Chapter 37: Resource Gathering

Cassian looked out over the Graveyard Fields and the lone skeleton working within them.

​This was the remnant skeleton created alongside his original four Elites.

However, because the fusion had lacked enough matching components, it had failed to reach the same tier as its peers and was subsequently reassigned to tend the territory’s agricultural plots.

​Cassian turned toward the Overseer.

​He could swear that if the creature possessed eyebrows, they would be twitching right now.

By this point, Cassian had realized he was surprisingly adept at reading the subtle nuances in his supposedly expressionless undead.

​"What seems to be the problem, Overseer?"

​The Overseer turned toward him. Its posture remained impeccably respectful, though there was a faint, telling hesitation in its frame.

​"I apologize, my Lord. It is merely that the current management of the Graveyard Fields is... somewhat inefficient."

​Cassian raised an eyebrow. "Inefficient?"

​"Yes, my Lord." The Overseer’s soul flames flickered. "The Soldier Skeleton assigned to the fields possesses excellent combat potential. However, warfare and agriculture are fundamentally different disciplines."

​The Overseer gestured gracefully toward the distant soil. "His methods are excessively forceful."

​Cassian followed its gaze. "...Go on."

​The Overseer nodded calmly. "The task required loosening the soil. The soldier utilized [Slash] and excavated a trench large enough to bury two corpses."

​"..."

​"The task required removing weeds. He uprooted an entire section of the crop bed."

​"..."

​"The task required transporting raw resources. He carried the impurities alongside them."

​Cassian pinched the bridge of his nose.

​The Overseer continued in the exact same refined, professional tone.

"While his dedication is certainly admirable, his techniques are exceedingly rough and poorly suited for agricultural labor."

​It paused briefly before adding, "Furthermore, the amount of physical energy and mana expended vastly exceeds what is necessary for such mundane duties."

​The Overseer folded its gloved skeletal hands neatly behind its waist.

"To put it simply, my Lord... employing a combat unit to perform resource gathering is akin to using a siege weapon to trim a garden hedge."

​Cassian remained silent. The more he listened to the breakdown, the more entirely reasonable the complaint sounded.

​The Overseer’s soul flames brightened slightly.

"With proper, specialized workers assigned to the fields, productivity can be increased severalfold while dramatically reducing resource consumption."

​It glanced back toward the distant worker. "Respectfully speaking, my Lord... if the goal is efficient resource gathering, the esteemed soldier would be of far greater value slaughtering enemies than terrorizing innocent materials."

​Cassian looked back toward the unfortunate field.

​The Soldier Skeleton chose that exact moment to swing its bone shovel into the dirt.

​The motion itself was simple enough, but the result was catastrophic. A chunk of earth nearly the size of a carriage was launched high into the air before crashing heavily several meters away.

​The skeleton stared silently at the crater it had just gouged out of the ground. Then, seemingly deciding the job was well done, it returned to its rhythmic digging.

​"..."

​"..."

​For several seconds, neither Cassian nor the Overseer uttered a single word.

​Finally, Cassian rubbed his forehead with a quiet sigh. "You know what?"

​"Yes, my Lord?"

​"I think your complaint is completely justified."

​The Overseer’s soul flames flared with visible satisfaction.

....

Cassian contemplated all that the Overseer had said before speaking again.

​"That is why you are here," he said, and the Overseer bowed deeply.

​Cassian continued, "Our territory is bound to expand, and resource gathering is only one facet of what will be required for that growth."

​His gaze swept across the Graveyard Fields. Resources were important, in fact, they were the absolute foundation of every domain.

Every Lord possessed some form of resource-gathering infrastructure, whether mines, forests, quarries, farms, or unique territory-specific facilities.

All of them existed for a single purpose: to sustain expansion.

​Without resources, construction halted. Without resources, armies could not be equipped. Without resources, a territory stagnated until it was eventually swallowed by stronger powers.

​The crops and materials harvested from the Graveyard Fields might appear modest now, but they represented the lifeblood of the Graveshade Expanse.

Stone would become walls, timber would become structures, and ore would become weapons and armor. Special resources would form the baseline for even greater creations.

​And that was only the beginning.

​If a Lord possessed the proper support units, the value of those resources multiplied exponentially.

A blacksmith could transform ore into high-grade equipment, an alchemist could refine rare materials into potent elixirs, an enchanter could imbue weapons with supernatural properties, and an array master could construct defensive formations capable of protecting an entire city.

​The exact same raw materials in the hands of ordinary laborers versus specialized support units would produce completely different outcomes.

That was why resource collection had to be managed with absolute precision, every wasted material was a wasted opportunity.

​Furthermore, resources were not limited to dedicated facilities like the Graveyard Fields.

Forests could be logged, ore veins mined, rare herbs gathered, and monster corpses systematically processed.

Entire conquered regions could become sources of priceless material, and all of those tasks would ultimately fall upon his workers.

​Yet raw gathering was only one of their responsibilities. Workers also built infrastructure: roads, warehouses, defensive walls, watchtowers, barracks, and housing districts, countless structures required for a Lord’s territory to function.

​And if construction was supervised by a specialized support unit such as an Architect, the resulting structures would be vastly superior to ordinary versions, granting better durability, higher efficiency, and unique territorial buffs.

​A powerful army might conquer land, but it was workers who transformed conquered land into a thriving domain.

​Cassian’s gaze shifted toward the eight workers standing quietly before him:

​Worker Skeleton ×1 — B-Grade Potential

​Worker Skeleton ×2 — A-Grade Potential

​Foreman Skeleton ×2 — S-Grade Potential

​Foreman Skeleton ×2 — SS-Grade Potential

​Overseer Skeleton ×1 — SSS-Grade Potential

​The lineup was undeniably impressive, yet Cassian knew it was nowhere near enough for the future he envisioned, not for a territory meant to eventually span entire worlds.

​A thoughtful look appeared on his face. For his master plan to become reality, this elite administrative core would need reinforcements.

​Massive quantities of them.

​After all, an empire could not be built by eight workers alone.