The types of undead Alex summoned were diverse, including skeletons, specters, zombies, and death knights. With the addition of these 356 undead, Alex's undead army had grown to a terrifying count of over nine hundred.
"What, a Goblin tribe with over a thousand Goblins? Watch me bulk up my troops and take them down in no time!" Alex mused with a smirk.
Once Arthur leveled up a bit more, Alex planned to lead her undead army to annihilate the Goblin tribe, letting Arthur leverage his aerial advantage to grind them down from above.
Did Goblins have any anti-air measures? Goblin archers, Goblin mages—sorry, my Arthur is magic immune!
As for physical attacks, pfft, if physical attacks were effective, who would need an undead army?
"Let's mercifully give them a couple more days," Alex decided with a mock magnanimity.
"First, let's disassemble these chicken corpses."
[System detected 356 wild chicken corpses, proceed with Disassemble?]
"Disassemble!"
[Successfully disassembled all wild chicken corpses, obtained 1780 units of food, 167 magic crystals.]
Adding to the 80 units of wolf meat left in the Warehouse, there were now a total of 1860 units of food. Alex rested for a while, regaining some strength. She got up from the ground and without hesitation, listed all the food for trade.
[Hamburger initiated a trade!]
[One unit of food, trade for forty units of wood or twenty units of stone or one magic crystal.]
[Remaining quantity: 1860 units.]
In less than two days, Alex had already listed over two thousand units of food at the trading post. She also discovered a secret about her body—she felt like she truly had the traits of the undead, even capable of going without food or drink.
Maybe because her level was still low, Alex hadn't reached the point of infinite stamina yet.
Wait, why infinite stamina?
"I'm not about to give up my physical body to become a skeleton, I'd rather die!" But not needing to eat was pretty cool, like entering 'cultivation mode'.
On the All-Races Fair Trade, unlike the first day when only a few Lords were selling food, now there were many more.
These Lords, after a day's development, seemed to have caught their breath and also realized the huge benefits of food trading. They started having their troops find ways to gather food, even selling at low prices to compete with Alex and others for market share.
Alex and a few other Lords who were also trading food at four times the markup faced significant impacts. However, the advantage of Alex and her allies was the large and stable quantity of food they offered, with Alex's trades being the most abundant.
By the second day, it seemed likely that by the third or fourth day, even the fourfold markup on food might not find any takers. By the fifth or sixth day, even selling at cost might not attract buyers.
"Prices are dropping so fast," Alex sighed.
By then, even the most inept Lords wouldn't lack basic resources like food, but with billions of Lords, there were always a few who were foolish, like the unlucky one next to Alex's castle.
However, these foolish Lords might not survive past the seventh day of the newbie protection period, and even if they did, the beast tide after seven days would likely finish them off.
Even though Alex's food trading was currently impacted, it wasn't a big problem. With over a billion Lords, the supply would eventually be absorbed. Alex watched the trading post's updates; it seemed that until those orders with lower-priced food were cleared, her own listings wouldn't stand a chance.
This time, it took a full hour before Alex's 1860 units of food were successfully traded off.
After Alex's orders were completed, the trading post was practically devoid of food orders, with only occasional small orders of about a dozen units of food popping up, which were snapped up in less than a second.
One order, however, caught Alex's attention. A Lord with the ID [QuartzStriker] had traded for 300 units of Alex's food all at once, paying with a whopping 6,000 units of stone. This was quite rare.
Could it be that this Lord was surrounded by mountains? Or perhaps his summoned troops were made of stone, literally using local resources?
From what Alex had seen in previous transactions, including this round, the largest orders usually involved trading up to a hundred units of food at a time, mostly in smaller increments.
How could a Lord who could dish out 6,000 units of stone be short on food? Alex was puzzled.
Reviewing the gains from this round at the trading post, Alex had amassed a total of 40,000 units of wood, 20,000 units of stone, and 360 magic crystals.
Most Lords who traded magic crystals for food did so in small amounts, one or two at a time, indicating they didn't have many and couldn't use them, yet were desperate for food. They had no choice but to trade their few precious magic crystals for sustenance.
Otherwise, both the Lord and their troops would starve. What good were a few magic crystals if you were dead?
By accumulating them one or two at a time, Alex had gathered a total of 360 magic crystals, adding to the 660 already in her Warehouse, breaking the thousand mark!
Now Alex was in a quandary. Just a moment ago, she had decided not to upgrade her Barracks because she lacked magic crystals. Now that she had enough crystals, she was short on Essence Shards.
She was only three Essence Shards away from being able to build the special structure, the Bone Throne, or upgrade her crystal.
"Oh, what a dilemma," Alex muttered. "If only I could get my hands on thirteen more Essence Shards."
Hoping Arthur could snag three Essence Shards today, Alex had no choice but to pin her hopes on him.
Even if he didn't earn them during the day, the appearance of high-level troops at night still offered a chance. If tonight turned out like last night, with a dozen or so Moon Silver Wolves showing up, Alex was confident she could take them all down.
But first things first, she'd consider her next moves once she had enough materials. Alex's immediate goal was to upgrade her castle.
She had already set aside the materials needed to build the Bone Throne, and with the 40,000 units of wood and 20,000 units of stone she'd just traded for food, her Warehouse was nearly bursting with close to a hundred thousand units of wood and stone.
[Upgrade Requirements: 12k wood, 6k stone]
Alex glanced again at the castle's upgrade requirements. Upgrading to a level 7 castle only needed 12,000 units of wood and 6,000 units of stone. Without hesitation, she clicked to upgrade.
[Castle Level: lv8]
[Health Points: 60k (Invincible)]
[Territory Area: 6 square miles]
[Feature: Within the territory, the Lord has the power to see everything, as well as to Disassemble and recycle at the Warehouse.]
[Special Structure: Maiden's Wardrobe]
[Upgrade Requirements: 16k wood, 8k stone]
Nothing much changed, just more health points and a larger area. And the upgrade materials got pricier...
"I'm upgrading again!"
[Castle Level: lv9 (Max)]
[Health Points: 70k (Invincible)]
[Territory Area: 6 square miles]
[Feature: Within the territory, the Lord has the power to see everything, as well as to Disassemble and recycle at the Warehouse.]
[Special Structure: Maiden's Wardrobe]
[Upgrade Requirements: 50k wood, 30k stone, 10k iron ingots.]
[Note: The castle has reached its maximum level. Upgrading again will elevate it to a town.]
[Congratulations, Lord, on upgrading your castle to lv9, and receiving a special structure blueprint.]