Zhao Lun's elite-class skeletons now numbered only nineteen. One had died in the fight against the mutated great-axe skeleton, and another had been lost when Phyllis suddenly mutated. That left him with just seventeen elites. Not a lot to begin with—then he had to go and kill one himself just now. Needless to say, his soul-flames were practically weeping.
Still, the dead couldn't come back to life… and while he wasn't entirely sure whether skeletons could be resurrected, Zhao Lun certainly didn't have the ability to do so. Which meant that no matter how much it hurt, there was nothing to be done. After holding a solemn three-minute mourning ceremony for the fallen, he turned his thoughts to how best to use the Flames of Energy efficiently and effectively.
After a long session of mental math, Zhao Lun finally gathered all his ordinary skeletons that were Level 4 or above and fed each of them two Flames of Energy, hoping to push out a fresh batch of Level-5 skeletons. After all, Level 5s were strong—and if this worked, he could imagine every single one turning into an elite.
But once again, reality smacked him in the skull. Over thirty assorted Level-4 skeletons—some of them clearly at the very peak of the level—swallowed two Flames each… and not a single one advanced to Level 5. Even those that had been right on the edge showed no sign of upgrading. With no choice, Zhao Lun abandoned this overly ambitious plan.
Still determined to squeeze every drop of potential from the Flames of Energy, Zhao Lun tried again—this time selecting forty or fifty peak Level-3 skeletons from his undead ranks. He fed them the flames and waited.
The result was worth it.
Out of fifty-one peak Level-3 skeletons, all fifty-one advanced to Level 4 within a minute. Better yet, there was a surprise bonus—three of them awakened skills during their breakthrough, instantly becoming elites. That went a long way toward making up for the elite he'd accidentally played to death earlier.
Encouraged by this windfall, Zhao Lun became downright reckless, pouring Flames of Energy into nearly every peak Level-3 skeleton he had. The end result: around two hundred newly minted Level-4 ordinary skeletons, plus eight elites in total—counting the three from before. For Zhao Lun, this rush of good fortune came fast and sweet.
In one move, his elite squad grew by a third, now boasting twenty-four members: ten skeleton archers, six greatsword skeletons, four great-axe skeletons, and four bone-shield skeletons.
By the time the entire pool of Flames of Energy had been spent, the overall strength of Zhao Lun's skeleton army had been elevated to a new tier. For the first time, Zhao Lun truly appreciated the advantages of having "buildings."
But the perks came with their drawbacks.
Phyllis and Olis, the two mutated skeletons he'd sent out earlier, didn't return until eight hours later. After a quick round of questioning, Zhao Lun learned something concerning: within a three-mile radius of his territory altar, not only was the layer of bones noticeably thinner, but there were far fewer skeletons wandering around. Those that remained were mostly weak—freshly spawned, by the looks of it.
Thinking it over, Zhao Lun could only find one possible explanation: the Bone Conversion Pool was to blame.
"So it's true—there's no such thing as a free lunch. Still, considering what I gained, the price is within acceptable limits. But this does mean something else just got bumped to top priority…"
The "troublemaker" talent he was so proud of had clearly activated again.
"At the moment, my territory altar is only Level 1, which means it can hold a maximum of eight hundred soul marks. That number is way too low for my current needs. This problem has to be solved."
Zhao Lun tapped his skull thoughtfully. He technically owned three territories now, but in practice he only controlled one. The other two were just nominally his—he had seized their territory wills, but without enough skeletons to garrison them, they were empty trophies. If all his troops were gathered in one place, things already felt tight; splitting forces was out of the question. And if he couldn't defend them, what was the point of taking new territories at all?
He decided that since he had three territories, they ought to be doing something. Before, he hadn't been sure how to make them productive, but after seeing the sheer usefulness of the Flames of Energy, he had an idea. First, though, he needed to fix his troop shortage.
"The number of troops is tied to the territory altar. That leaves two options: upgrade the altar to Level 2—which would definitely increase the soul-mark capacity—or build another altar, or several. If that works, building another Level-1 altar would be a lot easier than upgrading to Level 2."
Zhao Lun quickly came up with the plan, but didn't act immediately—because he was short on one crucial building material: bones.
That, however, was easy to fix. He went over to the Bone Conversion Pool, fiddled with it for a bit, and effortlessly switched it from producing Flames of Energy to producing bones. Now all he had to do was wait for an endless stream of bones to pop out—far more reliable than sending Olis and Phyllis out to hunt skeletons all day.
Of course, Zhao Lun wasn't the type to sit around idly. He was a diligent skeleton, after all. With everything else arranged, he turned to training.
Having seen firsthand the strength of a bronze-class skeleton, Zhao Lun understood the importance of raw power. Since he had decided to give up the staff in favor of wielding a greatsword, he needed time—a lot of time—to get used to his new weapon and fighting style. And for him, the best training was live combat.
At first, he thought about sparring with Olis or Phyllis, but the two intelligent mutated skeletons flat-out refused. With no choice, Zhao Lun turned to Greatsword No. 1 instead.
He quickly realized he'd made another mistake. Greatsword No. 1's power was leagues above his own—sparring with him wasn't training, it was getting beaten into the dirt. Zhao Lun could barely tell which way was up.
To make matters worse, Olis and Phyllis would occasionally pop in to "help." Every time Greatsword No. 1 landed a slightly heavier blow, the two would immediately jump in, pouncing on him and knocking him to the ground. They never learned their lesson, either—until Olis, in a stroke of "brilliance," simply smashed Greatsword No. 1 to pieces with a single swing, forcing Zhao Lun to find a new sparring partner.