Bone Throne

After about half an hour, amidst numerous complaints from other Lords, Alex finally managed to sell all one hundred units of food.

Fortunately, in a world with billions of Lords, a large population base means that some resistance and complaints don't really matter—there will always be buyers.

With one hundred magic crystals successfully acquired, Alex now had the option to either upgrade her Barracks or build the Bone Throne. 

After some thought, she decided to construct the special structure, the Bone Throne, as upgrading the Barracks didn't offer as much value. The Bone Throne would provide a more direct enhancement to her combat capabilities.

[special structure blueprint: Bone Throne.]

[Building level: Monarch level]

[Feature1: Increases troops' loyalty to the Lord.]

[Feature2: Within the territory, enhances the strength of the Lord and troops by one level (effective below Monarch level).]

[Feature3: Within the castle range, increases the experience gained by the Lord by 1.5 times (effective below Monarch level).]

[Construction materials: 10k wood, 10k stone, 100 magic crystals, 10 Essence Shards.]

"Build!"

The ten hard-earned Essence Shards were gone just like that, but Alex wasn't bothered. Only spent Essence Shards have value; those sitting in the warehouse are no different from stones.

The Blackwater Altar was located in the center of the castle courtyard, directly facing the main gate. Upon opening the gate, one would see the castle's grand hall, and at its end now stood a throne made of dry bones, with two glowing skull heads as armrests.

The throne was about 6 feet 7 inches tall, overall grayish-white, with an elliptical arch at the top and two bone swords crossed behind it, exuding an aura of solemn majesty.

The seat was covered with a gray cushion marked with magical runes, integrated with the throne itself.

Alex walked over to inspect the throne, touching the cushion, unsure of the material it was made from.

The seat of the throne was quite high.

Alex placed her hands on the seat, jumped up, twisted her body, and managed to sit on the throne, her feet swinging below, unable to touch the ground.

After sitting for a while and the novelty wearing off, she hopped down.

"It seems I don't necessarily have to sit on the throne. This special structure is just presented in the form of a throne; it could also be a table, a mirror, or even a toilet."

The range of the experience boost from the Bone Throne encompasses the entire castle, but not the lands outside the castle walls.

As long as Alex is within the castle, her experience acquisition speed is increased by 1.5 times.

She opened the system interface to check the information on the undead killing wild beasts. Ignoring previous data, she waited eagerly for the interface to refresh to see how much experience was now gained from killing wild beasts.

After about five minutes, the system finally popped up a message.

[Your troops have successfully killed a level 2 wild boar, gaining fifteen experience points.]

Fantastic! Previously, a level 2 wild boar only provided ten experience points, but now, with the 1.5 times increase, it's fifteen points.

It took Alex just two days to reach level 6, and now with the 1.5 times experience boost, wouldn't it be reasonable to aim for Lord level by day seven?

Let's check out what enhancements her weapon has!

[Companion Weapon: Grim Reaper's Scythe]

[Quality: Commanding level weapon (upgradable)]

[Soul Concentration: 12%]

[Active Skill: Undead Summoning Magic (Tier 2), Dark Magic (Tier 1)]

[Passive Skill: Attacks include soul strike and withering effects; victims slain by the scythe will be converted into undead]

Alex noticed two differences. One was mastering another type of magic, Dark Magic, although it was only Tier 1.

This was somewhat understandable for Alex; it was similar to her ability to cast magic with her left eye, except this wasn't summoning or transformation magic, but Dark Magic.

As for the Soul Concentration, Alex was a bit puzzled. What did that mean? Was it something like a spirit within the weapon? She felt like she had suddenly stumbled upon something profound, yet she understood none of it.

But whatever, it must be a good thing!

Now, Alex was curious about what skills Tier 1 Dark Magic could use.

[Dark Magic (Tier 1)]

[Skill: Black Flame Blast, a sphere of black flames that consumes everything in its path, attacking the enemy. Mana Points cost: 10, no cd.]

A spell that consumes ten Mana Points seemed quite powerful!

Of course, Alex can cast the skills from the Grim Reaper's Scythe even without the scythe itself, but she would miss out on the additional buffs from the scythe, such as the ability to turn slain targets into undead creatures.

For now, it seems that only this passive ability is influenced by the weapon, but who knows what powerful Passive Skills might emerge in the future.

After all, the scythe belongs to Alex, and whatever the scythe can do, Alex can do too—even the skills the scythe doesn't possess.

Moreover, there might be skills that the scythe has acquired which Alex will also learn, like the Undead Summoning Magic. However, the scythe only knows the most basic undead summoning, while Alex is proficient in all summoning magic.

Currently, Alex has only 50 Mana Points, which means she can cast five Black Flame Blasts before running out of mana.

Alex decided to test her skills at the castle entrance. 

It was night, and a blood-red moon hung high in the sky, its red moonlight scattering across the land, dispelling some of the darkness of the Eldoria continent but adding an eerie touch.

At night, high-level wild beasts randomly appear, and all wild beasts have double attribute enhancements and double item drops. However, Alex was asleep in the Blackwater Altar at dusk and missed the system's notification.

Using the eerie moonlight, she spotted a withered tree not far from the castle.

That's the target!

Alex slowly raised her left hand, fingers spread, palm facing the withered tree. As she consumed Mana Points, a black magic circle formed in front of her palm, and a black fireball emerged from the circle, shooting towards the withered tree.

The black fireball, burning with eerie black flames, brought no light, and Alex felt no heat from it.

Boom!

The black fireball hit the withered tree, making a dull sound, and immediately blasted a large hole in the trunk, the edges beginning to burn with black flames. Unlike normal flames consuming wood, the black flames seemed sentient, quickly engulfing the entire withered tree.

In less than ten seconds, the withered tree completely vanished from Alex's sight, leaving not even a trace of ash.

Alex was startled by the power of the magic that cost just ten Mana Points. It was like a god-level skill for destroying evidence—if it hit an enemy, not even Sherlock Holmes could solve the case.

Alex's own enhancements and the strengthening of her weapon had indeed catapulted her abilities to a new level.

"Tonight has been a huge gain; I'll soon be ready to take on those goblins," she mused.

There was still some time left until midnight. Alex had overslept by four hours this evening, but now she wasn't the slightest bit tired—perfect for waiting until midnight to summon another wave of troops.

With an endless labor force of the undead at her disposal, how could Alex not make the most of their potential?