Chapter 71: Absolutely Perfect!

Chapter 71: Absolutely Perfect! "Finally made it." Fierce winds howled across the wasteland, the earth was bone-dry, and black-brown gravel crunched underfoot with each step. This was the exact border between the Withered Lands and the Desolate Desert. Carlos had pushed hard for over three weeks straight to reach this godforsaken place. Once he arrived, he stopped dead in his tracks, with five Purple Thornblade Guards forming a protective circle around him. His eyes kept scanning toward the southeast... One hour passed... then two... then three... Suddenly, a cluster of figures materialized on the distant horizon. Carlos’s eyes lit up with excitement as he went out to meet them. As the group drew closer, the distinct clatter of bones grew louder and clearer until they finally reached Carlos. These were exactly the seven Purple Thornblade Guards and ten regular skeleton soldiers Carlos had sent ahead earlier. The seven Purple Thornblade Guards were absolutely covered in monster blood and gore, reeking to high heaven—they’d clearly been through one hell of a bloodbath. That was to be expected. But Carlos’s attention was drawn especially to the regular skeleton soldiers. These ordinary skeleton warriors had blood-crusted, chipped bone blades, and their frames were noticeably bulkier than when they’d left. Most telling were the soul fires burning within their ribcages—blazing bright and full, obviously having reached the breaking point for their first transformation. Plus, they’d all mastered bone swordsmanship. "Perfect! Absolutely perfect!" Carlos nodded with deep satisfaction. Every condition for upgrading new guards had been met. Without wasting another second, Carlos barked out orders: "All of you, spread out and keep watch!" The twelve Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards scattered around the perimeter to prevent any nasty surprises. Carlos then began sketching a skeleton guard transformation circle on the ground... Within minutes, the design was complete. He pulled out a Redrose clan sword first, placing it dead center on the right side of the transformation circle. Then he ordered one of the regular skeleton soldiers to stand in the center-left position. But he wasn’t done yet. Carlos retrieved several monster carcasses he’d collected during his journey from his storage space, arranging them at the sacrifice points around the circle’s edge. After finishing these preparations, Carlos’s expression turned deadly serious as mysterious incantation words began flowing from his lips. "&**&&#^&#*#.." The transformation circle immediately sparked to life. The monster corpses at the sacrifice points dissolved rapidly as waves of death energy began rippling outward, steadily gathering at the two main positions. Both the skeleton soldier and the Redrose clan sword were engulfed by a brilliant column of light. As Carlos picked up the pace of his chanting, under the urging of mysterious forces, the two began moving closer and closer together... Until they completely merged into one, forming a single massive beam of light, then the beam exploded with a thunderous crack as if it had never existed. "First one’s a success!" Standing before Carlos was now an upgraded skeleton similar to his Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards. However, this one had a more slender build, wielding a long, thin greatsword, with intricate red rose patterns spreading from the blade throughout its entire skeletal frame. Most striking was that terrifying razor-sharp aura—even from a distance, it made your skin crawl with anticipation of pain. [Redrose Skeleton Guard] [Health: 150 (Constitution×50)] [Strength: 9] [Constitution: 3] [Speed: 7] [Skills: Red Rose, Redrose Bone Swordsmanship (1+3) level] "Nineteen total attribute points, heavy on Strength and Speed." Carlos kept reading. Sure enough, the ’Red Rose’ skill had perfectly absorbed the essence of the Redrose clan sword’s special abilities. [Red Rose: Powerful talent crystallized from Redrose clan sword essence (1) Redrose Bone Swordsmanship level +3 (2) +10% damage when using Redrose Bone Swordsmanship (3) Bond: Blooming of Redrose Skeleton Guards. When Redrose Skeleton Guards fight together, they create resonance. Each additional guard boosts the wielder’s Strength and Speed by 1 point each (maximum twelve guards, can be activated once daily, lasting one hour)] This was a nice complement to his Purple Thornblade Guards. "Go stand watch. Next one up!" Without taking a breather, Carlos immediately started the next transformation—he couldn’t stand to wait even one more minute. Thick columns of light appeared again... Then came the second... The third... ... The tenth... Working non-stop, Carlos knocked out all the transformations in one marathon session! "Outstanding! Just outstanding!" Looking at the ten freshly-minted Redrose Guards standing before him, Carlos felt completely satisfied with his work. However, continuously chanting transformation incantations ten times straight had left Carlos with a throat drier than the desert around him. He pulled out a cup of red tea, taking slow sips to wet his throat and calm his nerves. After finishing his drink, Carlos stored away all his Purple Thornblade Guards and four of the Redrose Guards. Only six Redrose Guards remained at his side. "Next stop: deep into the Desolate Desert." In the Desolate Desert, without any twice-transformed skeleton soldiers yet, Carlos needed to travel smart and keep his head down. He had to reach an area where massive numbers of ’Stone Box Monsters’ lay dormant, and fast. Stone Box Monsters had glaring weak spots and provided solid Spiritual Essence, which would let Carlos quickly climb to Spirituality 10. Spirituality 10 was one of the key requirements for a skeleton guard’s second transformation. Even more important to Carlos, many of those Stone Box Monsters contained Ersbah ancient gold coins. Before heading to the Ersbah ruins, the more Ersbah ancient gold coins he could get his hands on, the better. Climbing aboard his Iron Palanquin, two Redrose Guards hoisted it up while the other four stayed alert and ready for trouble. "Let’s move out!" Whoosh! The Redrose Guards moved like lightning. Sitting on top, Carlos could feel the scenery whipping past him in a blur. Soon enough, black-brown gravel stretched as far as the eye could see... ... The Desolate Desert was a sprawling black-brown wasteland. According to local folk tales, this place used to be a massive lake teeming with all kinds of creatures. Until one fateful day, when terrible dark mist rolled in, the lake water mysteriously vanished without a trace, the lakebed was laid bare, and nearly every living thing in the water died off completely. After years of wind and weather beating it down, it finally became the danger-filled Desolate Desert we know today, where only creatures with Spirituality 19 or below could survive. Carlos knew these routes like the back of his hand. He carefully steered clear of territories belonging to monsters with Spirituality 10 or higher, skirted around the most treacherous quicksand zones, and kept pushing deeper without a hitch... ... Four days later, Carlos stood on top of a towering sand dune. Hot, bone-dry winds whipped up sand that pelted his armor with a steady drumming sound. Carlos squinted into the distance. Below this dune, he could make out a massive forest of wind-carved columns. These wind-carved columns were actually weathered giant rocks, mostly skinny at the bottom and fat at the top, looking like stone pillars someone had jammed into the desert floor. "This has got to be the place. Pretty impressive scale." Carlos pulled out his alchemical telescope, counting roughly 6,000 wind-carved columns. Each column housed at least one Stone Box Monster sleeping inside. That meant this area had over 6,000 Stone Box Monsters just waiting to be woken up! Stone Box Monsters: Spirituality 15, Strength 6, Constitution 10, Speed 3. These creatures had armor-thick defensive power. Taking them down required the right approach—otherwise, they were tough as nails to kill. "Guards, time to go monster hunting!" Follow current novels on freewe(b)novel.c(o)m