Chapter 6: Family Support (Please Subscribe)

Bang!

Liu Zhi climbed out from the sand pile, paying no mind to brushing the dust off his body. Instead, he moved to the side and began spitting out the sand from his mouth.

Meanwhile, the man named Victor nonchalantly jumped to the other side and addressed the few elders guarding the sand pile. “He’s just a little brat—can’t endure even a bit of hardship. Do you want to send someone else?”

The elders were each nearly two meters tall, appearing lean and gaunt, as if their bodies consisted of little more than bones with no flesh.

One of the elders’ eyes glowed with a faint blue light. “He is still a child, only level one. There’s no way he can handle your damned teleportation technique.”

Victor scoffed, “Why didn’t you say that when you asked me to bring him? Forget it, I’m not going to argue with you. Remember what you promised—two tons of yellow sand, and I want dry sand.” With that, Victor turned and left without looking back.

The elder who had spoken earlier then stepped up to Liu Zhi.

Liu Zhi felt something very strange about these elders. Although they stood right before him, there was an eerie sensation, as if they weren’t truly present.

The elder approached and said, “I am your great-grandfather. Your grandfather, Erland, was my youngest son. It was my suggestion for you to go to Adal-Malik. Erland died with great regret, and you must help restore his honor.”

Liu Zhi wanted to say something, but the elder waved his hand. “The family will provide you with some information and resources shortly. Your mission there is simple; we don’t need you to gather intelligence. Just hold your ground and survive in Adal-Malik. Remember this: the family may have many choices, but you only have one life. Don’t be like that useless Erland who threw his away.”

With that, the elder turned and left. After a few steps, he seemed to recall something. “When they deliver the resources, have them top up your account. It’s embarrassing that family members don’t even have VIP3 status.”

Before Liu Zhi could respond, they vanished.

At that moment, Liu Zhi heard Victor’s voice again. “How much longer do you plan to stay on my turf?”

Liu Zhi turned to look at Victor, bewilderment written all over his face.

Seeing this, Victor pointed to the side. “The door is over there. Go out and close it behind you. Someone’s waiting for you outside.”

Following Victor’s direction, Liu Zhi exited the sand-filled room. Outside, a few tall, slender lich mages awaited him.

Compared to the elders before, these lich mages bombarded him with questions—about what he had received at his induction, which attributes could be revealed, and so on.

When they learned that Liu Zhi possessed a half-built Underworld Palace, complete with walls and a moat, their expressions were filled with astonishment.

“Your luck is unbelievable. No wonder you were sent to Adal-Malik.”

Liu Zhi kept silent, thinking to himself that this was just the tip of the iceberg. He hadn’t even mentioned the divine essence or other things he had gained.

One of the lich mages, who had remained mostly quiet until now, spoke up. “Your Underworld Palace has great potential but also many flaws. Your priority isn’t to build new structures but to strengthen what you already have. I will provide sufficient resources for constructing walls, and the flesh needed for your mass grave will be further supplemented.”

“Additionally, you should copy the alchemy recipes needed for the Alchemy Workshop from the family library. You must upgrade the workshop to level four as soon as possible. Also, request a blueprint for the blacksmith’s forge. Don’t let your subordinates keep using stone weapons—it’s embarrassing.”

Liu Zhi could only nod in agreement as the lich mage spoke and scribbled continuously. Eventually, he slid a sheet of paper toward Liu Zhi.

“This is my plan. There’s no point in taking anything else now; Adal-Malik has cheaper supplies for sale. Just bring your universal currency and buy what you need there. By the way, here’s a recharge magic stone. Crush it to upgrade your VIP status to level three. Of course, you can trade it to others if you wish.”

“But remember, higher VIP levels have their advantages. Without VIP1, you can’t even play the big spin wheel. Without VIP3, the time inside and outside the game won’t sync, making it impossible for you to compete.”

At that moment, another person chimed in, “Next is the matter of your familiars. Originally, the family intended to give you ten pairs of lizardfolk, but since you have the Murloc training manual, we’ll instead give you twenty murloc eggs for you to train.”

Liu Zhi was quite familiar with this arrangement.

In this world, the dead are vulnerable to invasion by the spectral realm, so all human corpses must be properly processed and buried, whether commoners or professionals.

In other worlds, this might not be a big deal, but here the necromancer professions like death knights and lich mages rely on the undead for survival. They can’t simply experiment on wild beasts’ corpses.

Thus, they keep various humanoid creatures as their familiars, serving them in life and becoming eternal guards in their ghost cities after death.

Due to the swampy, rainy environment, most familiars are swamp races like lizardfolk and gnolls. Murlocs are also a good choice. It’s rumored that in some cities, rarer humanoid races like ratfolk, catfolk, and spiderfolk serve as familiars.

Since Liu Zhi had a training manual for a murloc clan, the Id family naturally replaced the original lizardfolk familiars with murloc eggs.

Liu Zhi had no objections and nodded his agreement.

The rest was straightforward—handover of supplies, provision of materials, and so forth.

Several lich mages from the Id family came to instruct Liu Zhi on what it meant to be a qualified lich mage, how to command troops, and what considerations to keep in mind.

Most importantly, Liu Zhi learned the true role of a lich mage in this world.

They are not warriors who charge headlong into battle with cries—that’s the death knight’s role.

Here, lich mages command their subordinates and strike enemies strategically, acting as healers with layered attacks.

Since most professions are undead-based, and as the undead need healing, the only way aside from potions is the lich mage’s spirit-gathering magic.

While waiting for the resources to arrive, Liu Zhi studied this crucial necromantic art under a lich mage who claimed to be his cousin.