210: Chapter 210 Infinite Bone Armor [Bone Devouring]!

Of course, having said that...

It was merely something to entertain in thought;

to actually reach that point,

the process of developing the territory

was bound to be extremely arduous.

After all, the cost of cultivating a Bone Beast hero

required twelve promotion slots,

which was still far too expensive.

However, from another perspective, this also proved one thing:

among the various races,

there were no unbridgeable gaps.

Whoever could endure the weak phase of the early game

could catch up in the late game.

The Dragon Race was born as a peak-tier unit type,

requiring no development time and crushing opponents right from birth.

Yet their appetites were colossal,

and if they weren't fed properly, they couldn't unleash their full strength.

Therefore,

if the timeline was stretched indefinitely,

as long as another race was given enough resources and time,

the end destination would be the same.

"So..."

Xu Qin muttered to himself,

"Cautious management is the true core competitiveness."

"No matter how poor the starting units are."

Having cleared his thoughts on this, he opened the command panel again.

It had been five full months

since he chose to lie low in the void.

Amusingly enough,

these five months passed even faster than his days of fighting wars.

Xu Qin opened the star lord channel

and browsed through the chat logs.

Level 3 Star Lord Valk: So boring. I've been recuperating for almost half a year.

Level 3 Star Lord Herman: Same here. I feel like I was thrown to the end of the void by a tide.

Level 2 Star Lord Solma: Heh, I just picked up a piece of wasteland—an extra two hundred square kilometers, and it's full of mineral veins.

Level 2 Star Lord Gelwin: I haven't even run into a piece of wasteland.

Xu Qin flipped through a few pages.

He noticed that no one mentioned the Current Drift Belt.

"As expected, no fool would charge straight in with their head down."

He closed the channel and looked toward the giant crater.

"Keep lying low."

...

Time flew, and four more months passed.

During this period,

Xu Qin took the concept of development to the extreme.

His vassals sent another four batches of units.

Tie Ge was the most efficient;

he had the most vassals, sending fifty to sixty thousand in each batch.

Su Yao and Fang Che also remained steady at around ten thousand.

With the blessing of the [War Gift] talent,

Xu Qin's total troop strength successfully surpassed twelve million.

Unit enhancements were pushed to a whole new level.

Soul-Eater Battle Skeleton +600,

Necro-Beetles +580,

Iron-Hoofed Skeletal Beast +520,

Bone Dragon +850,

Bone Storm Winged Guard +480.

As for heroes, veterans like Tian Ming all broke past Level 200.

Soul-Eater farmed alongside them for four months,

reaching Level 120 as well.

Everyone's stats were so exaggerated that Xu Qin hardly dared to look too closely.

"Mineral Vein Guardian... truly the GOAT," Xu Qin couldn't help sighing in admiration.

Although heroes like Tian Ming couldn't gain much experience anymore,

the Ore Spirits and soul energy produced were always useful.

Therefore, Xu Qin didn't call a halt and let them continue farming.

That afternoon.

Floating City, Lords Hall.

[Lords Hall upgrade completed!]

[Lords Hall Level 25 · New Racial Passive Added:]

[Bone Devour (Racial Passive · Permanent): After securing a kill, all undead units under the lord's command will automatically absorb bone essence from the enemy's remains, condensing a Bone Armor Shield on their outer layer.]

[Bone Armor Shield: Any type of incoming damage (Physical/Magic/True) will first consume Bone Armor Value. Only after the Bone Armor Value reaches zero will damage affect base Health.]

[Bone Armor Value Gained: 5% of the slain target's maximum Health.]

[Stacking Rule: Bone Armor Shield Value stacks continuously without a limit. Retained after battle ends.]

[Additional Note: The lord can also actively extract bone essence and condense a Bone Armor Shield by coming into contact with unabsorbed bones. The amount extracted depends on the quality of the bones.]

Reading this, Xu Qin's eyes lit up.

Now this was a great skill!

The core logic of his previous combat system was self-detonation to trade lives.

Necro-Beetles would charge in, die, and self-detonate to clear the field.

The effect was undeniably potent.

But the flaw was equally obvious...

Self-detonation meant combat losses.

Although there was a 60% chance of resurrection through Undead Immortality,

the remaining 40% was a permanent loss.

Every single Necro-Beetle was built up bit by bit using Ore Spirits.

Especially after over nine months of enhancements,

losing even one made Xu Qin's heart ache now.

But this passive, Bone Devour...

was an entirely different path.

"Win without having to die."

Looking at the skill description, Xu Qin grew increasingly excited.

Think about it.

A single one of his Necro-Beetles

defeating a Tier 3 unit with 40,000 HP could gain 2,000 Bone Armor.

Killing ten meant 20,000 Bone Armor.

Killing a hundred meant 200,000 Bone Armor.

Moreover, there was no cap, and it persisted after battle.

That meant,

as long as there were enough enemies on the battlefield,

his Beetle vanguard army would only get tougher as they fought.

Later in the fight,

the Bone Armor would be so thick that the enemy wouldn't even be able to break through.

Paired with the lifesteal-on-hit from Bone Proliferation,

safety was practically maxed out.

Of course, the suicide-bomb strategy could still be used.

But when facing battlefields requiring direct confrontation,

Bone Devour was the true trump card.

In the past, his units

were strong because they weren't afraid to die,

but weak because they couldn't take hits.

Now?

Unafraid to die AND able to tank!

And that last additional note...

The lord himself could absorb bones to condense Bone Armor too?

Xu Qin looked toward his treasury,

where millions of Universal Bones and various skeletons were piled up.

Just touching them casually could grant armor?

"Doesn't that mean I can just stand next to a pile of bones and farm shields for myself?"

Xu Qin immediately bounced up from his bone throne and walked toward the treasury entrance.

From the treasury,

he retrieved a high-quality Universal Bone and gripped it with one hand.

Buzz!

A cool sensation seeped through his palm and into his body.

The Universal Bone shriveled at a visible rate before finally turning to dust.

Xu Qin looked down at his arm.

A translucent, grayish-white film of bone

was slowly condensing along the surface of his skin.

*Ding!*

[Acquired Bone Armor Shield: +860]

Xu Qin couldn't help but whistle.

A single high-quality Universal Bone gave 860 Bone Armor?

"If I absorbed all of them... I feel like I could duel opposing lords myself," Xu Qin said with confidence.

However, he was in no rush at all.

Keeping the bones served other purposes,

so he shouldn't consume them all at once.

Besides, his vassals were continuously providing high-tier unit skeletons.

"I'll just absorb a few tens of thousands to build a foundation first."

Thinking this, Xu Qin

turned and walked to the edge of the Combat Readiness Platform,

gazing down at the twelve-million-strong army below.

Among the star lords of higher-tier planes, this number

was not top-tier, but definitely far from weak.

...

Now that the Lords Hall had been upgraded to Level 25,

next up were the various sub-districts.

He opened the upgrade interface

and began pouring in resources.

Next came soul energy infusion for acceleration.

Buzz buzz buzz!

After completing the sequence of actions,

the soul energy in the treasury plummeted once again.

"Absurd. Over a billion soul energy per level—I can barely afford to P2W anymore," Xu Qin's mouth twitched.

But the heartaches were fleeting;

pouring it all in was all that mattered.