Alex continued with her food trading and then focused on rapidly increasing her troops. Arthur was in charge of leveling up and finding ways to acquire iron ingots to build the Bone Throne and upgrade the town.
She recorded all these tasks she planned to accomplish over the next few days. If completed, the upcoming beast tide in seven days would pose no problem.
Subsequently, Alex began directing the undead to enter the Altar in batches for enhancement. Although the Altar could accommodate all the undead at once, there was still work to be done, and she couldn't afford to stop.
Once all the undead were enhanced, Arthur would return in the evening and it would be his turn to undergo enhancement.
As the bone dragon king with a Divine growth limit, his enhancement was bound to be earth-shattering. Alex was really counting on Arthur to boost their strength.
By the afternoon, Alex had managed to enhance all the undead without affecting their work efficiency.
"It looks like any undead I summon in the future will need to take a bath first!" she joked.
The Blackwater Altar was convenient for direct summoning without the need for further enhancement. Each undead took about a minute to enhance, and the Altar was large enough to handle the capacity without any issues.
Before evening, Arthur returned early, his claws clutching the bodies of several unidentified creatures. Knowing Alex needed the bodies, he had brought them back specially.
Intelligent creatures were indeed considerate—absolutely fantastic...
Alex rushed over to inspect the bodies—four red-haired gorillas about six feet tall and one creature as large as a buffalo, covered in black scales, resembling a giant pangolin.
"Arthur, did you hunt these outside our territory?" Alex asked curiously. She remembered Greenbean mentioning that there were no such species as red-haired gorillas or pangolins around.
"Yes, my Queen. I caught them about ten miles west of the castle, outside our territory. These four gorillas were hunting this giant pangolin together. Your most loyal subject, Arthur, killed them all and brought them back," Arthur reported respectfully.
Being able to fly was indeed a great advantage—it allowed him to travel far. Indeed, flying was the ultimate form of freedom, Alex thought enviously.
"Arthur, well done. Throw all these bodies into the Blackwater Altar!" Alex instructed.
Arthur had noticed the suddenly appeared Blackwater Altar upon returning to the castle and could feel a strength emanating from it that was akin to his own. Following Alex's command, he grabbed the bodies of the gorillas and the pangolin, tossing them all into the Blackwater Altar.
As dark smoke billowed out, a greenish-blue magical circle formed beneath the five bodies. Four Death Warriors and one Death Conqueror emerged from it. The four Death Warriors were all enhanced to level 5 but were otherwise unremarkable.
However, the death conqueror summoned from the pangolin caught Alex's attention.
[Death Conqueror]
[Race: undead race]
[Loyalty: 100% (Never Betray)]
[Life Tier: Ordinary]
[Level: lv6 (cannot be increased)]
[Health Points: Undead trait, immortal as long as the soul fire burns]
[Mana Points: 0]
[Strength: 28+3]
[Stamina: ∞]
[Agility: 23+3]
[Growth Limit: Monarch level]
[Enhancement: Soul, all attributes +3]
Alex was pleasantly surprised that the pangolin had reached level 6, making it the strongest troop she currently had, a death conqueror. The dashboard below indicated the enhancements, simplifying the display with plus signs representing the added attributes.
It seemed like everything she wished for was coming true. Each of these five bodies was above level 5, surely dropping Essence Shards. Arthur had done an excellent job.
"Let's disassemble and see!" Alex couldn't wait any longer and opened the system dashboard that appeared above the bodies.
[Detected 4 Red Blood Gorilla bodies, would you like to disassemble immediately?]
[Detected Armored Pangolin body, would you like to disassemble immediately?]
"Disassemble, disassemble!"
[Congratulations, Lord, on successfully disassembling the Red Blood Gorilla bodies, obtaining 4 magic crystals and 4 Essence Shards.]
What?! No meat, and this time not even any equipment?
Alex was quite puzzled. At least she got the Essence Shards, which was a small consolation.
[Congratulations, Lord, on successfully disassembling the Armored Pangolin body, obtaining 50 portions of Armored Pangolin meat, 1 piece of Armored Pangolin hide, 2 magic crystals, and 1 Essence Shard.]
Alex was surprised to find two magic crystals. She remembered that creatures level 3 and above were guaranteed to drop one magic crystal, and those below level 3 had a chance to drop them. Could it be that creatures level 5 and above now had a fixed drop of one crystal plus a chance for additional drops?
Alex noted this information down. It was her first time killing a creature above level 5, and with limited information, she couldn't be sure yet.
Unbeknownst to Alex, at that moment, a Lord named [King Kong] was furiously ranting in the World Chat channel.
[King Kong]: "Damn it, my summoned Gorillas went hunting and got snatched by some unknown flying creature. It's infuriating!"
[King Kong]: "I can only summon two Gorillas a day, and just when I got them to level 5, they're gone! Such damn bad luck! I want to file a complaint!"
[Godzilla]: "Don't be mad, it's just two monkeys!"
[King Kong]: "Fuck off, if it was local forces that killed them, I'd have nothing to say. The system shows it was an enemy Lord who killed them but doesn't reveal the name. Just don't let me find out who it was, or I swear I'll beat the shit out of you!"
[Anonymous Player]: "That's insane, someone killed four level 5 troops in one go, and they were flying? Could it be a dragon, damn!"
[CtrlAltDefeat]: "It's only the second day, which Lord is this strong? Looking at my own slime, this is really depressing…"
Meanwhile, Alex was immersed in the joy of having harvested four Essence Shards and wasn't paying any attention to the chatter in the World Chat.
"This time the Essence Shards are enough, and the magic crystals were supposed to be enough too, but building the Blackwater Altar used up a hundred, and now I'm short again…"
Alex now had 12 Essence Shards in her Warehouse, but only 926 magic crystals, just shy of what she needed. She would have to wait until the undead army returned from hunting tonight to collect a new batch of bodies.
"Ah, right, Arthur, into the Blackwater Altar you go!"
Alex suddenly remembered that she needed to strengthen Arthur, otherwise, once he went out to gain experience, it would be a long time before he returned.
Arthur's massive body entered the Blackwater Altar, making it look exceptionally crowded. He barely fit inside with his wings tucked in.
The energy in the black water began to surge towards Arthur continuously. Alex could feel Arthur's aura growing stronger and stronger. Unlike the usual one-minute enhancement for ordinary undead, Arthur was enhanced for a full nine minutes before it ended.
Arthur stepped out of the Altar, spread his wings, and let out a mighty roar towards the sky.
Roar!!!
Alex noticed significant changes in Arthur. His originally white skeletal frame began to emit a faint blue glow from inside out. Below the two dragon horns growing backwards from his head, a blue flame burned, and the flames in his eye sockets blazed even more fiercely. His massive bone wings and the tip of his tail also burned with a pale blue flame.