Evolving My Undead Legion In A Game-Like World

Chapter 1086: Unique Skill and Origin Battlefield Compensation [3]

Resources brought wealth. Wealth brought influence. And influence brought connections.

The past three months had been the first time in Michael's life where he had possessed an abundance of both resources and money.

With the enormous gains from the Land of Origin and his dimension cracks in Aurora, Michael had gradually begun interacting with circles that would once have been completely out of his reach.

One of those connections was naturally Rynne's family. Although Michael hadn't focused exclusively on working with them, they had indeed conducted several mutually beneficial transactions.

As his undead continued evolving, one problem became increasingly obvious. The stronger an undead became, the harder it was to increase its strength rapidly outside of evolution.

Using the vast amount of materials he had gathered, Michael exchanged for several batches of weapons from Rynne's family. None of them were particularly expensive.

Most were Common and Rare, or at most Extraordinary Grade. Many people questioned such a decision, but since it wasn't exactly wasteful, Michael had an easy time doing as he pleased.

With his wealth, purchasing Epic Grade equipment wasn't impossible if he truly wished to. But Michael didn't consider it worthwhile. It felt wasteful when he possessed a talent like Infinite Evolution.

Although he currently couldn't perform large-scale evolution outside his undead legion, that didn't mean such a thing would remain impossible forever. Who could say what the future held?

Perhaps one day, equipping every undead with Epic Grade weapons would still be unrealistic. But Extraordinary Grade? Michael believed that was entirely achievable.

Why waste enormous sums buying equipment today when tomorrow he might simply evolve it himself?

Because of these repeated transactions, Michael's network gradually expanded from various families and organizations to even some independent Rank Four supernaturals.

Whenever he required rare materials, he now possessed enough connections to at least inquire about them.

Naturally, Michael made full use of those connections. Especially when searching for evolution materials.

Among all the creatures under his command, there was one whose evolution he valued as much as his most important undead.

Wisdom.

Ever since evolving into a true Space Beast, Wisdom's potential had increased tremendously. However, Michael still insisted on preparing specialized evolution materials whenever possible.

After all, evolution wasn't merely about raising one's race. The quality of the materials used could subtly influence potential, strengthen the physique, enhance one's bloodline, and sometimes even grant entirely new abilities.

Space-attributed materials remained among the rarest resources in existence. Even with his connections, acquiring them had been anything but easy.

Fortunately, over the past three months Michael had managed to gather enough. Without hesitation, he used every single one on Wisdom, who successfully advanced into Rank Four as a Three-Star Epic Grade creature.

Its race did not change. Its appearance also remained almost identical to before. Perhaps only the faint spatial ripples continuously surrounding its body had become slightly more pronounced.

Most of its previous abilities simply grew stronger. Nearly every skill advanced by another level, and its control over space became incomparably smoother.

But among everything Wisdom gained, there was one newly obtained skill. One that had left even Michael speechless for quite a while.

Michael slowly opened Wisdom's status panel.

[Spatial Substitution]

The user anchors two valid targets within a maximum distance of 100 miles before instantly exchanging their positions through spatial manipulation.

The exchange is absolute once successfully activated, preserving the targets' momentum, orientation, and relative state at the instant of substitution.

Current Conditions:

Targets must not possess strong spatial accomplishment, or targets whose spatial stability greatly exceeds the user's limit may resist the substitution.

Maximum range between both anchors: 100 miles.

Current Cost:

Extremely High Energy Consumption. Consumption increases according to: Distance. Difference in strength between both targets. Stability of surrounding space.

Cooldown: None.

A ripple spread through the surrounding space.

Michael's figure abruptly appeared within a dense forest.

Towering ancient trees stretched toward the sky, their intertwined branches blotting out most of the moonlight. The air carried a thick scent of earth, leaves, and beastly mana.

The moment he arrived, dozens of pairs of crimson eyes turned toward him.

"…"

Monster rabbits. They were everywhere. Judging from the aura they emitted, nearly all of them were Rank One, with several Rank Twos scattered among the group.

At the very center, a rabbit nearly two meters tall slowly raised its head.

Rank Three. Its snow-white fur carried faint silver patterns while an unusually dense mana fluctuation surrounded its body. Clearly, this was the nest's leader.

Normally, the sudden appearance of an intruder would have immediately provoked a violent attack. Yet not a single rabbit moved. Every one of them trembled uncontrollably. Their crimson eyes were filled with instinctive terror. Even the Rank Three rabbit had flattened itself against the ground, its entire body shaking violently.

The reason wasn't Michael. It was the shadow looming above him.

The Undead High Drake.

Although Echoed Bestowal had already ended, the colossal undead still hovered silently above the forest.

Its three-hundred-meter body cast an oppressive shadow across the land below. The terrifying pressure leaking from its existence alone was enough to make every living creature within miles instinctively submit.

Michael looked at all this and shook his head. Although they were already quite some distance from the previous battlefield, a creature of this size could easily attract unnecessary attention.

Without hesitation, Michael stretched out his hand.

"Return."

The gigantic High Drake let out one final low growl. Its colossal body suddenly collapsed into countless streams of ash.

The ash surged downward like a living river before pouring directly into Michael's body. Within only a few breaths, the mountain-sized creature had completely disappeared.

Silence returned to the forest.

Michael's knees bent slightly.

"…Heavy."

He instinctively frowned. The moment the High Drake returned, Michael immediately felt as though several weighted objects had been placed upon his shoulders. His muscles tensed instinctively.

Fortunately, this wasn't his first time. Every time one of his engraved undead returned to his body, their passive traits and a few stat points were restored to him.

Michael's body quickly adapted to the restored attributes and weight. Within moments, the strange heaviness gradually disappeared as his movements once again became light and natural.