Undead Mage: I Have a Skeleton Clone
Chapter 775 - 499: Three Major Undead Creations—Tomb War Factory!
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The remaining members of the Undead Mage research group, whose numbers were steadily increasing, stayed behind to study and improve these elite Undead Summoned Creatures. Meanwhile, Fang Zhou focused his energy on perfecting and deducing the [False Life] skill.
That’s right, [False Life] was precisely the milestone Fang Zhou had reached in his research project on bone regeneration for Professionals.
[False Life] (Bronze, Beginner): Requires a [Life Crystal] or an equivalent undead energy carrier as casting materials. The caster manipulates Death Energy to inject a layer of false life force into the target’s body, granting them a temporary life shield. This shield is consumed first when the target takes damage. When used on Undead Creatures, the Shield Value receives an additional boost. The Death Energy released when the shield is broken deals impact damage to enemies. The shield’s strength and duration are determined by one’s Spirit Attribute and Skill Proficiency.
Objectively speaking, this skill couldn’t completely solve the problem of bone regeneration for Professionals, but it was a welcome, unexpected discovery.
Even for Fang Zhou, it was an invaluable auxiliary Beneficial Skill. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢
It could be used to apply a false life shield to frontline Warriors or Undead Creatures, enhancing their survivability and allowing them to withstand damage for longer. It could also be used to draw enemies together with the burst of Death Energy released when the shield broke, setting them up for an area-of-effect Attack Skill.
Most importantly, Fang Zhou could use the false life shield on Undead Creatures, leveraging its high Shield Value and Death Energy feedback to forge an Undead Legion that was nearly impossible to defeat.
After developing the False Life skill, Fang Zhou successfully reconnected Shen Ziwei’s severed arm for a short time. This was not merely a superficial connection, but the actual construction of new flesh that matched her original energy circuits.
This was enough to make Shen Ziwei cry tears of joy, and it sent the numerous Professional instructors at Sea City Military Academy, who had been forced to retire due to lost limbs, into a state of ecstasy.
However, the only shortcoming was that the duration of False Life was limited. It was not long enough for the Professional amputees to be fully restored.
Nonetheless, even a short-term restoration was enough to prove that Fang Zhou was on the right path. Now that he had the right direction, the next step was naturally to put in the effort to perfect it.
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「Wasteland of Strife. The Blood Moon hung high.」
He had finally succeeded. Fang Zhou stood up, joyfully looking at the two war creations before him. After days and nights of effort, the Skeleton War Chariot and the Skeleton Catapult, two Undead War Machines that had previously only existed in concept, were finally developed.
The Skeleton War Chariot was assembled from innumerable bones. Its wheels were made from the massive spinal columns of beasts, and its body was inlaid with wailing zombie skulls. Sharp Bone Spines bristled from the front of the chariot, while chains were dragged from the rear, their ends shackled to bound Undead Creatures.
Its function was utterly simple: to Charge!
During the chariot’s Charge, its front Bone Spines would rip through enemy formations while releasing Death Energy to cause continuous damage to enemies in its path. The zombie skulls on the chariot would emit a piercing shriek, weakening enemies and reducing their combat effectiveness. The chains at the back of the chariot could drag enemies, pulling them into the ranks of the Undead Army.
The Skeleton Catapult was equally formidable. It was a catapult constructed from bone and obsidian, its throwing arm entwined with Resentful Soul Chains. The catapult’s basket was loaded with Skeleton Cannonballs that burned with pale green flames.
The Skeleton Catapult could hurl these blazing Skeleton Cannonballs to inflict wide-ranging physical damage upon a target area. Upon impact, the cannonballs would release a horde of small Corrosive Poison Corpse Worms that would subject enemies to ongoing attacks. Furthermore, enemies struck by the Skeleton Cannonballs would be marked, causing them to take additional damage from the Tombyard Undead.
Such powerful War Machines naturally required immense resources to construct and operate. Moreover, the Skeleton War Chariot and Skeleton Catapult both required regular replenishment of bones and souls to maintain their function. Even with the current output of the Corpse Tomb, not many of these War Machines could be maintained.
Regardless, with the Soul Silence War Drum, the Skeleton War Chariot, and the Skeleton Catapult—three powerful yet distinct Undead War Machines—Fang Zhou was more confident about the upcoming Blood Moon Territory war.
During this period, under Tidamia’s command, the Tombyard Undead Army had successfully eradicated the territory of a Bronze Upper Zombie Lord. What particularly drew Fang Zhou’s attention was that in the northeast of the Tomb Territory, the patrols Tidamia had sent out had once again discovered traces of Ghosts. After sending the elite Corpse Knight Guard to follow the trail, he had already pinpointed the Ghost Lord’s approximate location.
The storm was gathering, and a great battle was imminent.
Fang Zhou walked out of the War Factory. He looked at the three tall structures hidden by the Undead Sky Screen within the Tomb Territory, a determined smile on his face. After acquiring the creation methods for Ghouls, Hate Samurai, and Dragon Bone Soldiers from the Skeleton Mage Ryze, it was as if his Corpse Tomb had consumed a Ten-Complete Great Replenishing Pill.
Based on the creation methods for these three Undead exclusive to the Naraku Civilization, Fang Zhou also combined them with his own Corpse Authority to fine-tune the production line for the Corpse Warriors he had originally created. After consuming a massive amount of corpse resources and Soul Power for this upgrade, the strength of the Tombyard Undead saw an earth-shattering increase.
However, everything had to prove its worth on the battlefield.
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While the Corpse Clone was fully preparing for war, Fang Zhou’s main body enjoyed a rare period of tranquil campus life. During this time, he also began to process the loot retrieved from the mage tomb of the Naraku Civilization, especially the hundred-plus high-quality Frozen Corpses and Zombie Earth Dragon bodies.
Inside the significantly expanded Artificial Undead Laboratory, Fang Zhou traced spiral patterns across the surface of a Frozen Corpse with his fingertips. The [Frostfire Melting Agent] specially created by Master Sandro seeped into the ice along the patterns.
Dragon Breath from Tiamat etched an Alchemy Array onto the ice, causing the Earth Dragon corpse’s decayed flesh to peel away in the alternating cold and heat. The defrosted knight’s skeleton was immersed in the boiling [Dragon Blood Bone Tempering Liquid], where the Frost Realm Dragon Blood provided by Sandro was having a miraculous reaction with the Naraku Runes.
Su Xinyan manipulated Moon Shadow Spider Silk to reshape the Earth Dragon’s third to seventh vertebrae into a saddle-like structure suitable for riding. When Fang Zhou embedded Tiamat’s shed Reversed Scale into the knight’s pelvis, the entire skeleton suddenly gleamed with the luster of a Black Gem.
"Neural linking, commence," Vigus commanded.
Her silver hair split into hundreds of Spiritual Probes that pierced the residual nerve nodes of the Earth Dragon. Fang Zhou synchronously activated a Soul Resonance Scroll, causing soul fragments from both rider and mount to form a double helix structure above the Alchemy Array. This was a new technology that blended the Naraku Civilization’s Soul Welding Skill with the Dragon Race’s bloodline resonance.
The lance on the forging table was crafted from an Earth Dragon’s tail vertebrae. The [Frosty Star Dust] provided by Master Sandro was being woven by Vigus into the patterns on its tip. When Fang Zhou melted fragments of the knight’s former weapon into the lance’s shaft, Su Xinyan suddenly activated the Moon Shadow Barrier. The Naraku Civilization Runes lingering on the weapon resonated with the Earth Dragon’s death wail, nearly shattering the forge’s protective crystal.
"Master, use this to harmonize it," Tiamat said, spitting out a Black Gem scale.
Fang Zhou crushed it into powder and scattered it into the Furnace. The lance tip instantly erupted in a cold brilliance that carved a half-meter-deep ice scar into the floor.
The finished lance was a spectral blue from end to end. Its handle was wrapped in a non-slip texture made of Earth Dragon sinew, while the blade perpetually steamed with Death Dragon Breath.
Knight, Earth Dragon, lance.
The fusion of the three was placed in the center of a ten-meter-diameter Nether River Array. Fang Zhou embedded three [Frostfire Cores], one each into the knight’s chest cavity, the Earth Dragon’s skull, and the base of the lance. Master Sandro’s Frost and Snow Spell and Su Xinyan’s Moon Shadow Rune interwove within the array to form a three-dimensional network.
When Tiamat’s Dragon Breath ignited the cores, the Earth Dragon’s eye sockets burst with Black Gem light, and the knight skeleton autonomously leaped onto the dragon’s back.