

Hellscream sprang to his feet excitedly and led the other orcs to work.

Meanwhile, a noise suddenly came from a small wooden hut in the center of the territory.

Bang!

The wooden door opened, and a massive figure emerged.

The gray warg hung its head, its steps unsteady and its fur still stained with blood.

A tall orc sat astride it, an excited grin on his face.

"Boss, this warg is pretty much tamed. It's very obedient now!"

Shen Xing nodded. "Good work. Keep training with it and get used to working together."

"From now on, it's yours."

At those last words, the warg shuddered all over, and profound fear filled its eyes.

Gorehowl nodded excitedly, then, without another word, rode the warg at a gallop through the village.

Shen Xing then opened his backpack as usual and counted his remaining resources.

[Soul Stone] ×73

[Vinar Silver Coin] ×85

[Shattered Soul] ×31

"I've accumulated quite a few resources again."

Shen Xing murmured to himself, "I need to make a plan and decide whether to use them to improve my units first, or to construct or upgrade buildings."

After he upgraded the [Campfire] to level 2 yesterday, two new buildings had been unlocked: a wall and a spike barricade.

He opened the crafting interface to check their attributes.

[Wall]

[Level: 1]

[Description: Build a section of wall 5 meters long, 3 meters high, and 2 meters wide within the campfire's range. Effectively resists attacks from tier-one monsters.]

[Materials required: Soul Stone ×15, Vinar Silver Coin ×10]

[Construction time: 4 hours 36 minutes]

[Note: Walls can be built in curves. Demolishing them returns 50% of the construction materials.]

[Spike barricade]

[Level: 1]

[Description: Place a 2-meter-wide row of spiked barricades on the ground within the campfire's range, obstructing charges from small monsters and dealing piercing damage.]

[Materials required: Soul Stone ×3, Vinar Silver Coin ×2]

[Construction time: 30 minutes]

[Note: Spike barricades can be placed freely but cannot overlap. Their effectiveness is reduced against large units.]

"Walls are really expensive. One section takes that many materials. There's no way I can afford to build them at this stage." Shen Xing winced.

With his territory at its current size, the maximum range illuminated by the fire was about 50 meters in diameter, giving it a circumference of 157 meters.

He would need to build at least 30 sections of wall to surround the entire village.

The resources he had on hand were not even enough to cover the remainder.

Of course, walls were also extremely useful, capable of effectively resisting attacks from tier-one monsters.

That way, there would be no repeat of the earlier monster ambush from the rear, greatly improving security.

"I'd better wait until later to build the walls. I'll use these Soul Stones to raise levels first."

Having made his decision, Shen Xing combined the Shattered Souls he had into three complete dim souls.

Since these dim souls could only be used to raise the star rating of ordinary-grade units, Hellscream and Gorehowl naturally couldn't use them.

So he called over two orc infantrymen at random and distributed the souls to them.

Luckily, all three souls succeeded.

The territory gained another ordinary ★★★ orc infantryman and an ordinary ★★ orc infantryman.

Shen Xing named the two orcs Da Hou and Er Hou.

He would continue naming them in that order from then on.

After they finished absorbing the souls, he spent another 46 [Soul Stones] to raise everyone, including the warg, to level 4.

Absorbing the Soul Stones took a full three or four hours this time.

By the time all that was done, it was late at night.

Shen Xing gave Hellscream five extra Soul Stones and told him to work overtime absorbing them that night, so he could reach level 5 as soon as possible.

The orcs were full of energy anyway, and going without sleep for a few days wouldn't bother them.

As their lord, however, he not only had to sit in his wheelchair every day and have the orcs carry him out on expeditions,

but also had to use [Life-Sacrifice Evolution] to strengthen his units and allocate resources properly. It took an enormous amount of energy over the course of a day.

Alas, being a lord is such hard work.

He took off his glasses, and his view shifted from the mist-shrouded village back to his cramped rented room.

"Good. Today was another fruitful day."

"When I log in tomorrow, I can use [Life-Sacrifice Evolution] again and raise Hellscream to three-star elite."

The thought filled Shen Xing with anticipation, and his stomach began to rumble.

He pushed his wheelchair toward the kitchen to cook a bag of frozen dumplings.

He grabbed the doorknob with his right hand and gave it a casual pull.

Crack-

With a crisp snapping sound, he tore the entire doorknob clean off, sending several screws rolling across the floor.

Chapter 19: Two-Star Unit Lair: Skeleton Archers!

"What... happened?"

Shen Xing stared blankly at the bent doorknob in his hand. It was made of sheet metal, but surely it wasn't that flimsy?

Then something occurred to him, and he murmured, "Could it be that raising my attributes in the game made my body stronger in real life too?"

At that thought, Shen Xing's pupils contracted slightly.

He swept his gaze around the room and soon spotted the water jug in the corner.

He wheeled over, gripped the jug with both hands, and heaved.

He lifted the jug of water, which weighed dozens of jin, just like that.

"I really did get stronger!"

For an ordinary person, lifting a few dozen jin might not be much.

But his lower body was paralyzed, so he could only exert strength with his upper body. He usually struggled to lift anything weighing even ten-odd kilograms.

"Beep beep! Beep beep!"

The phone in his pocket kept vibrating as several messages arrived in the group chat in quick succession.

Cilantro Who Loves to Play: "Holy shit! Shen Xing, Jiayi, this is amazing!"

"I reached level 3 in the game today, and after I logged out, I suddenly felt full of strength."

"So I went downstairs to the gym to test myself. My grip strength went up to 80 kilograms, and I ran 100 meters in under 11 seconds!"

I Eat Eat Eat Eat replied, "I noticed it yesterday. I used to be out of breath for ages after climbing two and a half flights of stairs, but now I can carry a delivery package up to the sixth floor in one go without even panting."

"A black dog tried to bite me on the way, so I kicked it flying. Haha!"

Clearly, they had all felt the physical changes brought about by leveling up.

Although the improvement wasn't that dramatic, it was still comparable to at least several years of systematic training for an ordinary person.

Cilantro Who Loves to Play continued, "This is great! Let's meet up at the mall tomorrow. My treat again!"

"Shen Xing, wait at home. I'll drive the old man's car over to pick you up."

After a pause, he said mysteriously, "Oh, right, I've also prepared something good for you two."

I Eat Eat Eat Eat Eat: "What is it?"

"Secret."

"Tch, why all the mystery? If you dare mess with me tomorrow, you'll be sorry." Xu Jiayi's threat amounted to an agreement.

Shen Xing was also curious about the good thing Qin Lang had mentioned, so he replied with an "OK" sticker.

He went to the kitchen and cooked a pot of frozen dumplings. After eating, he lay back down on the bed.

He reviewed the day's gains in his mind, pulled up the covers, and fell fast asleep.