Chapter 15: The Three Divine Skills of the Undead

Chapter 15: The Three Divine Skills of the Undead

Dead City?

Seeing the notification pop up, Gu Xi was taken aback. He distinctly remembered learning in class that Dead City, along with Death Lord and Death Incarnation, were called the three divine starting skills for necromancers.

[Death Lord: All neutral undead creatures in the wild (excluding Black Riders and Mummies) will join the player's army, starting at a base rate of 50%. For each level up of the Death Lord skill, the joining rate increases by 2%.]

With the Death Lord skill, even if you had no army, you could replenish your forces by simply walking through a cemetery or undead-themed game or dungeon. This replenishment was faster than expanding your army with the Summoning skill.

[Death Incarnation: The player can consume all their mana to summon a Death Incarnation on the battlefield. The Death Incarnation's level will be the player's level +8, and at certain levels, it will come with various traits.]

For example, at level 1, the Death Incarnation has undead creature attributes; at level 5, it gains the curse attack skill; at level 9, it has the incorporeal skill; at level 13, it gains the death fear skill (all enemy morale -1); at level 17, it gains the grief attack skill (target morale and luck -2 when attacked); at level 21, it gains the life drain skill; and at level 25, it gains the deadly strike skill.

Having a Death Incarnation was like having a powerful bodyguard, making you almost invincible.

To be mentioned alongside these two powerful skills as one of the three divine starting skills for necromancers, Dead City must naturally be extraordinary.

[Dead City: The player controls their own portable undead city, with a city level cap of the player's level +8. At certain levels, the Dead City will provide different types of support to the player.]

For instance, at level 1, the player can open the Dead City's gates, allowing the undead army to rapidly support them; at level 5, they can deploy a Soul Summoning Tower on the battlefield to absorb souls and aid the player's Summoning skill; at level 9, they can directly bring city walls and moats onto the battlefield, and so on.

Starting with Dead City means that in large-scale battles, the player is nearly unbeatable.

After all, they could always turn a field battle into a siege battle.

This was an extremely powerful skill that even tens of thousands of necromancers couldn't randomly get at the start.

Gu Xi never imagined having such an opportunity when he took up this job. He thought completing the job and returning successfully would be a victory. If he could encounter special skills like Soul Hunter or Resurrection, that would be a bonus.

But now, a divine skill was right in front of him, and Gu Xi's eyes reddened with excitement. He drew his curved blade and raised it overhead, "Everyone, gather up and prepare for battle."

At Gu Xi's command, all the skeletons turned to look at him. He didn't pay them much attention but took out the peculiar beads he had retrieved from the skeleton leader earlier, distributing them to the four skeleton leaders.

"Quickly strengthen yourselves. We have a tough fight ahead. Also, don't idle around. Go dismantle nearby houses and set up barricades. The enemies might be numerous, so don't let them get close."

The skeleton leaders had intended to hand over the peculiar beads from the previous battle to Gu Xi. Seeing him distribute the beads directly, they didn't bother handing them over. All the skeletons swiftly enhanced their weapons or bodies, and the squads replenished their numbers from the stragglers.

After distributing the items, Gu Xi finally had time to inspect his troops. He realized that during the short time he was inside the small building, these skeletons had already fought a major battle.

The enemies seemed of a higher level but lacked combat experience. They weren't as wooden as the black-robed cultists who only reacted after being hit, but they weren't much better. They only attacked those blocking their path; if left unimpeded, they wouldn't retaliate even if you hacked at them from behind.

Initially, the skeletons clashed with these eerie shadows, losing over twenty skeletons. Once they figured out the shadows' attack patterns, their losses decreased. However, the initial damage was irreparable. Crucially, these shadows left no corpses, limiting many of Gu Xi's methods.

Necromancers rely heavily on corpses for many skills. Without corpses, Gu Xi couldn't even use his Summoning skill, let alone his signature Corpse Explosion.

Watching the skeletons busy themselves, Gu Xi's expression grew solemn. Suddenly, strange noises came from the other end of the street. Gu Xi looked over and saw about three hundred black shadows clustered together, charging towards them.

These shadows didn't seem particularly special, but Gu Xi noticed some differences in their movements. They were more agile, and many wielded weapons—albeit not conventional ones. They used limbs of their kind as weapons.

Among them, a particularly tall shadow carried a spear made of more than ten arms, likely the leader.

"Battle Squad 3, prepare for combat. The rest of you, what are you standing around for? Finish the barricades," Gu Xi ordered, monitoring the shadows' approach and speed.

The battle squad, having recently absorbed the peculiar beads, hadn't leveled up significantly but had improved their equipment and bodies. Some skeletons now had thin armor, particularly the four leaders who had almost complete armor.

This indicated that Gu Xi's skeletons were continuously growing stronger.

"No corpses, so be it. We're just starting. As long as we can get going, that's fine. Even if we sacrifice everything, getting that divine skill is worth it," Gu Xi motivated himself. He then raised his head and pointed his curved blade forward.

"Battle Squad 3, spears forward!"

At Gu Xi's command, Battle Squad 3 quickly advanced to the unfinished barricades. Armed with spears, they split into two rows under the skeleton leaders' direction, leveling their spears at the charging shadows.

"Thrust!"