After retelling his recent experience in more detail, the Daxia representative finally accepted this preposterous fact.
"Even though you've already completed the advancement mission, the Pioneering Order has already been issued, and the Akhan envoy has recorded it. You still have to go and pioneer a piece of territory."
As he spoke, he pulled out several files and placed them on the table.
Chen Xu picked them all up and glanced through them.
There were five files in total, corresponding to five monster strongholds.
【Fallen Demon Stronghold: An ultra-large fallen demon stronghold. It is conservatively estimated to house over ten million fallen demons, with several fallen demon commanders present.】
【Snakemen Stronghold: A medium-sized snakemen stronghold. This site was originally the Temple of Sages of the Akhan Dynasty but is now occupied by snakemen. The temple lacks lighting, so proceed with caution.】
【Fallen Ones Stronghold: Akhan people corrupted by the aura of hell. There are even several mages among them, so be careful with defensive spells.】
【Stone Giant Cliff: Monsters that appeared after the dungeon invasion. Their numbers are small, but every stone giant is incredibly powerful, comparable to a Level 40 professional.】
【Poisonous Insect Hive: Monsters from a dungeon invasion located in a dense forest. The toxins contained in these insects can easily take down professionals below Level 31. Please bring sufficient detoxification potions or equipment.】
"Is it mandatory to go, Director?"
Now that his advancement was complete, Chen Xu had planned to head straight to the Akhan Dynasty to see if he could pass the assessment and play the role of an international student.
"Just call me Brother Liu. My full name is Liu Yisi. After all, pioneering territory affects the Akhan Dynasty's evaluation of us. Last year's Dragon Seed didn't do so well, and we've already received complaints." Liu Yisi spoke helplessly. "Since your advancement mission is done, we can just send people to participate in the pioneering, and it won't affect the rating. However, sending a few skeleton soldiers will count as you being there."
"Oh, right. This year, the British side has proposed to cooperate with us." Liu Yisi suddenly slapped his forehead and pulled out another file.
"They have two rare classes this year who are following the Hero path. Hearing that we have someone on the War path, they wanted to ask if we could cooperate."
The data showed that the two British professionals were a rare class 【Saint】 and a 【Glory Knight】.
"No way, Brother Liu, you're not joking? A Saint and a Glory Knight... those sound like righteous, noble classes. They want to play with a Necromancer like me?"
Liu Yisi curled his lip. "The professional powers bestowed by the World Will don't care about concepts of good and evil. Daxia officials have tacitly approved the cooperation. After all, Akhan's rating of us applies to all of humanity on Blue Star. But if you're unwilling, you can refuse."
"What is their goal?"
"They didn't say. They're being quite mysterious. Do you want to invite them over for a talk? They arrived at British City No. 1 yesterday."
Chen Xu nodded. Regardless, these monster strongholds could be flattened easily by his skeleton army. He wanted to see if he could get some benefits from the British.
After all, the growth of the Undead Kingdom and the advancement of the Lord of the Undead required a large number of dungeon space fragments. Daxia's current inventory didn't have anything suitable for Chen Xu, so he could only look toward other countries.
Not long after Liu Yisi sent a message to the British side, two white youths walked into the council hall from outside.
"You must be Lord Chen Xu. I've heard much about you. My name is Nicholas Poussin. This is Her Highness Elizabeth Martha." Nicholas was very enthusiastic, proactively greeting and introducing themselves.
The other person, Elizabeth, appeared quite cold. After entering the hall, she merely glanced at Chen Xu before finding a seat and sitting down on her own.
"Hello." Chen Xu shook hands with Nicholas. "I heard you are seeking cooperation. I'm wondering what kind of cooperation it is and what your goal is?"
Seeing Chen Xu's straightforward approach, Nicholas stopped with the pleasantries. He took a map from his ring, handed it to Chen Xu, and said, "A blackrock dwarves stronghold."
Chen Xu looked at the red cross on the map. It was much deeper than the five monster strongholds provided by Daxia.
"It's so deep that it's not suitable for occupation. Are you looking for something?"
"Haha, it's our advancement mission target." Nicholas smiled slightly.
"Aren't there people on the British side to cooperate with you?" Chen Xu felt something was off about this advancement mission. "Why look for Daxia? For something that doesn't involve occupying territory, wouldn't it be better to handle it internally?"
In the Akhan Dynasty, cooperation between Blue Star nations was mostly for pioneering territory. Each nation's investment in a single dungeon was limited, but Akhan's spiritual and magical knowledge was indispensable.
Therefore, win-win cooperation was the norm.
Chen Xu didn't know much about this, but he simply wanted to apply pressure and seize the opportunity to demand a good price.
"The British side doesn't have suitable manpower, so we came to seek Lord Chen Xu's help."
"Cooperation is fine, but what about this?" Chen Xu rubbed his thumb and index finger together, signaling with his eyes.
"An epic-tier Elf Heart plus an epic-tier Siren Brain. How about that? Although these are Transcendent-tier items, their rarity is comparable to epic-tier."
Elf Hearts and Siren Brains were special products obtained after the British region conquered dungeons. The former could increase the user's elemental affinity, while the latter could purify mental strength to break through bottlenecks.
Unfortunately, Chen Xu wasn't an elemental mage and didn't deal with elemental reactions. As for mental strength, he had a bit of talent and had no use for a Transcendent-tier Siren Brain.
"If that's all you have, I'm afraid it will be difficult for the cooperation to continue." Chen Xu kept rubbing his fingers.
Elizabeth, standing nearby, looked a bit angry. She looked up and glared at Chen Xu. Just as she was about to speak, Nicholas reached out to stop her.
"Then, Lord Chen Xu, what price do you require?"
"Do you have any dungeon fragments?"
"Dungeon fragments... the British royal family still has some in stock."
Having received the answer he wanted, Chen Xu immediately swapped to an enthusiastic expression and looked at Nicholas with a smile.
"Dear Lord Nicholas, as long as you can provide a dungeon fragment with two affixes, or two dungeon fragments with one affix each, my skeleton army will clear a safe path for you."
After saying that, he summoned Bone Guard One in a crouching position to display his strength.
Looking at Bone Guard One's massive figure, Nicholas and Elizabeth were stunned, while Liu Yisi looked a bit nervous.
"You brat, don't let your huge summon pierce through my roof! There's so much construction going on in the dungeons right now, do you know how hard it is to find a construction crew?"
Hearing this, Chen Xu dismissed Bone Guard One.
"So, how is it? The strength of the skeleton army will not disappoint you. Of course, I can send troops to help you complete the mission first and then collect the payment. That's enough sincerity, right?"
Since he had to pioneer territory anyway, why not pick up an extra side job for some extra profit?
"Very well, it's a deal."
Nicholas extended a fist, and Chen Xu bumped it.
"Lord Chen Xu, when will you deploy your troops?"
"Now."
Walking out of the council hall, Chen Xu waved his hand. Xuan Chu and several thousand skeleton soldiers appeared in the city, while Bone Guard One and tens of thousands of skeleton soldiers appeared outside the city gate facing the council hall. This caused other professionals and Aksu people to instantly become tense, thinking that dungeon monsters had invaded the city.
Fortunately, Liu Yisi spoke up in time to warn them, preventing any accidents.
"You brat, don't suddenly summon skeletons in the city. There are skeleton-type undead creatures in the Scourge Lands as well." Liu Yisi glared at Chen Xu in annoyance.
Chen Xu ignored him and only looked at Nicholas and Elizabeth, who were already dazed by the skeleton legion.
Chen Xu pointed at Xuan Chu. "This is Xuan Chu, my trusted subordinate. If you have any needs in the future, you can mention them to him. Just hand the dungeon fragments to him after the job is done."
Then he said to Xuan Chu, "These two are my big clients. Remember to treat them well. You must not be negligent."
Xuan Chu nodded and then bowed to Nicholas and Elizabeth, acting like a butler receiving guests.
...
After Nicholas and Elizabeth left, Chen Xu dismissed the skeleton army. After all, he was only showing off his strength just now. This was City No. 1, and the target location was outside City No. 9. He had to teleport there first before releasing them to save time.
He then told Liu Yisi his thoughts, asking him to arrange for people to take over the territory conquered by the skeleton army so that the British wouldn't take advantage of it.
"Are you sure you can do it with just your skeletons? I still have some people here who can help." Liu Yisi still had some concerns.
However, combat could significantly accelerate the talent's effect on skill level progression. Chen Xu didn't want the bonus to decrease because of support from others, so he waved his hand.
Seeing that he couldn't dissuade him, Liu Yisi could only follow Chen Xu's instructions and arrange for people to follow behind the skeleton army to prepare for the takeover.
After a few teleports to the outskirts of City No. 9, Chen Xu showed the token given by Liu Yisi so that the defenders of City No. 9 wouldn't panic.
Then he raised his hand and summoned. Xuan Chu, Bone Guard One, Bone Guard Two, and Bone Guard Three, along with 600,000 skeleton soldiers, 300,000 skeleton archers, and 1,000 skeleton priests were all summoned.
He immediately issued orders: Bone Guard One, Bone Guard Three, and Xuan Chu were responsible for commanding the skeleton army, while Bone Guard Two was responsible for hunting down any tough nuts.
After giving the orders, Chen Xu teleported back to City No. 1. He intended to go to the Akhan Dynasty to see if he could blend in as an international student. If international students from other countries were already considered high-level talents, then an international student from another world would have to be a top-tier talent.
After Chen Xu left, the skeleton army advanced toward the five major strongholds under command, leaving only the dumbfounded defenders on the walls of City No. 9.
"Am I hallucinating? So many skeletons? Does Daxia have such a big shot who controls skeletons?"
"We didn't before, but we do now. Though he's already left."
...
"Lord Chen Xu, I hope you take the 【Pioneering Order】 issued by Her Majesty the Queen seriously. This is not a game for children."
To go to the dynasty's territory, one needed to apply for a pass, and the person in charge of approval was the previous dynasty envoy, Akhan Morini.
Mistakenly believing that Chen Xu wasn't taking the pioneering seriously, Morini was very stern at this moment.
"Lord Envoy, I naturally haven't forgotten the mission to pioneer territory. My skeleton army is already advancing toward the Scourge Lands. I believe the good news of successful pioneering will reach your ears soon."
Morini didn't believe Chen Xu's words, but his identity as the dynasty envoy required him to verify them. If Chen Xu was lying, he would have to report to the Queen and the council to punish the Daxia side.
So, Morini took a short staff from his robe and cast a long-distance observation spell—Cyclops Eye—toward the ritual devices unique to the Akhan Dynasty on the surrounding rooftops.
With the help of magical power, Morini saw the massive skeleton army outside City No. 9 and the monsters being easily torn apart by the skeleton soldiers. He subconsciously hung his mouth open.
He then dismissed the spell, put away his staff, and straightened his clothes.
"Powerful Lord Chen Xu, your mastery of necromancy is even more awe-inspiring than your mental strength. Please forgive Morini's insolence." After speaking, he even bowed.
Next, he immediately handed over the pass Chen Xu needed, along with a map of the Akhan Dynasty and five Akhan Gold Coins.
Chen Xu accepted them all.
"Lord Chen Xu, where in the dynasty do you wish to go? I will open the teleportation array for you."
"The Balance School."
"It's actually the Balance School? All Ten Schools have magic towers in the royal capital. You can just find the Tower of Balance in the royal capital."
"Then I'll trouble you."
"It is my honor."
He then led Chen Xu to the teleportation array and activated the ritual. Once the energy was full, a blue light flashed, and Chen Xu arrived in the royal capital.
At the exit of the royal capital's teleportation array, Chen Xu showed his pass, registered his information, and stepped onto the streets of the royal capital.
The streets were composed of large blocks of magic crystals. Most of the buildings on both sides were shops, and the rooftops were covered with Akhan's unique ritual devices.
There were many people coming and going, including mages in robes, luxuriously dressed nobles, and commoners in ordinary clothes.
"My Lord, do you need a guide?" a boy about a meter tall wearing a mage robe asked.
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