The Skeleton Guard born from sacrificing a light gold quality Purple Thornblade Clan Sword had terrifyingly explosive power.
Such attributes were enough to crush non-tier (Mental 1-9 points) Psionics and monsters, and it wouldn't even be weak among low-tier (Mental 10-19 points) opponents, far exceeding Carlos's own attributes.
More crucially, the powerful special enhancements of the Purple Thornblade Clan Sword were perfectly inherited by the Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard.
[Purple Thornblade: Powerful talent condensed from the essence of the Purple Thornblade Clan Sword
(1) Purple Thornblade Bone Swordsmanship level +3
(2) +10% damage when using Purple Thornblade Bone Swordsmanship
(3) Bond: Glory of the Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards.
Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards resonate during battle. Each additional guard increases the wielder's Strength and Constitution by 1 point (maximum twelve guards, can be activated once daily, lasts one hour)]
Once the bond was activated, the Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard's Strength could peak at 21 points, with 19 points of Constitution.
Just from attributes alone, it directly crossed an entire tier. No low-tier (Mental 10-19) Psionic could match it, and it could even go toe-to-toe with mid-tier powerhouses (Mental 20-29).
As for the final Purple Thornblade Bone Swordsmanship:
[Purple Thornblade Bone Swordsmanship (1+3) level: Bone Swordsmanship evolved after absorbing the essence of Purple Thornblade Swordsmanship]
[(1+3) level special enhancement: Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard gains 4% increased damage when using sword weapons]
[If learned by non-Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards, enhancement has no effect]
Combined with the 'Purple Thornblade' sword technique damage boost of 10%, whenever the Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard used sword techniques, it could get a whopping 14% damage increase.
After thoroughly examining the Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard's attributes and skills, Carlos felt that nothing in this Withered Lands could threaten it.
The strongest monsters on the surface of this area had a maximum attribute of only 8 points.
"See those Black Beetles over there?
Go wipe them out!"
"Creak!"
"Creak!"
Receiving its master's command, the 6-foot-tall Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard leaped forward, actually jumping straight down from the boulder.
"Thud!"
Its strong leg bones sank into the withered ground, yet the Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard was completely unharmed.
It then gripped its greatsword and charged straight toward the Black Beetle swarm!
So bold and direct,
The Black Beetle swarm naturally spotted the incoming enemy and swarmed around it in agitation...
"Crack!"
"Crack!"
Facing these monsters with maximum attributes under 3 points, the Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard was like a tiger among sheep, swinging its greatsword and easily cleaving the Black Beetles in its path in half.
A wisp of death energy was absorbed by the Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard, its soul fire growing slightly stronger, beginning preparation for the next stage of advancement.
Roars echoed throughout the area,
Black insect blood splattered across the sky,
Further stimulating the Black Beetles into a frenzy.
One by one, they swung their thick front legs and sharp mandibles, stabbing toward the Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard.
Facing the monsters' siege,
The Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard swung its greatsword in an impenetrable defense.
Hardly any Black Beetle could get close to it.
Before long, it had slaughtered dozens of Black Beetles, with corpses piled at its feet!
Suddenly,
One Black Beetle took advantage of a gap in the Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard's sword swings to attack from behind.
But its attack was detected by the Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard, whose 6-foot frame nimbly dodged to the side, completely avoiding it.
In that moment of evasion,
The Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard seized the opportunity, swinging its greatsword and cutting this Black Beetle in half.
The remaining Black Beetles didn't retreat because of their companion's gruesome death, but became even more bloodthirsty and vicious!
"Roar!"
The Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard suddenly swung its greatsword, instantly slaughtering a large swath of surrounding Black Beetles. Bathed in insect blood, no bug could get near it!
On the boulder, Carlos enjoyed the Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard's killing spree, quite satisfied, while constantly hearing advancement notifications:
[Spiritual essence +0.1]
[Spiritual essence +0.2]
....
The spiritual essence gained from monsters killed by summoned creatures would continuously flow to the master through their soul connection.
This was one of the reasons Carlos had painstakingly chosen the Undead Armored Cavalry route.
As long as he had enough powerful summoned creatures, Carlos's spiritual essence advancement speed would increase several times, even dozens of times!
"Go kill monsters further away!"
Carlos commanded the Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard through their soul link.
The Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard was currently slaughtering monsters too close to his position.
The surrounding monsters were constantly being attracted, seriously affecting Carlos's future monster-luring plans.
"Creak!"
After receiving the command,
The Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard quickly moved, leading the Black Beetle swarm away from the boulder.
Carlos looked into the distance,
The Black Beetle swarm was a mass of black.
After the Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard's bloody massacre,
Not only had their numbers not decreased, they were rapidly increasing.
Because more Black Beetle swarms from the distance were continuously being attracted by the bloody smell and joining the battle.
Carlos knew to be cautious and added another command for the Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard:
"Return when your health drops to half!"
Even though the Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard was powerful, there were just too many Black Beetles. It would inevitably get hit and its health would be worn down bit by bit.
Moreover, during combat with monsters interfering, Carlos couldn't recall the Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard into his summoning space, which created a risk of it being worn to death.
But by retreating when health dropped to half, this possibility was eliminated.
After confirming this Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard could stably help him level up, Carlos decided to use Skeleton Revival again.
Now, Carlos's Skeleton Revival level had reached 3 with the special enhancement from the Crystal Skull Earring, giving him a total of 3 revival slots.
This Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard occupied one slot, leaving two more.
"Skeleton Revival!"
The second skeleton warrior creaked to life, with the exact same trash attributes as when the first one was born.
Carlos skillfully drew his bow and nocked an arrow, selecting a nearby monster, luring it over, cutting it down to a sliver of health, then letting the skeleton warrior finish it off...
Then luring another...
Such repetitive actions inevitably became annoying.
"Ugh, if only there were more easily defensible terrain like this in the Withered Lands."
If there were, Carlos could have the Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard take care of the third skeleton warrior too, accumulating advancement energy for two at once, doubling his efficiency.
Unfortunately, there was only one such good spot.
Carlos didn't dare let unadvanced skeleton warriors kill in risky locations. With those pathetic skeleton warrior attributes, a few hits from monsters would scatter them to pieces, requiring him to start accumulating all over again.
Pushing down his wandering thoughts, Carlos honestly copied the first one's advancement process.
…
A week later, a towering light pillar erupted from the massive boulder, and a new Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard was born!
Carlos immediately sent it out to kill monsters,
While he quickly summoned the third skeleton warrior and continued the process of luring monsters, cutting them to low health, and having the skeleton warrior finish them off...
…
Another week later, the familiar towering light pillar erupted from the massive boulder, and the third Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard successfully completed its advancement.
"That's the third one, finally I can rest..."
Carlos was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when he suddenly noticed a Mental attribute increase notification on his status panel.