Chương 61: Skeleton Soldiers

Li Qinwu, now haunted by the threat of the Hero, was aggressively preparing for war. He halted the labor-intensive construction of the hardened roads and pivoted all resources toward a massive military expansion. The tribal forces were expanded to 1, 000 soldiers—ten full companies! While such a professional army could dominate any corner of the Monster Forest, it didn't give Li Qinwu an ounce of security.

The Hero's Party was too powerful; killing Goblins was like playing a roguelike game for them—pure "hack and slash." To face them, he had to improve the quality of his troops. Li Qinwu wanted to upgrade his personal system troops to Level 4, so he led them into the forest to grind for experience. However, the XP required to reach Level 4 was staggering. After several days of constant fighting, only Gobu-Spear, the very first soldier to follow him, gained enough levels to become a Senior Goblin Warrior (Level 4).

The progress was too slow and the returns too low. Li Qinwu hit upon a new idea: what if he upgraded all his non-system spear Goblins into Hobgoblins? By recruiting spear Goblins into his party and taking them on a high-intensity hunt for two or three days, they would naturally evolve. Once upgraded, he would kick them out of the party and recruit new ones. By repeating this cycle, 1, 000 spear Goblins could eventually become 1, 000 Hobgoblins! He acted immediately.

Every time a spear Goblin evolved into a Hobgoblin, Li Qinwu kicked them off the roster and recruited a fresh one. Within days, over 200 Hobgoblins appeared in the tribe! Still, that wasn't enough. The ultimate solution against the Hero was gunpowder. While grinding for XP, Li Qinwu searched for resources, hoping to find sulfur and saltpeter. Having watched "The Transmigrator's Encyclopedia" countless times, the ratios for black powder were etched into his mind.

With enough manpower, he could experiment until he got it right. Persistence paid off. During a hunt for a pack of thirty Magic Wolves, Li Qinwu discovered a volcano and found a massive deposit of sulfur. He immediately moved 200 Goblins there to establish a mining outpost. Now he had sulfur and could burn his own charcoal. The only thing missing was saltpeter. One could scrape white crystals off latrine walls, but the quantity was minuscule.

To face a Hero, Li Qinwu estimated he needed hundreds of kilograms of black powder; a single kilogram from the toilets wouldn't cut it. He needed nitre-rich soil. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Nitre soil is loose, pale yellow, and has a bitter taste. Before modern chemistry, this was the primary way humans obtained nitrates.

Li Qinwu issued a grand mission to the hunting teams: whoever found nitre soil would be titled "Super Invincible Grand General," rewarded with 100 sticks of dried meat, and all the wood-rats they could "borrow." As a result, the hunting Goblins went mad, digging up dirt everywhere and tasting it. Some even ventured over a hundred kilometers away, discovering coal and copper deposits, but no nitre soil. Li Qinwu was growing desperate.

He had managed to produce half a kilogram of black powder using refined toilet scrapings and made a single explosive. The test was successful—with steel balls and iron shards, it could kill anything within 10–20 meters. But that wasn't enough. He didn't believe a Hero would die from a "firecracker." He needed 20-kilogram demolition charges and continuous blasts to stand a chance. The problem remained: where was the nitre soil?

Just as he was considering fleeing eastward to save his life, fate intervened in the strangest way possible. One day, while resting at a Hundred-Man Village on the forest edge, Li Qinwu was about to recruit 30 new spear Goblins. Before he could move, the "mobs" came to him. A group of Kobolds ran out of the forest, carrying meat for tribute, but they looked terrified, as if something was chasing them. Their leader collapsed at Li Qinwu's feet, howling:"Awoooo-wuff-wuff-wuff!!"

Li Qinwu didn't speak "Dog," so he sent for Hana or Dog-Witch. But before the translators arrived, several staggering figures emerged from the tree line. Everyone stared. They were bleached-white skeletons with glowing blue spirit-fire in their hollow sockets, wobbling as if they might fall apart at any moment.

"Holy crap! Skeleton Soldiers!!" Li Qinwu drew his greatsword. The system instantly flagged them as enemies, initiating combat mode. He ordered his 30 new recruits: "Go! Finish them!!" The Goblins rushed forward. Spears were ineffective at piercing skeletons, often passing through the ribs, but the Goblins' sheer numbers allowed them to pin the skeletons down.

"Smash their heads with rocks!" Li Qinwu ordered, noticing the spirit-fire. The Goblins complied, and with a series of cracks, the skeletons stopped moving. The system notified him of victory. The loot: Grain ×3, Weathered Bone Meal ×3, High-Density Bone Meal ×1. He scratched his head. What am I supposed to do with bone meal? Fertilize crops? Hana and Dog-Witch arrived, and Hana gasped at the sight.

"By the Light God... it's an undead outbreak!" She poked a bone with her staff, and it crumbled.

"Relax, these are low-level undead. Likely natural-born." Hana explained that undead are corpses reanimated by magic, often in skeletal form because bone stores mana well. Natural undead are weak and rare, appearing only in mana-rich areas.

"However," she added, "man-made undead created by Necromancers are much stronger and can form massive armies!" Suddenly, more skeletons emerged from the forest. Li Qinwu's team quickly neutralized them. Hana looked confused.

"This many? Natural magic pockets shouldn't produce more than a handful." Li Qinwu turned to the Kobolds. Hana translated their frantic barking.

"He says... they were passing the old battlefield where you fought the Dragon-Teeth. All the corpses there have turned into skeletons and are chasing anything that breathes!" Li Qinwu remembered that battlefield—the area around that strange, dark-grey tree. Nothing grew within a mile of it, and both Hana and Dog-Witch had sensed an ominous aura. He immediately turned to his commanders.

"Assemble all troops! We're going to the Black Tree!"