Chapter 346: Estate Level
Arthur clicked the different functions of his Lordship, and he was overwhelmed by the number of new functions. His Legacy had three primary functions for his Lordship, and each of those had sub-items.
[Lordship Stats.]
- Estate Level: 0.
- Estate Size: 0.
- Residents Numbers: 102.
- Overall Satisfaction: 12%.
- Lordship Points: 0.
[Lordship's Creation.]
- Build!
- Blueprints. [Locked.]
- Revenue. [Locked.]
[Lordship Residents.]
- Professions.
- Potential.
- Loyalty.
Arthur had a sense of alienation, as if something had slipped his mind without him realizing it. He tried to think of what it was, reaching out to grab it, but it slipped away like smoke.
'Well, if I can't remember it, nothing I can do about it. If it were important, I wouldn't have forgotten it.' He tried to dismiss it because it would keep bugging him.
He turned his attention to his Lordship, feeling like his Legacy was waiting for the chance to introduce it. His Legacy kept introducing functions when he needed them, but Arthur didn't feel like he made the best of them. He didn't obtain any runes from his skills until now, only evolving some of them. He also didn't study enough to evolve his runes.
Things will be different, as he would have the time and resources to focus on his growth in these three months. As the three of them walked back, the uneasy residents of the city greeted them.
"Seika, I think they need to hear a few words." The Knight of Courage whispered, but Arthur looked at her, speechless.
"A few words with me looking like... this?" He gestured toward himself, who was bloodied from head to toe, making the Knight of Courage smiled awkwardly. "Hose me!" He spread his right arm.
"Well, you asked for it." Courage smiled and pointed her finger toward him. A water ball appeared on her fingertip, and the stream came gushing out. The water washed Arthur's body, cleansing him of the blood and dirt. When she stopped, Arthur was soaking wet.
"You enjoyed it too much," Arthur grumbled as flames appeared beside him, evaporating the water. He tied his hair back and began walking toward the residents.
"Seika, are you alright?" Ma asked with worry as he saw the several wounds on Arthur's body.
"I am," Arthur nodded and turned toward the people. "Everything is fine. The Ogre tribe tried attacking us as expected, but they failed."
Hearing his words and seeing his wounds, the people can deduce for themselves that Arthur was the one who fended off the attack. For the Lord of the new city himself to defend them, the residents felt touched.
"As long as I'm here," Arthur looked at every salesperson, guard, blacksmith, and potion master that they brought along. "None of you will get hurt. I brought you here to build the greatest city this world had seen, not to throw away our lives in a godforsaken land."
As he said so, Arthur turned away and walked toward his house. The people looked at each other in silence before they cheered, some of them clapping. The cheering wasn't loud with how few of them there were, but it was a start.
***
'How do I raise the level of my estate?' Arthur asked as he leaned back in his chair beside the bed that he placed in one of the rooms.
[Estate Level is a measure of your land's development and your residents' satisfaction. The level rises when with the improvement of your economy, industry, military, agriculture, citizen's standard of living, authority, and other aspects of your estate.]
'So, just improve everything.' Arthur sighed as his eyes dropped toward Lordship Points. Stats, Legacy, and Lordship points. Things were getting hectic.
The rest of the stats were obvious. When Arthur clicked on the only unlocked choice on his Lordship's Creation menu, greyed-out items appeared.
They included things like houses, barracks, farms, wells, resorts, shops, auction houses, smithies, parks, streets, and other things that could solve any construction issues he might face.
"This will be easy."
He noticed that every item needed Lordship Points to construct. He guessed that leveling up his estate size would reward him with points, so it was a loop of improvement.
Blueprints and Revenue were locked, so he guessed that his estate needed to reach a certain level for it to be unlocked. On the other hand, whatever they included should be pretty exciting and rewarding.
As he was about to lie on the bed and sleep, he remembered that he left Dia a message. He took out the hand mirror and activated it, but there were no messages from her. He slept after using the Heal-III rune on himself.
After he woke up, he changed his clothes as someone entered the room without knocking. The witch Gala strode as if it was her place and sat on the chair.
"I've heard you had made quite the ruckus yesterday," Gala said as she sipped on her juice.
"Where did you get that from?" Arthur was amused as he glanced her way.
"Ruri made it for me." Gala smiled with pride. "My disciple seems to like me a lot."
"Do you know why people give offerings to the gods?" Arthur smiled as he threw a jacket over his shoulders. "To avoid their wrath."
"Are you saying I'm a goddess?" Gala grinned as she leaned in. "Our Seika is getting flirty after leaving his sweetheart behind! Did she send you a message yet?"
"Why are you so interested in my love life?" Arthur asked with a smile. "No, she must be quite busy."
"So, there's love involved." Gala grinned. "Rather than love, I want to see all of your emotions, Seika."
"Why would you want that?" Arthur paused as he was buttoning his right sleeve.
"Humans fascinate me with how much emotions they can feel," Gala said with a disturbing grin. "I've seen your wrath, so intense that it tore a hole in the sky, making me wonder what your other emotions might do.
"Careful someone hears you. Others would think you're a psychopath." Arthur said before grabbing the door.
"I can feel your disappointment," Gala said, and Arthur paused. "Did she forget about you? Was she too busy? Or does she hate you now?"
"I changed my mind." Arthur turned toward the witch. "I want you to do the potions report yourself."
"Hehe," Gala snickered even though he said that. "And now I've seen you sulking."
***
Arthur placed his hands on the ground, and the walls rose. He walked between them, and the walls were created in his trail. The soil rose to solidify into a ceiling. Arthur was floating as well to make sure that he reached the range.
[Earth Manipulation (E – 100%) has evolved into Earth Mastery (D – 0%)]
[Earth Mastery: manipulation of the soil around you in a ten meters radius. Raising this skill's percentage to 100% would reward you with a rune.]
'I guess this form is its limit.'
Arthur landed on the ground as he read the notification. But, unlike Courage, who can create water out of thin air, Arthur couldn't do the same with his skill Earth Manipulation.
The rune behind the skill would not create soil or earth but manipulate it only. That's why raising the skill to its limits would not give Arthur another Fire rune but would make him capable of creating constructors: People who would build for him.
"Seika, the people are ready to be interviewed!" Gruen came into the large building that Arthur created and reported.
"Great," Arthur said as he spread his arm, and the soil gathered like a wave to finish the building. After that, Arthur waved his hand, and crates appeared inside. "This will be the storage room. Ask Big Bear to place more guards around here."
"Do you think it's a good idea to place our items in one place?" Gruen asked with wariness.
"Don't worry. The important ones are with me. These are the necessities like beds, tables, and other items for the residents." Arthur said as he was walking out. "Oh, are you ready to awaken your affinity?"
"Ah, so suddenly?" Gruen looked taken aback.
"Well, the smithy needs a grandmaster blacksmith." Arthur smiled. "We'll do it when you create the smithy. I thought of a way to awaken your powers."
"Would it hurt?"
"Maybe, I don't know." Arthur smiled. "I heard that you took one of the small houses. Would that be enough for you and Aimee?"
"Like, living together?" Gruen's eyes went wide. "We never thought of..."
"That's for the better. The duke of contracts must have some eyes on the inside. I'll create a basement for you guys. It should do you kind in this heat."
"Thank you, Seika!" Gruen grinned as he followed after Arthur. "For the duke's spies, I thought about..."
"Don't worry. I'll weed those rats out today." Arthur grinned as he walked toward his house.
"Seika, killing would be..." Gruen panicked, but Arthur shook his head.
"Killing them would be wasteful, it's better if we make use of them."