Chapter 214: Forget it, forget it
“Little Black, Little Black, come here quickly!”
In Kazumi’s small, shabby bedroom, the young girl, having shed the Human Skin Cloak, leaned back on a chair leisurely. Her two cute feet, freed from the confinement of socks, were crossed and swayed with her body as she shifted from side to side.
Putting aside the notebook in her hand, Kazumi took out a small, silver-white skull-shaped badge from her embrace. She scooped up the unprepared Little Black and, prying open its mouth, which was filled with sharp teeth from its skin to its palate, roughly shoved the badge into it.
“Roar!”
A strange sensation transmitted from its throat. Even though it was an Undead Creature, Little Black seemed to feel some energy. Its head twitched involuntarily, and it let out a low growl from its throat, but its body obediently stayed in place, allowing its master to hold its neck.
“There, there, it’s okay. Just eat it, it’s good for you!”
Seeing that the special silver badge had indeed been eaten into Little Black’s stomach, the young girl finally withdrew her hand, which had been pushing into Little Black’s throat. She then wiped the unknown mucus on her hand on the Human Skin Cloak beside her. Kazumi used one hand to stroke Little Black’s head and said affectionately.
She then raised her hand, summoned the Black Coffin, and gave Little Black the command to return to the Territory. She herself continued to maintain the existence of the Black Coffin, absorbing the Death Aura lingering in the room and on her body like an exhaust fan.
“I don’t know if it will have any effect, but evolving in a place with stronger Death Aura should be beneficial, right?”
The young girl circled the word “Elite” in her notebook with her pen and muttered to herself as she looked at the now-filled notebook.
The capabilities brought by Municipal Buildings were far more than just the two skills described on the capability panel. Skill trees and Elite Unit templates were capabilities common to all municipal buildings, with different capabilities attached according to the type of building.
For example, in Kazumi’s previous game life, the municipal building was not a Great Graveyard but a Shadow Tower that could connect to the Shadow Plane. The corresponding summoned civilians were Shadow Souls, who had good bonuses in stealth and dark energy.
Regarding different municipal buildings, it could only be said that each had its own strengths. In fact, for the current Kazumi, a military fortress-type Great Graveyard was more practical than a Shadow Tower, which could provide an additional source of Shadow Plane troops.
And the so-called Elite Unit template was naturally the thing that Kazumi had hard-forced into Little Black’s mouth earlier. Although Kazumi always exploited the pitiable Ghouls, what she gave him to eat this time was indeed a very precious and good thing.
An initial template could be obtained for free at each level of the central municipal building. After that, to obtain templates, more powerful Epic templates, or even Hero Chapters, one would need to research the corresponding technologies and then build related architectural systems to obtain them.
Therefore, from Kazumi’s short-term development trend, the Elite template obtained from building the Great Graveyard at hand might be the only item that could greatly enhance the capabilities of her subordinates’ troops during this period.
Kazumi had thought for a long time about who to use this thing on, and finally decided to give this precious opportunity to Little Black.
After all, she had suffered from hoarding in the past. Resources that couldn’t be converted into strength were not effective resources. Instead of saving the Elite template for later when she had higher-level troops, it was better to give it to her existing troops now, quickly improving their combat power to accumulate resources in the early game.
Moreover, the first mission after joining the [Dark] Organization was in two days. With the cards she had in hand, Kazumi couldn’t say the word “at ease” no matter what.
As for the alternative candidates, there was nothing much to say. Currently, the only ones under Kazumi’s command that were worthy of the template were Little Black, the Corpse Crow leader, and Big White.
The Corpse Crow leader was too weak, and it was also a support-oriented flying unit. Even with an Elite template, its strength wouldn’t be greatly enhanced, so it was passed over first.
Big White was actually the young girl’s most favored candidate. Its C-Rank rating alone was enough for her to directly allocate this slot to it.
But as she said, the Ghoul Mother Worm was not a combat-type unit; it was more like a mobile barracks. Perhaps its corresponding abilities would be greatly enhanced after becoming an Elite unit, but the problem was that Kazumi didn’t have a great need for cannon fodder units right now. What she lacked the most were powerful combat units that could break through city defenses.
Therefore, after much deliberation, this initial slot could only go to Little Black, who knew nothing.
After all, this wasn’t the first time it had eaten strange things. The capsule the organization gave it before seemed to have given it some strange teeth capabilities, and from a certain perspective, it was much more powerful than a normal, white-card Ghoul.
What’s more, it wasn’t the first time the young girl had raised a Ghoul. She had also raised a Ghoul to Divine rank in the game before, and the development path of an Elite Ghoul was still quite watchable in the early game. Its fearless, desperate attacks and its ability to consume flesh to recover its body were enough to make it a good front-line warrior.
Although its incredibly poor growth curve later on also proved to Kazumi the fact that “even if low-level troops are piled up to Divine rank, they are still shit.”
But no matter what, it was a temporary choice. Kazumi could also use her experience to avoid some detours, work hard in the early game to earn resources, and prepare for her efforts in the later stages.
While thinking about her plans here, the young girl also crossed out the words “Big White” next to “Elite.” It was estimated that it would be a long time before the next Elite template appeared.
For now, improving her strength, accumulating resources, and stabilizing development were enough. Having successfully relied on [Dark], she could finally have an environment where she could grow properly.
While her right hand continued to write and draw in the notebook, a small mass of black-green mist slowly condensed on her left hand, finally forming into a small but loose cone shape.
This was another gain for Kazumi besides the Elite template, a capability enhancement to the Lord herself by consuming Death Crystals.
The technology tree was an extremely vast system set in “Undead Lord.” Tens of thousands of technology systems, combined with architectural styles of different types, were enough to create all sorts of different schools of thought.
The “Undead Calamity” that focuses on nurturing battle through battle and plagues, the “Tide of Shadows” that prioritizes assassination and stealth, or the “Frosty Sigh” that specializes in ice spells. There were many different extensions of the system’s recommended beginner-friendly schools, not to mention that players could also create and combine their desired technology trees according to their preferences.
Of course, Kazumi didn’t have the time to think about schools of thought for now, because she was too poor, to the point where even her underwear was gone.
After deducting the Death Aura required to maintain the normal operation of the Territory, the remaining Death Aura converted into Death Crystals was probably only enough for her to research “Death Aura Concentration I” which would increase the concentration of Death Aura in the Territory, and “Beginner Death Aura Mastery” which would slightly increase her own combat power.
The former was a must-research for future development, while the latter was the only affordable technology that could improve combat power.
Alas, poor children had to make do. She would see if she could earn some money on her mission in two days to supplement her income, otherwise, the next improvement time would be a matter of months.
With a faint sigh, Kazumi dispersed the Death Aura in her hand. “Beginner Death Aura Mastery” indeed lived up to its “beginner” title.
The improvement was roughly from controlling a mass of Death Aura to slightly controlling basic shape changes.
From Kazumi’s few attempts to decipher them, beyond constructing basic shapes, she couldn’t master anything more complex. However, it did give the young girl a slight hint on the method of manipulation, and with an entry direction, there were more possibilities for her to explore methods on her own.
Moreover, in this game, skill improvement also had a concept of proficiency. For example, the skill “Beginner Death Aura Mastery” was like directly transmitting muscle memory, giving you this control instantly. But even if you didn’t have this skill, you could achieve this level through long-term practice.
“At least by changing into a cone shape, it has physical lethality. This way, physical damage is also present, and it’s no longer solely relying on Death Aura to damage enemies.”
Completing the last part of her feelings about Death Aura in her notebook, the young girl drew a perfect period at the end of the sentence, thus finishing the analysis of the information regarding this ability.
“Okay, let me see. The building section is finished, and the capabilities section has just been organized. The extension of the development plan can be done tomorrow night. Specifically, we still need to look at the actual output of the Graveyard Hill, and according to the laws of reality, the appearance of a Great Graveyard with a thick Death Aura will definitely affect the overall environment. This also needs to be recorded.”
Muttering to herself, the young girl finally finished organizing everything that needed to be organized tonight. She closed her eyes and felt Little Black’s situation in the Territory. As a result, she found that the carefree guy was still sleeping in a corner, accumulating energy and waiting to complete the evolution of the Elite template.
Silently putting down the pen in her hand, Kazumi suddenly felt that all the things she needed to do were finished. She let out a long sigh, leaned back leisurely on the chair, and stretched.
Then, she casually cast her gaze upon the recent schedule organized at the top.
“It seems like there are quite a few things happening these few days. The first mission from [Dark], finding an opportunity to deal with Mai Shinomiyai’s trouble, a date to the library with Noyoru Yokota this weekend, and a date to the amusement park with Sato Shinichi…”
Looking at the familiar elegant handwriting on the notebook, the young girl froze for two seconds. It was only then that she realized that the last line was indeed written by her own hand.
“……..”
With a head full of questions, Kazumi slightly retrieved her memory and realized that it was the invitation the young man had extended to her when she was at his house before. The reason? It seemed he was worried that she hadn’t recovered from the attack, so he wanted to take her out to relax.
She picked up the water-based pen beside her and placed it on the last few words, intending to cross them out. However, the pen tip, which landed at the forefront, just couldn’t move forward.
As if accepting her fate, the young girl put down the pen, stood up with a sense of helplessness, and let out a faint sigh.
“Alas, forget it, forget it.”
