Chapter 59: A Necessary Expense!
Author’s note: Thank you to Gomdia Triok for the birthday present (a Patreon membership). I’m truly grateful.
Kaiden was taken aback.
He had previously received two points in the hidden Prestige attribute thanks to one of his titles, and he knew that one of that attribute's properties slightly increased the probability of obtaining special units during summons. But he also understood that the matter relied heavily on luck — much like drawing a lottery.
So he hadn't truly expected fortune to favor him this quickly, let alone with someone from the Mage class.
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Name: Fred
Rank: Nascent Mage
Level: 1
Experience: 0 / 100
Loyalty: 75%
Affinity Type: Fire element affinity at 45% compatibility
Description: A special unit. A Nascent Mage with a fire element affinity, capable of launching long-range magical attacks and incinerating enemies to ash.
Class Skills:
- Mana Sense (Common, Passive)
- Fireball (Common, Active)
- Wall of Flame (Rare, Active)
- Fire Chain (Rare, Active)
Future Path: Seasoned Mage
Upgrade Requirements:
- Reach rank maximum (Level 10)
- Spend 30 Origin Points to complete the upgrade process
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"Hmm… 45% affinity? Isn't that a little low… or am I just someone who started with an unusually high affinity to begin with?"
Kaiden murmured in puzzlement — having only himself as a point of comparison, he wasn't entirely certain of his conclusion.
In any case, he would find the answer in the future when he obtained other mages. And regardless of the affinity percentage, he was pleased to have obtained a special unit — and even more so one that possessed an offensively powerful element like fire.
He felt no envy at one of his people having fire magic, which he had once wished for himself. For he had discovered over time that earth magic suited him far better. Its versatility was remarkable, and he appeared to have an exceptionally strong affinity for it — to say nothing of that affinity increasing further with his upcoming advancement.
He set those thoughts aside, smiled, and said:
"Welcome to my territory, Fred."
Then he turned his attention to the rest of the new residents.
The total consisted of twenty-nine villagers, thirteen militia soldiers, six elite soldiers, one Nascent Champion of the shield-bearer type, and the Nascent Mage.
It was an excellent haul.
Kaiden glanced quickly at the shield-bearer's status board and found that his Battle Aura belonged to the earth element, carrying the properties of Deflection and Steadfastness.
And that wasn't all — he still had four Champion Summoning Cards obtained from the War Spoils Chest.
He used all four at once. When the white flash faded, four new Nascent Champions stood before him.
He examined them one by one.
A fighter.
Battle Aura: Shadow.
Properties: Fade, Silence.
A swordsman.
Battle Aura: Blade.
Properties: Sharpness, Blooddraw.
A war axe user.
Battle Aura: Gigantification.
Properties: Size Multiplication, Endurance.
A spear-carrier.
Battle Aura: Fire.
Properties: Burn, Ignition.
Adding these four to the Champion summoned just moments ago, Kaiden now had eight Nascent Champions.
He also had a far clearer picture now of the nature of Battle Auras that this rank could awaken.
They were either auras tied to natural elements — such as earth, wind, fire, lightning, and others — or auras linked to special concepts and manifestations, such as Power, Gigantification, Shadow, Blade, and more.
In short…
The world of Battle Auras was vast and fascinating, and appeared to hold an enormous number of possibilities.
The Gigantification Aura, for example, allowed its wielder to enlarge their entire body, or a single limb, or even their weapon — and its Endurance property further complemented this combat style perfectly.
Kaiden welcomed the newcomers quickly, then handed all combat units of every rank over to Casper to assign them to their respective positions.
He also asked him to inform him the moment Luther finished preparing a batch of the improved Health Recovery Potions.
Even the Nascent Mage received no special treatment — Kaiden sent him to the border to lead a small squad.
After the Lord's Crown upgrade and the expansion of the territory's area, vast stretches of the border had been left without adequate guarding, and this fresh blood was well-suited to filling part of that gap.
Only the villagers remained to be dealt with.
Kaiden thought for a moment.
Although he had obtained a decent number of them today, it was nowhere near sufficient.
In truth, the shortage of villagers was considerably greater than the shortage of combat units.
After laying out his plan in his mind, he kept twenty villagers with him while instructing the rest to join Casper.
He took the twenty along, then opened his inventory and began building the various workshops stored within it.
He started with the Perfumer's Workshop. After building it, he sent only one villager to it. If the workshop proved its worth, he would send it an additional assistant later.
Next he built the Baker's Workshop, assigning two villagers to it — then handed them the two sacks of flour he had obtained to begin work immediately.
He continued building four more workshops one after another, distributing the villagers to each according to its usefulness — one or two per workshop. During this time he also held quick conversations with the craftsmen about the materials they needed but didn't have. Frankly, his territory was lacking in almost everything, being an arid, barren land.
So essentially, Kaiden's routine had become: listen to requests, then place orders on the World Market to fulfill them. Unfortunately, meat no longer held the strong appeal it once did for Lords — demand for iron, by comparison, had become enormous. And though he possessed over a thousand units of it, he still felt a pang of heartache every time he put iron forward as payment for various materials.
Despite the ache, Kaiden knew his priorities well. He had no intention of halting his territory's development. The workshops were what drove the territory's development forward — even workshops that seemed useless now might not remain that way after their craftsmen were promoted. And what did craftsmen need to reach their rank threshold and advance? They needed to work. And work needed materials.
Furthermore, while iron might seem more attractive, at Kaiden's current stage it wasn't of critical importance. In truth, there were only three places where iron was being spent.
The first was Hook the Blacksmith, who was currently focused on mithril — leaving the remaining apprentices to produce some needed equipment under his guidance, which didn't consume much iron at all.
The second was Aws's Siege Weapon Maker's Workshop — and due to the long production times, consumption remained well within normal rates.
The third, of course, was the Lord's Hall — which was without question the most ravenous iron-devouring beast of all. But he didn't need to upgrade it anytime soon. Why? Because there was a punishing requirement demanding he obtain nine Crown Fragments from other territories — which meant he had to defeat them first.
And how long would that take? Even without facing powerful Lords, by a conservative estimate he would need no less than a month. That was a long time. By then, would he be short on iron? Kaiden didn't think so.
So he wasn't spending iron carelessly at all. And even if he wanted more iron, he had plenty of things to trade for it — but he simply preferred having a large surplus before thinking about exchanges.
"Ahh… being a Lord truly is a difficult profession~" he murmured, rubbing his forehead. His previous job in programming had been far easier by comparison.
In any case, he had finished building the various workshops. Only one remained — the Rune Carver's Workshop.
Kaiden felt excitement stir inside him. From the name alone it sounded like an exceptionally promising field.
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— End of Chapter Fifty-Nine —
Author’s note: If you have any comments or suggestions for changes, please let me know in the comments. There are also ten chapters available for a nominal fee on Patreon for anyone wishing to support us. My sincere thanks to you all.