Territory Upgrade

After gathering enough territory energy to upgrade his domain, Karen wasted no further time. On the fourth day of excavating “Whisper of the Dead,” he went straight to the graveyard, ready to raise the level of his territory—or more precisely, the grade of the graveyard itself.

At this point, Karen held in his hands not only the 1,810 points of territory energy earned from selling 181 “Whisper of the Dead” blooms, but also 66 points of territory energy produced by the small graveyard over the past eleven days.

Now, the reason the graveyard produced only 66 points of territory energy over eleven days, instead of the expected 220, was due to a change Karen made to the building’s maintenance settings. He adjusted the maintenance payment for the “Small Mausoleum,” which was originally required monthly, to be deducted daily instead.

With this approach, the energy generated each day by the “Small Graveyard” would be automatically allocated for the maintenance of the “Small Mausoleums.” This spared Karen the worry of forgetting, or running out of time, to “recharge” the mausoleums within the specified period, which could otherwise lead to unnecessary losses.

It also gave him a clearer grasp of the usable territory energy at his disposal. For example, the 1,876 points of territory energy he now possessed could be spent entirely without fear of jeopardizing his territory’s maintenance.

Additionally, there was a hidden benefit: after switching to daily maintenance, the energy cost for each “Small Mausoleum” appeared to drop slightly—now each required only about 46.6 points per month. With nine mausoleums, this translated to a savings of several dozen points each month, which, given Karen’s current modest means, was a welcome surprise.

“One thousand eight hundred seventy-six points should be enough to upgrade the Small Graveyard, and maybe to randomize a new product as well!” Karen glanced at his status panel, quickly opened the operating interface for the “Small Graveyard,” and spent 275 points of territory energy in one go to convert 55 more undead.

A few minutes later, as the conversion of the 55 undead completed, a series of system notifications chimed out.

[Ding! You have spent 275 territory energy to successfully convert 55 “Decayed Skeletons”!]
[Ding! Your building “Small Graveyard” has successfully converted 100 undead, reaching the requirement for an upgrade. Upgrade building now?]
“Yes!”
[Ding! “Small Graveyard” has been successfully upgraded to “Common Graveyard”!]
[Ding! Core building “Small Graveyard” has advanced to “Common Graveyard”; your territory level has increased!]
[Ding! Your territory level has increased; you have received 500 personal energy!]

The graveyard was indeed the core of the territory; with its grade elevated, the territory level rose as well. Though Karen had expected this, hearing the system’s prompt still stirred excitement in him. He hurriedly opened the territory status panel.

…

Karen (Lord)
Owned Territory: Unnamed

Territory Level: 2
Territory Energy: 1,601
Territory Buildings: Common Graveyard lv2 (1), Small Mausoleum lv1 (9)
Available Corpses for Conversion: 20 (Tier 0 Human Bones), 1 (Tier 2 Beast Bones)
Undead Owned:
- Rotting Goblin {Tier 1 Trash} (4)
- Goblin Skeleton {Tier 1 Trash} (8)
- Decayed Skeleton (Tier 0 Common) (28), (Tier 0 Trash) (55)
- Decayed Goblin Mage {Tier 1 Elite} (1)
- Skeletal Goblin Hunter (Green Mark) {Tier 1 Excellent} (1)
…

Common Graveyard
Building Level: 2
Building Description: The core structure of the territory, essential for territory upgrades and operation.
Building Functions: Undead Conversion, Energy Absorption, Corpse Fusion
Undead Conversion: Corpses within the graveyard can be converted into undead, consuming a set amount of energy each time.
Convertible Materials: 20 (Tier 0 Human Bones), 1 (Tier 2 Beast Bones)
Energy Absorption: A passive ability of the graveyard, automatically absorbs energy for the territory. At level 2, a common graveyard provides 50 territory energy per day.
Corpse Fusion: A new function, allowing the consumption of territory energy to fuse corpses, thereby increasing their quality.
Fusable Materials: 20 (Tier 0 Trash Quality Human Bones)
Upgrade Requirement: 50 Tier 2 Undead!
…

This was the state of the territory and the “Common Graveyard” after the upgrade. There wasn’t much remarkable about the territory’s attributes, but as for the “Common Graveyard,” in addition to increasing daily energy output from 20 to 50 points, it now boasted the new “Corpse Fusion” feature!

Karen was quite curious about this new ability. With ample territory energy and human corpses on hand as material, he decided to experiment with the “Corpse Fusion” function.

The so-called corpse fusion was the process of merging corpses to improve their quality. The building’s description offered some details, but it failed to mention that this function was extraordinarily expensive to use.

The minimum requirement for fusion was two corpses, the maximum three. Karen opted for three right away. The cost for the first attempt was not high—merging three human skeletons only required 15 territory energy. But as soon as he spent the energy, he realized this was only the beginning.

After spending 15 energy, three “Tier 0 Trash” skeletons became one “Tier 0 Elite.” Then, to create two “Tier 0 Elite” corpses, he would need to spend 30 energy and use six corpses. To fuse three of those “Tier 0 Elite” corpses into a single “Tier 1 Common” corpse, it would take another 75 energy.

At this point, Karen discovered that a “Tier 1 Common” quality corpse could no longer be fused. “Is there a fusion limit? Can each corpse only be fused twice, or are my materials simply too poor?” This question had no answer for now, unless he was willing to invest heavily in experimentation.

But he simply couldn’t afford it—this round alone had cost him 120 territory energy, which pained him greatly. With his current assets, how could he continue to tinker with such expensive research?

Watching his territory energy drop to 1,481, Karen could only spend another 50 points to convert the newly fused “Tier 1 Common” corpse into an undead, hurriedly ending his exploration of the new function. He could only hope that this undead, which had cost a total of 170 territory energy, would have worthwhile attributes.

[Ding! You have spent 50 territory energy to successfully convert an undead: “Somewhat Agile Skeleton Warrior” (Tier 1 Common)]
…

Somewhat Agile Skeleton Warrior
Type: Bone
Strength: Tier 1 (Common) (0/150)
Skills:
- Bone Claw lv2 (Active: Doubles attack power and inflicts minor poison)
- Swiftness lv1 (Active: Increases own movement speed by 20% for 30 seconds)
…

On seeing the attributes of this skeleton, Karen was finally certain: yes, the new “Corpse Fusion” feature was nothing but a bottomless pit!