Chapter 150 - 51: [The Helmed Undead’s Choice and Insect Path Ecology]

Chapter 150: Chapter 51: [The Helmed Undead’s Choice and Insect Path Ecology]

[The maximum number of operable Spiritual Implants for this unit has been reached (100/100).]

The spectral blue popup flashed on the helmet’s UI.

THUD!

Another Rusted Copper Tree was chopped down, dragged over by a Bell-shaped Helmet Undead, and delivered to Samael’s side.

With a buzzing vibration, the refined Nether Copper was absorbed into Samael’s palm. He reached out and pressed his hand against the head of a massive Corpse Demon beside him. The semi-molten Nether Copper flowed, forming into a single-eyed Bell-shaped Helmet that firmly locked into place.

The controlled Corpse Demon offered a knight’s salute. Extending its tendrils and rotting, scaly claws, it took a sword and shield from Samael’s hands. Dragging its massive, heavy body, it lumbered toward the adjacent formation of Bell-shaped Helmets.

[Warning: The number of Spiritual Implants configured for this unit is too high (101/100).]

[Exceeding the limit will cause communication disruptions.]

Samael scratched his helmet and tried to command one of the Bell-shaped Helmet Undead to walk over.

Three Elite Corpse Demons wearing Bell-shaped Helmets stepped forward simultaneously. One tripped over its own leg, falling to the ground with a SMACK, awkwardly wriggling about in a daze. The other two took a couple of steps before crashing into each other with a loud CLANG, sending sparks flying from their Nether Copper Knight Armor.

Samael tried to command the two to step around each other, but instead, more Corpse Demons stumbled out of the formation. They began wandering aimlessly, bumping into one another.

"Alright, alright... I can only create a maximum of a hundred elite units. Even a match in StarCraft allows for a population of two hundred," Samael thought. Resigned, he reached out with his Hand Armor, melting and dismantling one of the Bell-shaped Helmets.

[The maximum number of operable Spiritual Implants for this unit has been reached (100/100).]

The popup appeared on the helmet’s UI once again.

"Does this mean the other Ghost Knights also have a maximum of a hundred elite Undead units?" Samael pondered. "If it requires micromanagement, handling a hundred implants simultaneously is indeed incredibly difficult. It’s comparable to manually controlling a hundred Magic units in StarCraft to cast their skills with precision.

"No wonder the forces of the six Ghost Knights seem to have reached a delicate balance on the Hai Xin Plain. It turns out there’s a hard cap on the number of elite Undead units. Even with a longer development period and more resources, an overwhelming crush is impossible.

"That also explains why there are so many Rusted Copper Trees in this forest, yet the other Ghost Knights don’t care at all.

"Under normal circumstances, the demand for copper isn’t nearly as high as I originally thought."

This was the Necromancer Civil War zone. Unarmored units without Spiritual Implants would be affected by the conflicting Nether Copper resonance signals from both sides. They would just stand there in a daze, rendering them completely useless in the Necromancer Civil War.

Even forging a hundred-man squad of Armored Undead entirely outfitted in Nether Copper wouldn’t deplete an entire Rusted Copper Forest. Besides, there were even more Rusted Copper Trees in other areas of the Heart of the Remains, along with massive copper veins underground. The other Ghost Knights had probably grown sick of mining copper while excavating their own tombs.

In comparison, this small patch of Rusted Copper Forest on the outer surface was practically negligible.

"Is there any way to increase the limit of Spiritual Implants?" he wondered, rummaging through the tech tree entries of the colony building system.

[Requirement: Signal Relay Station (Automation Level 5, Communications Level 3).]

"Got it. I need to find another Divine Remains Hall, right? Maybe there’s a ’God of Automation’ or a ’God of Signals’ buried in some godforsaken corner of this world," Samael mused, slowly storing the Nether Copper away.

The hundred Bell-shaped Helmet Corpse Demons standing before him had already been carefully selected. Although their shapes varied, each one was strong and burly. Some of the Corpse Demons even possessed unique Undead organic structures, such as Nightmare Tendrils and Trapping Sound Bands.

If the limit for Spiritual Implants was only a hundred, the next step was to improve the equipment quality of his elite units. The Scythe Reaper Corpse Demons of Lahador he had encountered earlier were outfitted in full sets of Nether Copper Lock Armor along with refined Nether Copper Heavy Weapons, and even their Nightmare Tendrils had blades embedded in them.

The elite armored soldiers of the other Ghost Knights were likely similar, possibly even using stronger Undead units as a base. The civil war among the Ghost Knights relied entirely on the quality of their elite troops. Perhaps he, too, should look for High-Level Undead that were stronger than the Corpse Demons.

This was probably why the corpses of Demon Insects were in such high demand. It explained why Anshiba, the Elk Horned Frog-beaked Knight from the north, had traveled so far just to destroy a corpse, preventing Lahador from gaining a powerful new elite warrior.

"High-Level Undead as a base... Swamp Giants? Skeleton Warriors?" he thought.

When chatting with the Exiles earlier, everyone seemed to deliberately avoid this unpleasant and repulsive topic. It was as if they were worried that discussing it might offend the Undead Samael, which resulted in his rather limited knowledge of High-Level Undead.

He needed to ask around for more information and search the surrounding areas to see if he could stumble upon any High-Level Undead that hadn’t already been claimed by the other Ghost Knights.

Samael counted the number of Bell-shaped Helmet Undead and suddenly realized there were only ninety-seven. After a moment’s pause, he remembered that the remaining three Bell-shaped Helmets were elsewhere. One was on the head of the Military Drum Sword Shield Corpse Demon, which was helping to direct the other Undead at the worksite.

The other two Bell-shaped Helmets were strapped to the heads of single-horned taro Rot Root Balls, placed in the open space in the middle of the camp. This was for the convenience of the Exiles, allowing them to bring the Undead along when leaving the camp to fetch water or gather materials, protecting them from attacks by uncontrolled Undead.

"That’s effectively three fewer elite units... but it’s necessary," he concluded.

He casually forged another Nether Copper Breastplate and welded it onto a Corpse Demon’s torso. Such Armor and heavy shields would slightly slow their movements, but in a Necromancer Civil War where everyone wielded Nether Copper Weapons, Armor and shields would at least allow them to withstand a few extra attacks.