After awakening their basic consciousness, these top candidates pretty much act on their own. Once they gain awareness, it's all up to their abilities.
Looking at it this way, zombies aren't bad at all. They seem like the type that takes a while to show their full potential.
Xu Yuan eyed the monsters in front of him.
These creatures were entirely different now. Without his control, they still didn't wander off.
After a closer look, Xu Yuan noticed their eyes seemed more focused than before.
Well, excluding Xiao Bai and the spider.
One had no eyes, and the other had too many.
Seeing the changes in these monsters, Xu Yuan felt a bit curious.
How had those two zombies with intermediate consciousness turned out?
"Hey, 007 and 520, step forward!"
But even after a while, neither of the zombies moved a muscle.
Xu Yuan rubbed his forehead.
"Are these two idiots?!"
Just then, the system interface popped up.
[Creatures with awakened consciousness don't recognize their assigned numbers. The host may name them.]
Xu Yuan finally understood.
"So I need to give them names…"
He sighed in frustration. He hated naming things.
The real problem was, he'd definitely tame more monsters in the future. If he had to name each one, where would it end?
Thinking this over, Xu Yuan decided to just stick with their numbers.
"You, from now on, you're 007."
He pointed at one of the zombies.
As soon as the words left his mouth, a system message appeared.
[Zombie 007 has been successfully named 007!]
Seeing it worked, Xu Yuan quickly named the rest of the monsters as well.
After the naming was done, Xu Yuan waved to 007 and 520.
"007, 520, step forward… come here!"
He was worried they might not understand "step forward," so he kindly rephrased it.
Upon hearing his command, 007 and 520 walked over to Xu Yuan.
Xu Yuan inspected the two monsters carefully.
520 hadn't changed much—still like a little kid.
But 007? This guy was surprisingly good-looking.
Most zombies were missing limbs or were rotting all over, but 007's skin was well-preserved.
His dark skin and firm muscles made him look like the zombie version of a fit athlete.
Xu Yuan vaguely remembered that he didn't look like this before. He must've been as ragged as the others.
It seemed evolution had altered his appearance.
Satisfied with what he saw, Xu Yuan nodded approvingly.
"Not bad. You'll make a fine servant."
After checking out 007 and 520, Xu Yuan grew curious.
"I wonder how strong they are."
With that thought, he began controlling some of the zombies lurking around the forest.
Then, he sent them to attack 007 and 520.
Xu Yuan stood back, watching their reactions.
The zombies advanced toward 007 and 520.
But instead of attacking right away, the pair studied their surroundings, deep in thought.
At that moment, the system popped up again.
[007 attempted to seize control of the attacking creatures but failed!]
[520 attempted to seize control of the attacking creatures but failed!]
Xu Yuan's eyes lit up with excitement.
"Wow, they're smarter than I thought!"
Monsters with intermediate consciousness could control other creatures that lacked awareness.
When 007 and 520 saw the incoming zombies, their first instinct wasn't to fight but to try controlling them.
This meant their thought processes were logical!
Once they realized they couldn't wrest control, both immediately began attacking.
Their moves weren't flashy, and they hadn't awakened any special abilities yet.
Their attacks were just basic strikes.
But their physical attributes had clearly improved.
007, being the brute force type, took out a zombie with a single blow.
520, the agile one, darted around, striking zombies while easily dodging their attacks.
The regular zombies couldn't even touch 520.
In just a few seconds, the four zombies under Xu Yuan's control were lying dead at their feet.
Watching their performance, Xu Yuan felt a surge of pride.
They'd exceeded his expectations.
Sure, they hadn't developed any real abilities yet, but that was understandable.
After all, they'd only just awakened intermediate consciousness.
Even with that, their combat prowess was already impressive.
More importantly, they had sharp, logical minds.
That alone made them formidable.
With this in mind, Xu Yuan called 007 and 520 back to the group and began another round of indoctrination for the monsters.
"Your fate is to kill players!"
"The more you kill, the stronger you'll become!"
"Got it?"
Xu Yuan's mind control was necessary because Little Black was a neutral monster—he'd only attack players if they made eye contact with him.
The spider was only half-neutral. It attacked players but only at night.
So Xu Yuan needed to make sure they all understood their mission.
Now that the monsters had awakened basic consciousness, they could understand his words.
To them, Xu Yuan was their master.
The master's word was law.
After hearing his speech, all the monsters nodded in understanding.
007 and 520 even growled softly in response.
Xu Yuan smiled with satisfaction, feeling like he was raising kids.
With their newfound awareness, Xu Yuan's attitude toward the monsters had shifted.
Before, he saw them as just lines of data. But now, with thoughts of their own, they were his subordinates, his comrades, his own creations.
He couldn't treat them the same way he treated other ordinary monsters.
After all, he'd raised them himself.
"Looks like I need to get them some gear…"
Although 007 and 520 had awakened intermediate consciousness, they were still zombies, which meant they probably feared sunlight.
That would make moving around difficult.
So equipping them was a must.
At the very least, they needed helmets. One wrong step in the sun, and all his hard work would be for nothing.
For durability and protection, diamond armor was the best choice.
Naturally, 007 and 520 would get full diamond sets.
As for the others, Skeleton Archer could make do with iron armor since he was a ranged fighter.
Little Black and the spider didn't need armor—they couldn't wear it anyway.
But Little Black could carry blocks, so Xu Yuan thought he'd give him some TNT to lug around.
Though TNT would only be good for a one-time use.
Suddenly, an idea sparked in Xu Yuan's mind.
"Could Little Black carry a Creeper?"
Once a creature awakened intermediate consciousness, it could control other mindless creatures.
If Little Black could carry a Creeper, he'd basically have a mobile bomb factory with him at all times!
Excited, Xu Yuan immediately summoned a Creeper and placed it in front of Little Black.
"Pick it up," he ordered, pointing to the Creeper.
Hearing the command, Little Black stretched out his sinister black hands and grabbed the Creeper.
With a simple lift, the Creeper was off the ground.
"Holy crap, it worked?!"
Xu Yuan had only been trying it out of curiosity.
After all, once monsters awakened consciousness, they abandoned certain in-game restrictions.
Enderman's setting was that he could carry blocks.
It seemed that, after evolving, this ability had been modified.
Now he could lift living creatures too.
"Alright then, Little Black's got himself a bomber squad…"
(The world now has one more unfortunate Creeper.)
With Little Black able to carry Creepers, Xu Yuan's plan for him was all set.
When he reached intermediate consciousness, he'd finally be able to generate his own ammo.
With a plan in mind, Xu Yuan told his monsters to stay put and began heading down into the mines.
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