[QuartzStriker]: "I need a large amount of food, and the quantities on the trading post are too small, plus I always miss out on them..."
Alex understood. Although there were low-priced foods on the trading post, the quantities were too small and not enough for the hordes of Lords scrambling for them, clearly not meeting this Lord's needs. Moreover, Alex noticed that this Lord didn't seem to be short on materials.
In other words, a big spender—oh no, rather, an excellent business partner for Alex.
Having a long-term buyer might not be a bad idea.
Alex responded to [QuartzStriker] with an emoji and then ignored him, learning to maintain a cool demeanor as a Big Shot.
There was still some time until evening when she could harvest another batch of food. The skies of Eldoria continent were perpetually overcast, with no sun in sight. If it weren't for the system dashboard, she wouldn't even know whether it was morning or evening.
Looking at the massive Blackwater Altar in the center of her castle, Alex suddenly had a thought.
"Right, the Blackwater Altar can strengthen the undead, but can it also strengthen me?"
"No, no, living things that fall in turn into rotting, stinking skeletons immediately. I definitely don't want that!"
"I'm not undead, but I do have undead lineage, maybe it could work?"
"Should I try it?"
The main issue was that Alex felt her own attributes were too weak, almost on par with a Skeleton Warrior. From this perspective, Alex figured she could at most reach a Commanding level and that would be her limit.
As a Lord, having strong troops wasn't enough. If she herself was weak, wouldn't that make her a vulnerability in her undead army? If enemies just charged at her and killed her, that would be game over.
Although having strong troops provided a sense of security, having strong personal abilities was definitely more reassuring.
Alex walked over to the Blackwater Altar and entered its protective shield, then hesitantly tested it again.
Yep, she could indeed enter and exit at will.
Alex breathed a sigh of relief, but the real challenge was next. She carefully crouched beside the black water, planning to gently touch it to test the waters.
She wouldn't be foolish enough to just dive in. What if she turned into a skeleton? Wouldn't that scare off all her esteemed readers?
Alex gently extended a finger towards the black water, gritted her teeth, and suddenly touched it down.
"Ah, it hurts so much!" Alex shouted, then realized there was no pain.
"Huh, it's fine!"
Alex turned her head to look at her finger, which was now extended into the Altar. Her finger hadn't actually touched the black water; instead, a small vacuum area had formed around her finger. It was touching the bottom of the Altar directly, not the black water.
"What's going on?" Alex clearly felt a tingling sensation at her fingertips, as if energy was flowing into her body.
Alex could feel her strength increasing slightly, even though she hadn't touched the black water.
Skeletons turn black when strengthened, zombies emit black smoke, wait a minute!
Alex quickly withdrew her finger, looked left and right, and saw no blackening or smoke or any other strange phenomena. She then put her finger in her mouth to taste.
Confirmed, it was definitely a human hand!
Finally reassured, Alex stood up and stepped into the Altar. As expected, the surrounding black water actively avoided her, but the tingling sensation in her entire leg almost made her fall.
Alex took off her shoes and walked barefoot into the Blackwater Altar, feeling as if her whole body was electrified, trembling as she endured the discomfort.
As soon as she stepped into the Altar, the bracelet on Alex's right arm automatically fell off, transforming into a huge scythe that dropped into the Blackwater Altar, with the surrounding black water crazily rushing towards the scythe.
Weapons could be strengthened too! This was an unexpected joy.
Ignoring the weapon that fell to the ground, Alex continued forward to about the center of the Altar and immediately sat down, as she really had no strength left.
The surrounding black water enveloped Alex, leaving only the area beneath her as an absolute domain. Invisible energy from around her slowly converged towards her body.
She closed her eyes, enjoying the pleasure brought by the enhancement of her attributes.
Drowsy Alex eventually fell asleep.
After an unknown amount of time, she rubbed her bleary eyes and stood up, feeling invigorated and as if she could punch a hippopotamus to death with one blow.
"Ah, where did all the black water go?!"
Alex looked around and noticed that the black water inside the Blackwater Altar had almost completely disappeared, with the scythe lying quietly on the ground not far away. She walked over, picked up the scythe, and examined it.
"There doesn't seem to be any change?"
"Never mind, I'll deal with it later." The scythe transformed back into a bracelet on Alex's right wrist.
Alex noticed that the ground of the Altar was still slowly seeping black water, although very slowly, indicating that the Blackwater Altar was gradually recovering. This was somewhat good news.
Alex breathed a sigh of relief. It would be a huge loss if a Monarch level special structure was destroyed by her own actions.
Outside, the sky had completely darkened, and a pile of wild beast corpses accumulated at the castle gate. Opening the system dashboard, Alex glanced at the time; it was already 8:30 PM.
She had slept for nearly four hours...
During this time, Alex had received several private messages from [QuartzStriker].
[QuartzStriker]: "Big Shot, are you there?"--- 6:00 PM
[QuartzStriker]: "When can we trade, Big Shot?"--- 6:30 PM
[QuartzStriker]: "Big Shot, please reply when you see this." ---7:30 PM
It was clear that the other party was anxious, messaging Alex every half hour.
Alex felt a bit embarrassed; she couldn't just say she had fallen asleep. The persona of Big Shot was always busy!
Alex quickly replied, worried about losing a big deal.
[Hamburger]: "Got tied up with some stuff, didn't get to check messages. Give me a moment and we can trade, how about that?"
As soon as Alex sent the message, [QuartzStriker] almost instantly replied.
[QuartzStriker]: "Okay, thank you, Big Shot!"
Alex guessed that the other party must still have some leftover food; if they kept waiting for Alex, they would probably go hungry.
Looking at the small mountain of animal corpses next to her and then back at the Blackwater Altar, Alex fell into silence...
"Let's check my attributes first."
[Lord: Alex]
[Strength: lv6 Standard Level (can be enhanced by killing enemies personally or with troops)]
[Territory Level: lv9 Initial Castle]
[Troops: Undead Race]
[Equipment: Grim Reaper's Scythe]
[Health Points: 170]
[Mana Points: 50]
[Strength: 30]
[Stamina: 29]
[Agility: 30]
[After absorbing the essence of the source, the left eye of the Undead Queen has awakened, permanently increasing all attributes by 15 points, and Health Points and Mana Points by 10 points each.]
Alex: "???!!!"