Chapter 14: Xia Er's Plan

It finally dropped.

It finally dropped!

After a full seven hours of grinding — to the point where Li Shen was sick of the sight of those monsters — he had finally obtained all the drops needed for the side quest.

His level had reached 26. He had to admit, the Lust Server really did have a ridiculous number of mobs.

After selling off the worthless loot, Li Shen took a portal back to the area where the Witch of Pride resided and made his way swiftly to the Undead Territory.

He met the deputy Avril again. This time, she didn't stop him — which made sense. After triggering the Undead Archmage's side quest, he had apparently been flagged as a "neutral unit," or perhaps even a "friendly" one.

"Lord Xia Er!"

Spotting that gaunt figure from a distance, Xia Er walked over to meet him.

Li Shen took the Charm Spirit out of his bag and presented it with both hands in a deeply respectful gesture. "This is the Charm Spirit. The moment I received the quest, I set off immediately."

Xia Er gave a small nod. "Faster than I expected."

That was no empty compliment.

He had looked up some information about the Charm Dungeon on the forum. For someone like Li Shen, who had died twice in there, that dungeon was no walk in the park. Xia Er had expected to wait a while — he hadn't anticipated it being this quick.

Clearly, this guy was very eager to push the side quest's progress forward.

What a shame...

There was no progress to push.

As the [Quest Complete] notification appeared in his vision, the voice of the Undead Archmage rang out.

"Not bad. You have proven your loyalty."

"However..."

"It is not yet enough."

Li Shen: ?

Buddy, seriously?

Honestly, when he heard the first line, Li Shen could feel his heart rate spike. He had thought he was finally about to enter the side quest storyline.

But he never expected there to be a dramatic pause!

"Phew..."

After a few seconds of silence, Li Shen quickly composed himself and smiled. "Lord Xia Er, what else must I do to demonstrate my loyalty to you?"

Good.

Very well-behaved.

Xia Er was quite satisfied with the man's performance. He said slowly, "Uriel's Grudge — if you can bring me that item as well, I will extend greater trust to you."

[Undead Archmage — Xia Er has issued a quest.]

[Accept?]

[Yes!]

Gritting his teeth, Li Shen accepted the quest and was about to leave when he was suddenly called back.

"Hold on."

Li Shen turned around. "Lord Xia Er, is there something else you need?"

Xia Er stepped forward and gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Next time, you may come find me directly in the castle."

"Understood!"

Hearing those words, Li Shen's mood visibly lifted.

Even though he hadn't received any tangible reward, it didn't matter.

At first, he'd had to pass messages through the deputy just to get an audience. Now, after completing this quest, he could walk straight into the castle.

What did that mean?

The Undead Archmage's trust in him was steadily growing!

Sure, there were a lot of prerequisite quests — but the more there were, the more it proved that this side quest was worth far more than he had imagined!

"Uriel..."

"Fuck it, keep grinding! Only by putting in effort far beyond what others are willing to give can you reap extraordinary rewards!"

After giving himself that little pep talk, Li Shen left the territory in a hurry — completely unaware that a certain Domain Lord was wearing a faint smile at the corner of his lips.

"Players really are so easy to fool."

"No tangible rewards needed at all. Just a few words of verbal trust and they're already buzzing with excitement."

Looking at the Charm Spirit he had obtained without lifting a finger, Xia Er felt as though he had finally discovered the true mindset of being an NPC.

He opened his skill panel and navigated to [Undead Specialization].

He had already prepared the Undead Bones material long ago, and now that the Charm Spirit was in hand, he could activate it immediately.

[Use materials [Undead Bones] + [Charm Spirit] to unlock this specialization?]

[Yes.]

[Specialization unlocked — [Undead Control]]

With the specialization lit up, Xia Er immediately summoned his undead squad.

One by one, hands burst up through the earth. He could clearly feel the connection between himself and his undead growing stronger.

Before, he could only issue the most basic commands — "attack this target." But now, Xia Er could make his undead form up into formations, and if he focused his full concentration, he could simultaneously control the every move of up to eight undead at once.

This was a change that could only be described as a qualitative leap.

Undead that couldn't be commanded and undead that could be commanded were two entirely different concepts.

The upgrade was complete.

Xia Er found Avril and said, "Call the other deputies in the territory together. I'll be waiting in the castle — we're holding a meeting."

Not long after he returned to the castle, all four deputies had assembled.

Tienu, with his pointed head, was the first to speak. "Lord Xia Er, what's going on? Are those adventurers causing trouble again?"

Xia Er shook his head. "No. I called you here for something simple."

"List out the equipment you're lacking and the items you need to grow stronger. Write it all down and hand it to me."

In Oracle, monsters could grow stronger too — but what each monster needed to do so varied considerably.

For Xia Er himself, as an Undead Mage, aside from killing players, consuming the souls of particularly powerful beings could also increase his strength.

It clearly wasn't enough for only himself to grow stronger. Never mind holding the territory — if he ever managed to break the Witch's Soul Contract and venture elsewhere, Xia Er would need a few capable followers by his side.

Avril blinked, caught off guard. "Lord Xia Er, what do you mean? Are you going to collect these things for us?"

"You've already done more than enough as our Domain Lord. Almost every other border territory has fallen by now, and yet the Undead Territory still stands. Gathering all these items would take an enormous amount of effort."

Honestly, Avril was already more than satisfied with what their Domain Lord had accomplished. In the past, he had done nothing but hole himself up in the castle study all day — nobody knew what he was doing in there. Compared to now, it was like night and day.

Xia Er waved a hand, dismissing Avril's concern. "Just do as I say. Everyone writes up a list."

"As for the effort involved..."

Xia Er paused, a smile spreading across his lips. "Someone will come and help us of their own accord."

After watching Li Shen's performance, Xia Er's understanding of his own role had fundamentally shifted.

What was the point of a boss fighting and brawling with players? It was exhausting and dangerous.

Better to seize this opportunity — now that he had been exposed — and pivot entirely. Transform himself into a hidden NPC with side quests, and lure more players in to do his work for him.