Full health is the kill threshold, no matter if you're a god or a demon!

Arachne's eyes flashed with understanding upon hearing Liu Nian's choice.

She did anticipate that her master might prefer the most direct, practical, and effective option to solve the current predicament.

Constructing a mythical building capable of converting enemy units into production tools on a large scale and with high efficiency perfectly meets Liu Nian's current urgent need to transform captured resources into productivity.

"As you wish, Master." Arachne bowed gracefully, and the faint light representing the initial divine grace hovering at her fingertips seemed to brighten even more. "By combining this divine grace with the nascent forms of my 'Weaving the Web' and 'Connecting' authority, and integrating it into specific architectural structures and faith network nodes, we can construct a 'Hall of Slavery' with the ability to forcibly transform and deeply control."

She paused briefly, seemingly quickly refining and optimizing the architectural blueprints, before continuing her explanation:

The core effects of the "Hall of Enslavement" are as follows:

1. Forced Transformation Field: A stable, distorted force field will form inside the temple. Any 'candidate' who is escorted inside and marked by a special ritual will have an 'Eternal Labor Contract' imprinted deep within their soul under the continuous influence of the force field (usually taking 1-12 hours, depending on the target's willpower and soul strength).

2. Characteristics of Contractual Labor:

Absolute Obedience: The mark forcibly suppresses any resistance, destructive tendencies, or thoughts of escape within the target's self-awareness, transforming them into absolute focus and a strong desire to execute the assigned task. The possibility of betrayal is extremely low, unless subjected to a soul purification exceeding the strength of the temple's force field or a breach of the contract.

Efficiency Specialization: The Imprint will enhance the target's subconscious proficiency and physical endurance in one or more production labor areas (such as mining, forging, planting, construction, etc.) based on the target's existing knowledge and physical condition, increasing labor efficiency by 30%-50% and significantly reducing fatigue, at the cost of accelerated loss of vitality.

Combat Stripping: As the price of deep control and distortion, contract laborers will permanently lose most of their initiative and complex thinking. They will still possess basic self-defense instincts, but will find it difficult to perform combat missions requiring a high degree of initiative and adaptability. They will be completely reduced to 'production tools'.

Network Connection: All indentured laborers are superficially connected to a faith network through branding, facilitating the remote issuance of basic labor instructions and the monitoring of their general location and vital signs. This connection also continuously absorbs trace amounts of the laborers' dissipated spiritual energy, which in turn nourishes the faith network.

Arachne's description was clear and specific. After listening, Liu Nian didn't hesitate at all: "Build it. Let's choose the floating city as the location. By the way, has the teleportation channel to the floating city been opened?"

"It's already connected; you can use the teleportation array here to go to the floating city at any time."

"Very good! Esmedina," he turned to the new queen, "Immediately mobilize all available manpower to provide the construction materials required for the 'Hall of Slavery' according to Arachne's requirements. In addition, select a group of the most devout and steady members of the tribe to serve as guards, managers, and priests of the building, at Arachne's command."

"Pandera, you must strengthen the guard over the dwarf prisoners in the prison area, screen them in batches, and prioritize those who are physically strong to prepare them as the first batch of 'Converters'."

Orders were quickly issued, and the entire city of exile began to operate at high speed around the goal of "building a temple of enslavement".

Building this thing can't be done overnight; it will take several days.

Liu Nian naturally couldn't just wait idly; he needed to continue exploring the third level of this dark region. However, his time for the day was almost up; he would rest and fight again tomorrow.

Speaking of which, the Dwarf Castle Lord, Gruba Flamebeard, is still imprisoned, and Liu Nian hasn't yet figured out how to deal with him.

After all, it's a level 99 legendary BOSS. Turning it directly into a miner would be a waste of its talents, so let's keep it locked up for now.

Silent all night.

The next morning, on the third level of the Underdark.

The map glowed faintly in my hand, marking the intricate paths of the third layer of the Underdark and the distribution of various factions.

Liu Nian memorized the route, put away the map, and turned his gaze to the forked passageway in front of him.

The passage on the left was filled with the dry smell of dust, and a faint, rhythmic, low vibration could be heard, a sign of the active earth element.

On the right, a faint dampness emanated, along with a deeper, chilling stillness.

"Eternal Dark Lake...the waterborne spirits of the dead..." Liu Nian murmured the markings on the map, his eyes showing no fear but rather a keen interest.

Skeletons, zombies, and ghosts are already commonplace.

But aquatic undead? An underwater city of undead? An undead lord riding a skeleton whale?

This sounds much more interesting than dealing with a bunch of silent, stony figures.

Liu Nian lifted his foot and decisively walked towards the passage on the right, which was filled with a damp, cold, and deathly atmosphere.

"roar--!"

The little fire dragon beside him let out an excited low roar, its eyes gleaming with lava light.

Having survived the previous siege battle, its level has jumped to 37.

Its size has increased considerably, with a body length of nearly four meters and a wingspan of nearly eight meters when fully extended, making it a formidable flying beast.

Although it cannot compare to a real dragon, its agile and streamlined body, the dark red dragon scales covering its entire body that shimmer with metallic luster, the scorching heat emanating from it, and its increasingly solidified dragon might all already possess a formidable presence.

Most importantly—it can now finally be ridden and flown!

"Let's go." Liu Nian smiled and patted the little fire dragon's huge head. "Let's go see what the undead living underwater really look like."

He flipped over and leaped onto the relatively flat back behind the dragon's neck.

The dragon scales are rough and warm, making it exceptionally stable to sit on. The raised muscles and bony plates on both sides provide a natural "saddle" and armrests.

"Roar—!" The little dragon let out a joyful roar, its four strong claws slamming into the ground, and its massive dark red body suddenly soared into the air!

With a powerful flap of its broad dragon wings, it stirred up scorching air currents and dust, lifting Liu Nian several meters off the ground and beginning to glide low along the dark and damp passage on the right!

Cave passages are not open skies, so one cannot roam freely.

The little dragon skillfully adjusted its flight posture, sometimes flapping its wings to accelerate across wider sections, and sometimes folding its wings and leaping swiftly across rugged ground with its strong hind legs. Its movements were smooth and free, demonstrating excellent adaptability and agility.

As the passage continues to slope downwards, the changes in the environment become increasingly apparent.

The humidity grew heavier, the air was icy cold, and the rock walls were covered with slippery dark moss and condensation droplets, forming countless tiny stalactites.

Puddles of varying depths began to appear on the ground, reflecting an extremely faint phosphorescence that seemed to seep from somewhere.

The journey wasn't entirely devoid of life. Some monsters adapted to the dark and damp environment—such as the blind fish lurking in the puddles, the vampire bats hanging upside down from the cave ceiling, and the swarms of bone beetles darting through the rock crevices—were startled by the noise of Liu Nian and the little fire dragon passing by and attempted to launch an attack.

However, their levels were generally between 60 and 75, which were just a waste of Liu Nian's time. Liu Nian was too lazy to even bother with them, and didn't even bother to slow down the little fire dragon. He simply rushed over and ignored them.

After flying at low altitude for about half an hour, the narrow passage ahead suddenly opened up!

An underground lake, not very large, about a hundred meters in diameter, appeared before Liu Nian like a dark green mirror embedded in endless darkness.

We've arrived at Yong'an Lake.