Chapter 25 – Eating Everything Will Only Harm You

Huff~

Whether it was an illusion or not, Mu Yuan suddenly felt the temperature drop significantly, with cool breezes blowing intermittently.

Before him, azure patterns rapidly swam, outlined, and intertwined.

In the blink of an eye, a door covered in mysterious array patterns manifested in the bedroom and swung open with a resounding boom.

A figure clad in silver-gray armor, carrying a Greatsword and Bone Spear, stepped out. The next moment, the door dissipated into countless points of light.

“Koo?”

Deadbone stood frozen in confusion for a moment before spotting the familiar figure and sensing the deeply intimate aura emanating from the depths of his Soul.

……

Given Deadbone’s tall stature, he couldn’t stretch out fully in Mu Yuan’s small bedroom.

Moreover, clad in full-body armor of considerable weight, any movement would likely produce loud clanking noises. Mu Yuan had no choice but to store him back into the Mark Space.

The good news was that the Mark Space could also hold books like the nine-year compulsory education materials, though they couldn’t be transmitted to the game world.

Deadbone could take this opportunity to read and memorize more.

For instance, he could commit the content to memory and transcribe it onto paper with a pen after returning to the Eternal World. This way, he could both hone his abilities and transport the precious books to the Eternal World for free—a win-win situation.

Mu Yuan found this idea quite feasible.

Recalling the entire summoning process, he thought, “Indeed, the whole process was incredibly smooth and fluid. Summoning troops doesn’t require manipulation through the game interface; it only needs to follow the faint connection, supplemented with some Soul Sand.”

“Moreover, the cost of the summoning process is much lower than expected.”

Far from feeling drained, Mu Yuan estimated that his current energy expenditure was, at most, equivalent to running 400 meters.

And that was at a jogging pace.

Given his current physical fitness, the energy spent on a slow 400-meter jog was practically negligible.

“Other players seem to expend far more energy when summoning troops—at least equivalent to running 3,000 meters. My process is not only faster but also less taxing. When needed, calling over a few troops should be much easier.”

This was a definite advantage.

Having summoned Deadbone to the Real World and personally experienced supernatural power, Mu Yuan felt a surge of excitement. However, the Real World offered no room for Deadbone to demonstrate his abilities, and Mu Yuan had no time to waste. He quickly suppressed his exhilaration, disguised himself slightly, and headed out.

Perhaps due to the increasing number of registered newcomers, the association’s Trading Market was even livelier today than it had been two days prior.

Having visited once before, Mu Yuan was practically a seasoned player by rough approximation. After being influenced by the forums, he no longer carried the novice demeanor of his first visit.

Disguised as an experienced player, he moved from stall to stall, selling Materials and exchanging Remnant Souls.

Mu Yuan spotted Boss Zhang from a distance but didn’t greet him.

Boss Zhang no longer had any Little Skeleton Remnant Souls, rendering him of no value to Mu Yuan. After searching around, Mu Yuan managed to purchase four Little Skeleton Remnant Souls from one stall owner and six from another.

And then… that was it.

“You veteran players are too unreliable. Wasn’t it said that the Skeleton Soldier troop type is underwhelming and that Remnant Souls are hard to sell? Why didn’t you stockpile more for me to buy? How annoying!”

Mu Yuan also understood that the number of players in the entire Baijiang City was limited. No matter how large the Trading Market grew, it naturally couldn’t expand beyond a certain scale.Moreover, those who painstakingly set up stalls are mostly ordinary veteran players struggling to get by. True Lord players don’t need to sell these trivial goods at all.

Skeleton Soldier troops being useless? Just send them to the mines for mining—there’s always some job that suits them.

He had heard that the truly large-scale trading markets with numerous Treasures for sale weren’t on Blue Star but in the Eternal World. Only there could one catch a glimpse of the Great Lords and top-tier powerhouses.

Having failed to purchase Little Skeleton Soul Fragments, Mu Yuan changed his disguise again and bought 4 Slime Soul Fragments from a third stall owner.

He then cheaply sold off the useless Goblin Soul Fragments and some ordinary Materials, purchasing instead some cultivation Materials that would aid Deadbone’s training.

However…

“This is ridiculously expensive!”

Mu Yuan grimaced in pain.

The most common auxiliary cultivation material was called ‘Pure Crystal Dust,’ of common grade. When mixed with Soul Sand in a 1:1 ratio for absorption, it could increase troop leveling speed by 1.5 to even 2 times.

But the cost of this cultivation method was several times that of using Soul Sand alone.

Originally, for Deadbone to advance from Rank 4 to Rank 5, it would only require about 15g of Soul Sand. Now with this method, the required Soul Sand had skyrocketed to over a hundred grams.

He had only earned two hundred Soul Sand the entire day yesterday!

And he still had to cultivate the other skeletons!

After some hesitation, Mu Yuan still bought a small amount for Deadbone to try out.

There was no need to rush cultivation matters. As Deadbone continued to evolve, its cultivation efficiency would improve. However, he definitely needed to purchase more cultivation Materials like ‘Replenishing Fruits.’

Deadbone consumed them rapidly.

He also had to allocate some resources to cultivate Bone Two and Bone Three.

This represented a massive expenditure.

Typically, players would only invest heavily in resources to enhance their ace troops’ combat power through other means when their main troops’ Ranks became difficult to improve.

During the novice period, aside from whales, nobody would invest in cultivation Materials.

Even for whales, this expenditure was painful. After all, troop grades were generally low in the early stages—three-star troops would inevitably need replacement by the Middle Stage, becoming ordinary garrison soldiers.

Some top novices might recruit rare-grade troops early on, but given their capabilities, they would eventually recruit higher-tier troops anyway.

Heavy cultivation felt somewhat wasteful.

But not cultivating meant falling behind others.

Mu Yuan didn’t have such worries—spending money on his own children didn’t hurt at all… well, maybe it stung a little.

When he arrived, his account still had over two hundred Soul Sand. He had thought that with plenty of Materials to sell, his wallet would be fatter on the return trip.

Unexpectedly, it had shrunk.

Of course, he didn’t sell the most valuable Shaman Heritage Stone—he hadn’t found a suitable opportunity to offload it, as that would attract too much attention.

…

After completing his transactions, Mu Yuan quickly retreated home.

The entire process went surprisingly smoothly—no veteran players tracked him for an ambush, no arrogant rich heirs caused trouble during transactions, and no powerful wanted criminals stirred up chaos.

None of his 108 contingency plans needed activation.

This was good.

He was a man of peace—all that fighting and killing wasn’t for him.

…

“Crunch—”

As Bone Two slashed down the last cave dweller, Mu Yuan’s yet-to-be-named territory secured another glorious ‘defensive battle’ victory.

Meanwhile, Deadbone had returned to the Eternal World through the Lord’s Mark.He stared at the corpses of the cave dwellers and thorny cave dwellers lying before him, his expressionless face growing grave once more. “Lord, this is rather troubling. The number of invading cave dwellers has increased by 1.5 times compared to the last wave. If this trend continues, our territory will face a major crisis before long.”

Mu Yuan: “…”

Sure, sure, whatever.

Looking at the robust Skeleton Soldiers and the cave dwellers who had already been utterly defeated, Mu Yuan couldn’t refute Deadbone’s argument. He could only agree with Deadbone’s “Grand Strategy for Strengthening Territory Defenses.”

What could he say when he had a General so devoted to the territory? Of course, he had to agree to it all.

Defense arrangements were Deadbone’s responsibility. Mu Yuan’s own work was simple.

Recruit!

Evolve!

Soon, ten newly born, dopey Little Skeletons descended from the Altar, accompanied by four adorably foolish Slimes.

Even though he was still in the novice period and couldn’t personally enter the Eternal World, only observing from his computer screen, watching his forces grow stronger and larger bit by bit filled Mu Yuan with immense ambition.

Falcons: 1.

Slime-type: 5. Among them, one three-star Large Slime.

Skeleton-type: 25. Among them, one Skeleton Warrior and thirteen Skeleton Soldiers.

Yes, he had already evolved up to ‘Bone Fourteen’ among the Skeleton Soldiers. They tirelessly patrolled ceaselessly, crushing any invaders.

In comparison, the naturally lively Slimes were slightly more troublesome to manage than the Little Skeletons.

Mu Yuan decided to adopt a “veteran guiding the newbies” approach.

Since he had previously tasked Deadbone with guiding the Large Slime, now having the Large Slime guide the little Slimes should perfectly solve the problem, right?

Speaking of which, where was the Large Slime? How come he hadn’t seen that big lump?

Mu Yuan’s gaze shifted, and he spotted the large Slime at the edge of the territory swallowing some unidentified object whole.

Its body suddenly stiffened, turning an unhealthy color, looking utterly miserable.

Mu Yuan: “!!!”

“Eating everything will only harm you!”

(End of Chapter)