57 Chapter 57

It was time to see what his new improvement to the magic subroutine could do. Navigating the options he found several selections.

There were Zombies, Ghouls, and Shades. Each of them had different properties. The cost also varied between the options.

The Zombies were the most basic type. Cheap to construct, they were also the slowest of the available options. Without the ability to feel pain, they would fight endlessly. They also didn't require any food or sleep.

Ghouls were similar to Zombies. The big difference was that they could grow stronger by eating Corpses. Scaling growth was a very attractive feature, as they would continue to get more powerful with each body they ate.

The last option was the Shades. Without a corporeal body, it was hard to defend against them. Although powerful, they were also prohibitively expensive. They could grow stronger by devouring the life essence of living beings.

Looking over the options he saw that he could increase his overall power, the only downside is that it costs valuable dimensional points.

For now, he was happy with the rate his power was increasing, due to the spatial world. He would rather use the points for expansion. If he found a necromancer, they'd be able to manage the undead army for him. It was worth keeping an eye out for one.

Taking care of some paperwork and minor administrative duties, he made sure to purchase another bear. It was only one hundred dimensional points, so he didn't hesitate to make such a sound investment.

Being able to have the Bears breed would bring a lot more dimensional points in and make the overall Army stronger. He would be foolish not to start breeding them right away. With everything taken care of, it was time to move out.

Gathering up a few troops he decided to head out of the space. The icon from earlier had piqued his interest. He wanted to see what that was all about.

It was on the way to the next city anyways, so he decided they would stop by and check it out. He was hoping that it was something that could help with his new magic subroutine.

Exiting the cave, they had to decide if they wanted to trek back to the main road or if they wanted to travel through the wilderness.

Going back to the main road would be safer, but going through the wilderness might lead to something much more interesting.

After some deliberation and discussion, everyone decided that they would trek through the wilderness. After all, they had plenty of high-quality weapons and armor.

In fact, their equipment was much higher grade than anyone on the continent. The ability of the space to fine-tune weapons on the molecular level made them devastatingly sharp. An advantage that others simply didn't have.

Together with Bruce and Dante, they also had many packs of wolves, not to mention the goblins. There were also the bears if things got really rough.

He was also wondering what would happen if he released the swarm of crabs. Without a doubt, they would devour the enemy, or at least seriously cripple them. Being able to control them also made the crabs much deadlier.

With so many different options available everyone felt more than confident in taking the dangerous road.

Proceeding through the rugged terrain, they simply chose to head in the direction of their objective. As they moved on the forest got thicker and thicker, as the terrain began to shift into a dense forest landscape.

They saw a few animals, here and there, but due to the size of the group none of them to move in for an attack.

Releasing a few of the enhanced wolves, Zanir was able to retrieve a few of the smaller woodland creatures within the forest.

Even though they looked ordinary, there was always a chance that one of them was magical, or had unique properties.

Unfortunately, luck wasn't on his side today and they were just regular animals. However, this wasn't a big loss.

He hadn't spent anything to get the creatures and the spatial world could make use of their properties to enhance the other animals.

Moving through the forest, he also had his men for any interesting looking plants or flowers. You never know, one of them might turn out to be some kind of a miracle cure.

There were a few flowers, dotted about the forest, that he absorbed. He also took in some Moss, from the nearby trees and rocks. The only other thing of note were some berries that they found.

[Material analyzed:

Name: Purpleberries

Type: Fruit, berry

Rating: Level 2

Description: These berries look, smell, and taste identical to blueberries. The only difference is the color pigment. It's rumored that a dish made with all seven colors will lead to wealth beyond imagination.]

Not only were these a delicious snack, but he was pretty sure he could make some booze out of these.

Gathering up the patch of berries, he was already thinking of several recipes that they could be used in.

Moving through the forest, they were able to make excellent time. Mostly due to the fact that he could just absorb anything that was in the way.

Anything, from a huge boulder to a huge tree, could be absorbed. In fact, the larger items, although taking longer to absorb, were more valuable.

After absorbing a few of the trees that were blocking the way, they were able to keep going. They didn't realize they had crossed an invisible boundary.

As they entered through the area that was previously blocked by several large trees they felt like they were being watched. Checking the area around them, they couldn't find anything.

Deciding to proceed onward, they kept moving. Something in the distance made a noise, so they stopped to see if they could hear what was going on.

This went on for several minutes before they were surrounded. Several mysterious cloaked figures emerged from the forest ahead of them.

With bows drawn, they called out for the party to stop.

"This is a forbidden area. Turn back now."