Capítulo 5: Chapter 4: Evolution Points, let me see your limit!_1
The strategy guides on the covert forums, as well as the tragic experiences of countless players, all speak volumes about the dangers of the Eternal Continent.
Going out to explore and risking your life might hasten your death, but hiding in your own territory all the time won't guarantee safety either.
Half a day, a day, two days. New territories will eventually be discovered by wild beasts, resulting in endless harassment and invasion.
Mu Yuan is well aware that his ruined village will be invaded sooner or later, but…
Couldn't it take a bit longer?
He's amassed 0.88 Evolution Points. He's so close! Damn it!
He's worried that his skeletons, who have the form of great emperors, will all fall here before they can grow. Unfortunately, all his worrying was in vain as the enemy forces are thirty seconds away from the battlefield and he has no choice but to face them.
"Prepare!"
He issued a command to all his Little Skeletons and took a hard look at each of them. Sure enough, some silly skeletons, holding their scythes, were ready to rush out of the village and confront the invaders.
Mu Yuan quickly grabbed his mouse and pulled them back.
He had already taught them this before! Damn it!
The Little Skeletons tilted their skulls, their hollow eye sockets were filled with confusion and ignorance.
Mu Yuan: "...Fine, I expected as much."
There are a lot of places to hide in the ruined village. However, expecting these skeletons to hide in shadows and ambush enemies to deliver killing blows just wasn't realistic.
After all, the only direct commands he could give included 'move', 'attack', and 'defense'. Any other action would require the soldier's ability to understand and act independently.
The Door-Panel Skeleton - the one who had the aura of a great emperor and was much more intelligent than his counterparts, held a knife in one hand and a door shield in the other, standing steadfastly in front of the trap area.
Not bad, he's rather perceptive!
Mu Yuan arranged the troops in a simple formation and also controlled his own character to hide in a secluded place.
It's survival, there's no shame in it.
By this time, the pack of wolves had entered the village. Their brutal eyes roamed around and soon landed on the most conspicuous Door-Panel Skeleton.
"Thirteen Grey Wolves, this is not good..."
Mu Yuan's face was solemn.
"Grey Wolf (Normal Star): A common beast at the bottom of the food chain in the Eternal Continent."
True, these Grey Wolves looked malnourished and the description portrayed them as worthless. But... the Little Skeletons in his domain were just cannon fodder level troops, and they were outnumbered.
The fight was going to be tough.
The Grey Wolves, now with the advantage in numbers, were ferociously charging and soon shifted from walking slowly to sprinting and pouncing.
Here they come!
They fell into the trap!
A hole collapsed and one of the Grey Wolves fell into it. The sharp wooden spikes pierced its flesh, causing fresh blood to flow. However, the other Grey Wolves quickly swerved to avoid the hole and the ones who were too slow to brake simply leaped out, stepping on the body of the Grey Wolf below and causing it to yelp in pain.
The rest of the rudimentary traps played a minimal role, and soon enough, the Grey Wolves clashed with the Little Skeletons.
These Grey Wolves had sharp teeth and claws and agile movements. They could have capitalized on their speed advantage to suppress the Little Skeletons if they were in an open space. Thankfully, the village environment was complex, and Mu Yuan had cleverly positioned the Little Skeletons in several 'pits', backed against huge trees or houses, ready to meet the Grey Wolves with the advantage of the terrain.
The two forces clashed, and the scene was...
A pecking match between lame ducks.
The Little Skeletons fought with no strategy. They wildly hacked and slashed with their rusty scythes. The Grey Wolves weren't any smarter, they lunged at the skeletons and bit hard onto the bones. Even if they broke a rib or two, it didn't affect the pain-immune Skeletons, who retaliated with a swift slash of their blades.
The wild wolves were reduced to bloody messes, their bodies adorned with ghastly wounds.
But it's not enough.
Even if the Little Skeletons had a slight advantage by trading blows, their bodies were gradually getting damaged, and the grey wolves outnumbered them, this battle would inevitably lead to losses.
These are his hardworking Point Production Machines. How could Mu Yuan stand to see them get damaged?!
"We must focus our firepower, take out some of the Grey Wolves first."
At this point, the Door-Panel Skeleton was impressively holding off four Grey Wolves alone by using the defense structures, even managing to instill fear in the wolves.
Not bad.
But Mu Yuan didn't move the rest of the Skeletons for reinforcements, instead, he fixed his gaze on the other battlefields - where the Little Skeletons were fighting the Grey Wolves indecisively in groups of twos and threes.
"In a battle, we need to outsmart and outmuscle our enemies. Only by concentrating firepower to break through an enemy point can we accumulate a snowballing advantage."
Mu Yuan started to micromanage.
There weren't many commands he could give, but he could order the Little Skeletons with higher hate values to switch battlefields.
Those with high aggro values would go into defense mode, holding their grounds against the backdrop of obstacles. In the meanwhile, Mu Yuan quickly grouped the three or four freed Skeletons into a team and directed them to take out the nearby grey wolves.
The hasty swings of their blades soon took down the first unfortunate wolf. It whimpered as it fell to the ground, blood seeping from its mangled body.
Then came the second, the third.
At the same time, more skeleton warriors were unleashed. Mu Yuan instructed them swiftly towards the next battlefield.
His eyes moved continuously, fingers tapping on the commands, rapidly changing between different instructions, organizing them into squads, sending out a couple of little skeletons to assist the comrades who were almost unable to stand on their own.
Soon, more than half of the grey wolves fell in battle. Apart from two with injured legs, none of his skeletons had died yet.
The battle was going favorably!
What surprised Mu Yuan however, was that these wolves, despite facing desolation, were not running away. Their eyes grew more reddish, radiating an intense ferocity that seemed eager to throw their lives away.
They had truly given up on survival.
A grey wolf struck the door-panel skeleton like it was completely giving up its life. Its cold, sharp claws tore through the already injured thick door panel causing it to shatter in an instant.
The door-panel skeleton froze. Although it did possess some intelligence, the present situation had exceeded its processing capabilities. Seeing the grey wolf pouncing towards it, it lifted its knife and charged forward too.
Such incredible bravery!
But … it's a bit too ferocious.
The encounter showed that, leaving aside its intelligence it was just at the average level of a little skeleton. It was still a long way from being able to face four enemies at once. It was soon overpowered and pinned to the ground by the grey wolf, constantly getting bitten.
Dangerous!
By the time MuYuan directed the other skeletons for reinforcements, the door-panel skeleton had already lost part of its arm. If the grey wolves weren't so unintelligent, not attacking towards the head, this slightly intelligent skeleton would've been toast.
"You need to survive! Only by surviving can you counterattack, understand?!"
"You don't have to follow any code of ethics when dealing with enemies. You need to learn how to use all resources. You should dig trenches when you need to, scatter lime when you need to, even use gang beatings if you have to. The only surviving one is the victor."
This is his main force!
If the door-panel skeleton had survived and even if the panel had been broken, it wouldn't fall into a life-and-death situation in just a few seconds.
No matter if the skeletons can understand or not, Mu Yuan started educating them, discussing survival, all the way to the value of an old silver coin and how to bury the enemy, it was only after taking a drink that he stopped.
In the Eternal Continent, the door-panel skeleton scratched its skull in deep thought after seeing its lord leaving off to survey the landscape, some sparkle of wisdom appearing in its eyes.
…
Compared to the initial encounters shared by most players in the forum, Mu Yuan's battle was much more deadly, having encountered an attack by 13 grey wolves at once.
But he achieved excellent results.
All the Little Skeletons survived.
This was attributed to the initial position and the bravery of the door-panel skeleton. Of course, it also depended largely on his micro-management command.
Had it just been the Little Skeletons squabbling with the grey wolves, even if they were victorious, only a few could have been left alive.
However, many of the Little Skeletons had also been seriously injured, some were even at the brink of death, their heads almost fell off.
"Don't panic, as long as you're not dead, there's nothing to worry about."
"The injured troops can slowly regain strength with the help of the Soul Sand...and Soul Sand…."
Nine out of the thirteen dead grey wolves had released a faint light.
Mu Yuan took control of his character, under the protection of two intact Little Skeletons he went upfront and picked it up.
「Gained 1.5g of Soul Sand.」
「Gained 0.8g of Soul Sand.」
「Gained 1.1g of Soul Sand.」
「Gained….」
Crystals that looked like sand and sparkled with a beautiful light appeared one after the other.
Mu Yuan distributed the Soul Sand among the injured skeletons for them to consume. As for how to use it, it seemed like it was an instinct of the troop type. He couldn't and didn't need to teach that.
Mu Yuan could only urge them to recover as fast as possible.
"Low-level troops recover faster, but it still takes a few hours at a minimum. Those heavily injured need half to a whole day."
"If you want to decrease this time, you would need troops with healing abilities. But those kinds of troops are even more rare and hard to find."
"During this recovery period, the player's combat power will lessen, making it even more dangerous if attacked by monsters. Even worse, some players lose troops in battles, which is a permanent loss."
"If the gains are less than the losses, the player will go on a downward spiral, falling into a vicious cycle, which leads to ultimate defeat."
In this battle, they defeated quite a number of grey wolves, their loot was considerable.
After deducting a portion used in the recovery, the remaining Soul Sand wouldn't be too little. Mu Yuan speculated that he could cultivate one or two Level Two skeletons from them.
Some players in the forum have cultivated Little Skeletons up to Level Two. They moved less shakily, their physique had also grown slightly, their bones had become glossier, and their combat power had obviously increased.
Obviously, even if it is a Little Skeleton, as long as it keeps levelling up, it could possess considerable combat power.
But absorbing Soul Sand to level up also needed time.
Right now what he is most lacking is time, then what about...
"Evolution Points, show me your limits!"
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