019 The Decaying Goblin Mage Apprentice

Karen (Wu Qi)
Age: 16
Race: Human
Strength: Tier 1 (Trash) (5/150)
Skills: Swordsman’s Basic Sword Technique (lv3) (max level) (Increases the training speed of sword-related skills by 5 percent; can activate Battle Qi Seed.)
Heavy Slash lv7 (1/100) (Boosts the power of slashing attacks by 70 percent.)
...
Karen (Lord)
Owned Territory: Unnamed
Territory Level: 1
Territory Energy: 20
Territory Buildings: Small Graveyard (1), Small Crypt (1)
Owned Undead: Decayed Goblin {Tier 1 Trash} (4)
Decayed Goblin Mage Apprentice {Tier 1 Ordinary} (1)
...

Before him lay the attributes Karen possessed after his advancement, as well as those of his territory and subordinates. Although Karen opened both attribute panels at this moment, his attention was drawn more to the territory panel—more precisely, to the Decayed Goblin Mage Apprentice.

Previously, while dealing with the Green Cap, Karen hadn’t had time to scrutinize its attributes. Upon its transformation, he’d merely glanced at them before ordering it to attack. Now that the matter was resolved, Karen finally had the leisure to carefully examine its properties.

...

Decayed Goblin Mage Apprentice

Type: Decayed Corpse
Intelligence: Low
Strength: Tier 1 (Ordinary) (23/200)
Skill: Minor Wind Blade lv2 (13/300) (A basic tier 0 spell; though its level is low, its power is not insignificant, and it is cast swiftly, making it a cost-effective spell.)
...

Upon seeing the undead’s attributes, Karen’s brows arched. “Tier 1 Ordinary strength, Minor Wind Blade—this is quite decent. He can probably cast Minor Wind Blade ten times in succession. If given enough space to cast, his combat prowess would be impressive.”

Karen spoke thus, but his curiosity lingered on the intelligence stat, which set this undead apart from the Decayed Goblins. Noticing this, Karen focused his gaze on the Decayed Goblin Mage Apprentice, observing it closely.

He proceeded to issue several vague commands, and after careful observation and repeated testing, Karen gained a general understanding of this Decayed Goblin Mage Apprentice.

“It’s indeed somewhat different from the Decayed Goblins. Whereas they only obey commands and stand idle otherwise, this one is a bit smarter, though still limited—perhaps not much brighter than a puppy.”

Despite this, Karen held high hopes for the creature, even naming it Green—albeit a perfunctory homonym, but still better than those without names at all.

Green’s competence shifted Karen’s attention back to the Green Cap. “His strength surpasses Green’s, and he has special abilities. If I could convert him into undead, he’d surely become a remarkable subordinate!”

While speaking, Karen opened the Small Graveyard to test its function, and the result was both satisfying and troubling.

Indeed, the Green Cap could be converted, but the territory energy required was 500—ten times more than Green’s.

This tenfold difference signified that if Karen successfully transformed the Green Cap into an undead, he’d gain an exceptional subordinate. Yet it also revealed a harsh reality: Karen was utterly penniless.

“Five hundred territory energy? A small graveyard only gives me twenty points a day. Five hundred would require me to go without food or drink for a month!”

At this moment, Karen felt keenly that twenty points of territory energy per day was far too little.

If Karen didn’t find a way to increase his territory’s income, it wouldn’t be long before his territory fell into deficit.

After all, he now needed to spend territory energy. Even excluding other expenses, the cost of converting undead alone was substantial.

It wasn’t as simple as spending twenty points to convert one; after conversion, Karen also had to build Small Crypts for them, with five undead requiring one crypt.

That is to say, just to convert the remaining eight goblin corpses (excluding the Green Cap), Karen would need 260 territory energy.

And each Small Crypt consumed fifty energy per month. After building three crypts, Karen would expend 150 energy monthly, while his territory could at most generate 600 energy a month.

At this rate, if Karen built twelve crypts, his territory would be unable to do anything else—the monthly gain and expenditure would balance out perfectly.

Thus, Karen realized that for his territory to develop sustainably, he had to find a way to increase its energy income.

And currently, the only method seemed to be the one he discovered upon slaying the Green Cap: increasing territory energy through killing.

Though this was a method, Karen knew well it wasn’t a golden path, but rather a desperate measure.

Such means could provide a temporary boost in territory energy, but it wasn’t lasting. If Karen relied on this to develop his territory, his situation would become perilous.

Unless Karen could keep slaughtering endlessly, using the energy gained from killing to sustain his territory, sooner or later, it would collapse.

“This method won’t do. It’s definitely not the right way. If there’s absolutely no alternative, slaughter may accumulate initial capital, but if I pursue this path, I’ll eventually ruin myself.

Moreover, this territory shouldn’t be managed like this. Besides slaughter, there must be other sustainable ways to increase territory energy.”

At this point, Karen involuntarily thought of his territory’s shop interface.

“The methods for sustainable development must be hidden in the shop.

However, even so, everything circles back to the beginning. If the shop holds sustainable solutions, without enough territory energy, I can’t explore them.”

This left Karen thoroughly vexed. Where was he supposed to find so much territory energy?

“Forget it, I’ll take this slowly. Old Jack has been gone six or seven days now. He said he’d be gone a few days, so he should return soon. Once he’s back, all activities in my territory must cease.

Given that, it’s better to set aside territory development for now. I’m still some distance from Tier 2, and I don’t yet know this world’s attitude toward undead. For the time being, I’ll focus on my personal strength.

First, I’ll hide the graveyard and develop it quietly in secret!”