059: Summoning Order of the Undead

Late at night, deep within the Goblin Forest, in Karen’s territory.

Beside the flower field known as "Whispers of the Dead," the recently caught Little Green stood miserably to the side, dutifully practicing the melee skill "Bone Claw." This was the punishment Karen imposed for Little Green’s act of deceit.

For the energetic Little Green, this punishment was nothing short of torture. As it practiced, its twin flames of eyes kept sneaking glances at Karen, pitiful and cautious, yet Karen remained unmoved, delivering a firm tap to its little skull.

“Focus on your training. No looking around, no acting cute, and don’t stop until your Bone Claw skill reaches level eight. Understood?”

Little Green clearly sensed Karen’s genuine anger this time and dared not entertain any further thoughts, obediently standing to the side, practicing Bone Claw with a series of crackling sounds.

Yet as it trained, it also whimpered in a crackling cry, its appearance so aggrieved and pitiful.

Karen, however, was wholly unmoved. Let it cry as it would; the punishment had to be endured.

The reason for Karen’s strictness was not truly anger at Little Green’s deceit. In fact, when he first discovered it, Karen’s mood was more amused and indulgently fond.

Even so, Karen immediately enforced discipline.

The main reason wasn’t his authority being challenged. Truthfully, Little Green had been raised almost entirely by him, from a clueless undead to one that could act cute, sulk, and throw fits. Karen had grown exceptionally attached.

Rather than calling Little Green a subordinate, it was more apt to describe it as his pet, or perhaps even his child.

Watching it grow step by step, Karen felt a deep sense of accomplishment—and an even deeper sense of responsibility. So when he found Little Green straying into deceit, his parental instincts surged forth.

How could this little one behave so? Even as an undead, it should be a model of virtue—gentle, respectful, intelligent, beautiful, diligent—a well-rounded undead. No, I must educate it properly!

It sounded almost comical, but Karen’s first thought, or rather, the first thought of any parent seeing their child err, was exactly this.

So, rather than punishing Little Green, Karen was educating it.

As a “parent,” it was Karen’s first time; he had little experience. He simply believed he should guide Little Green toward honesty—at least among their own.

At this moment, Little Green had no idea that its mistake had awakened Karen’s parental responsibility. If nothing unexpected happened, such lessons were sure to become a regular part of its life.

While educating Little Green, Karen turned his attention to his territory attribute panel.

Truth be told, there was little of interest on Karen’s attribute panel. He hadn’t converted any new second-tier undead in recent days; the three thousand he’d recently acquired had been transformed into first-tier undead.

Still, he had 1,019 territory energy remaining.

A thousand or so territory energy was a fortune in the past, but now, it could barely buy three second-tier undead or fifty first-tier “junk” undead. Investing it in undead conversion would strengthen the territory, but not substantially.

So Karen considered spending this energy in the Territory Shop, currently the most cost-effective investment.

As before, Karen split his energy into two portions: one for purchasing from the shop’s item catalogue, the other for the lottery.

Speaking of the shop, last time Karen randomly acquired the "Bow of Bones," which turned out to be unexpectedly effective.

He’d bought one for Little Green, allowing it to master the "Multi-Arrow" skill.

Although the skill was innate to the Bow of Bones—usable but not upgradeable—it was nonetheless powerful.

If Karen could buy more and equip his first-tier undead, his territory’s strength would increase dramatically.

Of course, with his current poverty, he could not afford such an expense, but that didn’t stop him from hoping the shop would yield better items. So he spent 500 territory energy.

“Ding! You have consumed 500 territory energy and acquired a random item catalogue from the Territory Shop!”

With the notification, a new item appeared on his panel.

Goblin Mining Pick
Category: Tool
Quality: Common
Skill: Mining Enlightenment (Undead holding this pick will automatically master mining skills within a day!)
Price: 20 territory energy per pick

Karen was momentarily stunned, unsure whether to call himself lucky or unlucky.

He urgently needed his undead to acquire mining skills, but wasn’t the price of these picks a bit steep? Each one was almost as expensive as a first-tier undead.

“No, wait—I might be overthinking this. The pick’s skill lets undead master mining, meaning I don’t need to equip every undead individually. Just a few picks rotated among them will suffice!”

Karen’s mind worked swiftly, soon grasping the key point.

Having understood, he promptly spent 200 territory energy to buy ten picks. “I’m not sure how Ironbone’s progress is going, but teaching first and zeroth-tier undead to mine probably isn’t easy. With these picks, things should go much smoother.”

He didn’t buy more, uncertain whether his idea would work, so he’d start with ten and test it. The remaining 300 territory energy he used for the lottery, spending it all at once.

As for the lottery, Karen’s luck remained abysmal.

Six draws with 300 energy yielded only one success, but despite the poor odds, the prize was interesting.

Undead Summoning Token
Category: Mysterious Item
Grade: Common
Description: A special token that can summon any type of undead at will.
Ps: The summoned undead’s strength will range from tier one to tier three, and it is wild—must be subdued personally!