Chapter 101 – My Turn, Transform!

There are several ways for players to wield supernatural power, with Lord Power being the path with the broadest prospects.

However, Lord Power also has some minor drawbacks.

It requires players to remain as ‘pure’ as possible, especially at lower tiers where control over power is relatively limited.

This is also why Lord Mu was reluctant to use the Inheritance Stone, or even treasures with attribute tendencies.

「Lord Power: The Lord can borrow the power of a specific unit under their command, capable of utilizing 30% to 80% of its abilities depending on the unit’s trust level. Currently, only one unit’s power can be borrowed at a time, with a cooldown period for using and switching this ability.」

「Note: Borrowing abilities does not affect the unit’s own power usage.」

In general, units that lack basic intelligence and can only act on instinct or simple commands naturally cannot have their intimacy or trust levels increased by the Lord, typically defaulting to only 30% of their power being borrowable.

But 30% of an ace unit’s strength is still formidable, capable of elevating a novice Lord into a minor expert, easily overwhelming ordinary elite troops.

“If it were me…”

In the Treant Forest, Mu Yuan closed his eyes, vaguely sensing numerous brilliant spheres of light.

Some large, some small, some bright, some dim.

They represented the units bound to him by contract, the absolute core forces of the Lord.

After some exploration, he quickly understood how to use this power.

His consciousness lightly touched the foremost sphere—pitch black yet intensely luminous, indicating this individual was the most radiant and had the highest level of trust.

The next moment,

Lord Mu opened his eyes, slowly raising his hand to shoulder height, turning his palm upward, and snapping his fingers.

Hum—

An invisible force spread out, black mist surging from his chest and enveloping his entire body in an instant.

Gauntlets materialized piece by piece on his arms, silver radiance shimmered on the armor covering his torso, and a black cloak billowed in the wind… In the blink of an eye, Mu Yuan’s light combat armor was replaced with silver armor identical to Deadbone’s, and he now gripped a bone Greatsword.

…It seems the exclusive weapon can’t be borrowed for free.

…At least it’s just the armor that’s borrowed, and his body hasn’t turned into skeletal remains.

「Prompt: You have acquired the temporary class ‘Bonesorrow’.」

「Prompt: You have learned the temporary skills ‘Cleave’, ‘Charge’, ‘Undead Resurrection’, ‘Bonesorrow’, ‘Undead Behemoth’…」

「Prompt: You have acquired the talents ‘Death Siphon’, ‘Undead Domination’.」

「Prompt: You have obtained the Hero Aura.」

Power!

Power surged forth!

Lord Mu · Skeletal Armor Edition walked to the clearing at the edge of the Treant Forest and swung his sword gently.

Mid-swing, a several-meter-long black sword gleam extended, finally landing with the blade and silently slicing a neat crack over ten meters long.

Even skills like ‘Undead Behemoth’ and ‘Withered Bone Earth’, which Deadbone had created or attained through Epiphany, could be used instinctively.

If the trust level were insufficient, some Advanced skills might not be borrowable, as explained in the Lord guides.

But,

Lord Mu had maxed it out, bearing 80% of the Undead General’s power, almost making him a miniature Deadbone.No, that’s not right.

He was already a Professional Tier powerhouse himself, with energy circulating endlessly within him. After borrowing the ‘Lord Power’, this borrowed strength overlapped and merged with his own, raising his upper limit.

This was also why a Lord needed to be as ‘clean’ as possible. Otherwise, if the two forces clashed, while not dangerous, it would cause some power to cancel out and dissipate.

At this moment, after borrowing power, Mu Yuan had undoubtedly surpassed Deadbone in physical strength, spirit, energy, and other aspects.

This was numerical suppression!

The Undead General could almost be called a ‘mini Mu Yuan’.

“Though I possess all of Deadbone’s skills, I can’t freely acquire his techniques and experience—I have to rely on my own execution. Of course, my own techniques aren’t weak either.”

Let’s just say he and Deadbone were evenly matched.

Dispersing the bone armor and resting for a while, Mu Yuan continued to experiment with the Lord Power.

This time, he borrowed Dolai’s power.

An intangible force spread out.

Unexpectedly, after borrowing the power, his clothes and armor didn’t change—probably because Dolai itself didn’t wear clothes. But…

Mu Yuan touched the back of his head. What was with this feeling of long, flowing hair?

Could it be that Dolai’s true form was long hair?!

Later,

He successively borrowed the abilities of Red Robe, Lu Liu, Seventeen, and other generals.

When borrowing Lu Liu’s power and transforming into an Imperial Guard, the heavy armor gave him an immense sense of security. He must focus on training Lu Liu in the future.

The most novel experience was borrowing Asun’s power. He felt like a Druid, transforming into a War Falcon soaring through the skies, harnessing the power of the wind.

After reverting, his clothes were completely untouched by dust.

Lord Power (×).

Transformation Power (√).

However, when using Dolai’s power, the transformation was difficult. He almost ended up running around naked… This required significant skill and practice. From this perspective, Dolai’s comprehension wasn’t too bad.

…

Lord Mu transformed into a War Falcon and flew back to the Mage Tower.

The skeletal warhorse, which had just shown some usefulness, was once again cast aside.

“Next, it’s time to enter the era of large-scale construction.”

“Although I earned quite a few Soul Crystals from this battle, spending them on construction might not make much of a splash. There are far too many expenses in the early stages of development—I need to spend carefully.”

Mu Yuan pondered.

He scrutinized the Lord’s guide repeatedly, then opened the group chat and forums to see if there were any worthwhile experiences to learn from.

In just half a day, the newbie group had become lively again.

A Lord @-ed everyone, saying, “Creekwood Territory has become one of the officially designated transit hubs in the Twilight Plains region. If any of you want to purchase or transport anything, Creekwood Territory can receive it for you or even deliver it to your doorstep, with a 2% discount on shipping fees~”

This was an official Lord.

And one of the top performers among official Lords. Having just been promoted, they had already secured a transit hub spot, meaning that many transactions and transports in the nearby region, conducted through official channels, would pass through Creekwood Territory.

In a few months at most, Creekwood Territory would flourish, becoming the central area for surrounding territories, bustling with activity.

According to this Lord, within a week at the latest, the authorities would dispatch a group of laborers and military units from nearby cities to station in Creekwood Territory for large-scale development and construction.

This was the advantage of being an official Lord.

They had connections everywhere, allowing for quick mobilization of troops and resources.

Even if they slacked off or did the bare minimum, they could still rely on their ironclad Lord position, secure and stable.Some Lords who accepted investments from large corporations were required, as per contract, to either construct or cultivate what the corporations demanded. However, most people could also obtain a batch of supplies at this time, such as seeds for special crops, and so on.

The most extravagant, of course, were the second-generation Lords.

Although they still faced restrictions when transporting Treasures from reality into the Eternal World, they could spend vast sums of money and resources to transport goods across cities and regions within the Eternal World.

However, cross-regional transportation was extremely difficult and dangerous, and most powerful second-generation individuals could only procure supplies from nearby cities at best.

Moreover, even if their parents could send them high-tier Unit Shards, these powerful units, which possessed intelligence from birth, were not necessarily something they could control.

Lords were already part of the upper-middle class, and ultimately, they had to rely on themselves.

…Still, they held significant advantages!

Rather, the power of spending money truly manifested after the trials, and those who did not invest heavily in territory development would find progress extremely difficult.

“So, what about my path to development?”

Mu—the Independent Lord, the common player, Yuan—began to ponder.

(End of Chapter)