Dular was flabbergasted. His entire body shivered, looking at the Alpha. It was not a connection that enabled Dular to control the Alpha like a robot. Rather, the connection enabled Dular to give telepathic orders to the alpha. With the alpha's limited intelligence, it would do its absolute best to complete the order.
"That's how you do it" Michael gave a pat on Dular's back. He was more excited than Dular.
"Come, we have an army to summon," said Michael calmly. Gaya came to stand at his side with the others.
A bright light flashed across the hall the next moment and everyone disappeared from the hall except Azazel. The sudden flash of light made Jonah tightly shut his eyes. When he opened them again, he was standing in a familiar place. From one gloomy place to another. The empty hall was dimly lit with torches. The walls and the floor was made of marble which reflected the light produced by the torches and lit the place orange.
The crypt was empty since all the pirates were teleported back to Corey's witch island where they joined Maxine's crew. The crew along with Gibson were working on fixing the old bertha. After they found out her keel was broken in the middle, they suggested he let the ship go as there was no way to fix the keel.
What was the point of having a system if he couldn't find a fix to a simple thing such as fixing the keel? The system sold him something that looked like white clay and instructed him to apply the clay to the heel. Since he had minions to do that, he gave the clay to them. Surprisingly for the crew, when they applied the clay, it mended the broken heel, healing Old Bertha.
Dular had no idea about this place. It was spacious enough to fit hundreds of people. Dular wondered why he brought them to this empty place.
"You can control four alphas. When you achieve proficiency in controlling them, I will grant you the ability to control more Alphas"
Granted controlling more alphas would take a toll on the brain. Hence, Michael gave the task to Dular on top of Dular's ability to control more alphas at the same time than him because of the book of netherels.
However, the limit was not four. As a Core Formation cultivator, Dular would be able to control at least 10 alphas. According to Jonah's research, one Alpha could control 80 undead. Alpha undeads were extremely rare. They were created by the energy signals leaked from the Hydra egg. Since the egg was no longer existing, no alphas would be created on the island.
Since Michael reached the star 4 inverter lever, he could build complicated devices. One of the devices he could build was a signal creator which would replicate the signals. He would have built the device if it wasn't for Vedora being too weak. The device required Vedora to be at least Core Formation level so the signals produced by Vedora would be powerful enough to create Alpha undeads.
Of course, it was not that easy as it had several complications. For the time being, Michael decided to capture the remaining Alpha undeads on the island and let Dular control them. By controlling the Alphas, he could control the undeads outside the crypt as well as the undeads of the Nether Realm.
"800 undeads, not enough" Michael thought,
"Did you buy the thing I asked you?" Michael then turned his gaze towards Gaya,
Before he set up the portal opener and summoned undeads from the Nether Realm, he needed to find a way to control them to his will after they crossed the portal. Unruly mindless creatures were no use to him.
At the moment Dular could summon 50 undeads from the Nether realm and control 150 undeads at once. Since controlling Alphas would take a toll on his brain, he would not be able to control Alphas and the undeads at the same time.
Hence, Michael came up with a new plan,
Gaya flicked her wrist as a bronze collar appeared in her hand. The collar was big enough to put around a human neck and looked plain without any fancy runes or inscriptions.
Taking the collar from her hand, he walked several steps away from them. Then, after a flick of his wrist, a large heavy table and a long chair appeared for him to sit and work.
He took out a bright orb and placed it on the table for light. While Dular and Jonah were familiarizing themselves with Dular's ability to control the Alphas, Michael worked in silence.
"What's the plan?" she whispered after coming to his side,
"Why did you want me to buy a slave collar?"
"To control the undeads who are going to walk out of the portal we are about to open"
When Michael first told her that the rusty old box could open up a portal to another realm, she couldn't believe it. But she soon came to agree with him as she had seen him perform so many miracles. The moment he said 'undead army', she was on board with his plan. There was no loyalty or wage problem with an undead army. Therefore, maintaining an undead army was a breeze if they could control them.
"How are you going to do that? Explain it to me" She leaned closer to his face,
Although she had a feeling that whatever he was going to say, she wouldn't understand it completely.
"I will simplify things for you" said Michael, not wanting to make her feel stupid.
"That chip I placed in Dular's neck radiates an energy wave that would control the Alpha. The slave collar works also has the same underlying principle. It creates an energy wave and that energy waves control a person's very soul. The slave master establishes a connection with the slave collar and through that connection, the slave master controls the slave. If the slave shows any disobedience, he or she just has to will the collar to send a bolt of energy wave into the slave's body which target's the soul" he paused for a moment to breathe and continued,
"Since the netherels have no soul, I can modify the collar to redirect the energy wave to the undead brain"
"But a slave master could control 40 slaves at best. How are you planning to control the hundreds of netherels outside and the ones we are going to summon through the portal?" asked Gaya,
"Controlling a brain takes way less toll on the slave master's mind than controlling the very soul. If my calculations are correct, a Core Formation cultivator could control 300 undeads after I modified the collars"
Gaya raised her brows after doing the math in her brain,
"Let's say we both control 400 undeads each, that's 800 undeads. What about Dular?"
"He could control 10 Alphas and each of them could control 80 undeads"
"Then that's another 800. 1600 undeads. The ones outside had no cultivation power. So still not a powerful army perse"
Gaya was right. If all the 1600 undeads had Body Strengthening level 7 cultivation, they would have been quite a power to reckon with. Since it was not the case, dominating the cultivation continents using this army was nothing but a dream.
"I'm working on a way to make the undead outside get cultivation power. As for the undeads in Nether Realm, we need to find suitable candidates to control the undead aside from you, me, and Maxine"
"If we are going to build an army, we need loyal generals"
"We already have two. Aria's brothers" Michael reminded Gaya about Aria's brothers who were getting healed rapidly inside the tubes.
"We will summon the undead from the Nether Realm here. That way they won't be as strong as they are in the Nether Realm. Until we come back from Mazeroth, let Dular summon the undeads and roam around the island. This island suits better to build an undead army. Since they already have undeads, no one would find out about our summonings"
"Like hiding a tree in a forest. I like the way your brains work" Gaya would have kissed him so deep if it wasn't for Jonah and Dular in the hall.
"It's not a perfect plan but it'll work for now. Hopefully, we will have an army of the undead by the time we return from Mazeroth" as he finished talking, the bronze collar lit up for a few seconds before returning to its normal dull self.
"Done"
"Whoa, you're done?" Gaya was surprised. He was just placing some weird objects on the collar and connecting them with a thin wire. She couldnt understand what was happening between the objects or how they worked together to modify the slave collar.
"Can you grab me an undead from outside?" asked Michael, preparing to test the collar.
"Before I go, I have questions"
"What?"
"Why can't you use this collar to control the Alpha?"
Michael just smiled behind the mask. It was actually a good question that he himself asked the system for an answer,
"The energy waves created by the slave collar are too weak. If anyone tried to enslave an alpha, they will be killed in a few seconds"
She still had a few questions but before she could ask them all, she flew high towards the roof to go outside. Michael waited patiently for Gaya to return. He was calm as he knew the collar would work and the undead would be controlled.
"Order's up, one freshly captured undead"
A pale undead landed on Michael's feet. The putrid smell was overwhelming to Jonah and Dular. They momentarily stopped studying the Alphas and turned their gazes towards the Dark Lord.
Michael placed the collar around the undead before the undead could take a bite at his leg. The moment the bronze collar touched the undead, Michael felt a connection. It was like another arm, he could feel the undead. A tiny crystal stone mined from Stormveil castle was placed inside the collar. It sent a bolt of energy wave to the undead's brain, making it obedient in a flash. His power made subduing and enslaving the undead easier than he imagined.
The undead slowly stood up. This time, it didn't try to leap towards Michael. It growled but remained obedient.
"Well, I need to reduce the power of the collar"
