"Then, I will accept Shin Dong-hoon as my vassal first."
"I look forward to serving you."
Shin Dong-hoon's trust and loyalty levels were just about at the minimum threshold for vassal registration.
His trust was at 50, the point where loyalty unlocks, and his loyalty had reached 30, the minimum required for vassal status.
The truth was, meeting him in person today had significantly boosted both, making this registration possible.
It wasn’t unheard of for this to happen.
As more people joined, different cases arose.
Some had such low trust that loyalty never even unlocked, while others had exceptionally high trust from the beginning, allowing loyalty to be available right away.
There were also cases where both trust and loyalty were difficult to raise, just like now.
‘He’s the cautious and mentally strong type.’
People like this, however, tended to reach 100 trust quickly once given a strong enough reason.
‘Ha Dong-geon was the same way.’
He was now one of the few individuals whose trust and loyalty had both reached the maximum 100.
‘Vassal registration, Shin Dong-hoon.’
Wooooong!
A bright light enveloped Shin Dong-hoon, then seeped into his body.
Ding!
[Citizen Shin Dong-hoon has obtained a title matching his class.]
[A synergy effect has been triggered.]
‘Huh?’
I checked Shin Dong-hoon's status window in the vassal management panel.
Name: Shin Dong-hoon (Lv. 45) [+]
Class: {Warrior}
Titles: [Thirtieth Bell] [Knight] [Warrior]
Trust: 50 Loyalty: 30
Awakened Abilities: Time Distortion, Rewind
★ Quest Assignment
I had opened his status window to check the synergy effect.
But what caught my attention first was the change in his awakened abilities after becoming my vassal.
‘Time Distortion? Rewind?’
The names alone were insane.
If one of them were an S-rank ability, his level would have been capped at 40. But the fact that his level had reached 45 meant that at least one of these was beyond S-rank.
‘Did his acceleration ability evolve into Time Distortion?’
Gaining additional powers or evolving existing ones upon vassal registration wasn’t unusual.
Even so, this was something else entirely.
Time Distortion (S-rank)
As Absolute Dweller’s Eye leveled up, ability descriptions had become more detailed.
‘...So it rewinds time in proportion to total mental energy?’
My mental energy was vastly superior to that of regular Awakened due to the unique nature of my ability.
If Shin Dong-hoon’s trust ever reached 100 and I acquired this skill, just how much time would I be able to rewind?
At that moment, Shin Dong-hoon’s voice interrupted my thoughts.
“...Jaehyun-nim, is something wrong?”
“Hm?”
“You look extremely serious.”
“There was just something surprising.”
I turned to him and said,
“Try using your ability. You’ll notice a difference.”
Shin Dong-hoon hesitated for a moment before nodding.
“Understood.”
As he held his breath and activated his ability, something unusual happened.
‘What is this?’
The entire world slowed down.
‘Even my time has slowed?’
Within this distorted space, I could clearly see Shin Dong-hoon’s expression shift from surprise to intrigue as he tested his movement.
The key difference was that, while Shin Dong-hoon could move freely, I could not.
However—
[How does it feel?]
“Huh?”
The moment his ability ended, time resumed its normal flow.
[Do you sense the difference?]
Shin Dong-hoon nodded.
“Yes. It’s definitely different from before. This is...”
[That’s right. Previously, your body was just moving faster. Now, you’re actually controlling time.]
“Controlling... time...”
[Additionally, you can now use an ability called Rewind.]
“...I must have misheard you?”
Based on my observations of Awakened individuals so far, people tended to understand their new abilities instinctively, even without guidance.
However, directly stating the name of an ability made the realization process faster.
[The trigger is a finger snap. Try using it.]
“...Alright.”
A thought crossed my mind.
‘Will I be able to perceive it if he rewinds time?’
Snap!
The moment Shin Dong-hoon activated Rewind—
Woooooong—
An astonishing sight unfolded.
Because I had been maintaining Absolute Dweller’s Eye, observing various locations while speaking with them, I could see it clearly.
“Urgh!”
Shin Dong-hoon clutched his head.
After scanning his surroundings, he asked,
“...Did it work?”
“Yes.”
He had rewound time by exactly five seconds.
Because nothing significant had happened within this meeting room during those five seconds, there were no visible changes.
But on a grander scale, time had definitively been reversed.
‘This is an incredible ability.’
More importantly—
‘I retain my memories from before the rewind.’
That meant when Shin Dong-hoon used Rewind, I was also taken back in time.
It had only been a few seconds, but even that had limitless potential.
‘From now on, I should assign him mental energy enhancement quests.’
Then, Shin Dong-hoon snapped his fingers again.
Snap!
But this time, nothing happened.
A faint disappointment crossed his face.
“...I can’t use it consecutively?”
“It seems unlikely.”
It was likely an issue of mental energy, but no matter how much he tried, he would never be able to exceed the designated 13-second limit.
‘Should I consider forming a Subjugation Contract with him?’
A Subjugation Contract...
Originally, my mother’s ability allowed ordinary people to awaken abilities and Awakened individuals to evolve their existing powers.
But now, I was using this ability to tame monsters like Kellikans.
Once a contract was formed, it couldn’t be undone until the target died. Additionally, there was a hard cap of 100, making it an ability I used sparingly.
At that moment—
"Um, sir, when will it be my turn?"
Lee Jun-ho raised his hand, speaking up.
"One moment."
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That was when I recalled the system notification from earlier.
‘There was a synergy effect, wasn’t there?’
First, I checked the Warrior class effect.
{Warrior}
The same synergy effect was also attached to the Warrior title.
[Warrior]
This meant that with the synergy bonus, melee attacks would now deal a total of 200% increased damage.
‘Not bad.’
Had I seen this first, I would’ve been more impressed. But after witnessing far greater surprises today, this seemed relatively minor in comparison.
‘I should prioritize advancing vassals who hold the Warrior title.’
Among the available classes in the Class Research Lab, many were closely tied to vassals’ titles.
I had already been keeping an eye on this, but now that I knew synergy effects existed, it made even more sense to assign classes that aligned with their titles.
‘Vassal registration: Park Sung-jun, Kim Ki-tae.’
Both Park Sung-jun and Kim Ki-tae had acquired the Sharpshooter title, but I had already assigned Kim Ki-tae the Hunter advancement quest.
‘I don’t need to force the synergy effect.’
I had a strong feeling that Kim Ki-tae would make excellent use of the Hunter class, so I decided to leave him be.
If necessary, I could always remove the Hunter class and let him transition to Sharpshooter a month later.
Finally, I completed Lee Jun-ho’s vassal registration.
Ding!
[Citizen Lee Jun-ho has obtained a title matching his class.]
[A synergy effect has been triggered.]
As expected, since Lee Jun-ho had already obtained the Warrior class, he also gained the corresponding title, activating its synergy effect.
And then—
[You have reached 30 vassals.]
For a moment, I was silent as I read the message.
Lee Jun-ho’s newly acquired title was [The Thirty-Third Bell].
It was a painful reminder.
Because three of my vassals had perished in battle against the vampires, only now had I finally reached 30.
[The ‘Noble Title System’ has been activated.]
[Conditions have been met.]
[A new construction option, ‘Territory,’ has been added.]
A new function had been unlocked.
‘This is...?’
There was another unique trait associated with the Subjugation Contract.
Any vassal without a title would receive the [Knight] title, while those with [Knight] would advance to [Baron] or [Viscount].
‘I never expected this to tie into construction.’
I checked the details immediately.
- Territory ( ??? Won) -
《Territory》
Unlike forward bases, which were destroyed if occupied by unauthorized individuals for more than a day, Territories were closer to a downgraded version of the Annexes that only blood relatives could construct.
‘Annexes grow in proportion to the Sanctuary’s size, while Territories grow based on vassals’ noble ranks.’
That likely explained why no exact price was listed.
The higher the noble rank, the larger the Territory, which in turn meant higher construction costs.
The fact that the minimum requirement was [Baron] meant that [Knights] weren’t even considered.
This made the noble titles of my vassals significantly more important.
‘Does this mean Subjugation Contracts are absolutely necessary?’
I doubted it.
The Subjugation Contract wasn’t part of the system—it was originally my mother’s ability.
The fact that vassals were automatically receiving noble titles was probably...
‘A system bug.’
If that were the case—
‘Noble Title System.’
The moment I activated it—
[{ Merit Points }]
...
The names of my vassals were displayed alongside the points they had accumulated.
From the name Merit Points and the fact that people like Ha Dong-geon had disproportionately high values, it was clear that this system rewarded contributions.
At the bottom of the Noble Title System window, I found the requirements for title advancements.
[Knight] - 1,000 P
[Baron] - 10,000 P
[Viscount] - 100,000 P
[Count] - 1,000,000 P
[Marquis] - 10,000,000 P
[Duke] - 100,000,000 P
The merit points required for each rank were clearly listed.