Building the Strongest Undead Empire from Scratch

Chapter 196: Accelerate expansion and building an undead fortress

Alex entered the palace and found Xiao Mu and Xiao Hui there. She initially thought they were waiting for her, but it turned out they were just there for dinner.

"Miss Alex, how did things go?" Xiao Hui asked eagerly upon seeing Alex.

"Everything went smoothly," Alex replied with a smile.

Alex then flew to the top of the palace. In the twilight, the wind blew through her white hair, and her dress fluttered gently. She gazed out over the entire Undead City.

Outside the palace, there were a few houses and facilities, but not many. To Alex, the city felt too large for its current population. The areas near the city walls were mostly empty, with only a few undead stationed there, making the place look desolate.

Undead City, where the dead outnumbered the living, felt more like a ghost town.

[Undead fortress construction materials: 100K units of wood, 200K units of stone, 50K magic crystals, 100K units of iron ingots, 100 Essence Shards.]

These resources were a significant fortune.

"Build!" Alex commanded.

To her surprise, nothing happened in the empty space before her. She turned around and realized the construction was happening behind the palace.

Xiao Mu and Xiao Hui heard the commotion and joined Alex, watching the scene unfold behind the palace.

Hundreds of Essence Shards floated in the air, and massive bones emerged from the ground, assembling like building blocks.

A colossal circular structure slowly took shape, its outer walls towering as high as the walls of Undead City, reaching two-thirds the height of the palace. The walls, made entirely of bones, were eerily white and unsettling. Facing Alex was a skull gate, with a giant skull emitting black mist. The mist fell to the ground, obscuring the land beneath.

Aside from the mist, the structure was a simple, flat-topped cylinder.

Alex jumped down to inspect the interior, with the curious siblings following closely.

Upon approaching the building, Alex realized it was even taller than she had imagined. There were eight doors, each adorned with a strange skull emitting black mist from its eye sockets.

Alex walked through the mist, which felt comfortable to Xiao Hui but made Xiao Mu uneasy, despite not harming him due to his connection to Alex.

As they reached the undead fortress, the doors opened automatically, revealing a dark barrier inside. Even with the doors open, they couldn't see what lay beyond.

Xiao Hui felt a bit scared, imagining monsters lurking behind the barrier.

Alex didn't hesitate. She touched the Dark Barrier, her hand passing through it, and then stepped inside, disappearing from the siblings' view. They exchanged glances and followed her in.

Inside, Alex found a separate space, like a small world filled with twisted black light and endless darkness.

"This place has spatial properties!" Alex observed. She looked up to see only darkness and down to find her feet hidden in black mist.

Before her stood a massive black portal, large enough for a zombie titan to pass through easily. The circular, smooth black walls were covered in strange runes, each missing a piece, losing their original charm.

A black hexagonal crystal slowly emerged from the mist at her feet. Alex picked it up to examine it.

[Item Name: Undead Fortress Essence Shard]

[Item Level: None]

[Feature: Constructs an undead fortress]

[Supplementary Materials: 100K units of wood, 200K units of stone, 50K magic crystals, 100K units of iron ingots, 100 Essence Shards.]

"So expensive, it's the same as the main fortress's construction materials," Alex noted.

She clicked to supplement the materials, and the Essence Shard was encased in bones, forming a sphere that emitted a special glow, indicating it was fully charged.

The usage was simple: click to build and throw it on the ground.

The feature seemed singular, but the teleportation function alone was impressive and would be very useful to Alex.

"Miss Alex, will our castle upgrade to a city and have something like this?" Xiao Hui asked curiously.

"I don't know. It's unclear if this is a special reward or a standard upgrade feature," Alex replied. She couldn't tell if the teleporting undead fortress was a unique system reward or a fixed upgrade reward. Other Lords might have hobgoblin fortresses, demon fortresses, or similar structures.

"Let's go. There's nothing else here," Alex said, turning to leave. The siblings quickly followed.

"It's almost dark. I'll build the first fortress Essence Shard at Grimstone to see its effect. When the second one refreshes tomorrow, we'll prepare to attack the hobgoblin kingdom," Alex explained. She guessed the Essence Shard refreshed every twenty-four hours, like the Barracks.

"Xiao Mu, could you take this to Grimstone and build it in a suitable spot? It's fully charged," Alex handed the fortress Essence Shard to Xiao Mu, not wanting to make another trip herself. She planned to use the fortress's teleportation to travel directly from Undead City.

"Sure," Xiao Mu agreed, taking the Essence Shard.

"Miss Alex, I want to go too!" Xiao Hui exclaimed, eager to see the dwarf city.

"You both go," Alex said, watching the siblings enter the Portal of Transit to the White Rock Mountains.

After greeting Sophie at her castle, the siblings, accompanied by an undead mount to guide them, set off north to Grimstone.

The sky cleared, revealing the red moon as night fell.

Alex waited patiently in the palace for them to build the undead fortress.

[Blood Moon in the sky, darkness descends]

Time: 10:00 PM

Xiao Mu and Xiao Hui finally arrived at Grimstone. The city, once under noble rule, wasn't as prosperous as Xiao Hui had imagined.

Grimstone was silent at night, with only a few houses still lit. Durin and Balin had left with the dwarf army, leaving the city much quieter.

The siblings didn't enter the city but searched for a suitable spot to build the undead fortress.

"The area around here is all grassland. It feels the same no matter where we build it," Xiao Hui muttered.

"Let's build it south of Grimstone, within sight but not too close, so we can quickly support it," Xiao Mu suggested.

"Sounds good. I was thinking the same," Xiao Hui agreed.

They moved south until Grimstone looked as small as an egg in the distance.

Xiao Mu took out the fortress Essence Shard, opened the system dashboard, and clicked to build, then casually tossed the Essence Shard to the ground.

They flew into the sky, away from the Essence Shard's location.

The bones encasing the Essence Shard shattered, and the core emitted a green glow. A massive magic circle appeared, and a bone fortress began to rise from it.

The fortress, a hexagonal structure with walls and everything inside made of bones, was larger than the siblings had expected. Compared to the dwarf guard fortresses, this undead fortress was even bigger, covering one-fifth of Grimstone's area.

The six walls had no gates, but each corner where two walls met had a round turret, six in total. Each turret had battlements and eerie cannon muzzles connected to them.

The fortress's interior was simple, with a tall undead tower at its center. The tower's peak held the undead fortress's Essence Shard, forming a transparent, slightly dark barrier.

The Essence Shard at the top not only provided defense but also acted as a defense tower, automatically attacking nearby enemies.

The siblings landed on the bone wall, which looked fragile but was incredibly sturdy. Each turret's top had a black triangular flag, whose purpose they couldn't discern but believed wasn't just decorative.

The undead tower's base, the fortress's interior, was also a hexagonal structure. Five of its walls had black teleportation arrays, with only one wall serving as an entrance.

The five teleportation arrays were angled to maximize their passage area. The floor inside the fortress was also covered in bones, with stairs leading up the six walls.

"This fortress is so eerie. Why is there so much empty space inside?" Xiao Hui wondered. Wouldn't it be strange without other facilities?

"Undead don't need fancy stuff. Their mission is probably just war. Do you want them to build houses inside?" Xiao Mu retorted, using the time to contact Alex.

Receiving the message, Alex entered the main fortress in Undead City. She noticed that one of the runes on the walls, previously missing a piece, was now complete and glowing green.

"I see, building an undead fortress activates a rune," Alex realized.

The massive teleportation gate lit up, and she walked through it.