Chapter 77: Chapter 77: A Real Town

To them, Aiden didn’t look like a stranger.

He didn’t look like the man who had ordered their deaths.

Instead.

He looked like something far greater.

Like a god.

Without a word, the undead throughout the town began to kneel.

Zombies dropped to one knee on the bloodstained streets.

Skeletons lowered their skulls respectfully.

Wraiths floated downward, bowing their ghostly forms.

Hundreds of undead filled the town, all kneeling in the same direction.

A low murmur spread through them.

“Lord…”

“Our lord…”

“Praise… our lord…”

From the rooftop, Aiden looked down at the entire town kneeling before him.

For a moment, even he didn’t say anything.

The town was silent again.

Aiden was still looking over the kneeling undead when another notification suddenly appeared in front of him.

The blue screen flickered slightly in the air.

[System Notice

All gold coins within your territory can now be stored in the system inventory.

Total Gold Collected From Town: 5,000 Gold Coins]

Aiden blinked once.

“Five thousand?”

He quickly opened his currency tab.

Another number appeared.

[Total Gold Coins: 5,583]

Aiden let out a low whistle.

“Not bad…”

The Dustwind clan had been wealthy, but he hadn’t expected the entire town to hold this much gold. With the five hundred coins he already had, his total now reached over five thousand.

His eyes moved to the Building System tab that had just unlocked.

Curious, he opened it.

The interface expanded immediately, revealing an entire menu filled with different structures, upgrades, and blueprints. Some were simple, houses, storage buildings, watchtowers, while others looked far more complicated.

Aiden scrolled slowly through the list.

“What the hell…”

There were even options to reshape terrain, build defensive walls, create gates, towers, and other things that looked like they belonged in a strategy game.

Then one particular blueprint caught his attention.

[Town Wall Reinforcement Blueprint]

A diagram appeared beside it, showing the current wooden walls of the town being replaced by thick stone fortifications.

He leaned back a little and shook his head.

“Wow… this is a game changer.”

The system wasn’t just helping him summon undead.

It was giving him the ability to build an entire territory.

“Anything can be built… as long as I have gold coins,” he muttered.

Aiden slowly closed the building interface for now and looked down at the streets again.

Hundreds of undead were still kneeling across the town.

All of them remained bowed toward him, waiting silently.

Aiden raised his hand slightly.

“Raise.”

His voice wasn’t loud, but the command carried across the silent streets.

Slowly, the undead began to stand.

Zombies pushed themselves up from their knees. Skeletons straightened their backs, bones clicking softly. Wraiths floated upright again.

Aiden looked down at them calmly.

“I’m giving you all a second chance, become the foundation of my territory.” he said.

For a moment, the undead just stared at him.

Then the murmurs began again.

“Praise our lord…”

“Our savior…”

“God of death…”

The voices grew louder as more of them began speaking.

Aiden sighed quietly.

They clearly worshipped him now.

But one thing was obvious.

These undead weren’t fighters.

They weren’t like his summoned skeleton soldiers.

They moved normally, spoke normally, and even looked at each other like ordinary townspeople. They were more like… citizens of the dead rather than warriors.

“They can’t fight,” Aiden muttered to himself.

“They’re basically just normal citizens now.”

Still, a town needed people.

And now he had them.

His gaze then shifted toward the battlefield where the Dustwind clan warriors had fallen earlier.

Most of their bodies were still lying where they died.

Unfortunately, none of them had turned into natural undead like the civilians did.

Aiden clicked his tongue slightly.

“Too bad.”

If the clan’s warriors had risen like the townspeople, he would’ve gained dozens of strong fighters instantly.

But that didn’t mean he couldn’t use them.

He could still raise them himself.

His eyes landed on the bodies of the six Body Tempering practitioners of the Dustwind clan.

Including Roderic.

Aiden jumped down from the rooftop and landed lightly on the ground below. The undead nearby immediately stepped aside, clearing a path for him.

He walked toward the fallen warriors.

Their bodies were still fresh.

Perfect.

Aiden raised one hand.

“Lord of the Dead.”

A cold surge of necrotic energy spread from his palm and flowed toward the six corpses.

Dark energy wrapped around the bodies like shadowy chains.

The first corpse twitched.

Then suddenly.

After the third tries the body collapsed into dust.

Aiden frowned slightly.

“Failed.”

He used it again.

Necrotic energy surged again.

The corpse trembled violently before the bones inside shattered and crumbled apart.

“Another failure…”

By the time he finished, three bodies had successfully risen as undead.

Three others had failed completely.

But the last one, the most important one, slowly stood up.

Roderic.

The former head of the Dustwind clan opened his lifeless eyes and rose to his feet like a puppet pulled by invisible strings.

Aiden looked at him carefully.

Then a small smile appeared on his face.

“Well…”

“The clan head himself.”

Roderic stood silently before him now, no longer the proud leader of the Dustwind clan.

Just another mindless undead under Aiden’s command.

Aiden studied them for a second, then spoke calmly.

“Return.”

Dark mist wrapped around their bodies.

One by one, the three undead dissolved into black smoke and disappeared, returning to the space where his summons were stored.

The plaza became quiet again.

The undead townspeople were still scattered around the streets, whispering and praising him like devoted followers.

Aiden was about to walk away when he suddenly heard something unusual.

Clack… clack… clack…

It sounded like bones knocking against each other.

He turned his head.

From the far end of the street, a carriage slowly rolled toward him.

But it wasn’t pulled by normal horses.

The two creatures dragging the carriage were skeletal horses, bare white bones moving with eerie precision. Their hollow skulls faced forward, empty eye sockets glowing faintly with dim blue light.

The carriage itself was dark and elegant, though clearly old. Its wooden frame had carved patterns that once symbolized the Dustwind clan.

The skeletal horses stopped a few steps in front of Aiden.

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