Building the Strongest Undead Empire from Scratch

Chapter 176: Harvest and upgrades

After their discussion, Lilith and Satan returned to their respective castles.

As for Ruby, she hadn't had enough fun yet and decided to stay at Alex's castle. After all, the castle was huge with plenty of rooms.

The three chatted late into the night. After summoning her troops, Alex planned to rest, leaving the distribution of resources for the next day.

When Alex returned to her castle, she was astonished to see the nearly overflowing warehouse. This time, she had truly struck it rich.

In the White Rock Mountains, Sophie also breathed a sigh of relief. This battle had directly doubled Alex's strength.

Now, Alex had enough power to rely on war to grow rapidly.

After reaching Monarch level, Alex's experience points could accumulate. In other words, she could control when to level up. Even if she didn't level up immediately, the experience points would continue to accumulate and wouldn't be wasted. Theoretically, a lv1 Monarch level could save enough experience to jump straight to lv9 Monarch level.

Alex glanced around her castle and, seeing the red moon in the sky, suddenly paused.

There was a detail she hadn't noticed until now.

During the day, it was always overcast with no sun, but at night, the moon appeared, meaning the night sky was clear.

Why was it overcast during the day but clear at night?

"Strange."

"Alex, goodnight!"

Ruby's head popped out from the fifth floor, pulling Alex from her thoughts.

"Goodnight."

Alex entered the castle, ready to take a bath and sleep.

The night passed without incident.

[Night retreats, dawn arrives.]

Time: 06:00 AM

Alex hurriedly got up, and began dressing.

She used her accumulated experience to level up, jumping two levels to lv3 Monarch level.

"Why does leveling up as a Monarch level seem to require less experience than going from lv9 Commanding to lv1 Monarch level? Maybe it's because it's a major rank jump?"

Alex brushed her hair, dressed, and walked out of the castle.

Defeating Galvin's alliance had brought Alex a massive haul. So many resources awaited distribution, and she felt this would lead to a significant power boost.

A necromancer approached Alex, reporting on the situation in the Barren Plains from the previous day.

It had returned last night, but Alex was already asleep, so it had waited at the castle gate until now.

"Barren Plains is completely empty?!"

Alex was furious. There were no castles left in the Barren Plains, and the Elemental Alliance had moved out. Whether Grom or the Elemental Alliance took the resources, Alex didn't know.

However, this was expected by Alex—finders keepers, after all.

Although the Elemental Alliance had fled, this was actually beneficial. The area was now thoroughly cleared, with no Lords left to interfere with Alex's development.

Alex decided to upgrade her town and Barracks first, as they were the most crucial and their resource requirements didn't conflict.

Her town, originally lv5, was upgraded to the maximum level, lv9. Alex didn't know what changes would occur beyond that.

With resources running low, Alex saved some for upgrading the wall.

[town level: lv9 (max)]

[Health Points: 150k]

[town area: 40 square miles]

[Territory Area: 75 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 Buildings: Maiden's Wardrobe, Blackwater Altar, Bone Throne, Maiden's Bedroom, Specter Chandelier, Magic Stone Pillar, defense tower, wall, Energy Cannon, Crystal Shield]

[Upgrade Requirements: 300k wood, 250k stone, 30k iron ingots.]

Alex then upgraded the wall to Monarch level defense. Commanding level defense was now as flimsy as paper to her.

The wall's appearance didn't change much, still black but looking sturdier.

Other defensive structures were also enhanced with the town's upgrade, so Alex didn't need to upgrade them separately. With the wall upgraded, she turned to the Barracks.

The Barracks were upgraded four levels, and to Alex's surprise, new races could be unlocked.

[undead crystal: lv20 (unique Barracks)]

[Barracks can summon: skeletons, zombies, specters, death conquerors, gargoyles, bone dragons, ghost dragons, zombie titans, necromancers, liches, Destroyers, Ghouls, Reaper Guards (random fifty), with a very low chance to summon a race king. Summoned troops' base level increased to lv7 Standard.]

[Unlocked special fixed units: Acolyte, Dark Alchemy Warlock]

[Upgrade Requirements: 55k magic crystals, 550 Essence Shards.]

Alex had unlocked thirteen undead races so far, which she found a bit strange.

"How many undead races are there?"

Unlike the other lords, who had single-type troops, Alex commanded an entire array of undead species.

Seeing nearly half the Warehouse's resources gone, Alex's castle had been significantly strengthened.

With some resources left, not enough for further upgrades, Alex upgraded Sophie's Barracks and castle by three levels each.

Alex then went to the Barracks to summon her troops. This time, she was pleased to see the newly unlocked troops.

The Reaper Guards resembled the Grim Reaper, wearing black robes, floating, and lacking a physical form. Their weapon was a short scythe connected to a long chain with strange runes.

They exuded a mysterious aura, fitting for undead.

One of their skills was teleportation, allowing them to instantly appear by Alex's side, serving as her protectors.

The Reaper Guards had an Emperor level cap, with high potential. If she had more corpses, Alex would summon a Monarch-level Reaper Guard to see its power.

"Go do what you need to do."

Alex waved them off. They were born at lv7, so reaching Commanding level should be easy.

Alex then checked on the three race kings' levels after the battle. Arthur was lv7 Commanding, John was lv8 Commanding, and Azure was lv9 Commanding.

"Why do they level up so slowly? And why is Arthur leveling up even slower?"

Maybe because their level cap was Divine, their leveling speed was slower?

"Whatever, I'll take it one step at a time."

Alex left the Barracks and saw Ruby yawning as she came downstairs.

"Alex, why are you up so early?"

"Just a habit."

"I helped you a lot this time. How are you going to thank me? Remember what I said last time?" Ruby teased.

"Ah, you mean visiting a human city? Do you know where one is?" Alex asked, stumping Ruby. She had lived in cold regions and didn't know where human cities were.

Ruby looked at Alex expectantly.

"I'm an extraterrestrial visitor. I don't know where human cities are either."

Ruby deflated at Alex's words.

"We'll have to wait for another time."

Alex knew the general direction of the Starfallen Empire but didn't mention it. It was dangerous, with unknown strength, and she didn't want to risk taking Ruby there.

The Starfallen Empire, supported by the mage association, was likely stronger than the hobgoblin and dwarf kingdoms.

Alex wouldn't take Ruby to human territory, where escape would be difficult if they were targeted.

With the recent upgrades, Alex's castle territory had expanded significantly, now bordering the Dark Forest. Further expansion might encroach on the forest's outskirts.

Despite the large castle, it lacked life.

Aside from Alex and Ice Cream, there were no living beings in the castle.

This contrasted sharply with Sophie's lively castle.

Alex had many tasks to handle, so Ruby mimicked human behavior and made her own breakfast.

With her Monarch-level strength secured, Alex's first thought was Chi-Chi. She planned to send a necromancer to protect them.

A necromancer could summon an army, making it a formidable protector against Commanding-level Lords.

Alex contacted Luca, Chi-Chi's brother, instead of Chi-Chi directly.

If Luca was smart, he'd understand the immense advantage of having a Monarch-level protector.

Unless he was foolish enough to think Alex's necromancer had ulterior motives.

But given Luca's ability to infiltrate enemy alliances, he was clearly not the latter.

Luca was overjoyed at Alex's offer and expressed his gratitude.

Alex didn't waste words and invited Luca to join her Alliance.

After leaving his own Alliance, Luca quickly joined Alex's.

[Big Boobs has joined the Alliance.]

[Inferno]: "?"

Seeing the names of the other two Lords in the Alliance, Luca was awestruck and didn't dare speak.

As the World Chat had said, these were top-tier Lords with demon and fallen angel troops.

"You'll go protect Chi-Chi and her family. Follow her instructions," Alex told the necromancer.

"Yes, my queen."

A Monarch-level necromancer disappeared into the Portal of Transit. Five minutes later, Luca left the Alliance.

With the necromancer's help, their safety was assured. While there were many strong beings in this world, Monarch-levels were rare.

Alex handed the miscellaneous Commanding level equipment in the Warehouse to Sophie for handling.

Next, she examined the special buildings and strange items dropped by the slain Lords, diving into the Warehouse for a closer look.

"Energy Fruit, grants 1,000 experience points when consumed. This is great! Wait, why is it only for native races?"

Alex looked at the green fruit in her hand, puzzled.

It didn't make sense for such a valuable item to be unused.

Unbeknownst to Alex, the Lord who owned it had stone giants as troops, who couldn't consume it. Without trading it, it had remained in the Warehouse, now a lucky find for Alex.

"Undead can't consume this either..."

"Ruby, Ruby!"

Alex called Ruby over, who came running with a piece of burnt meat in her mouth.

"Here, take this."

"What's this?" Ruby sniffed the fruit, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

"It looks super gross."

"It grants 1,000 *** (experience points)."

"Huh? 1,000 what?"

"..."

"I don't want it. It has energy but tastes awful. I'm not eating it."

Since Ruby refused, Alex gave the Energy Fruit to Ice Cream, who swallowed it whole. With the 1,000 experience points, Ice Cream leveled up to lv7 Commanding.

Alex continued examining the Warehouse items.

"A beginner wind magic book, nice!"

Alex spent 100 magic crystals to learn it but didn't record it, planning to upgrade to mid-level later.

"Elemental Shield, useless."

"Contract Statue, for signing contracts? Useless."

"Storm Cannon, requires manual operation, useless."

...

Alex sifted through the Warehouse, finding most special structure blueprints unhelpful. Keeping them seemed pointless, but discarding them felt wasteful.

While she couldn't use them, Sophie could benefit greatly from most special buildings.

"Wait, what's this?"

Alex found some blue energy stones and checked their information.

[Enhancement Stones, can enhance special buildings, improving their level and quality.]

"Such a good find?"

Alex gathered all the Enhancement Stones, ten in total, and after five seconds of thought, decided to enhance the Bone Throne.

The Bone Throne provided direct combat benefits, far more valuable than other buildings.

The Magic Stone Pillar was unaffected, as it couldn't raise the gargoyles' level cap, which was fixed at King level.

Alex enhanced the Bone Throne and upgraded it with resources.

Now, the Bone Throne's cap was King level, allowing Monarch-level Alex to enjoy a 1.5x experience boost.

The remaining items were miscellaneous and not particularly useful. Not every slain Lord dropped special structure blueprints.

Suddenly, Lilith sent a message in the Alliance chat.

Lilith: "I found a group of captured dark elves. Alex, do you want them? Your castle is too empty. They can be your servants."

Satan: "I want them too."

Lilith: "I also have some male dark elves."

Satan: "..."

Alex: "Sure!"