Chapter 40: Reinforcements
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’So, it looks like I have to go monster hunting after all.’
After sending all twenty-one of his newly Soul-Summoned Skeletons out on their mission, Gu Su immediately changed his original plan.
He had originally planned to investigate the fallen skyscraper by himself, but he had a last-minute change of heart.
In his mind, exploration could wait. The most urgent priority was to hunt monsters and collect their corpses, steadily converting them into Undead to grow his Undead Squad. This was the very foundation of an Undead Mage’s power.
So, Gu Su sent the White Crows, which had been scouting in a specific direction, out once more.
This time, their mission was not to scout a single target, but to conduct a sweeping search for any living creature they could find near the Graveyard Demon, leaving nothing overlooked.
It didn’t matter if they were small groups of three to five, or large packs of ten to twenty.
Whether they were creatures with simple organization and basic intelligence like goblins and Kobolds, or fierce beasts like wolves, lions, and black bears that acted purely on instinct.
As soon as a White Crow discovered anything, it had to immediately fly back to the territory and report the location and numbers to Gu Su in detail.
Gu Su would then personally lead his squad to encircle and eliminate them, depending on their distance. He wouldn’t let a single corpse that could be turned into an Undead go to waste.
Admittedly, Gu Su’s line of thinking was spot-on.
Abandoning exploration of the unknown for now to prioritize clearing out nearby threats and harvesting Undead Resources not only allowed him to rapidly expand his forces but also cleared the way for future long-distance exploration, significantly accelerating his growth.
In just over an hour, Gu Su, leading five Elite Skeletons and two Magic Skeletons, had successively encircled and eliminated several waves of targets.
One magnificent lion, three agile leopards, and five thick-hided wild boars.
In addition, there was a squad of thirteen goblins, each wielding a crude Wooden Spear. Their ferocious appearance made them seem much stronger than the goblins Gu Su had first fought.
After this sweep, Gu Su had managed to clear out all large, threatening living creatures within a one-thousand-meter radius of the Graveyard Demon. He had completely eliminated the dangers around his territory and also reaped a large batch of precious corpse Resources.
After returning to the Graveyard Demon with his squad and letting the Elite Skeletons and Magic Skeletons rest and recover their Life, Gu Su didn’t stay idle himself.
He immediately began to process all the corpses harvested from this expedition.
These corpses, filled with Blood Qi, were certainly not for eating.
In Gu Su’s eyes, they weren’t food, but high-quality materials for converting Undead. To use them to fill his stomach would be the greatest waste.
Under Gu Su’s methodical direction, the massive corpses of the lion and wild boars, which had the densest Blood Qi, were carefully carried by the Skeletons into the coffin of the Level 2 Empty Tomb.
After all, lions and wild boars were fierce and robust. The Blood Qi in their corpses far surpassed that of ordinary beasts, perfectly meeting the core requirement of the Level 2 Empty Tomb for creating Walking Dead. They were the ideal materials.
Meanwhile, the three relatively small leopard corpses and the twelve ordinary goblin corpses were carried into the large Gravepile.
Their Blood Qi was moderate, classifying them as normal corpses suitable for being converted into the most basic Ordinary Skeletons to bolster the numbers of the Undead Squad.
Additionally, one goblin was particularly special. It wasn’t an ordinary goblin, but a Goblin Shaman with faint Magic potential. Gu Su deliberately set it aside and placed it in an Empty Tomb reserved for Magic Undead.
He hoped it would convert into a Magic Skeleton capable of casting Magic, compensating for his own deficiency in magic-based combat power.
Once all the corpses were properly placed, Gu Su clearly saw the earth around the Gravepile and Empty Tombs begin to churn slowly, swiftly covering all the bodies. Black energy faintly seeped from the soil as the Soul Summoning Technique automatically triggered, methodically converting these corpse Resources.
[The Empty Tomb has automatically used your Soul Summoning Technique (Level 1), obtaining Walking Dead (Level 0) x6. Soul Summoning Technique proficiency +12.]
[The Gravepile has automatically used your Soul Summoning Technique (Level 1), obtaining Skeletons (Level 0) x15. Soul Summoning Technique proficiency +15.]
[The Empty Tomb has automatically used your Soul Summoning Technique (Level 1), obtaining Skeleton (Level 0) x1. Soul Summoning Technique proficiency +1.]
System prompts popped up in his mind one after another. Before long, the conversions were complete.
First, six Walking Dead slowly crawled out from the ground of the Level 2 Empty Tomb. These Walking Dead all maintained a humanoid form, bald and hairless, their bodies covered in a grayish-green skin.
More than half of the skin on their bodies had rotted and fallen off, revealing the dark red, decaying flesh underneath. Their footsteps were heavy as they walked, and the friction between their Bone Joints and rotten flesh produced a SQUELCHING sound. Their movements couldn’t compare to a Skeleton of the same height.
[Walking Dead (Level 0, Summoned Creature): Experience (0/100), Attack 2, Defense 3, Life 20]
After looking at the Walking Dead’s Attribute Panel, Gu Su nodded slightly. Their stats weren’t outstanding, but their decent Defense made them suitable to act as meat shields.
At the same time, their Power was acceptable, making them a good choice for laborers like Miners or movers.
The only problem was their incredibly slow movement speed. A typical Undead Mage wouldn’t keep them by their side.
They would only be assigned to work at specific locations.
Next, from the Gravepile where the Wild Swamp Wolf corpses had been buried earlier, four new Skeletons slowly crawled out.
The moment all four Skeletons had climbed out of the Gravepile, the body of one of them suddenly shuddered slightly, as if undergoing some kind of transformation.
A white, triangular Battle Banner surprisingly materialized on its back. On the banner was an engraving of a complete wolf skull, and below the image were the numbers "25/25".
Gu Su understood at a glance. This Skeleton had become a new Skeleton Minion because the Gravepile had reached its full capacity, triggering a special conversion. With its command, the efficiency of any newly added Skeleton Squads should improve significantly.
Finally, from the new Gravepile where the leopards and ordinary goblins were buried, eleven new Skeletons crawled out. Their bodies were frail and their frames were bare. Aside from a bit of dirt clinging to them, they looked no different from the previously converted Ordinary Skeletons and could only serve as the most basic labor and combat units.
As for the Empty Tomb for magic types, a single Skeleton also slowly crawled out.
Slightly disappointingly, however, this was just an ordinary Magic Skeleton. Judging from its bare frame, the dull asterisk mark between its brows, and its hands, it clearly hadn’t mastered any Magic abilities yet.
Compared to an Ordinary Skeleton, the only difference was that it had Mana. As soon as it learned any Magic, it could use it immediately.