Ashen Dragon-Chapter 421 - 344 The Players’ Undead Minions (End)
Chapter 421 -344 The Players’ Undead Minions (End)
Seeing the players ahead looking distressed, Singo couldn’t help but laugh to himself.
“Fortunately, I came prepared.”
He patted his side where a bulging moneybag hung, which contained over a thousand gold coins—as a Dragonblood Viscount with dividends from a military-industrial group, this was naturally within his reach.
Among the dozens in the queue, a few had to leave dejectedly due to lack of funds, significantly advancing his place in line.
At the front of the queue, the Undead Knight reluctantly handed over the money and quickly walked into the Undead Research Institute carrying a corpse bag on his back.
Maxi collected the gold coins and nodded slightly to the waiting players outside, “Everyone, please be patient and wait outside for a while.”
“Don’t worry, the efficiency of Supervisor Orestes is quite high.”
In no time, the Undead Knight came out gleefully with an Undead Minion Rental Contract. Humming a tune, he summoned a beautiful long-haired ghost under the expectant gazes of the crowd.
“Whoa, that was fast!”
“That Undead Minion… it’s not bad-looking either.”
“Isn’t it a buddy?”
“Envious—why didn’t I think of summoning a wife?”
“Alright, you’re an animal too!”
“This is supposed to be a combat partner!”
Next, the renowned Necromancer player Rain City promptly paid his gold coins and hurried into the institute.
Within just a few minutes, the next conversion was complete.
“Heh heh…”
“Let me open your eyes.”
Rain City adjusted his silver-framed glasses and tipped his hat as he stepped out of the institute.
Behind him followed three imposing, uniquely shaped Undead Skeletons, which were the founders from the Three Noble Families of the North.
One wielding a sharp sword, one holding a spear aloft, and the third swinging a heavy hammer.
These three were ancestors Rain City had dug up from their coffins. After careful selection, these ancestors had been famous warriors and paladins in their lifetimes; even in death, they boasted a challenge level of six, practically equivalent to three mini-bosses.
And with the Necromancer’s amplification spells, their combined combat effectiveness skyrocketed.
The onlooking players were green with envy.
“When will it be my turn?”
“So cool…”
“I want to have an Undead Minion too!”
“I’ve decided, starting today, I’ll switch to the summoning class!”
Singo, watching the distant Rain City, looked quite serious: “His lineup is quite formidable in this version, a worthy opponent.”
Several players entered successively.
“Oh dear…”
“Who hasn’t had their turn yet?”
Swashbuckler soon passed by, showing off with a line of undead ancestors from Boske, holding an Undead Minion Rental Contract.
“You’re using your three daily summoning opportunities just to show off here?”
Singo shook his head and chuckled.
Finally, it was his turn.
This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom.
Without hesitation, Singo handed five gold coins to Maxi at the door and, under Maxi’s friendly smile, he dragged a half-giant’s rotting, fly-infested corpse into the institute.
“So this is the Undead Research Institute?”
“It’s somewhat different from what I imagined.”
In Singo’s imagination, this should have been a zone filled with skeletons and webs—a necromantic forbidden zone, but it turned out to really look like a research institute.
Rows of neat electric lights, clean and tidy corridors, and clear direction signs on the walls all testified to this.
Even the bloodstains and muck left by the corpse he dragged were automatically removed by cleaning spells embedded in the corridor walls.
Singo looked at the heavy iron door at the end of the corridor, and the skull emblem on it finally gave him a sense of death.
“Let me see this so-called ‘Soul Eternally Mourner’ then.”
He thought.
Singo placed his hand on the skull, and the heavy iron door slowly opened.
“Lord Orestes, I’ve come for an undead conversion.”
“Come in.”
The voice was deep and hoarse.
Yet Singo keenly sensed a heavy fatigue in it—as if from a corporate drone working overtime.
Was he mistaken?
That should be the legendary Lich!
The master of undead creatures! An immortal, cunning, and cruel being with endless secrets!
Singo couldn’t help but look up, the name floating above the Lich’s head was particularly striking.
Soul Chanter-Orestes
Faction: Ashen Empire
Affiliation: Undead Research Institute
Challenge Level: ???
The Lich was sitting at a plain desk, draped in tattered robes, the soul fire in its eye sockets dim. What was intimidating, however, was the Scepter of Bones on the nearby shelf.
In its withered hand, it held a bone pen, continuously writing on documents on the desk.
Singo found it difficult to describe this demeanor. It was just like—a working-class Lich, with no imposing aura anywhere, giving off a sense of perfunctory.
Orestes put down the pen and impatiently urged: “Do you want the conversion or not? Hurry up.”
“Alright.”
Singo quickly snapped out of his thoughts, stepped forward, opened the shop panel, and rapidly browsed.
The Lich’s Rental Store
Basic prices:
Skeleton: 5 gold, 350 experience
Mummy: 5 gold, 350 experience
Specter: 20 gold, 950 experience
Corpse Demon: 100 gold, 1550 experience
Soulbinders: 100 gold, 1550 experience
Undead Skeleton: 100 gold, 1550 experience
…
Death Knight: 12500 gold, 75000 experience
Lich: ??? unknown conditions
[Please present the item you wish to convert.]
The options for Death Knight and Lich obviously weren’t meant for current players.
So he skipped those options directly. Since he had brought a complete corpse, the Corpse Demon, which could turn the deceased into a zombie, was the best option.
“Lord Orestes, I want to convert into a Corpse Demon.”
He unzipped the heavy corpse bag, revealing the rotting, stinking half-giant inside.
The Lich glanced at it and said flatly, “A professional half-giant, extra charge needed.”
A new transaction window popped up immediately.
[Soul Eternally Mourner-Orestes offers you a new trade.]
Half-Giant Zombie Leader: 800 gold, 5500 experience
[Do you agree to the transaction? Yes/No]
“This…”
Even Singo felt the pinch.
This amount of gold and experience would almost wipe out his savings from the last few months; even he needed to think it over.
“Hurry up.”
Orestes urged impatiently.
The temptation of a power boost made Singo grit his teeth and make a decision. He clicked on the [Confirm] option on the panel and handed over the bulging moneybag—
“My Lord, please proceed with the conversion.”
“Alright.”
Orestes removed the Scepter of Bones, expertly pointing it at the half-giant’s bloated, decaying corpse.
Instantly, low growls echoed.
The negative energy gray mist enveloped the entire body, and its dark eyes began to gleam eerily. Finally, it stood up slowly.
A nearly three-meter-tall Corpse Demon, covered in foul, decaying flesh, still appeared mighty as it had been in its life.
Half-Giant Zombie Leader
Challenge Level: 7 (3100xp)
Orestes pulled out a blank scroll from a drawer and continued writing on it, then casually threw it to Singo.
“Done.”
“For the Ashen Empire.”
He spoke the classic phrase, but coming from the Lich, it sounded eerie.
“For the Ashen Empire.”
Singo also hammered his chest with his right hand in response.
Inwardly, he mused: “A Lich loyal to the Empire, how unusual.”
However, his focus soon shifted back to his freshly converted Corpse Demon, a joyful look appearing on his face.
“Great… a real boss-class minion!”
Singo left with the scroll, and the half-giant zombie leader remained under the control of the Undead Research Institute.
After all, players were merely renting, and ownership belonged to the Empire officially, more precisely to the Emperor himself, or rather, to the Dragon.
“How much longer must these days last…”
Orestes watched as the door slowly closed, letting out a deep sigh.
Converting undead creatures was truly arduous work.
Yet, each time he converted undead creatures for these “Starfallen,” he felt a purer form of soul energy surge into his body, allowing him to sustain his life box.
Perhaps, he could reach true immortality this way.
“Tsk…”
“Thank my master for this.”
The exhausted Lich mused, but footsteps once again echoed from outside—the next player for the undead conversion was arriving.
At this moment, hundreds of players were already queuing up outside the Undead Research Institute.
What Orestes did not know was that to control the Lich’s power, Cassius had siphoned off ninety percent of the experience he gained.
Soon, the news about the Undead Research Institute spread across the forum, those boss-like top-tier minions making many players envious.
Thus began a vigorous “Corpse Hunting Movement” known as the “Great Excavation Campaign” within the Empire.
Tens of thousands of players roamed the Empire, digging graves, searching ruins, and even exhuming the corpses of fallen foes, much to the amazement of the natives.
The bones of a senior warrior could fetch hundreds of gold coins on the black market, and many penniless people even dug up their ancestors’ graves to sell to players.
At the same time, coffin making, corpse preservation, and other specialized industries boomed, giving rise to several “emerging enterprises.”
Throughout the Empire, rumors spread that “Starfallen liked old bones” and “they prefer ancient skeletons.”
