Building the Strongest Undead Empire from Scratch

Alex curiously took the token from Sophie, examining it closely. The word "Submission" was inscribed on it.

[Special Item: Submission Token]

[Belonging Lord: Sophie]

[Feature: Allows the construction of a subsidiary castle within the territory of the Lord to whom one has submitted. The subsidiary castle will have the same features as the main castle, and as long as the subsidiary castle remains, the belonging Lord will remain unaffected even if the main castle is destroyed.]

[Usage Condition: Must be approved by the Lord to whom one has submitted.]

Alex was momentarily taken aback; this item was quite interesting. It functioned somewhat like a city relocation feature from traditional games, but instead of moving, it allowed for the construction of a subsidiary castle within her town's territory while retaining the original castle.

This must be a system benefit for Lords who have submitted, as even if a submitted Lord dies, it has no impact on the Lord to whom they have submitted.

The Submission Token allows them to have two castles. If they can build a subsidiary castle within Alex's town, it acts as an additional layer of security. If the external castle is destroyed, as long as the castle within Alex's territory remains, they would still be safe.

"This is a great item!"

Alex hadn't expected the system to pull off such a feat, allowing for the relocation of castle locations.

"Big Shot, I'd like to use this Submission Token."

This was Sophie's main reason for visiting Alex's castle—to discuss this matter since constructing a subsidiary castle required Alex's approval.

Sophie didn't really have a choice; the Submission Token had only this function, to use it or not. Clearly, using it was all benefit and no downside for Sophie.

"Is your area very dangerous?"

"Not really, my castle is in the mountains, but it's not far from the dwarf kingdom's territory. The dwarf kingdom is still in civil war, and the conflict could reach here any day."

Sophie expressed her concerns. If the noble dwarves of the dwarf kingdom found her troops, they would capture these dwarves to bolster their own forces and send them to the front lines, which was unacceptable to Sophie.

"I approve. Go ahead."

"Thank you, Big Shot!"

Sophie was relieved, feeling much more secure now. However, the subsidiary castle had a drawback; it had to be built within Alex's town territory and strictly speaking, could only be considered a building within Alex's town.

Therefore, this subsidiary castle had no territory of its own and could not be upgraded, but it did have a subsidiary Barracks where troops could be summoned. The subsidiary Barracks was only level 1 and needed to be upgraded separately, and its cooldown time was shared with the main Barracks.

The Acolytes and skeletons had already assembled outside the castle, ready to be sent to help at Sophie's castle.

Sophie's dwarves totaled only about two hundred, and in front of a group of skeletons and Acolytes, their numbers seemed insignificant.

Skeletons might not be able to forge equipment, but digging stone was no problem for them. Even if they were slow, working 24 hours a day could match the output of dwarves working eight hours a day.

"Let's go to your castle. I've brought a group of helpers for you."

As they spoke, Alex stood up and walked outside, with Sophie quickly following. It was a good opportunity for her to also retrieve the resources needed to build the subsidiary castle.

"Helpers?"

Sophie saw the skeletons outside the castle, looking a bit dim-witted, and felt uncertain.

"Don't underestimate them; they can work non-stop, 24 hours a day."

Alex seemed to notice Sophie's skepticism and explained.

"24 hours non-stop, that intense?"

Alex ignored Sophie's ambiguous remark and led the group of undead towards the Portal of Transit.

Alex and Sophie, accompanied by the undead, approached the portal, which emitted a bright orange-red glow, illuminating the entire room.

Smaller creatures could pass through this portal, but for zombie titans and creatures like Arthur, the portal was simply too small.

"You two go first."

Alex directed two skeletons, unsure if the portal could transport troops as well as Lords.

As the skeletons stepped through the portal, Alex checked her system dashboard. She noticed that there had been a notification when Sophie arrived at her castle, but it was a regular message and she had it blocked.

Only official notifications like leaderboard updates and remarks about her first Lord kill were forced through by the system.

After waiting three minutes without any system alerts, it seemed the skeletons had successfully transported.

"Let's go."

Alex stepped into the portal first, followed by Sophie and the undead.

Alex felt a dizzying sensation, as if her head had been shaken twenty times to each side.

She stumbled out of the portal, nearly falling.

Thump! Thump!

The undead following her tumbled out, piling up on the ground.

"Ugh—"

Sophie, lying on top of a few skeletons, couldn't hold back and vomited, her partially digested meal mixed with stomach acid covering the skulls beneath her.

Alex, intending to help, recoiled from the sudden onslaught of vomit.

"Teleportation is really uncomfortable, feels like I'm going to throw up everything, ugh—"

"It's okay, think of it as a diet."

Alex tried to offer some comfort.

Outside, the sky was clear with a bright sun shining down, making Alex feel much better, almost like being back on Earth.

After so many days in this world, it was Alex's first time seeing such good weather and the sun.

"How about it, Big Shot? Nice weather over here, right?"

Sophie, having finished her bout of nausea, joined Alex, with the undead gradually standing up, awaiting Alex's next command.

Not far away was a white stone castle surrounded by mountains, and Alex could see some dwarves mining.

"The weather is indeed nice. Get all these undead to start mining. Right now, we're most in need of iron ingots. Any spare dwarf you have should be put to work mining full-time."

Alex instructed Sophie, who was standing nearby.

"Okay!"

Sophie called over a dwarf to lead the undead to help, while other dwarves curiously watched this strange group.

Sophie had also told the dwarves that the abundance of food they had was all thanks to Alex's help.

Thus, the dwarves treated Alex with a mix of curiosity and respect, understanding that they were now subordinate troops to this beautiful but powerful girl.

This was the dwarves' first impression of Alex, interestingly, their loyalty to Alex was at 70, even higher than Sophie's.

This was likely due to the loyalty boost from the Bone Throne's feature, which had no range limit and affected all troops of Lords who had submitted to Alex.

Alex sat in the castle for a while as Sophie went to fetch the materials needed to build the subsidiary castle.

Meanwhile, in the Barren Plains, at [Earth Lord]'s castle...

The real name of the Lord of this castle was Earl. At that moment, a flash of yellow light passed through his castle, which suddenly grew larger, and a cleared area appeared around it.

Earl's castle had successfully upgraded to a town, and he had built thick stone walls around the town's perimeter with his powers.

The exclusive building unlocked by upgrading to town, the Portal of Transit, didn't surprise him, as Cain had already explained its function in the Alliance chat group.

What Earl didn't expect was the special item he received upon upgrading.

Earl checked the information on this item.

[Special Item: Alliance Token]

[Belonging Leader: Earl]

[Feature: Alliance members can relocate their castles to the vicinity of the Leader's castle. The highest-ranking Alliance allies can share territories and some special buildings.]

[Usage Condition: The Leader must invite Alliance members.]

Alliance members are classified into three levels: junior allies, mid-level allies, and senior allies.

Junior allies have few privileges and can leave the Alliance at will, while senior allies are the highest-ranking and cannot leave the Alliance without strong contractual obligations.

Leaving the Alliance also requires the consent of all allies, but the benefits include resource sharing, representing a level of complete trust.

Originally, the position of Leader was promised to Cain when Samson invited him into the Alliance. Cain, not fully trusting them, declined the offer.

Later, as Earl advanced to the first tier, Samson passed the leadership to him.

Besides Cain, the other members were all senior allies, fully trustworthy.

The Submission Token was for building a subsidiary castle, while the Alliance Token allowed for a complete relocation, gathering all Alliance allies together. Resources returned at 50%, and the relocated castles needed to be upgraded again.

The Alliance Token was unlocked simply by the Leader upgrading to town, with no restrictions on the castle levels of the allies, differing from the Submission Token in this respect.

Earl, honest and straightforward, might not be eloquent, but he wasn't foolish. His rise to the first tier was not just due to luck but also his own strength.

Earl immediately shared the information about the Alliance Token in the chat group, and the other four Lords saw the item almost simultaneously.

[Vine Fairy]: "Wow, the Alliance Token allows for relocation, huh? Do you have any trees over there? I want to come to you guys!"

The lively [Vine Fairy] was always quick to respond.

As for another Lord and Cain, they were considering their options. Their current environments were very beneficial for their strength development, so they weren't planning to move just yet.

The only one somewhat undecided was Cain. If the lava dragon returned and unfortunately discovered him, he would have no choice but to move.

Samson, on the other hand, didn't hesitate. He couldn't stand another day in the Frostwind snowy mountain, not only because of the undead Lord but also the vampire Lord, and he was trapped in the dangerous snowy mountains.

Even if leaving meant significantly reducing the combat effectiveness of his snow maidens, he would move without hesitation.

More and more undead were flying around in the sky, and it was only a matter of time before his castle was discovered. Once the undead filled the snowy mountains, it would be too late to escape.