Blackwater Altar

"50K wood, 30K stone? Geez, that's a ton!" 

"And what the heck are iron ingots? I've never even seen those before, and now you want 10K of them just like that?"

It looks like reaching level 9 castle means it's maxed out, and the next upgrade turns it into a town. Just from the name, you can tell a town's gotta be way bigger than a castle, and it definitely adds more features.

For Alex, who's always gaming online, iron ingots are pretty straightforward. She's not naive enough to think you need to slay high-level monsters to get them, although I bet there are some noobs out there who might think that.

Clearly, the game wants Lord to go mining, find some iron ore and smelt those iron ingots in a furnace, just like in the games Alex used to play.

"This is just setting us up for a tough time, isn't it? The castle's surrounded by swamps and snowy mountains. Where am I supposed to find iron ore, huh?"

Alex figures she must be among the first to max out his castle to the top level.

As for the iron ingots, there's always a way around obstacles. Alex believes there's always more solutions than problems.

"Let's see how lucky this queen is today, hehe!"

Alex claims her reward: a special structure blueprint.

[Congratulations Lord on obtaining the special structure blueprint: Blackwater Altar.]

[special structure blueprint: Blackwater Altar.]

[Building level: Monarch level.]

[Feature1: Generates a perpetual black water lake at the center of the altar. Living beings thrown into the altar will gradually have their souls and bodies corroded, while corpses will be transformed into undead under the Lord's command (ineffective against Monarch level and higher creatures).]

[Feature2: Forms a barrier around the altar that allows entry but no exit (ineffective against undead creatures and Monarch level and higher creatures).]

[Feature3: Undead bathed in the black water will be strengthened, with a very low chance of causing a Life Tier transformation (ineffective against Monarch level and higher creatures and other creatures).]

[Building materials: 10k wood, 5k stone, 100 magic crystals, 1 Essence Shard.]

"Wow, another building with support features. Now I don't have to use Undead Summoning Magic on each corpse individually!"

The Blackwater Altar, like the Bone Throne, is a Monarch level special structure, but it requires far fewer materials than the Bone Throne. 

Alex decides to build the Blackwater Altar right away. Otherwise, with more special structures popping up, her indecisiveness might just kick in. Honestly, the main issue is that upgrading to a town requires too many resources, and Alex is just too broke.

"Build the Blackwater Altar."

As Alex commands, four massive stone pillars rise from the ground in the middle of the castle courtyard, each engraved with the symbols of all undead races. The pillars are a slate gray, topped with large skull heads, their hollow eye sockets burning with pale blue flames.

The pillars encircle the center of the altar, where a square altar slowly emerges, marked with strange symbols that Alex can't decipher. Soon, a layer of black water seeps out above the altar, completely covering it. The black water seems shallow yet unfathomably deep, stopping at the edges of the four pillars without flowing further.

The four skull heads cast a pale blue protective shield, enclosing the entire altar.

The altar is not small, about half the size of a soccer field. Thankfully, Alex's castle had been upgraded beforehand; otherwise, the courtyard might not have accommodated the Blackwater Altar.

Alex opens her personal dashboard.

[Lord: Alex]

[Power: lv6 standard (can be increased by personal and troops' kills)]

[Territory Level: lv9 initial castle]

[Troops: undead race]

[Equipment: Grim Reaper's Scythe]

[Health Points: 160]

[Mana Points: 40]

[Strength: 15]

[Stamina: 14]

[Agility: 15]

"Nice, my stats are barely at the level of a lv4 Skeleton Warrior."

Although the dashboard shows that Alex's attributes aren't particularly strong, it's worth noting that when she wields her weapon, her attributes double. At lv6, Alex's attributes nearly match those of Arthur at lv3.

Oops, that's not really something to brag about.

Her doubled lv6 attributes are just about equal to Arthur's base at lv3...

That's a bit of a bummer.

Alex couldn't wait to test out the effects of the Blackwater Altar. She immediately ordered a Skeleton Soldier from outside the castle to bring over a dead rabbit and a live boar.

Alex instructed the Skeleton Soldier to toss the rabbit corpse into the Blackwater Altar. The moment the corpse touched the black water, a massive cloud of black smoke erupted, with flashes of teal magical runes.From the rabbit's body, a Skeleton Soldier emerged, its bones darkened, noticeably different from the Skeleton Soldier standing beside the altar.

Alex distinctly remembered checking the level of the rabbit corpse before it was thrown into the altar; it was definitely lv1. The Skeleton Soldier beside the altar was also lv1, so why did the one summoned by the Blackwater Altar look like it had been dipped in batter?

Could this be the enhancement effect of the Blackwater Altar?

Alex checked the stats of this batter-coated Skeleton Soldier and found that its attributes hadn't changed much from a regular Skeleton Soldier, just a slight increase of one point in each attribute. It seemed that the Blackwater Altar's enhancement was a modest boost to the base attributes of undead troops.

Putting that aside for now, Alex rushed to the altar to check if the rabbit's corpse was still there. This was crucial for her plans. If the Blackwater Altar had consumed the corpse, she might have to stop using it and stick to summoning manually.

"The body's still here, nice!"

Relieved by the system's user-friendliness, Alex then had another Skeleton Soldier throw a live boar into the Blackwater Altar. 

The boar was roughly tossed into the altar by the Skeleton Soldier standing beside it. As soon as the boar hit the black water, it began to struggle wildly, its body corroding into black smoke under the water's effect. Just as the boar was about to escape the altar's boundary, a pale blue energy shield blocked its path.

Amidst its cries, the boar turned into a pile of bones, its body completely corroded. Then, the magical runes lit up, and the boar's bones reassembled into another batter-coated Skeleton Soldier, identical to the previous one.

Alex figured out the pattern: corpses thrown into the Blackwater Altar would retain their form and summon undead, while live creatures would have their flesh corroded, leaving nothing behind. 

It seemed too cruel to throw living creatures into the altar in the future.

Alex then had the utility Skeleton Soldier step into the altar. The reaction of undead creatures entering the altar was completely different from that of other beings. 

She watched as the surrounding black water seemed to transform into specks of energy that surged towards the Skeleton Soldier's skeleton, successfully coating it in the same batter-like substance.

Upon checking the stats, Alex confirmed that each attribute had indeed increased by one point, aligning with the two previously summoned Skeleton Soldiers.

Curious, Alex began her experiments with various types of undead: Skeleton Warriors, specters, Phantoms, zombies, Death Warriors, and death knights, each entering the Blackwater Altar for testing. 

The specters and zombies, like the Skeleton Soldiers, had each attribute increased by one point. 

Skeleton Warriors, Phantoms, Death Warriors, and death knights, being advanced or second-level troops, saw a two-point increase in each attribute. 

As for the death knight's advanced class, the death conqueror, there was a three-point increase.

This was akin to a half-level permanent increase in attributes. As for the appearance changes, the skeletons looked as if they had been dipped in batter, their bones turning darker. 

Specters and Phantoms became more ethereal, giving off a ghostly vibe. Zombies and Death Warriors began to emit a faint black mist—whether it was the stench of decay or something else, Alex wasn't sure. 

The death knights and death conquerors had their cursed flames burning more vigorously, perhaps the least noticeable change.

"Wait, does the Blackwater Altar have prompts? How did I miss that before?"

Alex opened the dashboard of the Blackwater Altar's special structure and, to her surprise, found prompts indicating the troops' attribute enhancements.

[The Skeleton Race: Bone Hardening—enhances the skeleton's overall strength, boosting both attack and defense capabilities.]

[The Specter Race: Mind Enhancement—strengthens mental power, allowing a group of specters to resonate when attacking simultaneously.]

[The Zombie Race: Body Strengthening—zombies' attacks carry a corpse poison that can slow down enemy movements, and the effects of the poison can stack.]

[The Death Knight Race: Soul Strengthening—enhances the lethality of curses and the mental attack power of the death knights, with a chance to intimidate weaker enemies into surrendering their souls voluntarily.]

"Whoa, it's not just a basic attribute boost; they've also added passive skills tailored for each troop!" Alex exclaimed, impressed by the Blackwater Altar's capabilities. 

Truly a Monarch-level structure, it was incredibly powerful. Now, Alex's undead army could not only outnumber but also match the quality of other troops.

The Skeleton Soldiers were no longer just cannon fodder; they were at least a bit tougher now! Next, Alex planned to enhance her entire undead army in batches, striving to boost her own strength.

In a world where billions of people descended, endless wars were inevitable. Strength was everything, and only the powerful could engage in the All-Races Battle Royale. The weak didn't even deserve to survive!

Moreover, before the end of the seven-day protection period for new players, Alex needed to construct the Bone Throne. Considering how powerful the Blackwater Altar was, she could only imagine how formidable the Bone Throne, requiring even more materials, would be.

"It's only the second day; no rush. I'm already ahead of most people and definitely won't be cannon fodder after seven days," Alex reassured herself, mentally gearing up for the challenges ahead.