Chapter 112: Elite?

Yue Ji said, "Very well, just like that battle that night; after the Lord learned that the Buried Corpse were our mortal enemies, he preferred to risk it alone rather than let us face them, otherwise many sisters would have died that night."

"The Lord is our Lord and also your clan head; he is busy day and night with our livelihood, only returning very late each day, and after he returns there is no one who can be considerate of him. So, as his servants, shouldn't we think about these things for him?"

Yue Ji didn't understand the meaning of her words and looked at her puzzled.

Wan'er said, "What I mean is that the rooms in Xinggong are still vacant; the Lord has never had time to consider taking a consort. Since he has no time for these private matters, and we have so many girls here, why don't we select one for him from among them? What do you think?"

Among the undead, marriage has never existed; the concept is zero in their minds. In recent days, Yue Ji had heard many things about marriage from Wan'er. After a moment of thought, Yue Ji said, "Although I still don't fully understand this, I think Wan'er is exceptionally graceful, and the Lord enjoys talking with you. I believe there is no one more considerate of the Lord than you."

Wan'er replied firmly, "No. My status is humble; I cannot match the Lord. I can serve him, but becoming his concubine is absolutely out of the question."

"Then… what about Zhuoyue and the others? And Yan Qiu."

Wan'er shook her head and said, "They are the same as me; also not possible."

"Since you all cannot, then… I really don't know…"

Wan'er bluntly said, "Your status is noble; you are the only one here who matches the Lord, and you are so beautiful. How about you be the one to attend to the Lord?"

Yue Ji's heart raced at these words; in recent days, whenever she couldn't see the Lord, she felt lost and restless, yet when she did see him, before he even glanced her way she felt somehow improper. According to Wan'er, that meant she had fallen for the Lord. Of course she hoped to stay by his side, never parting, but the Lord gave the same expression to everyone. Wan'er had said that marriage requires both parties to like each other; otherwise one person suffers, and that person is likely the one who doesn't like the other. Although the Lord treats her well, might he think her birth is odd?

Thinking of this, Yue Ji shook her head gloomily.

"Why? You seem to like the Lord a lot, right? It's obvious the Lord likes you too."

Wan'er thought: Although the undead share origins with the people of Sky City, they have been separated for tens of thousands of years. The Lord is a person whose appearance differs from theirs; he became their clan head, and with Sky City people present, he is like a saint, yet it is hard to keep everything perfectly fair. If the balance tilts toward his side, rumors unfavorable to the Lord will inevitably spread among the undead. Wan'er had already seen that Yue Ji's lineage is extraordinary; if the Lord were to take her as a consort, he could firmly hold the clan head position, which would greatly benefit both the preservation of the undead bloodline and the other people in the Territory.

Yue Ji didn't know how to answer. Should she tell him she fears the Lord might reject her? No matter what she says, she is still below the clan head, the highest leader, while the clan head is an outsider; if the Lord truly rejects her, wouldn't the whole tribe's reputation be ruined? She indeed wants to spend every day with him, but she hasn't yet confirmed whether he truly despises her. If he doesn't mind her appearance and is willing to marry her, then any mistake in her words could mean losing even a sliver of chance.

"I… I'm feeling a bit unwell and would like to rest early…" Yue Ji could only use this as an excuse, unwilling to answer directly.

Wan'er also saw the distress on her face; it seemed the matter couldn't be rushed, so she stopped probing, smiled to break the awkwardness, and said, "Actually, this is fine as it is. I was just joking because I see little sister Yue Ji looking gloomy all day. Please don't take my words seriously."

Yue Ji nodded, wished Wan'er good night, and each returned to their own rooms.

……

On the open ground beside Bai Ma Du Da Zhai, more than 300 soldiers were conducting drills under the instruction of instructor Mu Lan.

At present only the infantry training field existed; all infantry were divided into two squads, using wooden weapons for live combat drills. Those who fell were sent to the infantry field to continue training on moving wooden dummies. The archers still lacked a range, so they used wooden sticks placed at a distance as targets to practice accuracy. Sixty cavalry practiced riding and charge formations on the adjacent open ground.

After completing the boat‑launch ceremony at dawn in San Shui Kou Shui Zhai, Li Bucai returned here and was now observing from the tower.

"Aside from the water stronghold, the watchtower, and the troops at Bai Ma Tan garrison, this is all our forces," Li Bucai said to the armaments officer Jinchen who was watching with him, "What do you think of these people?"

Although Jinchen was a civil official, he was proficient in all matters of weapons and equipment and naturally knew quite a bit about soldiers' qualities. When Li Bucai asked, his eyes flicked, and he replied, "They may be women, but each possesses martial spirit worthy of the term elite. The Lord built such a powerful army in less than two months, which is truly admirable."

Li Bucai obviously recognized the flattery, nodded, and said, "Elite—at first I also thought they might not live up to that label; how their combat power is, I trust it hasn't escaped your eyes."

As an armaments officer, one must first know how to observe the combat strength of all soldiers and even generals, and by watching only a few moves, the entire strength can be quickly compiled into data. From this group's training, their true capability can be fully seen.

Jinchen nodded.

"Including me, I want a complete overview?" Li Bucai, as the lord, naturally already knew their data; now he needed frankness, not flattery. They still didn't understand themselves fully and needed their concerns gradually dispelled.

Within these two days, Jinchen had fully mastered everyone's data, including Li Bucai's, which he also learned while training.

"Although the Lord's combat power is hard to display on the Token, the power of his moves shows that only Martial God Mantra above level 16 can unleash such massive force. However, the Lord currently lacks a suitable weapon, so his attack power cannot reach its peak; thus his attack is 150 and defense 130. If he uses skills, Wind Assault Stab at level 16 adds 150 attack; Plum Blossom Snack at level 16 adds 100 attack; Qinglong Tail Sweep at level 16 adds 100 defense and 70 attack; the three sword techniques are at level 14, each adding 50 attack."

Li Bucai nodded, pointed at the soldiers below, and asked, "What about these people?"

"The archers under Zhuoyue are all level 8, with attack 8, hit rate 8, evasion 8, and defense 4."

"So, on average they fire 100 arrows and at most only 8 hit the target, right?"

Jinchen nodded. In a one‑on‑one fight this is indeed the case; if hit rate is set to 100%, then each time a soldier gains a level, his hit rate increases by one percentage point. For a weapons master like Wu Zhuoran, the initial hit rate is already 100%, and each level adds another point. The reason many arrows miss the enemy is largely due to the opponent's evasion rate; many agile classes start with evasion around 50–80 and increase from there, while strength‑based classes rely on block rate to mitigate.

Nevertheless, if the archers form a formation and unleash a rain of arrows, their hit rate can be greatly increased within the localized area.

Li Bucai asked again, "What about the others? How are the undead?"

Jinchen replied, "Their levels are mostly between 17 and 18, but their strength seems lower than ours, which greatly reduces their attack power—only half of what their level suggests. Their hit and evasion rates are similarly reduced. However, they have exceptionally strong defensive ability and lightweight bodies, which fully compensate for their weak offense. Using them as archers, though, their hit rate is too low, making them rather unsuitable."

Li Bucai obviously knew that making them archers would be a huge waste of arrows, and he intended to resolve all troop type changes and equipment issues for everyone in this wave at once; if not changed, they would stay as is, but once changed, they must all receive the best equipment of this tier.

He nodded and said, "You're right. In your view, which troop type would make the best use of these people?"

"They don't need heavy armor. If they were all made into cavalry, the load on the horses would be greatly reduced, and both marching and charging would see a huge boost in combat efficiency. However, there are only a hundred warhorses at present, so they could first be used as infantry to replace Blade Badge Warriors, and once enough horses are available, they can be converted to cavalry."

Li Bucai asked again, "Is there any material that can resist corpse toxin and also be used to make battle armor?"

"There is, but it only mitigates the corrosive effect; even the strongest material can only reduce corrosive damage by fifty percent and cannot completely prevent it."

Li Bucai nodded; it seemed there was still no material that could fully counter corpse toxin, and the future opponent would surely be a massive army of Buried Corpses, so undead soldiers could not be used to face them.

"Before you arrived, there was a war here; in that battle, none of my hundred archers hit a target after three volleys of arrow rain."

Jinchen exclaimed, "How could their hit rate be so absurdly low?"

"It's not that their hit rate is too low; the opponent is too powerful. They are Buried Corpses, all above level 18."

"No wonder none hit." Regarding the infamous Buried Corpse species, she had indeed heard of them; these beings, from birth, differ from many races whose base attributes start at zero—they are born with a +10 bonus to all attributes except fire resistance, which is zero. An 18‑level Buried Corpse has a block rate of 28, while these archers only joined Li Bucai's ranks later and have a hit rate of 8; how could they damage them?

Li Bucai said, "So, compared to the opponent, our troops are far from elite. That was just a small skirmish; when we face a real clash, we will confront not just a few hundred Buried Corpses but possibly tens of thousands, which will be a truly terrible battle. Therefore, before that, even if our troops reach elite status, we must still train and equip them as ordinary soldiers; otherwise, if we become complacent, I fear those who follow me will die without a burial place."

"Lord! Lord! Young Marshal—" As the two were talking, Xianghong shouted from afar.