Territory Upgrade

From the moment Karen detonated the Mark of the Undead, that individual's life was brought to an end.

Although, owing to the disparity in their strengths, the man did not die instantly, it made little difference.

In truth, had Karen so desired at that moment, he could have used the detonated Mark of the Undead to sense the man's presence, hauled him out directly, and watched with his own eyes as he slowly transformed into an undead creature bit by bit.

Yet Karen did not make this choice. After triggering the Mark of the Undead, he simply allowed the man to depart.

On one hand, it was unnecessary. Though the man did not perish immediately, the power of death began eroding his soul the instant the Mark of the Undead was detonated. This erosion was an irreversible process. While he could resist it, he would ultimately and gradually transform into an undead creature, starting from his soul.

Had his strength been inferior to Karen's, this process would have been swift, completed in the blink of an eye.

Regrettably, however, his strength far exceeded Karen's, rendering his transformation process somewhat slower.

For him, this was by no means a fortunate turn of events; the slower the transformation, the more agony he would be forced to endure.

Consequently, Karen was quite satisfied with this outcome.

On the other hand, this incident had dealt Karen a profound shock.

It caused a drastic shift in his attitude toward the Silver Hand and the Kingdom of Bourbon. If Karen's previous approach had been characterized by compromise and submission in exchange for time and space to develop, then from this moment onward, starting today, his attitude would be entirely different.

Weakness could never buy these things; only formidable strength and an assertive stance could guarantee one's safety.

Regarding today's affair, if the Kingdom of Bourbon failed to provide an explanation that satisfied him, he would not mind making them pay the price they rightfully deserved. The present Karen possessed absolute capability.

Having confirmed that the man was undeniably doomed, Karen withdrew his gaze and cast it upon the madwoman kneeling submissively before him.

Simultaneously, the Eye of Insight was activated, revealing her attributes before Karen.

...

Crazed Wraith
Species: Wraith
Strength: Tier 5 Fine
Description: A special undead transformed through the power of madness. Can be subjugated!
Talent: Power of Madness (Pseudo)
Effect 1: Capable of absorbing the power of madness to briefly enhance combat prowess, imbuing attacks with the power of madness to inflict special damage on enemies, with a chance to plunge foes into a state of madness.
Effect 2: ???
...

"The power of madness?"

Karen narrowed his eyes slightly, involuntarily connecting it to the previous man's power of despair, as well as the Fragment of the Power of Fear he had previously extracted from the territory store.

"It seems this power is quite intriguing. I wonder if that fellow will inherit this power of despair after turning into an undead. If he can retain it, he might prove to be a decent helper.

However, now is not the time for such thoughts!"

Karen glanced at the chaotic, ruined market, his gaze tightening slightly.

With a wave of his hand, without issuing any verbal commands, the undead under his command retreated from the market in an orderly fashion. He then addressed the chaotic undead market:

"I am deeply sorry for what happened today. Compile the casualties and losses later and report them to me; I will compensate you!
Ogolun, leave the rest to you. Clean this place up properly. Furthermore, notify the people of the Kingdom of Bourbon and tell them to give me an explanation. If they cannot satisfy me, I will go and collect it myself!"

With those words, having no inclination to manage the situation within the market, Karen departed directly with his subordinate undead and returned to his territory.

Although Karen was eager to take action right now, the conditions for upgrading his territory had been met, so he decided to upgrade the territory first.

Only by upgrading his territory and growing stronger would Karen possess the confidence to face the Kingdom of Bourbon head-on.

At present, the sole remaining requirement for his territory's upgrade was having fifty thousand subordinate undead, which was no difficult task for him.

Upon returning to his territory, Karen opened the territory attribute panel without a second thought and began transforming undead.

A Tier 4 territory practically covered more than half of the Land of the Dead, and the graves belonging to the previous goblin tribe were now essentially within the boundaries of Karen's territory.

Coupled with the massive quantities of corpses Karen had acquired over the past three months, the number of corpses within his territory was now terrifying.

Spending roughly 200,000 territory energy units, Karen gained an additional 41,000 Tier 1 and Tier 0 undead under his command.

The reason Karen only needed to expend 200,000 territory energy units to convert over 40,000 undead was another perk he gained after transforming into an undead himself.

This benefit could be seen crystal clear by opening Karen's current attribute panel.

Naturally, he lacked the time for that now.

Once the quantity of subordinate undead met the required standard, Karen did not hesitate to initiate the territory upgrade immediately.

[Ding! You have met the territory upgrade conditions. Your territory has been upgraded to a Tier 5 Territory.]
[Ding! Your territory has been successfully upgraded. You have obtained the following rewards:
1. Two random draws from the commodity catalog.
2. Two free store draws (guaranteed hit).
3. One designated building level upgrade (excluding graveyards)!]
[Ding! Your subordinate building, the [Giant Graveyard], has been upgraded to the [Graveyard of the Dead] (Small)!]
[Ding! Your territory level has been successfully upgraded. The levels of you and your subordinate undead—Green Cap, Alice, Ghost Shadow Leopard, Erha, and Iron Bone—have increased!]

Accompanied by this system prompt, Karen and the five undead under his command—ah, right, Karen was also an undead now—all began to level up.

Given that the gap between Tier 4 and Tier 5 was not excessively large, the upgrade for the five undead did not consume much time, and their advancements were soon completed one after another.

Once his own level upgrade concluded, Karen directly opened the attribute panels for himself and the [Graveyard of the Dead].

...

Skeleton King (Karen)
Race: Bone Lineage (King)
Strength: Tier 5 Outstanding
Skills: Omitted
Talent: Skeleton King Lv1
Passive Effect: The cost of converting bone-lineage undead is reduced to a quarter of the original; non-bone lineage undead cost half of the original.
Active Effect: Can use the majesty of an undead king to suppress undead whose tiers do not exceed his own by more than two major ranks.
Cooldown: Three months
Mark of the Undead Lv1
Effect: Omitted
...

Graveyard of the Dead (Small)
Building Level: 5
Building Description: The core territory building, crucial for territory upgrading and operation.
Building Effects: Undead Transformation, Energy Absorption, Corpse Fusion.
Undead Transformation: Can convert corpses within the graveyard into undead, requiring a certain amount of energy for each transformation.
Ps: Remote undead transformation can be performed, with a maximum range reaching 1,000 kilometers (requires double the territory energy consumption)!
Energy Absorption: A passive ability of the graveyard, capable of automatically absorbing energy to provide for the territory. A Tier 5 graveyard can provide 5,000 points of territory energy per day.
Corpse Fusion: Can consume a certain amount of territory energy to fuse corpses and thereby enhance their quality.
Ps: Can even fuse corpses with special items.
Upgrade Conditions: Transform 100 Tier 5 undead, fuse 100 special undead!
...