[Construction Requirement: 100 units of Skeleton]

[Area Occupied: 50 units]

’...Did I... just get insulted?’

Damn it!

’System, get out here! I’m going to beat the crap out of you!’

Taking a couple of deep breaths to calm himself, Li Ziyu obediently chose to build the Warehouse.

As it was a basic building, the construction time for the Warehouse was very short. After consuming the Skeletons, an Undead-style building quickly appeared on the Bone Plate Platform.

The supplies originally stored in the main building were naturally transferred into the Warehouse by the system, sorted and stacked. The items in the Warehouse could be viewed on the system interface.

It was much like a game’s inventory interface, with many small slots. Materials could be stacked, and the stack limit for each item type varied. For example, basic materials like Skeletons, wood, and meat stacked up to 100 units, while Beast Hides had different stack sizes depending on their type.

The Warehouse had plenty of slots and was sufficient for now. If he ran out of space, he could spend some Skeletons to upgrade the Warehouse and increase the number of slots.

Watching the resources in the Warehouse steadily increase and enter a virtuous cycle, Li Ziyu felt it was time to do something else—for example, research some new Weapons and new troop types.

Right now, he only had Skeleton Undead and Skeleton Warriors at his disposal. The Skeleton Undead didn’t even count as a Combat Sequence; they were just cannon fodder to pad out the numbers. The Skeleton Warriors were a Combat Sequence, but his forces were too one-dimensional. They relied entirely on close-quarters combat and would be suppressed if they encountered powerful ranged fire.

In fact, if Li Ziyu encountered a moderately well-developed Mobile Fortress, he would be at a great disadvantage. Without any Ranged Attack capabilities, destroying an enemy fortress would also be a troublesome matter.

His previous encounter with Yu Gangbo (the Goblin City Lord) was a fluke; the other party’s fortress wasn’t sturdy. Otherwise, he really wouldn’t have been able to dismantle it. At most, he could only have wiped out all of the enemy’s goblins.

Now that he had resources, upgrading his troop types was imperative.

’Hmm, this time I should choose ranged firepower. Their combat effectiveness has to be decent... I need a unit that can defend the mining area in the Wraith Mountain Range.’

Opening the long-unused Weapon Workshop, Li Ziyu rummaged around and finally chose the Bow and Arrow as his new Weapon.

There were quite a few research projects for Bow and Arrow-type Weapons, and the bows and arrows were researched separately.

The first Bow and Arrow Li Ziyu looked at was a type of Short Bow, suitable for rapid firing and effective at killing enemies.

In ancient history, Short Bows were very common, while Longbows were used less frequently.

Cavalry units like the Qing Eight Banners and the Mongolian Cavalry mostly used Short Bows. They excelled at rapid firing, since aiming and shooting from horseback was extremely difficult, and Short Bows were easier to handle.

As for historical Longbows, the famous one is the Japanese Longbow, the kind often seen in movies—the Japanese Bow used by girls at archery training grounds. It’s 2.2 meters long and is held at the bottom third when drawing and releasing.

Besides the Japanese Longbow, there was also the Welsh Longbow—the renowned English Longbow. It was about 1.8 meters long and was also a legendary weapon in ancient times.

[Rapid-Fire Short Bow (Bone): A basic Bow and Arrow. It’s not big, it’s not thick, and its range is short, but damn, it shoots fast! As long as you’re strong enough, ten shots a second isn’t just a dream!]

[Research Requirement: 500 units of Soul Energy]

[Rapid-Fire Arrows (Bone): Arrows designed specifically for the Rapid-Fire Short Bow. They may be short and small, but they’re powerful. Paired with a Short Bow, they allow for continuous firing!]

[Research Requirement: 100 units of Soul Energy]

After looking at the Short Bow, Li Ziyu was quite satisfied. Even the system indicated that this thing was decent.

’I’ll set this aside for now and decide whether to research it later. I should check out the Longbow, too. The Short Bow is nice, but its range is limited.’

When researching Ranged Weapons, "range" is key. Although the Longbow had a slower firing rate, its range was superior to the Short Bow’s, and its Attack Power was greater.

[White Bone Longbow: A Weapon with decent range. Want to experience a volley of ten thousand arrows that blots out the sky? Then you must have the Longbow!]

[Research Requirement: 1,000 units of Soul Energy]

[White Bone Long Arrow: A dedicated arrow matched to the White Bone Longbow. Not only can it be used as an arrow, but you can also use it as a Short Spear! Multi-purpose, a quality product!]

[Research Requirement: 100 units of Soul Energy]

’Yes, this will work perfectly!’

’I have to research the White Bone Longbow. To defend the Wraith Mountain Range, I’ll really need to rely on it.’

’Just imagine: the enemy charges, and my Undead, hidden in the mountains, draw their bows and fire from afar. It would be an absolute nightmare for them.’

[Simple Arrows: This stuff is trash. Trash! Made of wood, limited Attack Power, and easily broken. Its only advantage is probably that its materials are easy to obtain.]

[Research Requirement: 10 units of Soul Energy]

[Soul Arrow: The high-end option among arrows! If you have enough Soul Energy, you must choose this! It can be used with any type of Bow and Arrow!]

[Research Requirement: 1,000 units of Soul Energy]

Looking at the remaining two types of arrows, Li Ziyu’s expression darkened.

’These unreliable descriptions... This is just the system’s style, as expected. It’s getting better and better at roasting things, never missing a chance to throw shade. Neither the bows nor the arrows could escape its ridicule.’

’Still, are Bows and Arrows really this expensive?’

The research cost for the Short Bow was already on par with that of a basic skeleton unit.

There was a cheaper bow, called the Simple Bow and Arrow, which only cost 50 units of Soul Energy. But just like the Simple Arrows, it was roasted to a crisp by the system. Li Ziyu looked down on it, figuring he might as well choose a better Bow and Arrow related to the Undead.

[Simple Bow and Arrow: A worthless piece of junk. Sourcing materials is a pain, crafting is a pain, and its attack method is a pain. The main point is that it breaks easily. How could anyone use this trash? Absolutely not recommended!]

[Research Requirement: 50 units of Soul Energy]

’To be roasted this badly by the system and still cost 50 units of Soul Energy... I remember the research for the Small Bone Saber only cost 30 units of Soul Energy. Now that was cheap and effective.’

If he was going to do it, he might as well do it right and get the best. Li Ziyu spent nearly 3,000 units of Soul Energy and researched everything except the Simple Bow and Arrow.

After researching the Weapons, he successfully unlocked a building—the Archer Training Camp—and two new troop types: the Skeleton Longbowman and the Skeleton Short Bowman. These were the only ranged units he could research at this stage. After all, his main city’s Level was relatively low, so the Weapon Workshop could basically only research cold weapons.

Looking at the new Weapons, Li Ziyu breathed a small sigh of relief. He had all the materials needed to craft the Bows and Arrows. His biggest fear was that crafting them would require all sorts of other random materials, which would have been a real headache.

Out of curiosity about Bows and Arrows in his previous life, he had looked up some information about them online.

Making a bow was incredibly troublesome. There were requirements for the bow’s body materials, like hardwood and composites, which needed to be sun-dried or air-dried. The requirements for the bowstring were even stricter, with all kinds of different materials like Beast Tendons, rattan cords, and composite materials, all affecting combat performance. Most importantly, there was a failure rate; not every attempt was guaranteed to succeed.

That was the kind of thing he feared most. Even though he had resource points now, they only provided an increase in basic resources. If it were really that troublesome, he wouldn’t bother forming a ranged unit at all. He’d be better off just making a ton of Skeleton Undead and Skeleton Warriors and swarming the enemy with numbers, which would be better than putting so much effort into an Archer unit.

Fortunately, the system was reliable. The Bows and Arrows developed by spending a large amount of Soul Energy did indeed have their advantages. Besides Skeletons, they only required a bit of Soul Energy to create.

[Craft Rapid-Fire Short Bow x1: 1 unit of Skeleton, 10 units of Soul Energy]

[Craft Rapid-Fire Arrows (Bone) x5: 1 unit of Skeleton]

[Craft White Bone Longbow x1: 2 units of Skeleton, 30 units of Soul Energy]

[Craft White Bone Long Arrow x2: 1 unit of Skeleton]

He basically didn’t have to worry about the materials for the Short Bows and Longbows. The Corpse Mountain Soul Gathering Ground provided a steady stream of Skeletons. Plus, after wiping out the Headhunter Race, he had obtained tens of thousands of units of Soul Energy. Raising an Undead Archer troop wouldn’t be a problem!

With a grand wave of his hand, Li Ziyu placed the new building—the Archer Training Camp. Once its construction was complete, he planned to summon his new troops!

[Archer Training Camp]

[Introduction: A place to train Undead Archers]

[Unlocks Troops: Skeleton Longbowman, Skeleton Short Bowman]

[Prerequisite: Unlock any Bow and Arrow]

[Construction Requirement: 50 units of Skeleton, 50 units of Stone, 300 units of wood, 100 units of Beast Hide]

[Area Occupied: 20 units]