The two newly acquired cards significantly eased the Creator's unique challenge of being unable to cast spells.
Additionally, the number of cards in hand increased to fifteen.
Excluding support cards like Mimicry and the mentalLibrary, which were useless in combat, only eight cards were truly viable for fighting enemies.
These included three creature cards and five magic cards.
Two of these were crafted by Zuo Si himself, based on what he had secretly learned in this world while avoiding detection.
Aside from the Planeswalker class card system, Zuo Si also utilized the Creator class's special abilities to create various magical items, potions, and curiosities.
Together with the stockpile of magical scrolls and the valuable items he had scavenged from corpses during the plague outbreak, he should, in theory, have enough to defend himself.
As Zuo Si was contemplating using his Refinement ability to extract energy from some less useful magical items to replenish his empty mana pool, the undead roaming the streets outside the tower suddenly became agitated.
The zombies and skeletons, which had previously attacked the living out of sheer undead instinct, now seemed provoked, emitting low growls and beginning to gather at a visible speed, all converging toward the tower.
Among them, the ghouls—who retained some intelligence and language skills from their previous lives—stared hungrily at Zuo Si standing at the window, their gleaming eyes sending a shiver down his spine.
In addition, shadows on the street hinted at more dangerous undead, such as Wights evolved from ghouls, ghosts born from restless souls, and other unseen threats.
It was clear that these undead were attracted by the commotion caused by the land card Zuo Si had just created.
Thankfully, because only two months had passed since the plague's outbreak and mass deaths, powerful mages, warriors, knights, monsters, and magical creatures had not yet had time to transform into higher forms of undead.
Otherwise, this place might have truly turned into a kingdom of the dead.
"Damn! I knew something would go wrong," Zuo Si muttered to himself.
Realizing that the undead were preparing to storm the tower, Zuo Si could no longer keep his cool.
Since he had no control over the tower, he had no way to counter the impending flood of undead surging toward him.
All he could do was wait for the tower's automatic defenses to activate.
With the amount of stored magical energy in a mage tower, it could likely unleash enough lightning bolts, fireballs, ice spikes, and positive energy spells to decimate hordes of undead.
But once that energy was depleted, the remaining undead would break through the sealed entrance and swarm in, killing every living thing inside.
This exact scenario had already played out in other towers, where the few survivors met a grim end.
Zuo Si knew full well the danger and the dire situation he was in.
He couldn't afford to wait any longer.
Or it would be a death sentence.
Damn it!
The task that rewarded him with three card draws was turning out to be much harder than he had anticipated.
As he anxiously reviewed his escape plan for any fatal flaws, a group of around thirty zombies, along with six ghouls, reached the tower's entrance, triggering the warning runes placed around it.
The next second...
The previously dim tower's peak suddenly blazed with a brilliant blue light.
Before the undead could reach the sealed doors, a chain of lightning struck from the sky.
Crackle!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Blinding silver lightning bolts danced among the undead.
Every target hit instantly turned black, falling to the ground with black smoke and the stench of burnt flesh rising from their bodies.
In just one hit!
A ghoul and several zombies were wiped out.
Then, a series of fireballs, each the size of a washbasin, followed.
They exploded in the densest areas of the undead.
Deafening explosions and scorching flames consumed everything in their path.
When the magical fire finally faded, every undead within twenty meters of the tower's entrance had been annihilated.
The mage tower's formidable defenses were on full display.
Meanwhile, Zuo Si, watching from above, seized the opportunity to absorb some of the negative energy released by the destroyed undead, channeling it into his mana pool as dark mana.
He also destroyed two magical items, refining about thirty points of general mana as a backup.
Seeing that the undead couldn't breach the tower for now, Zuo Si didn't linger to collect any more advantages. Instead, he immediately turned and sprinted toward his room on the third floor's eastern side without looking back.
Running on his short legs, Zuo Si dashed through narrow passages and corridors, past empty workspaces and libraries filled with bookshelves, and soon arrived at the apprentices' dormitory.
Unlike most apprentices, his room wasn't one of the cramped common areas that could only fit four beds, two desks, and a few chairs.
Instead, he had a private room at the far end.
As he pushed the door open, the first thing he saw was two undead creatures, each made from a mishmash of incomplete body parts, strapped to frames and pedaling a contraption that closely resembled a bicycle without wheels.
Their never-ending pedaling drove a transmission chain that spun a lower axle frantically, producing a constant humming sound.
Around the axle, a multitude of copper coils were meticulously wound.
Outside the coils were two massive circular magnets.
Anyone who had taken basic physics would immediately recognize this as a simple, primitive generator.
Copper wires connected the generator to a cylindrical crystal roughly half a meter long and about the thickness of a water glass.
Through the cloudy surface, Zuo Si could clearly see silver lightning flickering inside.
It was obvious that this device was designed to store the energy generated by the undead-driven generator.
In simple terms, it was a hybrid of technology and magic.
While the cylindrical crystal storage was a magical artifact, the rest of the setup relied entirely on electromagnetic induction principles.
As for the power source for the generator, it came from the two low-level undead driven by negative energy.
In the magic world, the concept of "energy conservation" didn't exist.
As long as he occasionally replenished the undead's negative energy, they could generate power endlessly.
Zuo Si had even given the device a fitting name—"walking catastrophe."
He was certain that if capitalists from Earth saw the undead of the magical world, their first reaction wouldn't be fear but excitement. They'd leap for joy and shout, "This is the labor force I've been dreaming of!"
No need for rest!
No need to breathe!
No need for food or water!
No need for love or reproduction!
Unaffected by toxic substances!
And best of all, no wages to pay!
With just a little negative energy, these "little darlings" would work like perpetual motion machines, generating value endlessly.
No more 9-9-6 or 0-0-7 work schedules...
Even slaves couldn't compete with undead who could work non-stop, 24 hours a day.
In such a world, necromancers who could resurrect corpses and control the undead would undoubtedly become the hottest profession globally.
Who knows? The value of a corpse might surpass that of a living person...
Walking over to the cylindrical crystal connected to the copper wires, Zuo Si carefully disconnected it using insulated tools, removed the energy storage device, and secured it to the left side of his belt.
This artifact not only stored the generator's electrical output but also released it in the form of lightning when needed.
Normally, it could unleash up to thirty regular lightning bolts at targets within ten meters or a single, devastating super-lightning strike.
The former dealt consistent damage.
The latter, though, released all the stored energy in one go, with its power depending on how much charge was left.