Chapter 244

Inside the territory, beside the Death Tombstone.

When the pale skeleton warriors carried the corpses of the undead creatures over here, about one-fifth of the corpses were wrapped in a black light.

At the same time, a message came into Su Hao's mind.

【Please provide sufficient energy to complete the transformation of the undead creatures; if transformation is not carried out for a long time, this medium will lose the possibility of transformation!】

……

"I don't even know how much energy is needed to transform these corpses..."

Whenever the matter of energy came up, Su Hao felt a bit worried; there were far too many things in the territory that needed energy crystals, yet the amount of energy crystals was truly limited.

During this period, used for proliferating infinite cells, manufacturing energy weapons and mechanical vehicles, he had already consumed most of the energy crystals on his person, and now there were hardly any left.

Even though the Iron Lump Tribe's side has an energy crystal mine with a storage of several million, at this consumption rate those energy crystals probably won't last long.

Moreover, those energy crystals are buried in the vein; extracting them will still take considerable time.

"Hmm... I recall Iron Lump saying last time that their dwarf king Iron Beard will come today, so I'll first bring the Blazing Fire Dragon Fruit and the Purple Gold Coiling Dragon Bamboo over to them to enhance their physiques and speed up mining."

Su Hao gave a slight nod, having made a decision in his heart.

To speed up the dwarves' mining of energy crystals, it was necessary to enhance their physiques.

Temporarily setting aside the matter of energy crystals, Su Hao's mind stirred slightly, and he took out a thousand energy crystals from his Storage Bag.

He intended to see how many undead creatures could be transformed with these thousand energy crystals.

If the conversion rate turned out to be really low, then in the future he would just work a bit harder himself, manually using the skeleton summoning technique to turn these corpses into undead creatures.

But just then, a flash of inspiration struck his mind, and he stopped the action in his hand.

"How did I forget about this..."

Su Hao patted his head, summoned a few pale skeleton warriors, and ordered them to go to the mechanical vehicle manufacturing factory to bring over the energy crystals.

Energy crystals can increase the utilization rate of output energy; logically, if used to supply energy to the Death Tombstone, the same amount of energy should be able to transform more undead creatures.

If combined with scarlet flame crystals, perhaps the energy utilization rate could be further increased, just like in the production of mechanical vehicles.

In order to have a clear comparison, while those few pale skeleton warriors went to transport the energy crystals, he commanded the remaining pale skeleton warriors to move all corpses of Supernatural Second Rank and above out, leaving only those of Supernatural First Rank.

Next, he placed the thousand energy crystals taken from his Storage Bag beside the Death Tombstone and began the transformation of the undead creatures.

With the influx of energy, the black light spheres wrapping the corpses became deeper in color.

A faint aura emanated from the black light spheres, and as time passed, this aura grew stronger and stronger.

Finally, with a 'bang,' the black light sphere burst open, and skeleton monsters wielding bone knives in their right hands and shields in their left hands drilled out from these spheres.

They stood silently in place, gazing at Su Hao without a sound, the soul fire flickering slightly; as soon as Su Hao gave an order, they would unhesitatingly launch an attack against the enemy.

Even if the opponent were a Supernatural Fifth Rank, they would not hesitate in the slightest.

These skeletons were numerous, fully over a thousand, but fortunately Su Hao's mental power is now strong; counting over a thousand skeletons is not a big deal.

Soon, he finished counting the number of these skeletons.

"One... two... three... four... one thousand two hundred twenty-three."

"One thousand energy crystals summoned about one thousand first-rank skeletons, roughly a one-to-one ratio, which is not bad."

Su Hao nodded in satisfaction; one energy crystal plus a Supernatural First Rank corpse could summon one Supernatural First Rank skeleton.

Even if the summoned skeletons are weak, merely the lowest-level undead creatures, this is still an extremely cost-effective matter.

After all, in the Dark Forest, at least seventy percent or more of the species are only Supernatural First Rank, and some don't even have a rank.

Such Supernatural First Rank skeletons, if present in sufficient numbers, can completely handle most problems and further accelerate the post-spell conquest of the Dark Forest.

More importantly, even just Supernatural First Rank skeletons can likewise increase the awakening progress of the Night and Death Goddess.

After waiting a moment on the spot, those few pale skeleton warriors came over carrying the energy crystals; under Su Hao's command, they placed the energy crystals and scarlet flame crystals together beside the Death Tombstone and began a new round of transformation.

Soon, over a thousand first-rank skeletons drilled out from the black light spheres, but the energy within the energy crystals was not yet completely exhausted.

Immediately, Su Hao again commanded the pale skeleton warriors to carry over more Supernatural First Rank corpses.

Until two thousand three hundred twenty-nine skeletons were summoned, the energy in the energy crystals was finally exhausted.

"Holy crap? The energy utilization rate increased by nearly double?!"

Looking at the dense mass of skeletons ahead, Su Hao's face showed a hint of ecstatic joy.

One energy crystal being able to transform into one Supernatural First Rank skeleton already made Su Hao very satisfied.

Now, after using the energy crystals and scarlet flame crystals together, it amounts to one energy crystal being able to transform into two Supernatural First Rank skeletons—this is simply too great.

Although not all corpses can trigger the transformation effect of the Death Tombstone,

but about one-fifth of the corpses can be transformed by the Death Tombstone, which is still a considerable number.

From now on, as long as the enemy corpses are carried back near the Death Tombstone, Su Hao's undead army will essentially suffer no losses and will only grow larger with each battle.

A thousand skeletons going out to fight, after one battle might become fifteen hundred; after another battle, perhaps they could increase to two or three thousand.

This is truly fighting to sustain war; if he could sweep all monsters out of the Dark Forest, then the undead creatures in Su Hao's territory would also spread throughout the entire Dark Forest.

By that time, the Dark Forest would become Su Hao's backyard.

Moreover, as the undead creatures in the territory increase, the divine power of the Night and Death Goddess will further recover, the coverage of the Death Tombstone will expand, and the energy required to transform undead creatures might even decrease.

Now, using the energy crystals and scarlet flame crystals amounts to an energy crystal being able to transform into two first-rank skeletons.

Perhaps in the near future, one energy crystal could summon three skeletons! Moreover, it's not that the Death Tombstone can only summon Supernatural First Rank skeletons.

The undead creatures that the Death Tombstone can transform are determined by the supernatural rank and type of the corpse.

A first-rank skeleton corpse can only be transformed into a first-rank skeleton; a second-rank zombie corpse can likewise only be transformed into a second-rank zombie.

However, third- and fourth-rank corpses, after consuming sufficient energy, can be transformed into third- or even fourth-rank supernatural undead creatures.

The main point is that during the transformation of undead creatures, the Death Tombstone has a certain chance to cause an anomaly in this transformation, thereby summoning a special undead creature—the Dark Bone Dragon! "Over three thousand first-rank skeleton corpses have not produced a single anomaly; is it because the supernatural rank is too low?"

Su Hao stroked his chin, and after a brief thought, he had the pale skeleton warriors bring over the corpses of Supernatural Third Rank undead knights, wanting to see whether third-rank corpses could undergo an anomaly during the transformation process.

Just like with the first-rank skeleton corpses, these Supernatural Third Rank undead knight corpses, upon approaching the Death Tombstone, had nearly one-fifth wrapped in a black light, forming a black light sphere.

After absorbing enough energy, these light spheres emitted a weak aura.

As time passed, the aura within the light spheres grew stronger.

Finally, with a bang, a burly undead knight riding a skeletal warhorse burst from the black light sphere, stood silently before Su Hao, awaiting his command.

"Converting a third‑tier undead creature consumes a lot…"

Su Hao glanced at the energy inside the energy crystal, then helplessly shook his head.

Before this conversion, Su Hao had once filled the energy crystal completely with energy, the crystal containing a surging amount of power.

But now, consuming the energy of about two thousand energy crystals only summoned twenty supernatural third‑tier undead knights.

This means summoning one supernatural third‑tier undead knight requires the energy of a hundred energy crystals, whereas the energy needed to summon a first‑rank skeleton monster was only a hundredth to two‑hundredth of that.

However, in terms of combat power, a single supernatural third‑tier undead knight cannot be matched by one or two hundred skeleton monsters.

Unless the first‑rank skeleton monsters have excellent command and can employ some battle formation, otherwise even one or two hundred of them together could not match an undead knight.

"Huh? Why haven't these few light spheres hatched yet?"

After waiting a while on the spot, Su Hao discovered three black light spheres that remained motionless, only sensing a weak aura within them.

"Could it be…?"

"Has an anomaly occurred?"

Soon, Su Hao thought of a possibility: the Death Tombstone's undead conversion has a certain chance to cause an anomaly in this conversion, summoning a special undead creature—the Bone Dragon of Darkness.

The Death Tombstone continued to absorb energy from the energy crystal, yet these three black light spheres remained motionless for a long time, likely indicating an anomaly.

Thinking of this, Su Hao's face involuntarily showed a hint of anticipation.

But soon, that hint of anticipation on his face turned into a hint of heartache.

Not long ago, the energy inside the energy crystal, equivalent to that of over two thousand energy crystals, was enough to summon more than twenty supernatural third‑tier undead knights.

Yet these three black light spheres, having absorbed the energy of nearly a thousand energy crystals, still showed no movement; their internal aura only grew slightly, and hatching them would still require considerable energy.

But looking from another angle, this is not necessarily a bad thing.

The more energy required, the stronger the summoned undead creature becomes; perhaps the magic dragon summoned after the anomaly could serve as an elite unit.

"You can't catch a wolf without being willing to lose a cub!"

Immediately, Su Hao took out energy crystal after energy crystal from his Storage Bag, began to replenish the energy crystal's energy, and continuously supplied power to the Death Tombstone.

As the energy gradually depleted, the aura within the black light spheres grew stronger and stronger.

Finally, after consuming another three thousand energy crystals, a powerful aura suddenly burst forth from the black light spheres.

The three black light spheres transformed into a black column of light shooting straight into the sky, forming three huge black vortices in the air, as if connecting to a dark world.

"This spectacle is far more impressive than summoning ordinary undead creatures…"

Su Hao looked up at the black vortices in the sky, and the anticipation on his face grew stronger.

This scene lasted about three minutes, after which three huge figures flew out from those vortices.

Judging by appearance, these three huge figures resembled a gigantic bone dragon.

Their bodies were enormous, with wingspans nearing a hundred meters, and thick black gas coiled around their entire skeletons, seeming alive, forming a body made of black gas between their bones.

Dark and profound, as if capable of devouring everything.

They flapped their wings, soaring and circling in mid‑air, like monsters from the dark abyss looking down upon the land below.

A terrifying aura emanated from within them, giving people a strong sense of oppression.

Just from their massive size and terrifying aura, Su Hao could tell they were certainly not ordinary third‑tier supernatural beings.

Even compared to the pale bone dragon of third‑tier supernatural grade, this dark bone dragon far surpasses it in aura and size.

Soon after, Su Hao's thoughts shifted slightly, and he opened the information panel of one of the dark bone dragons.

【Dark Bone Dragon】

Supernatural Grade: Third Tier

Skills: Dark Breath, Dark Affinity…… Bone Claw

Introduction: This dark bone dragon not only excels at using dark magic, but can also cast undead magic; in a dark environment, their combat power will be strengthened to a certain extent.

……

"Increase combat power in darkness?"

The dark bone dragon has no innate talent, so this ability is clearly related to its skills.

Su Hao opened the dark bone dragon's skills and examined them one by one; he had many skills, a full fifteen.

However, most of the skills Su Hao didn't think highly of; they were merely basic undead magic.

But two of the skills caught Su Hao's eye.

(End of Chapter)