Chapter 47: The Truth-Serum Attempt

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After hurrying back to the Black Moon Tribe at noon and immediately beginning a full afternoon of handicraft work, Zhou Xu had barely found a few minutes to rest throughout the entire day.

As the sun sank westward, fires were lit around the camp and people began preparing dinner. Taking advantage of the fact that all the tribe members had returned, Zhou Xu rose to his feet.

“Everyone, listen up. I’m planning to form a transport team of five. Your main duty will be to carry essential supplies from Black Moon Camp to Salt Lake Camp, then bring coal ore and salt back from Salt Lake Camp to Black Moon Camp.”

Under the gaze of every tribe member in Black Moon Camp, Zhou Xu quickly explained the transport team’s duties.

“This work requires excellent physical strength. Anyone among you who is particularly strong, step forward.”

Aside from Zhou Chongshan and the others, Zhou Xu currently had a clear impression of no more than five people in his tribe.

There was no helping it. All five of their attributes were only two-star.

Of course, he did not mean that he looked down on two-star individuals. He had already more or less figured out what the rating meant: two stars represented the level of an ordinary person.

And what was wrong with being ordinary?

There were more ordinary people in this world than anything else, along with the occasional ordinary person who believed they were extraordinary.

It was likely that more than ninety percent of humanity consisted of ordinary two-star individuals. Yet it was precisely these ordinary people who made up the vast majority of mankind, an indispensable part of the species.

Still, although he did not look down on them, they truly lacked distinctiveness in Zhou Xu’s eyes—nothing that made them easy to recognize or remember.

With every panel showing two stars across the board, Zhou Xu had no way to tell who among them possessed greater physical strength by looking at their five-dimensional attributes.

The only thing that could distinguish their abilities to some extent was their similarly ordinary talents.

But the same problem remained: there were simply too many people, and it was difficult to remember them all.

As for using the Eye of Insight to inspect every member of the tribe again, that would consume quite a lot of energy. Zhou Xu really did not want to waste any more of his strength on such a matter.

After all, according to his plans, he intended to spend some time later studying the ability known as Skeleton Control.

Fortunately, only eleven or twelve people stepped forward, so the matter was not particularly troublesome.

[Eye of Insight]

Talents such as “Experienced Gatherer” and “Stubborn Will” clearly did not meet Zhou Xu’s requirements.

“You, you, you—and you…”

After making a suitable comparison and weighing his options, Zhou Xu quickly selected the five members of the transport team.

“That makes five of you. From today onward, this will be your responsibility.”

In truth, Zhou Xu had considered making a wooden cart to improve transportation efficiency.

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But in an era like this, how easy was it to make wheels and axles?

Compared with building a wooden cart, he was now more inclined to tame animals such as cattle and horses. That way, he could use them to carry goods.

Unfortunately, he had yet to encounter any.

Once he did, he might be able to take a sudden turn and usher in the age of animal husbandry ahead of schedule.

In any case, once matters here were settled and the camp had stabilized, the scouting teams could begin exploring the outside world.

Hopefully, they would have something to show for it by then.

After assigning the members of the transport team, everyone went off to eat and rest.

Zhou Xu, meanwhile, followed his original plan and began studying the mantra for Skeleton Control.

“Chongshan, gather all the skeletons we’ve collected.”

“Yes!”

Upon receiving the order, Zhou Chongshan acted swiftly. He summoned several people and, after a few rounds of work, the area before Zhou Xu was soon piled high with skeletons.

They counted thirty-nine in total, gathered and carried back bit by bit over the past several days.

By now, dusk had fallen. Seated in the midst of the mound of skeletons, Zhou Xu looked distinctly eerie.

The former members of the Black Moon Tribe had clearly grown accustomed to such a sight. After all, their previous chief had done the same thing.

As for the former members of the Salt Lake Tribe, they were not afraid either, simply because the person sitting there was Zhou Xu.

He had no intention of asking anyone to leave. One by one, ancient syllables soon emerged from his mouth.

[Skeleton Control!]

In an instant, an invisible force spread outward. Green ghostly flames sprang to life within the hollow eye sockets of the skeletons, and amid a chorus of clicking and clattering, they climbed to their feet.

Looking at the skeletons standing around him, Zhou Xu felt a faint stir of surprise.

Because at that very moment, all thirty-nine skeletons present had risen!

He had indeed activated the mantra with the thought of seeing how many skeletons he could raise, but he had never expected to achieve this much.

One had to remember that when the other transmigrator had once used Skeleton Control to launch an attack, there had been only around twenty skeletons in total.

Zhou Xu did not believe that the other person had been able to find only twenty skeletons. Most likely, that was the maximum number they could control.

Yet he had surpassed that number with ease.

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And one more thing: he had raised thirty-nine skeletons because there were only thirty-nine skeletons nearby—not because thirty-nine was his limit!

After thinking it over briefly, Zhou Xu soon arrived at an explanation.

[This is probably related to my Spirit attribute, which reached three stars from the very beginning. After all, it is currently the only attribute in which I possess exceptional strength.]

[Following that line of thought, the strength of the Spirit attribute must affect the abilities of the mantras. Perhaps it influences the number of times they can be used—in other words, their consumption—or perhaps it affects their power…]

With this in mind, Zhou Xu began trying to control the skeletons and arrange them into the attack formation he wanted.

However, the skeletons seemed unable to understand his intentions. Even a very simple formation appeared to be beyond their comprehension.

Zhou Xu then changed his approach.

[Advance!]

This time, the skeletons finally understood. They began moving forward one after another.

[Attack that rock!]

Upon receiving the command, the skeletons immediately began waving their arms and repeatedly striking the rock.

[I understand now. These skeletons can only comprehend commands that are extremely simple and basic. The moment the slightest degree of complexity is added…]

With that thought, Zhou Xu issued another order.

[Pick up that rock.]

Sure enough, the skeletons had no idea what to do. They simply stood there, frozen in place.

At that point, Zhou Xu had essentially figured them out.

Put simply, it was best to think of them as animals with intelligence even lower than that of dogs, utterly incapable of carrying out complicated commands.

With that in mind, combined with his earlier speculation, a new idea began to form in his mind.

[Let’s give it a try.]

As the thought flashed through his mind, those ancient syllables once again emerged from Zhou Xu’s mouth.

[Skeleton Soldier Control!]