Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 405 Brilliant Gold Element
Su Mu led Forrest north, and along the way, they arrived at the haunted gold mine.

The gilded altar is located next to the haunted gold mine, and has always been shrouded in darkness, making it impossible to observe what is happening inside.

Of course, "Night Concealment" doesn't mean that the place is always shrouded in dark clouds or pitch black; rather, it means that the surrounding environment is hidden, and it's impossible to observe any activity inside using ordinary spells or magic.

To outsiders, the haunted gold mine is just a desolate ravine shrouded in mist year-round, containing nothing of value, so naturally no one is willing to explore it.

However, if someone investigates carefully, they will find that a sizable undead army has already gathered here.

The two entered the haunted gold mine, where Liliana and several vampire leaders greeted them.

Although Kuraki's ascension to the Duchy was a cause for celebration among humans, it had little to do with the undead.

Liliana built a castle with giant stones next to the haunted gold mine. The interior was decorated in a way that suited vampire aesthetics, and each room contained a thick coffin for the leaders to sleep in.

Su Mu only glanced at it, but he already knew what the undead were thinking.

Being stationed in the haunted gold mine without a fixed city or settlement is certainly not a long-term solution.

Although the cursed environment of the haunted gold mine is very suitable for the undead, it is not like a barracks building that can provide enough cursed support. Now that the number of them is gradually increasing, it is somewhat meager.

To put it simply, the haunted gold mine is like a communal dormitory, while the upscale haunted houses in the town are like villas. Even if Liliana could tolerate it, with so many subordinates, she would naturally have other ideas; that's the difficulty of being a hero.

Overall, however, Liliana maintained good control, managing to keep the undead from causing any harm in human territory, which was already a testament to the strict execution of her orders.

"Once Kuraki has had some time to recuperate, he will go and settle accounts with the ancient ruins. At that time, you will be able to obtain the best place to set up camp!"

Upon hearing the news, Liliana was overjoyed and immediately leaned closer, taking the lord's arm and offering him a tender embrace.

The fact that an undead army could be maintained on human territory was largely due to Su Mu's support and Liliana's contribution. She was well aware of the conflict between the living and the undead, so she tried her best not to stand out and gave the opportunity to other heroes to make a name for themselves. The vampire army acted as the shadowy hand, following Su Mu's instructions wherever he pointed.

Although subordinates like Akasha often offer suggestions for development, Liliana remains passive. Too many wizards betray their masters due to greed for power and desire, and necromancers are rampant in the ancient ruins. However, she is unusually clear-headed. The Night Queen's abilities are outstanding, but she needs space to utilize them. With the blessing of governance, Kuraki will definitely develop into an unprecedented force.

The group arrived at the gilded altar, and Su Mu took out the Heart of Gale and the Heart of Rock, placing them in their respective slots.

After the Heart of Rock was placed, the surrounding soil quickly gathered and countless spikes emerged from the ground, releasing powerful earth elemental energy.

Su Mu continued to embed the Heart of Gale, and instantly a gust of wind spun in place, shattering all the soil and turning the earthen yellow world into a golden one.

In fact, Su Mu was a little reluctant to part with these two treasures. Both of them were very powerful level 3 treasures, capable of resisting level 1-4 air and earth elemental magic damage, and also increasing abnormal resistance, making them very useful.

However, the gold element is a rather special ranged unit. Not only is it immune to certain types of magic, but it can also ignore mind magic, making it arguably the most powerful ranged unit.

The reason so many Earthbows were lost in the last great war was due to the influence of mind magic.

While ranged units have extremely high attack power, they are easily restricted. If you can have a ranged unit that can ignore most magic to hold the line, the next battle will be much easier.

Especially the ancient ruins they're about to deal with, which possess deception artifacts and are sure to have powerful special mind magic. If Kuraki's troops get controlled again, that would be a real problem.

After much deliberation, Su Mu decided to activate the construction of the Gilded Altar. Resistance to level 1-4 magic could be completely mitigated with anti-magic spells, but the new, powerful troops provided sustained damage, which was crucial.

As the wind swept through the sand, countless golden particles coalesced within the altar, becoming dazzlingly bright. Just then, Forrest stepped forward and added a touch of construction magic to the coalescing process.

"Gold coins! Send me a large quantity of gold coins!"

Su Mu glanced at Liliana, who immediately understood and ordered her men to go to the haunted gold mine to move the stored gold coins.

Forrest circled the altar, and each spiked pit was filled with large amounts of gold coins, making the altar even more magnificent.

Forrest still has a chance to strengthen the newly formed neutral buildings in the wild. He originally thought that the altar only consumed the magical power of the treasures to activate the buildings, but now it seems that it is more like integrating the treasures into the buildings to enhance the capabilities of the barracks buildings, which is quite promising.

【Brilliant Gold Altar (Neutral Level 6 Barracks Building): Allows you to recruit Gold Elements (Purity Enhancement) here.

Base output: 22/week (increased by 10 from the double treasure bonus. Advanced Civil Engineering grants an additional 10 gold for recruitment).
Recruitment cost (Advanced Civil Engineering reduces cost): 1000 (800) gold coins per person; 3000 (2000) gold coins per additional person.

Resource consumed: 10000 gold coins.

Special Effect (Advanced Civil Engineering): Consume gold to gain additional recruitment opportunities, up to a maximum of +10 per week, reduce the cost of recruitment, and purify their elemental ratios to obtain augmented warriors.

Additional resource cost: 80000 gold coins.

Using gold to extra-cast the element seems reasonable.

What Forrest did was increase the number of conversions for the gilded altar and reduce the cost of melting the gold.

Each faction possesses unique magical properties, such as the natural power of the Barrier, the forging techniques and morale boosts of humanity, the alchemy of the Tower, and the fusion units of the Fortress. The Elemental City is rumored to be able to enhance the corresponding units by continuously purifying the elemental purity.

For example, water element is not pure water; it may contain many impurities. If its purity can be increased using magic, it will gain extremely strong bonuses and special skills. This requires the construction of relevant buildings to complete.

The gilded altar wasn't solely his achievement; the combined power of the two treasures certainly provided significant assistance, allowing this neutral structure to receive such a substantial upgrade. Although Kuraki isn't short of money right now, saving some in this province seems like a good idea.

Su Mu threw all the boxes containing the cursed gold coins into the altar, and after a while, several meters tall gold elements appeared in front of them.

These dual-element units are robust and strong, with excellent defense. Their only drawback was their limited ammunition, but that has now been addressed.

【Brilliant Gold Element (Elemental Tier 6 Unit, Purity Enhancement, Elemental Unique): Attack 20, Defense 20, Ammo Capacity: 28, Damage 15-30, Health 100, Speed ​​10, Size Medium to Large.

Element: Air/Earth (Hero mana cost * 4).

Heart of the Elements: This unit is an elementalist, immune to mind magic/lightning magic.

Golden Body: Permanently grants the abilities of Air Manipulation, Earth Manipulation, and Atmospheric Shield (initially low level; if the hero has advanced elemental mastery, then advanced level will be granted), and can cast Extraordinary Golden Skin on oneself.

Golden Arrow: Attacks have a 30% chance to turn enemies into gold. Its damage remains undiminished in melee combat. The arrow is a piercing attack and can damage enemies behind the target.

Now Kuraki will possess a powerful ranged force comparable to the Mystic Prayer, which, if used well, could become a surprise weapon.

(End of this chapter)