Chapter 67: Decisiveness

This thought was like a seed, taking root and sprouting in Ryūji’s heart, growing completely out of control.

It took a long while for Ryūji to calm his emotions, pondering in his mind what he should do next. Investigating this matter was completely out of the question; heaven knows how many powerful factions stood behind it. He was still merely a Level 1 Necromancer, and even if he threw his entire strength into it, there was no way he could withstand the fallout of this affair.

As for reporting it to his superiors, that was equally impossible. Heaven knows whether Wilder had his own intelligence sources and already knew about this, and if he did, what stance he held.

Therefore, the only path left for Ryūji was self-preservation.

Of course, it would be even better if he could reap some benefits along the way of ensuring his own survival.

Thinking of this, Ryūji stood up, casually picked up the Staff of Death, and walked out.

"I still need a massive quantity of murloc eggs. Send me as many as you have."

At the smuggling dock, Ryūji found the smug-looking captain of the smuggling ship. The captain was not physically present in person; rather, however many smuggling docks their syndicate operated, his projection would appear at that many locations.

One only needed to tell them what was needed, and in about a few days, they would deliver the corresponding items.

And the few days spent in the process were not travel time, but mostly the time required to gather the supplies.

Hearing Ryūji’s request, the smuggling captain raised his head. Ryūji’s smuggling dock had been built for quite some time now, and apart from that initial batch of murloc eggs, he had never shipped anything else over. After all, Ryūji had no use for the goods they sold, and Ryūji’s territory produced nothing of value in return.

Ryūji’s response this time caught him somewhat by surprise, prompting him to ask, "What are you using to pay?"

At this moment, Ryūji was looking at the newly hatched murlocs soaking in the Water-Deprived Lake. Hearing the smuggling captain's question, Ryūji didn't even turn his head. "Mercury."

Upon hearing this, the smuggling captain's eyes lit up. "You have a mercury mine in your territory? Do you need us to help mine it?"

"No. I can guarantee that the first batch of mercury can be shipped out ten days from now. But as you know, I currently have no use for mercury myself. Waiting around for it to pile up is not as good as cashing it out directly. What I need right now is a large number of murlocs."

The smuggling captain did not speak, appearing as though he were lost in thought. In reality, he was communicating with his superiors. After a good while, the smuggling captain snapped back to attention. "So that's what it's about. No problem at all, we can deliver murloc eggs to you, but your place might not have the capacity to hold them all."

Ryūji pointed at the murlocs in the Water-Deprived Lake. Black patterns had already appeared on their skin, and skull-like markings were beginning to condense between their brows. "You see, these murlocs are already ready for training. I plan to screen them and send all of them into that fencing academy for training. Those with the potential to master swordsmanship will stay, and those without potential will be sent straight to the mass graves."

The smuggling captain made no objections to Ryūji's words. Many corpse collectors made similar choices at the very beginning—using a large base population to rapidly elevate the strength of their dependent forces. Furthermore, those left over after the screening would not go to waste; they would be sent directly to the undead transformation facilities to become part of the city's undead garrison.

Thus, the smuggling captain nodded, indicating his willingness to take the order, though the pricing would require careful negotiation.

"Let's calculate it based on the standard market price for mercury. I won't lose out, and neither will you. Trust me, mercury is going to be very profitable lately."

"Alright. I will have a batch of murloc eggs sent over to you today. By the way, do you want other races? We can also get lizardmen, kobolds, and the like. Lizardmen are quite common in the swamps and are very useful, while kobolds are the finest material for miners. You won't regret buying them."

"Not for now." Ryūji sighed. "Even if I wanted them, not right now. I don't have that kind of energy to spare."

"Very well, the first batch of murloc eggs will be delivered today. As for your mercury, we trust your credit—we'll wait until you've mined it."

Ryūji said nothing further in response to the smuggling captain's generosity. His city was right there and couldn't run away; the smugglers naturally weren't afraid that Ryūji would default on the mercury.

At this moment, Ryūji focused all his attention on the juvenile murlocs swimming in the water. Normally, according to the training methods for raging surf murlocs in Ryūji's possession, these murloc juveniles were not yet ready for training.

At the very least, they had to grow for three weeks before magic materials could be mixed into their food for nourishment, followed by training after a month.

However, Ryūji could not wait that long now. Looking at the juvenile murlocs in the Water-Deprived Lake, which were less than a week old, Ryūji raised the Staff of Death in his hand.

Under Ryūji's channeling, a massive amount of death energy poured into the aquatic plants within the Water-Deprived Lake, transferring from the plants into the lake water and affecting the murlocs swimming within.

This kind of death energy was intensely stimulating to most juvenile organisms. Two-thirds of the little hounds Ryūji had previously brought back had died under the influence of death energy. Although the murlocs had a higher resistance to death energy because they had been exposed to it while still in their eggs, being forcibly infused by Ryūji like this caused them to die in large batches very quickly.

However, contrary to what Ryūji expected, those dead murlocs didn't even get the chance to be fished out; they simply sank directly to the bottom of the lake.

The corpses serving as the background scenery at the bottom of the lake seemed stimulated by something, constantly dragging the murlocs' bodies down into the underground sediment, refusing to release them.

Witnessing this scene, Ryūji felt a brief flash of anger, but he immediately sensed that the aura of death within the Water-Deprived Lake was rapidly intensifying. In the end, he gave up the idea of snatching back the murlocs' bodies and instead carefully protected the small murlocs still thrashing about in the water.

After rolling around in agony for nearly half an hour, only about 300 little murlocs survived. The eyes of these surviving murlocs had turned a peculiar pitch black, with no whites visible in their pupils. Regardless of what color their scales had originally been, they had all transformed into a pitch-black variety patterned with white streaks.

At the same time, black crystal-like growths began to emerge on their backs and arms.

That was the physical manifestation of solidified death energy.

Upon seeing this sight, Ryūji's eyes jumped, and a notification prompt popped up.

[Ding! Netherworld Murloc transformation successful. Current quantity: 279. Please check the corresponding data...]

[Netherworld Murloc - Strength Type: Strength-enhanced murloc. Body semi-zombified, physical size can grow up to three times that of a normal murloc, arms thickened, capable of recovering health by consuming corpses.]

[Netherworld Murloc - Agility Type: Agility-enhanced murloc. Body semi-etherialized, gradually turning pitch-black, capable of performing movements in water and on land that normal murlocs cannot manage.]

[Netherworld Murloc - Spirit Type: Spirit-enhanced murloc. A remarkably rare enhancement path, capable of being trained as mages, priests, and shamans.]