Chapter 3: Mission
The sound of the Skeletons’ footsteps gradually faded into the mist. Only then did Gu Su turn and slowly walk toward the Old Tent at the center of the graveyard.
When he had been facing the goblins, his nerves had been stretched taut. He’d been focused only on seizing the initiative to acquire the corpses, with no time to examine the details of the Graveyard Demon’s activation and upgrade rules.
Now, with three Skeletons handling things on the perimeter, he could finally calm down, sort out the mess before him, and plan his next steps for survival.
The conditions for activating the Graveyard Demon weren’t too complicated. The tent’s panel stated it clearly: he just needed to repair all the deficiencies and upgrade the graveyard from Gray quality to White.
As for the graveyard upgrade required by the main quest, Gu Su had no plans to tackle it for now.
Right now, this graveyard lacked energy, defenses, and an Undead population. It could barely sustain its most basic functions. Trying to upgrade it would be like carrying water in a sieve—a complete waste of time. He was better off handling the tasks he could actually manage first.
He raised his hand and touched the tent canvas. A faint, Blue information screen unfurled again. As he went over each of the repair requirements, he felt that the mess left behind by that unscrupulous merchant was far worse than he’d anticipated.
In the entire graveyard, only this Old Tent was even remotely decent. Though its canvas was damaged and its corners dusty, all of its core functions were perfectly intact.
It could display real-time graveyard data and quest progress, and allow him to use his limited Resources for basic construction. Inside the tent was a crude, one-meter-wide wooden bed covered in rough hay. At least it gave him a place to sleep at night so he wouldn’t freeze to death.
This was the main reason Gu Su suppressed his anger instead of trying to force an exit to go settle accounts with that unscrupulous merchant.
Although the other party had maliciously withheld most of the functions, they hadn’t completely blocked his path forward, leaving this core hub intact.
And this tent was the only structure that didn’t require him to invest any Resources for repairs.
Beyond that, the rest of the facilities were in utter ruins.
The Deceitful Tree, the Empty Tombs, and the Rotten Fence—these three structures still existed physically, but they were all on the verge of collapse.
As the graveyard’s defensive core, the Deceitful Tree was supposed to function like an arrow tower, actively strangling any creatures or strange entities that entered its range. It was also responsible for holding the surrounding mist at bay, keeping the air within the grounds clean, and automatically dissolving any graveyard waste—all sustained by its power.
But now, this withered tree was completely lifeless. The fluctuations of Yin Energy on its branches were so faint they were barely detectable.
Gu Su estimated that against any enemy Level 2 or higher, its meager remaining defensive ability would be useless. A strong gust of wind might be enough to make it crumble into dust.
To awaken the Deceitful Tree, he would have to bury ’fertilizer’ beneath its roots.
Fresh flesh and organs were the basic requirements, but they had to be supplemented with weapons that had Attributes, other Yin Wood of the same type, or materials infused with Yin Qi.
The tree had a massive appetite. Right now, he only had a little bit of flesh. Gathering enough nourishment for it would be no easy task.
The situation with the Empty Tombs was even more awkward. All six grave pits were empty. Without corpses, he couldn’t create Undead, making the tombs no different from decorations.
Back when he commanded Zombies in the mines, he wouldn’t have given a low-level monster like a goblin a second glance.
But now, these weak corpses had become the key to activating the Empty Tombs and forming his first Undead Squad.
As for the Rotten Fence, it was less than a meter high, and most of its planks were broken. It could barely stop short, stocky monsters like goblins. Against any slightly stronger enemy, it might as well have been made of paper.
According to the tent’s prompts, repairing the fence required at least 10 units of Wood. If he wasn’t aiming for any extra Attributes, a simple patch-and-reinforce job would do. Of all the repairs, this was the easiest to accomplish.
But the problems with these three were nothing compared to the Yin Fire Heap, the Earth-Binding Vein, and the Corroding Mycelium.
The Yin Fire Heap sat right in front of the tent, but it was just a pile of cold ash. Both its embers and fuel were completely gone.
Yin Qi was the graveyard’s exclusive ’currency.’ Construction, upgrades, training troops, and even moving the graveyard in the future all relied on it for support. This extinguished fire heap was, in essence, the graveyard’s source of wealth and its power plant.
The tent’s panel did provide a list of fuels, stating that he only needed to find one of the special materials on it to light the fire.
But Gu Su was completely empty-handed. He had even put the goblin’s Beast Bones to use as weapons. He had no idea where in the mist he was supposed to search for fuel.
Even more troublesome were the Earth-Binding Vein and the Corroding Mycelium.
These two core functions didn’t even have a physical form anymore, yet they were directly tied to the graveyard’s future.
The Earth-Binding Vein controlled mobility, while the Corroding Mycelium was responsible for expanding the graveyard’s territory. If he couldn’t get them working, he’d be trapped in this basketball-court-sized plot of land forever, and would sooner or later be cornered and destroyed by the strange entities in the mist, or by other players.
Unlike with the Yin Fire Heap, the tent had issued specific repair quests for these two functions. The phrasing urged him to follow the steps precisely. But when Gu Su saw the quest details, his expression immediately darkened.
[Repair Quest: The Wandering Souls]
[Quest Description: Movement is an instinct for all living creatures. For the departed Undead, however, movement is an obsession!]
[Quest Requirements: Seal three Ghosts or Wandering Souls (0/3), and install a propulsion system (wheels, propellers, engine, etc.).]
[Quest Reward: Repair the Earth-Binding Vein.]
[Explanation 1: The Undead can move. Naturally, a city can too.]
[Explanation 2: If you can’t move, you can only get hit.]
"Seal Wandering Souls? And install a propulsion system?" Gu Su’s brow furrowed.
’Wandering Souls are ethereal and elusive to begin with. As a Level 1, I only have the Soul Summoning Technique; I don’t even have a way to capture them.’
’As for the propulsion system... things like wheels and engines are pure fantasy in this desolate starter world. Am I supposed to get parts by dismantling a goblin?’
’I did see other players use Undead to power simple machines back in the mines, but I don’t know how to do that. I’ll probably have to go out and scavenge, see if I can scrounge up some materials.’
The other quest made Gu Su’s expression even more grim.
[Repair Quest: Blighted Land]
[Quest Description: This is a corrupting force that causes the land around an Undead settlement to rot, becoming completely barren!]
[Quest Requirements: Brew a special potion (0/1) and coat the entire graveyard with it (0/1).]
[Quest Reward: Repair the Corroding Mycelium.]
[Explanation 1: The potion used for each graveyard is unique.]
[Explanation 2: When an Undead unit stands on blighted land, they have returned home.]
’He had no clue about the special potion. There was no recipe and no list of ingredients. The tent didn’t mention a single word about how to brew it; it seemed he was expected to figure it out on his own.’
’But with the Yin Fire Heap unlit and without so much as a pot to brew anything in, how was he supposed to figure anything out?’
Gu Su’s gaze drifted outward. It was clear he couldn’t just stay in the graveyard. Once the Skeletons returned, he would need to lead a sortie himself.
At the very least, he had to find some materials to deal with the tasks at hand.
Just then, the sound of grinding bones, CLACK... CLACK... echoed from the mist. The Skeletons were back.