...…
Wednesday was the day when the servers of the game were about to re-open.
Shin and the others spent their entire day in regular classes. Professor Kyrie was already free from the tasks that were given to her by the academy, so she quickly resumed her classes as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately for her, most of her students were currently in the middle of doing their missions, so she could not discuss the advanced lesson since she had to wait for the entire class. What she could only do right now was to have a recap of all the lessons that she had already discussed.
In the afternoon, the class could only spend their time doing the obstacle course that Old Man Lin had left. The entire course was still as difficult as ever, but it was not as unreasonable when compared to the first time they went through it.
The powerful and ever-growing mechanical puppets and clay golems were not present, but they were replaced by another set of obstacles that blocked the advances of the students.
It was still hard to go through it, but it was still much easier than it used to be. Though, none of them still managed to finish the number of laps that were assigned to them. Not even Shin and his group finished three laps due to being too exhausted.
That was when the class understood that this obstacle course was not as simple as it looked. Even without Old Man Lin overseeing the situation, the students still failed to go through it smoothly.
At night, Shin went back to his room, lying inside his gaming cabin. The servers were about to re-open, so he was waiting for it so that he could quickly log in as soon as possible.
There were a lot of things that he had to deal with before he tried tackling the test for the qualification of being able to head over the Awakened Continent along with the rest of the Empyrean Talons.
He closed his eyes and relaxed his mind, waiting patiently. Not long after, the long-awaited notification sound finally rang in his eyes. And when heard that, he quickly adjusted his position before muttering.
"Link Start!"
Swoosh!
*Ding!*
[Welcome back, Player Sickarius!]
…
A flash of light descended from the sky and landed at the center of the Frozen City.
When Shin opened his eyes, he was immediately greeted by the familiar sight that they had left behind. It was still the same ruined city, which reminded him of the battle that took place in this city.
Shin chuckled slightly when he remembered what happened before opening his friend list to check on the others. He then immediately discovered that Arthur, Leonard, and the rest of the Empyrean Talons were already online.
Each of them seemed to be doing their respective business, so he did not contact them to avoid bothering the group.
For now, he had to focus on his own business.
*Ding*
He was about to make his move when a system notification disturbed his thoughts.
System: The Frozen City is about to undergo its reconstruction in ten minutes, Player Sickarius is instructed to vacant the area as soon as possible.
He nodded his head and activated his teleportation scroll when another system notification arrived.
*Ding*
Regional System Announcement: Attention to all players in the Saint Heaven Kingdom, Twin Towers Kingdom, Ascension Empire, and Abysmal Archipelago!
Frozen Kingdom is about to open its borders within a span of a month! Make preparations to explore this brand-new land!
Regional System Announcement: Players of Saint Heaven Kingdom, the high-level monsters at the borders of the kingdom are getting agitated due to the melting of the Divine Wall of Sealing!
They are creating a monster horde that will invade the borders of the kingdom!
Please pick up your weapons and defend the kingdom!
…
…
…
*Ding*
System Notification Update: Congratulations on clearing the series of quests for the Sky Deceiving Valley!
As the main contributor to these quests, Player Sickarius is now in control of the villages within the region. All the surviving villagers have decided to become your subjects and the chiefs of the said villages are now considered as your retainers.
You have a whole month to organize everything and lead them as their lordship.
System: Congratulations! Due to you, resolving the issue regarding the Dragon Whispers, the Royal Family of the Saint Heaven Kingdom is awarding you the noble title of Duke!
System: All your contribution points are revoked in exchange for the title.
*Ding*
System: Regional influence is detected!
System: Sky Deceiving Valley is now registered as your dukedom!
*Ding*
System: Congratulations on being the first player to reach the noble rank of Duke! Your efforts will be handsomely rewarded!
System: You have received 20 Legacy Points!
System: Congratulations on being the first player to declare a regional land as your property! You have received the special title – Lord.
Title: Lord
Effects:
1. Passively increase all your stats by 30% when you are in your territory.
2. Passively increase all your stats by 50% when you are inside your castle.
3. Negative status effects decrease greatly whenever you are in your territory.
4. Charisma increased by 20 points; Fame increased by 100 points.
…
System: Being a neutral land, your taxes are greatly lowered.
*Ding*
System: Regional relation is detected!
System: Frozen Kingdom declares you as their ally!
System: The influence of your Dukedom greatly increased!
*Ding*
System: A month of preparation time is given to you. If you have not chosen a name for your dukedom until then, your land will be registered with its default name.
…
The series of notifications bombarded Shin's ears giving him a headache. And when he went through everything, that headache continued to increase as he was suddenly lost on what to do.
Fortunately, he was given an entire month of in-game time to deal with everything.
He also had prepared everything and even drew up a plan about it. The only problem was Shiella. She still hadn't gone online, so he had to delay most of his plans for the time being. But with all of this, he now had the upper hand when they would be negotiating with each other.
For now, he had to leave everything to the village chiefs.
"A month, huh? I should have enough time for it," he muttered as he thought about his plans. "Let's head over to the place that Arthur had indicated and collect the Meteorites so that I can finally promote my main weapon to its next stage."
"After that, I will try completing my class promotion quest before heading to the Awakened Continent with the others."
He nodded his head before crushing the teleportation scroll in his hands.
…
Shin was sitting inside his office in the Mayor's Residence of Calderock Town. He had been away for quite some time already, so he had to check on the progress of the town before going for another adventure.
He had to polish the plans for this city before proceeding.
Ribbit was currently standing beside him reporting everything. All the work had been left this particular NPC, and Shin felt a little bad about it. And after seeing how competent this retainer was, he had to reward the guy handsomely.
Shin browsed through everything and found that the income of the town was really not as good as it was previously. And the main reason was the fact that most of the players were already at high levels.
The hunting grounds and training spots around the town could no longer keep up with their needs. They were now moving on the higher-level maps to hunt and train.
If not for the good mana density of the town, then the players would no longer stay in this place. Staying in the inns within the town was still better than most of the NPC cities and they were much cheaper, so there were still quite a lot of players who chose to stay here.
There was also the Battle Arena, which was one of the signature places of the town. Given the high mana density within the city, training in the Battle Arena gave the players a huge boost, which made them grow faster.
On top of that, it was also much cheaper compared to the Divine Arena of the huge cities. The only downside to this was the limited number of opponents. But since most of the players, who were visiting the Battle Arena were mostly in groups that trained together, so there was not much of an issue when it came to it.
On top of this, the branch of the Hand of Midas Trading Firm right beside the Battle Arena was also attracting players, which made the businesses of the two places to be in great boon.
Shin let Ribbit give a run-through of everything before giving out some instructions that the latter quickly acknowledged.
After that, Shin went silent for a moment as he remembered the quest that he got from Ribbit. He turned to the latter and spoke. "Ribbit, we are going to relocate the town as you have suggested and promote it into a city during the process."
"But instead of promoting it straight to Intermediate City, we will keep it at Basic City," he added, which made Ribbit react.
But before Ribbit could even voice out his thoughts, Shin quickly added. "Don't worry, we are not doing it because I find your plans unfavorable. Instead, we are doing it to save more funds."
He then took out an emblem that he got from the system earlier and showed it to Ribbit.
Ribbit, as an experienced merchant previously, quickly recognized what that emblem stood for. He even stuttered as he tried to talk. "M-my L-Lord-… That is a Duke Emblem. Does the Lord have become a Duke?"
Ribbit was in complete shock when he saw the emblem, which made Shin smile. He then nodded his head and continued. "Not only that but I am also rewarded with a land that will be my dukedom from now on."
"I am planning to build another city in that place, so I will need a lot of funds for it," he paused for a moment and took out a blueprint that he had prepared before giving it to Ribbit. "This is the design of the city, study it well and tell me your thoughts when I get back from my trip."
"This is of utmost importance since we will be negotiating with the Hand of Midas Trading Firm for cooperation. But I don't want to be at the losing end this time, so we have to plan it well."
"The place is also close to a shore, which we can also develop as a port. I am planning to connect it to the city so that we will not only monopolize all of the resources in the surrounding area but also have access to the sea."
"Do you understand what I mean?" he asked.
Ribbit fell into deep thought as he scanned through the blueprint and listened to the plans of his lord. He then nodded his head as he muttered. "A city on top of a mountain, which is not only good as a strategic location but also has a great potential to be a tourist destination due to its breathtaking view."
"And if we connect it with a harbor or a port, then we can also accommodate the other lands from the opposite side of the sea. It can also invite different kinds of adventurers."
The more he thought about it, the more excited Ribbit became. He then turned to Shin and said. "This is great, my lord! With this, our city can have infinite potential, especially when we are near the borders of another kingdom!"
Shin smiled and nodded his head. "Since you like it, please give me a more detailed plan when I get back. We will proceed with this as soon as I come back from my current task."
"Absolutely, my lord! I will make sure to draw a perfect plan for this!" replied Ribbit before taking everything from the table and heading toward his office. His actions clearly showed how impatient he was to draw up a plan for this project.
Shin shook his head and smiled bitterly before finally opening another panel that showed all the rewards that he got from the previous quest that he recently cleared.
"Let's see what we got here."
...
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