Volume 9: From Green Leaves to the Departed Chapter 15: The Fat Crocodile Leads the Team to Join

After finishing these discussions, Li Bin met with the heroes serving under Fatty Crocodile.

Gina, female, a Corpse-Soul Medusa, is a Level 6/4 Archer-type Undead hero. She wields serpent-hair and a bow as weapons. Her special skill is "Precision Shot," which enhances the accuracy of her ranged troops, an effect that strengthens as she levels up. Her racial ability allows her to petrify opponents in melee combat. Her battle standard bears an arrow marked with a serpent pattern. She was one of the first heroes Fatty Crocodile recruited from the Undead Tavern; she excels at precision shooting, commands his ranged units, and has always been deeply loyal to him.

Pluto, male, an Undead Minotaur Orc, is a Level 6/4 Warrior-type Undead hero. He wields a double-bladed great axe. His special skill is "Minotaur Orc Creation," allowing him to craft powerful Minotaur Orcs by stitching together the corpses of high-level orcs and deceased minotaurs. However, the success rate is low, and the process requires a specialized Undead Unit Workshop within a city. His battle standard depicts an Undead Minotaur Orc standing upon a pile of skulls. It is said he was originally an orc hero who died on the battlefield before being saved by Fatty Crocodile. Because his body was severely shattered, Fatty Crocodile had to fuse him with a dead minotaur, granting him a more formidable physique and immense strength. Since then, he has served as the commander of Fatty Crocodile’s warrior units.

Rudd, male, an Undead Minotaur Knight, is a Level 6/4 Knight-type Undead hero. He uses a knight’s lance and possesses the special skill "Charge Formation," which allows his knights to automatically adopt a specialized charge array that increases attack power, with the effectiveness scaling alongside his level. Additionally, he learned Undead Knight training from Fatty Crocodile, enabling him to craft powerful Minotaur Knights by combining high-level orc corpses with dead minotaurs. Though the success rate is low, it is rumored he can eventually craft Undead Lizard Knights and Undead Dragon Knights. This also requires the specialized Undead Unit Workshop, and the knight’s level will be one to two tiers higher than their mount. His battle standard shows a charging Minotaur Knight surrounded by flying corpses.

Karu, male, a Three-Headed Zombie Wyvern, is a Level 9/6 Warrior-type Undead hero. He wields his natural claws and possesses the special skill "Poison," which gives his troops a chance to poison enemies in melee combat. His battle standard features a flying three-headed wyvern. He typically leads the flying units for Fatty Crocodile. It is said that he was originally Fatty Crocodile’s first hero, a Swamp Beastmaster. During a battle against a Swamp Hydra, his body was shattered, and Fatty Crocodile had to fuse him with a Three-Headed Zombie Wyvern, even incorporating a purchased Azure Dragon heart. Fatty Crocodile has always felt guilty about this, but Karu is quite happy, as he not only gained a powerful body but also the ability to use wind-type magic.

Richie, female, an Undead Lizardman Shaman, is a Level 6/6 Mage-type Undead hero. She wields a staff, and her special skill is "Curse Enhancement," which strengthens the magic used by her troops to curse enemies. This effect improves as the hero levels up. Her battle standard features a staff topped by a winged skull. She was an Undead Lizardman Shaman created by Fatty Crocodile who completed her hero trials independently before becoming a hero. She is a fairly capable mage.

Coupled with a Necropolis Demon that Fatty Crocodile had nearly transformed into a swamp, this comprised the entirety of Fatty Crocodile's forces, as all his other troops had been reduced to cannon fodder in the final battle.

However, what surprised Li Bin most was Fatty Crocodile’s spirit of modification. He was far more patient than Li Bin, who was always running around. When he only had a swamp city, he had already modified every unit within it. His proudest creations included Corpse Vines, Dragonfly Corpses, Steel-Crossbow Skeleton Snipers, Undead Lizardman Shamans, Three-Headed Zombie Wyverns, and Minotaur Orcs. Unlike Li Bin, who simply produced units and let them level up on their own, Fatty Crocodile designed production assembly lines and new buildings so that his territory could freely manufacture these specialized units. Moreover, after every battle, he would refine the details of these units; for example, his Three-Headed Zombie Wyverns were the result of seven different modifications. This was the exact opposite of Li Bin’s method.

Consequently, after every battle, the individual strength of Fatty Crocodile's troops would improve. It was a pity that the level of his City Heart was too low at the time, and he lacked the luck Li Bin had in completing several major quests, meaning his troops' levels remained stagnant. Combined with the low conversion rate, his troop numbers were small, leaving him unable to adapt to the operational needs of an undead army.

Having understood this, Li Bin explained the situation to Fatty Crocodile while secretly resolving that once his new city was built, he would carefully manufacture new troops, otherwise, he would truly be wasting his talent. Meanwhile, Fatty Crocodile planned to begin researching new unit types as soon as he finished helping Li Bin convert all the public cities into pseudo-undead cities. He believed that Li Bin’s cities would surely have many high-level troops from various factions to serve as experimental subjects; with good targets, he could create even more powerful units.

Hearing Fatty Crocodile’s vision, Li Bin was delighted. He not only promised Fatty Crocodile a 1% share of the income from the cities he modified as a reward, but he also selected a swamp-type public city to gift to Fatty Crocodile as his residence, promising not to interfere with his freedom of action in the future. Furthermore, he granted Fatty Crocodile significant privileges: while Fatty Crocodile remained Li Bin’s subordinate on this continent, he would be considered an ally on all other continents, giving him the right to develop independently.

Of course, this was not the best time for them to begin their experiments immediately. They had to reach the far north of the continent as quickly as possible, where Li Bin’s second and largest city would soon be born. Afterward, the main administrative center of Li Bin’s territory would be moved from Ghost Butterfly City to the new city. The territory around Ghost Butterfly City would become a window for external relations and a strategic depth for Li Bin’s domain, with the administrator to be chosen from among Jessica, Lidas, and Wine Vat.

Personally, Li Bin favored Jessica’s abilities, even though she was always clamoring to turn Li Bin’s territory into a sanctuary for human habitation. The new territory would be controlled entirely by undead cities; apart from Li Bin’s heroes and allies, any forces or individuals entering would face comprehensive attacks from the skies and the earth.

Of course, this was currently just a vision of Li Bin’s. Throughout the journey to the north, in addition to discussing the development of the new territory with San Nei, the future administrator Morgan, and Fatty Crocodile, Li Bin also sought opinions from his other heroes regarding the new city and territory. Subsequently, Li Bin translated all these suggestions onto blueprints. By the time they reached the Dragon-Shaped Sand Dunes, Li Bin held in his hands a highly detailed set of city design plans.