Chapter 376 - 188: Gargoyle Lair

Constructing the Spiritual Research Room would take some time, so Li Ziyu went to check on his other buildings. He had planned on upgrading the Weapon Workshop and Armor Workshop, but a quick glance at the requirements revealed they both needed a Spiritual Core. ’Well, so much for that,’ he thought. ’I’ll come back to this after the research is finished.’

Sifting through the building options, he finally found one that piqued his interest—the Gargoyle Nest.

[Gargoyle Nest]

[Introduction: Have you heard of them? They are a host of Magic Creatures created by the Undead. They turn to stone in the sunlight, only to reawaken when night falls! They will watch you in silence, then suddenly jump out and give you a fright. Though they love their pranks, they still make for competent guards.]

[Unlocks Unit: Gargoyle Guard]

[Construction Requirements: Stone x10,000, Skeletons x1,000, Spiritual Energy x2,000]

[Footprint: None (Must be built inside a Main City Level building)]

Having just survived a major battle and upgraded to a Fortress, the entire Mobile Fortress had a thousand things that needed doing. Adding some Defense Warriors would be good, so he decided to build the Gargoyle Nest.

From the perspective of his past life, gargoyles could turn into stone statues. Besides being used for defense, these statues could also be used to decorate the Great Tomb and the Fortress’s main tower, adding a bit of "liveliness."

Li Ziyu placed the Gargoyle Nest in a room in the main tower and began construction.

Leaving the Gargoyle Nest to build on its own, Li Ziyu continued to examine other structures. Many buildings now required a Spiritual Core and couldn’t be built for the time being, but some wall-related structures were available.

[Thickened Bone Plate]

[Introduction: Adds a layer of Bone Plate made from a mixture of Bone Powder and Stone Powder to the city walls. While increasing the wall’s thickness, it also provides a certain amount of Defense Power. PS: This thing isn’t as useful as you think. Don’t go overboard. It’s recommended to install it on the lower part of the wall.]

[Construction Requirements: Stone x1, Skeletons x1]

The Thickened Bone Plate was basically just an extra layer of bricks for the wall, making it a bit more durable. The construction requirement was per unit of area, so covering the entire wall would consume a considerable amount of resources.

Fortunately, Li Ziyu had no intention of wrapping the entire wall with Thickened Bone Plate. He planned to follow the system’s advice and reinforce the lower section. Applying a layer of Bone Plate from the base of the wall up to a height of four meters would be enough.

With the bottom four meters of the wall to be covered in Bone Plate, Li Ziyu planned to install Thorn Wall Plates on the upper sixteen meters. This type of panel was covered in spikes and, in addition to its Defense Power and Magic Resistance Attribute, could also inflict damage on enemies during a siege.

[Thorn Wall Plate]

[Introduction: To increase the wall’s Defense Power, the Undead designed the Thorn Wall Plate, inspired by thorn bushes. The outer layer is covered in spikes, like thorny vines. Don’t think this is giving the enemy a chance to climb—the Undead aren’t that foolish. These thorns are alive! PS: It would be even more perfect if combined with other defenses.]

[Construction Requirements: Stone x1, Skeletons x3]

With the Thickened Bone Plate and Thorn Wall Plate, the walls would become much more solid and gain the ability to repel a siege.

Just as the wall renovations began, a system notification announced that the [Gargoyle Nest] was complete and a new unit had been unlocked.

Li Ziyu opened the system page and found the new unit—Gargoyle Guard.

Only then did he realize that the so-called Gargoyle Guard wasn’t a single type of unit, but a Category that included several units like the Flying Gargoyle, Armor Guard, and Gargoyle Warrior.

This wasn’t just unlocking a new unit; with all the different types of Gargoyles, it was like he had unlocked an entire Race.

Li Ziyu didn’t know it, but his remark was actually correct. In the history of the Undead, Gargoyles were a Race they created using Soul Energy. But over countless ages, the Undead (especially the Liches) had improved upon the Gargoyles, generation after generation.

The Undead were, in fact, a lazy Race. They created Gargoyles hoping they would help them get things done. And so, after generations of improvements, they succeeded in giving the Gargoyles the ability to think... which was tantamount to creating a new Race.

After gaining the ability to think, the Gargoyles gradually broke free of control, even launching a war against the Undead that lasted for nearly a hundred years. In the end, the Undead felt they shouldn’t destroy a Race they themselves had created and decided to accept the Gargoyles, making them members of the Undead Race.

This decision by the Undead isn’t actually hard to understand. Not only were the Gargoyles the culmination of their painstaking research and development, but the Undead are also incapable of procreation. They practically saw the Gargoyles as their own children, even if those children were clamoring for freedom and demanding the overthrow of Undead rule.

But parents still love their children, and the Undead merely felt the Gargoyles were throwing a temper tantrum. Besides, who other than the Undead would accept this group of creatures created by Magic?

The war ended with the Gargoyles returning to the Undead Race and becoming a new branch. So Li Ziyu’s quip really wasn’t wrong. The Gargoyles were indeed an independent Race—a branch of the Undead Race, the Gargoyle clan, just like the Skeleton Undead.

However, since the Gargoyle Race was ultimately created by the Undead, any member of the Undead Race could possess some Gargoyle units.

The lowest-level Gargoyle provided by the Gargoyle Nest was the Gargoyle Warrior, a fairly basic Gargoyle Warrior. They were ugly and muscular, used one-handed weapons such as swords and axes, and were extremely vulnerable to sunlight, generally only able to operate in the dark.