Seeing this, Chenxi ordered the Array team to halt.

The tornado slowly subsided. The skeletons that had been swept into the sky fell back to earth as little more than heaps of bones, clattering all over the ground.

Lin Yu smoothed his wind-tousled hair. "What a magnificent tornado!"

The tornadoes summoned by the Shape-shifting Druids a few days ago during their fight with the Energy Gathering Skeletons had been too small. He had also been standing too far away, so it hadn’t been very exciting.

This tornado was several times larger than the last, and its force was contained entirely within the whirlwind itself. Even though he was standing less than ten meters away, he didn’t have to worry about being swept up.

This was the first time he had ever observed such a massive tornado from this close. It was a truly spectacular sight.

Lin Yu glanced at his subordinates. The members who had initially kited the monsters and served as the reserve team were now eager for a fight. In contrast, everyone on the Magic Array, except for Meiying, was utterly exhausted.

"Go see how many skeletons are left. If there aren’t many, we’ll charge in and finish them off."

Lin Yu ordered the reserve team to scout the condition of the skeleton horde while the others rested.

After a short rest, the scouting party returned with good news: only a few hundred skeletons remained, most of which were common types.

Lin Yu was overjoyed. He instructed the members of the Magic Array to continue resting and ordered everyone else to attack.

After a single assault, the remaining skeletons were all shattered.

After claiming the spoils from these dozen or so Wyite Bone Altars, Lin Yu’s count of Universal Fragments broke 100.

"Let’s move out! Meiying, lead the troops back to camp."

Before leaving, Lin Yu glanced back at the Undead Buildings dotting the landscape in the distance. It was like looking at a massive gold mine.

Back at the camp, everyone began to rest and prepare dinner.

Lin Yu called Meiying aside.

"Meiying, I may not be able to stay here all the time going forward."

"That Land of White Bones has too many Undead Buildings to clear out in a short time. I’ll have to leave it to you."

"When I return, I’ll send more people to reinforce your unit’s combat strength."

Lin Yu and Chenxi returned to the territory alone. Their journey was uneventful, and they arrived back safely.

The two rode the Heaven-Reaching Vine and quickly returned to the inner part of the territory.

"Chenxi, I’ll need you to lead a new team out again tomorrow. I have a feeling that if we can completely clear that area, our gains will be enormous."

...

In the following days, Lin Yu had his people clear a road from the territory to the camp. Every day, teams drove horse-drawn and ox-drawn carts to deliver supplies, freeing the warriors at the camp from the chore of foraging for food.

The camp was also expanded. It was no longer a collection of simple treehouses but had been transformed into a proper military outpost with wooden walls, watchtowers, and additional barracks.

(PS: As it wasn’t built within the territory, it didn’t receive any territorial bonuses, consuming a significant amount of materials and manpower.)

After the Jade Sanctuary was upgraded to Level 5, the number of Druids that could be recruited daily increased to 150.

All the newly recruited Druids, as well as any elves, hero-tier beasts, demons, and hero-tier fairies without specific duties, were dispatched to the camp.

Chenxi also taught her coordinated attack Magic Array to the elves in the camp. It wasn’t that she was unwilling to teach other races, but few in the camp followed a pure Mage path.

Most of the intelligent members had confidently chosen a hybrid path. In the end, only a few elves who were both intelligent enough and followed a pure Mage path managed to learn how to deploy the array.

Each day, a small contingent would remain to guard the camp, while the rest, led by Meiying, attacked the Land of White Bones. They would select suitable Undead Buildings to clear based on their team’s composition.

With the support of the array, they could clear ten to twenty Undead Buildings daily.

Every afternoon, Lin Yu would travel to the camp to dismantle the cleared Undead Buildings, harvest the Universal Building Fragments, and then return to his territory before sunset. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

The quality of the Undead Buildings in the Land of White Bones began to increase. The lowest were now of Excellent quality, and occasionally, Legendary-grade structures like Undead Forges, Bone Stables, and Undead Fortresses would appear.

The Undead Forge and Bone Stable produced White Bone War Chariots and Bone Knights, respectively.

The Undead Fortress could produce Giant Shield Skeleton Soldiers, Poison Bow Skeleton Archers, and Elite Skeleton Mages.

These unit types had significantly improved stats, but they posed less of a threat to Meiying’s team than the original Energy Gathering Skeletons had.

The main reason was that after days of fighting, the levels of Lin Yu’s combat units had risen. They were no longer the high-quality (Legendary), low-level (Level 1) force they had been at the start.

They had all reached Level 10 or higher, matching and even surpassing the level of the guardians in the Land of White Bones. This gave them a significant stat advantage.

For example, the stats of an ordinary Shape-shifting Druid at Level 10 were:

[Attack]: 1202.5

[Magic Power]: 1202.5

[Speed]: 1007.5

[Defense]: 552.5

[HP]: 2177.5

Aside from Defense, all other stats were over a thousand. They could one-shot any Excellent-quality guardian other than the Energy Gathering Skeletons.

As for the elves, even the lowest Excellent-grade ones had stats that could reach:

[Attack]: 1200

[Magic Power]: 1200

[Speed]: 2190

[Defense]: 960

[HP]: 3060

They could easily crush those guardians. The demons were even more powerful, as few among them were of Excellent quality; most were Legendary-grade.

Take a Wolf Demon for example. A Legendary-grade Wolf Demon (Forest Wolf) at Level 10 would have the following stats:

[Attack]: 7200

[Magic Power]: 6300

[Speed]: 7740

[Defense]: 5400

[HP]: 14400

If it weren’t for the fact that most demons lacked area-of-effect skills, each one could have easily taken on a hundred enemies.

Thus, the battles to conquer the Land of White Bones grew progressively easier for the camp’s forces.

Unfortunately, the Recruitment Offices in the Land of White Bones produced a new batch of guardians every day. If not for the ever-increasing number of defenders, Meiying would have led her forces into the heartland long ago.

However, because of this feature, Lin Yu deliberately left a few ordinary Wyite Bone Altars standing. Every day, newly recruited Druids were brought there to grind for experience, continuously raising the average level of his army.

Meanwhile, Lin Yu used 100 Universal Building Fragments to replicate an Excellent-grade version of the Jade Sanctuary—the Druid Temple.

[Name]: Druid Temple

[Category]: Nature-Type Building

[Grade]: Excellent (Green)

[Description]: A place for training new recruits for the Druidic Order.

[Recruitable]: Druid Guard

[Durability]: 8000

[Special]: Allows subjects to enter and study. Upon passing an assessment, they can change their class to Junior-tier Druid.

The Druid Guard is an Excellent-quality unit with a combat power of 50. They possess skills like communicating with plants and animals, using Elemental Missile, transforming into small animals, and Healing Touch. They are jacks-of-all-trades, but their stats are far inferior to the Druids recruited from the Jade Sanctuary.

After recruiting one batch of Druid Guards to serve as security, Lin Yu stopped. Fortunately, the building could also be used to train his subjects.

Subjects who successfully learned the skills of a Druid Guard at the Druid Temple could graduate. Upon graduation, they would change their class to Junior-tier Druid and become a territorial unit.

Furthermore, compared to directly recruited units, those who changed class through self-study had immense potential, as they could continue to advance through further learning.

The only downside was that the process was time-consuming. The amount of time required varied depending on each subject’s aptitude.

This was unlike direct recruitment, where quotas refreshed daily, and you could get standardized soldiers simply by paying the required resources.