Payment successful.
The training of the undead knife soldiers has commenced, expected to be completed in ten minutes.
"Hmm? Only ten minutes? That's acceptable."
Ye Sangeng tightly secured the money pouch, watching the skeletons chopping wood in place, murmuring to himself.
Ten minutes wasn't long. Before the old milk can was filled, ten skeleton soldiers with machetes confidently stepped out of the training ground.
"Wanna showcase a set?" Ye Sangeng pointed to a skeleton.
The skeleton nodded, then lifted its knife and fiercely slashed forward, its speed comparable to that of a goblin warrior.
Ye Sangeng pondered for a moment, then drew his longsword and stood in front of it.
"Attack me."
Seeing the unmoving skeleton, Ye Sangeng scratched his head in realization:
"Practice against me in your strongest state."
The skeleton nodded again, a slash toward Ye Sangeng, but he easily sidestepped and, in one smooth motion, sliced at the skeleton's wrist. If he hit its hand, it would be disabled.
However, the skeleton neither dodged nor avoided, using the momentum of the first slash to spin past Ye Sangeng's sword. It then struck again, forcing Ye Sangeng to hastily step back, narrowly avoiding the attack.
Yet, the skeleton didn't stop, continuing the spin and even adding a jump, channeling the body weight into the third strike.
Observing, Ye Sangeng thought of testing its strength and didn't dodge, instead, he raised his sword to block the blow.
A clang echoed, sparks flew, and Ye Sangeng felt a numbness in his hand. Suddenly, a dark figure flashed before his eyes, instinctively tilting his head to realize it was a broken blade flying towards him.
"Stop, stop, stop!"
Ye Sangeng hurriedly shouted to halt the remaining skeleton soldiers, then looked behind him in shock. The broken blade was deeply embedded in the chest of a low-level skeleton watching him, breaking two ribs.
He had almost been decapitated by his summoned skeleton soldiers!
"Not bad, not bad! Worth ten silver coins!"
Wiping the sweat off his forehead, Ye Sangeng exclaimed in excitement.
Ten silver coins to train such fierce knife soldiers – how could he not be satisfied?
The [Novice Undead Knife Soldiers] were only low-level undead soldiers capable of basic hacking and slashing. They were usable, at best.
Associated Skill: Flowing Strike (Novice)
Flowing Strike (Novice): After a missed attack, the strength of the next strike can be increased, up to three strikes.
While the normal strength of undead knife soldiers wasn't significant, their intelligence saw a sharp increase. At least, they could finally understand Ye Sangeng's commands. Coupled with an unexpected skill, it was a pleasant surprise.
Although this skill, if utilized well, could directly kill a human soldier, the undead knife soldiers' lack of evasion and blocking abilities made them vulnerable in combat.
Nevertheless, as the most basic form of undead soldiers, Ye Sangeng was very satisfied with their performance.
Thinking this, he quickly went to the Undead Building Hall to see if he could upgrade the training ground to get more formidable creatures.
The layout inside the Undead Building Hall was similar to the farm, with more tools on the workbench: hammers, saws, nails, and shovels.
With ten novice skeletons stationed, the windows of the Undead Building Hall instantly lit up with a yellow light. Ye Sangeng was astonished to see the upgraded arrows pointing upwards for the Stench Farm, Corruption Pool, Bone Logging Camp, and Desolate Bone Graveyard.
Opening the Stench Farm upgrade, he understood it meant leveling up, but, as usual, there was a cost involved.
"After upgrading the Stench Farm, specialized training for farmers and expansion of fields can be added, increasing the maximum workforce to 12."
Ye Sangeng raised his eyebrows, then looked at the others:
The Corruption Pool upgrade would enhance corruption conversion efficiency and provide a minimal healing effect.
The Bone Logging Camp upgrade would transform into an Undead Forest Guard House, allowing the planting of trees in designated areas and increasing the maximum workforce to 20.
The Desolate Bone Graveyard could be upgraded to a Desolate Bone Tomb, where resurrected skeletons would upgrade to intermediate skeletons, with a chance of producing skeleton commanders.
"This... It's difficult to choose!"
Ye Sangeng felt a bit conflicted as he opened the money pouch. He now had only 572 gold coins, 150 units of wood, and 590 corpses. Each building upgrade required double the construction resources, meaning building everything was impossible.
"The Guard House is a must-build; otherwise, the following structures won't be feasible. That leaves me with 372 gold coins." Ye Sangeng furrowed his brows.
In times of resource scarcity, every penny must be spent wisely, adhering to sustainable development principles to avoid a collapse.
"While intermediate skeletons and skeleton commanders are tempting, they require 400 gold coins. The upgrade of the Corruption Pool doesn't offer much benefit. With the remaining gold coins, I can just barely upgrade the Stench Farm."
Deciding, Ye Sangeng nodded.
Loran City had become an empty city, and when the avengers of Blood Fury could deliver goblins was uncertain. Even if they did, Bede's cultivation would take some time.
Before that, he needed to find a new source of soul energy. Farming became his preferred option at this time, utilizing the light of the Undead Mark to absorb normal food into vital energy, then transforming it into the needed soul energy. Though the conversion rate was only 10:1, coupled with the energy-saving effect of the Corpse-Stop Wooden House, he could endure this period.
"That's the decision!"
With the novice skeletons receiving their orders enthusiastically, Ye Sangeng's gold coins instantly dropped to 172, wood to 70 units, and corpses remained at a plentiful 570.
However, during this process, Ye Sangeng discovered that the ten upgraded skeleton soldiers, now undead knife soldiers, didn't respond to his commands to build or station in production buildings, which annoyed him.
Even if they turned into skeletons, they were still so obstinate. Did skeleton soldiers not work? Did they aspire to be anything other than farmers or construction workers?
So, Ye Sangeng happily assigned them the role of porters. Undeniably, the strength and speed of undead knife soldiers were significantly faster than novice skeletons, making this unassigned role quite suitable for them.
What surprised him even more were the ten individuals stationed in the Undead Building Hall. Somehow, they managed to procure ten wooden helmets, put them on their heads, and carried out a series of dazzling operations. Their efficiency in construction was actually more than double that of the other skeletons!
Is this the result of specializing in a profession?
Ye Sangeng widened his eyes, thinking, then a series of prompts jumped out.
[You have ten novice skeletons with construction experience that has reached the standard for specialized training. Do you want to send them for training immediately?]