Shasha~
The tall trees swayed, white mist wafted, and the depths of the forest were mysterious and elusive.
Only when one was in their own territory, able to view everything from a God's eye-view could some sense of security be felt.
As the third-person perspective gradually rose, transforming into a bird's eye view, Mu Yuan's in-game character entered his territory.
In front of the computer, he rubbed his somewhat sore wrist.
Night had fallen, Baijiang City was brightly lit, and the roar of motorcycles passing by could be heard from outside the window.
The daylight in Eternal World also gradually faded from the horizon, the curtain of night fell, darkness covered the land, and the swirling mist beneath the night seemed like enormous devouring mouths, ready to swallow everything that entered into it.
Various monsters gradually became active, their cries rising and falling, weaving together to form a horrifying symphony.
"Dead Bone has improved considerably, but venturing out still requires extreme caution, and the efficiency is low."
His team's size for today's exploration was slightly increased, consisting of 2 Skeleton Soldiers +3 Little Skeletons +1 Falcon.
And he conducted two explorations.
The reason for the two trips, with a rest in between, was because his character couldn't handle it. He had eaten a RedBlood Fruit the day before, slightly increasing his physical fitness, but the poor road conditions in the wilderness were still too hard to handle. Mu Yuan had to concentrate fully on controlling his character, or he might trip over something and fall flat on his face.
It's the road's fault!
Of course, the low efficiency of exploration was also linked to his carefulness. Whenever he felt something was off, Mu Yuan would immediately make a strategic retreat, resulting in slower exploration.
However, compared to yesterday, several more dark areas have been discovered today.
Mu Yuan opened the map.
The area outside his territory was still shrouded in white fog, where he naturally couldn't see any units, but the areas he had already explored would have the full-screen black fade away, leaving the topography and environment there clearly visible on the map.
"To the north, the fruit forest discovered yesterday continues northwards, where there is a small Goblin Camp."
"Even if it's small, it's still a camp. From afar, there seems to be at least dozens of Goblins, which I can't afford to provoke for now."
Before discovering the Goblin Camp, Mu Yuan's squad had defeated some isolated Goblins.
These ordinary Goblins were as weak as Little Skeletons, and the Skeleton Soldiers slashed through them like they were smashing into crisps.
When the Goblin Camp was discovered, 'Bone Two', the dim-witted one, charged right up.
"Kakaka~"
Charge, smash them all, every last one of them!
The meaning was Mu Yuan's guess, most likely incorrect. He didn't think Bone Two was that clever. He suspected that this fool didn't even have thoughts, just an impulse to rush and smash.
He shouldn't have named this fool 'Two'.
Well, but most ordinary troops, even lower-level rare troops, are like this.
They basically only have a few combat instincts left and can't expect too much.
His expectations were raised by Dead Bone.
"That's why, Dead Bone, in the future, all the new Skeletons will be trained by you. Show your potential."
Mu Yuan patted Dead Bone on the shoulder.
Having been entrusted with an important task, Dead Bone was very happy; his soul flame surged with an impassioned vigor, duangduang tapping on his armor to show he would unquestionably live up to his responsibilities.
As an owner who had handed over the reins and not yet promised any benefits, Mu Yuan nodded with a smile.
He had heard that troops who had awakened their self-consciousness had higher aptitude, stronger learning abilities, more likely to breakthrough, but also possessed certain flaws.
Namely, they were too intelligent.
Intelligent troops sometimes looked down upon weak Lords, ignored orders they disliked, demanded daily wages from their Lord, or disliked working and wished to goof off or lay low all the time.
In summary, troops with self-consciousness had a higher ceiling but also had more demands.
"Really? I don't feel that way."
Mu Yuan touched his chin.
As long as Dead Bone was willing, he was not exploiting his workers.
No, the word 'exploitation' couldn't be used to describe it. This was training. Just because Dead Bone had awakened his self-consciousness, he needed more opportunities for training to bring out his potential.
And Mu Yuan, he was only providing a few training opportunities.
Fearful of challenging the Goblin Camp, Mu Yuan could only send out the Falcon, which was barely making the numbers count, for some scouting. Unfortunately, he didn't understand bird language and didn't have any troops who were capable of translating it, so he wasn't very clear on what the Falcon meant.
He roughly understood that there were at least dozens of Goblins in the camp, consisting of no less than three types of Goblin Troops.
The types of Goblins were ordinary Goblins, Big Goblins, and Goblin Spearmen.
The Goblin Spearman was a two-star troop. Its damage might not be high, but it had a ranged ability.
During the Falcon's scouting trip to the Goblin Camp, it almost got shot down by a Spearman and lost a lot of feathers as a result.
"This goblin camp is too close to our territory, we must prioritize to eliminate it when we're capable, or else, they'll come knocking on our doors sooner or later."
"Besides, without a plan to conquer the camp, it's inappropriate to continue exploring to the north, in case we encounter a surprise attack and need to retreat strategically, we could easily be cut off by the goblins."
In the second expedition, Mu Yuan chose to head west.
The gray wolves, goblins, and cave dwellers in the west were less numerous, but there was quite a rare, two-star monster––the poisonous spider.
They were as massive as grindstones, terrifying to look at, and were able to spew venomous liquid.
The venom wasn't a skill, but it was poisonous.
Other players would rather not face these poisonous spiders; they were too toxic, and it would be troublesome to cure the poisoned troops–– it would cost quite a bit of Soul Sand, causing more harm than good.
Luckily, Mu Yuan's skeletons weren't afraid of poison.
So, Mu Yuan, together with Dead Bone and the others, engaged in a chaotic battle in the Poisonous Spider Forest, killing at least twenty poisonous spiders.
However, as they ventured deeper, the environment of the Poisonous Spider Forest gradually changed. The trees and leaves bore a black and purple sheen, and far away, they could see enormous spider webs, hanging tens of meters high on the tree branches.
Just how big must those spiders be?
Mu Yuan became cautious.
Dead Bone also felt that a strategic retreat would be a good choice.
So, they retreated.
Mu Yuan took out a sheet of A3 paper and started to sketch on it. He drew a circle representing their territory, and on the north side, he marked an X for the goblin camp.
As for the west, they had only explored a small corner of the periphery of the dark purple forest. He couldn't estimate the size of the forest, unable to predict if there were more fearsome spiders deeper inside.
He named it the Poisonous Spider Forest, and noted that it was unsafe to go further into it.
Throughout the day, he didn't find the Root of Corruption, but he killed many stray monsters and swept through many areas, gaining a decent haul.
Mu Yuan then started an inventory.
"We have 39.6g of Soul Sand and due to not encountering any higher-ranking or high star-tier monsters, only one Remnant Soul... or is this the normal drop rate?"
"As for materials, we've found three stalks of Hemostatic Grass - great for healing wounds, but it appears to have no effect on skeletons."
"We also have four Detox fruits, five Calming Grass, and three Filling fruits."
These were all common materials, but their values differed greatly. The former three were far less valuable than the RedBlood Fruit, but the latter, the Filling fruit, was worth even more.
'Filling fruit (Common): A nurturing material that slightly increases the energy of troops.'
Although "slight", the Filling Fruit is mostly used by professional soldiers. Mu Yuan figured it could significantly boost Dead Bone's stamina.
The RedBlood Fruit was also a nurturing material, but it was incompatible with skeletons, i.e., it had zero effect on them.
"As for the Soul Sand, it will be given to Dead Bone and the two skeleton soldiers first. The other little skeletons will have to go without for now, I have to save up."
"Given Dead Bone's talent and hard work, it will hit the fourth level by tomorrow–– almost a mid-apprentice."
It was another step closer to the grandmaster at apprentice level nine and the half-step professional level.
The future looked promising.
No, the present looked promising.
All the diligence and effort would not go to waste; Evolution Points would truly shine.
"It's time to showcase your power, Evolution Points."
Currently, there were 15 skeletons in their territory, producing about one unit of Evolution Points every four hours. Additionally, Mu Yuan leading Dead Bone and the other skeletons on expeditions, fighting, and killing in a frenzy was also accelerating the process.
They have now fulfilled the required amount of Evolution Points.
It was time to show the real power.
'Evolution Points: 5.23'
"Dead Bone, step forward, do not let this power go to waste, keep striving, keep working. I hope you will someday become a genuine... Skeleton Emperor."
Mu Yuan painted a picture for it: a Skeleton Emperor sitting alone atop his throne, back to the world, fishing through eternity.
Skeleton Emperor?
The young Dead Bone was infinitely awestruck. It stepped forward, cupping a fist over its heart as if to pledge an oath.
The armor upon it was covered in scratches, stained blood dried and hardened. The standard war knife it wielded was somewhat chipped... all these were the marks of valor from countless battles over the past two days.
It was an experienced skeleton warrior.
The next moment, the warm, miraculous, awe-inspiring, invisible force descended. Dead Bone's body transformed into light again. Amid the blinding radiance, Dead Bone's form as a skeleton soldier began to morph.
The armor became fiercer and mightier, with a more daunting aura.
'Ding!'
'Prompt: Your troop 'Skeleton Soldiers' has undergone metamorphosis under the influence of miraculous power and has evolved into 'Skeleton Warriors.''