Looking at how his experience points to level up had almost filled by one-tenth, Michael deduced that, just as Lucky would require about 100 Gargoyles to advance, he himself would likely level up alongside his undead’s advancement based on the experience points feedback alone.
Dismissing the panels in front of him, Michael hopped onto the back of the undead Verdant Wolf at his side and mentally commanded it to head toward Lucky’s position, not sparing a single thought for how the undead beneath him might feel.
Unnamed Undead: =_=
As Michael made his way toward Lucky and Prince’s position near the ‘remains’ of the gargoyle, rather than summoning them to come to him, he took the opportunity to observe his surroundings.
With the undead having withdrawn their vines, his view of the land of origin was no longer obstructed.
What greeted him was a desolate expanse of ruins, much of it newly devastated by his undead’s skills and the gargoyle’s barrage of stone spears.
Behind him lay the remnants of a wide building, something he had taken note of after spending so much time in the abandoned dormitory.
However, as he scanned the area further, it became clear that only two structures still bore any semblance of their former glory.
The now-ruined dormitory behind him and the shiny black tower looming ahead.
Every other building had long since collapsed, with their remains further reduced to rubble by the rampage of the undead wolves and the gargoyles.
The ruins appeared to be situated within a forest, as beyond its crumbling premises lay a wide expanse of dense greenery.
While Michael was curious about whether civilization lay beyond the forest, exploring it was far from his current priority.
If he was going to investigate anything, it would be these ruins.
“You all should spread out and bring me anything that’s not stone or sand. Don’t break anything!And you there—gather the remains of those gargoyles,” Michael commanded the seven undead standing behind him.
For the task of collecting the gargoyle remains, he assigned it to the humanoid undead with functional hands.
He didn’t trust Lucky or Prince with such a task.
The ruins themselves seemed largely devoid of anything noteworthy, except for the shiny black tower in the distance.
Even then, there was no guarantee that it would yield any rewards.
The remains of the gargoyles, however, were a different matter entirely.
Despite their stone-like appearance, Michael suspected their bodies contained special materials.
Given the gargoyles’ rank and strength, he was convinced their remains might be worth a significant amount.
Michael had no concrete understanding of the power level of a rank 3 creature, but he estimated the gargoyles his undead had defeated were at least on par with that level of cultivation.
His commands were also deliberately simple to avoid confusion. If he had told the undead to bring back “anything valuable,” it would have depended entirely on their limited understanding of value—one might think a random stone was precious and present it proudly.
Still, Michael didn’t harbor much hope.
The ruins looked desolate, and even if there were valuable items hidden within, his basic undead would likely overlook them.
In the end, this was just the first round of screening.
If nothing else, it served the secondary purpose of cleaning up the space and making the search later easier.
It wasn’t until the remains of all the gargoyles were brought together and placed in front of Michael that he used {Detect} on them.
[Gargoyle Lv. 20]
[Rank: Rare★★★]
This was the one that had blocked his entrance for days.
Finally, after the battle, Michael felt the satisfaction of overcoming such an obstacle.
It would have been easier had it not been for the two additional gargoyles, but fortunately, everything had ended well.
Next, Michael checked the two other gargoyles he was curious about.
[Winged Gargoyle Lv. 25]
[Rank: Rare★★★]
[Winged Gargoyle Lv. 25]
[Rank: Rare★★★]
“Just three-star rare creatures?” Michael muttered, a bit surprised. He had suspected that having wings might imply a higher rank, possibly the same as Lucky’s, but that wasn’t the case.
In fact, they were at the same level as the wingless gargoyle.
Michael wasn’t shocked by the revelation, though.
He already knew that even within the same rank, there could be variations.
A normal slime was a one-star common rank, just like a goblin, but the goblin is generally more versatile in many aspects.
“If they were Extraordinary-ranked creatures, even if Lucky’s race happened to be ranked higher, it would’ve been a two-vs-1 fight with a very high chance of losing,” Michael mused.
Fortunately, that wasn’t the case.
Unfortunately, the gargoyles dropped no loot like spirit crystals or anything.
“Is it because they were artificially made?” Michael wondered, uncertain, but feeling that might be the reason.
Regardless, it wasn’t like he hadn’t gained something of value from the gargoyles.
After dismantling the bodies and using {Detect} on each part individually, Michael discovered the following loot.
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[Obsidian-Forge Alloy]
A blend of dark metals and obsidian-like minerals, offering a stone-like texture combined with flexibility and high durability.
Commonly used for constructing durable constructs or golems.
[Veined Shard]
A lightweight yet durable fragment with blue-green veins, often used to craft mana-conductive tools.
[Featherplate]
Flexible, metallic plates as light as feathers, ideal for creating aerodynamic constructs.
[Corestone]
Dense, black material prized for its ability to store and stabilize mana.
[Crystal Sphere]
A smooth, patterned stone utilized in crafting energy detectors and amplifiers.
[Etherstone]
A pale, translucent stone with anti-gravitational properties, frequently used in levitation devices.
[Runed Core]
An irregular core marked by glowing runes, functioning as a power source for advanced machinery.
Somehow, reading the description of everything felt like looking at a technological invention.
“Seems like the gargoyle is referred to as a golem?”
This made Michael recall Mira and her class, Alchemist.
With his knowledge of fantasy from Earth, this felt like a magical scientist version, but he could be wrong.
However, if he was right, Michael briefly wondered if Mira could one day create something like this.
“If she can, then Alchemist is probably a strong, rare class… assuming it’s even a rare class.”