Building the Strongest Undead Empire from Scratch

Chapter 43: Magic Stone Pillar

Currently, the only building Alex can upgrade is the Barracks, as the castle still lacks some iron ingots, and special buildings cannot be upgraded either.

Who cares, money is meant to be spent.

[Upgrade Barracks Required: 8000 magic crystals, 80 Essence Shards]

"Upgrade!"

[Undead Crystal: lv6 (Unique Barracks)]

[Level 6 Barracks can summon: skeletons, zombies, specters, death conquerors, gargoyles, bone dragons, ghost dragons—six major troops (random twenty) with a 6% chance of summoning high-level troops, and an extremely low chance of summoning a Race King.]

[Upgrade Barracks Required: 10k magic crystals, 100 Essence Shards]

[Congratulations Lord, you have successfully upgraded the Barracks to lv6, rewarded with a random special structure blueprint.]

Huh, lv6 Barracks didn't unlock new troops, but the number of troops summoned increased to twenty.

Damn, what's the use of increasing the number of summons? Alex can summon herself without any limit; this upgrade isn't perfect.

The next level requires ten thousand magic crystals and one hundred Essence Shards. Alex plans not to upgrade the Barracks for now and first see what this special structure blueprint can reveal; otherwise, if upgrading the Barracks just increases the number of summons again, she'll be devastated.

Twenty thousand magic crystals gone in an instant, nearly half spent just to increase quantity—Alex's heart is bleeding.

Alex collects the reward for the special structure blueprint.

[Congratulations Lord, you have obtained a special structure blueprint, Magic Stone Pillar.]

[Special Structure Blueprint: Magic Stone Pillar.]

[Building Level: None (Gargoyle exclusive)]

[Feature: Gargoyles perched on the Magic Stone Pillar will gain 2 experience points per minute.]

[Note 1: Gargoyles on the Magic Stone Pillar will enter a dormant state, only awakening when enemies invade the territory or when called by the Lord.]

[Note 2: Gargoyles on the Magic Stone Pillar will be bound and cannot be replaced.]

[Construction Materials: 8k stone, 4k magic crystals, 4 Essence Shards.]

A troop with its own exclusive special building?

Two points of experience per minute, that's one point every thirty seconds, which continuously for twenty-four hours a day equals, uh, Alex quickly calculates...

2880 experience points! That's much faster than gargoyles hunting wild boars; even non-stop hunting wouldn't yield nearly three thousand experience points a day.

Outrageous, awesome!

Alex almost wants to stand there herself and become a statue.

The level cap for gargoyles is King level, which means a solid future King level force.

It will be bound to this special building, destined to be just a guardian, but that's still powerful.

Luckily, Alex didn't rush to upgrade the Barracks, or else she wouldn't have enough magic crystals to build the Magic Stone Pillar.

"Build!"

This is a good thing, much better than just adding ten undead to the summoning count at the Barracks. Alex chooses to build without hesitation.

Four circular stone pillars rise from the ground at the castle's front gate, with square tops and the entire pillar in black, carved with majestic gargoyle reliefs.

The four pillars are arranged in a trapezoidal pattern, two on each side of the gate and two more behind, with the overall height matching that of the castle gate.

"What if binding a non-upgradable gargoyle breaks the limit?"

Alex looks at the Magic Stone Pillar and suddenly thinks of the gargoyle Commanding she summoned from the Goblin chief's body. If the undead she summoned could also gain experience from the Magic Stone Pillar, they would start at a higher level.

"Never mind, can't take the risk. If it still can't upgrade, I'd be stuck, and it's irreplaceable."

Alex calls over four gargoyles summoned from the Barracks.

Alex gestures to the four gargoyles, looking from them to the Magic Stone Pillar, the intent clear.

The four gargoyles understand Alex's gesture and immediately fly towards the four Magic Stone Pillars.

The gargoyles perch on the pillars, tuck in their wings, and sit squatting on top. Their skin begins to petrify bit by bit until it covers their entire bodies, and the pale blue glow in their eyes completely extinguishes.

The four gargoyles, in a squatting position, turn completely into four statues.

"Alright, done. I hope you all can reach King level soon!"

Alex leisurely walks back into the castle.

[QuartzStriker] is refining her iron ore, her equipments have been traded away, and food trades aren't viable now; she feels like there's nothing left to do.

Alex lies on her bed, her gaze fixed on the chandelier above, just staying still. She feels she shouldn't be so idle; she should do something.

Alex is currently lv9, still a way from leveling up.

She suddenly sits up from the bed, sweeps the hair from her face, revealing her beautiful features.

"No, I need to get stronger!"

Alex takes off her robe and finds a set of ordinary black sportswear to put on, changing her usual style of wearing over-the-knee socks, casually picking a pair of white short socks and cute leather shoes.

"Ah, remember to wear a bra, or the bounce will be too noticeable when moving."

Alex takes out a black bra, lifts her T-shirt, and ties it back.

She plans to go outside the castle to study her magic, get a handle on it in advance, and maybe wander around the castle to hunt some wild beasts for practice.

Since Alex sent her undead further away from the castle to hunt, the wild beasts around the castle have reproduced and refreshed.

Now at level 9, Alex, who is within the Bone Throne territory, is confident in her safety as long as she stays within the territory.

The Dark Forest is dangerous, Frostwind Snowy Mountain is dangerous, making this area at the junction of the two a relatively safe zone.

The exact amount of experience doesn't matter much now; Alex mainly wants to hone her combat skills.

Alex ties her hair at the back of her head as she walks out of the castle.

Intermediate fire magic doesn't have a particularly large area of effect. To achieve the kind of power seen in xianxia novels, where a huge fireball destroys a town, Alex estimates she'd need high-level magic, or even higher.

Alex extends a finger, and a flame bursts forth, a basic manipulation of fire elements that doesn't require chanting.

"Natural lighter!"

Alex plays with the flame in her hand as she leisurely walks out of the castle. Since learning fire magic, she has developed some resistance to fire elements; her fingers feel no heat at all now.

Outside the castle gate, Alex spots a rabbit grazing.

Alex shapes her hands like two small pistols, aiming at the rabbit not far away.

"biu biu biu!"

Instantly, many small flames burst from her fingers, flying towards the rabbit.

The rabbit reacts quickly, spotting the flames and darting away before they reach it.

The flames hit the ground, igniting a small fire. Alex quickly points at the fleeing rabbit, with small flames exploding continuously behind it, chasing after the rabbit.

"Da da da da!"