Chapter 19: The Powerful Scorpion Warrior

"However, it's a pity that only a portion of the food can be sold. The food in Twilight City is also scarce, so there's not much available.

"Hundreds of people eat, drink, and defecate every day. There are also 30 long-armed laborers and 20 desert gnomes...

"In such a harsh environment like the desert, each person consumes at least two units of food every day.

"The warehouse looks abundant, but not buying food from outside is already good enough."

Richard shook his head.

The current stock of food could only last for more than 10 days. This was too little for a territory. It made him extremely insecure.

If something happened, Twilight City simply could not afford it.

Richard had a plan in his mind.

"At this stage, hunting is undoubtedly more beneficial than occupying resource points. In the short term, hunting can be the main goal of exploration."

As he was thinking, Richard stood up and left the mansion. He went to the well.

At this time, the residents had just finished dealing with today's prey.

Richard directly took 200 units of food in exchange for 8,000 units of resources.

He exchanged gold coins, wood, stone, and iron ore for an average of 2,000 units.

After encouraging the residents to work hard for a while, Richard turned around and returned to the mansion.

He placed the newly acquired scorpion's lair next to the Great Pyramid.

He chose to build it.

In an instant, 1,600 units of resources were used up.

At the same time…

The troop lair Richard placed on the ground began to expand like a balloon.

In a moment, it had become a three-meter-tall mud house.

The outer surface of the mud house was painted with ancient yellow soil. On top of it, there was an image of a scorpion with a human face. The thick hay at the top formed a special image that covered the top of the building.

This building looked like an ancient structure that had been dug out from the ground. It had an inexplicable sense of mystery.

[Scorpion's Lair (Normal 3-stars) -- Using 10 normal desert camp troop's lair cores can upgrade it to Elite 3-stars. The conditions have been met. Do you wish to upgrade?]

The Black Gold System's notification came as expected.

After choosing to confirm, the 10 troop lairs in Richard's hands directly shattered. They turned into light and fused into the scorpion's lair.

A gray light hovered.

The human-faced scorpion carvings in front of the scorpion nests became more and more eye-catching under the mysterious power.

The attribute panel changed after the light retreated.

[Scorpion Lair]

[Level: Elite 3-star]

[Recruit Type: Scorpion Warrior (Elite 3-star)]

[Recruit Quantity: 14]

[Weekly Output: 7]

[Recruit Requirements: 40 gold coins, 40 units of wood, 40 units of iron ore]

[Description: Normal desert troop lair]

[Upgrade successful.]

Richard was in a good mood.

However, the resources required for recruitment had also increased significantly.

Unfortunately, every troop lair had a 7 days cooldown time after upgrading. Otherwise, if they sold more food, they could directly upgrade to rare.

Recruiting a scorpion warrior required 120 units of resources. Fourteen units would be 1,680 units.

All of them were recruited.

Once chosen, the gray energy lingered in the scorpion's lair.

After a moment, the energy began to flow into the relief sculpture in front of the scorpion's lair.

The relief sculpture began to gradually fill up as if it was filled with flesh and blood, and then gradually came to life...

When the energy had gathered to a certain extent, the relief sculpture suddenly opened its eyes.

It took a step forward, broke away from the wall of the venomous scorpion's lair, and stood steadily on the ground.

This scene was extremely cool as if it was a scene from a myth.

Richard nodded in satisfaction.

The venomous scorpion warrior was two meters tall. The upper half of its body was that of a human, and the lower half was that of a venomous scorpion.

The muscles on his body were as if they were forged from steel, and the outline of his body was extremely obvious.

Its long scorpion tail was countless times sharper than a spear.

Its arms were not human hands, but two scorpion pincers that flickered with cold light.

'Kacha!' 

As soon as the pincers were closed, the crisp sound of metal rubbing against metal could be heard. No one could doubt the terrifying lethality of these two pincers.

After the iron pincers were closed, the front end of the iron pincers revealed an iron hook that was similar to a butcher's. Even if the iron pincers were not opened, using the iron hook to attack could still cause substantial damage.

The most chilling thing was the scorpion warrior's cold brown pupils that did not have the slightest fluctuation of life emotions.

At a glance, it gave a huge psychological pressure.

Richard opened the attribute panel full of anticipation.

[Scorpion Warrior]

[Level: 1]

[Potential: Elite 3-star]

[Skill: Body of the Undead (F-rank) -- Reduces 30% physical damage, immune to pestilence and poison. It will not die unless its head is chopped off.]

[Poisonous Scorpion Tail (F-rank) -- The scorpion tail can cause armor-piercing damage. At the same time, it has poison attached to it. Once it is stabbed, it will cause poison damage.]

[Powerful Iron Pincers (E-rank) -- When attacking, the sharpness of the two pincers increases by 30%, and strength increases by 30%.]

[Race Talent: When fighting in the desert, strength increases by 30%.]

[Fetters: When the number of scorpions is greater than 10, strength increases by 10%, and poison increases by 10% (activated).]

[When the number of scorpions is greater than 20, strength increases by 20%, and poison increases by 20%.]

When the number of scorpions is greater than 30, strength increases by 30%, and poison increases by 30%.]

[Description: A dead creature sealed in the Pharaoh's Pyramid. I believe you won't be willing to be stung by it.]

Richard was in a good mood.

As expected, after the potential increase, the scorpion warriors' skill levels increased, and their attributes increased significantly.

Fourteen 2-meter-tall scorpion warriors with a pair of pincers and curved scorpion tails stood in front of him in an orderly formation, immediately giving off a strong sense of oppression.

This troop was even more flashy than the bandaged mummy.

"Lord, thank you for giving us new lives!"

The scorpion warriors held their chests and bowed in unison, bowing to their lord in the most respectful manner.

The troops recruited from the lair would be eternally loyal to their lord who recruited them.

Richard nodded slightly.

He slowly extended his right hand.

A light that was like yellow sand began to rise in Richard's palm, like a storm that was blown into the sand by a strong wind.

Then, the light all rushed into the scorpion warriors' bodies...

[Ding~ Under your blessing, 14 scorpion warriors have mastered a part of the power of the desert and obtained a new D-rank Skill -- Desertification.]

When the light faded away, Richard opened their attributes panel, and the Desertification skill appeared on it.

The characteristic of being immune to 99% physical damage combined with the powerful attack power of the scorpion warrior.

When Richard thought of that, he was excited.

"Wasn't this unrivaled?!"

If he encountered a wild troop like the nak trolls again, he could totally fight them head-on.

Richard was in a great mood.

As a result…

Richard now had two elite-level troop lairs in his hands.

The Great Pyramid could recruit Elite 3-star mummy bandages. It was good at curses. It could greatly reduce the enemy's attributes. It could even cause the enemy to be cursed to death.

The poisonous Scorpion Lair could recruit Elite 3-star poison scorpion warriors. They had powerful attack power and were good at hard battles. They could attack head-on.

There were a total of 28 troops from the two branches. It was close to the strength of three small squads.

This was only the second day they had entered this world. The future was bright.